Tag: Multicultural Gay Romance

Falling In Love With Crazy by Dane Waters

dw_fallinginlovewithcrazyTitle: Falling In Love With Crazy

Author: Dane Waters

Genre: Contemporary, Multicultural

Length: Novel Plus (240pgs)

Publisher: Loose Id (15th May 2013)

Heat: Moderate – Explicit  

Heart: ♥♥♥♥♥4 ½ Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie 

Blurb: Economics professor Ryuu Tanaka suffers through the embarrassment of playing softball with his students to get closer to the man sitting under a nearby tree. Ryuu finds Daniel to be more attractive, more intelligent, and more mysterious than any human being has a right to be. Despite the fact Daniel isn’t gay, possibly isn’t all there, and isn’t interested in any future conversations, Ryuu has no intention of letting Daniel walk out of his life for good.

Avoiding arrest as a stalker is only the first hurdle Ryuu must overcome to be with Daniel. Once he does, their friendship quickly turns into a love that has Ryuu planning long nights with the perpetually horny and submissive Daniel bound and at his mercy. But Daniel’s failing mental stability forces Ryuu to delve into Daniel’s past. Ryuu learns Daniel’s real last name, the possibility of a child and that the man in his bed may not be Daniel at all.

Ryuu is desperate to keep the certifiably insane Daniel from slipping into his fantasy world with Armor, the version of Ryuu Daniel has created in his mind, but a homicidal student with a crush has other plans.

Purchase Link: http://www.loose-id.com/falling-in-love-with-crazy.html

Review: Ryuu goes to great lengths to meet the beautiful man in the park. Plays softball with his students, follows him, and hangs around a coffee shop until he finally gets a date with the man. Ryuu finds Daniel fascinating and interesting even though Daniel says he isn’t gay, isn’t interested in coffee or conversation and has just a slight problem with reality. Ryuu is put through his paces as he tries to get Daniel to fall in love with him in five days, but Ryuu believes Daniel is worth every second. But, as Daniel’s mental stability fails Ryuu has to dig into his past and makes several discoveries. And that isn’t Ryuu’s only problem when a student who has a crush on him shows his true colors.

This is an absolutely brilliant story that has huge doses of humor, light-hearted teasing and then crashing reality. Ryuu is a very confident man, he knows he is attractive and appeals to many men. So when he sees a man he likes, nothing will stop him from at least talking to him once. Daniel has a past that is shrouded in mystery, with mental health difficulties and preferring to be alone. Daniel isn’t really ready for a man like Ryuu to burst into his life, but as the two get to know each other, Daniel needs Ryuu to help to keep him tethered to reality. 

Oh. These characters are fantastic. They had me chuckling throughout the book. Ryuu and Daniel are brilliant. they strike sparks off each other and when they finally come together physically they are perfect and sexy. Ryuu is a man who won’t give up on Daniel, no matter what obstacles are thrown in his path, even those that are put there by Daniel. Daniel is a much more complex character. He is honest and pretty open, but some things he just won’t talk about, and he has a nasty habit of getting lost in his head. Daniel has plenty of ghosts in his past, many of them terrible and each one has left its invisible mark on him, God, you just want to smother him in love and protect him from the world and his own mind.

Although much of the book is written with humor towards the end of the book it becomes more somber as someone who wants Ryuu for himself gets nasty and Ryuu sees the reality of Daniel’s mental health problems. This book is wonderfully written. It draws you in with its great characters. It keeps you entertained with its humor and keeps you reading with the mystery of Daniel’s past. Oh and the ending, it was so wonderful that I am hoping for an update of Daniel and Ryuu in the future.

I have to recommend that this story be put on everyone’s must read list, especially if you love confused young men, finding a way for love, humor, great sex, a touch of mystery, a touch of danger, determination never to give up, great characters and a brilliant storyline with a wonderful ending.

