Tag: m/m challenge review

M/M Challenge Review: Fun With Dick and Shane by Gillibran Brown

Posted November 27, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 13 Comments

Ever wondered what it must be like to be part of a ménage à trois, a gay ménage à trois? Then wonder no more, because that’s just what my book is all about. It contains snippets, snatches and stories about everyday life with my Daddies, Dick and Shane. I love them both dearly, despite their overbearing ways, or perhaps even because of them. The book takes its starting point and content from the personal web diary I began to write in September 2006, when boredom lay heavy upon me and I was alone on account of my boyfriends being away together on holiday. If you think this houseboy’s life might interest you, then welcome, step over the threshold, but wipe your feet first, as I’ve just polished the parquet.

Fun with Dick and Shane is exactly what it says – a diary type telling of Gillibran Brown’s life with Dik and Shane. He started with them as a housekeeper/houseboy but the relationship, somewhere along the way, turned into a threesome. Dick is a sub to Shane and Gillibran is sub to both of them, with Shane being the end all be all last word in the house.

When I first started the book I considered not reading further after the first few pages. It is the time that Dick and Shane, who have been together for 10 years are taking a holiday without Gil so that they can reconnect with each other. It’s not that they don’t love Gilli but they were together for a long damed time before Gil fell on the scene and it’s just something that they need to do. Gilli, to say the least, is not thrilled with this. He feels unloved and unwanted (which is a theme in the book) – which is so not true but he’s got the devil on his shoulder telling him it is. He acts the major brat and frankly I was a bit disgusted with him. I guess my thinking was if he was that put out by their holiday – among the many other things he was put out about – he should just leave! Well he didn’t and that was just one incident in the life of this houseboy. I decided to read on and see if it got better and it did. While Gilli acts the brat on so many levels during the course of the book it was still a good read.

The book really covers a multitude of issue in Gillibran’s life – including the death of a neighbor, health issues, parental issues, the relationship between, Gilli, Shane and Dick and of course a truckload of discipline for Gilli’s smart mouth. There were times when I just wanted to kick Gillibran in the shin…multiple times, or gag him because his mouth kept getting him in to trouble, but overall I really liked reading the journal entries. I found it pretty darned entertaining and laughed out loud a couple of times and couldn’t stop. (I bookmarked a couple of these funny incidences on my ereader as I was reading yesterday but this morning they’re not there. No, it couldn’t possibly be operator error so be quiet.)

I can’t begin to understand the dynamic between a Dom and his sub, or in this case subs, but despite the discipline (spankings…and not sexual ones) that Gilli received I really liked Shane and Dick. Yes, Shane was gruff and a big bear, not touchy feely at all, but you could tell he cared for Gilli deeply in his own protective way. Dick was a doll. I just loved that man. He loved Gilli and Shane and wasn’t afraid to show it in a multitude of ways. He had a great sense of humor and that coupled with his care and concern sigh I just loved reading about him. If he wasn’t gay and I wasn’t married…lol

Anyway, I ended up being quite entertained. Once I got past the initial dose of Gillibran and his whining I learned to take the rest of him with a grain of salt. Under the childish attitude he had a good heart and cared for his men. I have to say that I’m definitely thinking of reading the next installment. Maybe hoping that the 24 year old Gilli has grown up some? lol IDK

Rating: 4 out of 5

13 Comments

M/M Challenge Review: Unrequited by Abigail Roux

Posted October 8, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 8 Comments

Vic Bronsen has a problem. He’s stuck in a rut, uninspired by his job, and in love with a man who has no clue. Thinking a change of scenery and company will do his aching heart some good, he goes off on a road trip with his best friend, only to find that the answers to his problems may have been right there in front of him all along.

Vic has been in a “relationship” with Owen for 5 years. He’s in love with Owen but he’s never tried to take their relationship to a deeper level. Owen acts very casual and Vic allows this – loving him from afar…at least emotionally.

Shane is Vic’s best friend. They have a great time together so when Shane talks Vic into taking a month off to just drink and hang, Vic’s all for it. They head off down the coast of North Carolina, hit some tourist spots and then head to Shane’s cottage on the beach where they drink and sunbathe and just relax. Vic is determined that he will forget about his feelings for Owen for good and strangely enough he thinks of Owen less and less.

When Shane initiates a kiss with Vic, Vic is shocked. For being best friends they had never talked about Shane’s sexual orientation. Was he gay? Vic didn’t have a clue. What he did know is that when he and Shane locked lips it was amazing; explosive and wonderful. Their physical relationship moves on to the next level and Vic enjoys the closeness he feels with Shane. The things that he thought were missing in his relationship with Owen he was getting from Shane. But when Owen shows up at the cottage what will happen with Shane and Vic?

