Blue River by Theo Fenraven

18484534Title: Blue River

Author: Theo Fenraven

Genre: Historical Romance / Time Travel (19th cent)

Length: Novella (92 pages)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 9th, 2013)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3~3.5 Hearts

Reviewer: Thommie

Blurb: Photography genius Ethan Mars is out and living the fast life in Los Angeles until a mysterious mist in Topanga Canyon sends him back in time. There he meets Quinn Parker, a farmer who has hidden his homosexuality from everyone, even Margaret, his fiancée. Falling in love is the last thing Ethan expects, and the last thing Quinn can allow—in 1863, being gay can get him killed. When Ethan is unexpectedly offered a way home, he faces an impossible decision: go back… or stay. 

1st Edition published by MLR Press, 2011.

A Timeless Dreams title: While reaction to same-sex relationships throughout time and across cultures has not always been positive, these stories celebrate M/M love in a manner that may address, minimize, or ignore historical stigma.

Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4254

Review: I really enjoyed this read, even though it wasn’t as enthralling as one would expect. It was fun though for me, and it had the most in your face slap of reality I’ve encountered. That on itself was hysterically funny for me. I swear I was reading the book and imagining what other reader’s faces and reactions would be at certain scenes, making my laugh out loud and hard for a while.

Other than that, the story is quite simple. There is a portal that shows randomly and there are tales of its existence, so naturally there are idiots who’d go and pursue those tales. But Ethan is not an idiot, he’s a brilliant photographer who’s simply going through the motions of life and following his crazy ass friend Randy to adventures and a bit of a thrill. It’s like that that he ends up walking through the mist and right into to the horrors of 19th’century.

Theo Fenraven manages to disillusion us from the romantic view of 19th cent in a very unique way. You think living back then was fun? Think again, for the horrors of outhouses, no plumbing, bathing with two buckets of water heated on the stove, and practically no heat in a small house but for a wood stove are all unraveled in front of your eyes in this little story. But romance still lives in a mostly realistic way and people do manage to live and fall in love even if deprived from the easy lifestyle of 21st century.

Again, I find myself needing to state that I liked this, very much actually. I liked how Ethan and Quinn worked together. I liked that there were no sugar-coating anything here, even though the blurb warns you that there is certain lack of consequences back in time. And I like the writing too. This is a two point of view narration but while Quinn’s PoV is written in third person, Ethan’s is written in first and there is this feeling you get as if Ethan is confessing to you making you come closer to him and feel as if you’re traveling with him back in time. A very nice touch, that one.

As for the intimacy between our two lovely characters it was ok, it was nice, it was sensual even at times. I so wanted the deflowering scene though, damn it, I was expecting it from Ethan’s reactions, and inner thoughts and waiting to see how they’d both react to that, especially after one certain intimate scene where Quinn literally flies in passion and eroticism. I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get that so when the story ended – a happy for now? Who knows – I was beating at my desk saying nooo and come on! But nothing to do about it now, simply wait and see if the author might come with a sequel for this story. Hmm imagine that!

Overall, this is quite an enjoyable read and it made me actually laugh even though it’s definitely not a comedy. Nice one and totally recommended.

 

A Highlander in L.A. by J.P. Bowie

{7E3C32F8-34EF-49FE-B77E-810DA59200FA}Img100Title:  A Highlander in L. A.

Series:  N/A

Author:  J. P. Bowie

Genre:   Gay MM/Time travel/Paranormal

Length:  Novella (80 pages)

Publisher: Total-E Bound

Product link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1994

Heat Level:  Explicit

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Blurb:  An 18th century time travelling Scot finds the man of his dreams in present day Los Angeles.

When on duty LAPD officer, Darren Holden, is told to check out a possible dead body lying in an alleyway, he finds a man who is unconscious but very much alive. Not only alive, but gorgeous—and wearing a kilt. Darren is sure he knows the man, he just can’t remember where or when they might have met. It isn’t until that night, unable to sleep, that he realises the stranger is a man he’d been dreaming of for some time—a man who had made love to him night after night.

The Last thing Duncan MacGregor remembers is that he was home in Glen Ardor, Scotland, betrothed to Margaret Macallister as a bond between their two feuding clans.

Darren isn’t sure if Duncan is playing a game, suffering from amnesia of just plain nuts, but his attraction to Duncan outweighs his scepticism and he takes him home, determined to find the truth.

Duncan believes he was enchanted by a witch who told him his destiny was not in Scotland, nor to be married to Margaret but to have a life of love and adventure with a man—the man he had dreamt of night after night—Darren.

As much as Darren wants to believe him, his common sense warns him of the sheer impossibility of Duncan’s story. Nevertheless, the overwhelming sexual attraction both men feel for one another leads to a night of passionate lovemaking.

Even then, Darren’s logical mind refuses to accept that such a thing is possible, but when a dangerous event threatens to tear them apart, Darren must be a believer or lose Duncan forever.

Reviewer:   Pammie

Review:  This story has magic, time travel, and a sexy Scot.

As a chieftain’s son Duncan is being forced to marry a woman he doesn’t love. His friend, Fiona, regarded as a witch, creates a potion so that Duncan may fulfill his destiny. After unknowingly drinking the potion, Duncan wakes up in modern LA where he meets Darren who gets the Scot out of hospital.

