Customer Reviews

Scared Stiff

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

 

 

The Good: Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach
The mystery was interesting and had an intriguing history behind it. The Romance didn't look forced and the first step toward it came from the guy I didn't expect, pretty hilarious.

Summary: Mason decides he needs to get away from his life when it seems he can't let go of his lover that died 2 years ago. Thinking some peace and quiet is in order to put his life back on the right track, he ends up at an old inn where he learns quickly that he has to share his bedroom with an occupant less than alive. Together with the young inn owner Eli Storm who doesn't believe in ghosts, they get swept up in the house's history and uncover the truth about an old murder.

Neutral: Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon and Wild Onions by Sarah Black
I enjoyed the mystery stories of these two authors tremendously in Partners in Crime but this time I found them lacking somewhat.

First off Josh Lanyon's Ghost of a Chance, it was the scariest one for me, the mystery was also interesting enough but the high point was one of his character who wasn't drop dead gorgeous. It made for an interesting romance until it came to the climax of the anticipated sex scene. This was prolly disappointing only for me since I'm not much for reversi, but yeah having the rather vulnerable and emotionally unstable guy on top while the confident, arrogant, rough cop gets to play bottom for the only sex scene of the story was, as I said, disappointing, it looked out of sort and it didn't fit with what we read of them previously. I can deal with reversi if the situation calls for it and it doesn't look weird, this sadly wasn't it tho.

Summary: In this story book writer and ghost hunter Rhys is invited to stay at a friend's house to investigate about an old house close to the cliff on his propriety that's falling apart. He gets mistaken for a burglar the minute he arrives by the nephew who's staying at his friend's house while he's away, Sam. They can't seem to get along at all and the romance takes a back seat while Sam believes Rhys is one of his uncle's boy toy and Rhys himself just came out of a relationship with a cheating lover. Can they put their different aside in time before the old house devours Rhys?

Next up, Sarah Black's Wild Onions. It was somewhat confusing and...let's face it, boring. It was long and nothing really exciting was happening. It wasn't bad but it def. wasn't good either.

Summary: Robert lost his longtime lover, Val, in an accident a few years ago and with the hospital bills to pay for the both of them he has to make a decision about what to do with their cabin in the woods. Melancholy grips him when he sets foot in it after so long and it seems memories of them together are there everywhere he turns. He meets Coby up the river one day while he's trying to fish, an indian who left his roots and denies his heritage. Coby used to have a crush on Val and so him and Robert realizes they can share their feelings and lick each other's deep wounds. Suddenly dreams of the part seem to take over both of their lives and evil ghosts attempt to separate them, again.
Can Robert finally let Val go? Will he find what he's missing with Coby? It seems that someway, somehow, the three of them are linked together deeply then anyone else could ever imagine.

The Bad: Renderings of Souls by William Maltese
This is going to be as short as the story. It was totally incomprehensible. So much so that it made me think I was retarded until I realized it wasn't me that was, but this story. There's absolutely nothing to understand in it. A bunch of different guys and they all have sex. That's all there was to it for about 56 pages. It was crude and made me grimace. And that's saying something when I can read Tortuga's infinite circle of orgasms without flinching, and even enjoy it. The point, there was nothing good in this story at all and it's making me totally wary to even try anything else by this author. Very uninteresting and I'm so very glad it was the shortest story of them all.
I'd like to do a summary, really I would, but I already said everything going on in there and I didn't understand anything else, so there.

I bought this for the Josh Lanyon story. If I could have gotten his story on its own I would not have bothered to get the anthology - and I would have missed out on two other great stories.

The first story, Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach, was sweet and uncomplicated - a B+ story. In parts it did read a little like the main character was a woman in drag - when he first meets Eli and tumbles into his arms, or when he later runs and dives into Eli's bed squealing in terror. Still it was a pleasant story.

