When Garrett Evergard is rescued by the witch, Bryson Summers, he discovers an alternate world unlike anything he’s ever imagined, and when that world is threatened, he’ll do anything to save it and the man he’s grown to love.
Garrett Evergard is a finder of secrets. As a biologist and environmentalist, it’s his job to go into wild lands and uncover their mysteries in order to save them. In the Pacific Northwest, he races against logging lobbyists to save a section of temperate rainforest, but the forest seems reluctant to give up her secrets. Until a fateful meeting with a rare spirit bear opens the door to wonders beyond anything he’s ever imagine, the greatest of those being the beautiful man who comes to his rescue.
As a witch and Gatekeeper, Bryson Summers is used to living a solitary life. He lives between two worlds, Earth and Terra, feeling not fully part of either, and dreams of meeting someone who understands him. From the moment he sees Garrett, he believes – and hopes – he’s looking upon a twin soul. Dragons, unicorns, and a witch with enchanting brown eyes, Garrett tries to make sense of a world so different from anything he’s ever known. But his mind and heart are open, and he finds himself drawn more to Bryson with each day they spend together. When Bryson and the gate that links the two worlds fall under threat, Garrett is willing to do all he can to protect them, even if it means facing down dark magic.
Rating: 2.75 out of 5
I had really high hopes for this one. It’s got a great premise and interesting characters. Alas, after a promising start it quickly gets detoured into Tropesville, and not just romance tropes.
Garrett’s personality comes through pretty well. His role as a scout to prevent development is a little unlikely, and the environmental issues at stake are presented in very simplified, black-and-white terms. Nature is Good, Corporations are Evil. Got it. This would be a peripheral nitpick if it weren’t a driving force for the plot as well.
Bryson is a little more difficult. Although we get a good idea of his character, he’s so very good, so altruistic, so nurturing…it’s just a bit much. He is an ideal match for Garrett. In fact, he is rather too-perfect a match and this is the point where the story started to feel a bit contrived for me. Bryson’s role as Gatekeeper is interesting, and the history and responsibilities of the position make for interesting reading, though.
Once we get the set-up and determine what the conflicts might be, the story collapses into plot-by numbers. We have the kidnapped lover thrown in the dungeon, we have the party assembling for a quest, and we have the modern-guy-in-fantasy-setting fish out of water scenario. Eventually it felt like the story devolved into what reminded me of some of the generic fantasy novels I read in high school, only with more gay sexytime.
The book finishes with what is quickly becoming a pet peeve of mine: introducing all of the characters who will appear in future books and laying out what the plots of those books will be in vague hints (“He swore that one day he would find his stolen {thing}.”)
Unfortunately, I just didn’t find this book interesting enough to consider pursuing the series any further.
Side note: About that cover. Sheesh. Can you imagine how much waxing it would take to get that look? Also, props for relating maybe 25% of the book cover to the actual storyline.
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I’m so damn lucky to be surrounded by amazing friends and family, and even neat
folks on the net I’ve never met. I send love and well wishes to all
today!
Happy Valentine’s Day especially
to my wonderful husband Dan, who somehow continues to put up with my sh*t even after 18 years together 🙂
I can’t describe what it’s like to want to scream every minute of every day.
Two years after a terrifying night of pain destroyed his normal teenage existence, Aaron Downing still clings to the hope that one day, he will be a fully functional human being. But his life remains a constant string of nightmares, flashbacks, and fear. When, in his very first semester of college, he’s assigned Spencer Thomas as a partner for his programming project, Aaron decides that maybe “normal” is overrated. If he could just learn to control his fear, that could be enough for him to find his footing again.
With his parents’ talk of institutionalizing him – of sacrificing him for the sake of his brothers’ stability – Aaron becomes desperate to find a way to cope with his psychological damage or even fake normalcy. Can his new shrink control his own demons long enough to treat Aaron, or will he only deepen the damage?
Desperate to understand his attraction for Spencer, Aaron holds on to his sanity with both hands as it threatens to spin out of control.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
This is a remarkable, visceral read. Aaron is a survivor of a vicious assault, and Barnaby doesn’t sugar-coat things in the least. The reader is taken along in the spiraling panic of Aaron’s breakdowns and really gets an understanding of the PTSD that Aaron experiences. The author has clearly done an extensive amount of research into how victims of traumatic experiences feel, and how it can be dealt with on the personal and professional level.
