First lets talk Kimi. Our lovely KimiChan has been abducted! OK thats a little over dramatic. Kimi has been hijacked by her writing muse. LOL. It was really only a matter of time really, we have been friends a long time and this has been the longest I have seen Kimmi go without writing a good block of fiction or even fact. In fact other than her being a active editor in Kawaii Neko I haven’t seen her get her creative on since  Budget Meals: Eight Weeks of Delicious Dinner and Dessert Recipes in 2006 (published in 2007). That wasn’t exactly creative as in fiction, but managed to fit a niche she was in at the time.

Anyway back to now. Our Kimi has been ferociously writing a new piece of fiction, and is using NaNoWriMo challenge as a guideline.

It’s quite amazing to see the process unraveling as Kimi is writing up a storm but is not allowed to edit it till the end of the month. Yes, I have had a peek at the WIP (Work in progress) and while I am not going to reveal any real details I can say it is good. But I am bias, so you will have to wait to make your own mind up later.

I, however, haven’t been delving in anything literacy per se. I have been knee deep in Guild Wars 2, a game I have been waiting for for about 4 years. I have reviewed books they released prior to the game (Ghosts of Ascalon being the one onsite, I need to post the other one Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny at some later date.) I try to keep my Gamerchick side off this site really, but it exists. You can catch up with me on that side elsewhere (My Guild site).

If you want to keep up with Kimmi and myself during this month you can do so via twitter:

Kimmi Twitter ~ Sarah Twitter

Thank you so much for joining me on my first ever book tour, and a big thank you to these folks  for lending me their stage for a bit. This tour is about peeking behind the curtain on all things Santuario, which is now available for purchasevia the Riptide Publishing website. If you followed me here from yesterdays tour stop, you know this already, but for those who just joined: Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win a $10 credit to Riptide Publishing. All comments with email address included that are left by 11:59 pm on Sunday, Oct 14th will enter into the draw.

But, I promised you background. So, the muse and I agreed (sort of) on a perfect society pitched against a cruel, scary one. Now we’d just have to figure out the setting. Right? Needless to say the muse was not that easily satisfied.

“Get real,” she said. “Perfect society. I thought you wanted it to be a human society.”

“Yeees?” I’m slow to catch on sometimes.

“Well, if it’s human, it’s not going to be perfect. It might be better and more egalitarian and maybe even fairer than what we have now (like that’s so hard), but it’s still going to have greed and envy and fear and all those other things humans carry around with them them wherever they go.”

She had a point. And I admit that only grudgingly. So an almost perfect society, then. But where? I confess to being intrigued by the idea of frontiers, a handful of people carrying only the bare necessities, being dumped in the middle of nowhere. There are so many different ways this can play out. I decided it was the perfect scenario for my benevolent society.

“What frontier?” the muse, always helpful, wanted to know.

“Some planet. They leave earth in a generation ship and settle on a world far, far away.”

“Which supports human life,” she scoffed.

“It got terraformed before they landed.”

“That’s some technology.”

“It’s the future. Work with me, here.”

“Hmmm, what about my scary society? Are they on the same ship?”

“Naawww, they come later. My good guys need a chance to develop peacefully first.”

“So, how come they end up on the same planet?”

“Some glitch? It’s not really important for our story.”

“Could be for another one.”

“Yeah, maybe, I’ll work on it. But can we concentrate on this one first?”

Here, she probably rolled her eyes at me. She does that a lot. But at least she agreed with me on background. Two cultures, rooted in a distant earth past that developed separately on the same planet, and–

“Separately?” chirped the muse. “How come?”

“The ones who were there first were afraid and told the new guys they had to settle somewhere else?”

“Wait, the new guys are the bad ones, right?”

“Right?”

“So your good guys kicked them out? Told you they weren’t perfect.”

Did I mention how much I hate it when she’s right? To make matters worse I was starting to get really interested in this idea of how “good” a culture can actually be. Without needs, wants, competition, things to fear, what drives us? Is there a tipping point? Or more than one? Into total control? Or total petrifaction? And if there is, how and where do we keep the balance?

“How giant an info dump were you planning on again?” asked the muse.

“Oh, shush. This is still background.”

“Yeah, but for at least three books, not one.”

I didn’t say anything. I’m absolutely positive that I didn’t. But she must have read something in my eyes, because she started smiling that beatific smile that tells me she’s happy. We just stared and grinned at each other for a bit, and then we started world building. Want to see how that went? Then join us tomorrow at Ed & Em’s reviews. Full tour schedule available here.

