Tag Archives: m/m

Covers, Reading

Misadventures in Stock Photography (Part the Third): Shoulder Guy

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I know I’ve seen more covers with this guy on them, but can I find them now? No. No, I can’t. So please, let me know if you find any others!

Looks like a blisteringly hot desert to me. Probably not such a stretch to find yourself in the fires of hell after being in the heat of the desert… right?

But, wait, now he’s looking the other way! Dude, you’re going to miss your train, and I can’t imagine there are a lot of trains out of hell.

Very nice shoulder there, mmm?

“I don’t think you’re doing a very good job describing the pose you want, Mom. This has to be close enough. Besides, I don’t feel like looking over my shoulder right now.” -Chaos

Contests, Gluten Free, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Neither snow nor bitter cold shall prevent bookity linkity!

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As promised yesterday, part two of this week’s bookity linkity. Can you imagine yesterday’s post and today’s post combined into a single post?! You’re welcome. 😉

Dear Author’s giving away 31 different different forthcoming titles from Berkeley/Jove. Leave a comment with your top three choices and your favorite Berkeley/Jove title.

Smexy Books is giving away two copies of Kelly Meding’s new urban fantasy, Three Days To Dead. Contest runs through December 11.

Leave a comment for author Tina Donahue by 12/2 over at Babbling About Books for your chance to win a copy of her steamy romance, Close To Perfect.

Literary Escapism’s giving away a copy of Kelly Gay’s new urban fantasy, The Better Part of Darkness. Leave a comment by midnight on December 15 for your chance to win. Sara at Urban Fantasy Reader is giving away her ARC of the same book and her contest closes at midnight EST, 12/19.

BooksOnBoard and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books are celebrating Hanukkah by giving away a Bookeen Cybook Opus ereader. Break out your creativity and follow the guidelines to write a 200-word pitch for a romance set during Hannukah (or any other Jewish holiday) for your chance to win. Contest closes at noon EST, December 18

Samhain’s having weekly contests throughout December. Prizes include four ebook readers (Kindle or Sony), free ebooks, and more. Head over to the Samhellion blog for details.

Voting’s open at All Things Urban Fantasy for the First Urban Fantasy Cover Art Awards. Participate by December 30 for your chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card, along with some of the winning books.

Check out the free reads and giveaways that Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) and Jackie at Literary Escapism found.

Another great urban fantasy weekend report from SciFiGuy. Plus he lists the new paranormal, urban fantasy, and scifi/fantasy releases for December.

Anastasia found some great book-related links and posted them at her Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

Feeling brave? You can read excerpts from all the contenders in the Bad S3x in Literary Fiction Contest. Jonathan Littell won for his description from The Kindly Ones.

Many thanks to Cecile and Kimber Chin for the copy of Kimber’s ebook, Released, that I won in their contest!

Gluten-Free Living magazine has (unsurprisingly) gluten-free gift ideas on their blog.

Looking for gift ideas for your book lover? Head over to the Love Romance Passion blog for their list. Smart Bitches has a list, too.

Wired magazine has an ereader gift guide. Or you could just read the ereader holiday shopping comic instead.

I would highly recommend not buying your coworkers the new book Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction. Do you really want that annoying guy in the next cube to build his very own pencil crossbow?

Americans consume 34gb of data a day?! Hmm. Maybe not me, since I don’t watch tv or play computer games (anymore) or have a fancy phone. Of course, my music, book, and ebook consumption might help make that up.

After you absorb that statistic, head off to break your brain again over Gizmodo’s post “How Huge Is the Internet on an Average Day?”

Jenre wonders how people manage their TBR (to be read) piles and files.

Read a lot of ebooks on your iphone? This case/stand might be handy.

Do you have trouble determining when it’s inappropriate to use your iphone? This handy humorous flowchart might help!

This is a really cool (and cheap) laptop desk (although the directions are sparse, at best). In fact, I think I could use this even with cats on my lap…

Does your kitteh yearn for a Canadian cardboard cat chalet?

Black kittehs are looking out for what you read!

Poor little Tweety Bird…

Chaos?! 😉

Free cute burns over at Pitter Pats of Baby Cats…

Reading Update
The Renegade Hunter (Argeneau Vampires 12, Rogue Hunter 3) by Lynsay Sands. Finally! Nicholas’ story can be told! Oh yeah, totally not an m/m series. 😉
Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville. ebook. Holy crap. I kept hearing that this book was good, but I really wasn’t prepared for how good it was. This was very, very intense m/m romantic suspense about a hitman and a guy he’s supposed to kill. I laughed a little, cried a bit more, and am glad I started it early enough that I didn’t have to stay up into the wee hours to finish reading. Highly recommended.
Conventional Education by T. C. Blue. ebook. Well done m/m romance continuing the story of closeted actor Lucas and very out goth computer geek Trent that started in Conventional Wisdom. I was hoping things would be tied up a bit more at the end of this one, but now I’ll have to hope that for the next book.
Go Fish by H. T. Murray. ebook. This m/m romance was great fun! I laughed out loud more than a few times at some of the wonderfully clever bits, such as this: “He had no idea why he was thinking with dramatic pauses now. He just was.” Or this:

He was not pouting.

“Yes, you were.”