I liked this book on the whole. It was a light, entertaining read but it just seemed like it was just the crust and we didn’t get to see the whole pie, if you know what I mean. The book was told in the 3rd person but we never got to see into Shane or Owen’s thoughts. That was a little frustrating for me as well as the fact that none of the men seemed to want to talk to each other until the end of the book. I know they’re men, but come on! lol They gotta talk some time, right? Right? Or am I delusional? heh. Maybe. Anyway, it would have been nice to see some inside thoughts from the two men that Vic was having relationships with or even some conversation.

I thought the ending was sweet – I won’t give away what happens – but again, issues/emotions were skimmed over. I guess I just wanted a little more substance or, again, a little more emotion showed.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

8 Comments

Tagged: Abigail Roux, m/m challenge review, Review

M/M Challenge Review: Savage Sanctuary by Jacqueline Barbary

Posted September 1, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 10 Comments

Sexy bad boy shapeshifter Michael O’Dare grew up on the streets. When government soldiers finally captured and imprisoned him, he became a lab rat and a collared slave, never again allowed to be human. His escape allowed him to return to human form, and head for freedom in the Western Territories.

Robert Hamilton-Scott had lived by the code “you’re careful, or you’re caught” for too long to take chances now. The one risk he takes in his carefully controlled life is offering temporary shelter to shifters on the run like Michael.

Robert knows it’s definitely not safe to want the sexy renegade he’s giving sanctuary to – passion is dangerous for a shapeshifter. As the soldiers close in he must choose between the careful life he’s built or life on the run with the man who has captured his heart.

Michael is brought to Hamilton Croft, Robert’s home and refuge, by freedom fighters after having escaped from labs that had been experimenting on him for a year. Robert is immediately drawn to Michael, but knows that what he wants and what he should take are two different things.

When Michael becomes conscious he is immediately attracted to Robert as well. Michael knows that he shouldn’t be longing for the other shifter’s touch – he doesn’t feel that he’s good enough for Robert. But Robert makes him feel comfort and though Michael has never known a true home, or anything but survival of the fittest, he longs for something…someone and he sees Robert as that someone. Though the two men give in to their attraction there are soldiers out looking for shapeshifters and if they are caught and taken to the labs the two men would probably not survive. Instead of accepting their fate they fight for their freedom.

This book had a new twist on shifters for me. The idea that the shapeshifters were created in a lab was a new one for me, I think. It seems that even though the shifters were scientifically produced the shapeshifting gene could be passed through birth so there were quite a few shifters around. Another new idea for me was that the shapeshifters could shift into many different animals. It’s described as:

Shifters didn’t morph their bodies. Their human form simply dematerialized, while their consciousness entered the body of the animal they chose to call.

It was an interesting concept to think that the shifters could shift into a lynx, a wolf, a dove, a falcon, a tiger. At one point Robert even wondered if he could shift into an elephant but he’d never tried before.

Despite the interesting premise of the book, however, parts of it didn’t really work for me. I liked the paranormal aspects of the book but the romance/relationship between the two men, which is what the book is mostly centered around, was rushed, imho. They had known each other a day, maybe 2 when they finally fully consummated their relationship. Within a couple of days Robert was thinking he was in love. It was too insta-love for my liking.

Robert was a “centered” shifter. It was kind of a religion but helped the shifters to not get addicted to the shifting. They controlled themselves instead of the animals controlling them. I could get into that. But Robert was afraid if he gave into one desire, Michael and sex, that he would give in to all desires – shifting included. But after Robert and Michael have sex, and fall for each other, Robert gains immeasurable strength and seems to become someone he’s never been before. He suddenly knows that he must help the shifter resistance. I guess it seemed too easy to me – shy and timid turns into outgoing and bold.

Then there’s Michael’s character. He’s played as a gangster baby – one that was born into and runs with a pack – but yet besides having shifting issues due to his lab time he seems as gentle as a lamb. I kept expecting there to be more fall out to the lab time but it just never happened. IDK the two characters just seemed off to me. Maybe it was just too much fantasy for me.

In the end I was torn about this one. How do I rate it? I really liked the paranormal aspects but the relationship didn’t work for me. So I’ll say it was a good but not great read.

Rating: 3 out of 5

10 Comments

Tagged: Jacqueline Barbary, m/m challenge review, Review

DIK Reading Challenge and M/M Challenge Review: Camp Hell by Jordan Castillo Price

Posted August 26, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 11 Comments

Victor Bayne honed his dubious psychic skills at one of the first psych training facilities in the country, Heliotrope Station, otherwise known as Camp Hell to the psychics who’ve been guests behind its razorwire fence.

Vic discovered that none of the people he remembers from Camp Hell can be found online, and there’s no mention of Heliotrope Station itself, either. Someone’s gone through a lot of trouble to bury the past. But who?

This is book 5 in the Psycop series. In books 1-4 we heard various references to Heliotrope Station aka Camp Hell – the facility that Vic and other psychs “trained” at – and every time Vic recollected anything in his life from that period of time he broke out in a sweat. It was not a time to be thought of fondly.

