

Monday, November 15, 2010

Monday, Monday

I'm not a fan of Monday. Then again, who is? This is a crazy week for me at work. I'm in meetings/training for the next four days. Hopefully all will go well. I'll be off-line essentially though during the day for those days. Eeep! Withdrawal symptoms already. Had a pretty slow weekend, nothing too exciting happened, didn't get that much reading done. I've been working on something with Jenre that will be coming soon to a computer near you, so that was fun. (Aren't you curious now? Yes, we're evil. :-)

Hope everyone has a great week.

Splash by K.I.L. Kenny (100 pages)
Torquere Press

Alex has decided to spend a bit more time at his Grandfather’s farm over the fall and winter that he inherited before he sells it. He’s thinking of starting his own business and using the proceeds from the sale to finance it. There is a cow pond on the farm which he starts hanging out by and ACK!!! He sees eyes in the pond. Before long some hot guy comes shooting out and they’re getting their freak on. Alex is a bit weirded out, but finally determines that Jordan is something like a water sprite, I suppose, who was trapped in the pond when a river was redirected years ago. However Jordan is dying and Alex is determined to reunite him with the river and save him before winter falls. This was an interesting premise and I think I was as confused as Alex by what Jordan was exactly, but Jordan’s not sure exactly either. My one concern was the ending. It’s not a HEA or even a HFN, I don’t think. Can you live HEA with a water sprite who is frozen in the pond all winter? Will Jordan be that crazy old man who lives down the road raising Alpacas? I enjoyed the descriptions of Jordan and some of the conundrums Alex had to live with though.

Oh yeah and my other niggle, Jordan was well known to Alex’s grandfather and great-grandfather. Since Jordan takes to the buttsecks like a pro, was he with the Grandpas too? I’m getting my squick on here. That’s a big bugaboo for me, the sharing of lovers in families (not counting twins LOL). It doesn’t SAY they did, but you have to wonder, unless Jordan just KNEW Alex was gay. Anyway, that’s my issue, not the author’s.

Not Alone by Sonja Spencer (72 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Andy has moved to a small town to his uncle’s cabin he inherited (huh, two inherited rustic homes books) and he’s going to write a novel. He runs across Eddie, a local divorced with two kids business owner and on impulse invites him to dinner. He’s very up front with Eddie, he’s gay, Eddie’s not (or isssss he?) but they become friends. Andy teases a lot and exposes Eddie to gay porn, sex toys, etc. Eddie has self-esteem issues as his ex basically told him he was mutantly large “down there” and wasn’t really attracted to him. As the friendship grows, Andy realizes he’s falling for his friend and Eddie’s not sure quite what he feels for Andy. Finally after a botched night out, Andy confesses, and Eddie more or less agrees and hey, Andy’s a size queen it seems, so all is good. The end.

Ack! What? How can it be the end? What about Eddie’s ex whom he said would not take it well if one of his girls was gay? What about the small town they live in where the suddenly straight grocer goes gay? The last line is “We’re not alone anymore.” Umm. Is that the only reason you’re with him? Being gay is better than being alone? Not really, I know he liked Andy, but it seemed like of like “There’s no one else around so what the heck.” Anyway, I just wanted to see more, how this was all going to work. Although I have to say their interactions were very funny, the cucumber innuendo was hilarious and Eddie was very open to the sexual flirting and sexual teasing, more so than most straight guys, which is the point I suppose. So not a bad read, I enjoyed many aspects of it, I just thought it ended when there was the potential for a lot more of their story. Maybe it’s coming later.

