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August 20 - Luscious Love Scenes (erotic romance, erotica, a "sensual" read - leave those "just kisses" books alone this month!)

If there's one thing that's a nearly common denominator in gay romance, it's sex and lots of it.  Selecting a gay romance that borders on or is firmly standing in erotica is almost a slam dunk.  A larger challenge would be to find a gay romance with no sex in it.  It's possible (Steve Kluger's Almost Like Being in Love comes quickly to mind), but it's not typical.

So with a vast sea of choices, what to chose, what to chose for this month?

What's more sexy than two studly college students who decide to have sex in order to alleviate a little pressure in their lives, but end up finding love instead?  That's what I thought after passing up SJD Peterson's BAMF and a slew of other books I've enjoyed reading this month.  In fact, I had so many choices that I'm late writing this review--which I've started a number of times with different books.

But Get What You Need by Jeanette Grey is the perfect mix of sex and sincerity.  PhD candidate Greg London is shocked when hunky senior baseball player Marshall Sulkowski suggests they watch a movie together.  Greg has been drooling over Marsh, the newbie in Greg's off-campus house, and never thought the popular jock had even noticed him.

The movie turns into sex and a loose agreement between the two for casual sex during the rest of the semester.  Because both guys are so likeable and so well-meaning, the sex scenes are more than mere meaningless couplings, which makes erotica even more erotic.

Under a lot of stress to do well and get his PhD, Greg can't wait to shake off his blue-collar background and help his wonderful parents live an easier life. 

Marsh, on the other hand, has just been kicked out of the family by his homophobic father who saw Marsh kissing a guy during the summer.  Now March, who's been told so many times that he's only a dumb jock by his dad, believes it and is floundering in his classes and in his life in general. 

Sex takes the edge off the pressure of both guys' hectic days, but ultimately it doesn't solve their problems.  Only they can help each other balance their lives.

This is a book to read for the sex scenes, but also for the love story that builds because of them.

Quick, Fun Summer Read

Having once toured Europe with a college-age group, I enjoyed the glimpse of my former life in Ellis Carrington's Total Immersion.  Here's a hint of my review that was posted at All About Romance today:

A couple of college seniors on a two-week summer tour of Europe discover that not only do opposites attract, but human kindness and loyalty go a long way to making an immersive romance into a solid base for a potential lasting relationship.

Although Evan Stanton isn't one hundred percent cured after he slipped on steps going to class (which forced him into physical therapy), he still agrees to go abroad because his boyfriend wants to.  When Evan gets to the airport with his backpack, he's stunned to receive an email dumping him.

Rather than give up on the trip, the goth Evan guts up and gets on the transatlantic flight where he meets preppy Chris Bale whose cheerful disposition hacks away at Evan's tendency to brood.

This is a cute novella with one very glaring flaw. It's apparent why Evan might be attracted to Chris. Chris is the ray of sunshine Evan needs to keep him going on the trip. When Evan's back is killing him and they have a ways to walk, Chris plies him with questions and silly Jeopardy!-like quizzes to divert his attention.

Read the rest of the review at All About Romance.

Fessenden's Delightful Screwups

Nothing is screwed up about Jamie Fessenden's new novel Screwups, not the characters, the plot, or his excellent writing.

In 1996 at the University of New Hampshire, business junior Jake Stewart takes a bold step, moving into Eaton House, the creative arts dorm. Jake's homophobic father has denied his youngest son's love of art, saying art is for sissies. But Jake rebels because he realizes that if he doesn't give reign to his artistic side now, he'll never be able to do so when he goes to work for his dad's company.

Eaton is a revelation to the closeted Jake, whose out-and-proud roommate Danny Sullivan is a key player in an ongoing Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. Not only that but music major Danny is Jake's dream man. But since Danny, like everyone else, thinks Jake is straight, this is a bit of a problem. Is Jake ready to come out to his new friends in Eaton House and more importantly to Danny?

As are most guys around the age of eighteen, neither Jake nor Danny is completely self-confident. Jake's so far in the closet, with good reason given his father's and brothers' homophobia, that he's miserable as he looks around at the free-wheeling hookups going on around him. He wants to belong to the GLBT club, but can't quite out himself, even to those like Danny who would support him.

Danny, too, is miserable, but his misery is somewhat self-imposed. Danny did something stupid in high school and has been taunted for it ever since. He wants to move on and leave the past in the past, but unfortunately, one of the Eaton residents also attended Danny's high school and isn't above persecuting Danny for his past mistake.

Read the rest of my review at The Romance Reviews.

Finding Yourself in Freshman Year

The first year of college is always a year of change for eighteen-year-olds. For Lewis, it's a year of revelation as well in Jay Northcote's Not Just Friends.

Lewis moves from Kent to Bristol where he meets his flatmates, all of them freshmen. One young man in particular catches Lewis' eye. Max is an out-and-proud gay man which intrigues Lewis who has called himself straight rather than buck the tide.

As he hangs out with Max, Lewis begins to feel the latent twinges of homosexuality that he's been repressing since he had a crush on one of his lower form friends. Suddenly Lewis is questioning whether he's gay or not, and coming up with the answer that he is.

