Shattered Glass by A.C. Katt

Shattered Glass by A.C. Katt
Publisher: Placida Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full Length (360 pgs)
Other: M/M, anal sex
Rating: 3.5 cherries
Reviewed by Cactus

Can love survive and be rekindled when a heart is broken like Shattered Glass?

Milo grew up in fear, hiding the fact that he was gay. Becoming a rock star with his band Shattered Glass was a dream come true. Finally lovers with Liam, the friend he’d desired since childhood, Milo worries about his image and keeping their relationship a secret.

Liam knew he loved Milo, even as a kid. But their fame and fortune can’t buy him the happiness of talking Milo out of the closet, able to freely express their love. Unfortunately, a fellow band-mate with vengeance on his mind conspires to break the lovers up in the most vicious way possible, destroying the couple’s relationship and shredding Liam’s peace of mind.

Six years later, Liam is older, wiser, and has rebuilt his life after the devastating loss of Milo and the band. Forced into a tenuous working reunion, Liam knows his heart still belongs to Milo. Working together to uncover the web of lies that pulled them apart, now all they have to do is survive the psychopath intent on silencing Liam and his music forever.

Contains hot rock star manlove, mysterious motives, and a brotherhood of friends strong enough to forgive.

Greed, jealousy, drugs, money, and revenge all test the path of true love. Rock stars Liam and Milo have been in love since they were kids, yet with their band taking off and becoming stars their path to a happy ending is rockier than ever. Close friends are working to keep them apart and their own insecurities and issues threaten to tear the two men apart permanently. They must overcome not only outside influences but also their own hurt if they want to be together.

Shattered Glass is a heavy read. It left me emotionally exhausted from the angst and toll of the story, yet ultimately glad I read it. The story takes on many classic themes in books so the plot doesn’t offer anything particularly new or innovative, yet the time-honored ideas of excess and stalking within rock stars still play well. The plot revolves around a stalker that is determined to ruin Liam’s life and eventually kill him. canadian cialis Benefits of Kamagra Kamagra is readily available online for such customers. Not only this, the performance efficiency can be maintained for a long important site generic viagra in stores time of Kamagra intake. It is a revolutionary innovation because before generic cialis prescriptions the lack of sexual reaction could be treated only by a professional in the related field. Buy generic viagra professional if you really wish to be free from the concerned issue as staying with the issue for the time period when a person makes use of the medicine named as cialis. The stalker is identified early on so the reader watches as this person insinuates himself into their lives and the lives of close friends. Thus Liam’s torment starts and doesn’t end for years.

This is what’s hard to read about the book since Liam is tormented, abused, raped, and beaten — physically, emotionally, and mentally for years. Since Liam is the real star of the book it’s hard to watch all of this happening. I kept waiting for the time when the story would build him back up and I almost quit reading before it got there. So be warned, the story gets pretty dark before the tide turns and good things happen again. Part of this is frustrating since all of the characters contribute to this in various ways. They are all self absorbed and selfish to an extent and mired in their own drama so it’s difficult to really like these men. They do redeem themselves towards the end and there is a definite happy ending.

Shattered Glass is a tough story to read with a big emotional investment. You get attached to Liam and care about what happens, so watching him go through such tough times is really hard. Whether the happy ending has enough of a payoff to make reading the story worthwhile is questionable. I’m glad I read the story but it’s not one I want to read again — and ultimately the characters never really gained my forgiveness for all they did, though Liam forgave them. It’s a good angst filled, emotional read for those that want something darker but with a happy ending. If that’s you, then definitely consider this. I’d cautiously recommend it.

More Than Make-Believe by Tymber Dalton

More Than Make-Believe by Tymber Dalton
Publisher: Placida Publishing, LLC
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short Story (107 pgs)
Other: M/M, Anal Play, Toys, Voyeurism
Rating: 5 Cherries
Reviewed by Peppermint

When you fall for a fantasy, how do you know if it’s more than make-believe?

