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XBar

by Michele L. Montgomery (Goodreads Author)

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 32 ratings · 8 reviews

"Unless things have changed since the beginning of time, it's not even remotely possible for two guys to make a baby. A family of two, yes, but not three."

Being a straight, single man wanting to adopt in today's society is hard enough. Not being straight? Whole new level. Red tape, classes, interviews, not to mention the expense, drive so many away with shattered dreams.

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Paperback, 246 pages

Published May 31st 2012 by Cre8ive Inspirations: Imprint of Dare Empire eMedia Productions

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Best M/M Romance Published in 2012

441st out of 583 books — 1,183 voters

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Sep 19, 2012 Marsha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: erotica, gay, goodreads-giveaway, literature-fiction

I wanted to praise this book heartily; really, I did. After waiting almost a month for it arrival in the mail, I dove into it with all the rabid anticipation brought on by delayed gratification.

The story is an interesting one, to be sure. It features many different characters, all unique in their needs and wants, very human in their yearnings for goals that seem so close yet frustrating out of reach. One person wants commitment, another wants to play the field, one man wants a child, the other i...more I wanted to praise this book heartily; really, I did. After waiting almost a month for it arrival in the mail, I dove into it with all the rabid anticipation brought on by delayed gratification.

The story is an interesting one, to be sure. It features many different characters, all unique in their needs and wants, very human in their yearnings for goals that seem so close yet frustrating out of reach. One person wants commitment, another wants to play the field, one man wants a child, the other is dead-set against it. Tales of demanding exes, jealous partners, grasping would-be suitors, etc., all make for spicy, heady melodrama.

Ms. Montgomery gets all these plates spinning and manages to keep them aloft. While I found myself seething with fury at the abusive Clay and rolling my eyes at his gullible ex Steven, who just wouldn’t stay away from Clay (in spite of a restraining order), I kept wondering how I would behave myself under such circumstances. That’s the best kind of story—one that engages and plants the reader firmly within its imposed set-up.

If some of the action seems a bit contrived (Steven’s surrogate mother turns out to be a liar and cheat but a new baby pops up most conveniently if unexpectedly and his former lover decides to return and join Steven in his business), we are assured that this is a true story (mostly) and truth if often wackier than fiction.

What really annoys, surprises me and prevents me from giving this book a ripping endorsement are all the egregious word and punctuation errors that proliferate this novel. To name just a few of the errors, I found run-on sentences, commas out of place, a mix-up wherein two characters would be conversing in the same paragraph without a proper paragraph break, failed indentations, repeated phrases, common mistakes with words (“than” for “then” “further” for “farther”, e.g.) etc. This is like reading fanfiction, where there are so many horrid mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation and homonyms that it makes you depressed just to read it.

I thought at first that this might be an advanced reading copy. The reader is given a caveat right from the start with such books; you know you’re getting an unfinished, unedited, unpolished copy that will likely be very different from the finished book. So the reader ignores the myriad flaws and concentrates on the story.

But this isn’t the case with “XBar”. It’s a finished novel, presumably; the author even autographed it which isn’t what you’d expect with an ARC.

So what happened here? Where was Ms. Montgomery’s editor? This novel could have been vastly improved since most of these mistakes are ones that could have been fixed easily with careful and repeated run-throughs before this book went to print. Let’s hope Ms. Montgomery’s other books don’t suffer from this kind of shoddy workmanship.
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Jun 20, 2012 Ryan Field rated it 5 of 5 stars

I often find it difficult to review this author's work because there are surprises it seems when you least expect them and I would hate to ruin that for other readers. This story gets into adopting children, and how difficult that can be sometimes for gays. My partner and I, after being together for twenty years, have discussed this and the reason we've never actually acted on it is because we know about the obstacles involved. After this book, we'll be talking about it again no doubt. There is...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Top 2 Bottom Reviews Interviews and More rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Jul 25, 2012 Cryselle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-want-those-hours-of-my-life-back

Anyone who opens this book expecting a domestic story based on the blurb is in for a shock.

This next is a spoiler, so click it if you want to know, but I consider it an absolute necessity for readers expecting a straightforward “gay man seeks fatherhood” story of angst, warmth, and fuzziness, which this is not.

Full review at Cryselle's Bookshelf.

There is is a serious mismatch between the expectations set up and the story delivered.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 23, 2013 Fangtasia rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Normally, if I rate a book this low, I don't write a review. Let others judge for themselves, I guess. But, in light of all the 3- and 5-star reviews on GR, I have to write my thoughts on this book. I cannot, in good conscience, let other readers waste time and money on this disaster.

If this story had been about a guy who wants to be a dad and own a bar, and his journey to achieving his dreams, it might have been okay.

If this story had been about a guy in an abusive relationship, and how he surv...more Normally, if I rate a book this low, I don't write a review. Let others judge for themselves, I guess. But, in light of all the 3- and 5-star reviews on GR, I have to write my thoughts on this book. I cannot, in good conscience, let other readers waste time and money on this disaster.

If this story had been about a guy who wants to be a dad and own a bar, and his journey to achieving his dreams, it might have been okay.

If this story had been about a guy in an abusive relationship, and how he survived it, I might have sympathized and enjoyed it.

If this story had been a gay re-write of Three Men and a Baby, I might have liked it.

But this story is none of these, and all of these, at the same time. Somehow, the author took a real-life man's story about his travails on the path to becoming a Dad and combined all of the above-mentioned story lines (some fact, some fiction) in a completely irrational, meandering narrative with no sense whatsoever.
-Characters coming into the story, then disappearing, only to reappear at strange points in the narrative. I can't resist asking, does Jasmine have some kind of breakfast fetish?
-All kinds of conflicts mixed up at the same time, sometimes peaking, sometimes disappearing only to reappear again as if nothing had happened, the book ending with no resolutions that I could find.
-Strange plot devices. Not original, just crazy. Since when can a restraining order be used against the person who requests it? I'm no lawyer, but if this is true, it's news to me. And it was the lamest excuse I've ever heard for someone to remain with an abusive partner.

