False Start by Janey Chapel

Long Live The Cute!!

I am absolutely loving all of these cute and sexy stories I've been reading! This little tale by Janey Chapel is no different.

At the beginning of his senior year in a small town college, Tucker Locke met Whit Jamison. Tucker was the small time track star and Whit was the slightly gawky freshman with the deep voice. What commences is a secret relationship between Whit and Tucker. They get hot and heavy on back roads, in abandoned barns and in dark corners of their little town. While Whit is out and proud Jamison is just...not. In a scene that had my chest aching with sadness, Whit and Tucker's relationship comes to an end at the end of the school year and they part on bad terms. Tucker runs far and fast from his tiny hometown.

Ten years later, Tucker, who's still deep in the closet, gets an invitation to his ten year reunion and decides that it's time to go home and see about changing his life.

Oh, Tucker and Whit, you two men are a very sexy and endearing couple. Whit is, well, witty. He's confident in himself and had me chuckling with his self-deprecation and his general take on things. I totally related to his high school memories of how he crushed on Tucker and memorized Tucker's class schedule. I can remember being so wrapped in crushing on someone from afar. It was so cute the way he day dreamed about his life turning out like a John Hughes movie. 80's and the Brat Pack FTW!!

Tucker was emo but understandably so. Also, his emo-ness made him more real and I just wanted to hug him and tell him that he should believe in himself. He could be the man that he wanted to be. He took huge steps and I was invested enough in the story that I was cheering him on.

Janey Chapel pulls off something in this story that can be very hard to do. False Start is told in dual first person narration and, man, it works so well. Tucker and Whit's voices were very different from each other and I was very satisfied that I got both sides of the story.

I have to say that I didn't want this story to end. I enjoyed it so very much and it was just plain ol' CUTE!! I hope we get more of these men. I will definitely be reading more of this author.

The Bootiful People (aka Booty and Books)

When I was ten I had a brilliant idea. Having already realized that I was a black girl with a severe booty deficiency, I decided to build myself a butt. I put on the tightest (they weren't very tight) jeans I had and stuffed rolled up tee shirts down the back of them. Insta-booty! Yes, it was a little lumpy and a llittle uneven but it was better than nothing. Here's the problem with insta-booty; when you walk it shifts. I mean, within five minutes one ass cheek was sticking out of my waistband and the other ass cheek was down by the back of my knee.

It was a travesty. A sad state of affairs. Alas, I came to terms with my deficiency.

And then a few years ago I started noticing a trend. There was a new type of character popping up in romance novels. The bootiful people. In interracial het romance we get the heroine, a woman of color usually, with the juicy booty. In M/M we get the dude with the bubble butt that hypnotizes all men when they watch it bounce. There's also the dude with the muscle butt that, if you put a pencil in his crack and he flexed his ass cheeks, could snap a pencil in half.

How is an everyday person supposed to live up to these super booties? A booty is hard to build. Take it from someone who's tried.

I can see where the preoccupation with the male posterior comes from in M/M. A big part of anal sex is the tightness of the booty BUT (pardon the pun) the butt doesn't have to be bouncy in order for the umnnn...anal channel to be tight. The tightness of the ass has nothing to do with the junk in the trunk!

Somebody whose trunk is damn near empty can still manage to squeeze a man until he begs for mercy.

I read these books and wonder how anyone who's not ass-tastic is supposed to attract someone. Is the rear end really that important? Apparently, being able to drop it like it's hot is now a requirement for fictional characters.

Where are the characters whose butts are so non-existent that it's like they have invisi-booties? Where are the characters whose pants have trouble staying up because there's nothing there to keep them from falling? Give me a character whose butt is so flat that it's basically just an extension of their back.

Us flat-butted people need love too! So, while I love the bootiful people I would like to say don't forget that the world is made up of lots of people and some of us? Well, we just ain't all that bootiful.

Out in the Field by Kate McMurray

This was THE BOOK! The one that I've been wanting, wishing, dreaming (and at times begging) for since the moment I discovered M/M romance. A baseball story, two professional players, one Dominican, in NYC, written by a true fan.