Spencer has been deaf from birth, and while his father and aunt have done a great job raising him the isolation he feels in his everyday life is brutal. We learn what it is like to live with being deaf, the sacrifices that have to be made, and how technology can improve communication. Spencer is a strong-willed man, fiercely independent – the antithesis of Aaron in many ways.
Seeing Aaron and Spencer develop a tentative friendship that advances further is wonderful, and realistic. This isn’t something where they meet and it’s all rainbows and unicorns. There are harsh setbacks and disappointments. There are some degrees of intimacy that Aaron clearly will take a long time to be comfortable with, and this is dealt with honestly.
Barnaby’s writing is quite good. The story flows well, the POV alternating between Aaron and Spencer, so the reader has a good feel for how they are thinking and feeling. The side characters, mostly Spencer’s father and Aaron’s parents, behave believably. The support they offer is great to see. I have to knock off half a point because a major issue with Spencer’s father and the impact of it is not fully explored, though.
Tyler Stevens’ narration is fantastic. He helps the listener really feel and understand the emotions of the characters. In Aaron’s case this is no small feat and it makes the audiobook that much more affecting. Stevens’ makes Spencer’s speaking voice as one would expect from a deaf person, but I never got the feeling it was a mockery or unflattering portrayal – it just is. The side characters’ voices are easy to distinguish, and the overall narration feels very natural.
This is at times a difficult read but an extremely rewarding one, and the book is well-served by the audiobook performance.
At every rehearsal during the 1980s and early 1990s, there were announcements about who was in which hospital room and when the next memorial was scheduled.
“I could see all these people dropping all around me, and there was no official response from any health department at any level,” said Tony McIntosh, who joined the chorus in 1985 and lost 25 friends to AIDS. “It was maddening. The chorus gave us an outlet for all that anger and relief from the feeling that nobody in the world seemed to care.”
Apropos of nothing, I was reminded of Kaje Harper’s Unjustified Claims, book 3 in her Hidden Wolves series. I thought it was neat that in among all of the other trappings of m/m romance/shifter tropes, one of her main characters had a cross-dressing kink that was peripheral to the storyline. Because it was peripheral and not too important I didn’t give it much thought when I read it (~6 months ago) but with a little more context in the M/M genre I think it’s really nifty that it was a.) mentioned and b.) not made a huge deal about. Whether it is or is not your thing, I think it adds a nifty element of three-dimensionality to the story that I really appreciated.
So, about this latest book I’m reading. I’d characterize it as “Like reading Piers Anthony only with more gay sex.” I enjoyed Piers Anthony when I was 12 years old. I’m not 12 years old anymore.
(To be fair, the reviews seem to rave about it and I’m only 35% into it. Maybe it gets dramatically better?)
UPDATE: It didn’t get any better ☹️ I actually really hate reviewing books I don’t think are very good. Someone worked very hard to make something they thought was worthwhile and I don’t want to be the one to tell them it sucks. I’ll have to think about it and figure out objectively why it didn’t work for me, and why maybe it might work for someone else.
Now, I’m not going to make any secret of the fact that I like a man with meat on his bones (as my, ah, other Tumblr will attest). @afhenley and @northofthemountains are doing a fine job of persuading me about the virtues of skinnier guys as well, though.
Several people have asked about the retouching that @jdlaclede does on these photos. I will say that yes, he did make some changes. My eyes were closed in the original picture.
So, about this latest book I’m reading. I’d characterize it as “Like reading Piers Anthony only with more gay sex.” I enjoyed Piers Anthony when I was 12 years old. I’m not 12 years old anymore.
(To be fair, the reviews seem to rave about it and I’m only 35% into it. Maybe it gets dramatically better?)
Some Wise Advice Circulating: 1. Don’t use his name; EVER (45 will do) 2. Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone; 3. Do not argue with those who support him–it doesn’t work; 4. Focus on his policies, not his orange-ness and mental state;
5. Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and
fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will
grow; 6. No more helpless/hopeless talk; 7. Support artists and the arts; 8. Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it; 9. Take care of yourselves; and 10. Resist!
Keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon, “When it
gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s
game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your
face – to make you fight! Because once they’ve got you violent, then
they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to
handle is non-violence and humor.” When you post or talk about him,
don’t assign his actions to him, assign them to “The Republican
Administration,” or “The Republicans.” This will have several effects:
the Republican legislators will either have to take responsibility for
their association with him or stand up for what some of them don’t like;
he will not get the focus of attention he craves; Republican
representatives will become very concerned about their re-elections.