Josh Lanyon's story was, as usual, brilliant but too short. For once, neither of the lead characters was suffering from a debilitating physical condition, although one of them was getting over a bad break up. The mystery was interesting and the interaction between the characters sizzling. A+

Sarah Black's Wild Onions was also brilliant. Somehow it felt much longer than it actually was, but in a very good way. Her writing was emotionally evocative, sad, haunting and funny by turns. The story felt very complete to me, and I didn't feel like elements of the story had been shortened in order to fit the space constraints as is so often the case with romance short stories.

William Maltese's Rendering of Souls was frankly deeply disturbing, crude and incomprehensible. It didn't fit the other three stories at all. There was no romance involved that I could tell, just M/M and M/T crude sex - where T stands for Tree. Yes, for some reason Maltese devoted several pages describing a man humping a tree hole, including instructions on how to avoid being seen, how to hang on to the tree at the critical moment so as not to fall out, and how to line the hole with beeswax just right. Frankly at this point I skipped to the end, so if there was a point where this became a ghost story per se, I missed it. Although kudos for a nice pun on the title, nonetheless what I read of this story was just a bit sick. C-

As to the format itself - the Kindle version, as usual, had several typos, missing words, grammatical errors etc, and also had no interactive table of content, which was particularly annoying as I wanted to skip to the Lanyon story first. More generally, the cover is really awful!

Overall, I would rate this book a firm 4 stars (I am pretending the last story did not even exist so as not to penalize three other very enjoyable stories). Thank you, Mr. Lanyon, for introducing me to two more great authors.

Soul Desire: Didn't work for me. I tire of the power dichotomies: dom vs. sub, rescuer vs. rescuee, stable vs. emotional wreck, big & strong & dark-haired vs. smaller & slight & blonde, out vs. in, older vs. younger, knows-what-he-wants vs. confused, wealthy/successful vs. from humble beginnings, penetrative sex vs. receptive sex, manly/butch/law-abiding career vs. artsy/fem/criminal one. This story ticked far too many of those boxes where each character was on the far extreme of the scale. The submissive characters read like the women in bodice-rippers. Yeah, they may exhibit some feistiness, but that's because we like at least a little spirit in our girls ... er ... guys. If no one else has coined this acronym yet, I'll call these characters Male/Man/Men In Body Only. MIBOs. They are a throwback to the circumscribed female gender roles of the past. Sure, there are some gay male relationships like this. But in my experience and that of my friends, there is actually a preponderance of relationships where there is much more equanimity - overall - between the partners. What's the point of being gay if we're just going to mimic the repressive, sexist gender roles extolled in the 1950s? I'll say too that our plucky hero(ine) at one point does something so unbelievable, so detached from reality, that I could no longer take the story seriously on any level. And while I may know what chenille and chambray fabric are, never when I observe room decor or clothing does it occur to me to take note of fabric type or weave at that level. Repeatedly. Cotton? Sure. Denim? Yep. Wool, tweed? Okay. But most guys, even us gay dudes, do not assess random cloth in our environment in the overly-conscious detail described here. I am perhaps being unfairly critical here to Ms. Baumbach, when my complaints apply to so very many other writers in this genre. Just letting the dam break here. But jeepers, just name the lead characters Dash and Emily and be done with it.

Ghost of a Chance: Another home run by author Josh Lanyon. As a gay man, he writes authentically. He also knows we screw things up - no one is perfect, not even the apparent knight-in-shining-armor. Great flow to his writing, the dialogue is natural and makes sense and is often genuinely funny, and he also writes some very juicy and/or titillating scenes between the heroes, like, for example, the scene here where these two meet. I had to sit down and fan myself.

Wild Onions: Not a pure MIBO setup, but it has most of the elements. I was never convinced of one of the lead character's attraction to the other. Just didn't read true to me. And the ghost part of the story was disjointed and messy.

Renderings of Souls: Can't say it any better than one of the other reviewers. "Incomprehensible." Colloquial speech idioms in pre-history setting, with some anachronistic technology as well. Crude and violent. A jarring, irrelevant epilogue set centuries later.

