The Prince's Angel by Shayne Carmichael and Mychael Black

         Sorry about not posting on Wednesday, but my brother kicked the router and unplugged it, and none of us noticed for two days that that was the reason our internet wasn't working. Silly Charlie, kicking the router like that. I was so panicked but we just figured out what caused it and so now I am back in service! This book was a quick read that I read one night when I was worried about a serial killer hiding under my bed (I spend more nights fearing this than I probably should).

         In present day London, vampires live side-by-side with mortals living under two sets of laws.

          The Romanorum make the vampire rules, helping the Princes who rule the cities. Not all vampires are thrilled with the system. A rash of rogue vampires--vampires who have killed mortals--has descended upon London, and it is up to London's vampire prince, Mael Black, to bring them under control. When he learns who is truly behind the rogues, however, Mael's task becomes more complicated than he would like. His only choice is to turn to a sorcerer of questionable reputation--Cian Carmichael.

         But Cian is more than he seems to be, and despite the dangers inherent in becoming involved with him, Mael finds he is unable to resist. Cian is an angel, sent to bring the rogue vampires under control. Acquiring a reputation as a vampire hunter, Cian becomes notorious in the city Mael rules. The last thing he expects is to fall in love with the prince of the London vampires himself.

Can these two deal with their growing attachment, and save London from the threat it faces?

Click to view on Amazon: The Prince's Angel

         I read this book late one night because I was terrified and needed something to stay awake so I didn't have to think about the possibility of someone waiting under my bed to kill me. It actually turned out to be a rather interesting book. I thought it was a really cool concept, though it was a little difficult for me to understand. It could have been because I was tired but I didn't understand the different tiers of vampires and how a First Formula vampire had more power... I thought Mael was very old, and pretty powerful and so since he was older than Selena I thought he could take her, and I was really frustrated that it didn't work that way because of what formula they were. And I didn't understand how the rogue vampires were spreading vampirism, was it with those formula things that were being sent in the mail, or was it through more traditional methods.

Spoilers Ahead!

         The relationship between Mael and Cian was interesting. It was very quick, which I liked, but it was a little inconsistent. They were so drawn to each other, to the point that they were secretly spying on each other, and they couldn't stay away from each other. then they get together and they are pretty exclusive, but then Cian catches the assassin with Mael and gets extremely jealous, but then at the end he tells Mael to go off with Seth if he needs to. WHAAAAT? I felt they were so attached to each other, and given how possessive they were, it totally blew my mind that Cian would consider letting Mael sleep with someone else.

         Then there was the fact that Cian was so worried about falling for Mael and so worried about drinking his blood, but nobody got mad at him. He didn't get into any trouble, and Michael even approved of the relationship, which made all the angst at the beginning seem a little unnecessary, but at the same time I liked it because part of me wanted Cian to be a fretful character... he seemed to waver on that point, going from fretful to very sure of himself and the events that were unfolding.

I liked the book, and it definitely distracted me. I would give it 3 Stars.

Thank you so much for reading!

The Left Hand of Calvus (Warriors of Rome #1) by L.A. Witt

         This is another of those books that I skipped over. I love ancient themed books, especially romance books, and it doesn't matter whether it is female/male or male/male, I just love the time. But I thought, since I am giving everything else a try I will give this one a try.

         Former gladiator Saevius is certain fortune’s smiling on him when a Pompeiian politician buys him to be his bodyguard. But then his new master, Laurea Calvus, orders Saevius to discover the gladiator with whom his wife is having an affair. In order to do that, Saevius must return to the arena, training alongside the very men on whom he’s spying. Worse, he’s now under the command of Drusus, a notoriously cruel—and yet strangely intriguing—lanista.

         But Saevius’s ruse is the least of his worries. There’s more to the affair than a wife humiliating her prominent husband, and now Saevius is part of a dangerous game between dangerous men. He isn’t the only gladiator out to expose the Lady Verina’s transgressions, and her husband wants more than just the guilty man’s name.

