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Gay Blades
When their "Gold on Ice" show arrives in Clarksville, Missouri, competitive figure skater Garry Windsor and his best friend, Jay Logan, meet an eighteen-year-old Adonis in spandex whose innocent facade hides a scheming, backstabbing nature that prompts Gary and Jay to teach him a lesson he will not soon forget. 12,000 first printing.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 28, 2007
I had debated on doing my review with a single word (tripe), but after a certain point, that just wasn't right. This piece of shit is an effrontery to the human race in so many different facets. The prime motivation of every character is sex (except Amber, the one female) and they all proceed to get as much as possible with whomever possible and in lurid detail. The only exception is Garry who abstains after the breakup with Kurt and it is practically implied this is a weakness in him. Every man (save possibly one) is gay and "appreciates" every other one. The plot is thinner than the pages it is written on as this is little more than erotica with heavy name-dropping of various celebrities attempting to masquerade as wit. Even parts that I might have found relatable were meaningless and pathetic. For example, I might have found some sympathy for Garry after being fired for his commentary as it revealed his homosexuality if the comments weren't so amazingly sexual! Damn right he should have been terminated if not for the reason they used. I must say, this gives me an insight to those who close-mindedly censor books because if I wasn't a librarian I would advocate the burning of this "book" as that would be a better use for it.
March 4, 2017
I honestly wish I could give this book a better rating, but I do want to be honest equally all around. When I found this book in my library (it had a different book cover with just the legs), I was completely blown away. I don't live in the backwoods or have an underfunded library. Our county has everything to offer, but you will be surprised how difficult it is to find or come across contemporary fiction novels on the LGBT community especially when they are the main focus in the story. Not just some supporting background character.
Before I started reading the book, I expected the story to mainly focus on two men and their romance with a plot following along. However, it was where Garry lost his job after the president of a skating company fired him for being openly gay and he had to downgrade with a sleazy owner of a tacky skating program that performed in small, hokey towns and occasionally in the bigger cities. He meets up with an old competitor named Jay who is more sexually active than he is, but befriends Garry and they become supportive of each other throughout the story along with another great skater, Amber (the only main female character in the story).
After losing his job, his boyfriend, Kurt, (another skater) breaks up with him, but returns to help when things take a turn for the worse for the other skaters. There is a young skater named Tag who out skates everyone and comes off nice first, but later shows a darker side. I won't give too much away and I thought the plot was actually interesting.
The reason I'm not giving more stars is because I did expect it to be mainly focused on romance (Garry and Kurt do get back together), but it focused a lot on sex instead. I don't mind sex at all, gay or straight. However, there's so many one-night stands in between with strangers and fans that it took away the pleasure on reading the erotic scenes. It felt repetitive and the dirty talking was too stereotypical. I was kind of hoping for more down-to-earth moments and I was happy that friendship was a strong suit in this story, but there was a lack of romance.
I suppose I was looking for a story where the main gay characters would allow their relationship grow together and the majority of the erotic moments would be focused on them first before moving onto other ones. I get this was supposed to be about gay men, but it would have been nice if we had more women involved instead of being a cute friend. I kind of wish Amber was a lesbian and developed an interesting relationship with another woman to keep some balance. Maybe it is hard to write that if you're a male author, but I don't want to make any excuses. We had all the time in the world to write a great romance story of any kind and overcome prejudice along the way.
Ben Tyler is a pretty good author. I was very happy to find the book and hope in the future the libraries will be filled with equally cheesy romances of every kind for me to criticize constructively.
Before I started reading the book, I expected the story to mainly focus on two men and their romance with a plot following along. However, it was where Garry lost his job after the president of a skating company fired him for being openly gay and he had to downgrade with a sleazy owner of a tacky skating program that performed in small, hokey towns and occasionally in the bigger cities. He meets up with an old competitor named Jay who is more sexually active than he is, but befriends Garry and they become supportive of each other throughout the story along with another great skater, Amber (the only main female character in the story).
After losing his job, his boyfriend, Kurt, (another skater) breaks up with him, but returns to help when things take a turn for the worse for the other skaters. There is a young skater named Tag who out skates everyone and comes off nice first, but later shows a darker side. I won't give too much away and I thought the plot was actually interesting.
The reason I'm not giving more stars is because I did expect it to be mainly focused on romance (Garry and Kurt do get back together), but it focused a lot on sex instead. I don't mind sex at all, gay or straight. However, there's so many one-night stands in between with strangers and fans that it took away the pleasure on reading the erotic scenes. It felt repetitive and the dirty talking was too stereotypical. I was kind of hoping for more down-to-earth moments and I was happy that friendship was a strong suit in this story, but there was a lack of romance.