For the story itself, this is my classification: WTF-ery level = Buzz Lightyear, to infinity and beyond.

As if the above were not enough, there's the editing, or lack thereof.
-Not a page went by without at least one glaring grammar error, i.e. "pint" tongue. I suppose they meant "pink" tongue, but I think all this manuscript got was a "spell check" before it was published.
-There were signs of an attempt at editing the story itself, by the full paragraphs repeated word-for-word in adjacent pages and the timeline errors. But an attempt was all it was, and an unsuccessful one at that, because I cannot believe that anyone actually read the final product before publishing it.

In summary, not worth the suffering. To Steve and Jorge, I'm sorry you got such a mess made of your RL story, guys. Such a shame. It could have been beautiful.

This is the 2nd time I see such low-quality product from this publisher, so never again reading anything they produce. (less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Cathy Brockman rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, favorite-authors, favorites, m-m

: Xbar is a beautifully written story of a gay man trying to fulfill his life’s dreams. He wants a bar of his own, to be with the man he loves and most of all to adopt a child. For most of us, that is easy to accomplish, but for a gay man it’s like fighting a losing battle. His battle is a struggle and keeps us the edge of your seat page after page as he hit many obstacles and setbacks.
All Stephen wants is to adopt a child and live a life like a normal person. He lives with three roommates, his...more : Xbar is a beautifully written story of a gay man trying to fulfill his life’s dreams. He wants a bar of his own, to be with the man he loves and most of all to adopt a child. For most of us, that is easy to accomplish, but for a gay man it’s like fighting a losing battle. His battle is a struggle and keeps us the edge of your seat page after page as he hit many obstacles and setbacks.
All Stephen wants is to adopt a child and live a life like a normal person. He lives with three roommates, his best friend Cassidy, and another friend Simon and sometimes Cassidy’s lover Jackie. Stephen is in an open relationship with a much younger man Jorge. He loves Jorge very much but has commitment issues after being in a long term abusive relationship with Clay.
Even with things going well in Stephens life Clay tries to control him. Clay’s father has a stroke and He talks Stephen into breaking the restraining order he has on Clay and helping him with his father. Trouble ensues with Jorge. Stephen still has feelings for clay but is in love with Jorge. As if the triangle of Jorge and Clay and the trauma of Clay’s father’s coma isn’t enough a woman Jasmine shows up accusing Cassidy of getting her pregnant. More drama ensues… So…does Stephen ever get to adopt a child? Does Jorge leave him because of the time he is spending with Clay? Does Clay win Stephen back? Does Clays father die? I ‘m not gonna tell y you will have to get the book.. You won’t be sorry.
I recommend this book to anyone that loves a great heartfelt romance. There is several here. D s relationships which here was the only thing in the book I didn’t quite get was how submissive with Stephen is with Clay to an obsession but he was more a dom with Jorge. But it really didn’t hurt the story. If you love hot man sex and hot bartenders that dance provocatively ( my favorite parts and it was in there a few times…Michele you should make us a video of this it was amazing I go to sleep dreaming about Cassidy and Stephen’s dancing!!
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Jun 03, 2012 Katherine Mold rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Michele books. She has a passion and love for the characters that comes across in every word she writes.

XBar is truly a spectacular read. To say I feel in love with Steven and Jorge is an understatement. Their journey is one that needed to be told and I can’t think of a better author then Michele to tell of the fight for love, acceptance, equality and happiness. This is a magnificent story that will make you cry, laugh and ultimately give you a sense of hope.

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Oct 19, 2012 Jessica marked it as couldn-t-finish

The wording was horrible. the dialogue seems odd. i couldn't read after the first chapter

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May 13, 2013 Brenda Cothern marked it as to-read

Shelves: m-m, romance

May 13, 2013 G-NOBODY-G marked it as to-read

May 04, 2013 Heather Skye marked it as to-read

Shelves: waiting-to-be-read

Apr 13, 2013 Linda marked it as to-read

Apr 10, 2013 Alison marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Mar 26, 2013 Paul marked it as to-read

Mar 22, 2013 Krista rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mar 13, 2013 NicStar marked it as to-read

Shelves: mm

Feb 27, 2013 Illi .. added it

Feb 25, 2013 Anna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Feb 10, 2013 Jay marked it as to-read

Feb 08, 2013 Barry marked it as to-read

May 09, 2013 L-D marked it as not-yet · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m

Jan 25, 2013 Christy T marked it as to-read

Jan 24, 2013 Zarella added it

Jan 24, 2013 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jan 22, 2013 Susan65 marked it as to-read

Jan 22, 2013 JustJen marked it as to-read

Shelves: mm, ebook

Jan 22, 2013 Noughty marked it as 2 · review of another edition

Jan 22, 2013 Jen4607 marked it as to-read

Shelves: dtr

Jan 21, 2013 Shannon marked it as to-read

Shelves: own, not-lendable

Jan 20, 2013 Tina A marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: own-it

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About Michele L. Montgomery

I live my life believing. I believe that all of us can do anything we want to do. I believe that each goal we set for ourselves can be met if we strive to meet that goal, no matter what bumps we have to jump over to attain it.

I don't believe in fear I believe in the power of love.

Fear has the power to stop me, to control me and lead me to failure.
Love has the power to guide me over the most dif...more

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