Rowan McBrideRecensioni
Autore di Paul's Dream
Recensioni
The way it ends doesn't feel 100% finished, but the ending is somewhat satisfying, if cliffhang-y.
And now - on the world building conundrum.
It was made very clear that the story is set in modern times, in our everyday reality, the only "fantasy" element being Jeremy's profound growth.
So, instead of concentrating on men's interaction, I was worried about Jonah losing his job and his house (at least make him live off some trust fund, not rich, but carefree, so we don't have to have it nagging). I was puzzled why Jeremy's parents couldn't call police, like any sensible adult in this reality would do. No other neighbours, co-workers, employer raised an alarm. I know I am overthinking, but give me a world, and I will think about it and try to incorporate it into the story... right? O.o In this case it distracted me and pulled me out of the story at least a couple of times :/
I will take Kari Gregg anytime.
Still the story was pretty good and well written and I would love for the sequel to come out. Sometime soon :)
Seth and Rafe have a very interesting dynamic in their relationship. We don't get to see how they meet (although we are told in a few sentences) as when this book starts they are already 3 months into a relationship. Again, I'm not saying more other than it works. The differences between them, the reasons for it, the give and take and reactions of both MC's all work. It makes this story sweet, sexy and heartbreaking all at once.
Thank you Rowan McBride for giving us this!
Still, I liked the characters (for the most part) and the story did keep me interested.
Paul is a very troubled individual. His gift has left him emotionally scarred when he was nine, and he has never recovered. He cannot feel anything, but he is honorable and helps others when they need his help. His gift as a dreamwalker is one I haven't seen used in many books, and the way it is described and made use of in this story is new and unique. Combine that with his ability to reason like a lawyer and he is a force to be reckoned with. It took me a while to warm up to him, which I am sure is entirely intentional, as he is not an easy man to understand.
Kian is an incubus who isn't supposed to focus on one human being to the exclusion of others. And yet, that is exactly what happens once Paul frees him from a dangerous enemy. I loved how he slowly fell for Paul, without realizing what was going on. He understands that he is dedicated to Paul 'in some strange way', but he still can't figure it out. The feeling is just too far outside his frame of reference. Once he does though, there is no stopping him.
If you like engaging heroes, an evil villain who strikes unexpectedly, and a bit of magic with your stories, in a setting that is otherwise completely contemporary, I'm pretty sure you'll love this book.
The Novahn are a somewhat mysterious species who live on Earth, unknown by humans. They have special rules about their interactions, always have to mate with a human partner despite their special needs to be closer to a mate than most humans are comfortable with, and if they are not mated and in love, they die. Quite a challenge, as Ethan finds out, since humans have a tendency to break up - something unheard of in Novahn culture. There are a few more interesting nuggets of information in this story, but I’ll let you find out about them yourself.
So when Ethan’s lover of six years, the man Ethan thought was his “forever”, breaks up with him, it is a huge blow. Ethan still loves the ex and has no interest in finding someone else to mate with in the thirty days or so he has before he dies. He is literally at death’s door when Brandon finds him – and what happens next is amazing on more than one level.
If you like your stories with a big side of suspense on top of their very sweet nature, if you believe in the power of passion and love, and if you’re looking for an imaginative story with unusual aliens and a strong message of “love conquers all”, then you will probably like this story as much as I do. I absolutely adore it!
NOTE: This book was provided by Loose Id for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
I give it one star for the beginning and the idea of the spiral.
Spoiler:
The protagonist must be both a masochist and mentally unstable if at the end he even bothers to look at Walker.This is simply sick.
Draven is a Drayner, i.e. he has the ability to steal physical features of other people, present and future, and so, when they are only teenagers, he decides to steal Cody’s muscle growth, so that he will always remain lean and pretty, no matter how much training he will do. Draven’s idea is that he will be always there, to protect Cody, but that is not what it happens. Draven is forced to part from Cody when they are 18 years old, to only be able to be back 3 years later, and find a completely different Cody, cold and unattainable, someone who seems really to dislike Draven and to allow the man near him with almost reluctance.
While Draven is for sure the stronger in body, I felt as Cody was the stronger in an absolute meaning of the world, even when they were teenagers. Draven is always ready to satisfy every Cody’s desire, like a puppy eager to please his master; more Cody is cold with Draven and more Draven wants to please Cody. The shift in the story we will have in the end is quite in line with this attitude, and even if the author continues to say that Draven is dangerous, a cold killer, I really found him a pawn in Cody’s hands.
I’m pretty sure some readers will find questionable most of Cody and Draven’s behaviour, but if you are used to Rowan McBride’s stories, you are already accustomed to them. I find intriguing her universe of muscle growth and features draining skills and I’m always ready to read a new story in that universe.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZCGMN6/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Seth is a mysterious kind of werewolf, together enough to write a dissertation, get a doctorate and lecture, but when he gets emotional he can barely string 2 words together, and in the book he is fairly emotional so he comes across as both weak and childish and enraged and destructive (I guess temper tantrum with claws) The author tries to have it all ways - Seth can destroy a room full of magical beings but manages to kill none of them, merely incapacitate them all. Seth is super smart but emotionally is around age 3. Seth loves Rafe, but doesn't know how to show it.
