Friday, November 20, 2009
The Next Step by Mychael Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love reading stories with blind characters. Probably sounds odd to say but I love stories where a main character has one disability or another. In the hands of a master craftsman like Mychael Black these characters are as seductive as their "able-bodied" counterparts.
Summary: Master Ian Vaughn and his sub Kale Daniels are back for more in this sequel to Onyx.
Both men are happy together, playing and living like any other Dom and sub. For Kale, though, it goes much deeper than that. He's fallen in love with his Master, but he has no idea how Ian feels about him. When Ian books them a private playroom at a new club, Kale is thrilled to find out all his Master has in store. And Ian has a few surprises that Kale never expects to receive.
This one has shaving, medical instrument play (that was actually very hot to read), public sex, fisting and voyeurism... all the elements of a sensual mychael black read!
Excerpt: Kale leaned back against him and Ian's arms snaked around him, holding tight. "What are the others doing? What do they look like?"
"Hmm... Well, right in front of us, there's a trio—two men and one woman. She looks quite content to be sandwiched between them, one in front, one in back. The men are touching around her. They're all wearing leather and vinyl, looks like. She's wearing a black velvet corset too."
Kale shivered a little, wondering what it would feel like to be in one. "Is her waist small?"
"It is." Ian's breath blew hot on Kale's neck. "I can just imagine what you would look like, wrapped in velvet and leather, the constriction making you aware of every single breath you tale."
"Sir..." Kale moaned softly. He almost felt the garment squeezing him, though in reality, he knew it was Ian, the hold growing tighter. Would he look good in a corset? Would Ian's arms encircle his cinched waist? Would his Master grab the laces in back while fucking him until he screamed?
"I'm sure we could find one just for you," Ian murmured. "Something with velvet, so you could feel the sleek softness?"
"Yes. Please, Sir..." Kale wanted that more than anything, the thought alone making him ache.
Ian's hand slipped down between teir bodies and into the back of Kale's leather pants. His hole was still slick and Ian's fingers slid right in, making Kale whimper and grind. "That's it... Ride them, Kale. Imagine my cock inside you, thrusting hard and deep while I tug you back with the laces."
"Oh, God. Sir. I can't... Oh, fuck..." Kale gasped and jerked as Ian added a third finger, somehow angling all three deep. Kale struggled not to let on to anyone around them just what Ian was doing, but he couldn't have been still if his life depended on it. "Sir. Please. I need to come. Oh, God..."
"So close," Ian hissed, spreading all three fingers and opening Kale's hole. Kale forgot where they were, forgot they weren't alone. He arched and shuddered, his cock pulsing in his pants as Ian finger-fucked him.
Behind him, Ian growled. "Get up. We're going back to the room."
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Sunday, November 08, 2009
Blood Slave by Kim Dare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Kim Dare's novellas are always great fun! You can read one over a lunch break if you're a fast reader or as a bedtime story if you're like me and it takes you a little longer to savor a book. Blood Slave is one of those great reads that moves fast toward a decadent climax.
Summary: From a kinky brat to a vampire's perfect blood slave. Keats's education starts tonight!
Keats may have reluctantly agreed to admit that vampires are fantasy and not reality. And he may have promised his friend that he would stop searching for them. But people who merely think they are vampires are still fair game for a fun night out.
Leland has been resisting the temptation to bite his friend for months, but when he sees Keats wander calmly into the middle of a Halloween feeding frenzy, he no longer has a choice. He has to claim Keats as a private blood slave before he ends up becoming the community property of his clan.
Everything rests on his ability to convince his clan he can bring the bratty submissive to heel. It's going to be very long night...
The story seems to pick up in the middle of a plot that may be part of another book I have not read or is just explained in the summary for the reader to understand but you're not left "in the dark" about anything. The story unfolds quickly and with the perfect balance of kink, seduction and fantasy, Kim Dare takes you into a world of vampiric mastery that you want to revisit.
Excerpt: “I don’t mind, really,” he rushed to reassure his friend. “We’ll go back to your place. You can tell me all about it. And who knows—the guys getting bitten seemed to like it. It wasn’t exactly the sort of sucking I had planned for our first date, but—”
Leland closed his eyes.
“Hey!” Keats put his hand on Leland’s cheek to soothe the pain before his lids could hide it.
