Robert Winter (3)

Robert Winter is one of my top three favorite M/M romance authors. I have read and own almost everything he has written...so when Hoopla offered this short little Christmas tale by Robert Winter, and actually READ by him, I didn't care if it was August, I had to hear it. Audio was the only format that they had, and I wasn't fussy. The story, what I could hear of it, was delightful as I wouldn't have expected anything less from this author. The book was recorded badly. The audio was like listening to it being read in a big hollow drum. This was not in any way the fault of the author. I'm going to order the book and see what I missed. I thought the idea of the story was brilliant. I never met a gay vampire...well truthfully, I've never met a vampire or any orientation:) If there is one out there, I want it to be like Taviano. In spite of the bad recording, I did love the entire concept and I gave it 3 stars ...because, after all it IS Robert Winter.… (altro)

Randy, who is part owner of the piano bar Mata Hari, was part of the team that rescued Zachary in the first book in this series, Every Breath You Take, so I was really looking forward to his story as well as just reading something else by Robert Winter. I loved Randy and most of the other characters. Some we weren't supposed to love or even remotely like. What I wasn't much interested in was all the art information, but I know it was necessary since the story revolved around Randy's painting, "Sunrise", that may have been worth millions of dollars... and Jack, the appraiser that came from England to see the painting. The attraction was almost immediate between Jack and Randy, but they each knew that distance, and time, along with other issues, was bound to pull them apart. Randy had also recently rescued a young man from a street gang and being big hearted, had given him a place to stay...so the question was what was going to happen to the young man since he couldn't stay at Randy's home forever? All the characters from the first book and some from September (Pride & Joy, appeared briefly in this one also which is something that I always really like. We also got to meet Luc, Randy's uncle's partner. Both men had been a big influence in Randy's life. This is not your average M/M romance. The story is built around and contains a great deal of suspense and mystery. There is also several scenes of consensual bondage and discipline that may not appeal to all readers. Robert Winter is a magnificent storyteller and has again written a book that more than engages you from start to finish. There are so many unexpected plot twists that you never see coming. We are reminded that appearances can be deceiving, and that everyone is deserving of a second chance. I sincerely hope that there will be many, many more books in this series with all these wonderful, delightful characters.… (altro)

As I've said before about Robert Winter's September and Asylum...they are absolutely fantastic books and characters. When I saw the series "Nights at Mata Hari" by Winters, with Every Breath You Take being book 1, and thought since I liked the others so much, why not? This series is slightly different. Where the two books I mentioned were more M/M romance stories, this one is more of a mystery with some pretty hot guys and some romance thrown into the mix. I understood Thomas's theory for only taking guys home with him once and no repeats...but didn't think that was going to work out for him for very long, especially when he met Zachary and how different his feelings were for Zach than any of the others. Now about the killer...I was half right...but also half wrong. Absolutely brilliant the way you sneaked that one in Mr. Winter! I have book 2 in this series, Lying Eyes... and Robert Winter is still on the top of my favorite authors of all times list, even if he did only let me be half right and made me stay up really late to find out just how wrong I was.… (altro)