Blurb:

Police teniente Alex Rukow has spent his life trapped on Santuario, his people’s isolated home-slash-prison-island. They’ve been living in poverty under the tyrannical regime of their own elite familias for the last two-hundred years, ever since their generation ship landed on the planet and found it already populated by earlier Earth settlers, the Skanians, who banished them to the inhospitable south.

Increasingly shamed by the decisions of their ancestors, the Skanians seek to open their borders. But dissent exists on both sides, and in the midst of this explosive political situation, a dead body appears on the island.

Bengt, a Skanian investigator, is shipped to Santuario to lead the murder investigation—which, he quickly realizes, the local teniente wants nothing to do with. As far as Bengt is concerned, things can’t get worse than the brutal climate, his own memories, and a growing attraction to a partner who will barely say two words to him. But then he and Alex run afoul of the local familias, and the problems with their investigation and their budding relationship seem like nothing compared to just getting out of this whole mess alive.

Read an excerpt and purchase Santuario here.

G.B.Gordon worked as a packer, landscaper, waiter, and coach before going back to school to major in linguistics and, at 35, switch to less backbreaking monetary pursuits like translating, editing, and writing. Having lived in various parts of the world, Gordon is now happily ensconced in suburban Ontario with the best of all husbands. Santuario is G.B. Gordon’s first published work, but many more stories are just waiting to hit the keyboard.

Find Gordon blogging at http://gordon.kontext.ca, tweeting as @gb_gordon and wreaking general havoc on Goodreads: or send an email to gordon[at]kontext.ca.

Charlie is not only acting as manager/custodian for the apartments that his grandmother owns, he also lives there. After coming home from his day job of teaching justice related courses at the local community college, he’s often tired and aching. This doesn’t stop him from noticing what goes on about him at the complex however, and so he encounters one very unusual young man who appears to be staying at the apartment of a photographer that Charlie knows quite well for his exhibitionism.

The young man in question seems irrepressible. Will is always quoting old movies, and has his hair is always different. He takes on a fascination with Charlie, and it doesn’t take long for him to suss out that Charlie’s hip bothers him a lot, and that a terrible accident left him broken in body as well as spirit, as well as retired from the police force. Charlie doesn’t know what to do about this. He’s no good at relationships, as his previous attempt at one, that ended at his accident, proved. 

And then there is Charlie’s family. He’s the oldest male and his abuela has certain expectations of him. If she’s not calling him to do something, his sisters are. Though his abuela also nags him to please find a man settle down with, so that his sisters will follow his example- but what would she make of this admittedly quirky twink? He somehow doesn’t see his family, his job, and this Holly Golightly-esque young man ever meshing. Too bad his heart isn’t listening.

Slowly, inexorably, Charlie is drawn out of his self imposed personal exile one movie quote at a time, and finds that he is desirable as well as worthy of love, even if he’s not entire sure about the whole Bogart thing. He also finds that Will is a lot deeper than he he gave him credit for, with his own demons that he hides behind his façade. Between them, they might make up a whole, as long as the family accepts them both for who they really are, and who they want to be. Ultimately a tale of love, sacrifice, and family, it’s a tender love story that moves slowly, never dragging, and that builds to a satisfying conclusion that leaves a gentle smile upon the heart.

Rating: 

Fluff:  1 chinchilla

Kink: None

I have to admit I’m a sap for books featuring a guy with a kid. So when this offering from Dreamspinner came up, I simply HAD to read it.

Rue is working hard at a local gay bar, paying his way through cosmetology school. He longs to get out of his po-dunk town and go to California. He’s got an acquaintance out there that he’d not only once burned the sheets up with, but who works with some big names and is eagerly trying to find him a space in the industry.

Then a mistake Rue made comes back to haunt him. It seems that Rue one night decided to get rather drunk, and while inebriated, decided to see if he was all the way gay or part straight. In the way that oddball shenanigans often happen while drunk, he came up with the idea to prove his gayness by trying to have sex with a woman, and so, still drunk, he picked up a chick and did the deed. Only a few months later, she’s contacting him again, to ask him if he wants the baby she’s going to have or should she just put it up for adoption. And so, the stork makes a rather unscheduled and unplanned delivery to Rue.

Rue falls in love with his daughter and wants the world for her. Sadly, he’s still working at the bar and trying to graduate while angling for that lucrative job in California, so he needs cheap but top notch childcare. He finds that ANY childcare can be hard to come by, and the sort of care he insists on practically impossible within his budget. Until his desperation leads him to his work at home neighbour that is. He doesn’t rally know Erik, but he’s quiet, has a clean home, and is home all day. All these things are already miles above what he’s found so far. So, he bulldozes his way into Erik’s and presses him to become his child’s babysitter.