Actually, Seth bored me, and Rafe was a cipher, merely a good strong man (think bear style gay) who protects the seemingly weak Seth and then accepts all aspects of him.
So weak plot, ridiculous incoherent characters and werewolves.
Let this one go, there are so many better books out there! (Joely Skye writes some good gay werewolves - Marked and Feral are much better examples of the genre!)
This time the author chooses to give almost a possible explanation to the sudden change in shape of both main characters: a flu shot with some unexpected consequences. Nick is the prodigy kid in a big firm, at 27 years old he is already head of his department; Nick is also the perfect boss, sure of his value, he is not worried in share his passion for work with his colleagues, helping them in improving their work. Nick has no problem at work, but it's not the same at a personal level; I think Nick is probably shy, he doesn't see himself as a man with something to give in a relationship, he thinks that his only value lies in how good a job he can do. And so he is blind to people around him searching his attention. Like Riley, the new kid on the blog.
Riley is not much younger than Nick, only 4 years old, but the difference seems bigger since Nick doesn't allow him near than necessary. Looking at Riley, so young and innocent, it's like looking at a mirror, Riley is too similar to Nick and it scares him: if Riley is weak, so is Nick. And then Riley is Nick's subordinate, and nothing between them can happen, no matter how pretty Riley is.
Then the flu shot, and the different reaction it has on Riley, who grows bigger and confident, and Nick, who instead loses height. The small advantage Nick had on Riley, being a little bit older and a little bit taller, disappears and Riley starts to becoming more and more demanding, for attention and maybe something else. And Nick, that wasn't so sure of himself even before, is not forced to face a difficult truth: he desires Riley, and more Riley is big and strong and more Nick wants him.
Before their change in size, I think Nick liked Riley as you can like a pretty pet, but not love. Nick needed and wanted someone different, if not bigger than him in size, at least in age or social status. So maybe Greg, an older colleague to whom Nick always looked as example, could have been the right man. Riley wasn't really that man, he was younger, smaller in body, he gained less money... it's not that Nick is shallow, it's only that he needs a man he can look up to. But Nick has underestimated Riley, the young man is not so simple as he believes, and he has a plan.
I like how complex and interesting both men are, even if probably Nick has the lion share. He comes really out of the page, his little idiosyncrasies, the useless worries, how he can easily influenced by the smallest events. Nick projects an aura of self-assurance, but he is a good liar, he loves so much numbers and statistics since in them he can find that security that he lacks in life, the number doesn't lie, and they are more sure than real life.
And the there is Riley, who seems always so sure, thanks to his physical strength, but who then, in the end, is only a 24 years old guy in love. Actually he is not so different from Nick, and since Nick needs that difference to consider a partner, without the muscle growth, Riley would have never had been a chance. Again, it's not that Nick is shallow, it's a natural thing, like a selection: Nick is searching someone stronger than him to fill a void he feels, the only chance Riley has with him is to fill that void.
One Shot seems apparently an easy and light story, but I think that it's really a psychological study: Nick is so complex and detailed that I had trouble to let him go at the end of the story, I arrived to the last page not wanting to turn it since I knew I wouldn't have had anything more to read.
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/816640.html
Seth is a small and cute man, 32 years old, at five foot five he looks most a teenager than a full grown man. And he is strange, sometime skittish, sometime cuddling, Seth reacts to the mood of his partner, when he is happy Seth is more than happy when he is sad Seth is more than sad... yes, actually Seth seems very much like a puppy, maybe since he is a werewolf? But Seth is not a normal werewolf, in a wolf pack he would be an omega, but since he is 'different' he is a lone wolf, and a wolf without pack is easily a prey. How is it possible that a small man like Seth, who probably is also a small wolf, survived for all these years without the safety of a pack? Seth was always alone, wandering from city to city trying to find the one with less outworld creatures. And the little small town where he moved three months before seemed perfect, and he met also Rafe, six foot six of muscle and an even bigger heart. Rafe is gentle and caring, he has not a bad bone in him, and most of the safety Seth feels near him is due to the fact that no one dares to challenge such a mountain of man. But while they are visiting Washington DC they stumble upon a werewolves pack, and they are not at all scared by a simple human, and it's upon little Seth to protect his Rafe.
I have always had a kink for the story where there is a big physical difference between partners, I don't know if it's actually a theme, like the May / December or the Silver Romance... but Rowan McBride is one of my dealer in this theme. Here the contrast is even more nice, since there is also a disparity in strength, and it's not Rafe that is the strongest in the couple.
Both characters are really wonderful. I like how Seth struggles with himself, how he is easily pleased but the simplest cuddle, since he has never had one in his life; Seth is like a starving man and even a piece of bread is like a banquet for him. He is fiercely bonded with Rafe but at the same time he doesn't believe in a future for them, and so he has never asked, not for love neither for affection, or the simple things like 'how old are you?'... Seth is like a stray dog Rafe collected on the street one night, and Seth is waiting for Rafe to be tired of him and to kick him out.
