Tag: novella (Page 26 of 29)

Red at Night by Katie McGarry

April 24, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I’m a fan of Katie McGarry’s books. This book is available free from Harlequin or Amazon.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) In Red at Night, Stella and Jonah are total opposites. She’s the girl with purple hair from the wrong part of town. He’s a high school senior who hangs with the cool crowd. Until a car accident leaves him haunted by guilt, and Jonah starts spending time at Stella’s favorite refuge…the local cemetery.

Stella knows she should keep her distance—after all, she spent her girlhood being bullied by Jonah’s friends. Once he’s sorted out his tangled emotions, Jonah won’t have time for her anymore. Too bad she’s already fallen for him.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Inspired by Nikki Berta who runs the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation which provides free shoes to children in Nevada (and they get to choose their own shoes from a wide selection), this story is part of Harlequin’s More Than Words project.

Both Stella and Jonah are in their senior year of high school Stella lives with the sometime-girlfriend of her father. Her father is mostly absent and her and Joss (the sometime-girlfriend) are not remotely wealthy. Joss tells Stella not to dream or hope because people like them are destined to stay where they are and college and getting out from under is for other people.

March Round Up

April 3, 2014 / Kaetrin

on Paper/eBook

**NB – this review first appeared in the March ARRA members newsletter**

Too Busy for Love by Tamsin Baker – C- Too Busy for Love is a short (about 35 reading pages) erotic m/m novella featuring rich mergers and acquisitions man – Thomas and a younger architecture student/part time gardener, Luke.

Even though Australian spelling it used (eg mum), the book is set in America. I think Luke is about 19 or 20 – he is two years away from an architecture degree. The bonus for him working at Thomas’ estate is access to the extensive library for study after work. When Thomas stumbles across Luke late one night, he is instantly attracted and promptly propositions Luke. Luke hesitates because he’s not sure he’s gay.

Thomas doesn’t usually do any form of relationship and prefers no-strings sex but Luke has him thinking about other things.

I admit I was troubled by the idea that having sex in itself is the identifier of sexuality. I believe sexuality is more complicated than that. I also found it a bit unlikely that this 19/20 year old man would not have checked out a bit of gay porn on the internet, perhaps done a little solo experimenting – but apparently he has not. There is also a bit of pronoun abuse – when the main characters are both men it can sometimes be confusing which “his” we are reading about.

It is a very short story so there isn’t a lot of time for deep characterisation or deep discussion of sexuality issues either for that matter. I think it works better as an erotic story because most of the page count is filled with pretty hot sexual encounters between Luke and Thomas.

I didn’t really see them fall in love. I didn’t see why they fell in love. I saw why they were attracted and their definite sexual chemistry. The story does have a romantic epilogue – I wouldn’t have minded having more details about their relationship apart from sex within the story though.

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Indecent Exposure by Jane O’Reilly

March 10, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: The author contacted me requesting a review and sent me a NetGalley link.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Setting up the money shot…

Quiet, sensible Ellie Smithson is a highly respectable photographer by day – but there are only so many wedding photo-shoots you can take without your mind wandering to what happens when the blissfully happy bride is swept off her feet and straight to the honeymoon suite’s sumptuous four-poster bed…

So after dark, Ellie takes pictures of a more…intimate nature – a dirty little secret she’s kept from her accountant Tom. Until now. It seems Tom is the subject of her next racy shoot!

It isn’t just the blurring of work and personal boundaries that’s the problem; secretly Ellie has always had fantasies of a most unprofessional nature about the almost illegally gorgeous Tom. With such temptation on display, how will she ever stay behind the camera?!

The first book in the Indecent… trilogy

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I probably accept less than 10% of direct review requests. I have limited time and a massive TBR so the email has to get my attention and blurb has to hook me. This one did. I finished a book last night and was flailing about for something to read. Sometimes, when I can’t decide what I should read next (because having so many books can feel paralysing as Liz eloquently says here), I choose a novella. It’s not a big commitment and it works as a kind of palate cleanser for me. So, I opened Indecent Exposure.

I suppose the first couple of paragraphs were just a little on the clunky side but after that, I was completely reeled in (to complete the fishing metaphor). The story is told in the first person present tense POV of Ellie Smithson, photographer by day, erotic photographer by night (well, sometimes that’s during the day too). She kind of fell into it to pay the bills and she’s found it’s not only lucrative, she’s very good at it. Basically, people come and have sex (alone, with someone else, etc) in front of her and she takes classy photographs of them. It turns her on unbearably but she feels safe behind the camera.

February Round Up

March 3, 2014 / Kaetrin

on Paper/eBook

**NB This review first appeared in the February ARRA newsletter**
The Geek with the Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir – B+ This delightful novella is the second book in the “Cool Cats” series. There were supposed to be three, but I think the third book has been shelved for now. The first book was Girl With the Cat Tattoo (scroll down the link for my mini review). I liked Geek better but both a fun and quirky stories. Both stories feature a cat’s POV.

In Geek, the cat is Sam. He has been through a number of different owners but has yet to find his “forever owner”. When he meets Emerson Foshay, maker and repairer of musical instruments, he has high hopes. Sam has a secret super-power – he can “mindmess” with people. This is usually only in the form of getting them to empty the cat litter tray or buy him the expensive cat food, but when he sees how tongue-tied Emerson gets around Lola Brown, a regular customer in the shop, he steps in to help. Both Emerson and Lola get a POV but I admit I had a soft spot for Sam here.

