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Spinning (The Ageless #1)

by Jaime Samms (Goodreads Author)

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 13 ratings · 4 reviews

Ken has fallen in love twice in his unnaturally long life. He's spent the rest of it trying to forget what falling out of it feels like. Not even the end of civilization has distracted him from his own misery, and now, desperate and achingly lonely, he calls the one person who's never hung up on him.

Mikko lost Ken once, letting life get in the way of love, and ever since t...more

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Published June 3rd 2010 by Pink Petal Books

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Dec 12, 2010 Michele Montgomery rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review-bog, m-m

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Spinning is a very intriguing story that takes place in the future, sometime after all of the natural disasters have hit our lovely planet with a vengeance. You’d think that with floods, tornados, earthquakes, and the like everyone would have died, right? Not so, because Ken and Mikko, along with many others survived the end of the world and they are now known as the “ageless.” They are immortal and they are also the beginning of the new world.

As Spinning opens we’re in Newfoundland with Ken who...more

Spinning is a very intriguing story that takes place in the future, sometime after all of the natural disasters have hit our lovely planet with a vengeance. You’d think that with floods, tornados, earthquakes, and the like everyone would have died, right? Not so, because Ken and Mikko, along with many others survived the end of the world and they are now known as the “ageless.” They are immortal and they are also the beginning of the new world.

As Spinning opens we’re in Newfoundland with Ken who is renting a room near the ocean somewhere and he’s on and off the phone with his friend Mikko. Right from the start you can feel Ken’s pain as he talks to Mikko and trying to dodge several of the questions his friend asked of him, including exactly where he was hiding. Why was he hiding? Well, Ken left his lover because that lover couldn’t give him what he wanted and loving the mysterious man wasn’t enough for Ken. He needed more in his life so instead of staying and making them both miserable he took off.

Mikko locates him in almost no time and puts himself in Ken’s life whether he likes it or not. Mikko is bound and determined to help Ken and help him get through the pains he lives with. Though Ken at times isn’t the easiest person to deal with, I can understand why he is the way he is. Ken is a natural born sub and he needs a Master, he needs that control and submission in his life and without it, he’s miserable. So miserable that he wishes he would die. Reading his pain and feeling it really caught me by surprise in this short story.

Jamie did a wonderful job with character development and plot setting. However, when I reached the end, I was so lost and unsatisfied that I almost decided against doing a review for the story. And because it is such a short story I don’t want to go into details with this review but I did want to say this:

Patience is a virtue and it is the key factor when you're talking writers and publishers. Writers can't write fast enough and publishers/editors/cover artists can't do what they do fast enough to keep the readers at ease sometimes. And that's exactly what is going on here. Spinning is the 1st book in a series. AH, NOW it makes sense. The two characters are starring in the follow up to this lovely read in a story called, "Grounded." So, while you'll feel as if your head is "Spinning" after setting your ereader down or shutting your computer down for the day, "Grounded" will for sure ground you. These books go hand in hand and they, IMO, will not do well on their own. Hand in hand so to speak. So, while the ending in Spinning did leave my head...spinning, the second I read the first page of Grounded, I felt loads better. Because really? I was going to write Jaime an email with just one image...

?

That's it. NOW I feel oh so much better! Okay, I am off to read Grounded and while I’m at it, the third one, Severed is being written as you read this. Don’t give up on these characters or on Jaime. She hasn’t let us down yet. (less)

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Jun 21, 2010 Kassa rated it 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars
Spinning is a very unusual, gripping tale. It features some fascinating characters, a gritty intriguing urban fantasy setting and some classic relationship problems. The writing is once again top notch, as expected of Samms, and the emotion connects with the reader immediately. The only qualms I have are that the story is too short and it ends right in the middle with a dangling ending and no real resolution. In fact I almost wrote the publisher to ask if the ending had been mistakenly...more 4.5 stars
Spinning is a very unusual, gripping tale. It features some fascinating characters, a gritty intriguing urban fantasy setting and some classic relationship problems. The writing is once again top notch, as expected of Samms, and the emotion connects with the reader immediately. The only qualms I have are that the story is too short and it ends right in the middle with a dangling ending and no real resolution. In fact I almost wrote the publisher to ask if the ending had been mistakenly cut off. I hope there is a sequel or some kind of revisit to these characters to give them a more solid ending but either way, this is another great offering from a good author.

The blurb is technically true but I find it’s more obscure and doesn’t describe the story very well. Ken is something called an Ageless. He and others have somehow escaped the end of the world natural disasters that happened hundreds of years ago. For no real reason, these people have ceased to age and can outlive most horrific disasters. They’re not immortal but they seem immune to many of the dangers ravaging the world. Ken was once in love with another Ageless called Mikko. They were together for six years and just starting to explore Ken’s need for control and domination when Mikko became involved with a political action group and turned his focus away from Ken. With Ken’s black depression overwhelming him, he runs away and begins a series of destructive, harmful relationships trying to find the control he craves.

Throughout Ken’s destructive path, he continues to call Mikko as the one constant in his life. Giving few details and staying on the run, Ken nevertheless can’t quite sever his ties to the man he loved first. When Ken hits rock bottom, he finally allows Mikko to find and help him. However, the help is not what Ken thought it would be and the past still has powerful ties on both men.

