farming the impossible on the knife edge of failure
The New Zealand Kea, the world's only alpine parrot is known as the 'Clown of the Alps' to South Isfarming the impossible on the knife edge of failure
The New Zealand Kea, the world's only alpine parrot is known as the 'Clown of the Alps' to South Islanders; and has recently been heralded as the world's smartest bird. Didn't know they could fatally injure sheep....more
It's oddly nice (and atypical) that one of the protagonists here is NOT ruggedly handsome. When it comes to attractiveness, M/M Literature is a bit liIt's oddly nice (and atypical) that one of the protagonists here is NOT ruggedly handsome. When it comes to attractiveness, M/M Literature is a bit like Lake Wobegone where all the children are above average.
While this is the 4th book in this series it's the first one that I encountered and it can easily stand-alone. Though I do suspect that it might be evWhile this is the 4th book in this series it's the first one that I encountered and it can easily stand-alone. Though I do suspect that it might be even more fun is one knows the back-story on the many other characters outside the main relationship.
This was a fun read dealing with small towns, age-gaps, and a straight guy that's actually gay for one particular guy. The problem is it's the baby brother of his best friend.
But is an age difference of 12 years really that big a deal when the younger guy is 22?
Perhaps the weakest book in the series. The Billionaire bit has been done once already in this series and here it felt less organic and just more likePerhaps the weakest book in the series. The Billionaire bit has been done once already in this series and here it felt less organic and just more like conspicuous consumption. It WAS interesting to see that the love interest here being actually impeded/intimidated by the other's wealth. The homeless ex-jock with the career-ending injury. That they'd both been friends in their high school days and the romantic shoe had been on the other foot was interesting. ...more
This is the third book in the Bridge to Abingdon series.
All of these books seem to deal with small-town gays who've escaped their rural roots for at This is the third book in the Bridge to Abingdon series.
All of these books seem to deal with small-town gays who've escaped their rural roots for at least moderate success in bigger cities returning to their rural Virginia roots. As a small-town gay who lived and thrived in Manhattan for 20+ years, this series appeals to me and yet the small-town appeal is clearly fictional. Their small town of Abingdon has become a gay-tolerant and vibrant community that's generally accepting of diversity with a minority of small-minded, slow-to-change townies. My town has changed little and the populace is no more open-minded than they were when I left.
In this installment, a tech billionaire returns and is soon saddled with a daughter who seems to have the same emotional/developmental problems he had as a child. He meets and partners up with a successful, slightly younger rural refugee now a NYC painter who had attended the same schools and who he'd harshly shut down after a secret kiss that neither then-closeted kid knew quite how to deal with. The romance is sweet, the family feelings make for a pleasant read and seeing these two men solve some of the little girl's problems make this an enjoyable, mostly angst-free read.
I'm now more than halfway through this series and am a bit puzzled as to why this series was done as Dual-Narration. Alexander Cendese is a great narrator and the chapters he reads are bright & engaging whilst the chapters read by Tor Thom feels somnambulant by comparison. The dialog is written so that both narrators must voice the dialogue of multiple characters in all of the chapters despite the POV switching back and forth. Both narrators have an OK style but the two are NOT complementary when heard one after the other. This is the third book in the series done this way, and I'm now convinced that I'd rather Cendese had just narrated the entire thing. This is NOT one of those situations where both bring their talents and together create a superior whole.
Although I recently listened to this, I think that this story might have been better absorbed in text form.
Narrator Nic Lazar is a bit of a somnambulAlthough I recently listened to this, I think that this story might have been better absorbed in text form.
Narrator Nic Lazar is a bit of a somnambulant reader. He's not a voice actor, doing no "in-character" dialogues and pretty much everything is delivered at the same pace and volume. He does read better than the synthesized text-to-speech voices but doesn't rise much beyond that level of proficiency. There are no discernable dramatic pauses or emphasis points. His lackluster delivery was enough to put me off finishing this book several times.
The story IS interesting but I did tend to lose focus most probably due to the mono-tone delivery. Tense points in the story (such as Dean's first encounter with the wolf) are no more dramatically recounted than the section dealing with preparing the fields for plowing. "Witty" bits of dialogue weren't (after having to decipher what must have been written versus what I heard). ...more
I wanted something new so I selected this book by Jayda Marx narrated by Denver Stephens, in what is apparently his debut audiobook.
It's also an m/m/mI wanted something new so I selected this book by Jayda Marx narrated by Denver Stephens, in what is apparently his debut audiobook.
It's also an m/m/m book and I'd never read any books with a triumvirate of main characters. The story is easy to get into but feels a bit like the literary equivalent of folk art.
Some of the plot points still have their jagged edges and feel like they were stitched into the story somewhat crudely, kind readers will see these as imperfections that make the story likable, whilst more critical readers may note that they're a bit manipulative.