Meanwhile, he's hanging out with Max and agrees to be his friend, only to watch the handsome, charismatic Max get a boyfriend who, after a few nights together, dumps Max. Now when Lewis is ready to get serious about Max, Max decides he's off boyfriends and only wants to be Lewis' really good friend.

Jay Northcote explores the ups and downs of freshman year and the changes young people go through as their world expands. Because it's based on the British school system, the book will be particularly interesting to Americans who are in college or who've been through it since some events and people are quite recognizable and some are completely different. This is an added dimension to a sweet story that isn't terribly remarkable, but definitely enjoyable.
Read the rest of my review at The Romance Reviews.

Trying to Heal while in College? Not Happening for Me

Having taught at a junior college for many years, I've watched college students come and go.  Most of them have baggage, some heavier than others, but all burdened by something.  Stress is usually at the top of the heap, but often the stress is compounded by some other bits of baggage that the students struggle with as well as cope with their homework and labs.

In Left Drowning, author Jessica Park pours on the baggage and then wants readers to know that the teens with heavy emotional scars are still passing their classes, turning in their homework, and generally being successful students.  And as a former English composition instructor, I'm not buying it.

Understandably, Blythe, the main character, has emotional scars from surviving the fire that killed her parents.  Compounding that, Blythe feels guilty for ruining her brother's sports career because she dragged him out of the burning building over a piece of glass that impaired his leg.  All of that I can understand.

What I don't believe is that the reclusive Blythe, who hasn't gotten any help from extended family or friends, is still passing her classes.  In my experience, even students with less baggage than Blythe fail their classes and need help before they can concentrate enough to become successful.

That a group of equally scarred students bring her into their group is no surprise.  But that they all turn out to be successful students is.

I wish this fairytale were true.  But my experience is that it's just a fairytale, and these college students might just as well wait for their pumpkins to turn into coaches as to believe that angst equals passing grades.

Cullinan Hits All the Right Notes

I've loved Heidi Cullinan's writing for quite a while.  Each of her books is a joy, and I find something new and different each time.  Her Dance With Me, for some reason, is one of my all-time comfort reads.  Why?  Who knows?  The book just makes me happy every time I read it.

Her latest book, Love Lessons, is another in her string of winners.  Again, she's taken two guys who really shouldn't ever have anything in common and not only made them flesh and blood people but people who are absolutely perfect for each other.  But you can read the review at AAR to find out why I like the book so much.

In the meantime, here are the books of hers I've read and enjoyed in the past, just in case you're just like me and can't get enough of her writing:

• Family Man: Between a big Italian family and a forty-year-old protagonist who's only starting to think he's gay, this book should stretch anyone's suspension of disbelief.  But it works, and works well on a number of levels.
• Dirty Laundry: A bouncer at a gay club and an entomology graduate student meet in a public laundry....yeah, it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but again Cullinan brings together these two very unlikely Romeos in a completely believable way.
• Second Hand: This to me is the funniest of the books with a hapless man selling off his girlfriend's weird collection of small appliances after she splits with Mr. Wonderful.  The laid-back Chicano proprietor of the second-hand shop and his marvelous family make this the perfect lemons to lemonade story.

I'm eagerly awaiting Let It Snow coming in November and Special Delivery publishing after the first of the year.

Cloyingly Sweet Young Thing/Thang

The thang, uh, thing about Anne Tennino's Theta Alpha Gamma gay romance series is that it has such promise.  However, I was dubious about Sweet Young Thang from the get-go, even before I read it for these reasons:

The cover art: Was it the purple underwear, the guy's meh look, or the Polaroid-looking print in what seems to be a girl's hand?  Since the blurb about the book talks about gays and bisexuals in the TAG house, bombs, exploding water heaters, paramedics, and househusbands, I was having trouble reconciling a cover with purple undies and photography.  All very strange.

The title: The twangy title didn't help any in making me feel like this sequel was going to live up to its predecessor.  In fact, written across the guy's back like it is, the words have sort of a predator feel about them.  It's like the guy's been caught peeing in the woods and the wolf has crept up behind him trying to alleviate his terror by calling him a sweet young bite to eat.

So going into this book, I had misgivings.  You can read my review this weekend or anytime at AAR.

When the Flame Meets the Tinder

SJD Peterson's Whispering Pines Ranch series is gritty, down-to-earth, sometimes horribly brutal, and always enjoyable.  The men involved are older and battling their friends' and neighbors' prejudices in a small ranching community.  I've followed each installment since the beginning, often appalled at what I was reading and sometimes wishing I could smack one of the characters upside the head for his stubborn silliness.

So when I saw that Peterson had a new non-Whispering Pines Ranch novel out, I quickly latched onto it.  Plan B, reviewed today at AAR, connects two guys from the opposite ends of the gay continuum, one a football player, the other a flamboyant drama major.

Peterson uses her writing magic to engross readers in a small slice of life that, while written by other gay fiction writers, carries her own special stamp of reality.  This is a small story done really, really well, which grabbed a Dessert Isle Keeper review from me--and very well will earn one from other readers too.