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I loved the unusual characters who star in this book. The hero, Philip Guthrie, who is trying to come to terms with his loss of mobility and being continually reminded of his age and now being less than perfect. And Rya, not your typical weak feminine TSTL heroine who still sees the integrity of the man underneath and worships the man he was and the man he is now.

I really liked this book because of the way Linnea managed the power balance between her heorine and hero. It was refreshing to have a female who had to basically hide her powers so as not to freak out a lover who actually worshipped the person she had been. A great example of Linnea's writing at her best.

Ah Kel Patten has to be one of my favorite heroes of all time. The scene where he is using his augmented abilities to help the damaged craft land is just such good writing. I loved the interaction between him and Sass. As I said in the review for "Command Performance", it's interesting to see how this book developed.

This has one of the best starts of any book you will ever read. Chaz and Sully are a great couple of characters. It's unusual for Linnea to do her books in first person POV but it worked so well in this book. We needed to be deeply in Chaz's head as Sully had to remain that enigmatic unknown. Any head hopping would have spoiled this book so it's a great example of when and why to use this limited viewpoint.The whole Dock 5 series is great. Intricate but logical world building and an absorbing plot that has enough legs to carry a whole series. Scifi Romance at its best.

This is a short short read but super intense, just like the encounter Stefan has.Normally I'm not a fan of present tense writing, but in this case, possibly because there are only three scenes, the immediacy adds to the feeling you're totally "in the moment" with Stefan.While some might find the brevity a problem, I think it was the only way to write this story. Anything longer and the explosive intensity would have been shot to pieces.The tension in the reader builds from the very first words, along with Stefan's. This beautifuly written paragraph shows the strength of J.M.'s writing:Minutes pass, each one an eternity. Stefan sits on his hands as Master told him to, palms down to keep from rubbing his fingers along the crack of his ass. He watches the clock on his VCR and the green numbers blink at him like staring cats. Seven o’clock comes and goes, eight running to catch up behind it, nine looming on the horizon like a death sentence. By nine-thirty every part of him beats in time with his heart. How much longer? Another moment more and he’ll explode.Then Snyder sums up the needs of the Dom (usually stories just deal with a sub's needs, this gives a glimpse of the other side of the equation):I want someone to spoil, Stefan. I want someone to worship, someone to protect. I want someone who wants me, who wants every part of me. Someone who trusts me enough to know that I will never, ever let them go. That sort of relationship isn’t easy to come by.” Each word is chosen with exquisite care. I love this sentence:Still, it takes years for Master to stop fondling him and stand. There's been no hint of hyperbole in the preceding section so the use of the word "years" makes a huge impact.This is a book that is best to take slowly and savor. Don't rush it, even if it's short. Let Snyder be the Master, and you be the Boy.Yes, you'll be left hanging at the end, wanting more. Now you know exactly how Stefan feels.

I really enjoyed reading "Counterpoint" book 1. The author has done a great job with the world building. The battles scenes are realistic and feel organic within the whole. Language wise she has managed to convey an other worldliness without it being disruptive to the flow of the text.I liked the way Rachel didn't flinch from introducing the dark elements into the story. Blood does flow, but not gratuitously. Her characters are true to themselves, and their connection takes times to build.Although it's only the first book in a series, there is a degree of completeness to this section, so don't fear reading it immediately. Having said that, I can't wait for the next episode. There are many ways the plot could develop from here, so I look forward to see what path Rachel takes.

