Tag: porn

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Yes Audiobook by Brad Boney Narrated by Dan McGowan

Dreamspinner Presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6509

YESAUDMEDBlurb

What if youth wasn’t wasted on the young?

On the eve of his fortieth birthday, Ian Parker is looking for a reboot. He may be the proud owner of a trendy coffee shop in Austin called La Tazza Magica, but his love life has been MIA for years. During a trip to Denver with his best friend, Mark, Ian buys an enchanted chocolate from a mysterious candy store—then wakes up from a nap two decades younger. After the initial shock, Ian realizes a quirk of the universe has given him a second chance and, with Mark’s help, he devises a plan to start over.

With a new lease on life, Ian sets his sights on handsome architect Bartley James, a regular customer at La Tazza. He pursues Bartley as Ian’s twenty-one-year-old alter ego, Ryan, with decidedly unexpected results. Joining Ryan on his adventures are Matthew, the dreamy new barista, Jeremy, the geeky high-school math teacher, and Sam, the pizza delivery boy. Even as misunderstandings and expectations collide, Ian remains determined to right his past mistakes and find his off-ramp to happiness.

Book Review (Previously posted on this site.)

I would strongly recommend that you read these books in order to fully appreciate the nuances. Brad does an amazing job of creating this “alternate” world with the Walsh brothers and laying out that time is very non-linear and to ignore all that history is silly.

Sure, technically this is a stand alone – but why? Just read the others – they’re great!

In this story we see – again – people making small decisions that have huge implications which can affect their lives (and other’s lives) and lots and lots of trivia.

I think that you are either a fan of the trivia – in this case old porn – or not – and the rapid-fire game-playing will either charm or repel you.

I find Brad Boney’s writing to be fascinating and I love his alternate world view and though I wish he’d had a different game plan – one where our MCs spend some actual time together – I always enjoy the time I spend on his books.

This was not my favorite in the series – but still an excellent book.

Audio Review

Dan McGowan is new to me as a narrator, and has not done any of the other narrations for this “almost”-series. I appreciated that he tried to make the different voices distinct and he had a lot of enthusiasm for the story, but I didn’t really care for his style, especially in comparison to the others by this author.

Overall 3.5 of 5 hearts

3.5

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Fire and Ice (Carlisle Cops book 2) by Andrew Grey

Dreamspinner Presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6398

FireAndIceBlurb

Carter Schunk is a dedicated police officer with a difficult past and a big heart. When he’s called to a domestic disturbance, he finds a fatally injured woman, and a child, Alex, who is in desperate need of care. Child Services is called, and the last man on earth Carter wants to see walks through the door. Carter had a fling with Donald a year ago and found him as cold as ice since it ended.

Donald (Ice) Ickle has had a hard life he shares with no one, and he’s closed his heart to all. It’s partly to keep himself from getting hurt and partly the way he deals with a job he’s good at, because he does what needs to be done without getting emotionally involved. When he meets Carter again, he maintains his usual distance, but Carter gets under his skin, and against his better judgment, Donald lets Carter guilt him into taking Alex when there isn’t other foster care available. Carter even offers to help care for the boy.

Donald has a past he doesn’t want to discuss with anyone, least of all Carter, who has his own past he’d just as soon keep to himself. But it’s Alex’s secrets that could either pull them together or rip them apart—secrets the boy isn’t able to tell them and yet could be the key to happiness for all of them.

Review

Carter is the police partner of Red who we met in book one, Fire and Water. Donald is a social worker who has hooked up with Carter in the past, but walked away from him before they got started as a couple.

Carter rescues a boy, Alex, from the site of a domestic disturbance only to find out he’s been abused and is now an orphan. Donald is called in to help place him in the system, but both men fall in love with Alex and have a hard time letting him go.

Meanwhile, Carter knows Donald is more than his icy façade and wants to break through to the real man he’s had glimpses of before.

Donald is guarding his heart and his secrets but can’t help but be enthralled by both Alex and Carter.

