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Bravo! Brava! (Stage Stories #1)

by Jet Mykles (Goodreads Author), J.P. Bowie (Goodreads Author), Kimberly Gardner

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 135 ratings · 12 reviews

Lights, Makeup, Scripts, Costumes . . . Performances Jet Mykles, J.P. Bowie and Kimberly Gardner entertain us with the magic and mystique of the theatre. From Shakespeare's gender-bending comedies to the glamour of a Musical Revue, we're whisked backstage for an intimate glimpse of the drama, romance and rumors (and maybe even a little mystery) behind the curtain. Find out...more

Paperback, 280 pages

Published January 1st 2009 by MLR Press

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Feb 05, 2009 Daisiemae rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Daisiemae by: I love Jet Mykles books

Shelves: anthology, books-read-in-2009, books-reviewed-in-2009, contemporary-romance, male-male-romance-erotica, erotica

Bravo! Brava! Is a three story anthology written by some of my favorite authors in the male erotic romance genre.

I really thought this book had a freshness to it that I haven't read in a while. I honestly don't want to give to much away about it, but I will say the some heroes prefer an alternative way of presenting themselves. I liked it. It was different.

I liked all three stories. Bowie's was my least favorite. I think it would have been better if it had been shorter, and the main characters...more

8 likes · like · see review

May 21, 2009 Brenda (b) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m, 1-ebooks, 2-2009-read, anthology

I enjoyed this anthology. The stories are: 1) About Something by Jet Mykles, 2) Sometimes Life's a Drag by J.P. Bowie and 3) Woman's Weeds by Kimberly Gardner. All 3 stories include a cross dresser, in the 1st and 3rd stories, it's a main character. Also all 3 include theater productions, in the 1st and 3rd stories they're plays (both Shakespeare) and the 2nd story is about a musical stage show.

My favorite story was the 2nd one by J.P. Bowie. I loved the characters, even the b-witchy ones. I th...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 13, 2009 Jenre rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m, romance, contemporary

This anthology consists of three novellas all along the theme of cross dressing. Those of you who know me will know that I like my gay men to be, well, manly, so theoretically, I should be turned off by stories about men dressing up as women. Let's just say, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed these stories.

I shall write a bit about each one in turn.

About Something by Jet Mykles
Shawn is a student in the final year of a Drama degree. His professor is a young, well respected director, Roscoe, wh...more This anthology consists of three novellas all along the theme of cross dressing. Those of you who know me will know that I like my gay men to be, well, manly, so theoretically, I should be turned off by stories about men dressing up as women. Let's just say, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed these stories.

I shall write a bit about each one in turn.

About Something by Jet Mykles
Shawn is a student in the final year of a Drama degree. His professor is a young, well respected director, Roscoe, who has cast Shawn as Benedict in a production of Much Ado About Nothing. Early on in the rehearsals, Roscoe asks Shawn to swap roles with the actress playing Beatrice, as the director feels that Shawn would be better in a female role. At first Shawn is horrified: He knows that he is small and looks effeminate and has strived for most of his teenage years to project a more butch image and take on the overly masculine roles in theatre class. Roscoe convinces Shawn that he should play to his strengths and so he finally accepts the role of Beatrice. Alongside this is Shawn's gradual realisation that he is attracted to his Professor which releases deeply repressed feelings for other men as well. This, coupled with Shawn actually enjoying dressing up as a woman, leads to him opening up to possibility that he might be bisexual.

This was my favourite story out of the anthology. I liked Shawn and the feeling of empowerment that he felt when he embraced his sexuality and how comfortable he felt wearing women's clothing. I also liked his confidence in approaching his Professor and his pragmatism in adjusting to his growing feelings for Roscoe. There were a couple of issues: Firstly the novella ended quite suddenly and I would have liked to have seen more of the reunion between Shawn and Roscoe, and secondly, Shawn was an 'all or nothing' type of guy, changing his wardrobe and sexuality very quickly and yet there was no fall out as a result of this. None of his friends seemed to mind, quite the opposite in fact, nor was he taunted or troubled by other students which seemed rather unrealistic to me. However, these were minor issues in relation to a well written romance, containing a touch of yaoi and tonnes of Jet Mykles' cheeky humour so gets a 'Very Good' rating.

Sometimes Life's a Drag by JP Bowie
This London set tale of blackmail, murder and stalking is firmly played for laughs with a cast of what seems like thousands. Our hero, Patrick, wins the part of singer in a cabaret act which is the vehicle for fading star drag queen, Kenny La Fontaine. Kenny is a vicious bitch who rules his cabaret club by sacking whoever gets in his way and playing on his dubious star connections to get what he wants. However, Kenny is being blackmailed by a former lover, who is then murdered whilst collecting the blackmail money. Suspicion falls on Kenny, but it all seems too obvious to be true. Added onto this is Kenny's stalker who silently watches him wherever he goes. The policeman investigating the blackmail and murder case is Ian Bannister. Kenny is attracted to Ian, but Ian is attracted to Patrick. Thus begins a completely camp and farcical turn of events involving lots of bitching, screaming, loving and general mayhem.

