HIGH AND TIGHT

HIGH AND TIGHT by Vanessa North

Pages: 81

Date: 01/06/2014

Grade: 3.5

Details: Received from Carina Press

            Through Love Romances and More

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The blurb:

“Pilot Adam Walker has had one great love in his life: Harris Kingston. But twelve years ago, when he accepted a scholarship and joined the Navy, he chose duty to his country over love. Their on-again off-again relationship was never more than private joy, a frustrating fact of military life.

Harris never wanted to be anyone's dirty little secret. When Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed two years ago, Adam broke his heart one last time. He's picked up the pieces and moved on, building a great career and dating guys who aren't afraid to be seen in public with him. But when Adam strolls into his salon asking for a haircut, his newfound happiness goes to hell in a handbasket.

Adam's been at war with himself for over a decade. Now on the verge of leaving the military, he's desperate to court Harris the right way and be forgiven. With two weeks' leave and a Navy man's conviction, he's ready to start over…if he can convince Harris he's ready to come out and commit.”

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My thoughts:

Adam Walker was a teenager when he discovered girls didn’t excite him whereas his sister’s friend Harris Kingston did. Adam wasn’t prepared to admit he was gay though. His big dream was to be a pilot and join the navy, a dream that made the love he felt for Harris impossible. For the past twelve years Adam and Harris have only hooked up in secret while Adam was home on leave.

Harris Kingston has loved Adam since he was a teenager. For ten years he’s patiently waited for Adam while accepting his on again off again lover couldn’t commit to him. He’d hoped the reversal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ would make it possible for them to have a future together, but Adam hasn’t come back home or contacted him since. That final rejection brought Harris to the end of his patience. He’s moved on, is together with a man he’s happy with even if he can’t call it love and determined not to allow Adam to mess up his life again.

When Adam returns home on leave while deciding whether or not to extend his contract with the Navy he is determined to win Harris back. He only has two weeks to convince Harris that he is ready to come out and commit. Harris, after more than a decade of being someone’s dirty little secret isn’t sure he can face the emotional rollercoaster again. He may not be able to deny his love for Adam, he can and will put his own emotional welfare first this time.

I’m a bit ambivalent about this novella. On the one hand I loved the idea of two men who have loved each other for over a decade at last finding the courage to be together. On the other hand I wanted to slap both Adam and Harris. I found it hard to like Adam considering how he’s been treating Harris and while I adore Harris for his loyalty I wanted to scream at him to stop thinking about others and put himself first for a change. Having said that, the way the author described the two men together made the story plausible and their relationship, flawed as it was, easy to believe in, if not to accept.

I wasn’t completely convinced by Adam’s sudden change in attitude. For someone who denied his homosexuality for over a decade and actively avoided coming home in order not to deal with the man he’s supposed to love, he suddenly finds it very easy to admit to everything he’d been so afraid of. And I didn’t like the way he expected Harris to just fall in with his change of heart.

I did sympathise with Harris and completely understood his reluctance to believe Adam’s sudden change of heart. What I did have an issue with was his decision after Adam has at last come out and they spend a wonderful night together.

Adam and Harris together were beautiful and hot though and made up for a lot of my reservations. In fact, the scenes of the two men together, be it in a social setting or in private, made this book a sweet, if at times exasperating, read.

“Trust was a fragile thing, and this little bridge they built with their bodies was precious to him, he wouldn’t destroy it by beings selfish.”

CHARLIE, RENTBOY

TITLE: CHARLIE, RENTBOY

AUTHOR: J.P. BARNABY

Pages: 65

Date: 02/04/2014

Grade: 5

Details: No. 1 Working Boys

            Received from author

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The blurb:

“Got two hundred and fifty dollars for an hour of fun? Then say hello to Charlie, a hot little rentboy working his way through an engineering degree on his back. He’s got shaggy blond hair that’s great to hang on to while you fuck him from behind, and sweet innocent blue eyes that look very enticing when he gazes up at you with your cock in his mouth. That is, until he’s hired by innocent rich boy John Middleton, head of Middleton Communication. John is so far in the closet he could find Narnia. But when John and Charlie get together for an explosive weekend of sex, everything goes to hell.”

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My thoughts:

I thought I knew what to expect when I started this book. I recently read Andy, Go-Go Boy, the second book in the ‘Working Boys’ series by JP Barnaby and thought I’d be getting more of the same in this novella.

Up to a point that was indeed the case. This too is a story about a man who makes his money in the sex industry and finds an unexpected connection when he least suspects it. But that is where the comparison ends.

While Andy’s story was mostly dark, Charlie’s is funny. Andy’s character was very hard to like until the story was well on the way. Charlie on the other hand had charmed me before I’d finished the first two pages of his book.