So I read some of their books. And I was blown away by them. They absolutely could
write about being gay in an authentic way. Granted, there were the
books with the ten-inch dicks and the eight-pack abs with Alpha males
named Blaze and Talon who snarled at each other that they’ve never even thought about being with a man before meeting each other, but then falling to their knees and giving head like a motherfucking porn
star with cocks leaking copiously (this might be a medical condition
that a doctor should be consulted with should it happen repeatedly) and
then taking it up the ass as if they normally walked around with a loose
butthole.
(In case you don’t know, bottoming for the first few times hurts. Like, a lot. So.)
The ohm symbol – Ω – is a measure of resistance. Show the world
you’re resisting the fascist turn the US government has taken in the
most adorable way possible with this angry skunk pin.
This angry little skunk & its word of RESIST will be 1.5″ (40mm) tall & hard enamel silver plated.
All money raised that is not spent on pin production and shipping
will be donated to the ACLU, who are currently fighting for our rights
across the country. Please note I am not involved nor work for the ACLU,
I simply know they need all the help they can get.
I’ve been trying to put my finger on why the whole…Rogue Twitter thing has been bothering me, and I think I’ve finally figured out a piece of it.
The way people are regarding and celebrating these “rogue” accounts tastes a lot like idolatry. Which….would be less of a problem, in my opinion, if we were actually able to trust these accounts.
Some of them seem pretty legitimate but…you realize how easy it would be for someone (say, a counterintelligence agent) to make an account like this, in order to infiltrate the community, right? Considering how quickly more “rogue” agency accounts sprung up after the AltUSNatPark account, and how quickly they amassed followers, can you imagine how easy it would be for a competently-run imposter account to get plenty of attention and support?
I’m not claiming that I know that any of these accounts are fake. I’m not trying to delegitimize them. I mean, as a student of science (and as just one of millions of people who are fearful of what’s happening)…seeing accounts like the AltUSNatPark and RogueNASA has made me hopeful that truth, and fact, and reason, are things that will survive despite the government trying to suppress them.
I just want be careful. I want us all to remember that we need to be vigilant, we need to be skeptical, we need to remember how easy it is to be misled on the Internet. We need to restrain from putting blind faith into just any account that pops up and claims to want to help us.
In the small mountain town of Amorea, it’s stretching toward autumn of 1954. The memories of a world at war are fading in the face of a prosperous future. Doors are left unlocked at night, and neighbors are always there to give each other a helping hand.
The people here know certain things as fact:
Amorea is the best little town there is.
The only good Commie is a dead Commie.
The Women’s Club of Amorea runs the town with an immaculately gloved fist.
And bookstore owner Mike Frazier loves that boy down at the diner, Sean Mellgard. Why they haven’t gotten their acts together is anybody’s guess. It may be the world’s longest courtship, but no one can deny the way they look at each other.
Slow and steady wins the race, or so they say.
But something’s wrong with Mike. He hears voices in his house late at night. There are shadows crawling along the walls, and great clouds of birds overhead that only he can see.
Something’s happening in Amorea. And Mike will do whatever he can to keep the man he loves.
The best way to read this book is to go in completely cold, so there’s no spoilers to be had from me. It is safe to say that even though the blurb above tells a lot, it really tells you nothing at all.
It’s interesting that you could probably summarize the events of the entire book in a single paragraph and not miss much, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad story. Instead, it’s a tribute to the writing. We learn about the world of Amorea bit by bit, and the mystery slowly unfolds. We see the world from Mike’s point of view, taking comfort in his daily routine. As in Wolfsong, repetition of phrases plays a key part in the storytelling. This establishes a rhythm to the story and lulling the reader into a sense of normalcy, so that when things start to go awry the effect is all the more visceral.
The relationship between Mike and Sean simply melts my heart. They go slow – maddeningly slow at times – but the wait is so worth it. The fact that the town is watching them knowingly and quietly cheering them on is simply adorable as well. The rapport that they have established over the years is sweet and charmingly old-fashioned. They have been together-but-not-dating long enough that they have the simple language of lovers, where an exchange like, “Yeah?” “Yeah.” carries a mountain of subtext. The reader cheers them on as well, and as they get closer I admit I may have shed a tear or two.
This is another winner from TJ. If you’ve read his books, I’d say it has the seriousness of Into This River I Drown (which is very subtly referenced!) but the engaging story development of Wolfsong. If you haven’t read his books, then those two are great ones to move on to when you finish this one!
There’s some gin in the kitchen infused with sloe berries. It tastes like cough medicine. Quite nice actually.