With Sam’s help Emerson and Lola begin a relationship and Emerson starts to overcome his shyness. However, it’s not all smooth sailing and when Sam is “found” by his former (evil) owner, Emerson no longer has Sam’s “mindmessing” to help him and things fall apart. Even worse is to come however, when Sam’s former owner (because: reasons) wants Sam destroyed and before too long Emerson and Lola have to put aside their own problems to rescue Sam before it’s too late.

It is a fairly short story but the romance is very satisfying and Sam the cat is just awesome.

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It’s All Geek To Me by JL Merrow – B This is a cute little short – just under 50 pages. JL Merrow is one of the few authors I’m prepared to spend $2.99 on at that word count. I think it takes a particular talent to write an engaging and complete short story and while the subject matter is fairly light, I think she does a good job here.

Jez is a non-geek rugby-loving lab technician who has a bit of a complex about his looks after his ex did a number on him. When his friend Tel is in the hospital having broken both legs in a car vs. bike accident where he came off the definite loser, Jez is tasked with finding a comic book to replace the one damaged in the crash. Upon arrival at the comic store, he becomes deeply smitten by Rhys, the gorgeous guy behind the counter. Jez, desperate to impress Rhys begs “geek lessons” from Tel. It actually plays into his Jez’s lack of confidence and so it made sense and even though it was a bit of deception it was the kind I find fairly easy to forgive.

Marked by Kit Rocha, Lauren Dane and Vivian Arend

February 10, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I received a review copy from Kit Rocha.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Lauren Dane takes you into a brand new world in ALL THAT REMAINS. Summer Killian falls fast and hard when Charlie arrives in Paradise Village. But the heat turns all the way up when she learns Charlie is also with Hatch – the man she loved three years before. While she’s not sure she’s cut out for a triad, neither man is going to give her up.

Take a ROCKY RIDE with New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Vivian Arend as she leads you back to the Six Pack Ranch. Anna Coleman might be the law around Rocky Mountain House, but bad boy Mitch Thompson knows that under the stiff RCMP uniform is a woman with a passion for speed and pleasure that matches his own, and he’s not giving up until she’s his.

Kit Rocha returns to Sector Four in BEYOND TEMPTATION. A promise to a dying friend backfires when Noah Lennox finds that the girl he was supposed to rescue is all grown up–and wearing O’Kane ink. He wants to protect her from the secrets of their past, but she wants him. And an O’Kane woman always gets what she wants.

Beyond Temptation by Kit Rocha: Taking place between the events of Beyond Pain and the soon-to-be-released Beyond Jealousy, Temptation features O’Kane member Emma Cibulski and the mysterious tech expert living underground somewhere in Sector Three, Noah Lennox. Emma and Noah both have history in Sector Five and Noah has a hard-on for revenge against Five’s leader Mac Fleming. He blames Mac for his best friend (Emma’s brother)’s death. For reasons which are a little less clear to me, Mac is after Noah too and Noah has distanced himself from Emma for the past 4 years so as to protect her. She’s all grown up now and seeing the tough kickass woman she has become, Noah can no longer keep away. There is a secret to do with Emma’s brother that everyone except Emma seems to know and when it is revealed, it does throw a spanner into the works of their burgeoning relationship. The story ends with definite HFN/HEA but Noah’s journey to take down Mac Fleming is only just beginning and I expect we will see more of it revealed in the next book. The sex, as usual, is smokin’ hot and super dirrrty. There is also definite connection between Emma and Noah. When Noah sees what Dallas and Lex have, he wants it with Emma – that partnership and equality of exchange. The Beyond series is way more female positive than many post-apocalyptic books and I am enjoying the developing world building of the series as well as the great characters and dirty, inventive sex. Spending time in the Broken Circle is always fun and this novella was no exception. Grade: B

January Round Up

February 3, 2014 / Kaetrin

on Paper/eBook

**This review first appeared in the January ARRA members newsletter.**

Bonjour Cherie by Robin Thomas – C+ Beth Jenkins is a 21 year old under-achiever still living at home with her parents, working at the local IGA store. She’s smart, but she’s not as smart as her older sister and, knowing she can never win, she gave up competing. She has one burning ambition. To go to France.

She has very little money and no immediate prospects of fulfilling her dream, but still. She’s taking Introduction to French lessons at the local TAFE, run by gorgeous Frenchman Andre LeBlanc. Andre is urbane, pretty to look at and even better, he’s French. Unfortunately, it seems he doesn’t share her attraction. She hasn’t given up – she knows they’ll be just perfect for each other if only he’d notice her.

When hunky Zach Mills joins the class, sparks fly. He’s flirty and charming but he’s also built like a mechanic and he’s a local so she associates him with a small town life – a life she doesn’t want (even though she’s not actually doing much about it herself).

Zach comes to her rescue in little ways but she continually rebuffs him – he’s not what she wants – she wants Paris and Andre.

The book is very light-hearted and it’s not difficult to see what the barrier to Beth’s romantic dreams is when it comes to Andre and that there’s much more to Zach than first impressions. I couldn’t help feeling that Beth ended up being a little too ‘material girl’ when it came to Zach – he wasn’t acceptable boyfriend material as she assumed him to be – it was only later when, to paraphrase Pride & Prejudice, she saw Pemberley (metaphorically speaking) she realised that maybe she’d made a mistake.

I was pleased that by the end of the story Beth had decided to start living her life and reaching for her dreams rather than waiting for them to come to her and of course, there is a happy ending. There is a very Australian vibe to the novella and it was a fun evening’s read.

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