If Josh Lanyon's story stood alone, I would have given it 4 or 5 stars. Too bad about the others included in this collection.

First off, I buy everything Laura writes, she has a wonderful way with words! It's such a pleasure to read her stories. The only thing that bothered me in this book, was all the type errors in her story-that was distracting. The reason for 4 stars instead of 5? I'll have to read a bit more of Maltese--his story confused me(I have not finished it yet). The rest of the book was great! AND it introduced me to a new author I had not heard of yet-Josh Lanyon. Since I bought this book, I've read all I could get my hands on, and he does wonderful with the "Adrien English Mysteries", and "Partners In Crime" with Sarah Black.

This is a wonderfuly collaboration indeed. LouisaClark has given an excellent review on all 4 stories.
I enjoy Laura's story on one grieving man being haunted by a restless ghost in a manor on a cliff by the sea. Mason is such a vulnerable character and Eli is just the right hunk to lift him from the depth of despair. There are a few frightening moments as the spectre hovers near our hero in the bath and while he is sleeping. Ok I will overlook the typo here.

I just love Josh's style and "A ghost of a chance" is pure delight. I am glued to his story from page 1. Rhys is one lovable character as this lecturer of histories, part-time ghost hunter, takes it upon himself to investigate one haunted Berkeley House. Reminds me of the days when I cuddle up to watch my favorite old fashioned scarry movie but this has the wonderful bonus of a hot sexy M/M romance. Sam is equally likable as this hunk of a cop finds himself falling for this bespectacled stubborn professor. Interpersed with humorous moments, this is one deliciously frightening yet romantic story. And I do like the side characters of Sam's flamboyant uncle and his suicidal lover. There is something rather sad about this "old" couple.

Sarah's "Wild Onions" is original and engrossing, but also somewhat poignant and touching. As the first Reviewer noted, there is a sense of foreboding throughout the story. But I know Sarah will satisfy the sap in me. Robert is such a sad but fascinating character. He is near his fifties and seem to have lost everything but he is not about to give up on life yet. He is haunted by his dead love as he is not willing to let the past go. Enter one hot native American Indian and it is up to Robert to grab on to the second chance in love. Entwined with the present is a horrifying story of the past and Sarah just mixed the 2 periods so well. Wonderful side characters too with evil spirits and native American folklore to fascinate.

I have to admit I skip Maltese's story. I am at heart a M/M romance fan and Maltese's story does not seem to be that. Perhaps another reviewer will do a better job here.

A wonderful collaboration indeed and keep them coming please!

Josh, you're a naughty boy! You kept me up until the late hours this week with your story, A GHOST OF A CHANCE. The story is great as is the interaction with the characters. I like the M/M scenes. Really hot. One question: In all of the characters you've created, which guy resembles you the most?

This quartet of stories by 4 of the best in the field of M/M fiction is the perfect Halloween present for anyone who likes M/M romance on the steamy side, with some chills for those who like things that go bump (or maybe that should be hump) in the night.

It would be hard to pick a favorite here - there just aren't any losers. Laura Baumbach's Soul Desire gave me genuine goosebumps, especially that eerie kiss from the mist; Josh Lanyon's A Ghost of a Chance delivers a good old fashioned haunted house, and who doesn't like those? Sarah Black's writing is always painfully beautiful, and Wild Onions is no exception, richocheting back and forth in time to tell the story of a love that spans the ages--and the undying evil that threatens it. And William Maltese outdoes himself with another kind of time trip, an intriguing look at a civilization beyond memory, with a delicious twist of an ending. And, all four stories deliver the goods in terms of romantic eroticism.

Hey, I know I said Halloween at the start, but Christmas works, too. Or Valentine's Day, or...heck, you can be savor these guys any time of the year.

Only, maybe not real late at night, if you're all alone...