I won the sequel to this book in a Facebook contest. So I actually read the two books out of order. Although I knew therefore of the existence of Randy, it still didn't spoil the story for me.I love contemporary m/m romance where the main conflict is the characters themselves. Their pasts, their personalities and their presence.Being an Aussie, I loved the Kylie Minogue references. If I have one gripe, it's the cover. Mitch to me would have been a lot rougher looking. He's too pretty. But Sunshine.... spot on.There was lots of sex in the book, all of it very hot but it didn't swamp the story. A great read.* * * * *It’s now nearly six months since I first read “Special Delivery” and wrote my review. As a special Christmas Treat I re-read the book specifically looking for what made this one of the most popular and recognised m/m romances in 2010.For a start it has to be the character of Sam. Heidi has done a wonderful job of drawing someone who is exploring his needs. Twinks generally seem to strike a resonating chord, for example: Syd McGinley’s Charlie/Twink, Jay Lygon’s perennially youthful Sam, the God of Sex, K.A.Mitchell’s Joey from “Collision Course” and the list goes on.It’s not easy writing a good twink. The character has to sound youthful, but not irritatingly so. The reader has to be able to see where growth can occur and some of that has to happen through the course of the story. The character has to have a lack of sophistication and amateurishness in their sexual encounters (unless the plot demands otherwise).Matching a twink up with an older man (as they so often are) carries with it another set of baggage. One of the protagonists comes in with a past, often this impacts deeply on the course of the relationship. This difference in maturity has to be seen, but there also have to be enough grounds of commonality to ensure any future they have together is believable.Mitch is a classic case. A man with a past he’s ashamed of. A man who’s acutely aware of how he’s fucked up any chance of happiness in prior relationships. A man in some ways unwilling to come to terms with his mistakes. On the plus side, he is more financially secure, more knowing of who he is even if he’s not entirely happy about it. A man with experience and often with the ability to read people, especially if a Dom (even if not in the full on BDSM sense of the word)So what do twinks bring with them? For a start, it’s usually a verve for life which the other has lost. Sometimes it’s a fresh innocence, sometimes just straight out energy. Heidi’s Sam has all those things in spades.What does the twink get back in return? A degree of certainty. Often the twink is floundering, not sure of their sexuality or the rightness of their ability to just “be” who they are. The trust they have that someone "has their back" allows their inner self to shine forth.But what about the plot? This is very much a story about a journey. A physical one and an emotional one for both characters. As a reader, you just feel you’re in the truck, staring out the window as a whole new world rushes by, seeing it through the wide eyed gaze of a small town Mid-western boy. There's just enough description to fix you in a time and place without bogging the story down with too much detail.It’s also a story about “home”. As far as the characters go, I’m sure if we’d been in Mitch’s head there’s no way he would have believed how a simple flirtation looking for a casual fuck would have led to his journey of reconciliation and possibly an unrecognised search for a home for himself. Unresolved issues from his past were stopping him moving forward. Once he realized what a sparking diamond he’d unwittingly collected in Sam, it must have freaked him out.I love this understanding Sam gets of Mitch near the end: Mitch shrugged. “I like a lot of places. We live in this huge country with so many climates, so many different cultures, so much different everything. I’ve been driving it over ten years and I haven’t seen it all, not even close. I wish I could get gigs in some of the more out of the way areas, but I don’t have networks there yet. I suppose I should just go and make them. I know I’ll die not seeing it all, but I want to do my best to try.”It was such a Mitch answer, but Sam looked into that life with sadness, because much as he wanted to have that experience, too, he couldn’t see a way to be a part of it without being Mitch’s special delivery forever. “So nowhere is home to you, then?”Mitch rubbed his thumb along the wheel for a second before answering. “Home isn’t a place, for me,” he said at last. Sam’s inherent maturity brought on by dealing with the death of a much loved mother and a difficult home situation shows that despite his youth there is a degree of common sense which will grow into wisdom as he ages. I had a discussion with Heidi about why she’d made Special Delivery single POV. Her response was: I choose POV carefully: I'll only use the POV of someone who has a growth arc in the story. And to me, Mitch didn't change a whole lot. He did, but just a bit.This is typical of older people who have become stuck in their persona and actions. Twinks don’t have as much baggage to ditch, Mitch had years of prior behaviour. I love using my imagination to make up my own inner dialogue in these characters. Imagine the fear and trepidation in Mitch against change against commitment.And the final thing I look for in a story is the point or theme. Why write it in the first place?This sums the story’s theme up for me:I have to finish school. I have to—” He clenched his fists and released them. “—grow up.”“For the record,” Mitch said, “you’re more grown up right now, I think, than I am. But I know what you mean. You gotta finish what you started.”Sam nodded. “I don’t really want to. But I have to.” The path Sam took to understand what he needed versus what he wanted is the story.So whether Heidi did all this deliberately or not, she certainly ticked all the right boxes along the way.

