Tag Archives: Steve Kluger

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Due to the US holiday, there won’t be a Misadventure on Monday!



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Reading Update
The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger. Very good epistolary historical fiction about a 12-year old Jewish boy living in Brooklyn in 1940 who starts corresponding with the New York Giants third baseman, beginning a life-changing friendship for both of them. This was touching and funny and had me in tears at the end.
Gambling Men: The Novel by Amy Lane. ebook. Very good m/m romance about two guys who’ve been best friends and business partners since college, but suddenly up the ante to maybe being much more. I really enjoyed this… other than the pervasive sense of dread that things were going to become an angstfest at any minute. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
Divide & Conquer (Cut & Run #4) by Abigail Roux & Madeleine Urban. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense in which Ty and Zane are kept continually off balance, by each other and by a series of bombings and bank robberies. I am very, very glad that I’d heard this was something of a cliffhanger and waited to read it until the next book was available.
Armed & Dangerous (Cut & Run #5) by Abigail Roux. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense in which Ty and Zane are sent to bring in Julian Cross (from Warrior’s Cross) for an old home week sort of read that ties things up well enough to end the series… but doesn’t.
Switch (True Colors #4) by Clare London. ebook short. arc. Very good steamy short m/m romance in which Zeke and Miles reconnect after Miles being out of town, returning just in time for Zeke’s gallery show.
Bomber’s Moon (Under the Hill #1) by Alex Beecroft. ebook. Very good paranormal m/m romance about a guy who contacts a paranormal investigator after an unsettling encounter with the Fae. This ends on a cliffhanger, so make sure you have the second book handy!
Dogfighters (Under the Hill #2) by Alex Beecroft. ebook. Good paranormal m/m romance that pulls together the threads from the first book for a dramatic, bittersweet finale. (There are three MCs, but only two end up together.) I think this book should’ve been part of the first book – and maybe it was at one point. There were also a few parts that felt as if they muddled rather than advanced the plot.
Learning the Ropes (Sex Sells #3) by Kim Dare. ebook. Good kinky m/m romance about an ad agency employee who’s assigned to put together an advertising campaign for a leather club owned by one of the agency’s partners. Although the employee isn’t into bdsm, he offers to do a scene so he has a better idea what the club is about.
Queen’s Man by KD Sarge. ebook. Good m/m scifi romance about Joss, a bodyguard who sees his one-night stand gunned down, then saves the guy’s daughter and spends the rest of the book protecting her, his boss, and his “stalker”. While it was a fun read, I couldn’t relate to Joss’ over-the-top perfection.
Event Horizon (Theo Bourne #2) by Evelyn Shepherd. ebook. Good paranormal m/m romance in which Detective Theo Bourne and his partner (in every sense of the word) Carlos Ramirez have to face both a mysterious mystical monster and Theo’s attraction to someone else.
Diva and the Frat Boy (Men of Holsum College #2) by Daisy Harris. ebook. Pretty good m/m romance about the rather serious president of a gay fraternity who finds himself unexpectedly attracted to a very flamboyant junior. While this story touched on issues like prejudice within the gay community, there wasn’t any real follow through. I also never got a sense of emotional connection between the main characters.
The City of Counts by Keira Andrews. ebook short. Short m/m paranormal about a tax accountant who meets a sexy guy while waiting at the DMV, then goes out with him. This felt more like a tease for a longer story than a complete story. πŸ™
After the Fall (The Right Choice #1) by Talia Carmichael. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about a bookstore owner who just wants to have sex with the contractor renovating his store, not start a relationship. But the contractor has other plans…
The Wolfing Way (Lifting the Veil #1) by Susan Laine. ebook. Ok paranormal m/m romance about a guy about to graduate from college who discovers he’s the fated mate of a werewolf and is afraid that all his choices are about to being taken away. As others have noted, this started promisingly, but deteriorated into near-purple prose and cliches.