         When Saevius learns the truth about the affair, he’s left with no choice but to betray one of his masters: one he’s come to fear, one he’s come to respect, and both of whom could have him killed without repercussion. For the first time in his life, the most dangerous place for this gladiator isn’t the arena.

 Click to view on Amazon: The Left Hand of Calvus

WARNING! This whole area probably contains spoilers because my thoughts are so confused about this book there is no way I can break everything up evenly into sections.

         This book surprised me. Looking back on the rating that I gave it on Goodreads I might have to change it because the more I think about this book the more stars I feel it earns.The book is really interesting especially when Saevius is put in the position of having to choose between masters. I mean from the synopsis we knew that that would happen, but when you see everything that he goes through while trying to pick between the two, and the moment he realizes that no matter what choice he makes it will probably lead to his death. And the hazing of the gladiators. I never really thought about it, but when you really think about it, of course it makes sense that there is hazing. With that many men, and their lives depending on who garners the most favor, I am surprised that they backed off of Saevius.

         But I do have to get to the most interesting character in the book, the one who put me off the book, but the more I think about him, the more he becomes my favorite character. That's right, I'm talking about Drusus. Oh, you thought I was talking about Calvus? Yeah, right.... but I'll get into that later. Drusus, man, I don't even know where to start. I am going to start with the fact that DRUSUS WAS BORN A GIRL! I was so pissed off when I found that out, I felt horrible betrayed by the author. The funny thing was, about halfway through the book I thought, wait a minute, and I went onto Goodreads to check and see if this book was on any strait or transgender romance lists. Because I was like, Drusus is a girl and that's why he won't take his armor off. But because it wasn't on any of those lists I thought I was imagining it. Now, before you get all up in arms and say I am intolerant, or something of the sort, let me say that the reason I was upset wasn't because Drusus was transgender, but because I felt the author tricked me, and not in a kind interesting way, because in the moment of the reveal i felt not only my doubt that the romance between Saevius and Drusus might not last because of this, but we are also shown Saevius' doubt. I felt it was too cruel to the characters.

         So I was super pissed off about it, and somehow managed to finish the book, which was pretty ambiguous about where the relationship will go, I mean they exchange kisses and such, but i kept wondering if it would be the same. Then after finishing the book, I thought, why wouldn't it? Drusus is male, in his thoughts and feeling and actions he is male, that is what is important, and that is what Saevius was attracted to, right? So they will be fine. But it just kept bothering and I couldn't put my finger on why until I thought about Kaeso. That is what left me feeling uneasy, it shouldn't have but it did. It was because L.A. Witt, forced me to face this strange combination of man and mother that Drusus was and for some reason it took a while for my mind to fully come to terms with that. I kept arguing with myself that a father would act the same towards a child, no parent wants their child to be abused. But the way that Witt wrote about Drusus' need to save the child seemed wildly maternal (at least it seemed this way to me). And then Saevius kept commenting on how Kaeso looked like Drusus, which felt like Witt was trying to force Drusus' femininity down my throat. It was hard for me to read and I really struggled to come to terms with it. But I kept thinking, this happens to people in real life, it's not just a dramatic move on the part of the author, a transgender man can have a child and that doesn't change anything. Well, now I have come to terms with it and that strange dichotomy makes Drusus such an interesting character that I cant stop thinking about him, and I like him more and more. He is definitely the shining star of this book.

         Now on to Calvus. What. A. Jerk. That being said, The title confused be at first, because I was sure that Drusus was the one that Saevius would come to respect but then I was like maybe he is going to reveal a side of Calvus that no one knows and I kept waiting for it, but it never happened. Calvus is in the book so little (though his shadow does hang over Saevius) that I felt it was a bit strange for his name to be in the title. I understand the reference to the left hand, how it is the evil hand and shouldn't be trusted. But, I don't know, I wish that it had a different name.

         I feel like I keep complaining about this book, but really I did enjoy it! I am still debating reading other books by Witt, I don't want another curveball thrown at me, though maybe I should look forward to that because sometimes I do get a little stuck in the formulaic plots of many romance novels. If you guys think I should continue of with the Warriors of Rome series let me know!

