Tag: Owen Keehnen

Thunder Snow by Owen Keehnen

ThunderSnow_100dpi_cvrTitle: Thunder Snow
Author: Owen Keehnen
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella (15K words)
Publisher: Wilde City Press (October 29th 2014)
Heat Level: Mild
Blurb: Thunder Snow is a gay love story set in academia during the 1980s. When Jim Franklin goes away to Windsor College, he is hoping to leave his former life, and lifestyle, behind. Jim has had enough of feeling like an outsider. By all practical purposes, he is succeeding at Windsor, at least until his third year. Jim has joined a fraternity and is dating a nice sorority girl.

Love blindsides him when Jim meets Glenn who has relocated to the town of Windsor from New York City. Glenn has come to town as the kept lover of wealthy Windsor resident Raymond Channing. Bored by the lack of stimulation in small town, Glenn soon enrolls in college at the university and meets Jim in a Romantic Literature class. When Jim asks for assistance with an assignment, Glenn agrees.

Sparks soon ignite and passion ensues. Despite their respective situations, both men fall madly in love, but will it be enough to sustain them in the long run.

ISBN: 978-1-925180-58-9

Product Link: http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-romance/thunder-snow/#.VGqQLPnF9GQ

Tams Review: ♥♥ Hearts

Jim has always felt at odds with his own feelings, refusing to admit he could possibly be attracted to other men. He’s had a string of girlfriends, but nothing ever connected, especially sexually. Then he and Glenn are assigned to work together in a class they share and soon those feelings that Jim has tried so hard to bury, begin to surface. Glenn is a romantic at heart, at least that is the way he talks. In actuality, he is just a few shakes shy of a rent boy who lives off of his sugar daddy. When he and Jim meet, sparks fly but Jim is hesitant.

Eventually, Jim can no longer hide his feelings, even from himself and the two spend a romantic week together snowed in and sharing more of themselves with each other than either of them have ever shared with anyone else. Reality sets in when Raymond, sugar daddy, returns home. Will Glenn give up the cushy life style of a kept man for love? Or will Jim find himself exactly where he thought he would be where he ever to act on his feelings, alone.

I wanted to like this story so much more than I did. The concept was crafty, but the execution needed more glue. What was billed as a romantic gay for you story left me cold in the end. The romance between Jim and Glenn felt forced, the storyline was too clinical, and the ending really left a sour taste in my mouth. It was kind of depressing, for me at least. Sorry, I can’t recommend this one, but to each his own, right?

Zane’s Review:  ♥♥♥2.5 Hearts

Though this tale takes place in the 1980’s, the direct manner of storytelling is not unlike the Romantic Literature the two MCs are reading in their class. Unfortunately, we are not in those olden days, and I need more than just curt narrative in my love stories. There was a lack of dialogue and romance, missing emotion. I read about them falling in love, but I didn’t FEEL it until it exploded in a dramatic scene that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Thunder Snow is a short read with a distinctive and unembellished writing style. What you get is what you see. This is a straightforward story of what happens when two people living life unfulfilled find truth and love in each other, and decide to run with it. There is an honesty here that many books lack, and a directness that was at times refreshing and other times uncomfortable. The story seems to give the message that love may conquer the moment, but reality wins out in the end.

If you’re looking for a short story with smiles and good feels and a hearts and flowers ending, this is not the book for you. Furthermore, I would be remiss if I didn’t give warning of two potential red flags (not for me, but for many MM romance readers); there is cheating, and there is no HEA. However, if you want a direct honest approach at a love story with realism, and don’t mind the fact that life gets in the way of love, give this one a go.

 

The Dog Trainer by Owen Keehnen

22237025Title: The Dog Trainer
Series: N/A
Author: Owen Keehnen
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella (70 Pages)
ISNB: 978-1-925180-01-5
Publisher: Wilde City Press (May 21st, 2014)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Reviewer: Lisa

Blurb: Sometimes the last thing you expect is exactly what you need.

Richard is a typical neurotic gay urbanite, a serial monogamist with a domineering peer group and a well-paying dead-end job. That is until one night, while stumbling home drunk, Richard finds a puppy named Hambone. Almost immediately, Richard’s life and his relationships begin to change. At the recommendation of Evelyn, his neighbor across the hall, Richard hires a dog trainer named Abe. From the moment Richard hears Abe’s voice on the phone he feels a connection with this professional pooch-handler. When they meet face-to-face, the attraction is palpable. Richard loves the way Abe treats Hambone. Abe opens Richard’s eyes to a different take on life and what really matters.

Will love conquer all in the end? It will if Hambone has any say in the matter.

Purchase Link: http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-romance/the-dog-trainer/#.U3ttn_ldV1A

Review: This was a charming little story. It has wonderful men that you will fall in love with and wish that you were right there with them. Watching and learning from them both. Richard is a typical neurotic gay urbanite with lousy taste in friends and exes. When Richard and his boyfriend broke up, Richard took up drinking and eating lots of carbs. Then one night, while walking home drunk he hears this cry. After his muddled mind lets him focus, he goes to see what is there. What he found about tore his heart out. Three puppies, two of them were dead but one was still alive. The puppy just knows that this man is his hero. He jumps into his arms and Richard takes him home.

When his neighbor Evelyn recommends hiring someone to train Hambone and maybe walk him he ends up calling Abe. However when Richard hears Abe’s voice he is drawn to him. Drawn to him in a way he never expected. Abe has seen Richard out with his friends but they never noticed him.

Abe awakes Richards feelings to a strong point. He shows Richard how good life can be. Even when he is poor, he still feels like he is alive. He wants to show Richard the way. The way starts with showing him that all he has to do to make Hambone happy is to love him. The same way all he has to do is to love Abe also.

It made me cry when Evelyn’s dog had to be put down due to cancer. Both Richard and Abe helped her get through her loss. It just shows how tender both these men are. It is just so cute the way Richard just starts to bond with the pup and when his feelings start getting stronger with Abe. I do wish that this story were just a bit longer, because once I started reading it my attention was caught. I loved it and cannot wait to check out the rest of Owen’s stories. He has a great gift that just seems to make ones day brighter.