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Archive for the ‘Romance’ Category

# 96: The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie:

“You must have had a very interesting life, Colonel Race?” said Miss Beddingfeld, gazing at him with wide, starry eyes.

That’s how they do it, these girls! Othello charmed Desdemona by telling her stories, but, oh, didn’t Desdemona charm Othello by the way she listened?

Synopsis: Plucky but penniless, Anne Beddingfeld goes looking for adventure in colonial Africa, and finds a murderer as well.

Not to mention the man seen leaving Miss Pettigrew’s hotel room.

# 85: The Great Black Kanba by Constance and Gwenyth Little:

Uncle Joe was waltzing Matilda again in the lounge car, and Eileen was singing it for him in a shrill treble. She had pitched it a bit too high and was having trouble, but she solved the problem by suddenly plunging down two whole octaves. This put Uncle Joe off, and he stopped and asked her what she thought she was doing. Instead of answering him, she said good morning to us, and Clive asked, “Any tea round?”

Synopsis: Plucky amnesiac heroine awakens on a train in Australia, surrounded by a family of mad Australians, apparently related to her. And some corpses and a nice handsome doctor.

In case anyone was worried, the barking lizard made it through the whole book unscathed.

#70: Cattle Valley, Volume One: All Play and No Work, & Mistletoe by Carol Lynne:

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Nate asked.

“No, I was just getting ready to hop into the shower. I managed to convince Halden Kuckleman to take a look at the building.” Casey sat on the couch, aware passing motorists might be able to see in the window. He knew it wouldn’t look good if they spotted their new revered walking around in the nude.

“Well congratulations,” Nate chuckled. “On getting Hal over, not being naked.”

Synopsis: A committed trio moves to the very gay-friendly town of Cattle Valley, WY and proceeds to shake things up. Later, a man of the cloth sheds all his cloths and nails a hunky contractor.
Now let's cry and hug.

#64: Echoes of the Future edited by Aleksandr Voinov:

Mechanical carp swam in slow circles in the ornamental pool. Ismail paused to watch one of the fish, an orange and white creation with showy fins, bump its head repeatedly against the wall. He knew how that felt, so he crouched and set the carp on its proper path.

–Kate Cotoner, “Conduit”

Synopsis: A quartet of loosely linked sci fi stories with m/m protagonists.

Reviewed here at Three Dollar Bill Reviews

#59: Eight Inches by Sean Wolfe:

“Shut up!” Brian said, and sat next to Roger on the bed. “I’m serious, I think I’m in love with him. He’s an incredible guy, and the fact that he’s built like a Mayan god and has a cock that would make a porn star blush is just an added bonus.”

“I assume you haven’t told Carl and Jo.”

“Of course not, and I’m not sure I’m going to.”

“Well, they aren’t exactly slow. I think they’re going to figure it out when the grandbabies speak Spanish.”

“Not hilarious,” Brian said.

Synopsis: Eight linked m/m stories illustrating the concept of family and community. And barebacking. All at the same time.

My review’s up over at Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

# 55: Wilderness Nurse! by Marguerite Mooers Marshall:

At breakfast one morning a loud explosion sounded just outside the hospital. Denise was so startled that she jumped, almost tipping over her coffee cup. The others merely smiled at the following burst of gunfire.
“It’s the beginning of our social season,” explained Anne Pigeon.

Synopsis: (from the front cover) A master surgeon healed both her body and her heart.

Now, I want you to ask yourself: do you think after she was healed, she gave up nursing?

# 49: The Dark Farewell by Josh Lanyon:

“You’re just in time,” the freckle-faced girl in the ticket booth told him. “We got strict orders to lock the door after the show starts.”

“Is it much of a crowd?”

To his surprise, the girl said, “Oh, yes. The Magnificent Belloc impressed a lot of folks last night, and they told their friends and families.”

Flynn raised skeptical brows, but he went inside the lobby which was startlingly ornate with dark wood and gilt fixtures and red carpets. An usher held the door for him and Flynn slipped inside the darkened theater.

Synopsis: In 1922, newspaperman David Flynn travels to a small rural Southern town to investigate a mine tragedy, and winds up investigating a serial killer, a traveling salesman and the cute psychic endangered twink in his boarding house. Game on!

My review here at Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

#47: Riddle of the Sands by Geoffrey Knight:

Will looked at Daniel, then at Shane, then shook his head. “No offense, dude, but we’re on a very tight schedule here, our friend has just been shot with poison darts, and I don’t know who the hell you are.”

“I told you,” Shane said. “His name is Daniel West. He’s a–”

“Reporter. I know, I heard you the first time.”

“You were the one who said we need to rewrite history. Who better to help us than a goddamn writer!”

“Who’s to say he doesn’t work for Perron? How do we know his pen isn’t filled with poison?”

“Actually, I prefer to use pencil,” Daniel interjected matter-of-factly, adjusting his glasses. “And I work for the London Town Crier.

Synopsis: A band of plucky gay adventurers race around the globe to save one of their own from a deadly poison. Bonus points for hot man-on-man blowpipe action.

My review’s up Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

#46: Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler:

The idea that Red thought meeting my drunk aunt and uncle meant that we were on the brink of getting engaged was ridiculous. I understand that meeting someone’s family usually means you’re taking the relationship to the next level, but not with my family. Obviously, if I was serious about having a relationship with someone long-term, the last people I would introduce him to would be my family.

Synopsis: A collection of unfunny pieces about an unfunny person.

Seriously, this isn’t going to be much of a review, because this really wasn’t much of a book.

I had such high hopes for this book because I really did like Handler’s My Horizontal Life. But what came off there as wry and sassy, here just comes off as shallow and heartless. It’s one thing to assert your sexuality and claim sexual independence and power with little sympathy for the people you’re sleeping with, but if you’re constantly asserting your power in all areas of your life with little sympathy for the people all around you, there’s a good chance you’re just an asshole.

#44: Coffee to Die For by Linda French:

Alongside Teddy, Sister Bede Kinney sat with hands clasped, the picture of perfect humility and call-to-service. In Bede’s eyes danced the question: just how did Asian boys in ballgowns fit into the Lord’s great Scheme of Things?

Synopsis: History professor Teddy Morelli has a complicated family, and while she’s not quite investigating her brother-in-law’s murder, she is trying to clear her sister of all charges. While not getting together with her ex-husband and trying to locate her mother in the Galapagos.

Then there’s the Miss Asia pageant.