It was all a bit over the top for my liking, even if the characters were probably true representations of the sort of people you would meet behind the scenes at a drag queen cabaret club. All the characters speak in a British accent very reminiscent of the 1950s Ealing comedies, which isn't particularly in line with how Londoners speak today and, to be honest, got on my nerves a bit. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad for those readers outside the UK, who would probably think some of the British phrases are quite cute, but I just got a bit irritated by it. As well as this, many of the characters are not particularly likable especially the poisonous Kenny who gets almost as much page time as the two heroes. An interesting look at backstage shenanigans which gains a grade of 'Good'.

Woman's Weeds by Kimberley Gardner
This story was an interesting romance between David, the director of a small community theatre company and Keiran, an actor who auditions and gets the role of Viola in Twelfth Night. The story focuses almost entirely on this pair and especially how Keiran's love of dressing in women's underwear and clothing impacts on this relationship. There are a couple of other things thrown in, such as whether the theatre company has to compromise its casting in order to attract funding and a jealous ex-boyfriend, but mostly it's about the attraction between David and Keiran . David has not met a cross-dresser before and Keiran is nervous about telling David about his cross dressing because most gay men find it a turn off. Out of the two men, I liked Keiran the most and I felt the author had done a good job in making him a sympathetic character and showing how dressing as a woman made him feel. David was a little less rounded but I liked the way that his reaction to Keiran's cross dressing was developed throughout the story. The only main annoyance with the story was that again it finished quite abruptly and that I also found the character of David's sister a little irritating at times. Mainly though this was a lovely romance with an added cross dressing twist so gets a grade of 'Very Good'.

Overall, I enjoyed this anthology. The stories were all quite different from each other, despite all being on the theme of the theatre and cross dressing. So did it make me change my mind about my 'manly' men? Not really, but it did give me an insight into why men might choose to dress in women's clothing.(less)

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May 24, 2009 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: glbt-fiction

After reading the gorgeous Lola Dances and then Skirt by Jet Mykles, it would seem I have a penchant for the occasional gender bending story. After some of the desultory reading I’ve had in the past few weeks, this was a welcome return to good writing.

Jet has certainly nailed it with her contribution to this anthology. The pacing is fantastic and it is incredibly evocative – lots of show rather than tell and it had me hooked. The premise was great and the chemistry between the leads was incredib...more

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May 19, 2009 Elisa Ramblings added it · review of another edition

The common theme of this anthology are men in drags, for different reason and at different level.

About Something by Jet Mykles: Shawn is a cute college guy, maybe even too cute. He is an actor and he has always played in men roles, but now Roscoe, young director and college teacher, wants for him to play a female role. Why on earth he has that idea Shawn doesn't know, all right Shawn is a pretty man, but he is ALL man, he has plenty of ex girlfriend to prove it. Anyway, Roscoe is very good in pr...more The common theme of this anthology are men in drags, for different reason and at different level.

About Something by Jet Mykles: Shawn is a cute college guy, maybe even too cute. He is an actor and he has always played in men roles, but now Roscoe, young director and college teacher, wants for him to play a female role. Why on earth he has that idea Shawn doesn't know, all right Shawn is a pretty man, but he is ALL man, he has plenty of ex girlfriend to prove it. Anyway, Roscoe is very good in prospecting to Shawn a big success if he does as he says, and Shawn agrees. On while on stage he dresses as a woman and speaks the words of a woman, his perception of Roscoe is changing: he starts to see the man in a different way than before, he is no more the cool young director who can give to Shawn the chance of his life, he is now a very handsome man that Shawn would like to know better. And so Shawn starts to "bring" home his role, he starts to dress as a woman even outside the theatre and every time is good to tease Roscoe. And Roscoe is easily teased, but he tries to resist, since even if Shawn is not so younger than him for age, he is new to the whole gay life scene, and Roscoe instead knows that he is ready for commitment.

Jet Mykles' story is light and enjoyable, there is not the usual angst of a college affair between a student and a teacher, Roscoe is not so worried to overstep his role, the real big problem for him seems to be that he doesn't want to awaken Shawn's desire for gay sex and then be dumped by the young imp. Shawn is a bit of a teaser, he is set to conquer his teacher and he really doesn't think on the future or on what it will happen if he manages to: he is focused on the moment and on the pleasure he can have; it's quite a typical behavior of a man so young.