The terms of endearment are not just ubiquitous, they're constant, and started to feel pretty saccharine less than four chapters in. Add to that the emphasis on pet names and the phrase "my men" and it becomes cloying.
Ever get vexed by the way that authors use poor communication to create drama or to keep the tension going longer? Well, this will cure you of wishing it otherwise. There is so much talking about the issues surrounding a thruple that you can soon get tired of it. And yet, there's still a reliance on some miscommunication. Although I try to avoid chauvinism, I felt that this was too clearly written by a woman. The emphasis on acts of gallantry and petty chivalry seemed to be at 12 on a 10-point scale. Rushing to open doors for a loved one? Carrying them across the mud? Baiting their fishing hook when they're too squeamish to do it themselves? A few of these might seem romantic but when overdone, aren't they a form of chauvinism as well? They sort of felt disempowering in my mind.
4 hours into the audiobook and had to take a break. Maybe I'll continue when my next insulin shipment arrives. I like sweet stories just like I like sweets. But this is the literary equivalent of a Death By Chocolate smoothie made with chocolate milk, and chocolate pudding with Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream blended in.
The narration is a bit substandard. There are some mispronunciations, some missed pauses, and some pauses taken where none should be. Overall, if one's not in the habit of looking for such things, most are pretty innocuous....more
Dylan is a talented young architect who slept with the wrong person and now has a major health problem... he turns furry once a month and has to lock Dylan is a talented young architect who slept with the wrong person and now has a major health problem... he turns furry once a month and has to lock himself in a (steel-reinforced) bedroom. A night of sex with a hot man from a local bar has turned his life inside out.
Dylan decides he needs to leave urban Portland and move out to the country where he can lower the potential of killing anyone, particularly someone he loves. Dylan begins the search for a country home and talks his boss into allowing him to try telecommuting. After finding a place that seems perfect, Dylan is surprised to discover that he has a rednecked neighbor when he spots the man naked and peeing off his back deck.
Nakid neighbor Chris may seem a hick, but he’s not stupid. He had a crappy childhood. His dad took off, and his druggie mom had boyfriends that knocked Chris around. Now he’s got abandonment issues, trust issues, and some low self-esteem issues.
But Chris can do home remodeling and with Dylan needing help with remodeling the rundown property, he's just purchased. The two begin a very shaky working relationship, despite both being as prickly as hedgehogs. But the two work through their differences and their mutual attraction seems to be helping when Andy, the wolf that converted Dylan comes back into the picture… Unlike most werewolf stories the pack nature of wolves isn't emphasized here. Dylan truly is a lone wolf.
Dylan and Chris are both great, fully realized characters, and the supporting cast, while minor, works as well. The story has original aspects despite the heavy traffic that the shifter trope has experienced. The sex was hot and fit the story, but also it was endearing and believable.
Nick J. Russo voices this one really well. The characters are distinctive and the voices that Russo uses fit the characters adding extra depth to their personalities.
When I selected this as one of the books to bring along on a long train trip, I had forgotten that this was werewolf-themed but it worked perfectly. It made easy listening and was a robust enough story to withstand the constant interruptions that go with travel.
While NOT a 5-star read, it's almost unfair to give it only 4 stars. I'll definitely be re-reading this and checking out the rest of the series....more
Take Franklin, one young man in Maine on the autism spectrum. Have him staying on his own for the first time while his parents vacation in Puerto RicoTake Franklin, one young man in Maine on the autism spectrum. Have him staying on his own for the first time while his parents vacation in Puerto Rico. Add another young man, Patrick, a red head who labels himself a “grey ace” (Demisexual/an asexual who’s able to enjoy sex when it’s someone he knows and trusts.) Make Patrick a bit locally notorious and the product of the foster care system. Bring the two together after a runaway killer virus pretty much ends civilization as we know it… You’d probably guess this is gonna get bleak.
You’d be wrong. This is (at least on some levels) a setup for an ideal romance. Patrick discovers Franklin still hanging out in the family home after three weeks. Franklin is afraid to go outside. But has basically exhausted all the foodstuffs the family had on hand. Patrick’s overjoyed to finally discover he’s not the last one on Earth.
The two join forces and camp in the abandoned local library. It provides all that knowledge, has no putrefying bodies and even has a small cabin with two bunks and running water in the back. Patrick is perhaps the perfect match for Franklin. He doesn’t really understand much about autism initially. But he cares enough to observe and learn.
When I first started this I wasn’t in the mood for anything dark. I immediately had to set it aside for a while. But once I re-started it, I was in a better state of mind. And, in many ways, this isn’t the depressing trek that I first expected. I’ve always had a soft spot for folks who see the world differently than I do, and boy do these guys qualify in that regard!
This post apocalyptic tale of m/m love involves a lot of aspects that never make it into the doom and gloom standards for this trope. It touches on aspects of autism and life after Armageddon. It even draws in Shaker beliefs and a surprisingly overabundant world following the rapid de-population of the planet.
