Tag Archives: lgbtq

Book Review: A Russian Bear, by C.B. Conway

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a russian bear coverAbout the book:

To Mischa, life is simple. Doms are Doms and subs are for fucking, flogging, and bossing around. Until he meets Tom, that is. Tom is deeply offended when the stranger in the bar takes him for some kind of slave boy. Well, offended and more than a little excited by the thought of surrendering to Mischa. Mischa being Mischa, their meeting results in Tom losing his virginity in a way that’s hotter than even his wildest fantasies. Mischa is drawn to Tom and makes another appointment. And then another, initiating Tom to every kink Mischa knows. They aren’t scenes, of course, because Mischa has a “one boy, one scene” rule. But then again, Tom isn’t exactly like his usual boys, and Mischa finds himself falling in love, though nowhere near ready to admit it. Luckily, Tom isn’t exactly your stereotypical slave. Life is good — until Tom gets attacked, and Mischa has to fight harder than ever to make Tom realize that he isn’t going anywhere.

Review:

I wish I hadn’t started this, then I wouldn’t have needed to finish it. I’m not really into instructional sex, so this was never going to be a big winner for me. (I didn’t know that was basically ALL it is when I chose to read it.) But I also got REALLY bored with the Ds/BSDM 101 and monotonous ‘playroom’ toy scenes. I lost track of how many times I read some version of ‘This is an X. It does Y’ or ‘This is a Y. I’m going to do X to you with it.’ Mischa and Tom were like kids in a freakin’ candy store. ‘I’ll try this and this and this and this and this and this and this…’

The book didn’t develop even a whiff of a plot until close to 50%, and it was almost nonexistent even then. By that time, I was only continuing the book out of a stubborn determination to see if it really could be a whole book of ‘This is how you do it and use this toy/tool/instrument.’ (Apparently, it could.) Plus, all of Tom’s earnest and honest answers about what he needs and wants and why came across as little more than dry lessons into the intent and proper uses of D/s and BDSM kink. I don’t mind reading about kink, but I’m not interested in reading an instruction manual, and that’s what this felt like.

After the halfway mark, when the relationship started to develop, and some of the sex could just be kinky sex and not feel like the ‘how to use’ pages from the Acme Erotic Toy catalog, some of the scenes were pretty hot, and Mischa & Tom were pretty sweet together. But for most of the book, I found myself gritting my teeth.

I did appreciate the occasionally sarcastic narrative, especially in regard to Mischa’s inner dialogue. I also liked the age difference between the men and the fact that no big deal was made of it. I was curious about names. There is the obviously Russian ‘Mischa’ and, without exception, every other character in the book has some bland American name, like Tom, Rob, John, Daniel, etc.

I thought that the writing was basically fine, and the editing was passable. I did notice the occasional overuse of names in dialogue, some sudden POV shifts, and it’s occasionally hard to tell who’s speaking. Plus, as a personal pet peeve, ‘Oh, ah, oh, uh, oh, ah, oh, oh, oh…’ has never struck me as sexy erotic dialogue. So, in terms of my own enjoyment, this is a one-star read. But I’ll grant it a second because, to be fair, the book is structurally sound.

Book Review of The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies #1), by K. J. Charles

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The Magpie LordI borrowed a copy of The Magpie Lord, by K. J. Charles. (Thanks, L.)

Description from Goodreads:
Exiled to China for twenty years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He’s also inherited his family’s enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn’t expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane’s family. Unfortunately, it’s his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he’s ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude…and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That’sdefinitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane’s dangerous appeal isn’t the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can’t find a way through it—they’re both going to die.

Review:
A number of people I follow of Goodreads have read and loved this book. I’m always nervous starting such a book, because there is so much more of a chance of going in with high expectations and being doubly disappointed if it doesn’t live up to the hype. Luckily for me, The Magpie Lord does. I really quite enjoyed it.

I liked Crane’s Devil may care attitude. (I was expecting a stuffy Earl and was relieved to find he wasn’t.) I liked that Day held his own, despite his small stature. I adored Merrick. He was, by far, my favourite character. I liked everyone’s witty banter and general disregard of social dictates.

Despite what I liked, there were also things that niggled at me. I thought Crane’s transition into trash-talking sexual pursuer was sudden and startlingly abrupt. As if from one page to the next he went from having a professional relationship with Day to seeing him as a potential conquest and that required he tell him repeatedly what he would do to him.