Erik is reclusive, not just quiet. He also works from home because he’s a sci fi writer, and he’s one with a LOT of personal issues. Issues that indicate he might be on the autistic spectrum a la Asperger’s syndrome, but nothing about that is ever directly confirmed beyond a few mentions about childhood coping methods and his parents taking him to doctors, and his need for routine. He’ likes his routines, and he hates anything that doesn’t follow it, and babies scare the bejesus out of him. They are unpredictable and cry and stuff, and no no no, this is bad idea, but oh my gosh his royalties are dwindling, and his mind goes on and on in this manner at a frenetic pace until he decides to watch the baby.

It’s actually rather cute watching rue and Erik deal with arranging the childcare. Erik is obsessed over details and routine, but it’s Rue who is actually neurotic. He freaks out over the tiniest detail, lest he forget something that his darling might need. Like the number to the fire department so that she can be rescued in case of a disaster involving fire. It is his dedication though that leads him to become more involved with Erik, wanting to get to know the man he’s left his daughter with and become friends. Erik slowly leaves his shell, and so begins a sweet little romance s the two bond over one little cutie pie of a baby girl.

It’s saved from being schmaltzy or saccharine by serving up just the right amount of angst as Erik deals with his personal boundary issues and begins to form personal attachments to the baby, Rue, and to Rue’s best friend. As their friendships develop and deepen, changes come as they adjust to life with a baby and come to realize that have, in essence, a;ll become a little family of sorts. But when Rue gets the job offer he’d been hoping for, what is everyone to do? Can things stay the same for the three friends, or is change always inevitable? Rue’s best friend faces losing the buddy he’s spent years of studying an angsting with, and Erik faces losing Rue, the baby, and the new routine that friendship and affection have given him. Even worse, he’s begun to become comfortable trying new things, outside of his set routines, but these things all centred around Rue and the baby. And what about Rue…is he ready to give up his support network and the people he’s come to care so much for- including one very geeky Star Wars fanaticy sci fi writer that has gone from friend to beloved within his mind? I simply adored how it all panned out and yes, it’s a HEA that was simply the icing on a very yummy cake indeed.

Rating: 

Fluff: 5 lop eared rabbits, 10 chinchillas, and a dozen fluffy, big eyed kittens

Kink: None, though there is one character has an obsession with Star Wars 

Brandon McKinney had a happy childhood with two parents who dearly loved each other and their son, Brandon. That all changed when Brandon turned 12, as his mother grew sick from cancer and died. Trapped in his grief, Brandon’s father turned to alcohol and rage to cope and found Brandon a ready outlet to vent it all on. The icing on the cake for his contempt was discovering Brandon was gay, until the day when 15 year old Brandon found himself out on the streets. Having scrabbled his way into a sort of stable life, Brandon is a proud man determined to make his dream of becoming an architect come true. In fact, he’s made his way up the ladder to foreman of a small, but well regarded construction company that builds luxury homes for the rich and his boss hopes that Brandon will be able to find funding to buy him out so that he can retire.

Brandon wants this very much, as it means he could not only finish his degree in architecture, but get to build the projects that really mean the most to him. The trouble is, a young man living in a ratty studio apartment with no savings and only an Associates degree that due to his financial constraints took him 5 years to complete instead of the usual 2, is not prime loan material for a bank, especially when the necessary loan is in multi-million dollar figures.

Enter Jonathan Watkins. He’s a self made Silicon Valley billionaire with a bent for the decidedly kinky. One night in Chinatown, he spots Brandon at a bar, and the two engage in some down and dirty in the back alley. Appetite whetted, and without a current regular submissive, Jonathan hopes to bend this obviously proud man to his will. Knowing that he needs three million dollars, he comes up with the idea to offer him a financial incentive: “Give me six months , and I’ll give you the world.”

Brandon resists the idea, until he realises that he has no other possible way to earn the money he needs. Remembering the explosive and unexpected orgasm he had from their bit of rough play in the alley, he decides that having some enjoyable sex while on his knees is not that big a deal, as he can walk away afterwards and no one be any the wiser. He soon finds out that being submissive 24/7 is no easy feat, especially when the Dom in question is an admitted sadist. As his personal hang ups and sense of pride and accompanying sense of shame  keep him from submitting without resistance, even when his head is rationally screaming for him to not be so stupid, both he and Jonathan end up exploring their personal boundaries a lot more exhaustively than either had imagined. Neither looked for emotional entanglement, but getting this far into each other’s space brings feelings rushing to the fore. Will Brandon finally lay the ghosts of his past to rest and submit as his heart and mind yearn to do, and will Jonathan find that true love that is honestly reciprocated is possible even for a sadist and his sub?

