Gay novel recs
Dec. 27th, 2007 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agt_spookySo my hubby gave me a bunch of gay romance books for Christmas (isn't he awesome?) and I settled in during the days I was off for the holiday and read three of them. I thought I'd give some quick thoughts/impressions on them in case anyone's interested in purchasing them themselves:
Spare Parts by Scott & Scott - this is the third Scott & Scott book I've read and I give it a thumbs up, just as I did with Razor Burn. They do a good job of writing two men starting a relationship and the angst that comes with it, especially when each man is keeping a secret from the other. Oh, and the sex scenes are very nice. :-) This one has a much more believable twist to it than Razor Burn, though I enjoyed Razor Burn very much.
Always by M.L. Rhodes - this is actually a novel with two stories in it, Never Let Go and Hearts and Bones, both with the same characters. I give Never Let Go two thumbs up, waaay up. M.L. Rhodes writing is spectacular and had me nearly in tears more than once during the story. Very moving tale of two men who have been friends for 13 years, since childhood, each secretly desiring the other. They finally come together for one explosive night, only to be torn apart the very next morning and their resulting journey back to each other. I felt for Ethan and Will deeply during the entire story.
Hearts and Bones is the sequel to Never Let Go, where Ethan's secret past rears it's head and puts both his and Will's life in danger. The only thing stopping me from giving this story two thumbs up is that in the last third of the book the men are forced at gunpoint into heavy BDSM and that's just not my cup of tea. I liked the idea of exploring Ethan's past, but taking it in that direction wasn't what I expected or enjoyed. But the first two thirds was good and again, Rhodes's writing is superb. Oh, and great sex scenes (besides the BDSM for me) in both stories. :-)
Willow Bend by Ally Blue - I'm very blah about this one, since the description on the back of the book led me to believe one thing would happen and it really didn't. The description was that one man, Paul, had lost his lover of six years a year and a half earlier to a car accident and that Paul was moving across the country to escape the painful memories, certainly not looking to start a new relationship, still missing his lover. The other man, Cory, lives in the town where Paul moves and he's focused on working two jobs to make enough money to take care of his extremely ill mother and doesn't have time for a relationship. But of course they meet and things spark.
I was expecting the majority of the book to be each of them fighting their feelings for their individual reasons, kinda of dancing around each other before realizing this was meant to be between them. Instead, only 38 pages in and they're going at it like rabbits! So that really threw me. The rest of the book was them having sex as much as possible with some half-hearted angst thrown in and a huge focus on Cory's dying mother. Thumbs down on this one, as it bored me and Ally Blue's writing is not very strong.
There you have it! Hope you liked my short reviews, and if YOU'VE got a rec, please tell me! When I posted my review of Razor Burn, a bunch of you told me about The Tin Star, which I purchased and really, really enjoyed, so thank you! I'm always on the lookout for great books!
Spare Parts by Scott & Scott - this is the third Scott & Scott book I've read and I give it a thumbs up, just as I did with Razor Burn. They do a good job of writing two men starting a relationship and the angst that comes with it, especially when each man is keeping a secret from the other. Oh, and the sex scenes are very nice. :-) This one has a much more believable twist to it than Razor Burn, though I enjoyed Razor Burn very much.
Always by M.L. Rhodes - this is actually a novel with two stories in it, Never Let Go and Hearts and Bones, both with the same characters. I give Never Let Go two thumbs up, waaay up. M.L. Rhodes writing is spectacular and had me nearly in tears more than once during the story. Very moving tale of two men who have been friends for 13 years, since childhood, each secretly desiring the other. They finally come together for one explosive night, only to be torn apart the very next morning and their resulting journey back to each other. I felt for Ethan and Will deeply during the entire story.
Hearts and Bones is the sequel to Never Let Go, where Ethan's secret past rears it's head and puts both his and Will's life in danger. The only thing stopping me from giving this story two thumbs up is that in the last third of the book the men are forced at gunpoint into heavy BDSM and that's just not my cup of tea. I liked the idea of exploring Ethan's past, but taking it in that direction wasn't what I expected or enjoyed. But the first two thirds was good and again, Rhodes's writing is superb. Oh, and great sex scenes (besides the BDSM for me) in both stories. :-)
Willow Bend by Ally Blue - I'm very blah about this one, since the description on the back of the book led me to believe one thing would happen and it really didn't. The description was that one man, Paul, had lost his lover of six years a year and a half earlier to a car accident and that Paul was moving across the country to escape the painful memories, certainly not looking to start a new relationship, still missing his lover. The other man, Cory, lives in the town where Paul moves and he's focused on working two jobs to make enough money to take care of his extremely ill mother and doesn't have time for a relationship. But of course they meet and things spark.
I was expecting the majority of the book to be each of them fighting their feelings for their individual reasons, kinda of dancing around each other before realizing this was meant to be between them. Instead, only 38 pages in and they're going at it like rabbits! So that really threw me. The rest of the book was them having sex as much as possible with some half-hearted angst thrown in and a huge focus on Cory's dying mother. Thumbs down on this one, as it bored me and Ally Blue's writing is not very strong.
There you have it! Hope you liked my short reviews, and if YOU'VE got a rec, please tell me! When I posted my review of Razor Burn, a bunch of you told me about The Tin Star, which I purchased and really, really enjoyed, so thank you! I'm always on the lookout for great books!