I enjoyed this book. I'm giving it 4.5 stars which will round up to 5.The deduction is mainly because of the money angle. By making them so rich, the whole scenario lost a lot of its relevance/believability for me. Perhaps the whole scenario is unbelievable anyway, but, hey, it's a story, most m/m romances don't bear much semblance to real life.I thought that it was extremely well written, especially for a first book. Given the author's background as an editor, that probably explains the excellent craft.One of the main themes of the book is the concept of Domination and submission. Does one person have the ability or the right to impose their will on another person? The argument is that they do if the other person is in denial and running away from facing the truth.This seems to be one aspect that is creeping some reviewers out. But in a way any D/s relationship has this element in it. Maybe the sub may be more willing to start with, but they still have to be taken out of their comfort zone for the whole angle to work. “I’m serious. I’m talking about complete submission in any sort of sexually charged situation. Psychological, emotional, or physical. Agreeing to this bargain would mean doing whatever I ask of you, without question or hesitation. Even if it’s something that makes you feel uncomfortable or afraid. It would mean trusting that I will not ask you to do something that will hurt you, and giving yourself over to me.” Maybe I was in the mood to read it at the time. Perhaps plotwise the resolution came a little too pat through the actions of a third party and maybe I would have got there by a different route, but then it would have been my book, not the author's.Unlike some reviewers, I liked the explanation of the psychological aspects of the D/s relationship. I felt that matched the scenario. It wasn't just about the hot sex and the physical attraction, there had to be a degree of rationalisation and explanation accompanying it.It's interesting the way reviewers found the first part of the book, hard because Ethan creeped them out and he didn't care about David being outside in the rain.A lot of this stems from the fact it's totally told from David's POV, so we have only body language to go by and what we sense Ethan feels. I got the feeling from the start that Ethan would have been hurting just as much as David both physically and emotionally.The clues are there, but perhaps the current prevalence of dual POV has made some readers unable to use their imagination, read the clues to see inside the other character's head. Personally I prefer the single POV as that's life.....

I won this book in a Facebook competition and am very glad I did as it introduced me to a new (for me) author and one who made me want to read every one of their books.Heidi is also one of those authors that makes my efforts feel inadequate. Then I look at how long they have been writing and I take heart.Double Blind is actually a sequel to "Special Delivery" but is quite capable of being read as a stand alone. In fact it wasn't until I finished it that I decided to search and see if Sunshine and Mitch had their own book. I must admit I skipped a lot of the poker detail as I'm not a fan. Vegas itself also has never been on my "must visit" list and now I've read this book, I feel I can safely leave it off. I much preferred reading about the outdoors in "Special Delivery".Heidi writes great sex scenes and a lot of them. So if you want a hot read....* * * *It's now six months on and I've re-read "Double Blind" and "Special Delivery" in the right order. Not that the books didn't work as stand alones but you definitely get more out of it that way. I also didn't skim the poker parts this time ;)In a way, the poker and the cards are integral to this book, so my initial rating of 4 stars wasn't really fair. The wonderful character of Crabtree has a parable about men based on what type of card they are:We divide the deck into numbered and face cards, and so we divide the types of men. This then becomes what is in essence an Ugly Duckling story in which a number of characters change. Sam's wings unfurl as he's removed from the smothering protection of Mitch and Randy. Randy changes once he relaxes because he knows Ethan understands him and is there for him and as for Ethan... I’d love to see this in a movie with the scared, incomplete Ethan, trapped in his tiny world gradually “coming out” not out of the closet but out of his narrow existence. Blooming into a confident, sexy man. At the start he’d be the type of guy you wouldn’t notice in a crowd, but under Randy’s and Crabtree’s direction, he gradually finds who he can be. It’s scary for him. It’s not put on. It’s right. Tentative to confident. Out of control to in control and controlling others. Being a fish to being a number card, to a face card to an Ace. Turning to Randy for reassurance and comfort when he stops moving ahead and teeters on the brink.Then Ethan, as his ability to "read" people grows, realizes Crabtree is bluffing about who he is.Double Blind is full of opinions, but this is what makes it feel real IMHO. Guys sitting around and talking about their feelings never rings true to me, but guys stating their opinions (whether their audience wants to know or not) makes them more like real men not CWD.It's a pleasure to revisit Sam and Mitch and watch their relationship grow. It's even more of a pleasure to get to know Randy better. Heidi has created another wonderful character there.This paragraph sums up Randy for me:So Randy launched into high court jester mode. He made loud noises about how good the food smelled, and he made so many rude comments about Sam’s body and what he wanted to do with it that Ethan started to look at him askance. He was saved from having to explain that one by Sam’s finally noticing the second cat, and then Randy made all kinds of wry remarks about cat litter and scratches, and when Ethan started to explain about the clicker, engaging Sam, Randy turned his focus on Mitch, poking at his cooking until he snapped at him. Randy teased him back, goading and mocking and anything he could think of until all the damn spiky energy was redirected, and finally everyone was either glaring at him, or arguing with him, or waiting for him to piss them off again. In short, it was a lot fucking better. Randy, the consummate poker player who finally finds someone who can read him, who wants to read him and understands he's not a Joker but in reality an ace like himself. I loved the way once Ethan understood what Randy was doing, he took over the reins and worked out a less confrontational way to fix the situation. And a highly charged sexual one at that!Finally, I always try to work out what an author has added to the m/m world by writing her book. This quote of Ethan's sums that up for me:being here, playing here, and working here has taught me more about life and the risks we take—that we need to take—than anything else I’ve encountered yet. It's a book about the need to read people, to see who they really are and what they need. The tells are all there if we learn to look for them.Worth a second read if you've already read it, and a first if you haven't.