Just by reading the synopsis, for many readers the obvious comparison is going to be 50 Shades. Forget 50 Shades, this book is the real deal. It’s written by a pair of friends, one of which is a real life Domme (Rachel Haimowitz) and the other a submissive (Cat Grant). That alone provided the clue that going in, I wasn’t going to see the sort of unintentional mistakes that littered 50 Shades, and that the BDSM aspect was going to be very, VERY important on a visceral level that only two life-stylers could possibly grasp. Fans of 50 Shades may very well like this however, as the sex scenes are frequent and they are definitely hot with a kink factor far past 10.I’m going to go ahead and say this straight out, however- this is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Jonathan is a hardcore Dom with a very sadistic nature. He’s not a socio-path however, and is actually a fairly well balanced individual. The contrasts this provides makes for an interesting dynamic as he tries to bring his rebellious sub to heel as his caring side more than once wars with his impulse to inflict pain and punishment. He is very much a man who plays by the rules, however, whether it be the polite rules of the social side of business, to being a man of personal integrity who not only insists on a contract, but goes out of his way to ensure that both he and Brandon understand what they have negotiated and stick to their side of the contract.

Brandon’s inner demons come out of hiding with a vengeance once he’s not occupied with hours and hours of hard physical labour followed by a bone tiring weariness that robs him of the need to think of anything bar sleep. He comes unglued while having to do nothing but sit and be hand fed, petted, and so on. Used to distracting himself, Brandon finds that trying to focus on just being is impossible as the voice of his father comes to whisper insidiously in his mind. Weak, sissy, worthless, all words that he tries to shove aside but in the end, he still allows his own anger to erupt, to lash out and prove he is a strong man, a man who cannot be beaten down. It’s an anger that stood him in good stead as he he got himself off the streets as a boy, but it’s also an anger that is holding him back. Deep down, Brandon wants to be able to let go and to be able to accept the tender affections of another. A tenderness that Jonathan is all too happy to shower upon him until Brandon brazenly challenges him until the sadist is given free reign during punishment time.

This is where it gets rather uncomfortable. The nature of the contract means that Brandon has given full consent, unless he safe words. His stubbornness won’t allow it, until even Jonathan is hard-pressed to know just where Brandon’s limits are. Jonathan’s sadism is not always sexual, as Brandon’s resistance means that more often than not, he’s there to be punished. Cue tiny cages and a clear plexiglass coffin complete with electric shocks that inspired even me to have a nightmare after making the mistake of reading this before bed and getting stuck tightly wrapped under and within my covers. Nonetheless, it is a story of personal discovery and love, and one that is well written indeed.

Over the course of their personal interactions, Brandon and Jonathan both end up doing a lot of self reflection. Jonathan explains quite carefully why he does everything that he does, from the why he wishes Brandon to be groomed a quite specific way, to the intent behind the hand feeding, end even makes certain that Brandon understands just why he is being punished. He thinks deeply about what he hopes to accomplish for Brandon, and examines his actions and Jonathan’s responses closely when events don’t go as planned, going so far as to run past experiences through his head (both that of his past submissives as well as his own time spent on his knees as he trained). Nothing is gratuitous and it’s abundantly clear that Jonathan isn’t doing this merely for fun and games- he has clearly defined goals that are of personally emotional and psychological benefit to both men and he is quite upset at the roadblocks being thrown up.

Brandon’s experiences during the their time together not only allow his inner psyche out to play- that nasty inner voice that sounds like his father, but also for his rational mind to process what he has been doing to himself. While locked in cage with nothing else to do, for example, he eventually has to look over what precisely he did that led Jonathan to put him there. To be quite honest, it’s extremely self destructive behaviour. From refusing to eat until he damn near requires medical intervention, to purposely mouthing off to ensure he racks up several demerits, Brandon’s his own worst enemy. More to the point, he’s locked up years of self loathing and hatred resulting from his father’s physical and mental abuse, sublimating it to the point where no one could see it until there was nothing but Brandon and IT.

The physical chemistry is sizzling hot between the two and the sex scenes are always explosive, and it is this initial connection that not only draw the two men to each other initially, but which allows Brandon to excuse his letting go when he manages to allow himself to silence the taunts within his own head. The punishments serve drive Brandon into a corner, a corner where he cannot escape himself, having to focus himself. It is these moments of clarity that ultimately lead to the sea change within Brandon, where he faces his stubborn actions for what they are truly are. Only then can he move forward. It’s exhausting physically and mentally for Brandon, but also for Jonathan, who despite his sadistic streak, cannot enjoy inflicting pain that is not given as a gift, nor pain that is not enjoyed by both parties on any level.

