Merry Christmas!

Look what I found in my X-mas stocking!! Must have been a good girl *wink*

I'm spending the two days of Christmas (yes, in Holland we have two days, December 25th and 26th) the first day with my family over at my aunts house and the second day with my hubby's family at my PIL's place.

So not much of reading or computer time for me the couple of days...

And this Christmas Eve I spent preparing: gift wrapping, polishing my nails, dying my hair, shaving the other hairy parts, picking my X-mas clothes, that sort of girly things. Just getting in the mood for some quality time... I hope you're having a great time too!

I wish you all a wonderful and loving Christmas with lots of memorable warm moments and being surrounded by your dearest loved ones!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Mia Watts totally surprised me! What are your experiences with authors?

The most amazing thing happened to me Tuesday morning! When I opened my mailbox I found an email from author Mia Watts. Attached was her latest novel and a message that said: “couldn't resist. :) Enjoy Faery Surprising... on me.”

Monday I'd joined the contest for this book on Chris’ blog by leaving a comment, but no winner was announced yet, so I was a bit confused and I mailed Ms. Watts.

In another email she let me know that she’d sent it to me because: ” You hit a soft spot with me in the "I just discovered Mia Watts" bit. LOL. Made me grin so I went over to your site and loved it. :) I think I'm going to be over there drooling quite a bit.”

Can you image how wonderful that felt? Isn’t she the sweetest, giving me an ebook because of that? I’m looking forward to reading it, the opening was hilarious…

So far, I’ve only met really nice authors and all my experiences are very positive. Some of them leave kind comments on my blog or drop polite emails in my inbox.

How is that for you? Have you ever experienced something like the above or something similar? Or do you have other, more negative experiences?

Back Blurb Faery Surprising:
Book Two in the Faerily Imperfect Series

Flora Harper isn't amused when her faery "gift" transports her in the middle of a self-induced orgasm to a professional football locker room after practice. The fact that it's the team she works for, and their new quarterback, Ian Tate, wants to finish what she's started, flies in the face of the non-fraternization policy.
Ian has been traded to a rival city so he catch a blackmailer red-handed. Time is against him, as are the number of injuries he's had in his career. It sounds like a great deal, except filming the Public Relations specialist in a sexually compromising position leaves a sour taste in his mouth. When he discovers that the PR person is emotionally distant, hard-on inducing Flora, getting a whole lot closer to her feels so incredibly right… until she finds out why he's really on the team.

Short Review of Nothing But Trouble by Jenna Byrnes

Jenna Byrnes
Nothing but Trouble
Phaze Books, July 2009 (revised edition)

Genre & Keywords: Gay, M/M, Age Difference

Rating: êêê½
Heat level: ¹¹

The Back Blurb:
Adrian Scott doesn't expect to fall in love with his employer after spending one night with him. Graham Elliott is handsome and exciting, a very wealthy man, not in Adrian 's league. But their night together was intoxicating, and Adrian can’t shake the thought of making a life with this older man. As per their arrangement, they have two more nights together. Will that be enough time to convince his boss they belong together, or will the deal prove to be nothing but trouble?

NB: I won my copy of this book at Jenna Byrnes’ blog. She didn’t ask me to write a review or pay me to say something positive about it ;)

Nothing but Trouble is a short, hot read about a sexy young gay man and his older -still very much in the closet- wealthy boss. The opening of the story is strong and spiked my interest immediately.

“I want you to spend the night with me. I’ll pay you ten thousand dollars.”
Adrian Scott blinked, wondering if his employer was serious. He’d never heard of such an offer, except in the movies. “Excuse me?”

The movies indeed, you could say that this story is a M/M variant of Pretty Woman. My first thought was “What kind of man asks something like that?” but I was willing to give Graham the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was secretly in love with Adrian for ages and this was his way of making contact. But that didn’t turn out to be the case: the offer was meant to be a one night stand and had to be kept a secret.
After Adrian does a counteroffer to make it three nights and the guys have the best sex of their lives, Graham doesn’t change his mind: it was intended to be temporarily and it should stay that way. I admit that this attitude made it very hard for me to like Graham. A man of his age and wealth should have been able to admit that he is gay a long time ago. But I also have to say, this type of starting point provides a great way to bring a couple together for some hot sex very quickly, which is a good thing in a short story like this. And at the end Graham turns out to be a very nice guy when more of his human side is shown in his contact with Adrian’s mother.

Adrian on the other hand is a doll from the beginning. He’s really easy to love and the way he behaves, like a lovesick puppy at times, is totally sweet and endearing. I can easily forgive him that he seems to be mistaking lust for love when he declares his love to Graham very early in their relationship. But this behavior seems to suit him, being the open and warm guy that he is.