Stylized May is stylized! πŸ™‚ (Embiggen for best effect.)

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Cool

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Teh Cute

Reading Update
Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino. ebook. Very good, very steamy, and very sweet m/m romance about a college jock and frat boy who’s been in denial for years that he’s gay, but finally can’t deny it any longer when he realizes he has a crush on his history TA.
False Start by Janey Chapel. ebook short. Very good m/m romance about two guys who were secretly together for one year during college. One graduated and ran away from even the thought of being gay and the other… didn’t.
One Man’s Treasure (Bellingham Mysteries #4) by Nicole Kimberling. ebook. Very good m/m mystery/romance in which Peter tries to figure out why the guy who collapsed in front of him at the farmer’s market died.
First You Fall (Kevin Connor #1) by Scott Sherman. ebook. Very good gay mystery about a rent boy who does some investigating of his own when his friend dies under suspicious circumstances and the police rule it a suicide.
Second You Sin (Kevin Connor #2) by Scott Sherman. ebook. Very good gay mystery in which Kevin tries to figure out why some other rent boys have been killed or injured. This one ends on a heckuva relationship cliffhanger – I hope the next book is out soon!
Mine by Mary Calmes. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a guy who works as a mob runner and who’s the only thing keeping his highstrung boyfriend grounded, until everything in their world changes overnight.
Payback (True Colors #3) by Clare London. ebook short. Steamy short m/m scene in which Zeke arrives at Miles’ office for a meeting but gets a bit of a surprise instead.
Changing Pitches by Steve Kluger. Very good novel about a major league baseball pitcher who, at 36, is heading the last place team in the league as he slowly realizes he needs to make some changes in his personal and professional lives.
Assumption of Desire by Elizabeth Brooks. ebook short. Very good short m/m romance about an auditor who hooks up with a totally-not-his-style twink while he’s in town for two weeks. A few years later, he finds himself back in the same town…
Obedient Slave (Sun, Sea & Submission #2) by Kim Dare. ebook. Steamy kinky m/m romance about a guy who works at a gay resort. He doesn’t realize that someone is supposed to serve as his “slave” for a week when he gets promoted…
Office Hours by Rena Butler. ebook. Good m/m romance about an adjunct composition instructor who’s suspicious when the cute senior who sleeps through class turns in an excellent paper…
Sink or Swim by Lissa Kasey & Xara X. Xanakas. free ebook. Good short m/m romance about two guys moving to Australia to work as a dive instructor and a masseuse at a private resort. As they travel, one of them worries about their relationship and how things will be after they arrive.
China House by Vincent Lardo. ebook. Ok gay gothic mystery about a small group of people staying for a week in China House, which has been empty for 20 years… except for a ghost? I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters and could’ve definitely lived without the incestuous overtones in the story.
Cuffs and More by Dakota Dawn. ebook short. So-so short kinky m/m scene between a shy bdsm store owner and the dom he has a crush on. Unfortunately, neither of the guys felt believable to me.
Five Star Review by Lara Brukz. ebook. Meh m/m romance about an m/m author and a reviewer who become friends online and then have the chance to meet. Unfortunately, this was stilted, cliched, awkward, and just painful to read at times.


“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

Pink fluff of linkity (I have no idea what that means, either)

Thanks to Ralph at The Dancing Dove, where I won a copy of Journey To Compromise by Mira Ismine, and to Kim Dare, at whose blog I won a copy of one of her books for only being a sort of bad guesser.


Contests

  • Authors Bronwyn Green and Paige Tyler gracefully dealt with both having released books called Just Right based on Little Red Riding Hood by having a joint contest! Visit both blogs by March 29 for your chance to win copies of both books.