Darren has been having sexy dreams for several weeks, and wishes he could meet the mysterious man of his dreams. To his shock, the John Doe he finds and takes to hospital, dressed in full Scottish costume, may just be that man.

He takes Duncan home, wanting to find out who the Highlander really is, not believing Duncan’s story about coming from 18th century Scotland. He’s stunned to hear that Duncan has dreamed of him, just as he dreamed of Duncan.

The attraction between them is irresistible, and they quickly end up in bed. The love-making is hot and sexy, just like the men themselves.

Unfortunately, Duncan isn’t the only time traveler, having inadvertently drunk from Duncan’s cup containing the potion, another man from Duncan’s time is also in LA.

Despite the love they share, Duncan’s honor demands he take Hector home, even though it will break both his and Darren’s hearts.

When Duncan awakes this time, he’s stuck up a tree, no Hector to be seen, just the pain of loss and regret in his chest for company. He spends the night where he is, determining to walk home the next day. When he does, he sees not the mountains of his Highlands’ home, but the skyscrapers of LA. The power to take him home had done just that, and Darren is his home.

I loved this time-travel, love story with a mix of magic. Darren and Duncan are hot and sexy, just like the love-making, and the ending is perfect.

I would recommend it to anyone who likes hot sex, hot guys, magic, time travel and a HEA.

Face the Music by Dany Sirene

Title: Face the Music

Series: Time Is Eternity

Author: Dany Sirene

Genre: Time-Travel (1995)

Length: Novella (60pgs)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (1st June 2012)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥3Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Tyler thinks making out on stage with his bandmate is just a publicity stunt—until his father cancels his allowance and he’s forced to take a real job. Working in a record store feels plebian enough, but when Tyler wakes up nearly twenty years in the past, he finds that working in that same record store seventeen years ago is a whole different scene. His one bright spot is a chance to be in a band with a guy named Dylan—but Dylan’s problems with the 1995 music scene aren’t the only obstacles in their way.

Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2974&cPath=55_546

Or the complete Time Is Eternity Collection: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3036&cPath=55_546

Review: Tyler is surprised when his band mate kisses him at the end of a gig. But, thinks it is just the price of the fame to come. Unfortunately, his father doesn’t see it that way and Tyler now finds himself with a job and complaining to his colleague. He wakes the next morning in 1995 and learns a few life lessons.

A cute novella where a teenager learns that music isn’t everything. Tyler is obsessed with becoming a rock star, but things start to fall apart after his band mate kisses him on stage. Now, he has to work, doesn’t know what’s happening with his band and his bestmate isn’t talking to him. When he wakes up one morning he finds himself in 1995. His parents are basically the same and they now live in Chicago and he finds he has a job in a music store. Then he meets Dylan, band leader and song writer and the one man who will change his world.

This story is quite well written and takes us back in time to 1995 and reminding us of what we now take for granted, remember tapes? Having to find pay phones to make a call when we were out? The clothes we used to wear? , yeah, there are blackmail photo’s out there somewhere!! So on with the book. Tyler just thinks of music and becoming a rock star, but when he goes back in time he learns that there are more important things in life. Tyler and Dylan’s relationship does progress quickly and it is touching how Tyler behaves with Dylan when he hears Dylan’s tale of woe.

This one I will recommend to those who want a blast from the past (and if you’re too young, then you don’t know what you missed), hot sex, growing up and facing the truth and an ending that could be a beginning.

 

The Color of Spring Lightning by Jackson Cordd

Title: The Color of Spring Lightning

Series: Time Is Eternity

Author: Jackson Cordd

Genre: Time-Travel, Historical (1898)

Length: Short (58pgs)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (1st June 2012)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥2Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Kody Higgins is crossing the park in a spring thunderstorm when – kapow! – he suddenly wakes up in 1898. The turn of the century may not be the ideal age for a graphics designer/gym bunny to surface in, but when handsome tinker Jarvis Banks takes Kody under his wing, Kody decides that Victorian-era America just might have some perks.

Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2972&cPath=610

Or the complete Time Is Eternity Collection: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3036&cPath=610

Review: Kody wakes up sprawled on the ground, with a strange-looking gentleman offering to assist him. Kody quickly realizes, as his senses return to him, that there are some major changes that have occurred. Like buildings missing, fashion changed and *shudder* mutton-chop sideburns. Jarvis helps the man who was struck by lightning, never realizing the revelations that he will discover could just change his life.

Kody and Jarvis meet in the park after Kody is struck by lightning. Jarvis just thinks that the poor chap is unlucky and that half his clothes have been destroyed by the lightning. It isn’t until slightly later that he begins to suspect that Kody is a visitor from another time. Kody is befuddled when he wakes up and nothing is the same. He takes Jarvis’ offer of help and the two become rapidly close.

The story line was quite good; someone struck by lightning finds himself over a hundred years in the past and meets the man who will become everything to him. But, he has to be careful. What he tells him as he is a ‘tinkerer’ and could change history if not careful. The romance or relationship was extremely fast, less than a day and they were in love. I found this story a little hard to follow as the perspective changed rapidly from Kody to Jarvis. Sometimes over the course of a few sentences, so I had to re-read it just to make sure who had said what. It smoothed out and was less choppy, but the speech still seemed a bit choppy and stilted.

So in all honesty I will recommend this to those who love time-travel, some hot sex, a hope to do the right thing by history and a happy ending.