As a couple I completely fell for Graham and Adrian. Ms. Byrnes does a great job in describing them and explaining their attraction and emotions. They feel real and it’s not only physical between the two men but the emotional storyline is also well developed. Together they are very, very hot. I was treated to a nice amount of sexy and scorching love scenes that left me panting a little and reaching for Mr. ErotRomReader a few times. Nothing but Trouble was meeting my needs and coming up to my expectations completely when it comes to the erotic aspect of the story.

The romance part however felt a little bit rushed, but that seems inevitable with this short length of stories (ca. 40 pages). Not only came Adrian’s declaration of love very quickly and way too early in the relationship, Graham’s switch in feelings towards the end could have drawn out and explained just a little bit more as well. But then it wouldn’t have been a short story anymore. And nevertheless, it’s a rounded story because Ms Byrnes knows how to tell a well plotted, fast paced story! And part of the attraction of Nothing but Trouble is that it’s a fast, hot read that you can devour in less than an hour. Sexy enjoyment guaranteed!

And for those who can’t get enough of Graham and Adrian there’s also Valentine’s Trouble, a very short free story (5 pages) in which we get another glimpse of the sweet couple after they’ve been together for a while. I liked this quickie as well because it’s nice to know how the guys were doing and to be treated to another hot steamy scene!

Mondays Hot Couple

I few more days of working and than I'll be free until January 4th, Yay!
I'm going to spend a lot of time with family and friends but there will definitely be a lot of time to read too! I'm looking forward to that.
And I hope to find some inner calm and quietness to come up with some reading lists for my 2010 reading challenges!
I love this time of the year where there's lot of opportunity to look back, reflect, close things, leave them behind you and look forward to a brand new year stuffed with new and unknown things and people. I can't wait for this week of silent contemplation to start... just a few more days!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Review of Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg

L.B. Gregg
Gobsmacked (Men of Smithfield, #1)
Aspen Mountain Press, February 2009

Genre & Keywords: Gay, M/M, One Hot Cop, Betrayal

Rating: êêêê½
Heat level: ¹¹½

The Back Blurb:
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Mild mannered Mark Meehan’s good judgment flies out the window when he finds his lover banging another man. Things go from bad to worse as Mark’s crazy revenge scheme uncovers shocking secrets—sending him straight into the arms of hunky lawman and old friend, Tony Gervase, a man of limited patience and secrets of his own.

This is the first of three books in The Men of Smithfield series. The other two are Happy Ending and Cover Me and both are on my TBR pile impatiently waiting to be read, because they know I badly want to.

Seriously, Gobsmacked was a delicious read! I obviously enjoyed it for the sweet romance and hot love scenes between cuties Mark and Tony, but even more for the highly entertaining, diverting voice with which this story was told. The voice is Mark’s, the story is told in the first person. Not a POV I normally prefer because it easily gets boring and annoying to miss the thoughts of the other characters. And I admit that in this case I missed Tony’s thoughts as well, very much so. But that little disappointment was compensated by the very amusing thoughts of Mark. It never got boring at all and some scenes were downright hilarious thanks to his voice. In previous posts I gave a few examples which I’ll recollect first:

On December 8th I wrote:

This morning, before work, I started reading Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg and I can't wait to get back to that story. I loved the first chapter where the hero smacked his cheating lover on the head in church 'in front of God and everyone' LOL! Here's the description of that scene:

“My hands clenched the book rack, and my fingers brushed against the Bible proudly displayed there. Staring at Jamie's once sweet curls hugging his rough jaw, I slid the good book out of its safe haven. The cracked leather was worn, but its bulk reassuring. Encouraging, even. So I hauled back, fueled by boiling rage, and gobsmacked that bastard as hard as I could in front of God and everyone. The Bible hit the back of Jamie's head with a resounding Thwack!”

Priceless isn't it?

And on December 11th:

I posted some tid bits earlier and Mandi 'warned' me for a ‘cereal stuck to butt’ scene :) which I anticipated a lot! And indeed... it had me laughing out loud and it kept me chuckling for many minutes. Until the hot sex exploded from the pages... I plan to write a review about this first book in the Men of Smithfield series later, but for now I can tell that I'm very glad to have this book recommended to me! It's witty, sexy and has lovely characters!

Now, about that cereal stuck to the butt scene, it’s as memorable as the thwack to the head scene. I anticipated it a lot, so when I read at page 112:

“My naked ass crunched down on a few stray puffs of breakfast cereal. Tony stepped between my knees, his pants half down his legs, his face hungry. Those deep brown eyes searched mine. I gripped his arms, his back, his neck; anywhere I could reach him.”