 

 

The Bad Seed by Lee Hayes

Title: The Bad Seed

Author: Lee Hayes

Genre: Erotic Fiction, Thriller

Length: Novel (292pgs) 2 Novellas

Publisher: Strebor Books (7th June 2011)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Some people can make being bad seem so very good. Lee Hayes, the critically acclaimed author of Passion Marks, A Deeper Blue: Passion Marks 2, and The Messiah, returns with a delightfully wicked spin on what constitutes a “bad seed.”

The wildly entertaining duo of novellas are sure to intrigue and titillate readers with their exploration of risqué themes. “I Guess that’s Why They Call It the Blues” is about a cosmetically beautiful but emotionally damaged young man who marries a wealthy older man to go from rags to riches. After beginning an illicit affair with his husband’s attorney, he decides that he would rather enjoy the amenities of limitless money minus the husband. He will stop at nothing to see his husband six feet under so that he can dance on his grave, toasting with expensive champagne. In “Crazy in Love,” a hyper-sexual seventeen-year-old high school boy develops a fatalistic crush on his reclusive high school English teacher. When the teacher rebuffs the boy’s advances, all hell breaks loose—and the upstanding teacher’s life is put on the line. Hell hath no fury…

Review:  I have got to say that I am glad that I have had the opportunity to review this incredible duo of Novellas. I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues and Crazy in Love are not romances they are gritty reads and will have you biting your nails as you approach the end of each one.

In I Guess that’s Why They Call It the Blues we meet Blues Carmichael who has crawled his way up to the top and is determined to stay there.   He won’t let a little thing like his husband, his husband’s daughter or his own affairs knock him from his spot.   He will do anything and everything to stay there.

In Crazy in Love we meet Brandon Heart, a young man who develops an obsession for his English teacher Cross Jones.   He plans his seduction carefully and nothing and no one will stand in his way.  He will do anything to have him including getting rid of those who get in the way.

I won’t go into too much detail about these two stories as they really do need to be read as they are so much more than the usually books that you get in the M/M genre. These are two beautifully written stories that will keep you gripped from beginning to end.  Blues and Brandon are both bad, bad men, one was made that way, the other born that way… but both seem to revel in it. The storyline in each novella is strong, the plot brilliant and each one will draw you in and keep you there. Lee Hayes is a fantastic story-teller who knows how to weave a tale that will keep you reading.

I will recommend this to everyone who wants a more gripping story that has danger, plotting, murder, twists and turns and a really cool epilogue that I never saw coming.

 

 

 

 

Tuareg by Sarah Black

Title: Tuareg

Author: Sarah Black

Genre: Multicultural/Mystery

Length: Novella (150pgs)

Publisher: Loose Id (28th June 2011)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: When photographer Leon Davis takes a job tracking down the nearly-extinct Zanzibar leopard, he isn’t expecting to fall in love with the mysterious and sexy Tuareg tribal leader, Ibrahim Ag Akhamok. Ibrahim has his own secrets, and he knows more than he lets on about the leopard. And what about Piers, the murdered photographer that Leon replaced? Until Leon discovers what Piers was doing in Zanzibar, and who killed him, he can’t face his own demons — and he can’t earn the love of the powerful and dangerous Tuareg.

Review:

This book has a lot more going for it than what the blurb explains.

Leon is a photographer for the Wilderness Coalition for Africa who takes over a shoot when the previous photographer (Piers) is found dead.   He is also asked to find out more about the mystery of that death and the leopard in the final photos sent by Piers. Ibrahim is the ‘sheik’, the Tuareg leader, and will do anything to protect his family.  He is suspicious of Leon, at first, thinking that he might be the same as Piers but Leon somehow manages to get under his skin.

Leon seems like quite a submissive kind of fellow, going with the flow and trying to smooth things along but get him riled up and God help you.   He also has great sorrow and guilt in his past which he is still living with and you can see how being on Zanzibar and mixing with its people seem to cleanse him. Ibrahim is a take charge, fierce and protective type of man who expects total loyalty and you can see why when you discover his secrets. These two will make you fall in love with Zanzibar and its people. I really liked all the secondary characters (except Peter) and found that they did play a very solid thread through-out the story and I found the mystery surrounding Piers death intriguing.

I will recommend this to anyone who likes mysteries, hot men, hot sex and exotic locations.