The blurb about this book is just so wrong. The full title of this book is "Spunk Rats: Tales of Sex and Obsession" and the definition of spunk rat is: (noun) (Australian, New Zealand slang) An attractive person (usually male). A male who seeks out semen, sometimes in dark and dingy surroundings.So BE WARNED and don't complain if the practices described here turn you off.Spunkrats is a collection of stories about men with an obsession. It's not a pretty obsession and it's probably not a healthy one. But look behind the guy with the obsession at the characters and the world they inhabit. All your senses become involved:I expected the smell of stale piss, sperm and urinal cakes, although most of those had disintegrated long ago and had never been replaced, I suspect, because they were too Princess and the Pea lumpy for those of a sensitive disposition who liked to lie in the stainless steel urinal. Nor was the smell that of rampant testosterone. I sniffed again.“Some demented queen has adorned the place with air fresheners,” a voice beside me whispered.“Mm, sure is minty fresh,” another hissed not altogether in approval. Barry's prose is deliberately convoluted at times, using long words and stilted phrasing. Sarcasm being one of the biggest guns in his arsenal (pun intended).As I mentioned in my review of "Love and the Odor of Red Leatherette" in appreciating Barry's writing, you really need to understand the man and his times. Now 63, Barry was "out" in the days when homosexuality was illegal.Those were the days when if you were gay you had to hide it. Sex was furtive fumblings in the fringes: seedy clubs, dark alleys, cars, toilet blocks, parks, the beats. It would have felt like them against the world.Secondly, it's important to understand that Barry doesn't write m/m romance. He writes gay erotica and originally wrote them for men only. So included in his stories are many sexual practices that most women find it difficult to stomach. Licking up semen off dirty floors, multiple partners, sex without affection, heck in some ways the less affection there was, the more some guys liked it.They almost felt they didn't deserve any more. Society had been bashing them over the head with the message that their attraction for another man was wrong, so if that man bashed them over the head in the process of having sex, well that was to be expected wasn't it?Don't look for romance in his stories, look for the nitty gritty (and sometimes it will be gritty).Underneath the rough, tough, sarcastic exterior there is a wistful desire that things would have been, could have been different. But there is a need for survivors to chronicle the situation as it really was.Barry writes short stories. Often deliberately so for inclusion in magazines, anthologies. There is no time for emotional or even plot arcs. He is describing a situation, an attitude, making a point. You might not approve or even like the point he's making, but the scenes and pictures he paints are a reminder of what the world was like for them.Since the advent of ebooks and his discovery that women read m/m Barry may be tempted to change the tone of his books, soften them. In a way that would be a pity.Instead of reviewers wishing this book could be different, read and learn what life was like. Being a homosexual in those times was anything but easy. Only the tough survived.