I suppose I was looking for a story where the main gay characters would allow their relationship grow together and the majority of the erotic moments would be focused on them first before moving onto other ones. I get this was supposed to be about gay men, but it would have been nice if we had more women involved instead of being a cute friend. I kind of wish Amber was a lesbian and developed an interesting relationship with another woman to keep some balance. Maybe it is hard to write that if you're a male author, but I don't want to make any excuses. We had all the time in the world to write a great romance story of any kind and overcome prejudice along the way.
Ben Tyler is a pretty good author. I was very happy to find the book and hope in the future the libraries will be filled with equally cheesy romances of every kind for me to criticize constructively.
November 18, 2025
This was the worst book I have ever read. I wanted to tear out my eyes and soak them in Bleach it was so bad.
That beginning was so cringy with how the homophobia dialog was set up. It sounded like gay guys forcing themselves to be hateful or a really really bad Fox News Progoganda segment
the sex scenes weren't bad, but there was at least 1 person screwing every chapter. Plus, everyone, BUT the main character was screwing until the end.
speaking of the main character, you could be mistaken that Garry was a side character instead! We followed everyone else for so long, Garry was sidelined hard! The villain Tag was featured more than Garry!
Getting to the main plot that was described in the summary took forever. It was such a slog of a book. Half of it could have been cut out to save time. We didn't need to see exactly HOW Tag became the villain. We could have just gotten him more in the background until the middle, then saw the evil side of him.
I only laughed twice throught this whole thing as well. This was so unfunny. I beg of you, DO NOT READ THIS! YOU WILL REGRET IT!!
That beginning was so cringy with how the homophobia dialog was set up. It sounded like gay guys forcing themselves to be hateful or a really really bad Fox News Progoganda segment
the sex scenes weren't bad, but there was at least 1 person screwing every chapter. Plus, everyone, BUT the main character was screwing until the end.
speaking of the main character, you could be mistaken that Garry was a side character instead! We followed everyone else for so long, Garry was sidelined hard! The villain Tag was featured more than Garry!
Getting to the main plot that was described in the summary took forever. It was such a slog of a book. Half of it could have been cut out to save time. We didn't need to see exactly HOW Tag became the villain. We could have just gotten him more in the background until the middle, then saw the evil side of him.
I only laughed twice throught this whole thing as well. This was so unfunny. I beg of you, DO NOT READ THIS! YOU WILL REGRET IT!!
August 28, 2015
After successfully skewering ego-driven Hollywood (Tricks of the Trade) and salacious reality TV shows (Hunk House), Tyler sets his sights on the backstabbing world of traveling ice-skating exhibitions and delivers an entertaining all-gay version of "All About Eve."
Hunky former Olympic hopefuls Garry Windsor and Jay Logan have landed in the cheesiest of traveling ice shows, Gold on Ice (also known as "the drain" because it sucks talent into oblivion), after Garry was fired from the American Skating Society (A.S.S.) for being gay, and Jay ended his competitive career years ago with a poor showing at the Nationals. The two form a friendship with Gold on Ice's star attraction, levelheaded bronze medal winner Amber Nyak (the Mary Richards of the skating world) and slowly begin to increase the quality of the skating and production.
The improved ice show starts attracting larger crowds, media attention and a youthful, innocent skater wannabe, Tag Tempkin. Before you can say "Eve Harrington," Tag's hero worship routine has snagged him a part in the show, and then the kid gloves come off. So do the shirts and pants as Tag leaves no fly unzipped on his quest to headline the show and sideline his competition.
Fans of Tyler's shamelessly seductive blend of fast-paced action, ruthless characters and hard sex will gobble up this high-caloric bonbon.
Hunky former Olympic hopefuls Garry Windsor and Jay Logan have landed in the cheesiest of traveling ice shows, Gold on Ice (also known as "the drain" because it sucks talent into oblivion), after Garry was fired from the American Skating Society (A.S.S.) for being gay, and Jay ended his competitive career years ago with a poor showing at the Nationals. The two form a friendship with Gold on Ice's star attraction, levelheaded bronze medal winner Amber Nyak (the Mary Richards of the skating world) and slowly begin to increase the quality of the skating and production.
The improved ice show starts attracting larger crowds, media attention and a youthful, innocent skater wannabe, Tag Tempkin. Before you can say "Eve Harrington," Tag's hero worship routine has snagged him a part in the show, and then the kid gloves come off. So do the shirts and pants as Tag leaves no fly unzipped on his quest to headline the show and sideline his competition.
Fans of Tyler's shamelessly seductive blend of fast-paced action, ruthless characters and hard sex will gobble up this high-caloric bonbon.
April 24, 2012
Great Scott!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews