Q & A and Giveaway!

That's right!  Jimmy and Guy, of What's in a Name?, ask a multiple choice question at The Romance Reviews Anniversary party tomorrow and the winner gets a prize.

Check it out on Monday, March 30.  YOU could be the big winner.

Good luck!

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Fat Ladies and Swans Sing

My life as a book reviewer at All About Romance, Booklist, and The Romance Reviews has come to an end. 

I pulled the plug a couple of weeks ago when it suddenly occurred to me that if I was going to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a published author, I needed to stop reading so much and start writing.

I'm sure to most people this sounds like common sense, but obviously I had to come to this astounding conclusion the long, painful way.

Truth be known, Dreamspinner Press can take a little credit for my decision.  I signed a contract with them for my novella, "What's in a Name?," to be published right after the first of the year.  It seemed like a conflict of interest that I was reviewing some of their books after signing the contract.

So after kicking the review habit and vowing to work on my fiction writing career, I also contacted my former colleague and friend Shawn Hansen and will be getting together with her in the near future to see what she has to offer as far as promotion is concerned, not only for the novella, but also for the first book in the Vampire's Food Chain series.

But what about the Swan Song, you ask.

A core collection list of gay and lesbian romance novels has gone public in the September 15, 2014, issue of Booklist.  I suggested running a list of "must have" books to editor Donna Seaman earlier this year, and she took my list of 15 proposed titles, whittled it down, added lesbian romances, and voila! a list was born.

I Want to Eat at Rick Reed's House

Rick R. Reed is a man of many talents as far as writing goes.  Some of his books, like Raining Men for example, are hard-hitting and nearly painful to get through.  Others, like his latest, Dinner at Home, can nearly be compared to cozy mysteries.  Dinner at Home is a cozy gay romance, with its charming protagonist, spunky little girl, and well-meaning former drug addict who's trying desperately to stay clean.

If that isn't enough, Reed includes very tempting description of mouth-watering dishes throughout the story and then gives the recipes for them at the end of the book.  Who knew that a man whose writing seemed to reflect a dark spirit actually was a jovial Italian chef as well?

I noticed on some of the review sites that this book isn't gleaning the five-star reviews Reed's other work has gotten.  I think this is the stun factor.  His writing and this story aren't any less wonderful, but I don't think readers expect this of him and are rating their confusion rather than the quality of his work.

Here's an excerpt from my 5-star review that was posted on The Romance Reviews today:

Readers should be ready to grab their pots and pans and be ready to cook while savoring Rick R. Reed's latest gay romance.

Talk about a bad day. At breakfast, Seattle ad executive Ollie D'Angelo finds his boyfriend has had another lover for six months and now wants Ollie to move out, then when he gets to work, he finds his position has been eliminated.

A perpetually upbeat person and cook at heart, Ollie rallies to decide this is his chance of a lifetime to do something he's always wanted. With his savings, he starts Dinner at Home, a catering service for people who are too busy to cook dinner at night.

As he's unpacking after delivering a meal one evening, down-and-out Hank Mellinger sees Ollie's open car and enters it, bent on stealing something. When the bigger Ollie catches Hank and finds out the man needs money for rent and food for himself and his niece, instead of turning him over to the police, Ollie takes Hank and his niece home with him.

A former crack addict, Hank is now clean and trying desperately to stay that way. His twin sister is in prison on the East Coast and his mother refuses to take responsibility for four-year-old Addison, a swearing, too-old-for-her-age little girl.
Read the rest of the review at The Romance Reviews.

Hockey Vs. Ice Skater: Who's More Manly?

Having grown up around ice and skating, I've always been jealous of those who can put on skates, get on ice, and look confident.  After many years of lessons and just "goofing off" on the ice, I never learned the skill--and it is definitely a skill!

That's why Teegan Loy's Picks & Pucks intrigued me.  Here's an excerpt from the review that was posted today at The Romance Reviews:

If an ice skater is equally talented as both a hockey player and figure skater, is it less manly to hone his figure skating skills? Teegan Loy's romance lands solidly on the line, declaring that both figure and hockey skating demand strength and precision.

The author also tackles the question of image as figure skater Justin Corrin works to become a member of the United States Olympic team while coming out as a gay man. Justin's been in a closeted relationship with his friend Danny, a hockey player.

Danny's a real piece of work, acting hot and heavy when he's with Justin behind closed doors and making fun of Justin in front of the hockey team.

This all changes when Justin throws over Danny after he meets C. J. Daly, a new hockey player on the team that Justin's father coaches. While Justin and C. J. immediately click, Justin realizes right away that something isn't right with C. J., a fact corroborated by others who know him.

Since Justin hasn't really talked to his father after he reacted badly to Justin's coming out, Justin leaves C. J. alone, not demanding that he talk about his troubled past. Besides, Justin has demons of his own.

Read the rest of the review at The Romance Reviews.

Delightful Bartender and Rock Star Combo

I absolutely loved this book and laughed so many times while reading it that at one point I couldn't read anymore because tears were streaming down my face.  Here's an excerpt from my review of Perfect Imperfections by Cardeno C. that was posted today on The Romance Reviews:

A world-famous rock star walks into a bar in the middle of nowhere one night might sound like the beginning of a joke, but this lively and often laugh-out-loud romance is no joke, but a wonderfully delightful story.

Jeremy Jameson, often called The Jeremy Jameson by his manager, eludes his entourage and keepers one night and happens on Reg Moore, a bartender with a heart of gold and an easy-going manner that immediately seduces Jeremy.

When Jeremy asks Reg to become his pretend boyfriend and accompany him on his upcoming world tour, Reg, who's always wanted to travel, jumps at the chance. Jeremy is beautiful and charismatic, and traveling with the rock star will certainly be no hardship.

Jeremy, however, turns out to be a prima donna, someone born with a golden spoon encrusted with diamonds. It's no wonder Jeremy's so hard to deal with for everyone but Reg because Jeremy's father, a former rock star, died of a drug overdose and his mother is an aging diva bedding men years younger than she is.

Undaunted Reg is just the right kind of laid back to calm Jeremy during his rants and smother the star in understanding and love, two ingredients missing in his chaotic life. At times they play off one another like Laurel and Hardy, their verbal interaction almost becoming a comedy routine.
Read the rest of the review at The Romance Reviews.

More about Jed and Max

From my review of Awake and Alive by Garrett Leigh posted today at The Romance Reviews:

This very short sequel to Only Love cements the relationship between Jed Cooper and Max O'Dair and gives a tiny glimpse into their future life.

In the previous book, Jed returned home to live with his brother, sister-in-law, and nieces only to find that he needed much more peace and quiet than their chaotic household provided. Consequently, Jed moved to the countryside with his sister-in-law's brother Max, an epileptic whose service dog Flo rules the roost.

At the end of the book, Jed's stomach condition, a result of his military service, became critical and he underwent successful surgery to cure it.

This novella opens with Jed recuperating after the surgery and wondering what he is going to do with the rest of his life, the civilian years he hasn't planned. Fortunately, Jed has accumulated marketable skills during his military career, the most practical being his fluency in foreign languages.
Read the rest of the review at The Romance Reviews.

Weight Isn't Really the Issue, Is It?

From my review of The Skinny on Love by Fyn Alexander:

Two men scarred by their childhoods clash over weight issues in this poignant love story.

When 36-year old private detective Sky Cook gets a call from 37-year-old former British Army captain (now gym owner) John Moorcroft about finding his long lost mother, Sky thinks the case will be a slam dunk.

But when the tall, overweight Sky shows up at John's gym and realizes how much he despises flabby, unfit people, Sky's skeptical about being able to work with him. However, they agree to barter services. John will help Sky lose weight and get in shape while Sky will find John's mom who left when he was a boy.

Sky is skeptical when John, while showing signs of being gay, adamantly keeps telling everyone around him that he's straight. When Sky meets John's acerbic father, who beat John after he'd seen his son in a gay neighborhood when John was a teen, the detective isn't surprised that John is hiding so far in the closet or that John's mother left the volatile man.

As Sky and John get to know one another better and Sky succumbs to John's masterful personality, they not only discover the mother's secrets but also something else...

Read the rest of my review at The Romance Reviews.

Two Book Reviews Posted Today

The stars must be aligning because two of my reviews are running today.

Unfortunately, Forty-Two Stairs doesn't publish until June 2014, but it's like everything else I've read by A. F. Henley--brilliant.  If you've never tried reading a gay romance novel because you really don't want to know anything about gay sex, then this is a book I'd recommend.  While the two men acknowledge that they have sex, it isn't described in depth, at least not as in depth as so many of the straight contemporary romances I've been reading these days.  Instead, Forty-Two Steps is an honest look at overcoming addiction--that it's not the program but the person who makes the difference.  Here's an excerpt from The Romance Reviews:

There might be 12 steps to the AA program, but for Owen, a recovering alcoholic, the 42 stairs leading up to his new apartment are the real challenge.

Owen started drinking heavily when he was a teen, but it took two DUI's and nearly killing people in another car as well as a judge's sentence to persuade him to get his life in order. In the process, Owen, who's in his early thirties, loses his boyfriend Eli, his house, his money, and job while picking up a mountain of debt as a result of legal expenses, fines and penalties.

What he retained was an AA sponsor, his loyal younger brother Dennis, who helps him move into a minuscule low-rent apartment, and 42 stairs from ground floor up to his new life.

On move-in day, Owen meets Sebastian who has the apartment below his. In his mid-twenties, Sebastian, with his purple hair, elfin face, and artistic nature, is completely out of Owen's experience as a former white collar worker with a flashy car and elegant home. More than anything, Sebastian challenges Owen to find out who he really is and what he wants out of life.

Road to Love Is Tough

Tough is the operative word in Heidi Cullinan's latest, Tough Love, a novel of love and redemption between two men who've been batted around by life.

After being rejected by his mother for being gay and reviled by his ill father who promised to leave him the old man's Rio Grand Valley trailer after he died, Chenco Ortiz is incensed when his father leaves the trailer to the Ku Klux Klan instead.

Visiting the probate lawyer's office to see if there's anything he can do to keep the trailer which he considers his home, Chenco runs into Steve Vance, a friend of Chenco's older brother, Mitch Tedsoe, the long distance trucker from the first in the series, Special Delivery.

A drag queen in his spare time from his job at a cafe, on the one hand Chenco knows his father was repulsed by his son's onstage alter ego Caramela, but on the other hand, the old man should have been grateful because Chenco paid all his medical bills and the home where he spent his last days.

As Chenco stews about where he will live when evicted, Steve is smitten with him and begins a campaign to get to know him. When push comes to shove, Chenco moves into Steve's spacious hacienda which is also housing Chenco's brother Mitch, Mitch's husband Sam, and their friend Randy, a Las Vegas card dealer, who is married to a casino owner.

Read the rest of my review at The Romance Reviews.

Canadian Hockey versus Curling

Burning Up the Ice by Devon Rhodes and T. A. Chase marks the first time I've heard that Canadians break down into two groups about ice sports.  I knew both hockey and curling were huge crowd pleasers in Canada, but I never knew that the ice is prepared differently for the sports and different kinds of ice are needed for each one.

Call it the education of an American who as a child spent her time both on lake ice and inside on auditorium ice.  I understand and appreciate the vast difference between these, much preferring the auditorium ice only because I didn't have to take a snow shovel beforehand to clear snow and debris off the ice before I could skate.

I was particularly taken by injured NHL hockey player who turns into a little boy when his friend and soon to be lover lets him drive the Zamboni.  Having watched a Zamboni make its rounds before a skating lesson or to clean the ice before public skating, I too have always wanted to drive a Zamboni.

Have sex on it like the two men in the story do?  Not so much.

Dear Goodreads Authors

Today I got a message from the Goodreads Team that they want me to cease and desist from posting this message in the review section of a book:  Watch for my review at (the name of the venue at which my review will run and the URL for that venue).  I review for All About Romance, Booklist, and The Romance Reviews.

After my review ran at the review site, I always change the Goodreads review to be the first four or five paragraphs of the review with the last paragraph as Read read the rest of my review at AAR, Booklist or TRR with the permanent URL for the review.

I posted the first message as a courtesy to authors who might want to know if their books will be reviewed and where it will be reviewed, and the second so authors and readers would know the review had run.  It never occurred to me that this would be unacceptable to the Goodreads powers that be.  But it is.

I understand that Goodreads is a fan-based site, but I didn't understand that the fans (or at least The Team who represent the fans) don't want to know that your book is being reviewed somewhere else.

 

So now that I've been called on the carpet (or to the principal's office as it actually feels), I'll stop notifying you at Goodreads that your book is going to be reviewed.  If you want to know this, you'll have to go to Shelfari or Library Thing instead.

 

Thanks for reading this note,

Pat

Kade Boehme's Latest Is Definitely a Hit

I remember reading Kade Boehme's Don't Trust the Cut and thinking, wow, I hope this guy keeps writing.

It's so nice to get my wish fulfilled.  Trouble and the Wallflower may have an incredibly dorky title, but it's an excellent novel about a shy college student raised by an agoraphobic mother and what may seem his polar opposite: a brash, outgoing student who's one of the moving forces in his posse.

What I like best about Boehme's books is that not only are the central characters interesting and alive, but the supporting characters are too.  There's a very minor character in Trouble in particular whom I absolutely loved--the older woman who hung around with the brash guy's grandfather and his poker cronies.  She was almost a nothing in the story, but is the epitome of what Boehme does well.  She was delightful in the story and very memorable afterward.

I feel like Boehme is on a roll now and I can't wait to read what he comes up with next.

Valentine's Day Redux

Had I gotten the galleys for two Valentine's Day novellas before February 14, I would have gotten the reviews to my editor so that the stories would have been highlighted on or before the day in question.

I still don't understand why the review copies of  John C. Houser's Valentine Shower and Bru Baker's Campfire Confessions were sent after the fact.  Once upon a time, I was a PR person for a small publisher.  I remember having trouble convincing editors why it was important to get galleys out to review outlets in a timely manner.  Any publicity at any time was okay with them, but not for me.

And something like Valentine's Day novellas being reviewed before Valentine's Day seems like a no-brainer to me.  Obviously not to Dreamspinner, the publisher of these two stories.

The overall concept of a Valentine's Day rainbow, with covers in the colors of the rainbow--in this case green for Baker's title and blue for Houser's--is a clever one.  Perhaps Dreamspinner has enough paying members that it doesn't need outside sales, in which case promoting these stories to reviewers isn't necessary.

But I've yet to see a publisher that turns away sales, as this one did, by not sending review copies in enough time for reviewers to recommend the books as perfect add-on Valentine's Day gifts.

The Mystery of Romance Fiction

One of the biggest complaints about romance fiction from people who don't read it is that romances are so predictable.  You know that the couple are going to get together in the end, which makes the books boring, say the detractors.

That's true, as it is in mystery fiction, biographies, and a number of other genres.  But I contend that romance readers are into the genre for the ride, and in order to get the most out of the ride (watching person A get together with person B), we go into the books thinking in this one romance the unthinkable might happen: There won't be a happily ever after.  And it's this self-deception that makes the book even more enjoyable.

Lane Hayes in Better Than Chance destroys even that little bit of self-deception by making his first person narrator tell the ending the of the story before relating the story itself.  If you'd asked me before I reviewed this book, if I thought revealing the ending of a romance book would bother me, I would have said no.  But it did.

All the way through I kept waiting for something to surprise me, but nothing did.  And when I finished reading, I kept wondering why the book felt so blah to me.  I finally figured out that I like the little bit of suspense when I'm not quite sure that person A really will end up with person B or if this time, there will be no happy ending for anyone.

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.

Don't Try to Fool Me

How do I decide which books to review and which to pass on?  The Internet has made this process much easier than it once was.  I read the book description which I take with a grain of salt.  If the book sounds much too good to be true, I might add another grain or two.

Then I go to Amazon and read the sample.  When Amazon doesn't have a sample, I go to the publisher's website and hope to find a sample of the book there.  Finally, if all else fails, I search for the author's website online and see if there's a sample there.

Armed with the book description and sample, I'm usually fairly certain that the book is something I want to read.  Of course since I haven't read the entirety, I'm only intrigued, not completely sold on the book.  But I'll read it for review.

But sometimes the book turns out to be something quite a bit different than what I expected.  A case in point is Jack Greene's Whiplash, the review of which is up on The Romance Reviews site.  And this kind of bait-and-switch makes me really, really cranky--cranky enough to tell the world just how disappointed I am.

But wait!  Even though it was entered into the GLBT review queue, shouldn't I review it as erotica which is where it should have been entered?  No, I don't think so.  If you show me a Granny Smith apple and ask me to judge it as an orange, I'm going to give it a bad review.  It's NOT an orange.  The same goes for erotica parading as a gay romance.

It's a new era.  There's more to gay romance than sex.  Erotica should be judged as erotica, and gay romance should be reviewed as romance.

Another Double Review Day

Don't you just hate it when you read the synopsis of a book, then the sample, and the book doesn't live up to your expectations?  I do.  And my reviews posted at All About Romance and The Romance Reviews today are those kinds of disappointing books.

Long the Mile by Ally Blue has a wonderful premise in two homeless men who were once successful helping each other learn how to live on the street.  Since my husband and I once were on the board of a homeless project and mentored one of the first families, I was curious about how accurate Blue would be in her novel.  Not so much, as it turned out, which was a big disappointment.

Adored by Shawn Bailey, on the other hand, doesn't promise to be realistic, by any means.  However, it has so many out-and-out horrific problems that it's a wonder that Phaze (celebrating nine years in publishing their website proudly announces) thought the book worthy of publication.  Why did I think it was worthy of review?  I'd hoped to see all the problems convincingly cleared up by the end of the book.  Instead, they're just left as is.  Truly disappointing.

Two Hanukkah Tales

Yesterday two review sites featured my reviews.  Today The Romance Reviews is featuring two of my reviews of Hanukkah stories.  Both are by Dreamspinner Press, and I'm still trying to figure out why these stories are included in Dreamspinner's Advent Calendar.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Advent is a purely Christian concept.  So why are Jewish holiday stories included?  Or why isn't the Advent Calendar called something like the Holiday Calendar?

Anyway, the two novellas that I review on the TRR site are both nice, "awwww"-inspiring tales.

In Bashert by Gale Stanley, a Jewish Penn State freshman is having religious doubts and meets up with a Jewish grad student who celebrates Hanukkah with him.  The word bashert translates as "destiny" or "soul mate" which I think is a little presumptuous for this particular story.  Just because two people click for eight days doesn't mean they're destined for each other.  I don't think because someone is Jewish (or Roman Catholic, or Southern Baptist, or any other religion for that matter), he will automatically become a soul mate of a person who practices that same religion.  Isn't more necessary to make someone a soul mate?  My answer's yes.

In Another Life by Cardeno C., on the other hand, is a strange riff on It's a Wonderful Life.  Instead of seeing what life would be like if he weren't born, the Jewish 18-year-old who is committing suicide sees what life would be like if he lived.  Hanukkah is mentioned in the story, but isn't a focal point like it is in Bashert, so calling this a holiday novella is stretching the point as far as it'll go.

But the author's use of humor in an otherwise grim tale makes the story likable.  As holiday stories go, however, it falls very short, making me wonder why it was included in the Advent Calendar.

Too Slick to Be Likeable

Reading the preview and the synopsis of Mandy Harbin's Slick Competition, I was intrigued: A gay man with a masters in biochemical engineering is challenged to come up with a new product expressly for gay men.  Wow!  Think of the possibilities.

That Mitchell comes up with a new lube is lame, but then unless Harbin's a chemist, I guess it's good enough to be credible.

But then the competition and the story turn ugly.  And that's when as a reviewer, I want to bail.  I don't mind odd twists of fate or really disgusting characters made believable and turned good (thanks, Rick Reed!), but when characters do something really underhanded and ugly and then think a couple of "so sorry" apologies will heal everything, I'm outta here.

I'm particularly put off by one character forcing sex on another in an act of revenge or retribution.  I understand that Harbin's story is billed as erotica, but I still don't think meanness is admirable no matter what the motive.

As the saying goes, I read this so you don't have to.