On the other hand Rafe doesn't understand why a clever and pretty man like Seth would be willing to set with an average man like him. And when he discovers the real nature of Seth, it's almost a shock, but in a way, it's also one more proof that Seth doesn't need him, he can take care of himself. Rafe at first doesn't understand that Seth needs a 'pack', a family, even if of two, and he needs someone who is willing to play the alpha. Seth can be a man, but he is also a wolf, and his wolf needs the structure of a pack, the pack gives him safety. And Seth needs someone who is not scared or ashamed by his wolf, someone who lets his wolf out and play... yes, sometime Seth behaves like a dog (nuzzling, cuddling, licking), and he needs that.
Lone is a complex novel, not much for the plot, but for the development of the relationship between Seth and Rafe; the tension mounts, and even if I knew that I was leading toward an happy ending, nevertheless I was crying during the ride, and this is only thanks to the two characters (and the author who wrote them).
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1602728712/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
http://sharrow.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/shorts/
Joel Beckett is a star on the football field and from the outside an archetype of a college athlete. On the inside he might not be at all satisfied with his life, although being admired and worshiped definitely isn't a bad thing in his eyes.
Walker Cain on the other hand is a skinny young man, who has never been admired and more often been met with mistrust and rejection. And these feelings he provokes in other people are not completely unfounded as a dark curse was cast over his family in ancient times. But this curse also enables him to do magic and he invokes this ancient magic to get the one thing he wants most ... Joel Beckett.
Rowan McBride did an amazing job in describing her characters to a very deep level and also the motivations behind their actions. As Joel and Walker are dragged away by the ancient magic Walker has provoked, not only their persona changes but also their entire way of reasoning. Nevertheless both characters never appear unbelievable and thus the reader is captivated by Joel's and Walker's story from beginning to end.
Loved this book and without hesitation recommend it as a must read.
Joel is the perfect guy: six foot six of football player, he is not the usual jock, he has also a thinking brain. But he is too used to be adored by everyone, he can have all the girls he wants and all the friends he likes. At 19 yd he is the raising star of his college.
But everyone around him continue to warn him against his college roommate, Walker Cain, a creepy geek, always with a book in hand and that everyone seems to avoid. Walker is a skinny guy, five foot four, all bones and big eyes. But he has a costant perfume around him that appeals a lot to Joel, and told be truth, Joel likes to be around Walker. Obviously not in a sexual way, Joel has never had a second though on Walker in that way, but still he is comfortable around him.
Walker is cursed. He is the last descendent of the biblical Cain, and he now belong to a long line of wizard. All the Cain has the chance to cast a big spell in their life and Walker chooses to use it to bond Joel to him forever: through the bond he can make Joel doing everything he wants, and he forces Joel to have sex with him. Everytime Joel reaches a climax, he passes to Walker some of his strenght and physical appereance.
Both Walker and Joel think that the spell will stop when both of what Joel was will be pass to Walker, but they are wrong. And things seem to spiral down to a unthinkable end.
Joel is a character in travel: during the book he will experiment many lifes and different perspective and he will learn to deal with them. You can think that Joel is a victim, but truly he 'needs' this experience to see the world in the right perspective. All the things he gives granted to his physical strenght, could be not so granted if you are weaker, but you can also learn that your attitude can represent you more than your look.
Walker is a sociopathic, no doubt in that. And he is also very selfish and without regrets. Even when he could see all the wrong things he has done, still he is not repentant: maybe, he says, he would do something different, but still he would cast the spell to bond Joel. Cause he wants Joel. Walker is not a good person: I think he can play the role of a good person if he has by his side Joel, but left alone, he can be a lethal weapon. He has not conscience by himself, his conscience and his good behaviour are given by Joel.
For this reason, the bond between Joel and Walker is almost a sickly one. But it is also a very powerful and enthralling one. Want Me is a very original and powerful book, a pretty long story which will take you bond to the book till the last page.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1587369346/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Autore LibraryThing
Rowan McBride è un Autore di LibraryThing, un autore che cataloga la sua biblioteca personale su LibraryThing.
Collegamenti
Home page ufficiale (English)
Blog dell'autore (English)
Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.
Synopsis: Ace is a professional card player, who plays private games against people who want to play the best. The man that he is playing against is out of money, so he wagers his man. Ace doesn't like the idea, but he also doesn't like his opponent, and plans to set the man free when he wins. Ace does win, and attempts to set the man free, but he doesn't want to be. When Ace asks his name, the man says that he doesn't have one, and that his owners need to name him, so Ace calls him Spade. Spade doesn't have anywhere to go, so Ace takes him home. He notices that there is something a little weird about Spade, but then the man who schooled Ace to the ways of gamblers comes back to town, and Ace is focused on winning the game and getting revenge.
What I liked: Ace and Spade. I liked that they actually got to know one another in a short period of time. I also liked how much Ace liked his uncle, and how he always tried to do the right thing.
What I didn't like: it felt as though there was so much more story to tell. I also didn't like how Ace became unscrupulous when he found out Spade's secret and went back on his word.