Seducing C.C. by Ariel Tachna (192 pages)
Dreamspinner Press

Roger (aka Astro) is taking the summer to get over his cheating ex and work at an all girls summer camp. At least he won’t have to deal with guys. Ooops, except paramedic CC with whom he shares a tent. He’s sure CC is straight until he catches him picking up a quickie in the bar. Now he’s doubly pissed, because he’s attracted but isn’t into casual sex or guys who are. The two of them dance around their attraction and when they finally get together Astro is determined to show CC that a relationship would be a good thing. There is a LOT of description of the camp. What they do, the orientation, the whole group going camping, doing the rope course and rappelling, interacting with the kids. I’ve never gone to camp, but I feel like I have now. In a way it was too much for me. I didn’t really want to read about singing around the campfire and making smores more than once. I liked that they went slow in the relationship once they decided to try, and I really liked Astro’s friendship with Sprite, one of the female counsellors who was also getting over a cheating ex, but I found myself skimming over some of the descriptions of camp life to get to the relationship between the two guys. I also found Astro’s negative attitude toward anyone who had casual sex a bit annoying. Casual sex between two single people doesn't equal cheating bastard. *shrug* I guess judgemental people annoy me.


Sweet Vernal Zephyr said...

Have a great week! Don't let the internet withdrawl get you down!

:) Yes, you are evil. But I can be evil too. Visit me on Wednesday and you can enter my Christmas Contest. ;)

Tam said...

Ooooh Christmas. My admin sent a big message this morning saying 39 days till Christmas. Not sure I should slap him or thank him. Sigh.

I'm looking forward to Wed.

wren boudreau said...

I'm playing Christmas music right now! I hope you don't have the DT's or other withdrawal symptoms! Good luck.

Tam said...

Don't make me smack you Wren. LOL Let me guess, Glee album? I let the kid play that the other night. :-) Not until December, that is my rule. Sort of.

I'll be in the corner of the training room curled up in the fetal position whimpering. :-)But that may just be because the course I'm paying $14,000 is a dud. God, I hope not, let it be the DT's.

wren boudreau said...

No smacking allowed!

Not the Glee album...yet. Melissa Etheridge.

Wait. You're paying 14k for a course? Are you learning to fly the space shuttle?

Tam said...

It was special course development for 45 participants. I'm overseeing the course and the development by the consultant, then of course it costs a small fortune to rent food, feed them, etc. Sigh. Nothing is cheap up here.

Mem said...

These three all sound like interesting books. I think I'd actually enjoy all those descriptions of summer camp, ha, ha! Good luck on this work thing coming up this week, and I hope we all get to see your joint project with Jen soon!

Tam said...

It's probably a very personal thing Val. It's like the baby book, the one I found uninteresting because of all the detail about baby items when it didn't move the story forward in any way, but other people loved that kind of detail. And maybe since I've never been to summer camp I just didn't get it.

Soon Val. Maybe Dec. 1 if all goes according to plan.

Jenre said...

Hey, no giving our secrets away yet! ;)

*evil cackle*

I really liked Seducing CC and didn't have the problems with the camp descriptions that you did, probably because I used to love camp books as a kid - it was like looking into a different world :).

I was going to buy the KIL Kenny book in the TQ sale this weekend but held off for some reason. Not sure why cos I loved her story in the Healing Hearts antho. I don't think I'll like the ending either, so perhaps it's a good job I never got around to getting it.

Tam said...

It was a good story Jen, well written, I just couldn't see how a relationship between the two was possible given the limitations of the sprite. I'm calling him a sprite, that's not really what it was I don't think. It would be different he could come out of the water and live but he couldn't.

Maybe I never wanted to go to camp. LOL

I'll hush up now. LOL

K. Z. Snow said...

Ooo, can't wait to find out what your secret is! That news kind of makes up for finding out the "in-laws" (in quotes, because JLA and I aren't married) are coming for Thanksgiving. Blech. His mother is nuttier than a Payday candy bar, yet she somehow manages to be one of the most boring people I know. ARGHHH!

So please, Tam and Jen, provide an antidote!

Anonymous said...

I hope your meetings go well!

Seducing C.C. was an okay read for me, but it was a bit slow.

I really don't want to think about having buttsex with someone who may have had sex with my grandparents. I think that book isn't going on my list. Plus, I need a strong HFN if not a wonderful HEA.

Anonymous said...

Umm, I probably should have phrased my comment a bit differently...

Kris said...


Tam said...