“That’s not the way things are between humans and vampires,” Leland said, twisting away from his touch. When he opened his eyes, the pain was gone, replaced by anger.
Keats reached for him again, but Leland caught his wrist and held his hand away from him. His other hand went to the collar he’d put around Keats’ neck. “This is the way things are now. You’d best get used to it.”
“So you’re kinky? I can live with kinky,” Keats said, his smile growing into a grin. “I like kinky.”
Kinky was great. It was the kind of secret that Keats understood, the kind of secret he knew how to deal with. Leland was gay, and he was kinky. Keats nodded to himself. He’d found out two of his suspicions about his friend were true. The vampire thing hadn’t even been a blip on his radar, but…
Leland ran his fingertips over the leather wrapped around his throat, his expression serious enough to scatter Keats’ thoughts.
The collar was far too wide to be comfortable—it almost completely covered his whole damn neck, and his friend had fixed it too tightly for his personal preference. Keats decided it would be diplomatic to wait a while before he mentioned that.
“It’s not kink,” Leland said. “It’s—”
“Your presence is requested before the council.”
Keats tried to look over Leland’s shoulder to see who was talking to them. “The council?”
Tall men with broad shoulders were usually filed firmly under the label ‘hot’ in Keats’ mind, but he was willing to admit they could be bloody annoying at times. Leland turned around and stood directly in front of him, blocking his view.
“Tell them I’m on my way.”
“Your immediate presence.”
Keats stood on tip toe, but he still couldn’t see a damn thing. He tugged at the back of Leland’s shirt, but his friend didn’t take the hint and shift out of his way. Some silent sort of message seemed to pass between Leland and the other man. Keats huffed his frustration at not being able to work out what it was from his current position.
Eventually the other guy seemed to go away. Leland turned back to him. He caught hold of his arm and started walking very quickly back in the direction they came from.
“Are we going?” Keats asked, as he scurried along next to his longer limbed friend. “I left my clothes in the locker room.”
Leland kept a tight grip on his arm as he marched him past the door into the changing room and straight across to a wall filled with cages.
Keats looked from the rows of sub-sized enclosures, to Leland and back again. “Leland? I really don’t think…” he cleared his throat. “What exactly are you doing?”
“I’m putting you safely out of the way while I go and deal with this,” Leland said, opening one of the compartments on the second level up.
Keats shook his head. “If you think I’m sitting around in a damn cage while all the interesting stuff happens…” he trailed off as he realised his friend was so busy fidgeting with the locks, he wasn’t listening to a word. “I said—”
Leland finally turned his attention to him. He picked up Keats as if he weighed nothing and deposited him neatly in the tiny cell. Before Keats could react, the door was closed in his face.
“Hey! This isn’t funny. Let me out.”
Leland ignored him as he did up a bolt and slid a heavy padlock into place. Keats pushed at the metal work that sealed him into the little box.
“Leland, really—let me out.”
“You’re better off in there for the moment.”
“Did I ever mention that I’m really claustrophobic?”
Leland raised an eyebrow. “It’s amazing the facts it suddenly occurs to you to mention when you think it might help you get your own way.” He clicked the lock closed.
Keats pushed irritably at the grill again. It rattled, but stayed where it was.
Leland checked the lock and turned away.
“Leland?” Keats called after him.
The vampire turned back to him. “I’ll come back and get you when everything’s sorted out.”
“When what’s sorted out?”
Leland didn’t turn back again.
Keats sighed and leant against one of the three solid sides of the box. Bloody typical. He found a clan of honest to God vampires, and he couldn’t find out anything about them because his current friend and potential boyfriend was one of them and would probably be really pissed off with him if he went snooping around.
And now, when something even more interesting seemed about to happen, he was stuck in a boring little cubby-hole with nothing more than a collar and a flourishing erection for company.
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Thursday, November 05, 2009
Phoenix Rising by Kimberly Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've had this book on my eBookshelf for almost a year and for one reason or another, I never got around to starting it. I'd read an excerpt which I loved and made me add the book to my "to read" list but never got around to actually reading it until this week.
Summary: Two dozen roses, one dozen balloons and a night with a sexy, young stripper. What a thirty-sixth birthday for Jimmy Trent. But the ultimate gift is yet to come as he finds himself falling in love with the beautiful dancer. Adam Hyland's life is in the dumps. Living in his car and stripping for his supper, he doesn't expect much when the birthday-boy invites him to stay for cake and champagne. Yet seeing the look in Jimmy's eyes, Adam dares to hope for more. Will their differences tear them apart? Or can their love take flight like a Phoenix Rising from the ashes?