It was also exhausting for me as the reader, as I became tense, waiting anxiously to see what Jonathan was going to pull out next as he ramped up the punishments while trying to breach Brandon’s self destructive defensive barriers. It was also incredibly rewarding, as the emotions of both men were clearly on display every step of the way. I could not dislike either man regardless of what I saw play out, and felt torn for them both. One reaching out to help with hand that wanted to show gentle care, while the other snapped and snarled like a previously abused rescue dog who can only react out of instinctual fear and distrust, so that a show of forceful dominance became a requirement. Watching the two men deal with their growing attraction and emotional bonds made the ending all the more satisfactory, leaving me happy that’d I’d waited to buy this book until the I was able to buy the sequel with it as I couldn’t wait to see how the two continued to grow and bond as human beings as well as lovers with more than a bent for the BDSM lifestyle.

Rating: 

Fluff: Even the battle scarred tom cats around here have ran to hide.

Kink: I crown thee “dungeon masters”. Just don’t hurt me quite that much, ok? I’m submitting, I’m submitting!

This collection left me feeling somewhat bemused. It’s not that the sex scenes were terrible or the prose awful in general. No, it was because the one story left me feeling like I was missing something, another joyfully reunited me with some fellows I met in the sequel I’d managed to read FIRST only to leave me uneasily thinking that it felt slightly more rushed than the story itself deserved, and the yet a third one, well, the third one was an utter delight. There is a fourth story, but that one left me feeling ambivalent on several scores. I’m reviewing the stories in no particular order (just to confuse you, bwuahahaha!)

The story Cruce de Caminos (Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane) introduces us to Sean O’Hara who is one deeply conflicted young man. His childhood seems to have been no picnic and he fell in love during high school with a young woman whose problems led them to have a sort of drug fuelled co-dependency. Sean has been ditched by his beloved once more as she tries to leave behind the drugs and prostitution and begin her life anew with yet another john who promises her a happily ever after. Sean’s own desperation leads him into the supernatural heart within New Orleans itself as the disaster that was Katrina approaches. His adventures as a rent boy are not Pretty Woman type fodder in the least, though they do bring him closer to his destiny. The supernatural elements are beautifully woven in, and they actually echo the dreamlike darkness that seems to cloak New Orlean’s very being and which one feels wrapping round you should you wander the French Quarter alone at night.

The problem was it was so very different in tone from the rest, it left me feeling blindsided as I sank into and then disoriented when I began the next story. I should also warn you that if you read the authors’ The Druid Stone (Carina Press), you will indeed meet Sean O’Hara again, but that Sean and this Sean are very much before and after images of the same man. THIS Sean is the one before he cleaned his act up, though his knack for getting into supernatural trouble doesn’t seem to have abated any. A really good tale, but it just didn’t mesh with the collection as a whole as one might have expected it to.

Priceless (Cat Grant) is a novella length entry that reunited me with the fellows in Doubtless (which is actually the sequel). When a nerd is bought a cute rentboy for his birthday, things begin to get interesting (and he gets annoyed). Said rentboy is desperate for cash to pay his college tuition, but a Very Bad Man becomes a client who takes things too far and does VERY Bad Things. Cue nerd to the rescue and a Pretty Woman outcome (nerd is mega rich and slums it out of habit) and you have a tale that hits all the right spots, even if it IS a trifle predictable. I loved getting to read their love story, but it did nonetheless feel a wee bit rushed in places. I also think that it would have made sense to package Priceless and Doubtless together in an omni rather than like this, but then, I’m not a publisher so what do I know? I’m assuming there was a reason why it was presented in this way.

Necessities Door (Fiona Glass) left me feeling rather ambivalent. A British police officer (Jake) who is openly gay is used as bait in a sting operation focusing on a crime boss who has a thing for rent boys. Said officer is undercover and so plays the whole rentboy role as real as possible. He comes up a cropper however when he ends up having sex with a punter, who actually leaves him cash in exchange. It opened up a whole can of worms on ethics that the while touched on somewhat within the story, was really something that the confines of the short story did not do enough justice to. It was also somewhat bleak and tawdry in ways that brought my mood down and despite the ending, it left a feeling of hopelessness ghosting about. I’m not entirely sure if I enjoyed the story, or if I didn’t and the fence sitting itself is difficult as it’s a rather pointy topped fence. It was well plotted enough that I would read another entry by this writer, but truthfully, if it left me feeling the same I probably would pass her on by in future as not my personal cup of tea.