Books & Reading

  • Really excellent post about DRM over at An American Editor. My favorite quote from the post: “Right now Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and publishers are able to ignore the consumer in the nascent ebook market. But the backlash is coming.” (As an aside, I’ve chosen to reward publishers and bookstores that make and sell DRM-free books and avoid those that don’t have DRM-free offerings.)
  • Nice post over at Dear Author reacting to the complaint that ebooks and “the loss of the public nature of the physical artifact will result in the loss of culture.”
  • Gizmodo had a blurb about “online music industry giants” making a plea to stop music piracy. I couldn’t help but read the following sentence while thinking about the publishing industry and authors: “…it’s tough to take an earnest plea for buying music seriously when it comes from business middlemen rather than, you know, musicians.” So, authors, keep spreading the ebook anti-piracy message, because you are the people most likely to be heard.
  • Emily candidly discusses that topic we all avoid – book addiction (and there’s a great comic included!).

Learn Stuff

Moment of Silence

Knitting

Things That Amused Me

  • Do you ever read The Bloggess? Insanely funny, sometimes heavy on the insane. πŸ˜‰ (Discovered via CursingMama.)

Cute Burns

Reading Update
Reading Update Update: I’m slowly working on adding my wee reviewettes to my LibraryThing. (Would that I had thought of this quite some time ago…) Depending on the tone and formality of said reviewettes, they’ll either be in the Reviews or the Comments field. When you view my LibraryThing, click on the various available styles until you find one that shows the comments. (Which letter that will be varies by browser, weirdly.)
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (Nightside, Book 10) by Simon R. Green. PI John Taylor’s back in another dark noirish urban fantasy; what else is there to say?
Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger. Excellent m/m romance told in epistolary style about two boys (a nerd and a jock) who fall in love in high school and then lose touch with each other after going to college. I’d heard nothing but good about this book, yet I still wasn’t prepared for how it sucked me in. Highly recommended.
Hideout by Katie Allen. ebook. This excellent m/m romantic suspense is about a cop who’s guarding one of the characters from Private Dicks for seven months until he can testify in a trial. Really, why aren’t there more witness protection books that include remodeling the safe house? πŸ™‚ Highly recommended. Hopefully, now that Katie’s writing full-time, she’ll give us some more of her excellent m/m romance soon. (Oh, and you really need to read Private Dicks first to get the most out of this book! I promise, it won’t be a hardship.) As if you hadn’t guessed, highly recommended.
Sex and Sexuality by Willa Okati. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a professor who went through “homosexual deprogramming” when he was younger and is now trying to follow the straight life, complete with evil bitch fiancee (more caricature than anything else). Published in 2007, this is definitely not one of Okati’s stronger books.
From Afar by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical paranormal m/m romance about a vampire obsessed by a young lord who has to change the lord into a vampire to save his life. The ending was a bit abrupt – perhaps there’s to be a sequel? (I know, I know, another historical!)
The Hit List by Anne Brooke. ebook. This m/m romance was a mixed read for me. I found the first third very frustrating, not really knowing what the heck was going on. In fact, I put the book aside and read the previous two books. When I returned to The Hit List, the middle third wasn’t quite so frustrating, and the final third was quite good. In fact, I started to suspect that the first third was meant to put the reader into the very confused headspace of the narrator.
Paul’s D’Marco by Leiland Dale. ebook short. Ok short m/m romantic suspense about a police detective and the psychic that’s called in to help the police find a serial child killer. A titch more editing and fleshing out the story would’ve moved this from ok to good.
Persistence Pays by Mara Ismine. ebook short. Very cute m/m romance about a martial artist who’s been trying for years to avoid spending too much time with his irresistible but slutty best friend.
Emergency (A City Hospital Novel) by Drew Zachary. ebook. Typical sweet’n’steamy m/m romance from Drew Zachary about an EMT who’s good friends with a doctor going through a divorce and questioning his sexuality. Very low angst.
Caught Running by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux. ebook reread. Good m/m romance about two guys who went to high school together who are now teaching and coaching at that same school. (I noticed headhopping this time, but don’t remember noticing it the first time I read the book.)


“Pink fluff, I devour you!” -Mayhem