I adore gin, and I’m even learning to like Old Tom gin. I still haven’t figured out what to do with sloe gin, though.
In tall glass, squeeze half a lemon into two shots of sloe gin and fill with club soda. It’s called a Sloe gin fizz and it takes like a SweetTart.
I beg your pardon tastes like a what?
And if you’ve neither? I don’t like tonic water, and gin isn’t my fave spirit but if i need a drink it’s acceptable. Anything else masks the taste, but carbonated water would do.
Soda water is carbonated water enhanced with some type of sodium. You could use just sparkling water if you prefer a zero-sodium alternative. You wouldn’t want to use tonic water so good thing you don’t like it.
SweetTarts (candy that tastes both sweet and tart):
See when you said sweet tart i thou- you know what nevermind XD
I’m not sure we have soda water. Just carbonated, tonic and lemonade.
Drank gin once some time ago. Only a small glass and not even full. Gave me such a headache the next morning. XD
How much of a glass? You’re not meant to fill the entire glass you know, unless it’s a shot glass lol.
I wanna try absinthe or something insanely strong.
I thought absinthe was a strange, mysterious drink until I learned that I had had something extremely similar while in France: pastis (Pernod and Ricard are the most popular, I think). A little pastis and some water over ice on a hot day is wonderful!
As for gin: you have to know that there are many different kinds of gin. The most common and popular one is the London dry gin (your typical juniper-punch-to-the-face). I like it in cocktails but not so much straight. (As if I enjoy anything straight. Ahem.)
I far prefer either a cucumber-flavored gin (Hendrick’s is the most common one in the US) or a botanical gin (yes, they contain juniper but the more forward flavors come from a mix of flavorings like citrus, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, and many others). Oh, and if you’re drinking more than 60 ml at a time, you are well on the road to regret! 🙂
Over the last few years I have discovered the joy of gin and tonics, but I have also learned that the “tonic water” that you buy is absolutely and thoroughly disgusting. Tonic syrups are becoming more popular in the US; these are basically just a sugar syrup with quinine and various botanical flavorings. This is a nice overview (and I see several brands I still need to try! Jack Rudy’s is my go-to, but 18.21 is amazing).
Oh, and for the record, soda water = carbonated water = club soda = seltzer. It’s just water injected with carbon dioxide
at high pressure. Some commercial brands of club soda do add a slight amount of salt for flavor.
I will now stop being a pedantic ass and go back to enjoying my booze quietly.
A drifter since his
teens, Jimmy Dorsett has no home and no hope. What he does have is a
duffel bag, a lot of stories, and a junker car. Then one cold desert
night he picks up a hitchhiker and ends up with something more: a letter
from a dying man to the son he hasn’t seen in years.
On a quest
to deliver the letter, Jimmy travels to Rattlesnake, a small town
nestled in the foothills of the California Sierras. The centerpiece of
the town is the Rattlesnake Inn, where the bartender is handsome former
cowboy Shane Little. Sparks fly, and when Jimmy’s car gives up the
ghost, Shane gets him a job as handyman at the inn.
Both within
the community of Rattlesnake and in Shane’s arms, Jimmy finds an
unaccustomed peace. But it can’t be a lasting thing. The open road
continues to call, and surely Shane—a strong, proud man with a painful
past and a difficult present—deserves better than a lying vagabond who
can’t stay put for long.
Rating: 5 out of 5!
Wow, what a great book.
Both Jimmy and Shane are broken people, each in their own way. Seeing
them interact and how the broken pieces fit together is wonderful to
read.
I’ve been trying to put my finger on why I enjoyed this book and Kim Fielding’s “Bones”
books, and I think (aside from the great main characters and dialogue),
she creates a wonderful sense of place. The story isn’t taking place in
a vacuum, and the secondary characters are interesting and have lives
“off-screen.” I’ve read a few too many books where every single
character introduced has a specific role to play in the plot. It’s OK to
just have someone in the background who doesn’t, you know, actually do
anything other than aid in the setting!
It’s always a good sign
when I get wrapped up enough in the characters and the story that when
the end of the book comes I’m crying and wanting more. That was
definitely the case with Rattlesnake!
I initially read (and reviewed) this book in June, 2016. I
just finished listening to K.C. Kelly’s performance of this audiobook.
Kelly’s voice is perfect for the story, adding a comfy Western twang to the
narration and providing suitable accents for the characters. His
performance is remarkable because he pays attention to how the
dialogue is delivered, as well as differences in cadence and intonation.
