with a review of Thankless in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen. They are always reliably good listens for me.
Tag: Susan Ericksen (Page 3 of 5)
on Paper/eBook
**NB This review first appeared in the ARRA members newsletter in October 2014**
In Another Life by EE Montgomery is a very short story but it covers a lot of ground. It’s a very stylised work, with glimpses of the main characters for short periods every eight years. It begins with Eli and Mike at 24, living together and just at the start of their careers. Because each of them is so busy, their relationship suffers and the story starts when Mike leaves and Eli is devastated. Fast forward eight years and they encounter one another again but Eli lets Mike believe he is with someone else. There is still attraction but also (especially from Eli) great pain. A further eight years pass and Mike finds Eli drinking heavily (in celebration over a friend’s good health news) and takes him home and looks after him (yes Kat, this is a vomit book). There is a strong connection between the characters but the story is so short it doesn’t have much chance to develop. We cover 24 years in about 20 pages. Eli and Mike have never stopped loving each other it seems, but there is a lot of hurt and baggage to be dealt with before they can have their HEA. For me, I think I would have appreciated the story more if I had been able to spend more time with the characters. As it was, I did feel their connection and Mike’s guilt for the decision he regrets and the pain it caused Eli. I enjoyed the secondary characters of Quinn and Jerry as well. The story was a quick read and in a very short time the author captured my interest. I wished it were longer.
Coming Soon
In November, I’ll have reviews of Crash Into You by Katie McGarry and Northern Star by Ethan Day and more.
On Paper/eBook
Mad About the Boys by JL Merrow and Jo Myles – B This anthology is a collection of 1 new and 4 previously published short stories featuring m/m/f romance (which is my favourite kind of menage story). Dinner for Three (Merrow) is a wonderful start to the anthology, a contemporary about two happily coupled guys who are interested in expanding their relationship to include their oblivious housemate Claire – I could happily have read a full length novel about this trio. Because of the very short word count, the characterisations are necessarily very thin and the story doesn’t take us beyond one day of encounters. What there was however was so very engaging, I was sad when the story ended – I really wanted more.
In the Greenwood (Myles) is a paranormal fairy tale of a wood sprite who brings two men together and then manages to become real – again, this story suffered a bit from the short length but it’s fairy tale quality meant that a certain air of unreality was to be expected and made the story work better than it would have otherwise.The Antithesis of Magic (Merrow) is about a man with no magic in a world full of magic users, who finds he is the perfect third for a fairy and a werewolf who need him. I wasn’t clear exactly on why Gus was needed and there wasn’t really any relationship between the three so it was the least satisfying in terms of romance. If it had been expanded to a longer story so I could see a courtship/developing relationship, I would have enjoyed this much more because the set up and the tone of the story was great. Continue reading
In the Greenwood (Myles) is a paranormal fairy tale of a wood sprite who brings two men together and then manages to become real – again, this story suffered a bit from the short length but it’s fairy tale quality meant that a certain air of unreality was to be expected and made the story work better than it would have otherwise.The Antithesis of Magic (Merrow) is about a man with no magic in a world full of magic users, who finds he is the perfect third for a fairy and a werewolf who need him. I wasn’t clear exactly on why Gus was needed and there wasn’t really any relationship between the three so it was the least satisfying in terms of romance. If it had been expanded to a longer story so I could see a courtship/developing relationship, I would have enjoyed this much more because the set up and the tone of the story was great. Continue reading
with an audiobook review of Cecilia Grant’s A Woman Entangled, narrated by Susan Ericksen. See what I thought here.
with an audiobook review of Fallen by Celeste Bradley, narrated by Susan Ericksen.
See what I thought here.
on Paper/eBook
Play With Me by Alisha Rai – B+ Fun and super sexy short (about 100 pages) about Tatiana and Wyatt. They dated in high school and college and were each other’s first lovers. They discovered kink with each other. But things fell apart. Now, 10 years later, they meet up again. After they meet, their chemistry is still so strong, they agree to spend one night together.“I met you when you were chubby and had frizzy hair and acne.”
A gasp escaped her lips. So she’d had a bit of an awkward phase. Bringing it up now was hardly gentlemanly. “Shut up, Caine.”
“My point is, I wanted you then. I still want you now. When I walked away from you all those years ago, I knew that wanting would never stop.” He tucked a strand of hair—sleek, not-frizzy hair, thank you very much—behind her ear. “Prettiness helps, Tatiana, but you and me? It’s always been more.”
I loved that there was more to Wyatt’s attraction than just the physical. And it was the same for Tatiana. Their connection was far more complicated than lust.
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