Sometimes, Life's a Drag by J.P. Bowie: Patrick is a young singer who audictions for a role in a drag show. The one man show is Kenny, a forty something drag queen who is all you can expect from a drag queen who passed his prime age: bitch and jeloaus, always searching for reassurance that he is still the only real queen. And when Patrick not only unveal to be a lot better singer than him, but also steals the interest of Ian, a police detective Kenny was set out to conquer, the queen becomes a real bitch. There is also a murder to resolve, but it's not so interesting as to read the bickering between Kenny and Patrick. Patrick will be obviously the winner, but I have to say that I really like Kenny: Patrick and Ian are a good couple, they are right together, but who has really the more interesting role is Kenny. And I really like that, in the end, the author will give also to him a piece of cake.

This is probably one of the best short story I read by J.P. Bowie. It's not so romantic as other stories I read by him, but the small world of a show business made more of sweat than glitters, is skillfully rendered; it reminds me one of my favorite movie, Chorus Line, and all the characters, even the minor ones, were so fascinating... I was so waiting to see what would happen between Laurence and Albert.

Women's Weeds by Kimberly Gardner: David is a young director who is searching the right actor for a Olivia / Cesario in Twelfth Night, and when Kieran, the young and very pretty man he met the day before, auctions for the role, David knows that he will be perfect. Problem is that Kieran not only like to dress as a woman on stage, he likes to do that also in his everyday life; Kieran is like that, one day he awakens and he feels a man, the other day he feels like a woman, and he dresses up to his feelings. Kieran really likes David, but David has to accept him like he is, since Kieran can't change.

I like this little story, even if for sure Kieran is a lot more of a character than David. David is a nice background role, he plays well along Kieran, but it's Kieran that holds all the story. Kieran is young but I believe he has already clear who he is and what he wants in life. And he is not all over David in a desperate way: yes, he would like for David to be the one, but I believe that, if something would happen against his story, Kieran would have the strenght to close this chapter of his life and open another one.

All three stories are of very high quality, probably all of them would live without problem as independent story, but put them together, and you have a really nice anthology.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608200000/?...(less)

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Aug 08, 2009 Kris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-tasting-from-my-blog

The Tasting:

Dislike/like (ending on a high note):

Dislike~ The curtain fell all too soon. ::nudge, nudge, wink, wink::

Like~ Great authors and an entertaining *get it?? - wipes tear from eye - I'm so friggin funny* concept for an anthology.

Dislike~ Not really a dislike, but I did think that the first and last stories had a number of similarities.

Like~ Who knew I would find cross-dressing so... deliciously naughty?!

So, what I think:

Hot, hot, HOT! ::cough:: For those who may be in the mood. *g*

====...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Susinok rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, glbt, anthology

A fun collection of three stories, all involving the theatre and cross dressing. Two of the stories are centered around a Shakespeare play and the third is at a drag club. What's not to love about that?

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Jun 06, 2010 J.L. Merrow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Three stories of cross-dressing guys in the theatre world, all of them good reads. I may have preferred the sequel, "Encore, Encore" by a whisker, but not enough to dock a star.

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Nov 13, 2012 Cynics_united rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bisexual, contemporary-romance, crossdresser, flamboyant-gay, gay-for-you, in-the-closet, male-male-relationship, sexual-chemistry

Only read Jet Mykles' About Something. Wasn't terribly interested in the other stories of the anthology.

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Aug 12, 2009 Tam rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m

Three stories about boys who wear girls clothes. Although in the second one the main character doesn’t wear dresses. I liked the second story better, not sure if its because he wasn’t wearing a dress or if it was the plot. It was more of a mystery which I enjoyed where the other didn’t really have a plot except one guy realizing he liked to wear dresses and way gay not straight after all and the third one he was worried the new boyfriend would realize he wasn’t just wearing a dress for his role...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Jean rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: erotica, m-m

4.5 stars
I really liked these stories. Not often that you get drag queens and cross dressers in the M/M erotica and these were done very well! Sexy, funny, sad, all of it!

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Feb 24, 2012 Mandy*reads obsessively* rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-owned, m-m

3 fun stories, I liked Kimberly Gardner and Jet Mykles best with a solid four stars, and three stars for Bowie's story.

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Jun 13, 2013 Johnny Callahan jr marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jun 10, 2013 Chris X marked it as romance · review of another edition

Jun 06, 2013 Joanne marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: erotica

Jun 07, 2013 Carolynanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m

Jun 02, 2013 Zinger marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: gang-bang-to-read

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Shelves: have-it

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Apr 19, 2013 Shannon marked it as maybe · review of another edition

Apr 14, 2013 Caroline Mcconnell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 22, 2013 Sara added it · review of another edition

Shelves: mm-romance, contemporary

Mar 16, 2013 Mystery marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Mar 12, 2013 Irissska marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m

Feb 21, 2013 Coni added it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2-rate-date

Feb 15, 2013 Angel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jan 28, 2013 Sonia189 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jan 25, 2013 Johnny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jan 24, 2013 Macky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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