Jimmy’s simple “Sure.” (in context, “go ahead, I don’t mind”) has a
rising intonation that matches how you would imagine the character would
naturally speak. I’m probably describing this poorly, but it is safe to
say that I enjoyed Kelly’s performance very much, and he made a great
book even better!
There are a lot of things in this world to complain about (and heavens know I do that enough elsewhere) but I want to mention a small thing that is killing me: I adore the book I’m reading now (In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish). It’s a sweet romance between two likeable characters in a cozy small-town setting. The only thing bothering me is that it is written in the first person, present tense and it’s killing me! As I read the grammar stickler in me keeps looking back and thinking I’m seeing inconsistencies in tense. That is really disruptive.
It looks like the series continues from here and I look forward to seeing more, but if the writing style doesn’t change I’m afraid I’ll have to bail.
So we’re supposed to use a terrible system just because the rest of the world suffers from it? *scoffs* Please.
People are 70% water (iirc), Celsius is based on water. Be water my friend.
Though this misleading. Celsius is common in the UK, Fahrenheit still is often used.
As an engineer in the US, I weep every day that we haven’t adapted the metric system. Don’t tell me about thousandths of an inch in your mold design – tell me in something sensible like millimeters!
Infected: Prey, Bloodlines, Life After Death, Freefall, Shift, Lesser Evils, Undertow, Epitaph, by Andrea Speed
How do you review an eight-book series? Normally I’m not sure I’d even attempt it, but given that I would rate every book in the series 5 out of 5, I think that this merits mentioning. I have reviewed the first three (and a half) books in the series here and here. I am so pleased to say that the series continues from there to be a wonderful read.
To recap from an earlier review:
In the 1960’s a virus was loosed that killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. A vaccine was created, but the vaccine had…side effects. For those “infected” with the virus, five days out of every month they transform into a feral feline – cougar, lion, leopard, panther, or tiger. This is not a neat transformation, either: it can take an hour or more, and is excruciatingly painful as all of the bones break, the body is re-formed, and mass is redistributed. The bigger the feline, the greater the toll it takes on the body, so while there are many cougars, tigers have a diminishingly short lifespan.
Roan McKichan is an oddity. Where almost all other infecteds caught the virus later in life, he was born with the virus and somehow lived when all other virus children usually die shortly after birth. A former cop and now a private detective, he is coming to an understanding with the lion inside him and becoming something the world has never seen before.
While these books are technically mysteries (or at the very least private detective cases), those are peripheral to what really matters. Each book is comprised of two novellas, typically one following chronologically after the other. Each novella has 2-3 cases of varying degrees of interest and involvement. The important thing here though is the characters and how they live their lives.
Roan is the star of the show, and is truly a larger-than-life character. The overarching story is of him coming to terms with his lion, and the damage done to himself as he calls on the lion to do what he believes is right. He can be cranky, misanthropic, sarcastic, and funny as hell. At the same time, though, we see him dealing with deep depression and wondering if the fight to just keep living is even worth it. He’s complex, complicated, and fascinating.
Roan alone would be the basis of a couple of good books. However, Speed has created a setting with a lot of possibilities, and populated it with a remarkable cast of characters. After Roan, Holden is the next biggest player. He’s a former whore with no illusions about the world or himself. Amoral is just a start, and he is not above a little vigilantism on the side when called for. At the same time he has a vulnerability that he hides from everyone except a sometimes-boyfriend who slows chips his way into Holden’s heart.
Other characters are incredibly entertaining, like the Seattle Falcons, a minor-league hockey team who befriends Roan: Handsome, closeted team captain Scott, the paradoxically gentle enforcer Grey, and the manic goalie Tank. They make a weird addition for Roan’s little family and yet it all fits together somehow. Add in oddballs like Fiona, Roan’s receptionist who is also a part-time dominatrix, and Dee, Roan’s ex-boyfriend and EMT who spends far too much time putting Roan back together, and you’ve got quite a collection.
So having reviewed the earlier books, why do I feel like I need to write more about the series? I think more than anything reading the series as a whole is an incredibly satisfying experience. You spend a lot of time with these people and you start to know them well – how they tick, why they act like they do. You want to know what is happening in their lives, and what will happen next. Speed’s writing is at its best here, keeping up a driving pace that still gives the reader time to consider the character’s thoughts and emotions. It has been a long time since I became as invested in a set of books like this, and I hope you take the time to check them out as well!
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