The story is incredibly engaging and filled with drama. However the deft touch to the writing keeps the pace moving quickly and interesting without an overwhelming feeling of angst and despair. Instead the urban fantasy setting is well crafted and intricate, weaving details in without long descriptions. Some of the details are not well described and thus the short length (~40 pgs) puts this great premise at a severe disadvantage. The author’s vision is clear but not always translated to the story with the same focus. Some of the concepts would have benefited from more explanation and description as they come across slightly confusing and without context.

The characters on the other hand are really stunning. I loved the depth of emotion Ken displays as a broken, scared man who is running from himself and his needs. He craves the control because his emotional needs often overwhelm and plunge him into deep depressions. With the right man, he functions much better. His need is handled so well, straddling the line of depression and fear without letting Ken become dark or pathetic. Instead he’s fascinating, complicated, broken, strong, and sympathetic all at once. Likewise Mikko is also a complex character and he remains a mystery for most of the book. His motives however are clear and his love for Ken is really striking. There is a scene towards the end when Mikko describes what he hopes to gain from helping Ken. Here Mikko acknowledges that he’s helping Ken even if it means that Ken will leave him and return to a previous lover, but Mikko is ok with that because he loves Ken that much, that deeply, that truly he just wants Ken to be ok. It’s an incredible scene filled with emotion and one of many great moments of this story.

If anything is less than perfect in this story, the ambiguous ending left me frustrated. I wanted to know what happened and the narrative seems to end in the middle. There’s so much more to these men, their journey, and resolution that I can only assume there has to be more stories coming. Nothing feels concluded or ended, which left me on an odd, disappointed note after an engaging story. This entire short story could have been expanded into a much longer, more involved tale so the length is also a frustration. It feels too cramped, too abbreviated in the current form. Nonetheless, I highly recommend checking out this short story.
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Jan 28, 2011 Elisa Ramblings added it · review of another edition

In a post-apocalypse future there are humans who can live more than 300 years. Only that, for some of them, this is not a good thing, above all when they need the firm hand of a Dom, and no one is old or strong enough to be their Dom.

Kenny is one of those submissive in search of guidance; like a lost puppy, he would be glad to find it in the arms of any stranger but he knows there is one man that will for sure give it to him, Mikko. Mikko was Kenny former lover, but years ago he “left” Kenny fo...more In a post-apocalypse future there are humans who can live more than 300 years. Only that, for some of them, this is not a good thing, above all when they need the firm hand of a Dom, and no one is old or strong enough to be their Dom.

Kenny is one of those submissive in search of guidance; like a lost puppy, he would be glad to find it in the arms of any stranger but he knows there is one man that will for sure give it to him, Mikko. Mikko was Kenny former lover, but years ago he “left” Kenny for a greater cause, saving the world; apparently he didn’t manage to, and now Kenny is desperate enough to call him. And Mikko maybe is desperate enough (even if he doesn’t let it arrive to Kenny) to answer to that call.

This is not a complex story, and the sci-fi, post-apocalypse setting is barely hinted, more in the words of the characters than for a real background: basically Kenny chose to run away in a forgotten by Gods and not only place where, sincerely, what is happening in the “real” world doesn’t really matter. Sure, the airport are different, the store are stranger, but there Kenny can forget that he is not welcomed in the real world, and there he can lie to himself and believing that he can have an ordinary life with Mikko.

This story has nothing of sexual and everything of emotion; it’s a story with an high impact on the angst level, and it’s also a story of dependency, a dependency that is the only link that Kenny has with his life, I think that if he is not able to find a Dom, someone bounding him to the ground, he will do the final run towards oblivion. Mikko is well aware of that, and he grounds Kenny with very basic things, like that care of the chores, growing things so that Kenny feels responsible, and so on.

The title reminded me of an Italian song, “Fila la lana (Spins the wool)”, it says more or less: “Fila la lana, fila i tuoi sogni, illuditi ancora che lui ritorni, libro di dolci sogni d’amore, chiudi le pagine al suo dolore (Spins the wool, spins your dreams, still thinks he will return, book of sweet, love dreams, closes your pages to her pain)”. This is no different, Kenny is sending messages to the outer world hoping that one of his former lovers will come back to him, and even if Mikko is not the one who Kenny is now mourning, he will be the one to heal his heart.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003URROLS/?...(less)

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Jul 03, 2010 Ami rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm-fantasy-paranormal-futuristic

Okay, this book makes my head spin. I had no idea what the story is all about. I feel disconnect with the story -- it's just "too out there" for me and I don't feel any emotion with the characters. It just left me confused. First story from Jaime Samms that totally disappoints me.

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Shelves: mm

Mar 29, 2013 Miika rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Shelves: m-m

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About Jaime Samms

With most of the hours in the day taken up by a part time job and the full time occupation of raising and schooling two kids, writing is somewhat of an indulgence, but it's the indulgences that keep us sane, right? When not otherwise occupied, like most writers, reading is my relaxation method of choice, and you can find my reviews at Kuriousity.com and Dark Diva Reviews to let you know what I lik...more

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