Customer Reviews

Adder

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First time I "met" Ally Blue, she was known as the Queen of Angst: books as Easy and Forgotten Song are without doubt beautiful books, but so full of angst. The she started to change, and she gifted us with light funny comedy as Catching a Buzz or The Happy Onion (even if, between books, she also wrote the Bay Paranormal Investigation series that's not exactly "light"), but sometime she returned back to her old habit with books like Untamed Heart. So you can understand that I approached this last book with a big question in my mind: angst or light and funny? The Show Business setting let me think that it would be the second one but then the not easy relationship between Adder and Kalil, with their incapacity to come clear with their feelings was a sure hint that the angst part was there, ready to struck.

Adder is the first violin and leader singer of a rock band. Big on stage and even bigger on life, Adder has an easy-to-go approach to s ex: if they are legal and willing, he is on for the ride, not matter if with a man or a woman. And he is so easy and fascinating that no one seems to be able to hold a grudge with him, and so he has not a string of disappointed former lovers behind him, he was even able to remain friend and bandmate with one of them, Vi, the girl at the keyboard. You will think that this approach to life, all s ex and denying the existing of love, would be a consequence of some broken heart in his past, and instead Adder is for real like that, he is not the jealous type and he doesn't consider exclusive s ex as a possibility since he doesn't consider there is a chance for him to find someone with whom he will desire to be exclusive... until Kalil.

Kalil is the new drummer of the band and a very handsome young man. As soon as Adder sees him, he is bent to the task to seduce the man, and maybe Kalil, unwillingly, does the only thing to secure him a more than passing interest by Adder's side: he plays the role of the unreachable damsel on the ivory tower... but thanks to a drunken night that tower crushed down and Adder breaches the door of Kalil's most hidden treasure (pun very much intended). I was almost holding a grudge myself with Ally Blue since she deprived me of that s ex scene (I only had to read of the two waking up together AFTER the crime), but she soon made amend and gave us a lot of other s ex scenes between the two, very much intense and good... as I will say later on in this post, I believe that there is a reason for the author to not allowing us to see the performance of Adder as a top.

Coming back to out heroes, It's not that Kalil is not interested in Adder, he only doesn't want to be another notch in his belt. Anyway after that night (the only one in which Adder tops since he is a bottom for nature), Kalil's defense line are filled full of holes and it's not so much time that he and Adder drift onto a some type of relationship, with Kalil uber-jealous of Adder, and Adder that doesn't do nothing to fuel that jealousy if not being who he is, friendly and flirting. Knowing that the angst was there ready for make its entering, I was fully expecting that the jealousy issue would be the trigger point and instead I was wrong... but I will not say more ;-) (be warned, when the angst struck there is always trouble among the heroes, even if they remain "faithful" at their own way).

I like as the author plays with the characters and their behavior to make a point on the story. For example, Adder's claim that he is a bottom, you can think it's only a s exual preference, and he also gave a quite good explanation, but for me it's a proof that he is not yet ready for commitment: being a bottom allows Adder to be always at the center of the adoration, all right, he is open in a most intimate way, but he doesn't take the lead in the encounter, he doesn't claim no one as his own (with women doesn't count, since Adder doesn't risk to fall in love with a woman); and in fact, as soon as he realizes that he is starting to feel something for Kalil, he is not more able to let someone top him since that claim is of Kalil now.

On the other hand Kalil behaves very much like an animal (in the good meaning of the word): he is not able to say the word, and so he stakes his claim marking Adder with s ex, everytime he can. What I like very much in this story is that the one who is accused to be not fully grown from an emotional point of view, Adder, is instead the one that understands better Kalil and their relationship. Adder knows that something is eating alive Kalil, and more than once tries to push the man to talk, but Kalil is as stubborn as a mule. I believe that Adder is not insensible, he has only reached a moment in his life in which he is ready for something serious, and maybe he is at that point since he has tasted all the possible ranges before. As strange as it could be sound, the one who needs to grow for me it's Kalil.

To a very good development of the characters, add also that the show business setting is nicely described, the supporting characters play nicely their role, being present but not obtrusive, and you will have probably one of the best romance I read by Ally Blue so far.

Adder believes in sex, enjoying life, and making his band a success. Being in a relationship does not figure into his plans. When the band needs a new drummer his band mates brings Kalil on board. Adder quickly finds that Kalil's drum skills is not the only thing he needs from him, but will sex be enough this time?

Kalil has never met anyone like Adder - musically creative and sinfully sexy. Kalil knows that getting involved with Adder would only lead to heartbreak as Adder only loves music, sex, and himself. However, resisting Adder is harder than Kalil ever imagined.

Adder is an entertaining, very campy rock of love story. While reading this, the persona of Adder that I envisioned in my mind was that of Patrick Wolf. What makes that so funny to me is that I've only seen one clip of Patrick Wolf a long time ago, and I barely remember the song he sang, but I do remember him, and Adder is this person to me. Kalil was sweet and way too sedate compared to Adder, but he was what Adder needed to ground him as their band soared. I really liked Adder. It was a lot of fun to read and I bet Ally Blue had a great time writing it.