I give it a 3 out of 5 stars for now... It might go up the more I think about it! Don't be shy, though! Leave some comments, I would love to hear what you think!

The Emperor's Wolf by J.C. Owens

         Something about ancient times always fascinates me, as does the idea of submission. And this seemed to combine the two, or I thought it did when I put it on my to-read list. But once I started reading it it was halfway between the two... kind of...

          The echoes of a war four years past still resounds in the minds of those who endured it.

         Jaden longs to search for his sister, though he is bound in the fetters of slavery. When he is given to the very man who conquered his country, he is caught up in his own hatred, yet fascinated by the mystery of his new master, the Emperor of Tranaden, who all say is demonic, without mercy. Trapped in the snare of his master’s beauty, Jaden begins to realize that there is much more beneath the surface...

         Dersai is Emperor to his fingertips, he is used to command and being obeyed. He will sacrifice anything to see his country safe. Beneath, he is well read, highly intelligent and far sighted in how he views others. Yet, Dersai has an inner demon, a demon that kept his kingdom free and safe from conquerors; only in his dreams can he imagine one strong enough to love him.

Now his slave may be the only one who can set him free.

 Click to View on Amazon: The Emperor's Wolf

         For some reason I got the impression that this book would be about ancient Rome, or something similar. And it kind of was, but it also kind of wasn't... at all. There are giant machines and curses and crazy legends in this one. And as far as submission goes, you could say that there is a kind of submission going on here, but not in the way people normally would think of it.

         Jaden is an interesting character, because he is presented to us as a tough dangerous man that many, in the harem he resides in, fear. But he has been horribly abused until he submits to this terrible lady, who in my opinion (and Jaden's as well) is totally disgusting. And she has some sort of strange obsession with him that I didn't understand, but it made me want to punch her in the throat. We go from there until he meets up with Dersai... at this point Jaden seems to have a total role reversal and becomes a very fragile and submissive man. I was confused about how I was supposed to view Jaden, because people kept referring to him as a wolf but we are shown a timid broken man. That being said, it doesn't mean I didn't like his character. I thought his vulnerability was really well done, I just thought it needed to be shown that he wasn't a wolf yet.

         Dersai scared me. When he was himself it was fine and I thought he was a real stand up guy, but when the demon took over he was horrible. Ugh, and when he killed those soldiers and started licking up their blood, that creeped me out more than anything. What I really liked about him was that while he was the more dominant partner in the relationship, he often times seemed more deeply vulnerable than Jaden did. Maybe it was because he knew how perilously he was holding on to his sanity, or maybe he was just more invested in the relationship from the start.

         They big fight at the end confused me. I don't understand why they both were keeping secret from each other like that, but at the same time I see why it happened, to show them both the strength of their relationship, but it just seemed like a tiny misunderstanding blown way out of proportion.

I liked it a lot! I wish there had been more plot thought. I give it 3 stars!

The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson

         Yay! First post back! This book showed up on a bunch of lists that I was looking at. I actually find myself getting lost in those lists, and can wander through them for hours, but This book just kept popping up and after deciding not to read it a couple of times I finally gave in.

         Detective Nicholas Valenti, tall, dark and stoic, has been best friends with his partner, Sean O'Brian for six years. The two men have seen each other through divorce, disaster, and danger, and saved each other's asses more times than Valenti can count. Exactly when he started seeing his blond, intense partner in another light, Valenti isn't really sure. He only knows that he wants O'Brian in a way that had nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with possession. It is a desire he will have to hide forever because O'Brian is undeniably straight. 

          Just as Valenti is coming to grips with his new, unacceptable feelings for his partner their police captain puts them on a new case that could blow Valenti's cover once and for all. He and O'Brian are going undercover at the country's largest and most infamous gay resort to bust a notorious drug lord and stop the shipments of poison cocaine that are flooding the gay bars all over the city. 

          Now Valenti will have to make a choice between friendship and desire. He and O'Brian will play the roles of gay men that will push the limits of their relationship to the breaking point. Will their time at the RamJack forge a new bond between them or destroy their partnership forever?