But it was BETTER than what I wanted, because I could not have come up with two characters as dear and engrossing and dignified and in love as Iggy and Matt, nope, I could not have wished for a better book than this. I LOVED IT!...I shall say it again I LOVED IT!

Matt Blanco is at the end of his career, he knows it, he's had a career that can only end with an induction to the Hall of Fame, he's played for the Brooklyn Eagles for 13 years and it's been everything he wished as ayoung boy. He's a beacon in the game, but 38 is ripe old age in baseball, and his knee is not helping matters. He's not unhappy, he's had a fantastic life in the sport, except for his secret. He's gay and in the closet, he never considered risking his career over revealing his sexuality, and never really had any regrets, but still it's a weight on his shoulders. But in the end there never was anyone that came close to making him want to bust that closet door open, so all there is for him, is to keep playing as long as he can.

Ignacio (Iggy) Rodriguez is LIVING THE DREAM at 25 he's finally gotten his chance to play in the major leagues. For a kid from a Dominican family, born in the US and raised on baseball, well there really is not much more he can ask for. He gets to play in the team of his dreams the Brooklyn Eagles and even more better with his Idol (and star of all his teenage fantasies) Matt Blanco...One of the best to ever play the game. Iggy couldn't wait to start this new chapter in his life.

As soon as Matt sees Iggy it's nothing but a whole lot of TROUBLE the kid is BEAUTIFUL, and he just has a thing that keeps calling to Matt like he needs to get a whole lot closer. One thing leads to the other and Matt and Iggy quickly figure out that they want each other, and they let the attraction take its course. They are discreet, neither of them wants to be outed and face the consequences. They begin a relationship though, they are SO HOT for each other, it's just fucking at first, but then it isn't, and as Matt's career starts coming to and end, Matt finally has something taht matter more than baseball and Iggy is right there with him, so they commit to make what they have last. 

It's not easy, Matt has been in the closet so long he's scared for himself and the backlash that could taint his illustrous career, more than that he's scared for his lover. He doesn't want Iggy's career to end before it's really begun, he's to fucking good to be cheated of that.

But they carry on, we see their lives, their love, evolve over four years. We see how Matt deals with moving into a new chapter in his life after having to retire from a game that has been his entire life. We see Iggy and how he flourished in his career but also struggles with what he has to compromise to continue to play the game he loves. We see them become lovers, partners, esentially a marriage. They struggle at times, but their love is strong and steady. Eventually with SO MUCH dignity they let the world see who they are. Two men in love, with baseball and each other and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

This book was just perfect for me. Kate McMurray is OBVIOUSLY a true baseball fan, she wrote about the game with such reverence and respect that even if you are not a fan you can still appreciate the sacrifice that this players make to play the game they love, the hardships of moving on from being a god in the field to being just a regular guy, the conflict of giving up who you are to play. 

She wrote Iggy SO WELL...A Dominican man, but also an American, no fuss, his character was just really well done. I loved Matt totally and completely and, them together...OH MY MY MY...They were hot for each other from day one to four years later, I loved them from the first page, wanted them happy, wanted them together, wanted the fucking world at their feet, and ON their feet cheering for them...Like Tina said I could read about Iggy and Matt FOREVER!

The secondary characters rocked too, the play scenes were fab...EVERYTHING was just right for me baby!!!

LOVED IT. Recommend it totally. I hope there are more sports stories coming from Ms. McMurray, she's made a die hard fan of this reader.


Out in the Field can be purchased at the Loose Id Website

Country Mouse by Amy Lane & Aleksandr Voinov

FUN FUN FUN!!!! That's the main thing for me with this story. I had fun reading it, fun hunting for where each author's uniqueness came shining through...JUST FUN!!

I must admit that I was a bit nervous with this one. Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov are two of my most favorite authors in this genre, I've pretty much read everything they've written, and have not been disappointed yet, their styles are SO DIFFERNT though! I am happy to report that for me this pairing worked BEAUTIFULLY.

It's a testament to the caliber of writing prowess these two people have that as different as they write, they were able to come together and pull of something so nice and easy to read without either of their voices getting flushed out in the process and without even a hint of imbalance. Like Owen and Malcomn they came together seamlessly...Ok enough with me being a hopeless fangirl! About the boys...

