Nicci - TWLIB Reviews

Wishing All Happy Holidays!!!

Did I see a "publish" button by the comment box.  Woo!  Fantastic.  Never thought I would miss a click telling I submitted a comment.  That button was sorely missed.

Still open, the opportunity to win a copy of Rhys Ford's Fish and Ghosts and an Amazon gift card. 

I love the book cover which kind of drew me into the story.  Unfortunately,the language is way over the top.  Max doing the horizontal dance after meeting Angel the second time is unrealistic.  Max is straight.  Just because his brother Ryker is gay does this means Max is automatically gay and therefore beds a man with minimum introspection. 

I need someone to wrap my fingers so they can't move on the keyboard.  Gosh, I told myself I will not buy more books until I can reduce my  current stock of TBR.  I read slow (hint: easily distracted)  and buy fast.  ARGH!

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YES!

Review posted at TWLIB Reviews

Bullet is a hard-hitting story set in the background of the Porn industry.  The narrative is told by and centers on twenty-six years old Levi Ramone, an old timer according to the industry’s standards.  He is a ruthless top and maintains a strong hold over his reputation of not bottoming for anyone.  He goes by the rules of getting laid and getting paid.  His boss, one day, makes Levi an offer he can barely refuse as it will help pay his mother’s medical bills.  But the problems are he has this hardcore reputation he must maintain and then there is Sonny who will participate in the scene with Levi.  Considering his life in general, and his thoughts on Sonny, Levi finds himself in a state of quandary and despite what is on the surface of the story there is something going on much more than deeper than creating scenes of dubious pleasure.

Of course, Bullet is different in context from the book, Slide.  While Slide is an emotional journey, Bullet is almost devoid of explicit emotions.  To understand this story is a matter of looking under the surface of wordings and events.  It is there though for the detailing, of how Levi goes about compartmentalizing the activities and events in his life.  He doesn’t commingle his porn industry life with his auto mechanic business with his taking care of his mother.  What isn’t so clear is the relationship between Levi and Sonny.

“Don’t you ever look back…”, because the boogey man is gonna get you.

Past the Prologue, into the first few chapters, I had no idea what I was in for reading Slide. Disregarding the Prologue, the book starts with Ash’s 1st person point of view, which I realize is an unreliable narrator. An excellent choice as Ash’s mind is unstable. He’s chaotic, delusional, and a great insomniac. He is also the sweetest young man, whose story immediately engages me and draws on my sympathy. Just knowing he lived homeless for several years makes me cringe. Ellie, his best friend, stepping forward and grabbing him away from that terrible time on the streets makes her a friend forever. Not until Ash meets Pete does he begin to care about something other than his artwork. But, the boogey man is always there in the recess of his mind. The reality of his existence counterbalances his feeling safe in Pete’s arms and bedroom.

Lovely Pete accepts Ash’s idiosyncrasies.

This week brings changes to notification system. Now you can choose whether to receive notifications or not. And we know you've been waiting for this change :-)

With each comment box, you’ll see options to choose:

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Updates and tips

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A documentary on the emotional journey of Tom Bridegroom and his partner, Shane Bitney Crone.  Short film: 79 minutes in length.

“No shortcuts!” Many people support this statement but sometimes they are really useful and let discover new paths. So why not? We let you take two kind of shortcuts on BookLikes, with your Dashboard and Reviews.

Shortcut #1 - Dashboard

Form now on Dashboard is available in optional view with shortened posts. Now it will be easier to stay up to date with your friends reviews and bookshelf updates. To switch on new view of your Dashboard, go to Settings/General, select new option for feed activity at the bottom of the page and Save.

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In this way your Dashboard will be better organized and will present numerous post entries that you can easily read, like and reblog without the necessity of infinite scrolling. It’s like never-ending table of content :-)

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Shortcut #2 - Reviews

The second shortcut  is about your reviews and ability to edit them. So far you could edit your texts in your admin blog view. Now it can be done faster from Table view of your Shelf. We added Edit Review option to your reviewed books so if you want to add something to your published text, click on it and you’ll be moved to writing mode and text box of your review.