He was not doing a very good job of keeping his inner thoughts inner, either.

Teaching Him a Lesson by Brit M. ebook. Nicely done m/m romance about a professor and his teaching assistant, who has a psycho ex. Damn those psycho exes anyway! (And hey, contemplate the cover knowing that both guys had long hair…)
Horizons by Mickie B. Ashling. ebook. Pretty good m/m romance about a deeply closeted college football player with a homophobic family who finds himself falling (despite himself) for the very out ER doctor who cares for his broken arm. (Hmm. Sort of a weird cover, isn’t it?)
Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle. Steven’s a sophomore in a small Minnesota town who’s trying to figure out his sexual orientation. He just knows that he absolutely, positively is not gay. Right?
Near Life Experience by Alix Bekins. ebook. Very well done m/m romance about two friends whose friendship changes in interesting ways after one of them finds out an ex is HIV positive and goes in to be tested.
Beautiful Boys by Anne Cain. ebook. This is a fairly good collection of four interrelated m/m romance stories. (Not sure if I’d call any of the characters in the stories boys, or match them to the cover art, but…)
From the Heavens by Vic Winter. ebook. Enjoyable m/m romance. When a stressed out paramedic needs to get away from it all in the mountains and is rescued by a handsome ranger, how will his life change?
Spare Parts (Romentics) by Scott & Scott. ebook. Ok m/m romance about that tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive…
Two In Two Out by G.A. Hauser. ebook. D’oh. I really, really need to remember not to get more books by this m/m author. The writing is awkward and simplistic and the characters… Well, if they were two preteen girls, their gushing internal monologues might be ok. Might be. Plus I think this book exceeded an allowable use threshold for forms of “adore”.

“I’m soooo sleepy… why are you bothering me? You must hate me.” -Mayhem

Contests, Covers, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Contest links, book links, knitting links – eeeeeek!

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I’m going to break my bookity linkity into two days, because otherwise your heads will explode. There are some goodies for the knitters in here, too!

Congrats to Cathy M, Sydney, Miranda, and GSM, who all won copies of Devyn Quinn’s Soul of the Wildcat in my recent contest!

I found another cover example of our old friend Slouching Guy! Sorry the picture is blurry, but that’s what happens when you expand a teeny tiny picture to make it a bit more visible…

Mary Lou’s celebrating her blogiversary and the anniversary of her Tiger Hat knitting pattern (sales of which have raised nearly $2000 for Heifer International). Leave a comment by December 13 for your chance to win enough Malabrigo to knit your own Tiger Hat!

Head over to CJ’s to read her interview with author Penny Watson and leave a comment by 6 pm CST, December 10, for your chance to win a Santa bag of regular and chocolate Rice Krispie treats.

Author Carolyn Jewel is giving away signed copies of Elizabeth Hoyt’s Prince Trilogy. Contest is open until December 10.

For your chance to win an advance, signed manuscript of Beth Kery’s forthcoming romance, Release, leave a comment at her blog by December 11. Beth’s also going to give away a Sony Reader on New Year’s Eve to someone who purchases a copy of her books Holiday Bound, Paradise Rules, or Release during the month of December.

Answer Nalini Singh’s question over at the Book Smugglers and you could win a copy of her books Angel’s Blood and Blaze of Memory. Contest closes 11:59 pm PST, December 12.

Can you figure out what the amorphous holiday cookies at Julie James’ blog are supposed to be? Guess by 8 pm CST, December 13, for your chance to win a $25 B&N gift certificate. Speaking of Julie James, she’s over at the Book Smugglers, too – comment by 11:59 pm PST, December 12, for your chance to win signed copies of her excellent romances, Practice Makes Perfect and Just the Sexiest Man Alive.

For your chance to win your very own Demon Sheep (and books), head over to Babbling About Books and leave a 100-word demon sheep story in the comments by December 13.

Dear Author is giving away copies of the forthcoming releases from Ace and Roc. Fifteen random commentors will win books.

Danger! 40-60% off all multiformat (non-DRM) ebooks at Fictionwise through December 31! More ebook deals and freebies at Dear Author and also at Suvudu.

Knitters – don’t you think everyone you know needs a pair of elf slippers for the holidays?

Curious about B&N’s Nook? Use the locator to find out where you can try one. Gizmodo’s detailed review of the Nook might help, too.

*blink blink* Some bizarre theories from the sworn enemies of ebooks…

Iz monster! Eeek! Dark secrets of black kittehs revealed! Or maybe just dark.

Weirdly (for me), I was feeling the holiday spirit on Saturday, so I listened to gwfgwf (generic winter festive gathering with food, coined by Superguppy Kat) music on my laptop and read an assortment of ebook holiday shorts.