Click to View on Amazon: The Assignment

         The first thing that hit me about this book was the strange timing of it. This might just be because I never experienced them, but when the book said that this was set in the 80s I couldn't hold back a shudder. I thought, Oh dear, this is going to be painful and neon colored. But it turns out I was wrong and I don't think the story really even needed to tell us that it was set in the 80s. The story could have been something that happened today. I mean, I am assuming it could have, I haven never experienced anything that these characters went through but as far as the feelings of time and place, it felt very modern to me.

         I actually really liked the characters. It sometimes bothers me when characters are afraid of their sexuality, sometimes it just seems to contrived. And sometimes I just want to smack them until they get that being attracted to another man is not a bad things, but the struggle in this case felt pretty natural. O'Brian was so flirty and naturally physical that it never seemed forced between the two characters, even when it was forced on them. It was a bit of a "gay for you" story, as both the characters were very much interested in women until Valenti's divorce, but I have always thought that makes the story sweeter. Like they are so drawn to each other and so perfect for each other that something as little as orientation doesn't matter. So lovely.

         I felt that the whole "sleep with each other as blackmail" thing was a little forced. I understood it but it was predictable and I felt myself going, really? REALLY? But at the same time it did tear my heart apart a little because Valenti was so torn up about it, and he loved O'Brian so dearly and that made me tear up a bit when he started hating himself over it. And the chemistry between those two was sweet. As straight men they were so comfortable with each other that they were always touching, and I don't know about you guys, but my boyfriend rarely casually touched other guys, and if he does it is never more than for a few seconds... but they were ok with it and, it was great. The best part was when they were in the hotel and O'Brian finally saw his opening to get closer to Valenti. Ah it was so sneaky and sexy haha, though thinking about a pretty boy twink type with a bunch of chest hair was a bit difficult.

I  liked this book, it was a fun read and I should have read it sooner. I give it 3 stars!

Bloodraven by P.L. Nunn

         Hey, I'm trying to get caught up with school and stuff so it has been a while, but I am going to try my best to start catching up. This book that I am about to review I have seen on a lot of the lists on Goodreads that I have been skimming. I had it as a "to-read" for a while, but I read a lot of reviews saying that it was extremely violent and off putting so I was a little cautious of reading it. But I finally dug in my heels and started it.

         A son of a forest dwelling people, Yhalen knows little of the world outside the ancestral forest, until he is captured by a band of ogres on a slave-taking mission. Only grim tales of the barbaric giants had reached the forest, but Yhalen soon learns that even the darkest fireside story only hinted at the brutality of these Northern warriors. He discovers the meaning of true fear at their hands, and only the awakening of ancient magic saves him from destruction.

         Surviving ogre viciousness, he finds himself given to Bloodraven, the half ogre, half human war leader as a slave. Yhalen, refusing to bend, soon pays the price for offending prickly ogre pride.

         But Bloodraven is no mindless, violent ogrish beast. Bloodraven has an agenda and Yhalen finds himself drawn in the wake into human and ogre politics, into bloodshed and cruelty and into the forbidden magic that is damnation in the eyes of his own people, but which might mean the difference between death and salvation.

This book is available on Lulu.com

         This book was interesting... It was extremely graphic. There were many many many violent scenes that made my stomach turn. Poor Yhalen went through so much and still he had spirit. That was something that pissed me off though. Not the part about Yhalen having spirit, because I was so happy he anaged to struggle through it all, but that people kept telling him that he couldn't imagine the abuse that human slaves of ogres went through, and I was like YES HE CAN!! And even after he told Bloodraven about it Bloodraven kept telling him to lay low because he couldnt imagine the trauma of being tortured by ogres.  It made me so mad.

         I think there was a lot of miscommunication between the characters, but somehow despite all of that they got along extremely well. Even though Yhalen was forced into the relationship and he was extremely prideful, they still managed to find a balance that didn't cause too many problems. I thought that was a really amazing thing to have because it stopped things in the relationship from getting too dramatic. I like drama, but sometimes in forced relationships it gets too extreme for me.

