Open Road #13
I breezed through a lot of stories again this week, getting my total down to 26 from 46. And most of those are short, although I do have a collection of 7 stories by my favorite authors that I’m saving for later (well, two of them are Reader’s Choice winners rather than specifically my favorites, but they are still being reserved), and one of those is, I believe, the longest story from the Love is an Open Road collection. So I have definitely one more week for the unknowns, plus at least a week more for my private reserve. And then I can go read other things! Or possibly just knit more.
Anyway, on their website.
And here are my thoughts on the ones I read this week:
Reubaltach Cridhe by K. Mason: This was a brief tale of two Scottish warriors who fall for each other. It’s tagged “low sex content,” but has two sex scenes in 21k words, so I’m worried about the author’s baseline expectation for smut in novellas. And, while it was sweet, and the characters seemed to have a good dynamic, we saw NOTHING about the building of that dynamic. Just a few side-comments about how they’d become friends over the last few weeks. And also all the things that could cause issues are solved with near-magical ease. So it’s a cute read, but probably only scores a 6 on my 1-10 scale that I never talk about.
Out in the Deep End by Lane Hayes: A fairly hot story about two water polo players who hate each other, probably.
The East Wind and the Rootless Cypress by Elyse Night: Much like the first one above, this was an interesting story with an interesting world (fantasy this time), and a pretty good dynamic between the two characters…yet without the readers getting to appreciate the building of that dynamic. And here we got to be with the two men right from the moment they met…except their relationship was still built by a statement like “We’d been traveling together for two weeks, and had become friends by now,” which isn’t quality writing. There was also something about the second guy’s past, and emotional reaction to ‘spirit walkers’ (and his release thereof) that was…let’s just say improbable because otherwise we’ll be here all night. So yeah. Can’t recommend it.
The Spinner, the Shepherd, and the Leading Man by Kris Ripper: This was a surprisingly believable contemporary threesome story. It was hot and convincing, and I really enjoyed it. Except for two things. One, it was based at “Summer stock,” and never fully explained what that was. I think, for the author, that it was obvious, but since I’m not a theater person, I had to piece it together from the things stated by the characters, and we were halfway through before I felt like I knew what the hell “summer stock” was. And then beyond that there was something in the way characters were referenced that left me often confused as to who was doing/saying what. Not like things were mislabeled, more like they were unlabeled, and it’s not a huge detriment, but I spent lots of time rereading passages to figure out what was going on.
Shelter from the Storm by Mia West: A cute little …I don’t know how to explain it. It’s written as a letter to the reader about a rancher in the Old West who gets a mail order bride. It’s mostly sweet, and a little bit absurd, and also kind of hot. It’s also a reassuring and affirming story of the best sort.
Matters of State by A. Phallus Si: An odd sci-fi story which I am not sure how to explain. It has a bit of Dom/sub going on in it, and some …miscommunication? but it’s intentional on the one man’s part. It’s good, fairly hot, and has some fairly public sex in it (if that’s your thing).
This We’ll Defend by Leona Windwalker: A tale of two army guys and how they make it work despite everything. Short, sweet, a few twists.
Pull Down the Sun by Danni Keane: A slightly off-kilter story of a romance that blossomed over several years. Has some dark undertones and themes, which were handled pretty well, although they (or something else) gave it a weird glaze, if you will.
Aniki’s Garden by Claire Cray: Since I didn’t put up any DNF stories, this probably gets the WTF award. It seemed like…a story…and then turned into just a thin excuse for tentacle porn. Hot tentacle porn, but still. I feel like there should be more to say, but that’s all; it started, and then there were tentacles, and then it was over, with many things left unclear.
Alex’s Surprise by Chris McHart: A paranormal mpreg story! It was terrible. Just terrible. But apparently I’m a sucker for terrible mpreg, because I read the whole thing, and might even mumble that I enjoyed it if I don’t think anyone is listening. The world was built precariously just so that it could heighten the drama of the plot, with little bits of it shored up when needed. The characters were cliche and suffered from drama-building (but unrealistic) mood swings (even if one guy was pregnant and supposed to be moody). AND it wasn’t even a full story, but is to be continued in a sequel. I think I’ll pass on that one, though. There’s enough other terrible mpreg to read in the world, I don’t have to seek it out.
Lost in a Dream by Dawn Simmons: A young man and his incubus. Has BDSM elements to the sex, but for an incubus tale there wasn’t really all that much sex –it was there, don’t get me wrong, but the plot was actually more important than the sex, who would have guessed??? It was a very interesting take on incubi, being both old-school, and completely different from what I usually read. So yeah. I recommend this one.
Ten Simple Tips for Surviving the Apocalypse by Cari Z: This was maybe my favorite of this week’s reads. It has a most interesting structure, with each chapter being a tip and revealing stuff from the past, and stuff from the present…it was just amazing. Plus it has a new take on the post-apocalypse world, which is always fun. And…yeah. Great read.
Wrong Direction by Kelly Jensen: Couple college suitemates falling for each other, in a hilariously literal sense at times. Hot, sweet, hurt/comfort, nothing unusually great about it, but certainly a great beach read (um, curled-by-the-fire read? It is February…).
