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Posts labeled Book Reviews

book cover for Needful

Review - Needful

My rating: * * * *

Another year or so has passed since the events of the last book, Games & Consequences, and things are not going well for Jerna and his family. His youngest daughter is fighting cancer while the older one is facing bullying at school. Love and honor compel Jerna to spend more time with his wife and children, and less time with his lover Ria. Ria feels lonely, and although he tries to understand Jerna’s situation, he can’t help but wonder if he can ever be really happy sharing Jerna with his wife and family.

Tags: Speculative Fiction Mystery


book cover for More Fun With Dick and Shane

Review - More Fun With Dick and Shane

My rating: * * * *

The houseboy is back, and he’s still in good form. Like the first book, there’s no real plot to this ‘memoir’. It’s mostly in the form of a diary with a few longer stories interspersed in. ‘Gilli’ is a 25 year-old houseboy and submissive ‘boy’ lover to two older ‘daddy’ doms, Dick and Shane. It isn’t always easy for the impulsive and headstrong young man to live up to the expectations his daddies place on him.

Tags: Contemporary D/s Menage


book cover for Games & Consequences

Review - Games & Consequences

My rating: * * * *

Games & Consequences picks up the story of Remastering Jerna. It’s a couple years later, and Jerna is happy in his life, with its somewhat unusual domestic arrangements. He spends four days a week as a manager at the exclusive Winds of Paradise hotel and bordello, while those nights are spent with Ria, the highly placed police inspector who helped set him free from his wrongful conviction in the first book.

Tags: Speculative Fiction BDSM


book cover for Aquamarine

Review - Aquamarine

My rating: * * * *

Russell Grant is a scientist, a geneticist in fact, and the son of a geneticist who helped create the ‘Aquarians’, a new human subspecies able to live in the water, almost like a fish. That’s important because the polar ice caps have melted and the world is almost completely covered in water. Russell’s lover of many years is Eric Devlin, one of the first Aquarians. Eric can ‘breath’ under water and has skin that will protect him from some of the problems normal humans experience from being in the water for long periods.


book cover for Frost Fair

Review - Frost Fair

My rating: * * *

Gideon Frost is a man skating on thin ice, almost literally. The young printer is barely keeping his business together, and his creditors are circling outside his door. He’s only just getting by, and when the need arises he’s not above selling his body for a few shillings to make ends meet. His one hope to get things back to black, for a while at least, is a commission for an engraving of Joshua Redfern’s new house.

Tags: Nineteenth Century Historical


Review - The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Band of Thebes

My rating: * * *

This review has also appeared at Speak Its Name. The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Band of Thebes opens on that fateful day on the plain of Chaeronea, when Philip and his golden son wipe out almost all of the Sacred Band. Almost all, for although badly wounded, Nikanoras still lives, much to his shame. Alexander finds him and has his wounds tended. From that desperate opening scene, we flash back to Nikanoras’ childhood.

Tags: Historical Ancient Greece


book cover for All the Gear, No Idea

Review - All the Gear, No Idea

My rating: * * * *

Theo is a young man looking for a little fantasy fulfillment on Valentines Day. He’s had dreams about the BDSM scene, but this is the first time he’s entered the club to act on them. He has all the gear, and no idea what he’s getting into. McCormack is an experienced dom who apparently has been without his own sub for quite some time. On Valentine’s Day, McCormack receives a message from the club owner’s sub, Bret, that the owner wants McCormack to ‘break in’ a new sub - Theo.

Tags: Contemporary D/s BDSM


Review - By His Rules

My rating: * * * *

Aiden is a 23 year-old aspiring actor. He wants to continue his studies, but for now he’s taking some time to explore his submissive side. He’s played with a lot of tops and doms, but most of them were just into the role, the experiences didn’t seem real. Then one night at a BDSM club, Aiden meets Scott, a dom he’s played with once before, with a reputation for being rough.

Tags: Contemporary D/s BDSM


Review - Alike As Two Bees

My rating: * * * *

This review was originally written for Speak Its Name. This version contains a bit of a spoiler, so if you don’t want that, read the version that appears at Speak Its Name where it’s been edited out. Anatolios and Philon are young apprentice sculptors in Classical Greece. Anatolios is a precocious boy of just 13 years. Philon is much older, around 20, and treats Anatolios like a brother. Their master Nikias treats both boys as his own sons.

Tags: Ancient Greece


Review - Eromenos

My rating: * * * *

The story of Hadiran and Antinous has provided great fodder for gay historical romance. After all, there are few male historical figures that we know had sexual relationships. Even Alexander and Hephastion may have enjoyed a purely platonic affair. But that Antinous was Hadrian’s sexual partner there can be little doubt. The many memorials left by Hadrian to Antinous seems to suggest there was love there as well, and the fact that Antinous died so young makes the story a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.

Tags: Historical Ancient Rome


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