Where You Hurt the Most (L.C. Chase) was one of those surprises that makes it all worthwhile. Having given up on love after his own heartbreak, Adrian is enjoying a personally fulfilling career as a high class escort. He’s beautiful, charming, and educated, and his clients treasure their time with him. When his boss asks him to take on his cousin Dan as a personal favour, Adrian agrees quite readily. He owes the man a lot and to be truthful, Dan’s situation interests him. Dan was once a man of flawless beauty whose face is now marred by terrible burn scarring. Worse still are the scars that the accident have left upon his psyche.. As Adrian reaches out to Dan, he unwittingly uncovers his own inner scars, and together, the two begin to make their way towards truly living once again. The hesitant steps each man takes as they reach out, and hide, are poignant.

While not subscribing to the Cinderella formula nor getting into the dark, grimy corners of the sex trade world, the story itself does show the personal limitations undertaken by many sex workers in this strata of the field. It also doesn’t demonise the workers, and I quite liked the respect and care sown to the escort by his clients and employer. Not necessarily entirely realistic, but still, it made a nice change of pace while sharing a romance that was tender and raw in ways that really touched my heart.

Altogether a combined rating of 

kink 2/5

fluff: 2 fluffy bunnies and a trio of chinchillas

I’d like to thank Riptide Publishing for providing me with my review copy.

If you’ve followed me on Twitter or read very many of my reviews, you probably know already that I really, really love m/m romance stories that feature Mafia types. Aleksander Voinov’s series Dark Soul delivers these men in spades: Stefano Marino is a young, recently happily married West coast Italian Mafia don whose obligations prompt him to travel to the East coast to pay his last respects to a dying Family patriarch. He’s feeling off his game already, nervous lest he make a potentially fatal misstep with the other dons also there to pay their respects, but what really throws him isn’t the not so minor politicking and subtle dominance games. No, it’s the surprise he gets when an almost too feminine form rides up on a motorcycle. This turns out to be the very masculine indeed Silvio Spadaro, who quite surprisingly propositions him.

Spadaro himself is a very dangerous man, one that the other dons wish to give quite the wide berth. Not because he’s gay, because they have been known to kill men for that without breaking a sweat over it. It’s because he is the protégé of a rather infamous but now retired consigliere Gianbattista Falchi and even more to the point, because he’s known to have been the assassin who killed the one man they had all feared with a deep and abiding terror.

Silvio Spadaro’s fathomless black eyes are cold, his movements calculated, precise, and well planned out in advance. So when Stefano wakes up that night to his bodyguard scuffling with Silvio, who then allows himself to be overpowered and humiliated, Stefano does not know what to do with himself. He HAS to punish Silvio, but will it come bite him on the ass? When the Russians move into his territory and start a turf war that turns deadly, he knows he as but three choices. The first choice, to just let the Russians move in and squeeze him is not an acceptable option at all. Asking help from other dons is also out of the question, as they will see it as weakness and want a slice of his pie and jockey themselves into a position of power over him. But Falchi is retired and so out of the power game, and in Italy, so away from Stefano’s interests anyway.

When Falchi agrees to help him and Stefano finds himself having to deal with the pansexual Silvio, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. The man oozes a raw sexuality that calls to Silvio. It’s a siren song that disturbs him on so many levels running the gamut from upset about thoughts of betraying his beloved bride to fear over being discovered as a man attracted to other men and the death sentence he could expect for it. As events begin to unravel, he finds that not everything can be tidied away as neatly as he finds comfortable.

Over the course of the five novellas, Voinov delivers a romance that sinks its claws right into the viscera and then drags us along for the ride. It’s not a romance filled with flowers and sweet nothings, but then these are two hardened men in an unforgiving world locked in turf war while trying to deal with their own emotional issues. Some of the sex scenes are pretty hard to take even for Stefano, as he balks at what he unwittingly witnesses between Silvio and Falchi as well as what his own base desires have led him to do while masquerading it as macho dominance posturing. Uncomfortable at times it may be, but it satisfies on so many different levels, not the least being a rather unconventional sort of HEA in the final volume that was a simply beautiful fit to the series as a whole.

I’d like to thank the publisher, Riptide Publishing, for providing me with a review edition of the omnibus volume. Dark Soul is available as a paperback as well as an ebook.

Rating: 

Fluff: The cuddly critters ran in mortal terror

Kink: This series earns shackles, a blindfold, a whip, a paddle, and a gag. That’s 4/5, ya’ll.

Blaine Harrington wasn’t one of the popular kids at school, but that doesn’t stop him from returning to the small Alabama town he grew up in and bringing his husband along. His Brazilian husband hits two hot buttons within that town- gay and foreign and so Blaine rethinks the wisdom of this decision when he notices that his beloved has disappeared and he finds his cell phone discarded in a potted plant and a homphobic doodle with a chilling implication scribbled upon a crumpled napkin left upon a table. When it becomes apparent that something untoward has happened and the police are being less than helpful, Blaine’s real friends rally round him, but is it going to be enough as his world comes to a crashing end?