Holiday Reading Update
The Gift of Giving by Ann Somerville. holiday ebook short. This sweet and completely safe for work m/m romance (although the link to the pdf didn’t work last time I checked) was one of last year’s holiday freebies from Samhain.
Wand’ring Home by Maia Strong. holiday ebook short. Another of last year’s Samhain holiday freebies, but the download link works for this m/m romance!
Mistletoe on the Mountain (Fire on the Mountain, Book 3) by P.D. Singer. holiday ebook short. It’s Jake and Kurt’s first Christmas together… (Interesting that the only holiday shorts from Torquere Press that I picked up were from the “Nice” collection and not from the “Naughty” collection!)
Snowed In, Las Vegas Style by Aaron Michaels. holiday ebook short. Apparently it doesn’t take much snow to close the Las Vegas airport, so two guys decide to make the most of being stranded.
Just My Luck by Cassandra Gold. holiday ebook short. Greg’s having a string of really bad luck on Christmas Eve (car breaks down, apartment building starts on fire, the usual) – will the sexy guy who comes to his rescue turn his luck around?
Christmas Intervention, Phase 1 by Mara Ismine. holiday ebook short. When the guy who usually really loves Christmas is down on the dumps on the holiday, what’s his best friend to do but stage a Christmas intervention? (I never did figure out what Phase 2 might be.)
One Night Stand by Clare London. ebook. holiday ebook short. Whoops – Teddy has too much to drink at the office Christmas party and wakes up in bed with his boss…
Four Gold Rings by T.A. Chase. holiday ebook short. Ok (but very sweet) story about all the guys from Chase’s For the Love of Sports series.

And now back to our regularly scheduled feline programming…

“Wheeeeeeee!” -Mayhem

Covers, Reading

Misadventures in Stock Photography (Part the First)

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While some book covers probably use original photographs taken specifically for that book, many use stock photographs. Stock photos get used over and over – to the point that you might have a sense of deja vu even when faced with a cover you’ve never seen before. Take a look at this first cover:

Nice candy cane. *ahem* But the smiley face in the next two variation of this photo? Puzzling. (And yup, the second guy back there does mean that this is an m/m title, which Hot for the Holidays is not.)

The hole in the jeans is a nice subtraction, isn’t it? And hey, in the next cover, the photo has been so cleverly disguised that you can’t even tell it’s the exact same cover…

…or maybe you can. 😉 Do the candy cane and smiley face cover a tattoo or a mole or??? Does anyone have other examples of this particular shot used on other covers?

Many thanks to Sydney, who tracked down the original stock photo! To sum up, the jeans did have holes and there’s no mole or tattoo being covered

Stop by my contest post or The Thrillionth Page by 10 am CST, December 6, to vote for the Softest Kitteh Evah on Our Street!

Yes, there’s been more taunting.

“My tummy is super soft, too, Oblio! Plus I have a bikini on my tummy, so there! (Oh, and Mom says if you click on my picture, you’ll almost be able to feel how soft my tummy is.)” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

So many book links, so little time…

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Stop by my contest post or The Thrillionth Page by 10 am CST, December 6, to vote for the Softest Kitteh Evah on Our Street! Oh, dear, the taunting has begun. Can escalation be far behind?

Um, that would be no. 😉

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is giving away a Sony Pocket Digital Reader if you leave an appropriately tagged quote over at the Sony Style Words Move Me page. Contest closes midnight EST, 12/3.

Smexy Books is giving away an ebook copy of Penny Watson’s new romance, Sweet Inspiration, which is about Santa’s sexy sons looking for love, plus a box of Williams-Sonoma hot chocolate mix. Contest runs through 12/3.

SciFiGuy’s giving away a copy of Lili(th) Saintcrow’s new young adult urban fantasy, Betrayals. Contest closes midnight EST, 12/4.

Literary Escapism is giving away a signed copy of Kelly Meding’s intriguing new urban fantasy, Three Days to Dead. Contest closes midnight, 12/8. SciFiGuy’s giving away three copies of the same book (not signed), plus a copy of Kelly Gay’s new urban fantasy, The Better Part of Darkness. This contest closes at midnight EST, 12/8.

Book Junkie’s celebrating her birthday month by giving away 35 books. Read the directions and fill out the form – she’ll choose a winner on 1/1.

Check out the list of December 1 paranormal and urban fantasy releases over at Fantasy Dreamer and her links to contests and free reads. SciFiGuy’s weekend urban fantasy report always has a staggering amount of information. Heh, looks like Jackie at Literary Escapism got sucked into the whole “how evil is my blog?” thing while doing her weekend update. (Don’t miss her December edition of the Escapist Newsletter.)

TeddyPig reports that AllRomanceEbooks is giving away three free first-in-series ebooks from Loose Id, including the first Dark Elves book by Jet Mykles.

Free holiday m/m romance by T.A. Chase featuring the guys from the Love of Sports – grab it over at the Samhellion blog.

This list of DRM-free ebook publishers is a good reference.

Oh, dear, looks like Barnes & Noble is having problems getting the Nook out there. It’s hurting their stock, too.

Speaking of which, TeleRead has a list of reasons why it might be better to wait on getting an ebook reader if you don’t already have one. Check out their ebook reader predictions for 2010, too.

Awful Library Books manages to amuse and horrify me nearly every day.

Package delivery company secrets revealed in this amusing “training manual”. *snort*

The Washington Post on the Twilight craze (via Mary Lou), which inspired me to look back at these posts from Smart Bitches and Lilith Saintcrow about some of the less obvious messages in Twilight.

Hmm. Maybe this is part of my problem with the whole dating thing…

And here I thought Chaos had patented that glare as a kitten.

O noes! Flee, flee, before the evil horde swarms across the land.