I rushed through the sentences. And yes, at page 113 the lube has to be retrieved from the other room and then I was treated at these thoughts when Mark walks out of the kitchen to go get it:

“I hated walking out with my bare ass jiggling, crushed cereal bits falling to the floor. Still, it was a nice ass. I'd sweep the floor tomorrow.”

These are a good example of his hilarious and entertaining voice. Are you loving it already? Alright I give you one more example. This one is when Mark’s ex comes after him:

“I looked around for a weapon, throwing drawers open. I wouldn't dream of holding a knife, he was far bigger than I and had a long reach. Plus this wasn't West Side freaking Story; I had no clue what to do with a knife except to cut meat and tighten the screw on the toilet seat. The only knife I owned was a pen knife on my key chain.” (page 64)

Gobsmacked is more than a funny story, it had a pretty good suspense thread as well. It involved Mark’s cheating ex Jamie and his problems – a storyline with some unexpected twists to it. Again, as a reader, you’re kept in the dark about Jamie’s motives and thoughts and you’re solely dependent on Mark’s interpretation of the occurrences and the people around him. It makes you wonder about a thing or two and all you want to do is keep reading to find out if things are as they seem to be.

Besides humor and suspense Gobsmacked has hot lovin’! Tony and Mark are a sexy couple. They have a history of teenage crushes but never acted on their feelings. Mark lived under the assumption that Tony didn’t return his feelings, what Tony felt we don’t know until the end of the story when he voices his feelings towards Mark.
At the instant we step into their lives, Mark just found out about the cheating of Jamie. After cleaning out his apartment and getting rid of Jamies stuff, he goes to his friend Tony’s house to hide from Jamie for one night. And then things start to get hot, hot, hot. Thanks to some alcohol that’s thrown into the mix Mark and Tony end up in the bathroom finally getting down to some hot action.
I loved all the sex scenes between those two guys. My only complaint is that there weren’t enough of them ;) No seriously, the balance between the humor, suspense and hot lovin’ was perfect. I enjoyed Mark’s self absorbed ramblings as much as the ex involved action and the sexy scenes with Tony.

To round this up: if you happen to like reading M/M romances and you want an entertaining, sometimes even hilarious, romantic and very hot read with a little suspense and sexy as hell protags, you should definitely pick up Gobsmacked! Don’t wait, go get it now!

Sexy Sunday Hunks

To warm up this very cold and snowy day:

Review of Maison Domine by Skylar Kade

Skylar Kade
Maison Domine
Samhain Publishing, September 2009

Genre & Keywords: Erotica, Bdsm

Rating: êêê
Heat level: ¹¹

The Back Blurb:
Taking bonding and exothermic reactions outside the laboratory… A Binding Ties story.

Organic chemist Lara Brunner is at loose ends. Since childhood, her life has been focused on work and achieving success in her field. Only now, weeks away from her tenure review, she realizes she’s pushed herself too far. Casting about for a way to release her stress-crazed body from career tension, she visits a BDSM retreat, hoping a weekend of sexual submission will do the trick. Inducting her into the lifestyle is her at-work nemesis—Jaxon Greene. But the sinful intent she encounters in Jaxon’s sexy eyes makes her heart race with desire…and fear. Gorgeous men like him don’t go for zaftig academics like her. Once the fantasy weekend is over and real life returns, he’ll forget all about her. Jaxon is blindsided by his intense attraction to Lara. The more time he spends with her, the stronger their invisible bonds become. Bonds that are stronger and more permanent than any knot he can tie. He’s not normally into converting vanilla women to his lifestyle, but something makes him want to cast his inhibitions aside and claim her for his own. First, though, he has to free her from preconceived notions of proper sex…and love.

Warning: This story contains bondage and whips and sexy professors—oh my!

Maison Domine is one of the three Binding Ties stories of which I’ve read earlier The Initiation of Isabel by Jenna Ives. I rated that one with five stars and three flames because it was a totally hot, surprising story that blew me away. Maison Domine however is much less surprising and certainly not as hot. I finished it the first week of December and already I have a hard time remembering the story and the love scenes! What I do remember though is some questions I had about the logic of the protags actions.

But let me start by saying that overall this was a pleasant read. The hero, Jaxon, is a sexy Dom who aches to show his reluctant colleague Lara the ropes of the lifestyle. Lara is a strong, confident woman who’s always in control and Jaxon knows she’d make a beautiful submissive. When the two meet at this BDSM retreat the heat is tangible. Jax sure knows how to put it, he had my pulse fluttering with his dominant ways:

“He pressed her up against the wall, and tilted her face to meet his gaze head on. “This is how it starts. I can see the signs…the flutter of your pulse right here.” His finger trailed from her chin down to her neck, and Lara released a barely suppressed shiver. “Your eyes dilating in anticipation, excitement, and a slight hint of fear. You are, after all, putting your body and mind completely in my hands. Giving up your tightlyheld control.” He wrapped his hand ever so gently around her neck, putting enough pressure for her to walk the edge between certain safety and the gray space of what if most submissives thrived on.”