The two do actually eventually encounter others. It’s even somewhat healing to see how the group go about recreating a society that has fallen. There are some romantic issues… Patrick is surprisingly horny once he’s gotten comfortable enough with someone to want sex. Franklin tends to fixate on labels as his way of understanding a world that’s often baffling to him. When he encounters all the variations of LGTQ+ et. al., he’s thrown for a loop.
In many ways this is a fantasy with optimal outcomes rather than the bleak speculative fiction I was expecting. As one might expect, the sex here mostly happens off page and is not at all graphic. The tale does cover some things (like a shut-down vs a melt-down) that I was expecting and some things I wasn’t (like a rather masculine woman blacksmith who gives Patrick and Franklin mixed signals.)
Once started, I was hooked. Though there were some troubling rumblings around the edges, this seemed like a pretty ideal outcome considering how things started. It did make me curious to see how things continue to develop and I’d love to see these same characters 5, 10, maybe even 20 years into this story.
There was another, earlier, book by this author (also set in Maine which seems to incorporate some of the same locales) But that sounds like it is set earlier than this one. Guess I’ll just have to check that one out as well.
I observed in book two of this series that the strong silent types, especially cowboys, often make the worst narrators. This book is a bit better in tI observed in book two of this series that the strong silent types, especially cowboys, often make the worst narrators. This book is a bit better in that regard as the chosen main character is not a cowboy but a veterinarian.
We're back in Sweetwater Oregon which is cowboy country. It's a small town and Nate left it long ago to become a vet and to experience being gay in a place that's more accepting than rural small-town Oregon. Problem is his mom's got some health issues, and his sis's husband passed and Nate's returning to take care of his family.
The problem is also Tucker Grace. Tucker was Nate's soulmate growing up. Tucker pretty much raised himself after his dad left - his mom turned to drugs and the wrong kind of boyfriends to ease her pain. As boys, Tucker and Nate were inseparable - until Nate's sexual attraction and Tucker's growing outbursts of rage split their friendship down the middle leaving both a little broken.
Nate's had gay sex but he's never had what he wanted. What he thought he wanted, when he thought about Tucker. Nate is now back and is more in control of his desires. He finds out that Tucker is still a bit of a loose cannon. But he is a bit calmer after getting involved with horse training. Trying “equine therapy” in an anger management camp he attended helped... a lot.
The two are now forced to deal with each other again,. partly by proximity and partly in that Nate is the vet to the ranch where Tucker is working. That, and by a troubled mustang that Tucker is trying to “gentle.”
I've often referred to cowboys as hard headed men, but it turns out that Tucker needed to be harder headed than he was. Part of his anger issues stem from an undiagnosed TBI (Traumatic Brian Injury) That the horse he was “gentling” had a similar condition was a nice (if somewhat sappy) touch
I liked this book and didn't miss the second POV as much as I did in the earlier books in this series. The POV we do get here is that of a more communicative individual. It was also nice to get some more background on Calvin Craig from book one. And seeing Calvin and Eli together was a treat.
This is perhaps the most credible gay-for-you tale I've read in a while, It's not so much that Tucker is bi-sexual, he's just pretty much Nate-sexual. The two grew so close as kids that nothing, not even his deep seated conviction that he's bad news and unworthy of anything with Nate, will keep them apart.
This is my favorite book of the series so far and if my “gaydar” is functional I'm guessing that there's romance ahead for Briar Phillips, the veterinary assistant that followed Nate to Sweetwater. Here's hoping.
*** Note: I am voluntarily reviewing this after receiving a complimentary copy ***
Daryl Banner really knows small town life, particularly that of a small Texas town. There are some personalities that folks will recognize from episodDaryl Banner really knows small town life, particularly that of a small Texas town. There are some personalities that folks will recognize from episodes of Friday Night Lights. He’s also got a particularly masculine POV when it comes to describing sex scenes.
In this tale Trey Arnold, the preacher’s kid, is openly gay (albeit theoretically) while living under his father’s eye. He’s also a nursing student, and comes to the aid of Cody Davis. Cody is a veteran, who’s returned to their small-town of Spruce Texas, and has a reputation as the town bad boy. Cody is embittered by his injuries, and is having trouble doing his rehab and resuming a normal life.
As can only be expected, the two become involved. Trey has trouble reconciling his more carnal urges with the virginal life he’s previously been living. Trey also has trouble learning to act independently as an adult. His reverend father, while preaching acceptance and Christian charity, myopically fails to fully practice those virtues toward his son. Both Trey and Cody are good men at heart. It’s a pleasure to spend time with them in this tale. It’s even better to see how both men are good for each other.