First off, in appreciating Barry's writing, you really need to understand the man and his times. Now 63, Barry was "out" in the days when homosexuality was illegal.Those were the days when if you were gay you had to hide it. Sex was furtive fumblings in the fringes: seedy clubs, dark alleys, cars, toilet blocks, parks, the beats. It would have felt like them against the world; many men would have been almost suspicious of any kindness or suggestion there could be anything more.Secondly, it's important to understand that Barry doesn't write m/m romance. He writes gay erotica and originally wrote them for men only. So included in his stories are many sexual practices that most women find it difficult to stomach. Licking up semen off dirty floors, multiple partners, sex without affection, heck in some ways the less affection there was, the more some guys liked it.They almost felt they didn't deserve any more. Society had been bashing them over the head with the message that their attraction for another man was wrong, so if that man bashed them over the head in the process of having sex, well that was to be expected wasn't it?"Love and the Odor of Red Leatherette" is probably one of the easiest of Barry's books to get into. In it, the character discovers to his suprise that there may be a future for men beyond the anonymous sexual gropings. That there can be tenderness and affection too. Till then he had been:still too young, too green, to realize just how much I was being used. But it wasn’t like I wasn’t getting any pleasure out of it. I was. In buckets. Given that Barry has been with his partner now for 38 years, if the story has any relationship to truth, then that chance hook up must have been providential.Don't look for romance in his stories, look for the nitty gritty (and sometimes it will be gritty).Underneath the rough, tough, sarcastic exterior there is a wistful desire that things would have been, could have been different. But there is a need for survivors to chronicle the situation as it really was.Barry writes short stories. Often deliberately so for inclusion in magazines, anthologies. There is not time for emotional or even plot arcs. He is describing a situation, an attitude, making a point.Since the advent of ebooks and his discovery that women read m/m Barry may be tempted to change the tone of his books, soften them. In a way that would be a pity.Instead of reviewers wishing this book could be different, read and learn what life was like. Being a homosexual in those times was anything but easy. Only the tough survived.

I really enjoyed "Party Whip". It's short, but hot and it still touches all bases on its way.I'd have loved reading more, but Barry gives enough to get my imagination going to provide the rest.

Normally when I hear a book won a major literary prize I run screaming in the opposite direction, but the topic has always interested me and the way the author dealt with the subject had me turning the pages like a novel.Being an Aussie, the American Civil war was just something I was taught at school, it had no real relevance. Undoubtedly, US citizens have a totally different perspective from their much closer connection. So I understand if for some of you the book is overload of stuff you've been exposed to all your life.Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is not a new book, in fact it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction back in 1975. It's based on the Battle of Gettysburg and looks at the action through the eyes of the significant characters of the different stages of the short but bloody battle.In presenting history like this, the reader is very dependant on trusting the author to have done his research and is not cheating by switching a character's motivations or aims to fit the "story". In fact at times, I was imagining how Steven Spielberg would have filmed this. Would he have "killed off" certain characters just to make the drama more poignant?It did read more like a novel. I couldn't wait to find out whether both Chamberlain brothers survived or whether Lee would ever admit his tactics were wrong.If we can make the assumption that the author just "gives us the facts Ma'am", then after reading "Killer Angels" you definitely get a better insight not only into why one side lost and one side won, or why so many men were killed in senseless attacks, but it also tells you something about the stubbornness, courage and faith men can demonstrate.To me the whole scenario in which the battle was fought seemed more like two macho guys arm wrestling in a pub to see who would take the pretty girl home. But maybe that's the whole point. The battle was senseless in some ways.This wasn't for control of a strategic position or to capture a town and its produce, this was a war of attrition to see who could continue to field more men into the fight as carnage whittled away the numbers. Almost as if there was an underlying vote involved, but in this case, the winner was the one who could put the most bodies on the line.The characters of the men involved shine through and in an epilogue we find out what happened to them afterwards. Having got to know them from the excellent way Michael Shaara got inside their heads to explain why they acted the way they did, we can extrapolate out how the rest of their life would have gone from the few facts included.If more history was told like this, we'd all be clamoring to learn it at school.