Poor Basement Cat!

What if Hewlett-Packard built R2-D2?

Reading Update
Blood Vice: Nightfall Syndicate, Book 1 by Keith Melton. ebook. Very good, very intense paranormal romance about a vampire who does mob hits because he doesn’t want to kill innocents. Things are complicated a bit by an ancient enemy and a mob leader’s daughter. This one just came out in print, too. Recommended.
The Ultimate Kink (Quinn Security, Book 2) by Cameron Dane. ebook. Brace yourselves – this was an m/f romance ebook! 😉 The first Quinn Security book was an m/m romance and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I enjoyed this one, for what it’s worth. But this was ok. And I’m guessing that the next Quinn Security will be m/m.
Aussie Rules by Jill Shalvis. Ok contemporary romance. Mel’s barely holding her struggling aviation business together when Australian Bo shows up after ten years, raising all sorts of uncomfortable questions about Mel’s missing mentor and her possible role in Bo’s father’s death.
Snow on the Mountain by P.D. Singer. ebook. Very good m/m romance. After an exciting summer in Fire on the Mountain, Jake and Kurt are working at a ski resort for the winter and, of course, there are complications. Maybe it’s just me, but this cover sort of freaks me out. (Of course, after I finished reading this, I had to go back and reread Fire on the Mountain.)
Forgotten Song by Ally Blue. ebook. Ok m/m romance. Can a singer with a tortured past escape it to trust and love again? (Another sort of weird cover, although this is more in a 1970s sort of way.)
Diving in Deep by K.A. Mitchell. ebook. Very good m/m romance about getting a second chance with that guy you had a crush on as a teenager, who’s grown into an emotionally unavailable adult. I definitely got sniffly on this one. (This is also the precursor to Mitchell’s book Collision Course.)
Regularly Scheduled Life by K.A. Mitchell. ebook. Another really good m/m romance by Mitchell that had me crying pretty hard more than once. After becoming famous after being wounded during a school shooting, will Sean be able to return to his regular life with his partner of six years, Kyle? Recommended, but keep the tissues handy. (And does this cover have it going on or what?!)
Between Friends by Sean Michael. ebook. This m/m romance never really grabbed me, although it’s well rated and obviously enjoyed by others.
Win and Lose by T.C. Blue. ebook. The title of this pretty good m/m romance is a play on the nicknames of the two main characters: Winston and Lucien. Win’s a tattoo artist in the middle of nowhere and Luz’s the lead singer of a band who is lost in a snowstorm in the middle nowhere.
Spilled Ink by Rob Knight. ebook. Hmm. Musta been tattoo parlor week. Shortish but enjoyable m/m romance about a cop who goes to get a tattoo to commemorate his slain partner and ends up falling for the tattoo artist.
Take Me Out by Gabrina Garza. ebook. Meh m/m romance about two baseball players on a minor-league team.
Doggy Style by Ashely Ladd. ebook. Minds out of the gutter – it’s the name of a store that sells fashions for dogs. Of course, that’s not necessarily so clear when “Doggy Style” is emblazoned across the baseball team’s jerseys as the team sponsor. So, while the name was clever, that was the only clever bit about this m/m romance. I was laughing out loud about how hokey it was, plus I kept paging back to see if I’d skipped paragraphs or chapters. This wasn’t something that a few transitions could’ve fixed. Probably would’ve been a DNF, except I kept going to find out if the whole story was a disjointed dream sequence or something. (It wasn’t, more’s the pity.)
Love in an Elevator by Sean Michael. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a photographer and a high-powered businessman. Hmm. Not sure an elevator phobia was really enough to carry the story and balance all the steam. And oh, this book had a doozy of an editing miss – a completely random name switched in once for one of the characters at an inopportune moment. (“Samuel?! Who the *blip* is Samuel?!”)
Bad Case of Loving You by Laney Cairo. ebook. Very good, very steamy m/m romance about a resident and the doctor supervising him at the hospital. They just can’t seem to keep their hands off each other…
Undercover Blues by Laney Cairo. ebook. Hmm. Whose bright idea was it to send the allegedly straight cop undercover to hook up with the crime lord’s brother? Nicely done, even if I had to guess what some of the Aussie slang meant. 😉
Another Fine Mess, edited by Syd McGynley. ebook. I picked up this m/m romance collection primarily to read the story by Laney Cairo, which was related to Undercover Blues. Some of the other stories were fine, although I definitely skipped two or three.
I Can’t Drive 55 by Jade Falconer. ebook. Pretty sure that this method of getting out of a ticket should not be attempted outside of a fictional setting!
This Time for Keeps by Christiane France. ebook. Ok paranormal m/m romance about a man whose partner dies… so why do the pillows still smell like his shower gel? And who keeps changing the tv channel?
Interlude by Vivien Dean. ebook. Ok m/m romance about piano players with a dueling pianos gig in Nevada.
Off the Beaten Path by Katrina Strauss. ebook. Good m/m romance about a jock and an environmentalist who are sure they have nothing in common until they end up sharing a tent while working on a trail project.

