m/m

In From the Cold by Cat Grant

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22881853
Grade: A
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m, NA
Series: related to Courtland Chronicles
Published: 9/15/14
Reviewed by Anne
76 ebook pages

Bilal and Seth see each other in the waiting room at the campus health facility.  It’s really cold outside and they’re both very sick.  They find each other again walking home, and Seth invites Bilal to his house, just to get out of the snowstorm.  To avoid the long walk home that would be near to impossible due to his fever, Bilal accepts the invitation.

This is a short story, so, by necessity, the plot moves along quickly.  Even with that, I was a surprised at how abruptly Bilal and Seth went from secretly longing for each other to acting on it.  It was very sweet, though, with Bilal conflicted and Seth trying to understand.

It was a sweet and hot story, but it definitely feels like just the beginning.  It’s no cliffhanger, but Seth and Bilal definitely have issues to work through.

This story is related to the Courtland Chronicles series – Seth is the son of the main characters.  It stood alone very well, though.  I’d recommend it for readers who enjoy a short and quick m/m romance.

Sweetwater by Lisa Henry

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22611970
Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Historical, m/m, BDSM
Published: 8/19/14
Reviewed by Kate

This one is such a tightly woven story that I find it hard to write a summary of it without giving you the entire play-by-play.  But here goes : When Elijah was little, scarlet fever took his family, and his hearing.  Although he isn’t 100% deaf, most of the town thinks he’s an idiot.  Elijah knows that being deaf isn’t the only thing that makes him different from everybody else.  He’s also gay.  His first “relationship” is with Harlan Crane, the owner of the saloon.  But Elijah is also attracted to cowboy Grady Mullins and Grady’s interested as well.

Elijah is around 20, but is just starting to try and figure out who he is and what he wants.  Unfortunately most of what he wants conflicts with the way he was raised.  Lots of internal conflict for Elijah.  Lots.

His relationship with Crane is dirty and nasty.  It made me flinch whenever I had to read it.  Their relationship is about pain and humiliation and subjugation.  Even though Elijah discovers he needs the pain, there is nothing romantic about Crane and Elijah.

In Grady, Elijah finds something that he never knew existed.  Gentleness, caring, compassion.  And while part of him craves that from Grady, another part of him is terrified spitless at this new type of relationship.  Elijah’s relationship with Grady, which doesn’t start until half way through the book, is the only part of this book that would qualify as a romance.

This one felt more like a coming-of-age story, rather than a romance.  Outside of the relationships with Crane and Grady, Elijah goes on a heartbreaking journey of self discovery.  A journey which takes him through highs and low—although mainly lows.  The relationships with Crane and Grady are a definite, but minor, part of his journey

Lisa Henry has written a gritty, raw, page turning tale about a young, deaf, gay man on a self-discovery journey in 1870.  And while the relationships in this book were not my cup of tea, I would not hesitate to read another of her books.  In fact I hope to do so soon.

As a romance, this one disappointed me a bit.  As a novel, in general, I loved it.  What’s the last book that you read that didn’t hit the romance note right, but you enjoyed regardless?

More Than Anything by T.T. Kove

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22692567

Grade: A
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, New Adult, m/m
Series: More Than Anything #1
Published: 9/24/14
Reviewed by Anne
238 pages

Jorgen sees a young man outside his home who looks a little off. When Jorgen approaches him, the young man falls to the sidewalk in a seizure.  Jorgen takes the sleeping man into his house after the seizure is over and looks after him.  The next morning he learns that the young man, Geir, is just 16, and living alone off an on when his single parent father works at an off shore job.  Though Jorgen is attracted to Geir, he feels it’s inappropriate, both because of Geir’s age and Jorgen’s inability to have a relationship.

After that night, Jorgen and Geir don’t expect to see each other again, but they do.  And this leads to Geir seeking out Jorgen’s friendship.  Geir turns 17, which is the age of consent in Norway, and he and Jorgen (22) start a platonic friendship.  Soon Geir learns he’s not the only one with problems.  Geir has a couple seizures per month, and Jorgen constantly battles anxiety attacks.

This story unfolds so deliciously slowly, I just loved it!  I wanted to have issues that Geir was so young, but I just couldn’t.  He was mature beyond his years, and only looking for a friend.  Jorgen came across as young for his age, and they truly have a long friendship before moving on to more.

Jorgen, who initially didn’t think he would be capable of even a friendship, finds himself wanting to do more and be more than he has been for the last several years.  He understands Geir’s loneliness because he feels it too, and he starts to realize his life is better with friends in it.  He and Geir also have bodies that betray them with seizures and panic attacks.  They have so much in common and you just root for them to get to a place where they can have a relationship!

On top of the wonderfulness that is Jorgen and Geir, the story is set in Norway, which was really interesting.  There were a lot of small differences from American life, but not so many that it was confusing.  I do really want to go to a theater that serves popcorn and bacon chips — that sounds awesome!  Jorgen and Geir also have make some fun friends who liven up the book.

I highly recommend this book!  It was a joy to read and I’ll be looking for more by this author.  I’m putting it on my Best of 2014 list!