You have to be patient KZ. We're not giving away cars or something. LOL

Sorry to hear about the in-laws. My ex-ones were just boring as hell, well FIL was a bit wacky and annoying. Luckily they lived 2000 miles away so didn't ever drop by.

Tam said...

LOL Eyre. I'm not sure they did, but I wondered since he had sex with Alex within minutes, but maybe he knew Alex was gay and Gramps was straight. I don't know. I have another book that I never finished once I realized that WAS the case. Ewwww. Or maybe it was his uncle or something, great-uncle? I just couldn't deal with it. Sigh. We all have our crosses to bear. LOL Mine is relative-sex.

Tam said...

Yeah well, I need something to amuse me Kris. :-)

Chris said...

What Kris said. Teases!

Tam said...

We're just showing a little bit of leg Chris. ;-)

wren boudreau said...

It's not teasing if you actually put out, right? (At least that's what the guys in m/m books say!)

Tam said...

Good point Wren. And we will, eventually. :-) Anticipation is a good thing.

Lily said...

I really enjoyed Not Alone, loved the humor, although I also had questions at the end about how their lives would change as a couple. The wife, kids, the peeps in town... that sort of thing.

Seducing CC was nice but I also flipped through some of the pages and found all the cutesy nicknames a bit much after a while.

The first one is on my TBR although now I won't be rushing to read it. No real happy ending and wondering if the sprite got it on with both Junior and grandpappy?? Eek! :)

K. Z. Snow said...

Will Jordan be that crazy old man who lives down the road raising Alpacas? ... Since Jordan takes to the buttsecks like a pro, was he with the Grandpas too?

How come we never get to see questions like these in blurbs?

Kaetrin said...

Not teasing Tam.... seduction. (although it better be worth it!)

Is Jordan confined to the water all the time or can he come out of the water (er, pardon the pun)sometimes too?

Was Eddie really a mutant or was his ex wife just unappreciative?

Off topic, sorry - probably everyone else already knows and I hope it's okay to ask, but what is your photo/avatar thingy of?

Janna said...

Eek, I hope you won't go into full withdrawal mode. Isn't that the worst part of the evil day job? Obligating you to do all kind of silly things while cutting you off the internet... grrr.
Don't know about your three reads, they're not exactly screaming to me after your descriptions, lol! :)

Tam said...

I didn't mind the nicknames too much Lily because my daughter has gone to camp where everyone has those kind of names, so I knew it was part of the camp experience, but it just was too much detail for me.

I don't KNOW he had sex with Grandpa, but I have to wonder. LOL

Tam said...

Because you author's take yourselves far too seriously KZ. :-)

Oh no, he can come out of the water, he just has to stay nearby Kaetrin. He needs to touch it now and then so they never get beyond the edge of the pond.

Eddie's wife was unappreciative I think, since Andy had no problem (and she obviously handled it a time or two since they had two kids). LOL But I'm thinking he might have had a good career in porn. :-)

It's the tattoo on my back. :-) And nothing's ever off-topic here. LOL

Tam said...

I should have charged my phone last night Janna so I could access Twitter. LOL I will have to run to my office a lunch so I can do a quick check, Thurs and Friday will be worse out of my building.

There are so many books you should only by those that call your name. I've learned that as some books sit languishing in my TBR.

Tam said...

Okay, I just heard from the author, Grandpa refused to touch Jordan in any way. Whew. Relief, no hinky inter-generational smexin' going on. LOL I'm less squicked out now. :-)

Tracy said...

Splash: Sounded like a weird but interesting read but IDK.
This made me lol and then I got the squicks when you mentioned the grandpa and great-granpa. Ewwww!

Good luck with your meetings.


Not Alone = not for me. I can't be left hanging like that and I don't like throwing my ereader around - it's not the same as a pb book/wallbanger. lol

I've got Seducing CC - I'll have to read it and see if the camp scenes are too much for me. I'll report back. :)

Tam said...

No Grandpa action happened Tracy so I'm feeling better now. :-)

Not Alone was a HFN with an assumed HEA, but I would imagine it not without some effort on their parts which you never see.

:-P Teasing is fun.