         This was a very long book. I am not entirely sure how I felt about that because I thought the characters were incredibly interesting, but I also at times was thinking, man how much longer is there. There is also the fact that the least expensive version of this book was in PDF form, which for some reason made the book feel even longer than it already was. I did love the story though, with the violence aside, I thought it was a really touching story about how they found common ground and began to build a friendship and relationship off of it. Sure, Bloodraven was really pushy about sex, but he was always worried about Yhalen's well being and was always trying to think of ways to make life easier for Yhalen.

         I really liked the character Bloodraven. I feel like we learned more about Yhalen, because he went through the most brutal trials, but I wish that we had gotten to learn more about Bloodraven's life. When he was disowned by one of his only real friends I thought I was going to try, but at the same time i kept thinking it was worth it because Yhalen always ended up putting Bloodraven first, while Bloodraven's ogre friends never really cared about him that way. I liked Bloodraven's personality, how he thought Yhalen was amusing and didn't want to break him, how he seemed to care about who was hurt by his actions and how responsible he was. It was a wonder that he turned out to be such a caring person when he was raised among the ogres. I thought one of the most touching scenes was when he was trying to get Yhalen to use his magic and kept telling him to make the dog attack him, and Yhalen said he couldn't because the dog loved Bloodraven. And Bloodraven was floored because love isn't a concept known in ogre life, and Bloodraven mourns the fact that they will never know love.

         I really loved these characters and the story and I really love how they ended up so happy but I loved the most how Yhalen got revenge in the end. Ogres treated humans like trash and brutalized them, tore them apart and laughed at it, and then they just came across the wrong human, and when they tortured him, he snapped and then they got a taste of their own medicine and they hated it. And so I hope that in this world the humans are safe from the ogres in the future.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars

I love it when you guys rate and comment, so go crazy :)

Concubine by Jill Knowles

         This is another one of those books that I always passed over... Maybe it was because for a while I wasn't into the whole M/M thing, and sometimes I get tired of the BDSM thing too. But I was, once again, an idiot for skipping over this book. I really liked it! Which is surprising because dubious consent romance usually makes me a bit uncomfortable. Though I ended up looking upon this book as more of an arranged marriage kind of thing.

         Scholar, captain...war prize. Prince Kael of Korai is stunned when his father gives him to an enemy warlord in a desperate attempt to salvage Korai's reputation. With his country's honor at stake, Kael resolves to submit to Warlord Taren's every debauched whim.

         But life in Zandria isn't anything like what Kael imagined. Instead of pain and cruelty, Warlord Taren seduces Kael until the bewildered prince craves his Master's every intimate caress. As he sinks into the decadent, sensual life of a concubine, Kael makes a powerful enemy, one who wants him removed from Zandria by any means necessary. Betrayed by his body, trapped by his honor, Kael must learn to trust his Master or get them both killed.

Click to View on Amazon: Concubine

         The first thing that I want to say about this book is that I thought that Taren was really sexy. Not only did he have cool scales, but they were purple, which is my absolute favorite color, so I was inclined to like him right off the bat. I thought Kael was a little whiney and at first I was annoyed but then I reminded myself of the situation he was in and decided he deserved to be  whiney. It wasn't his choice to be a concubine, especially to another male. He deserved to be upset.

         I think that Knowles showcased a very interesting psychological struggle within Kael. He had to struggle with not wanting to submit to another man, his disgust with himself  for being interested in Taren, his fear of what was to come, and his need to preserve the honor of his country by giving in. I do think it is endearing how he likes being with Taren, and I think that Taren is amazing at handling the situation and doing his best to make Kael comfortable about adjusting into his new role in life.

Spoilers ahead! Beware! Go read the book then come back!

         I like how they ended up mating, but I didn't understand why the whole guild was dying to Taren as a customer. From what he said he never was interested in using the guild and he never enjoyed it, so I don't understand why they claimed that they were losing such a great customer. I also didn't like that Taren's past lover worked so close with him and that he tried to pursue a relationship with Taren even after he was obviously interested in Kael.

