K.Z. Snow surprises me again, and in the best ways.

I had held off reading this book because of the age disparity between the characters. Ukes and semes aside, I'm always a little creeped out by sexually aggressive twinks and dominant older seducers. And I say that as a gay man who had his first boyfriend in high school who was ... um.. NOT in high school. It's a hard thing to do well without writing a NAMBLA jerk-story or a bleak Death in Venice mood piece.

The reason is that often "twinks" in M/ More...

When I first saw the cover of K. Z. Snow's 'precious_boy', the artwork and title immediately grabbed my attention; I knew wanted to read the book. I was expecting to be entertained by a sexy story about a John who falls in love with a hooker and saves him from a life of depravity; but the message in 'precious_boy' runs much deeper than that. The story is told in first person by Jonathan Wright, the main character. Having Jon tell his own story enabled me to get into his psyche, exploring his tho More...

Jonathan Wright is a 28-year-old book reviewer; one day, his one-night stand brings into his attention, a young website porn star, by the name of Justin Time. Jon is immediately entranced with the slender sensious young man, though Justin also brings a long-time memory ... when Jon remembers who Justin really is, the son of his ex-lover back when Jon was still in university, Jon feels obliged to get Ethan (Justin's real name) out of that life; even if he is fighting his attraction to the young m More...

Book isn't for me.

When Jon sees a super cute, super young, guy doing on-line porn he thinks he looks familiar. He arranges to meet with the young man who also works as a prostitute, and his suspicions are confirmed. Ethan is his ex-lover's son who he hasn't seen since he was ten. He decides to take it upon himself to convince Ethan to give up his life of porn and prostitution and involved his ex in the plan, although Ethan's father is less than enthusiastic. Ethan confesses to having a crush on Jon way back, and More...

Jon is a pretty standup guy. He's got a job, great friends, and a good relationship with his mother. He's a decent man. He just doesn’t like it when his tricks touch his things. When the last guy he brought home is found in his office, jerking off to some porn site he's found on Jon's computer, Jon gets pretty pissed. When he sees at the video the trick's been looking at however, his rage turns into pure horniness. Sadly the guy in the video looks barely 18...and strangely familiar. One thing le More...

4.5 stars

precious_boy is not the usual hooker redemption story. It hooked me in (the pun is intended) from the first page. Ethan was very mature for his age and at times I thought he was the adult rather than Jon who was 12 years older. He seemed to know what he wanted, even if if was the wrong thing and he certainly knew a lot about sex. Would he and Jon be able to overcome the age difference and the fact that Jon was once his father’s BF, and have a meaningful relationship? And what about Marc More...

Another short book I read today while in bed feeling all sorts of low and sick...

Anyways, I really liked this one. It was easy to read and littered with fun-to-read words and phrases which made it interesting on more levels than the average m/m romance. The writing was good, this might actually be the first thing I've read by K.Z.Snow... Not completely sure but I think so.

I liked the relationships between people, they were realistic. Sometimes there are exes who try to lure you back in and it ta More...

3.5 stars. I wasn't sure that I would like this story, but I was pleasantly surprised by both Jon and Ethan.

What I liked best about Jon was his innate sense of needing to do something for a kid that had gotten into something that truly wasn't the right thing for him. His approach to Ethan was not preachy nor too condescending - unlike Ethan's father who seemed to vacillate between not giving a shit and then being disdainful about what was going on with his own child. The fact that Jon had to ba More...

Not quite 4 stars.

Jonathan Wright comes across a young man in a porn video that looks familiar. Setting up a meeting with the man confirms his suspicion that this man is from his past. Jon knows that he should try to stay out of this man's business, but he can't help but feel protective about this man that he knew so many years ago and try to lead him away from this life that he has chosen. Things become even more convoluted when one of Jon's ex-lovers returns.

I can't talk about the young man in More...

*4.5 stars*

I’m a sucker for a pretty cover and I’d been meaning to try something by K.Z. Snow for a while, so when I discovered this novella also had a prostitution storyline I couldn’t resist! precious_boy begins with Jon, our twenty-eight year old narrator, discovering a gorgeous young man on an internet porn site who looks disturbingly familiar, and who Jon eventually remembers his close connection to. It turns out that “Justin Time” also runs an escort service, and so Jon arranges a meeting, More...

I don't usually like overly 'realistic' genre books. If it's novella length and m/m I expect romance. K.Z. Snow's precious_boy breaks most of the rules of genre romance and still manages to feel oddly romantic.
Justin Time is a porn actor and prostitute. Not a fake one, or an undercover one or a 'new' one. He makes a living selling sex. The hero sees him on a twink sex site and recognizes him as his ex-lover's, now grown son.
By the halfway point, this book had checked off much of my 'don't go the More...

precious_boy: so nice, I read it twice. Uh-huh, back to back readings. I had to in order to ensure that my immediate reaction to the book was genuine. It was.

Isn’t fiction fabulous? An author will formulate a scenario, present us with a situation, a set of circumstances that many of us would likely never encounter in our lifetimes; then they construct a story which allows us to question, what would I do if I were in that situation? Every answer then becomes unique to the individuals own beliefs More...

It took me a long time to move past the cover and actually read the book. Thank goodness the story lived up to the lovely picture on the front! KZ can really make a study of personal growth and maturity in a short book. I guess the age thing has bothered some readers, but I didn't mind it. I found it interesting that both the older man (age 28) and the younger one (17/18) were able to see into themselves and accept who they'd been and then make the necessary changes. Jon (the older man from whos More...