“Come to the black kitty side. We have cookies. Unless the big kitty ate them.” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkin’ to books, bookin’ to links

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Donna’s giving away two copies of John Brown’s new fantasy novel, Servant of a Dark God. Contest closes 8 pm CST, November 29. Plus, check out her post that’s chock full of giveaway and free read info. (Many thanks to Donna – I won a $10 Amazon gift certificate in a recent contest over at Fantasy Dreamer.)

Pat (of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist) is giving away a smorgasbord of fantasy (including some urban fantasy) books, such as The City and the City by China Mieville, Black and White by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge, and an ARC of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Galileo’s Dream.

Former Samhain editor and current Carina Press editor Angela James is having a contest to celebrate her four years at Samhain and new job at Carina. She’s giving away several goodie bags and will draw winners on December 7.

Amazon’s giving away $3 worth of mp3s (your choice, use by November 30) (via Lifehacker).

Don’t miss SciFiGuy’s weekly overview of contests, news, and more.

Dear Author suspects there are some unannounced Kindle book sales going on and provides tips on how to find them.

Some numbers on ebook piracy, again pointing out that ditching DRM and getting ebook buyers used to the idea of buying easy-to-use content is probably the best way to handle piracy.

Top 10 myths about ebooks, from literary agent Nathan Bransford.

Jackie at Literary Escapism (as part of Weekly Geeks) is interested in your lists of the top 10 books you’ve read in 2009. (She has info on how to submit your list.)

Harlequin manages to spectacularly damage their brand with an ill-considered venture into offering vanity publishing services. Whoops.

One reader charts her path from reading m/f romances to reading m/m romances.

Hee hee – a fine bit of book geekery at xkcd.

How good or evil is your blog? Discovered via the more-evil-than-me Kris’n’Good Books. 😉

Aw, look at the cute black kitty, all prepared for the possible pumpkin shortage.

All teh tiem!

Yay! Google Reader added favicon support!

If you’re thinking of shopping on Black Friday (are you crazy?!?), you might want to read Gizmodo’s tips on anti-deals.

Reading Update
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx. A bit more literary m/m than what I’ve been reading. No HEA (happily ever after) or even HFN (happy for now) with this one. But y’all know that already.
A Really Nice Prom Mess by Brian Sloan. I’m pretty sure this young adult novel plays homage to the shenanigans in all those teen movies like Sixteen Candles. The narrator, Cameron, is going to his senior prom with his boyfriend… sort of. Funny and heartfelt – it’s not often that a book has me alternately laughing and sniffling.
Shady Ridge and the Neon Sky by Chris Owen. ebook. Good m/m romance about two cops in a small-town in Texas. Bit of a rough start, but fortunately the menagey bit wasn’t ongoing. 😮
Carbon and Ash by Chris Owen. ebook. This was a short but sweet m/m romance about slowing sliding into something other than friendship without being fully aware.
Cheek to Cheek (911, Book 2) by Chris Owen. ebook. Another sweet m/m romance from Owen, this time about ballroom dancing firefighters. 🙂
Collision Course by K.A. Mitchell. ebook. Wow! Really well done m/m romance about a social worker and a paramedic who has a lot of issues with social workers. Recommended. I’m definitely picking up more K.A. Mitchell titles. (And yes, I now know that I should’ve read Diving in Deep first, but darn it, Samhain sure doesn’t make that clear on their site…)
Inking Aaron by Cheryl Dragon. Ok, very weird that there was an Aaron Chase in Collision Course and now in this book… Sadly, while the premise of this m/m romance was intriguing (a seemingly uptight hotel manager gets involved with the guy who owns the tattoo shop in the lobby), the writing was extremely choppy (transitions aren’t a bad thing, really). Additionally, it seemed like the story needed to be fleshed out more. And then there were the unclear pronoun references, which I’ve mentioned is a very bad thing in m/m romance.
Lord and Master and Taking Work Home (Lord and Master 2) by Jules Jones. ebooks. Comfortable m/m romances about a PhD student working as a research and personal assistant for the owner of a London company. A nice break from the usual high angst of many m/m romances! (“Lord and master” refers simply to being the boss…)
Out of the Past by Sean Michael. ebook. Hmm. This one’s hard to summarize. Ten years ago, Andy was in a bad car accident and when he woke up in the hospital, a lawyer told him that his boyfriend Steven didn’t want to see him anymore because of his injuries and scars. However, Steven was told that Andy died – went to his funeral and everything. Quite the surprise when they run into each other again…
Making Your Own Luck by Sean Michael. ebook. Fun short m/m romance about Friday the Thirteenth and trying to break a string of very bad luck. (Here’s a good place to confess that I get squicked out by tooth injuries. Stephen King and The Tommyknockers, I’m looking at you!) But hey, there’s a gigantic black cat named Demon in the story, too. It’s all good, right?
Quarterback Sneak by Pepper Espinoza. ebook. Touching m/m romance about two pro quarterbacks in a decade-long relationship who are outed.
Kegs and Dorms by Stephanie Vaughan, Tory Temple, Jane Davitt, & Kiernan Kelly. ebook. The title of this m/m romance collection does it a disservice. It is about guys in college, but the stories are much better than one would guess from the title!
Hemovore by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook. This paranormal m/m romance was definitely a cracktastic read (as in completely addictive and will keep you up too late). What if vampirism was caused by a virus? A really, really contagious virus? There’s a reason Price is on my must-read list!
Payback, Vertigo, Manikin, Tainted, & Rebirth (Channeling Morpheus, Books 1-5) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebooks. All five of these paranormal m/m ebooks probably equal one regular paperback, so don’t get too excited about my reading five books here! These are the first five books in the raunchy adventures of vampire Wild Bill and non-vampire Michael, which continue with the Sweet Oblivion series.