         I thought that the mastermind behind everything was a pretty good twist. I did not expect Mendon to be the killer. I didn't like him at first but then when he obviously disliked Taren's past lover as much as I did he began to grow on me, and he seemed to warm up to Kael so it really came as a surprise to me when he turned out to be the one behind everything. Or maybe I was just so wrapped up in the relationship between Taren and Kael that I might have missed some clues that Mendon was behind it all.

         I love how the beast within Taren recognized  Kael right away and that in giving into the beast and the man, Kael was freed from his own doubts and he was able to fully embrace the relationship. It was really steamy too, some very very sexual scenes, so it is not a book for the faint of heart. i give it a 4 out of 5 stars!

Duck! by Kim Dare

         I always saw this book in a bunch of the Goodreads lists that I go through and I was always wary of it because of the exclamation point in the name. And looking back I think that is the silliest reason ever not to read a book. But I finally did read it, and man, I wish that I had read it sooner! it was amazing and this is a book that I definitely want to read again.

         A modern day M/M, BDSM retelling of The Ugly Ducking Fairy Tale using avian shifters.

         Raised among humans, Ori Jones only discovered he was an avian shifter six months ago. Unable to complete a full shift until he reaches his avian maturity, he still can’t be sure of his exact species.

         But with species comes rank, and rank is everything to the avians. When a partial shift allows the elders to announce that they believe Ori to be a rather ugly little duckling, he drops straight to the bottom rung of their hierarchy.

         Life isn’t easy for Ori until he comes to the attention of a high ranking hawk shifter. Then the only question is, is Ori really a duck—and what will his new master think when the truth eventually comes out?

Click to view on Amazon: Duck!

         I was surprised at how good this book was. Lately I think the BDSM thing has been over played, maybe it is because of the craze of 50 Shades of Grey, but sometimes it just gets a bit crazy. But that being said this book was great!! Maybe it is because I tend to be a very timid person that I loved Ori so much. I just thought he was very endearing, I do wish that he had a bit more of a personality outside of worshiping his "master", but Ori was very sweet so I guess that made up for it.

         I liked Ryland, and I really liked how he thought that Ori deserved respect no matter what. I also thought he was a really caring Dom, I feel like there are a lot of books out there where the Dom is less than nice to the sub, but in this one I could see the love between the two of them.

Spoilers ahead! Read the book then come back!

         Of course we knew from the start the Ori would end up being a Swan, something that confused me though was the fact that the hierarchy between the birds was based on who was the strongest, who was the most predatory, but swans are not like that at all and yet they are at the top of the chain. Also, Swans in real life are kind of mean so I was a bit confused as to why they would be so nice in this book. I am not complaining about that, I liked how gentle Ori was, I just thought it was a bit confusing.

         One of my favorite parts of the story was when Ori fell while cleaning the cabinet in the dining room, and was really hurt. Ryland came home and lost it, and that was the first time we had an inkling that Ori was more to him than a sexual partner. And I liked the punishment that Ryland gave to him, because I feel like in most BDSM books the sub would have been physically punished, which usually turns into pleasure, but Ori was punished psychologically and he got no pleasure out of it and I think it was such an appropriate punishment because Ryland was so scared.

         I was so pissed though at how Ryland behaved after he found out what Ori was. I felt it was a little out of character because he had been so supportive and accepting of everything that Ori was, so it didn't make sense to me that he would all of a sudden switch directions and abandon him. I understand that he thought that everything he was doing was for the best because a swan was above him in rank so there was no way Ori could be his sub, but man it made me mad. Especially when it was obvious that Ori was really suffering while he was away from Ryland. I just thought that was a dumb thing for Ryland to do.

         This was my first time reading a book written by Kim Dare, and I really really loved it. I love her writing style and I love how she puts the characters into the roles that they are suppossed to say. Something I realy love is how natural she make submission seem. In a lot of books I have read the subs alwaysstruggle to submit and have to be convinced that that is what they want, but what I have read in this book and other books by Kim Dare she just has the characters fall into it in such an easy natural way, and it really is exciting to read, because then we get to see more of the actualy interactions between and Dom and a sub instead of that weird inbetween period where the sub doesnt want to give in.