Jax gently guides Lara into the scenes they experience together while he himself gets more and more emotionally entangled. They cuddle and have their tender moments after the sex. So far the story develops well.

But that’s before the irregularities occur. One of them is at the end when Jax tells Lara he fell for her during the faculty luncheon earlier that year, which was months before they met at the BDSM retreat. But when he saw Lara at the retreat for the first time nothing of this was mentioned. In fact he was surprised that mouse-type Lara looked so stunning in her red dress. This meeting in the beginning of the book is described from his point of view as well, so I would have expected to hear about his crush on Lara right there and then.

Another thing that appeared to be strained was Lara overhearing a part of Jax’s telephone conversation with his best friend and drawing the conclusion that she did (I don’t want to give away too much). This scene seemed rather affected, as if the story needed more tension and this was the only solution the author could come up with.

And as in most short stories or novella’s the end felt rushed. Jax seems awfully sure of himself and their relationship after spending only a few days with her that didn’t end well at all. His gesture is sweet, but imo farfetched at this time in their relationship. Doesn’t mean though that he isn't very easy to love - he’s the best thing that could happen to Lara. He convinced me of that in the short span of time I ‘lived’ with these characters!

In short, there were a few little issues I had with the flow of this story, but overall it was a enjoyable read with some sexy scenes involving a hot and considerate Dom and his confident but naturally submissive woman.

Today's Man Candy and Sisterhood Award

It's been two darn busy days at my every day job. I hardly had time to do some bloghopping let alone blogging myself. I hate it when the EDJ gets in the way like that ;)

I hope to get some reviews done the next couple of days, but for now I thought the least I could do is treat you to some new sweet and sexy man candy. Although it's a shame he hides his nipples with that shirt...

And last but not least, I want to let you know that I just got invited to Hawk's Sisterhood. Yippee! Hawk, aka Houston A.W. Knight, stopped by at my place today to give me the Sisterhood Award and it makes me a very happy and grateful woman. I owe the lovely smutty hussy Cecile for introducing us, thanks sweetie!

Btw Hawk's blog did get a make-over this weekend and it looks awesome, go check it out yourself!

Today's Man Candy: Dean & Sam

Some of you may know or have guessed it already, I'm a Supernatural fan! I like the storyline, the adventures and I just lurve the two sexy brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester.

I might as well admit that I have a little... alright a huge... crush on Dean! Although Supernatural is not about romance, he has everything I love in a romance hero, in fact that I love in a man period.

He's sexy, confident, caring, tough, dark and brooding but also funny and witty, gorgeous, emotional at times, hot, selfless and he has the most amazing eyes. *sigh*

This morning I stopped by at Ms Moonlights blog and she has this amazing post: All I want for Christmas is Sam and Dean. She found a lot of great and hilarious Youtube vids which you should go check out at her place. The last one is a bit disturbing though, so be warned!

I can't wait for the hiatus to end with the next episode at January 21st!

And when you click on the next pic of Jensen be careful not to drown in his eyes...

Happy Gay Friday & L.B. Gregg and Jenna Byrnes

I've finished this week a few M/M reads. First there was the short free story Four Golden Rings by T.A. Chase (look at my sidebar for download), which features the heroes of Chase's two Love of Sports series. It was fun, quick and toothaching sweet. It was nice because I read the Love of Sports books and I knew the characters.

The second story I read was Gobsmacked by L.B. Gregg. I posted some tid bits earlier and Mandi 'warned' me for a cereal stuck to butt scene :) which I anticipated a lot! And indeed... it had me laughing out loud and I kept me chuckling for many minutes. Until the hot sex exploded form the pages... I plan to write a review about this first book in the Men of Smithfield series later, but for now I can tell that I'm very glad to have this book recommended to me! It's witty, sexy and has lovely characters!

Last but not least I read Nothing but Trouble by Jenna Byrnes. This book I'd won last Sunday at the author's blog and is the same book that 'deflowered' Cecile who had never read a M/M romance before. It's a long short story (around 50 pages in my pdf version) and considering the length it was really good. It was a bit rushed towards the end, things happened fast and love was found very quickly but that's not unusual with the shorter stories. The most important thing is that the couple was loveable and their relationship was sexy and very, very steamy! My, the love scenes got me blushing from head to toes! My hubby didn't know what hit me... or him.

And, as I just posted, I decided to sign up for the M/M Romance Challenge 2010 since I like reading about man love so much :)

Enjoy today's steamy wet couple. Happy Gay Friday to you all!!