Travis, an unquestionably straight college student, finds himself in a financial bind. He’ll do anything legal—including going gay for pay—and spends a weekend as Craig Rocke, letting gay porn star Marston Cougar have his way with him on film. Marston tells him to remember it’s all just a fantasy for the camera, even though it sure feels like more.

Gary, also known as Marston Cougar, has a respectable day job. A straight guy, he started out making gay porn to pay his way through college. After getting his heart broken he has a no-dating rule. Now paired with “virgin” Craig Rocke, he finds it hard to keep it make-believe when he’s losing his heart.

Gary’s young niece needs surgery, and he almost has enough money to quit for good. But now that he feels a true connection with his fantasy co-star, will he be able to find a happily ever after with him when it’s more than make-believe?

Contains a modern fairy tale, hot manlove, movie magic, flipped perceptions, and a cranky three year-old who really wants her pizza.

What do you do when make-believe is what you want? You make it More Than Make-Believe.

Tymber Dalton did an exquisite job creating a story around these two characters. Between their personalities and the interesting plot line there really was no room for error in this story.

Travis, aka Craig, was a sweet guy who couldn’t help but care for the man who was his first male lover. I think Travis’ naivete and willing-to-try-anything attitude was great, especially for this role. That was the reason why, as a straight man, he was willing to do gay porn just to earn extra money to pay his bills while in school. As long as he took his co-star Marston’s advice and remembered it was make-believe Travis knew he could do just about anything.

Gary, aka Marston, just exudes sexuality and confidence. It is probably why he was the number one performer for the porn company. He always remained professional and remembered that it was all make-believe. That was until he met Travis. He knew he should remain distant, especially since the guy looked like his jerk ex, Billie, but for some reason he couldn’t stop thinking about his new co-star.

The motivation both men had behind doing porn was heart-wrenching. Travis needed money to support himself through school and Gary was saving for a surgical procedure for his niece. I think in these types of industries you probably have a lot of that, people who feel as if they have no other option turning to a less than desirable job. Gastric Bariatric surgery in Mumbai, offers the patients a chance to health and longevity. viagra prescription australia This improved blood supply make the organ ready to go in that important game between the sheets. viagra online online Individuals who are managing the issue of heart issues, hypertension and diabetes must avoid themselves utilizing this medicine as a part of a request generic levitra canada to treat their ED issues. With happier sexual life, it makes them feel younger in the bed and they can get most from viagra sildenafil buy http://deeprootsmag.org/2014/02/14/love-batman/ their proficiency. They have good intentions even if misguided. It also made for a great plot concept that the author took full advantage of.

I did find it confusing to keep up with the names since Travis was going by Craig Rocke and Gary was using Marston Cougar. The author interchanged the names frequently and I would sometimes have to go back and re-read a paragraph just to remember who was saying or doing what. After a while I did get used to it. The author does make it clear in the beginning which stage name each man is using to try to avoid some confusion, but for me, it still just seemed a little hard to follow at first.

Since this story was based around Gary and Travis being co-stars in gay porn there was sex, sex… then more sex. The only time they had privacy and were not having sex was when they were sleeping for an entire weekend. If that is not hot, well I don’t know what is, but this did not take away from the plot. The author was still able to clearly show the emotional progression between these characters as well as the physical relationship.

I absolutely loved the relationship development in this story. I think that the pace of the storyline was perfect. In many romance stories I normally get the feeling that at some point the relationship is rushed, but I did not get that in this story one bit. Because the plot seemed dead on it really made this story remember able. I will remember the characters but it will be because of their relationship as a whole and how well it turned out.

This story stayed with me far longer than I would have imagined. For days, if I had a spare moment it was as if the characters where stalking me (or me stalking them)… my mind would turn to them. Wondering what would happen next or replaying a scene in the book. I even found myself comparing other m/m stories to this one to see if they came anywhere close to this story’s greatness. For that alone I would definitely read this story again and would recommend it to anyone who loves hot m/m action.