Owen is a California boy who is on holiday in Europe with his friend (and also ex-girlfriend) while in London she is otherwise occupied and Owen ends up sightseeing by himself. Things get interesting when he stops for a drink at a kind of dodgy looking pub. Owen is a pretty relaxed kind of guy, so when this really yuppy looking (and super hot) overly intense dude practically orders him to not drink his beer and have a shot of vodka instead he goes along with it. Hell he is on vacay after all...So one thing leads to another and Owen ends up heading with Mr. Dommy Top to his place for a hook-up (again he's on vacation and some sex would rock)...

Malcolm has a whole Dom routine going that Owen begins to think is nothing but an act. There's a gentle, nice guy in there and Owen knows he's the guy to bring it out. As the weekend progresses, Malcolm makes Owen play a bit more on the edge than he's used to, Malcolm lets go of his hang ups and facade and opens himself up to the fact that this Yank has just thrown down all his walls and has made Malcolm just want MORE, of everything he hasn't thought he wanted before.

These two authors blended this characters so FUCKING RIGHT. The playfulness of Amy's characters, the intensity (with a gentle/honarable core) of Alek's. The erotica was FUN and HOT and even HOTTER. The emotions that developed between where soooooo believable. Good timing can be a miraculous thing, and these boys were ready for each other at that moment, they knew it too.

London was a fabulous character as well, the city was vivid and vibrant just like the real thing. I loved the little details like the streets of London and how just walking a few yards can show you all kinds of different faces of that city.


The ending was FANTASTIC. It was the perfect holiday story, comical chance meeting, intense time together with all kinds of great moments and a sigh worthy ending that went perfectly JUST in the nick of time. I read this story twice over the weekend, and liked it even better the second time around.

Recommend 100% and can only pray this pairing will happen again some time VERY SOON!.


Country Mouse can be purchased at the Riptide Publishing Website






Note: This week's Most Wanted will be up tomorrow! 

Bartender, PI by Ethan Stone

It's Funny Haha!

This book was exactly what I wanted. Lately I seem to gravitate toward the stories with litte-to-no sex in them. Why? Because there's more STORY in those books. Bartender, PI pretty much has no sex in it. It's fluffy, silly, entertaining fun that had me snickering like third grader who just heard someone fart in class. Good times.

Linc Carpenter gets caught boffing the wrong guy and it leads to him being banned from playing professional hockey. Linc collects his severance check and heads down to his mentor and oldest friend's bar. Soon Linc's a bartender and making people bad drinks, like Long Island Iced Teas with tomato juice in them (Oops!). Then something great happens! Linc finds out that his mentor, Tyson, is a PI and Tyson agrees to train Linc to be a PI too.

Linc's doing the boring work until, While Tyson's out of town, he gets a case where a rich woman wants proof that her famous husband is cheating. This is where the fun begins.Linc is a totally sweet guy who's a little dim but has a big heart and a bigger personality. He likes soap operas, is full of life and being in his head for the duration of the book just made me want to hug the stuffing out of him. Linc uses words that are almost but not quite right and he mixes metaphors as badly as he mixes drinks. The humor in this book is not witty or dry; it's pretty close to slapstick but I giggled throughout the whole thing and was left smiling when the book ended.

When Linc Tries to catch his client's husband, Quentin, cheating he comes up with schemes that you just know are going to go wrong. And, oh, they go hilariously wrong. One of the reasons is that Linc is foiled each time by Quentin's bodyguard, a muscle bound, red haired stud by the name of Brady.

Oh, man, did I like Brady! A big, ginger hottie with a face full of freckles. Brady decides that he likes Linc and he wants the man for more than just sex. I liked that. I liked that alot and I thought it was sweeter than sweet.

And then there's the climax of the story. It was a little messed up but I have to say that I laughed my ass off. In another story I would have been like "Oh, that's not even right" but in the confines of this quirky little tale that crazy scene somehow worked.

All in all, I liked this story a whole lot and if it were to become a series, well, I'd be a happy camper. If you're looking for silly and are thinking of giving this story a try then I'd say go for it.

