Anne

Dirty Laundry by Heidi Cullinan

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Dirty Laundry (Tucker Springs, #3)

Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink (D/s, spanking, restraints)
Genre: Contemporary, m/m
Series: Tucker Springs #3
Reviewed by Anne
265 pages
 
Adam is a college grad student with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Anxiety issues that severely shape his day to day life.  He’s at the laundromat doing some laundry when a group of drunk college guys start harassing him.  Denver, a tank of a man, comes to his rescue and scares the drunks away.  Adam is thankful, but also very attracted to Denver.  They hook up right there in the laundromat.   Adam is amazed at how calm and centered he feels with Denver, and how attracted he is to the kink of having Denver be physically in charge of him.  Denver is surprised that Adam stays on his mind.  He has a lot of one night stands, but he just keeps thinking about Adam.
This is a really sweet and very dirty story.  Amazingly, that balances really well.  Adam’s issues are huge.  It’s a struggle for him to function every day.
 

“… I have no idea how I’m supposed to make out with someone when I know the soup cans aren’t alphabetized by type and the shoelaces are all sloppy in the closet.  If they’re even in the closet at all.”

 
 
Denver is a muscle bound bouncer at a local gay bar.  He’s interested in Adam, and doesn’t think much of working around Adam’s issues, even before he really understands what they are. This is so very, very sweet!
 
My only issue was in the use of D/s as a therapy type tool.  This was somewhat balanced out by the fact that Adam also saw a therapist who was helping him figure out coping skills. The story was about much more than that, though.  Denver has his own suitcase of issues and it’s unbelievable to him that Adam would be willing to accept him if he knew.  Watching these two work their way together was just so wonderful.
 
This book is third in the Tucker Springs series, but it was the first one I read and it stood alone very well.  Note that the books in this series are written by different authors.  Another note:  I LOVE this cover.  This is exactly how I pictured these two!
 
This book brings me to about a dozen m/m books read now and I’m officially declaring my love for the m/m subgenre.  How about you?  Do you read m/m?  I’ve read and enjoyed Heidi Cullinan, Marie Sexton, Daisy Harris, Sean Kennedy, and Josh Lanyon.  Any other m/m authors you’d recommend?  And standout books I MUST read?

College Boys by Daisy Harris

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

College Boys (Men of Holsum College, #1)

Grade: A
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m
Series: Men of Holsum College #1
Reviewed by Anne
113 pages
 
Chris is a soccer playing college jock.  After his mom’s death he needs a little more personal space and ends up moving from his dorm full of jocks into a dorm with a private room.  As it turns out, he’s moved right next door to Peter, an openly gay student.  Also, did I mention, the walls are paper thin and provide provide vision privacy only?  Chris and Peter had met once before, and they end up becoming friends through the wall.  The thing is, Peter is very attracted to Chris, though he’d never act on his attaction because of Chris’ hetero-jock status.  Chris has always thought of himself as heterosexual, and his attraction to Peter takes him by surprise.  Where they take it from there is just awesome!
This is an incredible read!  I gobbled it up in one day and was enjoying it so much I didn’t stop to leave myself notes.  That’s a sign of a really good book for me!  The scenes in this book where Peter and Christ talk through the wall are so sweet.  The moments where Christ starts being honest with himself about his feelings for Peter, and the doubts he has were heart-wrenching.  The writing was just exquisite!

Yes, the ending was over the top happy with unicorns pooping rainbows and all that, but it’s ok.  They both seem a little young and the relationship a little new for the ending, but that’s an issue for me for any book with young characters.

I’ve not been a fan of college aged (would this be considered New Adult?) books, but this one really worked for me. I’ll be looking for more by Daisy Harris!

Tempted by Two by Portia Da Costa

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Tempted by Two

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Mild Kink (light bondage and spanking)
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage 
Reviewed by Anne
90 pages
 
“So are you two a pair of tag team bluebeards who regularly use that painting to seduce unwary women into your… um… combined clutches?”
Marcus laughed too, and Owen just grinned.
“Busted.”  p. 12
 
Katie is on vacation and she’s checking out some paintings by her favorite artist, Marcus Dane.  She’s alone, admiring a particularly explicit painting of a trio of lovers when she’s approached by Marcus.  Happily caught off guard and star struck by the attractive artist, she accompanies him back to his place and meets his partner, Owen.  They invite her to join them for a ménage like the one pictured in the painting she was admiring.  Though initially hesitant, Katie agrees and the story takes off from there.
 
This novella weighed in at 90 pages on my reader. A HEA ménage seemed like a lot to take on in that situation – especially given that Katie was a stranger to Owen and Marcus. So, I went into this thinking it might just be an encounter or have a HFN ending. Happily, it was a true HEA. However, it had sort of a fantasy feel to it for me, because I think a HEA triad is a complicated thing to pull off. It happened in 90 pages here because things were simplified. I was happy to suspend disbelief for this one, though.

Da Costa writes great sex scenes, and I enjoyed them here. Marcus and Owen were open with each other and with Katie, which was refreshing.

There wasn’t much discussion of relationships. There was some talk about how they loved each other, but it seemed to me that more discussion was warranted: between Owen and Marcus – How will our relationship change? Do we both want to add a third permanently? and between the guys and Katie – What will it be like to live as a triad? Who pays the bills? Are we out in the open or not? 

What will our families and friends think? None of those conversations happen in this novella.

The same applies to the BDSM scenes in the story. They come out of nowhere and we don’t see much discussion about them. Was this something Katie had done before? Who wanted it?  Honestly, it was a little jarring and almost out of place.  They were still well written and hot, though.

I think my biggest problem was that I wanted more. I wanted it to be longer. (ha!) and I wanted it to go more in depth. That’s probably asking too much from a novella. I’m wavering between a 3 and 4 star grade. I know I went on a bit about the things I missed, but the stuff that was there (mainly sex) was really good. So I’m going with a 3.5 star grade.

*Note – I nearly had to knock this down a grade for use of the term “love-eye” (no, really, it’s in the book! p. 47) but I don’t want to hold my language issues (and my laughter) against the story, so I’ll leave the grade as is. 


So, how about you?  Do you enjoy ménage?  Does the term “love-eye” work for you?