“Sheesh, now you want me to move so you can wear the socks? I grow weary of your unreasonable requests, Mom!” -Mayhem

For those in the US, have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! To all, this is the last post until Monday, November 30. 🙂

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

In which May discovers the wonders of white sparkly feathers (and there are lots of book links)

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Congrats to Dana, Kelly B, CC, elaing, and Marjorie, who all won copies of Lisa Dale’s It Happened One Night! (I’m amazed at the number of readers I have from Ontario. At least one, but usually two Ontarions have won in each of my Hatchette Book Group giveaways.)

Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) is giving away five Nancy Holder books (plus a tin of Wicked mints) – leave a comment by 8 pm CST, November 27, for your chance to win.

Donna’s also got a great list of bookish giveaways – head over and check it out. Sweet Vernal Zephyr keeps up with many of the latest contests in her Contest Bar (in the sidebar).

The latest Bookworm’s Carnival is up over at Literary Escapism.

Eeeek! How desperate are you for a free ebook? Desperate enough to read Shatnerquake (oh, bummer, looks like it isn’t available for free anymore). Maybe it would be less painful to sign on with Fang-tastic Books as an ebook reviewer.

Beware – Fictionwise has (for an unknown amount of time) all of their er0tica ebooks on sale for 30% off… and they categorize all their m/m as er0tica. (Tangentially, I’m amused that my m/m meme post from Friday is zooming up in page views, albeit low in comments. I can hardly wait to see the search terms on that one…)

The Minneapolis Public Library’s Holiday Clearance Sale runs from Wednesday, November 25, through Saturday, December 19, at the main library downtown.

Hee hee – the shortlist for the bad s3x in books award is out and includes such authors as Philip Roth, Paul Theroux, and Nick Cave.

Wow – too bad this ebook reader from Qualcomm is only an early prototype.

Interesting comic about ebook reading.

Check out the Gizmodo list of gift ideas for readers.

For you iphone people, this sounds like a fun app. Too bad you can’t add your own cats.

This wedding cake caused a spit take (definition 1, people!).

Oh, how I wish I could’ve attended this book signing event…

I am not surprised.

Squeee!!!!

This would definitely be May’s idea of paradise.

Completely how I remember it when Chaos ate a coffee bean as a kitten.

Tofurkey and gravy flavored soda. Bacon flavored envelopes. *blink blink* Please,  just say no.

If you’re poking around in my archives, trying to find posts with Reading Updates, I’ve added a “Reviewettes” sub-category to the “Reading” category. I’m working backwards to update posts and 2009 is done.

Reading Update
So Into You by Sandra Hill. I have the sense that this is probably one of a number of related books set in the Louisiana bayous? (I haven’t read any Sandra Hill before.) Anyway, this was a well-written contemporary romance and it totally sucked me in… even though I wanted to slap the main female and male characters more than once. Or twice. Or three times. 🙂 (I received this copy from the publisher for review.)
Loves Me, Loves Me Knot (Chicks with Sticks, Book 2) by Heidi Betts. This well-done contemporary totally sucked me in – I sniffled more than once while I was reading it. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a bit of yarn’n’steam with their romance reading. (Interesting. I see that the Kindle and mass market pb versions are $6.99, but at Diesel Ebooks, the mobi version’ll set you back… $12.03, after $1.97 discount. WTF?!)
To Serve and Protect by Chris Owen, C. B. Potts, Tory Temple, and Alexa Snow. ebook. Decent m/m romance collection about firefighters and cops.
Man of Mystery by Madeleine Urban. ebook. Happy father and downtrodden househusband Alan transforms into Terence, man of mystery, after an accident leaves him with amnesia. Recommended – Madeleine Urban definitely knows how to write an intense m/m romance.
Old Poison (Dangerous Ground, Book 2) by Josh Lanyon. ebook. Very intense and very well-done m/m romantic suspense from Lanyon. You definitely need to read Dangerous Ground before you read this. Both are highly recommended.
Another Dream (Dreams, Book 2) by Addison Albright. ebook. Good m/m romance. Really, my only complaint about Albright’s books are the number of times the characters use each other’s names in conversation. Way, way more than is normal – and enough to be annoying.
Surrendered Victory by K.C. Kendricks. ebook. Nicely done m/m romance about two guys who work for rival construction companies – one who has been afraid to admit that he might be gay, the other very comfortable being gay.
Somebody To Love by Carolina Valdez. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a helicopter pilot/firefighter who is very intrigued by the masked Chippendale dancer who wanders over to kiss him after the show (at a combined bachelor/bachelorette party in Las Vegas). (I bet this cover rates way up there on the MamaTulip Abs Approval Meter.)
Son of a Preacher Man by Jamie Craig. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a man who returns to the town where he lived briefly as a teen, hoping that another encounter with the son of a preacher man will help him sort out his confusion over his sexuality.
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys by Lynn Lorenz. ebook. Fun m/m romance about a New Orleans dress-up party in which attendees are told whether to attend in drag or stag.
Superstar by Rick R. Reed. ebook. A story of obsessive love unfolds through flashbacks as a man standing on Seattle’s “Suicide Bridge” tries to decide whether to end things.
Through the Closet Door by Rick R. Reed. ebook. Touching story about a married man in his 20s who’s struggling with coming out.
Man-Amorphosis by Rick R. Reed. ebook. Amusing, tongue-in-cheek tale of a gay man who wakes up to discover part of his body has changed its configuration, so the first thing he does is get into drag and head out to bag straight guys. Dang, Reed is definitely a versatile writer!
Mind F*cked (Faerily Imperfect, Book 1) by Mia Watts. ebook. Very nicely done and ever-so-steamy m/m paranormal romance about a stunning half-fae security expert who can read minds and a bank manager who doesn’t believe in magic or that anyone so gorgeous could find him attractive. Recommended.
She’s Got Balls by Mia Watts. ebook. Enjoyable m/m romance about an FBI agent and a cop who have to go undercover as a married heterosexual couple. My only complaint was that the story needed a bit more fleshing out near the end.