Monday's Most Wanted April 16th-23rd:

HAPPINESS is three of my FAVEST authors EVAH coming out with new books this next week. YES! HAPPY!!!! Like talking to myself happy! The ABSOLUTELY AMAZING Ethan Day has a new book out on MLR Press and I feel like it should be a holiday or something, because I haven't

been this excited about a book in a while. Also Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov have written a story together and it comes out this week from Riptide Publishing. Excuse while I FRIGGIN SQUEEEEE!!!!

R. Cooper who wrote one of my favorite stories of last yeah A Wealth of Unsaid Words has a new novel coming out from Dreamspinner Press.

So this week I only have three books, but they are all getting read immediately and I am SOOOOOO looking forward to them. Here they are the MOSTESEST Wanted!

A Token of Time by Ethan Day

Release Date: April 20

Publisher: MLR Press

Category: Contemporary/Mystery

Priority Rating: All I can say is that New Ethan D

ay Book Day should be a National Holiday!

Book Goodreads Page

Country Mouse by Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov

Release Date: April 23

Publisher: Riptide

Category: Contemporary/Novella

Priority Rating: Like I even need to say anything...

Book Goodreads Page

Play It Again, Charlie by R. Cooper

Release Date: April 20

Publisher Dreamspinner Press

Category: Contemporary

Book Goodreads Page

That's all for our list this week folks. Hope that you all enjoy these as much as we will!

HAPPY READING!

Having A Chat With Author Alix Bekins

If there's one thing that's hard for a book to do it's make me laugh...on purpose. So, when an author approached Laura and I about reading Alix Bekins' book, Written In The Stars, both of us went and bought it but I didn't know what to expect. It was specifically mentioned though that I was going to love this book. By the end of the first chapter I knew that Alix Bekins had just made her way onto my "Authors With Talent" list.

I adored this book so much that not only are you all getting a review but, make sure to read on after the review, you're also getting a little Q&A with Alix Bekins!

Review Time!!

Bailey McMillan is one cranky scientific genius. His career and reputation were ruined by his former employer and, man, is he bitter about that. Now, he's almost 40, pudgy, balding and working at his long-time and best friend John's science magazine as an editor , columnist and fact checker. This is not where Bailey thought he would be at this point in his life.

There's one thing that Bailey loves about working at Spark though. He gets to write a scathing column where he rips apart his colleagues' shoddy theories and work, proving that he is indeed more intelligent than everyone else. Sweet, sweet joy. There's only one downside. In order to write his column every month Bailey has to anonymously write a dreaded astrology column. Oh, woe is him, especially since the astrology column becomes popular.

Bailey says astrology is a bunch of hogwash!

John says there's something to it.

A bet is born where Bailey must date a man from each astrological sign to see if astrology really is accurate. Winner gets a free steak dinner. Let the games begin.

Bailey McMillan is one of the funniest and most curmudgeonly characters I have come across in M/M romance. I absolutely loved him for his acerbic, absentminded, fussy, finnicky and arrogant nature. The man's screename was Genius. I could picture him all but cackling with evil joy while he disproved the work of other scientists. Bailey's friendship with John is one where they bicker like an old married couple. Bailey's relationship with his Czech scientist friend, another genius, is a competitive one where they try to one-up each other constantly. People love Bailey because he's so cranky not despite it and I found myself loving Bailey for the same reason.

I liked that while Bailey was completely confident in his intelligence he was insecure about his thinning hair, stocky body and average looks. What did I like even more? That Bailey's insecurity was not the focal point of the story. It's mentioned but never does Bailey come across as someone who doesn't like himself or who dwells on his imperfections. I appreciated that.

It's also made clear that while Bailey isn't some airbrushed underwear model there are plenty of people who find him sexy. Bailey has sex with at least three of his twelve dates and even has a weekend fling. This story very quietly promoted that fact that no one is perfect and everyone is sexy in their own way.

That brings us to the dates. HILARIOUS!!! This book was like some sort of awesome romantic comedy movie. Bailey goes on these dates with people who are complete characters without being caricatures. The man who looks like a model but who is way too full of himself, the pilot who's a captivating personality and totally sexy because of it, the suit who's young and uptight but a good guy, the germaphobe, the British mystery man with a mind who even though he looks like a slacker bad boy he's got a mind like a steel trap. There were more than a few of those guys that I'd like to see get their own stories.