Wonderfully written story about a man falling in love with his ex-lover's young son who happens to be a porn star/escort. I liked both of the main characters and for the most part found their relationship interesting. The ex-lover/father is a bit of a creep but at the same time I felt a bit sorry for him at the end. Despite my enjoyment of the story I was a bit uncomfortable with one of the scenes in the book. It may not bother everyone and isn't really anything that bad but it did have me going More...

I loved this story, like so many of K Z Snow's other stories, it just struck a chord with me. Written in 1st person from Jon's POV we get a clear insight to his thoughts and struggles throughout the story while still getting enough information through conversations and Jon's thoughts and descriptions to get a clear picture of what is happening with the other characters in the story. I'm not going to give a long detailed review as the other reviews do a much better job at it than I could but I wi More...

The book was a pleasant read!

The plot explored a popular topic/idea but it was done well and entertaining enough.

I think there were two main "conclusions":

- 1. people never change and some of them will do no matter what to make you do things their way;

- 2. as long as there is someone who believes in you, you could try and change your life for the better;

I'm giving 4 stars (3.5 would be closer) because even if entertaining and well-written, the book does not introduce something radically new top More...

This was a fluffy-warm, feel-good read and romance and as such likable and enjoyable.

However, I'd bought and read it because I'd hoped to read an interesting take on the current, pretty arbitrary and often downright harmful age of consent laws in the USA and how people deal with them. Except for a short comment of Marti, Jonathan's mother, there was little about that and loads of self-castigation from Jon. That's what cost it a full 2 stars. Had the topic been sensibly tackled, as the premise wo More...

May/December romances are pretty common though, for me, the realities of a large age difference detract from my enjoyment of the trope. It's the eternal conflict in paranormals, where the immortal being falls in love with a mortal. There's always the "Sword of Damocles" over their heads, time or disease will sooner rather than later separate them. Not to mention the difficulty of buying into a relationship where the people involved are in such different places in their lives.

This story deals wi More...

This review was originally published on my blog Joyfully Jay.

One night while scanning through an online porn site, a gorgous blond young man captures Jonathan Wright's attention. He is immediately drawn to the man's beauty, although he looks too young to be legal. Something about the man just grabs Jon's attention, and he soon realizes that he looks familiar. At first Jon assumes they have met before, or he has seen the man on other sites. But later Jon is shocked to realize that the young man i More...

This story was told with amazing and delightful simplicity. Ethan is not yet 18 and he works in the porn industry and as a rent boy. Jon, who's 28, sees him in a video and recognizes him as the 10-year-old son of a former lover.

I think Jon does what most people with a heart in that situation would have done: remembering the gentle child he knew, he decides to meet him to make him re-think his life. What makes Jon more human is that, although he has a bit of a preaching attitude, he can't help fe More...

I was at first disappointed by the short number of pages for the book (my copy has about 50 pages in all). I couldn't imagine anything good coming out of that. I was pleasantly proven wrong.

Jonathan surprised me with his intellect, actual concern and yet innocence when it came to Ethan and the feelings he had for the youngster. He was cute trying to dismiss his attraction to Ethan and just do right by him. I have to admit the bit about sleeping with Ethan's father, Donald, left a rather sour tas More...

Overall
A sweet, kind of cute, story that was enjoyable but didn't leave a lasting impression.

Review
The story/plot isn't bad and has several strong points, the majority of which centers around Ethan and his strengths. He's in a bad situation and while he hasn't made the best choices, he's also strong enough to recognize that and, with a little help, do what is needed to change. The coming together of these two men is sweet and enjoyable, although I felt it was a little forced sometimes.

I wasn't e More...

Genre & keywords:
M/M, Romance, Contemporary, age gap, prostitution, twink/young hero

Synopsis in short:
When Jon ‘accidentally’ watches an amateur porn video, and sees the lithe, blond young man who's doing naughty things with a bearish, older man, he's seduced...and feels like a pervert afterward… because Ethan, the youth in the video, seems a little too young, despite the fact he runs his own escort service. Worse yet, Jon gets the nagging feeling he's seen him before. When they meet in a Ch More...

I wasn't totally sold on whether I would like a story like this, given the age differences beginning with one so young, but I am really glad I gave it a shot. This was just a wonderful story. I instantly fell in love with Ethan, who pleasantly surprised me many times throughout the book. Jonathan was very likable as well. I really enjoyed watching their different struggles unfold, and while the ending was fabulous, I couldn't help but wish for more.

I'm in awe of K.Z. Snow's awesome writing style; it pulls you right in and won't let you go. What wonderful characterizations! Jon is delightfully complex, and Ethan is the pretty boy with a brain. I loved their dance, as they shuffled around each other and became reaquainted on a new level, as equals. I must admit I sniffled a bit when I found out how Ethan got his screen-name of "Precious Boy."

I had my worries when Jon went to see Ethan's father while Ethan was hiding out at his house, but re More...

Some time ago I realized that there are authors, not few of them, whose books I buy because of the interesting and compelling blurbs, but then, silly me, the books are sitting on my TBR forever. Why? No idea. One of this authors for me was KZ Snow. I was under the impression that despite the compelling 'I want to read this' blurbs the books in fact would be dark, heavy and dreary. This first week in 2013 I decided to finally read all my waiting KZ Snow books and what can I say?

Sorry, Ms. Snow!!! More...

A really great roller coaster of a story in which the past appears in the present in a way that is truly fascinating. As you read you begin to cheer for the characters as they grope their way to a meaningful and deep love free from the past. I really enjoyed reading this story and I am pleased that K.Z Snow has an excellent back catalogue that I can now read my way through.