Elegant Video with Two Male Dancers

I was blown away when I saw this video for I Try to Talk to You today and just had to share. 

I don't know anything about Hercules & Love Affair nor do I know anything about director David Wilson nor who John Grant is. 

All I know is that putting all of these ingredients together made one lovely and remarkable video to a song that will stay with me probably until I die.


This video (sorry about link only--for some reason it won't load into my blog) about how I Try to Talk to You was made is just as interesting as the finished product.

Enjoy!  I certainly did.

Romance in a Musical Family Amid Bullying

John C. Houser's The Music Box is an amazing romance on so many different levels.  For one thing, it's the touching story of two men who are settled in their careers as opposed to the buff, young twenty-somethings that a large proportion of gay romances feature.  Both are battling big problems in their careers--problems that must be settled soon or they might be unemployed.

One is a high school music teacher who is watching his program shrink because of budget cuts.  How can he make the program more viable to the students?  And should he agree to teach history as well in order to keep his job?

The other man manages the music store his musically-talented family owns.  His mother is a world-renowned soprano and his brother in a string quartet.  What they don't know since they are away touring is that the store is losing money and the building need therapeutic maintenance badly.  But where's the money to come from?  Should he start charging family members to keep the business going?

When both men see an extremely gifted teen being harassed by another boy, they rush to his aid, thereby causing their worlds to change.  What results is not only a satisfying romance but also a triumphal story of people reaching out to make someone else happy.

Houser is the kind of uncommon writer whom everyone should read.  I know I can't wait for his next book.

Another Stellar Performance

Shira Anthony's Encore is the latest in her musically inspired gay romances, and a bravura performance it is too.  Her novels make me want to attend the symphony and wallow in the music for hours.

Encore, however, is more than a melodic gay romance, but Anthony's given it even more operatic overtones than the others in her Blue Note series.  The lives of John and Roger encompass the highs and lows found in many Italian operas.  I happily recommend it to anyone who says that romances are all the same.

On another note, I was surprised that another TRR reviewer was working on the same book for review.  I haven't had this happen before without an editor telling me it was occurring.  I'm not sure I like this idea, so we'll have to see if it happens again.  Just goes to show, however, that no matter how long I'm working in a business, there's always a question I don't ask before I accept a job.

Gay Ghosts Trigger Romance

As I say in the review of Z. A. Maxfield's Rhapsody for Piano and Ghost that went live today at AAR, I love the St. Nacho novels, so wanted to see what Maxfield would do with a paranormal theme.

While I enjoyed Rhapsody, it didn't leave the satisfied "aaahhhh" feeling that a good romance usually does.  I think this is because the character of Ari, the older former boy-band member who's often a mentor to Fitz, the classically-trained piano virtuoso, is a little harder to like than the other characters in the book.

Added to that, the ghost couple who bring Fitz and Ari together seem to be an author invention that doesn't quite work.  Don't get me wrong, however.  The novel is enjoyable to read and laugh-out-loud funny at times, and equally heart-breaking at others, but still there's a manipulative feeling about it that leaves me a little off.

I applaud Maxfield for writing outside her comfort zone.  But I'd really rather she get back to the brilliance of St. Nacho and give readers (okay, yes, me!) another addition to that series.