Jimmy's firmly in the closet and while that, in and of itself, should be the main conflict in the story, it's only a small part of the overall arc that leads the pair into coming to terms with what they want out of their relationship and out of each other. Gardner's prose is beautifully written and the story is gripping. My breath hitched several times during the reading. I like stories that stay with you and make you remember how you felt when you read about the main characters. Stories that bring you to tears and make you laugh out loud too. Phoenix Rising does that and more.
Excerpt: The rain had stopped and a thumbnail sliver of moon cast silvery light over the yard. From the rear of the garage the ground sloped down. About ten yards down the slope, the manicured grass gave way to a line of trees and wild growth where the shadows grew thick and heavy.
“That’s Fairmount Park,” Jimmy said from the bathroom doorway. “It backs up to this property so there aren’t any neighbors, not unless you count the deer.”
“How far does it go?”
“The park? Miles and miles. Fairmount is the largest municipal park in the country. When we were kids we weren’t allowed back there. My mother was sure we’d wander off and she’d never see us again.”
“But you went anyway.”
“Of course we did.” Jimmy laughed. “Tell a kid not to go somewhere and that’s the first place he wants to go. I remember when Laton was in high school, he used to take his girlfriends back there and make out.”
“How do you know?”
“I followed him a couple times. You know, the kind of stuff little brothers do.”
He didn’t, because he didn’t have any brothers, but he liked listening to Jimmy talk. Knowing these little details made him feel closer to Jimmy, like they could actually be friends. “Did he ever find out that you followed him?”
Jimmy shook his head. “Are you kidding? He would have kicked my ass if he knew.”
They both laughed.
Adam let the curtain drop and stepped away from the window. “How about you? Who did you take back there when you were in high school?”
Jimmy’s cheeks flushed. “I went to boarding school in New Hampshire.”
“So you never snuck into the woods with anyone to make out?”
Jimmy’s hesitation was just enough to tell Adam there was something here. A little thrill raced through him.
“Who was he, Jim?”
Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t remember. That was a long time ago.”
Adam stepped up close. Jimmy could easily have moved away but he didn’t.
Adam slipped his hand inside Jimmy’s open collar and stroked the warm skin. Jimmy’s pulse jumped under his fingertips as Adam leaned in. “Tell me.”
There was a pause. Jimmy’s lips parted. He swallowed. “His name was Christopher,” Jimmy whispered. “Chris Daley. He was the first boy I ever kissed.”
Adam leaned closer, stopping with their lips no more than a breath apart. “You took him into the woods and kissed him?”
“He kissed me.” Jimmy’s lashes fluttered down.
“Show me how.” He didn’t know where this little game had come from or where it was going, but he liked it.
Jimmy’s hands slid around Adam’s waist. The man drew him close. He pressed against the hard length of Jimmy’s body.
Jimmy’s mouth claimed his, the kiss starting slow, the contact soft and just a little tentative, the way a teenage boy might kiss.
Adam’s fingers caressed the back of Jimmy’s neck before sliding into the close-cropped hair. He sighed as his eyes drifted closed. But when his lips parted, Jimmy broke the kiss.
Adam opened his eyes. “What—”
“He asked me if I liked it,” Jimmy said, his words slow, his tone dreamy and far away. “And I said I did. Then he put his hand on my cock.”
Adam’s breath caught. He could imagine it, Jimmy so young and unsure, never even kissed let alone had another boy’s hand on his cock. God.
“How old were you?”
“Fifteen. We were both fifteen.”
Adam slipped his hand between their bodies. With a fingertip he traced the hard length of Jimmy’s cock through his pants.
“So hard,” Adam murmured. “Were you hard for him, Jim?”
“Yes,” Jimmy breathed, “so hard…from the kiss, you know? And it was nothing really, just a kiss. But, God …” Jimmy’s hips pressed forward, silently asking for more contact.
Adam squeezed Jimmy’s prick before sweeping his thumb over the head where a damp spot on the fabric of his pants let Adam know just how much Jimmy liked this game.
“Did he fuck you and make you come?”
“I came,” Jimmy said, hips rocking against the press of Adam’s hand. “He kissed me and I came in his hand.”
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