Now, this book may not be for everyone just because, yes, Bailey does have sex with some of his dates. He and John, however, are not together, not dating and not even really thinking that there's a relationship on the horizon. The sex is pretty much fade-to-black off page stuff until Bailey and John get together. I found this refreshing because it let the dates and Bailey and John's friendship take center stage.

Bailey and John's friendship; AMAZINGLY AWESOMELY FUNNY. Bailey and John have one of the best friendships I've read about in a long while. I really believed that they enjoyed each other as people. They bickered, they sought out each other's company, their banter was hilarious and witty and they knew each other's idiosyncracies. It was their actions that made me believe that they cared about each other. Bailey and John's friendship was an excellent example of an author SHOWING and not TELLING.

When Bailey and John get together I thought to myself "YES!!! These two people were made for each other!"

This book was pure entertainment and I was so happy when these guys got their HEA. This will be a definite re-read for me because the story made me happy. It's a different kind of romance really but I liked that it wasn't formulaic. This is one that I'd recommend to anyone who is looking to laugh and smile. Two thumbs up, Alix Bekins, two thumbs up!

And Now The Q&A!!!

Lad: Okay, so this story has one of the cutest and most original premises that I've come across in the M/M romantic comedy subgenre. What gave you the idea for Written In The Stars?

Alix: Wow, I’m so flattered, thank you! The idea came from a book a friend gave me about five years ago, “Gay Love Signs” by Michael Jay. Its tagline is “the first astrological guide for men in love with men” and it’s very 1970s. I wanted to write something using it as a reference for a long time, and finally the blind date idea came to me, with a really grumpy scientist as the guy forced to go on these dates to try and “disprove” astrology.

Lad: This book unfolds almost like a movie with the 12 different dates, John's jealousy and how Bailey is oblivious. Did you intend for the story to have a movie-like feel?

Alix: I didn’t really, no, and actually I had a lot of concern that the twelve dates would get repetitive and drag. Probably some people feel that they do, but I really enjoyed creating each of the twelve guys, deciding what they’d do on their date with Bailey, and how they would interact.

Lad: Now, let's talk about Bailey. Bailey is the star (pun intended) of this show. Was his character inspired by anyone or is he a result of pure imagination?

Alix: *laughs* Bailey was inspired by an amalgam of know-it-all scientists from my favorite sci-fi TV shows. The kind of guy who is so unbelievably smart… about everything except people. His brain was a difficult place to inhabit; he’s so much smarter than I am about such totally different things than I’ve ever been interested in, and it was a challenge to do him justice.

Lad: The humor! If there is one word I would use to describe this book it would be funny. Was it hard to make the book funny without going overboard and making it slapstick?

Alix: Thank you so much! I’m always a little embarrassed to admit this, but sometimes my own writing makes me laugh out loud. It’s like I didn’t see the joke coming until I typed it, read, it and took a moment to process it. While it’s not easy to write humor, I’ve never tried to pull myself back from being too silly. Rather, it’s more of an effort the other way, to give voice to witty and clever characters when I personally am going through something difficult in my life.

Lad: You've given us 12 different characters in the form of Bailey's dates and there's at least three or four of them that I want to see more of! Will any of the date characters be given their own stories?

Alix: I would love to know which ones you were so interested in! As a matter of fact, the idea of a spin-off has been percolating in my head. I loved this world that I built, and the tone/writing style. I personally want to know what Oliver and Evans are getting up to after they so rudely ditched Bailey at the museum. Sadly, I have to wait for them to tell me their stories; while I don’t wait for divine inspiration to strike, I do feel firmly that I have to have a story to tell rather than simply a desire to write.

Lad: Last but not least, what are your future writing plans? Any stories in the works?

Alix: I am currently exploring my kinky side again, in the form of a steampunk genre story. Since I’ve always stuck with contemporary, I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out or if I’ll even try to publish it. And I’m working on a winter-holiday story as well.

Thank, Alix, for such an awesome book and for the Q&A. I can't wait to see what you come up with next.