I learnt so much from this book.At first glance, the subject matter may seem irrelevant to people who aren't interested in Mardi Gras (Australia's equivalent of other country's Pride Parade). However, by using interviews with participants in subsequent years, the book gives glimpses of how society and the gay community has changed since 1975 when the first protest march was held through the streets of Sydney in commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall riots.I read the book as research for my novella "Mardi Gras", and while I don't discuss the issues in detail, the insight into the way people's attitudes have changed did help me get a handle on my two characters with their May-November age difference.In "What Happened to Gay Life", Robert Reynolds shows how, over time, the parade and its participants reflect the changing world around them.At the start, when sodomy was a crime, being gay almost required you to be politically active, either overtly or covertly, to protest and protect your right to be who you were.As each battle was won, the fight changed.Next HIV became a factor and a new enemy was on the scene, needing new tactics and a different attitude.In Reynolds interviews with participants from subsequent generations a picture is built up of how each, in a way, feels alienated, not understanding the other generation, mainly because their fight has been different.For example, the "clones" fought the concept that being gay equated to being a fairy, being effeminate.Later, when this battle was won with muscles and pride, a new enemy appeared on the horizon, the right to be seen as a person first not as a homosexual.The arguments continue between generations who sometimes find they have little in common, firstly within the gay community and also with the rest of society, many of whom still find it hard to accept them as they are.Robert Reynolds captures this confusion but doesn't try to answer the question, because in a way there is no answer. You may as well ask "What Happened to Society"?My "answer" in my fictional novella "Mardi Gras" based around the parade is to accept this diversity which has eventuated over time and remember the common thread that binds them together because without this memory, "gay life" risks being divided again.

This is probably my favorite of all Barry's books read to date.It's a simple story, but well weighted. Just enough description to set the scene. In a few pages we get the characters, enough back story for it to make sense and a plot.While some of Barry's books get down and very dirty, the sex here is like sweet chili sauce. Hot with just enough spice and a pleasant after taste. Shows what can be done with just a few words.

There's something about books written about gays in the preAIDS days. I often wonder how guys today view the orgies with their total disregard for safe sex. Do they feel envious?"All or Nothing" is a parallel book to "I Want it All" The first chapters cover the same territory but seen through different eyes.Dirk Vanden hasn't written a romance, more the observations of a guy coming out in that era. Being a painter himself, Dirk has a very observant eye. He remarked to me in an email "My head works differently somehow. I see “more” than other people. I don’t know what that means. I’ve always thought of it as “paying attention.” Here's an example:They were all fascinating to watch—the way most of them tried to look so casual; they really worked at it, leaning against the wall, or the bar, or the pool table in the alcove, in just the right stray gleam of light to show off their “baskets.” (I learned many new words that night.) They were posing in every sense of the word—some of them not just for a possible “trick” but for themselves; I got the feeling that if anything happened to disturb the pose, they wouldn’t be able to function until they got back into it. Once again, he is also not afraid to make some statements about being gay and what it means:At any rate, I learned that night that there were almost as many “types” as there were gay men. Apparently something had changed since I’d first heard about “fairies.” and remember this was written back in the seventies.He has some interesting takes on marriage too:Maybe someday the laws and ideas about marriage will change also, and when that happens, maybe it won’t be impossible to have both a wife and a family and a male lover-friend, all at the same time. and earlier in a description that parallels his own relationship with his partner who died in the AIDS epidemic“Gay marriages just don’t work, Bill. The only ones that do are where they’re not really lovers, you know? Not in the sense of a husband and wife at least. They’re friends. Each one does his own thing for sex, but they live together as friends. This is backed up by his thoughts about why his marriage didn't work.(the) part of the female personality that, to me, made females unattractive—a blind preoccupation with two people getting together in a “marriage” and devoting their entire lives to it.In some ways this book is years before its time. His website describes the way he was treated by his publisher and one wonders how he would have been received if he submitted something like this to Dreamspinner Press or even MLR.Once again, for those who are interested in what it was like being gay, books like this are a great way to find out and get an authentic picture not a stereotype.