In the end – when an amazingly convenient solution presents itself – we see the formation of a new family and a very HEA.

**
I thought this was better than the first book (and I liked the first book) and I really liked Carter and Alex and the story they shared. I thought Donald was a little harder to like and found his reluctance to share frustrating.

Overall it was a good book and I recommend it to fans of Andrew Grey and fans of men with kids stories.

4 of 5 hearts

4

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Dallas in Wonderland by Evan Gilbert

Dreamspinner Presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6390

DallasinWonderlandBlurb

Dallas Fox owns porn movie studio Wonderland and for him, sex is all about business. He hasn’t felt passion in a long time, so he is surprised when he develops an attraction for Johnny Roman, a college student who has recently become a porn actor for the studio, and Miguel Duarte, an office assistant. Dallas is even more surprised when he realizes they are as interested in him as they are in each other. Those attractions violate Dallas’s number one rule: no mixing business and pleasure.

Dallas slowly lets his guard down, and eventually winds up in bed with both Johnny and Miguel. Their painful backgrounds are similar, and they begin forging bonds that could grow into something much deeper. Miguel, however, faces a threat that could endanger them all and destroy any chance of finding the romance they want and need.

Review

Dallas is the consummate “bottom”, and has played that role for years, turning it from a role in porn to owning his own successful studio. His life is good, but he’s lonely – he just doesn’t realize it yet.
Johnny is living life well. He’s in school, has a bright future, making money doing something he loves – playing the hard-assed “top” for Dallas’ studio. But – he’s had a crush on Dallas for years and though Dallas plays a bottom in every role he’s ever done – he’s really a top outside the studio. Johnny – who’s never bottomed isn’t sure he’s ready for that. Not to mention, Dallas has a strict “no fraternization with employees” rule.

Miguel stumbles into studio life when his roommate runs off mysteriously with the rent, leaving him high and dry and desperate. Luckily Dallas’ business partner finds Miguel before he ends up renting out his ass and gives him an assistant job at the studio. There Miguel sees Johnny and Dallas and their chemistry and wishes he could be part of it. But no one like them could ever see someone like him and think he’d make a great partner – could they?

In a very brief period of time – all three men face some tough decisions/situations and end up thrown together. They find strength and love with one another in addition to some sizzling hot chemistry.

This is a short book, and so we end with essentially a solid HFN but it feels good and definitely on the path to longevity.

My only complaint is that the novella is full of “telling” and not nearly enough “showing”. There is a lot of information “dumped” on us as each character gives us their physical descriptions and back-stories. I would have appreciated taking the time to either develop these more organically or finding a way to give the information in a less clichéd way. (IE Dallas looks in the mirror and tells us what he sees as a way to let us know how he looks physically.)

This is a new author to me and I will definitely look for more in the future.

3.5 of 5 hearts

3.5

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Keeping Sweets Audiobook by Cate Ashwood narrated by Jeff Gelder

Dreamspinner Presents  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6327

keeping sweetsBlurb

Days away from high school graduation, with hardly a penny to his name, Evan Lowry needs to earn money for college. When he comes across an ad for modeling, he thinks his luck has changed – until he learns he’s interviewing for an adult film and will be expected to have sex. On camera. With other men.

For gay porn star Brandon Court, the shine has worn off of regular shoots. He and his producer Les decide to try something new: a reality-show porno set at a beach house. When he meets wide-eyed and naïve Evan for the first time, Brandon isn’t sure if he wants the kid to get lost or get naked. Naked wins.

On set, Brandon takes Evan under his wing, and over the next month, they are thrown together in every intimate way conceivable – except emotionally. Both Brandon and Evan are terrified of trying for anything deeper, and insecurities and doubts wear on their hopes, but the chemistry between them won’t let them slow things down.