This is the second book in the Spruce Texas series. The narrators are once again Chris Chambers and Sean Crisden. In some ways the two main characters here are quite similar to the two main characters in book one. The guys once again do a good job with voicing their respective main characters, and the assorted secondary characters. It’s really nice to see the two main characters from book one have cameos here. Having the same narrators added no confusion in that regard.
Sean Crisden once again channels Christian Slater a bit in his “inner monologues” and does tend to mumble a bit when his character, Cody, questions himself. But I can clearly understand it all. At this point its more than a bit endearing. Chris Chambers voices Trey with the same skill that showed when voicing Billy in book one. While it works perfectly well, I did find myself wondering at times if a bit more variety might not have been in order. In the end I decided that that was actually something of the fault of the author. The characters voiced by Chris are perhaps a bit too similar in their viewpoints.
I’m not sure whether it’s my perspective (or maybe just all the fancy desserts) but I actually enjoyed the first book better. This one doesn’t quite give me that “Let’s read it again now” feeling that my five star reads generally do. However this one laid the groundwork pretty well for another book, and (based on the blurb for book 3), I’ll soon be enjoying that one as well.
***Note: I am voluntarily reviewing this after receiving a complimentary copy ***
Friday Night Lights meets American Horror Stories meets True Blood.
This is an odd tale of Joel Whitney, a young gay man who's left Texas and made gooFriday Night Lights meets American Horror Stories meets True Blood.
This is an odd tale of Joel Whitney, a young gay man who's left Texas and made good. But when he returns to rescue his younger brother Dylan from the life that his family and the town seem determined to have him follow things go weirdly wrong.
Dylan, the younger brother a local football hero disappears and while investigating his brother's disappearance Joel uncovers a much more ominous mystery.
This book centers on a gay man and there are other gay characters but there's also lot's of crazed rural Texan life and is unlike any other gay themed novel I've ever read. ...more
This is the logical continuation of the Nowhere to Ride series. Here we meet Brad a wanna be rodeo cowboy that had to retire due to an injury before hThis is the logical continuation of the Nowhere to Ride series. Here we meet Brad a wanna be rodeo cowboy that had to retire due to an injury before his career really got started. Now he's hunkered down and working on Ty and Brodie's horse farm from book 1. Brad's content... but lonely, and is looking for a new dream.
When scared and waif-like Roy shows up and is hired onto the farm, it's clear to Brad that Roy's never done farm work before. But he's gotta admire the kid's spunk. And as Brad helps Roy learn what it means to be a cowboy, the two grow closer and it's pretty clear that Brad may soon be seeing some of the other kind of spunk that Roy can offer.
Again, this is a tale of a kinder, gentler Texas that what we see on the nightly news. There are good people there that we hear all too little about. At around 100 pages pages each, these tales are more novellas than full blown novels but they are romantic reads that deliver happy endings and give the reader a chance to spend some time getting to know some folks that it's easy to care about. The characters tend to re-appear in cameo roles in later tales making these a bit more homey and adding to the overall enjoyment. This one generates plenty of "feels", but doesn't really break any new ground for me.
***Note: I am voluntarily reviewing this after receiving a complimentary copy ***
Roan Parrish is an expert at taking a deep dive into characters with complex personas and rich inner monologues. This is another prime example of thatRoan Parrish is an expert at taking a deep dive into characters with complex personas and rich inner monologues. This is another prime example of that. It's not a typical mm romance even though much of the territory is familiar.
This one is about a Philly boy (Daniel) raised in a blue collar family who gets a job as a college professor at a Michigan college and falls for a big & burly (but shy) lumbersexual. Alex (Mr. Big & Burly) is a quiet guy who built up his body to cover for his shyness, his stammer and his dyslexia.
While our Philly-born English Prof is as scrappy as you'd expect of a nerdy bookish guy raised in an all male family of mechanics (et.al.), he's still deeply suspicious of anything good in his life as he's sure that it will somehow let him down. When there's a crisis back in Philly partway through the book Daniel's world is shaken and the book takes on several other subjects that make this even a richer and more complex story than it was before.
The sex scenes here are just as graphic as those of other authors but somehow feel more intimate and revelatory while feeling very organic in their places in the a bigger story. They seem really organic and are clearly more about intimacy than sexy times.
Narrator Robert Nieman was new to me and he makes quite a few stumbles at the start of the narration of this audiobook that bothered me perhaps more than they should have. There's a big difference between "hottie condescension" and "haughty condescension." And periods and commas should be respected more than this guy does; it might give him the vocal stamina to not make long pauses for inhaling in the middle of sentences without them.
For example, "All the hotels near campus are cute (read expensive) ... bed & breakfast joints..." didn't really need that long pause between the parenthetical and the rest of that sentence.
Once one gets into story, these issues become less noticeable. and toward the end I couldn't picture one of the narrators I'm more familiar with doing this tale as much justice as this guy does....more
Loading...