This story is told in the first person by Charlie and it doesn’t take long before the reader knows they are dealing with a funny, sweet, cocky, at times cynical and self-deprecating character.

“... I’ve been blessed with an amazing ass. Besides my brain it’s by far my best asset.”

Charlie works as a rentboy to earn his way through college. After all it makes him a lot more money in far less time and he enjoys sex.

When Charlie gets a booking for a weekend with a man named John he is fairly sure he knows what to expect. He’s sure John won’t be the man’s real name, but that’s okay, he’s not really called Charlie either.

John however turns out to be nothing like Charlie’s usual customers. For starters he is actually called John and doesn’t make a secret of who he is and his background. He wants Charlie to pretend to be his boyfriend for the weekend and Charlie agrees. It won’t be his first time and after all, he who pays decides.

It isn’t long before Charlie has to admit that his feelings about and for John are very different from the lack of feelings he usually has for clients. But when shit hits the fan and it looks like both Charlie and John may be outed in a way neither of their reputations will survive, the ball game changes completely.

I adored this story. Charlie’s transformation from cynical but funny to sensitive and vulnerable was beautiful and John has to be one of the sweetest characters I’ve come across in my books recently.

I guess this novella was pretty close to the perfect read for me, with just the right balance of humour, angst, love and sex. I only discovered JP Barnaby a week ago but it is safe to say that she’s found a fan for life in me. It won’t be long before I’ll be making my way through her back list.

ANOTHER BELIEVER

TITLE: ANOTHER BELIEVER

AUTHOR: STEPHANIE VAUGHAN

Pages: 81

Date: 20/03/2014

Grade: 3+

Details: Received from Torquere Press Publishers

            Through Love Romances and More

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The blurb:

Jonah Simpson might be an athlete, but he's nobody's fool.  It just so happens he appreciates what's between a guy's ears almost as much as what he's packing elsewhere.  So when he spots an open seat next to serious but sexy David, the usually boring train ride up the Pacific coast quickly becomes an exercise in speed-dating.  He's only got a few hours to get the nerd with an attitude to take him seriously.

David Sato has spent a lifetime being ignored by the hot guys at school.  It doesn't take a genius IQ to know that if a jock is being nice to him, there must be a test coming up.  So when the hottest guy David's ever laid eyes on -- let alone sat next to on a train – starts flirting with him, what's a robot-loving, socially awkward science geek to do?

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My thoughts:

‘Another Believer’ is a charming story. Two young men meet on a train on their way to college and use the twenty-four hours before they arrive to their best advantage.

David Sato is a studious and very intelligent young man with the IQ of a genius and the nerdy attitude to match it. Convinced that his looks are nothing special he is used to other guys only ever paying attention to him when they need something from him; help with their studies and exams. In his fantasies these encounters may be romantic and sexy, he knows from experience that in real life he is not attractive enough to capture anybody’s attention. Especially not the attention of a beautiful male specimen like the young man who takes a sit next to David on the train.

Jonah Simpson is an athlete who appreciates there is more to life than sport. In fact, he likes and enjoys intelligence about as much as he enjoys a soft but firm body. When he sees David on the train to college he feels an immediate attraction to the serious looking young man and takes advantage of the vacant seat next to him. He wants David and is only too aware of the fact that he doesn’t have a lot of time to achieve his goal. And David’s stand-offish attitude doesn’t make matters any easier. Jonah has to apply all his wit, patience and seductive techniques in order to convince David that he really is interested in him and doesn’t have a secret agenda. Even after a wonderful and mind-blowing few hours, it will take all of Jonah’s powers of persuasion to convince David that this was not a once off for the journey. Jonah wants to continue what he’s started when they arrive at college, and he’ll find a way of convincing David of that regardless of what it might take.

This is going to be one of my shorter reviews. There really isn’t that much happening in this novella apart from what I’ve described above. Not that I’m complaining; like I said, this is a charming romance. It is also a well written and fun story. The banter between David and Jonah is sharp and quick enough to put a semi-permanent smile on your face.

The contrast between the two characters was both vivid and amusing. Jonah’s carefree and easygoing manner was the complete opposite of David’s dark and suspicious mind. I loved the way these two men sparked off each other. And I couldn’t help being touched by David’s constant battle between wanting to believe that maybe Jonah really was interested in him and his conviction that a man like Jonah could never feel attracted to someone like him.

With the story taking place over the course of one train journey taking about 24 hours, the characters don’t have the time to really get to know each other in depth, and neither does the reader. While that makes complete sense in this story I couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. We see enough of David and Jonah to become curious about them, only for that curiosity to remain unsatisfied by the time the story ends. In fact, this novella left me curious enough to hope that maybe the author might revisit these characters in the future and give us a glimpse of their relationship after they arrive at their destination.

As it is this was a sweet, easy to read and mildly sexy story that kept me entertained but also left me yearning for more.