I really liked this book and it made me go back and read more of her books! I give it a 5 out of 5 stars :)

Broken Boundaries by Evangeline Anderson

         Yay! I'm back. It is kind of sad how long I have been gone. But first I was on vacation, then school started, then I got sick, and then time just seemed to slip away from me. So, today I was sitting in one of my boring lit classes and realized that I hadn't posted in a while and that it was time to fix that.

         I know that while I have reviewed some YA books on here, a lot of the books I review are romance and usually erotic (which is why it is kinda weird that my grandma insisted that I give her the url to my blog) and lately I have been exploring some strange categories of those genres. There will be many interesting reviews to come from gay love (which isn't that weird no matter what my boyfriend says) to sex with a spider. All to come soon. But I have rambled on enough about that, and now it is time to get to today's review! Yay! So, here is Broken Boundaries!

         Chaz is the youngest recruit the Academy has ever seen. Godlike reflexes and hawk eyes make him a natural gunner assigned to fly the futuristic ship with technology so advanced it’s still classified. But it takes a two-man crew and Chaz, the lone wolf, must have a partner.

         On his first day he meets Ferron, the most dangerous man at the Academy. The ice blue eyes and scarred face of the older cadet aren’t enough to scare Chaz. Nor are the rumors that Ferron killed his last partner. But when he finds out they are to be a team, his anxiety starts to mount.

         Tension climbs to a breaking point when Ferron informs him that in order to fly the Needle he and Chaz must have their bodies pressed together in a dance of sensual intimacy that makes the sexually straight Chaz angry and uncomfortable.

         Ferron must master Chaz completely and break down his physical and emotional boundaries. The only thing that will keep them alive is their partnership—any space between them means certain death.

Click to view the book on Amazon: Broken Boundaries
 

         I liked the concept of this story a lot, in a weird way I can see how it would make sense to be extremely physically and emotionally close to your flight partner in a situation like battle, but I can also understand how it could freak new recruits out, especially male recruits. I just feel like men, young men, who consider themselves straight are very freaked out by anything even remotely homoerotic.

         I really liked Ferron, he was quite believable to me, but I was beyond annoyed by Chaz. First off what kind of name is Chaz? It sounds like cheese, and it doesn't really lend much confidence in his intelligence. And he is apparently a really smart guy... but he such a jerk. He was the one who wanted to become a needle gunner more than anything, enough to leave his family behind and give up a full ride to a good school. I feel like if you want it that badly, you just suck it up and deal with what your mentor tells you to do. Maybe that is just me. I guess if I was in his situation I would be a little uncomfortable being all hot and heavy with another girl, but I wouldn't fight against it as much as he had, especially if I had spent most of my life dreaming about being a needle gunner. But, guys must be more skittish about stuff like that because it threatens their manhood, or something.

         Another thing that bothered me was the slutty, super effeminate gay competition. I guess in hetero books there are usually slutty female characters, but this guy was ridiculous, talking about taking it up the ass all the time and how everyone wanted him... I don't know, it drove me crazy, maybe because I have never met someone, male or female, who acted like that. Are there even real people in the world who are like that?

         But those things aside, I actually thought that it was a very realistic love story, in the sense that I think these characters actually got to know each other on a level that allowed for them to be comfortable with each other and their sexuality. On a side note: wtf was up with those lobster monsters? And how did they blow up the ship in a maneuver that had killed the previous pilot who tried it. Where the lobsters that stupid that they would fall for it again? And after being gone for decades, why did they decide to come back right then. I understand the lobsters were a tool to further the plot but it seemed pretty obvious that she was just using the aliens to get Chaz and Ferron to have sex.

         I liked it, and I hope to find other good m/m stories in the future to write about. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. Again, I am so sorry it has been so long since I have posted, I am going to try my best to catch up, I have midterms and then spring break so hopefully I can catch up then.