Drake Braxton takes a nightmare scenario and turns it into a suspenseful page turner with twists and turns that I couldn’t see coming at all. He did it so deftly that when the story took an unexpected turn at a fork in the road, I was left breathless from the sheer emotional punch he delivered so deftly. I have to admit I myself have a real terror of something happening to my other half and being left alone in this world, and Blaine’s fear, pain, and mind tearing grief were so well portrayed that I felt actual pangs of anxiety right alongside him.

The very palpable grief itself became a major plot point, and it is how Blaine and their friends dealt with it that made this story so very special. Braxton’s handling of the subject matter was done with a real finesse that showed true mastery over the raw forces of emotions contained within the pages of this novel. It is an astonishing debut for a very promising writer. A must read for fans of romantic fiction of ANY genre and a jewel in the crown for this year’s LGBTQ fiction.

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Publisher’s Book Blurb:

Owen may be a bit of a country mouse, but he’s loving his vacation in London. After a long day playing tourist, he’s on the hunt for some cheap beer and a good burger. Instead he finds a man hunting him, an arrogant prick with only one thing on the brain: the kind of meat that doesn’t come on a bun.

Eighty-hour weeks at a trading desk don’t leave Malcolm Kavanagh much time for meaningful relationships. Besides, in his world, everything’s a competition—even sex. When his newest one-night-sub fails to show, Malcolm sets his sights on the pretty young Yank on the bar stool beside him.

Owen’s all for an adventure with a native, but he’s not the pushover Malcolm thinks he is, and Malcolm’s not as shallow as he tries to be. They both soon learn that nothing’s too intimate to share with a stranger, and the strangest things happen when two people share the most important pieces of their hearts.

Kimi’s Thoughts:

It’s probably no secret given previous reviews and my Twitter activity that I’m a fan of both Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov. Amy Lane had me on board for feel-good sweetness and HEA with Promise Rock. Voinov’s books pleased me in an an entirely different way- his sexy soldiers with their ethical issues and sense of self preservation kept me geared up and anxious, even knowing that a HEA of sorts was most likely in the offing- somehow. Then I came across this. I found myself wondering how it would work out, and I must say that my curiosity had me burning up to find out how these two very different authors could mesh their work together.

What I got was a real treat. Owen may be an unseasoned traveller. Hell, he’s away from his Mom for the first time ever. In fact, he’s a LONG, LONG way from home which happens to be all the way back across the pond in the good old USA. After getting ditched by the ex-girlfriend who is acting as his travel buddy, he finds himself alone in a right dive of a pub. It’s a truly disgusting place that makes some of the red neck dives I’ve sadly been in look up-scale and trendy by comparison. The way he happens to meet the well heeled Malcolm in there really set the stage. Their banter let me know straight off that not only was Malcolm intent on showing Owen that he was indeed in charge, but that Owen wasn’t going to put up with any BS.

Their time spent together becomes quite the revelation for both men, as Malcolm and Owen not only enjoy the sex they “pulled” for, but also end up connecting in rather unexpected ways. Malcolm finds Owen is someone who can see right through his carefully constructed façade, and no matter how much he tries to keep the act up, Owen is far too honest and direct to let him. They dance around each other, they mentally butt heads, and they connect in ways far more intimately than either had bargained for. It’s a fun filled, sexy romp with plenty of feel good factor and a HEA, and so Kimi came away a very happy girl indeed.

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Fluff: 3 fluffy bunnies and a chinchilla

Kink : 2/5

Fergus Campbell was not very happy about going to prison. He was even less impressed with how he got there- stitched up by one of his partners in crime, Judas MacGregor He’s had a few years to plot his revenge, which he sets in motion the very moment of his release. Only there is an unexpected spanner in the works as MacGregor , hoping to not catch Fergus’ bad side if he can manoeuvre around it, takes him to the newest, most popular male brothel in the city. There he meets the breathtakingly beautiful owner, Mikhail. Falling head over heels, he is determined to have the stunning Mikhail for his own, and Mikhail seems in line with idea. However, Fergus has had the clingy, slightly psychotic, alcoholic Hugo waiting lovelorn and faithful at their shared home. Hugo has had dreams of happily ever after in full Technicolor fantasy playing through his mind during Fergus’ sentence, and he is damned if he’s going to let anyone get in the way of what he deems as his. Fergus is HIS husband, and he will do ANYTHING it takes to make sure Fergus stays where he belongs- by Hugo’s side. As a former part of Judas’ and Fergus’ criminal syndicate, he has ways and means of making sure things get handled, but he doesn’t know about Fergus’ plot to crush Judas, nor Judas’ plans to stay out of harm’s way, especially in the form of Fergus, all the while hoping to live another day and get to pull another handsome lad for a really good shag. In the midst of it are the rest of the criminal syndicate and the spectre of the robbery that went wrong and saw the start of the whole sorry mess. So who’s going to come out on top?