“Pretty sparkly feathery snowy toy!! Yum!!” -Mayhem

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

TGIF… oh, wait, it isn’t Friday yet… *sigh*

22 Comments

Tell authors Diana Holquist and Julie James who you think People will pick as the sexiest man of 2009 and if you’re correct, you have the chance to win a copy of Holquist’s book The Sexiest Man Alive or James’ book Just the Sexiest Man Alive. Contest closes 10 pm CST, November 15, or before if People announces their pick early.

Don’t forget that J. Kaye always has at least a dozen bookish giveaways going!

Head over to Vampire Wire by November 22 for your chance to win a copy of Molly Harper’s Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men.

Author Heather Long is giving away $10 Amazon gift certificate over at Fantasy Dreamer. Enter by 8 pm CST, November 23, for your chance to win.

You could go to Moderncat for your chance to win kitty toys made from old sweaters and socks (drawing on November 17)… or you could go and look at the pictures and probably make your own. Moderncat’s also holding a contest for a cat toilet training kit… *blink blink*

The usual thorough weekend updates on urban fantasy and paranormal romance from SciFiGuy and Literary Escapism. Don’t miss Donna’s weekly news and contest post, either.

Smexy Books highlights some very steamy forthcoming books.

Dear Author links to a few of this month’s ebook specials.

Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books? They look pretty cool as data sets for visualization.

If you’re NaNoWriMoing, I hope you’re reading author Lynn Viehl’s blog, Paperback Writer. She offers up tips, encouragement, and humor, all of which you probably need about now.

Hey, that sure looks like a handknitted hat! Of course, May would want it pink, furry, and sparkly.

This is exactly what would happen if I knit a kitty bed for Chaos and Mayhem.

Don’t these gf pumpkin pie bars look yummy? I wonder if I could make them dairy-free…

Margene alerted me to a holiday I missed – Chaos Never Dies Day, which was November 9. Thanks, Margene!

Reading Update
How To Score by Robin Wells. This was a light-hearted and fun contemporary romance that I think would score respectably on the CursingMama book readability scale (and since I just invented it, I’m sure CursingMama is as puzzled as y’all as to what that might be). I keep trying to summarize the plot and failing. The best I can do is tell you that this book involves an FBI agent pretending to be his life coach brother, a hitman on the loose, a woman who keeps injuring the guys she dates, a dog who will go to great lengths to devour leather, and art deco houses.
Paul’s Dream by Rowan McBride. ebook. Lawyer Paul doesn’t know that the puzzles he solves in his dreams are real, until incubus Kian shows up to thank Paul for rescuing Kian while he was dreaming. Decent, not great paranormal m/m romance.
Partners in Crime (Cards on the Table & Murder at the Heartbreak Hotel) by Josh Lanyon & Sarah Black. ebook. Two excellent stories of m/m romantic suspense.
Portrait of a Kiss by T.D. McKinney and Terry Wylis. ebook. Good paranormal m/m romance that had me sniffling a bit near the end. A cop inherits an old Southern house haunted by the ghost of a man believed to have murdered a pair of young lovers 50 years before. A very handsome and irresistible ghost…
A Bit of Rough and Roughhousing by Laura Baumbach. ebooks. Very steamy, yet romantic m/m romances about an architect and a guy who works in construction. Definitely worth reading.
Sympathy by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook. Sweet and well done m/m romance that wasn’t paranormal, which is unusual for Price.
Jumping the Fence and Crossing the Line (OC Pride, Books 1-2) by Stephanie Vaughan. ebooks. Two good m/m romances from Vaughan about figuring out who you really are and what you need to be happy.
IM by Rick R. Reed. ebook. Usually I avoid serial killer books, but I think I sort of blocked out the serial killer bit when I picked this one up. Since the tagline is “Instant Message… or Instant Murder?” I think I really had to work on blocking it out. 😉 Anyway, this was a solid m/m romantic suspense offering from Reed that had me on edge to the very end.
Car Wash by Shawn Lane. ebook. Ok m/m romance about Kevin, who’s working at a car wash after getting laid off from his office job. I must admit that I got a bit frustrated at Kevin not standing up for himself.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by Cassie Stevens. ebook. Good m/m romance about finally taking control of your own life.