I thought that despite being strong in most contexts, anytime the story swerved toward a sexy scene all Day’s descriptions felt like those of a woman. To quote another reviewer (because I couldn’t say it better), “He is constantly on his knees, gets his red lips moistened and “broken” open by Crane, he is breathy, nearly faints half of the time, reacts like a Harlequin lady to Crane, is snippy, in the end gets f*cked like a girl (tried several times and f*cked in the end like that as well) and it’s just not a femme who is described there. It’s a “male girl”.”

I felt cheated out of the sex too. There were several almosts, but the final actual act was practically glossed over in favour of its consequences. What’s more, the suggestion that Day was a natural submissive to Crane’s preferred domination came out of nowhere and felt like a gimmick in the end. What it actually probably is is a set up for their relationship in future books, but I can only judge from here for now.

Lastly, though the mystery was interesting for most of the book, the revelation of the villian(s) was a let down. They came out of nowhere, thereby holding no emotional relevance for the reader. Heck, half the time I couldn’t even keep the names straight as they’d played so little role in the book that they hadn’t cemented in my mind and they were so similar.

So, I had a couple complaints, it’s true. But For the most part, despite not being a fan of historical fiction in general, I really enjoyed the book and will be looking to continue the series.

Vision Quest

Book Review of Vision Quest, by A.F. Henley & Kelly Wyre

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Vision QuestI downloaded a free copy of Vision Quest, by A.F. Henley & Kelly Wyre, from Amazon. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
When Arik Beltrán checks into a hotel on business, he expects the tedium of unfamiliar beds and boring meetings. He expects to meet a financial client and be home before the solitude of being a stranger in a mundane land becomes too much to bear. 

Instead Arik finds Blaze: a mysterious man with an inner fire that lives up to the name. Nothing in Arik’s life, not his deranged father nor even his faint brushes with the magic only Arik can see in the woven web of life could have prepared Arik for the man in the hotel lobby who casually invites Arik to room 1109 for late night … well, anything at all. 

Blaze Zaituc, on the other hand, knows exactly who Arik is and what Arik needs: Blaze. He has crossed land and sea to find the man who has appeared in Blaze’s Visions as the next target in the Quest that comprises Blaze’s life. Arik is someone for whom the Universe has plans, and Blaze must make sure Arik complies. Or else. 

Unaware of the lives and risks hanging in the balance, Arik untangles himself from the sheets in the silent hours of the morning. He wonders if he will find the door to 1109 open and waiting. He’s not a risk taker, but this one time, just this once, maybe he’ll take a chance… 

And seal both his and Blaze’s destinies forever.

Review:
Oh boy, I hardly know where to start with this one. To start with, it’s probably 75% sex. Yeah, you read that right. There is A LOT of sex (This is a 200+ page book.), which I don’t actually have a huge problem with, but I like to know that’s what I’m in for and was surprised to find it here. Some of that sex was smoking hot, some not so much and after a point it was just redundant.

The plot is weak. There is one and it hangs together up until the last 15% or so, which I’ll address in a moment. The reader spends the beginning of the book confused, as is intended. Once things start to come together the book smooths out, however the writing style is such that information is left scarce. This creates a certain horror-esque atmosphere, but also leaves the reader always feeling a little off balance.

Again, I think that feeling of just barely grasping what is happening was purposeful on the part of the authors. And it worked to a point…until the end. It felt like throughout the story the authors constrained themselves and walked a narrow path in which the book maintained a certain necessary level of realism. Then in the last 15-20% (pretty much everything after the lodge and definitely everything in Luca’s home) they just decided to let loose and skipped hand-in-hand off into La-La Fantasy Land. Things just got weird and not in a good way.

I could have dealt with the LSD-like visions. Visions often are symbolic, even if most of them had been pretty straightforward in the rest of the book. But that last sex scene…no, just weird. Not disturbing in any fashion, just too Middle-Grade fantasy merged with m/m sex. Lets just say, it didn’t work for me.

If I was going to rate this book, I’d give the first 80% a 3.5 and the last 20% a 1.5 star. The writing itself was fine. It was a little over-wordy at times, but readable. I noticed a few editing mistakes, but not enough to be bothered by.