It’s very much Carry On meets Ealing Street gangster comedy with a yaoi makeover, and I must say, the writing sparkled with wry wit. The plot was well executed, with all the characters springing to life within moments of meeting them, and intricate plot threads that interwove without confusion. The personality quirks could have been cliché, but thanks to the verve they were written with and the snappy wit of the dialogue, they came off as highly original characters that were somehow timeless. The settings were familiar enough as well to anyone who has been a fan of the old British gangster films, or anyone with little more than a passing knowledge of Glasgow.

From the epithet carved outside Judas’ very unposh flat to his expensive bad taste in clothes that could have been lifted off of a 1970′s American New York City pimp, complete with his fur adorned jacket worn despite sweltering heat, to the grotty little hideout and it’s meanly lit parking lot, it’s all viscerally familiar. Likewise the modest gentrified walk-up Hugo voraciously defends as home is as everyday as it gets in Britain. When mixed in with the simplistic plans that these guys think of as criminal genius and their lust for misplaced self righteous revenge, the stage is set for laugh after laugh as the men are foiled by their own capriciousness.

Fergus in particular was a delight. He’s nowhere near the mastermind he thinks of himself as, and in fact, his anger is misplaced. He did the crime, but feels he was not to do the time, and all because he wasn’t the one who was supposed to get caught. And therein lies the rub- Fergus’ troubles actually all began because of a previously failed machination that a bank heist was used to engineer. The rest of the gang, including Judas, don’t know it, but we do thanks to Fergus’ inner dialogue railing about it, and his fear of facing his father over it, as his father was the one who put it forward all that time ago. Amusingly, it was this past Fergus who was rash enough to declare undying love for Hugo, and who let his anger and humiliation at being caught drive a wedge between them. Refusing to let Hugo visit him while inside, he has left Hugo home alone with his small rat-like dog to grieve, and moon, and pine, and drink while he himself allowed nothing for himself but anger, hate, humiliation, and a lust for revenge to dwell within.

Having allowed these to move into Hugo’s place, when he gets out, he has a surprise vacancy in his heart that gets knocked for a loop when he encounters Mikhail. Mikhail is a study of contradictions. Ethereally beautiful in an androgynous way, he also has a very generous heart. Despite running a bordello filled with male prostitutes, he has his own code of honour and works hard to not take advantage of those who seek employment with him. He makes a stark contrast to Fergus and seems to fit him like a second half…he is light where Fergus is dark. He is also a polar opposite to Hugo, who hates him on sight, and discovering Fergus’ attraction to Mikhail just throws petrol onto that fire.

Judas meanwhile, is the blithe, almost carefree sort. He is ostensibly the focus of the story, and indeed, if not for him, none of the whole prison debacle would have happened, nor would Fergus have made Mikhail’s acquaintance. He’s crude, he’s mouthy, he’s stunning of face and figure, and he has a stunningly appalling taste in clothes that yet somehow manages to work on him in some kind of flamboyant way that no one else could possibly get away with. He’s also the Roadrunner of the piece to Fergus’ Wile E. Coyote, only this time, Fergus is certain he’s actually going to get his man. But at what cost? He now has Mikhail and Hugo to consider, and as he finds out, jealous spouses are not to be ignored. It all goes due south with serious consequences that are as sobering as they are ironically funny, and the ending left me wiping my eyes clear while reaching for the Kindle button to open the second volume.

Primarily a prose novel, it also boasts several truly stunning illustrations within. The setting and characters may be gritty, but the artwork depicts the men so that we see them to be almost as lovely to behold as fallen angels. This could very well have worked against the piece by presenting an incongruity, but instead, it works to show the reader just how unsuited these fellows truly are to their lifestyle. They are grown, lovely fresh faced choir boys with major Daddy issues gone bad, thinking they are gangster hard just from growing a few whiskers and committing a few felonies, and feel they have something to prove desperately to all around them, including to themselves. It not only shows in their looks, but also in their very thought processes and motivations. The downside to the illustrations can be laid at the feet of the Kindle, which by necessity of the device’s limitations can only show one page at a time, so that some images were split into two screens. Of course, if you have the paper edition, you not only get the cover and such in full colour, but can also view the occasional double page spread illustration all at once as intended.

I’d also like to thank Ai Press for providing me with my e-edition for review.

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