“Neener neener neener – I have my own holiday and you don’t! Ha!” -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Mayhem’s Lap Ennui, plus links! And books! And exclamation points!!

29 Comments

Donna (Fantasy Dreamer) is giving away a copy of Diane Pharaoh Francis’ new urban fantasy, Bitter Night. Leave a comment by 8 pm CST, November 8, for your chance to win.

Lisa at Knitnzu won a copy of Show No Fear in my contest last month, but received two copies from the publisher. Of course she’s having a contest to pass on that second copy. 🙂 Leave a comment by the evening of November 6 for your chance to win.

Beth Kery’s giving away a copy of Erin McCarthy’s first NASCAR romance, Flat-Out Sexy. Leave a comment at Beth’s blog by November 6 and make sure you check back on the the 6th to see if you won!

Author blog Fangs, Fur and Fey is having a three-year anniversary contest and the grand prize is a Kindle. Contest closes 11:59 pm EST, November 13.

Wow – check out all the paranormal and urban fantasy releases over at Donna’s! )Don’t miss her weekly book news and more.) SciFiGuy lists the paranormal, urban fantasy, and scifi book releases for November. He also has his usual excellent weekend round-up of interviews and contests.

Looking for more reasonably priced ebooks for your reader? Amber Quill Press is offering three ebooks each day (one from each of their lines – fiction, er0tica, GLBT) at 75% off.

Thoughts on ebook piracy from Dear Author and from author Carolyn Jewel. And something else to think about – music pirates actually buy more music. I wonder if this holds true for ebook pirates?

This sounds cool – a four-part series about reading on Canadian television.

TeleRead reviews the new 5″ Astak EZReader. (I have the 6″ EZReader.) Here’s a quote from the review: “This may be the first e-book reader I’ve run across that is actually worth the purchase price.”

Oh oh – did B&N misappropriate intellectual property with the Nook?

Has anyone tried this ebook price comparison site yet?

Largehearted Boy has a nice list of the best books of 2009 lists that are already available.

There’s an iPhone app that claims it can double your reading speed in five days.

I would’ve needed stitches if I’d tried this.

Not surprisingly, last week was a good week for basement kittehs over at lolcats.

So Chaos. Switch the glass of milk for a soy mocha and this could be my place.

Lucky me – I won a $25 gift certificate to Fictionwise.com during Romance Reviews Today’s blogiversary contest. Thanks, RRT!! And many thanks to Cecile – I won Supernatural dvds in one of her many October contests!

Reading Update
A Stroke of Magic (Gypsy Magic, Book 2) by Tracy Madison. I was lucky enough to win a signed copy from a contest at Anna’s Book Blog a few months ago. This is the sequel to Madison’s delightful paranormal romance, A Taste of Magic. If you’re looking for some sweet paranormal romances without a vampire or demon or shapeshifter in sight, I highly recommend this series. The only thing I didn’t like about this was the cover – it’s very striking, but on first impression? I would’ve guessed the main character was a makeup artist, not an artist/painter. Or maybe that’s just me?!
Second Time Around by Bobby Michaels. ebook. Pretty sappy m/m paranormal romance that “drove me nuts” with “excessive quotation mark use.”
Snow Angel and Angel Heart by Sharon Maria Bidwell. ebooks. Nicely done m/m romances that spend more time in the characters’ headspace than most do.
Sursein Judgement by Jet Mykles. ebook. Hmm. This m/m romance isn’t that easy to classify. Possibly as steampunk with paranormal and manga elements?! It was good, whatever it was exactly. 🙂
Personal Demons by James Buchanan. ebook. Good m/m romantic suspense about an FBI agent and an LAPD officer who team up to track down a voudon killer.
The Good Thief by James Buchanan. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about an LAPD officer (are you sensing a theme here yet for the James Buchanan books?) and a burglar who get involved, despite their best intentions. James Buchanan is definitely on my must-buy list.
One Shot by Rowan McBride. ebook. Decent m/m romance about people affected by the side-effects of a new universal flu shot, some of which include gaining or losing several inches in height!
Finding Home by Cameron Dane. ebook. Solid m/m romance about a security expert who’s in love with his straight best friend/roommate. This is told in snippets over a ten-year period, which actually worked better than I expected.
I Spy Something Wicked by Josh Lanyon. ebook. This m/m romance is a respectable sequel to I Spy Something Bloody. Apparently it’s hard getting out and staying out of the espionage business.
Deeper Blue by A.J. Llewellyn. ebook. So-so m/m romance that was choppy, uneven, and had too many wtf moments for me, such as characters behaving oddly, but the behavior wasn’t ever explained, etc.
Bridge Over Trouble Water by Vivien Dean. ebook. Ok m/m paranormal romance about a homicide detective who hates and fears vampires, but needs the help of a very special vampire to solve a case.

“I guess this lap business is ok, but it’s pretty boring compared to having the windows open! Why won’t you open the windows for me, Mom?!” -Mayhem

Um, maybe because the high today is only supposed to reach 45F?!