Review

This is a lovely story about a jaded porn star who falls in love with a newbie/virgin.  There was a lot of great sex and some pretty nice “feels” in this story.  Brandon and Evan fall for one another pretty much right away and the only “hurdle” happens near the end when Brandon abandons Evan after the shoot – causing Evan to despair.

However – Brandon realizes his mistake and we get a solid HEA after all.

You definitely have to suspend your disbelief – this is not porn like anything I’d have seen or expected – definitely a rosy vision of the industry.  But… it’s nice and the love story is very sweet.

I loved all the Oregon references 🙂

Audio

Jeff Gelder does a nice job with this.  He’s not my favorite narrator and he doesn’ “move me” like some narrators do, but he tells the story in such a way that the story takes center stage, not the narrator.

Overall 4 of 5 hearts

4

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Black John (Johnnies #4) by Amy Lane

Dreampsinner Presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5982

black johnBlurb

John Carey is just out of rehab and dying inside when he gets word that Tory, the guy who loved him and broke him, has removed himself from the world in the most bitter way possible—and left John to clean up his mess.

Forced back to his hometown in Florida, John’s craving a hit with every memory when he meets Tory’s neighbor. Spacey and judgmental, Galen Henderson has been rotting in his crappy apartment since a motorcycle accident robbed him of his mobility, his looks, and his boyfriend all in one mistake. Galen’s been hiding at the bottom of an oxy bottle, but when John shows up, he feels obligated to help wade through the wreckage of Tory’s life.

The last thing John needs is another relationship with an addict, and the last thing Galen wants is a conscience. Both of them are shocked when they find that their battered souls can learn from and heal one another. It doesn’t hurt that they’re both getting a crash course on how growing up and getting past your worst mistakes sure beats the alternative—and that true love is something to fight to keep if your lover is fighting to love you back.

Review

Where to start….
Well, first we all know Johnnies right? – the made up porn studio that introduced us to Chase and Tommy, Dex and Kane, Ethan and Jonah and in a related way, Alejandro and Donny. We LOVE Johnnies. John… we didn’t love so much. He was a coke-head-douche in Dex in Blue and though he had glimmers of the kinda guy Dex might befriend, by the time we actually meet him, he’s gone over the edge.

This is his story.

We start out with John getting out of rehab, he’s still pretty shaky, but determined to stay clean, only to find out that this newly sober John has to fly to Florida (across the world practically) to help clean out the apartment and distribute the remains of his first love, Tory, who has committed suicide.

Uh…Thanks Amy for taking it easy on us. NOT!

Tory and John grew up together, realized they were gay together, started doing porn together but I can’t really say they loved each other because Tory never treated John like someone he loved.

As time passes Tory descends down a spiral of sex and drugs and after several years and three trips to rehab John decides Tory needs to try things on his own, because whatever John is doing, isn’t helping.

Thus the birth of Johnnies.

Flash back to today, John is at Tory’s apartment where he meets the neighbor, Galen. Galen is a lawyer who had a terrible accident three years ago, and has since been caught up in a cycle of depression and pain med addiction.

So… of course John is super attracted to Galen, but really – Can he? Should he? Is it remotely smart for him to take on another addict?

**

If I were to rank my favorite Johnnies books the order would be Dex, Super Sock Man, Chase, John, Ethan…. Black John is a good book, Amy doesn’t write anything bad. The angst is so painful. Tory hurt John so much. Dex (inadvertently) hurt John so much. But… the one piece I missed with Black John that Chase and Dex and even Super Sock Man had was a bit more of a connection between the lovers.

I loved that John could finally help Galen and that Galen wanted to be strong enough to show John he deserved someone whole. But I didn’t see them as a couple long enough to feel as attached to them as I have in other Amy Lane books.

On the other hand I absolutely loved that we got to see more of Dex and Kane again and I hope to see more in this series — Bobby and Reg perhaps???

Writing/Editing 5

Romance 3.5

Sex/Heat 3.5

Storyline 5

World Building/Characterizations 5

Overall, 4.5 hearts!

4.5

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