You can also use blog admin view to edit reviews. If you want to edit text added some time ago, you can use search box (paste post title) instead of scrolling down. Once the post is found hover over it and click Edit in upper right corner. Then make corrections and Save with your changes.

No unnecessary shortcuts :-) Enjoy!

Originally reviewed at TWLIB Reviews.

Safeword is the powerful sequel to Power Exchange. It begins about 18 months later after the attack on Gavin and Ben by the Breath Play killer. The reader should read Power Exchange first in order to appreciate the narrative of the sequel.

The story of Gavin and Ben continues to intrigue me. I was excited to find out the fallout from Power Exchange. The storyline is just as compelling as the first book and it draws on the sympathy of the readers. The author takes the couple on a realistic exploration of post-traumatic stress, working their way through the pain. Then they make the ultimate decision I consider as the be all and end all of sacrifice. Meantime, the highly charged events, a stark reminder of the attack by the Breath Play killer, pushes Gavin and Ben on a journey neither one really wants. Someone out there is murdering police officers. The murderer brutalizes the victims with rape and violence. Eventually Gavin and his partner, Myah, put together details of the murders traceable to the abducted teenagers the lead investigator had returned to their parents at the beginning of the story.

What I love about this story is the concept of family and what Savi and Tris have together is juxtapose to Robby’s traditional family. It’s the idea of family that holds Savi back from moving forward with her life. Tris is the one person she loves and he means everything to her. The narrative will reveal through short burst of flashback details just how far Savi and Tris have come, from child and sexual abuse and homelessness to their present day lifestyle.

When Savi and Robby first meet, they both have a purpose for getting together. Robby hopes Savi is the one woman who can hold his interest beyond a few dates. Savi wants to find someone for Tris on one condition, whoever is the lucky guy he must be willing to accept both Savi and Tris as a package deal. On the surface, the idea seems weird and absurd. When Robby takes one look at Tristan and sees this beautiful man, he becomes captivated. A seed is planted. Perhaps, Robby is after all gay and maybe the idea isn’t so strange after all.

There are few stories that can pack a powerful narrative punch in the short story format. Let’s Hear it from the Boy does just that giving the readers a full fledge story with a beginning, middle, and end in all of 46 pages.

Paul Stewart from the Journal interviews Matthew Trammell, drag queen, known as Auntie Social, who has raised almost a million dollars over the past 30 years for the local AIDS charities. Auntie Social is a special interest story. Paul insists on learning what keeps Auntie Social going since the treatments and costs of the AIDS disease are manageable now.

What Paul discovers is unexpected and close to his own heart. He hears of a friendship between best buddies, Sonia, Patrick, and Matthew. He learns Matthew and Patrick have been friends since they were 12 years old. That Matthew falls madly in love with Patrick and just before they leave for college, they acknowledge their feelings between them.

Patrick, however, does something incredibly stupid. I suspect youth, curiosity, and making Matthew jealous play a part in his decision that will affect the rest of his and Matthew’s life.

The story opens in the Police Department, and officer Max learns the younger brother of his childhood friend is in jail for prostitution. After working out a deal with his boss, Max is able to retrieve Jamie from jail and take him home, where he will be staying until the arrest situation is sorted out. They become reacquainted and in the process, Jamie is strangely emotional, sentimental, and he decries his self-worth. Max learns Jamie, as adolescence, had a crush on him. Mason, Jamie’s brother, shows up at Max’s house accusing him of making Jamie gay. An argument ensues between the brothers and Max. Jamie finds out Max is gay, which makes him upset and angry.

This revelation changes everything between them. Jamie sets out to seduce Max and succeeds. They build a relationship but unresolved issues keep both of the boys on edge.

We enter the story from Max’s point of view in 1st person. As the we move along with him, he draws in the readers with the details of the present, and his internal thinking of the past of being happy taking care and protecting a very young Jamie, we get the sense Max is holding back a part of himself. He is definitely holding back his feelings from the present day Jamie. He admittedly acts as a zombie, setting up a defensive wall of sort for any emotional play that maybe coming forth. Max does not ever ask Jamie why he’s having nightmares. His action is strange for someone who silently claims his love.