In this book we find that Vic has decided to face his fears and look into Camp Hell and the people he was there with via the internet, only he can’t find anything. There’s nothing to be found at all: nothing about the fellow psychs he was there with, nothing about the place itself – and rating 10 on the uber-weird scale…nothing on himself. It doesn’t matter where he looks on the internet there is absolutely no information about him. Needless to say this freaks our already somewhat paranoid main character right the hell out. He wants to find out who is hiding him in plain sight and find out why they’re doing it.

After using his psych friend Lisa to gain information about who can help him acquire information he heads to his old partner, and the man who tried to kidnap him for his own gain, Roger Burke. Burke attempts to coerce Vic into recanting his statement so that he can get out of prison and if Vic agrees he’ll give him any info he has on Camp Hell. Why does Burke have this information? He used to work for the FPMP – the Federal Pararnomal Monitoring Program. The same people who seem to be following Vic around wherever he goes. When Vic realizes that he’s being followed and checked in on on a regular basis, he’s suddenly afraid to talk to Jacob in their own home or use his cell phone.

But as much as he wants to stay away and hide from the FPMP they’re right there, invading every nook and cranny of Vic’s life. Vic has some incredibly hard decisions to make about how exactly he wants to live his life and how the FPMP will fit into it…or not. Along with this craziness he finds his old lover from Camp Hell who is a hypnotist. Stefan helps Vic in some regression therapy and Vic starts remembering some things about events at Camp Hell.

I can tell you that I’ve been on an absolute binge of the Psycop books in the past couple of weeks. I was really mad at the end of this book! Was it because it sucked? Absolutely not. It was because it was the last one I could dive into! lol

Camp Hell, as well as all of the other books in this series, are just incredibly good reads. Ms. Price has such a wonderful way of pulling you into the story and not letting go. The world she built is much like the one we currently live in but it’s got the added knowledge that psychics of all sorts do exist. The books are incredibly humorous and I found myself laughing through many different parts of the book. The books aren’t comedies though – they are considered horror but I never thought that anything was so gruesome that I couldn’t read it. Yes, dead people/ghosts are described but it was all ok for me.

Along with the humor and the horror we have the relationship between Vic and his boyfriend Jacob that has been growing, moving and changing since book 1. I gotta tell you I love those two together. They just work. Are either one of them perfect? No way, but even when they have trying times in their relationship they work it out and it just makes my crazy romantic heart do the happy dance. Such a great romance I can’t even put it into words. Oh, and the sex. Beyond a doubt some of the hottest sex scenes I’ve ever read. These boys pull no punches and I fuckin loved it.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I loved Camp Hell…as well as all the other books. I could babble and gush til I’m blue but I’m just gonna say: read the books. Seriously. If you haven’t already read them go get them now and devour them. It will be so worth your time.

Rating: 5 out of 5

11 Comments

Tagged: DIK Reading Challenge, Jordan Castillo Price, m/m challenge review, Review

M/M Challenge Review: Fair Game by Josh Lanyon

Posted August 5, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 12 Comments

A crippling knee injury forced Elliot Mills to trade in his FBI badge for dusty chalkboards and bored college students. Now a history professor at Puget Sound university, the former agent has put his old life behind him-but it seems his old life isn’t finished with him.

A young man has gone missing from campus-and as a favor to a family friend, Elliot agrees to do a little sniffing around. His investigations bring him face-to-face with his former lover, Tucker Lance, the special agent handling the case.

Things ended badly with Tucker, and neither man is ready to back down on the fight that drove them apart. But they have to figure out a way to move beyond their past and work together as more men go missing and Elliot becomes the target in a killer’s obsessive game…

The blurb pretty much explains what the book is about so I’ll just go straight to my thoughts…

Lanyon writes great mysteries, there’s no doubt about it. Like a great mystery should be, the book was like a puzzle that needed to be figured out. With this one I have to admit to not figuring out whodunit until about 3/4 of the way through the story. I loved Elliot’s way of figuring out the parts and pieces to the clues and ruminating over them in his mind or even banking them off of Tucker to get his thoughts.

Then there was Elliot and Tucker.I really liked them together. The tension between the two men was so thick you could cut it with a knife, but I had the distinct impression that Tucker wasn’t quite as over the relationship as Elliot was. Tucker had screwed up when Elliot had gotten shot and some painful words had been spoken, but Elliot wasn’t blameless either and when the two finally talk about what had happened between them it was quite engaging. I think it’s the pure emotion that comes through in the writing that got to me and I could almost feel the pain that they were feeling. This wasn’t your typical romance and I think I liked the book all the more because of that.

Let’s face it, I am a total Lanyon fan. His book, Fatal Shadows, was the first m/m book that I ever read and it hooked me not only to him as a writer but the genre in general. This book rates right up there as one of my favorites so far. (I’ve not read all of his books but I’m working on it!)

(Oh and as a side note, I love, love, love the cover of this book!)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

I received this book from the publisher