Ley
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 6/10

PROS:
- I always enjoy reading about lifestyles or locations or events I don't know much about, and this story depicts the lives of professional musicians in enough detail that the setting and storyline both seemed a bit exotic to me.
- At first, I found Adder's old-fashioned, formal way of speaking to be odd. (Here's an example: "Where would you like to go, my dear? The city is yours tonight, and I shall be your devoted escort.") But after a while I got used to it, and then I started to see it as consistent with (and necessary to) his flamboyant persona.
- The secondary characters are cute. Adder and his bandmates are relaxed and easy with one another: the others are lively and care-free, but they're also appropriately serious when the situation calls for it.
- Many of the descriptions are vivid and kind of funny: "every wispy little Goth girl in the place seemed to osmose to the front row to worship Kalil in their near-silent, disturbingly intense way."
- Blue does a good job of showing Adder and Kalil's relationship as it develops over time. This isn't JUST a story about 2 guys meeting and falling in love. It's about the meeting, the falling in love, the (inevitable but temporary) breakup, the staying in love, and the reunion. (See cons below also)

CONS:
- I found Adder amusing but not very attractive. In addition to the fact that he does something toward the end of the book that made me almost hate him, throughout the story he's arrogant and almost always flippant, and his seduction of Kalil is too calculated for my taste. I wanted to see much more seriousness from him, mixed in with the playfulness. Even Kalil finds him a little trying at times: he refers to Adder at one point as an "annoying, melodramatic man-child with an ego the size of China."
- Kalil was also rather difficult for me to like. He's a nice guy, sure, but his jealousy where Adder is concerned is so intense that after a while I found it exhausting, and to be honest, I found Kalil's brooding nature to be rather annoyingly self-indulgent at times, too.
- The early stages of Adder and Kalil's acquaintance leap forward by weeks at a time, so we get a sense that their attraction is growing, but we don't get to SEE much of that. I particularly wanted to see Adder get rebuffed a more times (rather than simply hearing about it) so that I had some insight into why Kalil's resistance to Adder's advances drives Adder so crazy.

Overall comments: I'm a pretty big fan of Ally Blue, but this simply isn't one of my favorite stories by her. That said, it's a light, happy little read, and although the period of angst and separation is pretty long for the CHARACTERS, we readers have to suffer through only a couple of chapters before the guys are back together.

*** spoiler alert ***

I enjoyed this book, because I like rock stars and Adder is the perfect example of a bigger-than-life artist. At the beginning I found him annoying, especially because he was trying to force Kalil to have sex with him with a very heavy hand. I also think that the fact that they had sex the first time while Kalil was drunk and Adder was sober didn't sit well with me.

I liked Kalil at the beginning, but then he annoyed me. He was jealous and he never trusted Adder, even when Adder assured him that he wasn't going to screw their manager. The relationship between the two lasts a year before they break up, but they never really grow. Kalil is not able to tell Adder he loves him and Adder never seems to truly reach out to his distressed and confused lover. I think that the misunderstanding that makes them break up was very well done and it perfectly suited the inability of the main characters to build a more mature relationship. I think that Kalil's trust issues were never truly explained, I don't think they depended solely on Adder's reputation as the ultimate slut.

I don't get the last scene before the epilogue. Is that the way to win back your lover? Screwing someone else before his eyes to see if he'll claim you? Kalil should have kicked his ass, not claimed him. It was as if that scene were taken out of a different story. I lost my respect for both characters because they're behavior didn't strike me as brilliant. It ruined the mood of the story, because I don't think the angst I felt really paid off.

In spite of these things I disliked, the story is very enjoyable and I'll re-read it with pleasure.

Adder is a great book. The story was engrossing. I couldn't put it down. I read the book in one day. The sex scenes were hot, but they only added to the story and didn't come off point. Ally Blue is now one of my new favorites. I can't wait to read her other books

I'm not a big Ally Blue fan, but I loved the Happy Onion and I always take a look at her new books. This one was a winner. The character of Adder was unusual and interesting and certainly dominates the book. The other characters are less well developed and Kalil could get fairly annoying at times. But overall, I really enjoyed the book and loved the ending. I definitely recommend it.

Sex is easy, love is not. Adder thinks he can have as many NSA sex he wants, but doesn't believe il LOVE, Khalil has been hurt and wants no more love. Those skilled music players will soon have to learn or rathere re-learn to play the music of love. A sensual, poignant, funny gay romance npvel.

I respect Ally Blue's writing talent a great deal, however after reading a few of her books I decided that I will be staying away from them (I can only tolerate that many "chicks with dicks" characters and Grim from Tamed Heart got on my last nerve so much that I wanted him to die a slow painful death. Yeah, I do use my emotions a lot when I read lol). Anyways, I did not manage to stay away. It is always hard to stay away from writer who knows her way with words, even when I am annoyed with characters lol. First it was Happy Onion that made me hope that maybe this writer is moving away from stereotypes and another related cliche in m/m romances that I hate that one guy has to be top only and of course he has to be big macho man, and another just has to be bottom, and god forbid they may want to switch sometimes. So yeah, enjoyed Happy Onion and really really REALLY liked this one. AS others said it is a story of large than life Adder, who loves music and sex most of all and his group and them trying to hit it big in the music industry and Adder finally falling in love, but doing it in his special over the top way. It is hilarious, it is sweet, and when I read it I did not even pay much attention to how both guys looked, what I am trying to say is that I did not get I am the macho man vibe from Adder so much as I want what I want and I will get it any time if that makes sense.

TINY SPOILER


And OMG I was laughing so much when they try to make love and both guys say that they do not top.

Very fun read.