Book Review: Drama Queens and Love Scenes by Kevin Khler

Drama Queens and Love Scenes
by Kevin Khler
Ninestar Press (Re-release)
Genre: Romance, Literary Fiction, Angels, cisgender, Fantasy, friends to lovers, gay, humorous, Life after death, romance
4.5 Stars

Blurb:

Close friends Allan and Warwick are dead. They’re not crazy about the idea, so to help them deal with this dilemma are Samantha, a blond bombshell from the 1950s, and Guy, an insecure angel. Allan also has a secret. He has a romantic crush on his friend, Warwick, but shortly after confiding in his new angel pal, his love interest falls for the cock-sure playwright, Pedro. Not only does Allan have to win the heart of his companion, he also has to grapple with the faded memory of how he actually died.

Review: 

This was a fun-filled romp through a theatrical afterlife, or as Guy the angel puts it, The Limelight District. While Allan pines for Warwick from afar, they both become involved in the theatre productions, where there is just as much jealousy, backstabbing and bitchiness as on the mortal plane.

The book is in first-person from Allan's point of view, so we only got to see Allan's opinions of the other characters. I wanted to be in some of the other character's heads for a while, especially Guy, the orphaned angel who was never taught how to fly, I really adored him.

I wouldn't necessarily say the characters were true to life, most were flamboyant and over the top, but maybe that's what a lot of theatre people are like and I just haven't met them. The world building is good, with lots of different districts from different eras of Earth history, but the characters wander about to the other ones at will. There were also some little mysteries to solve such as how Allan and Warwick died and who is trying to sabotage the plays.

The path to true love never did run smooth, but the author has made Allan's journey to not only find love, but to find himself a very engaging tale.

It's a fun little read, well over 70K words is not that little, but I got so engrossed in the story and the characters that the pages flew by.

Book Review: Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires by Bey Deckard

Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires
(Baal's Heart 2)
by Bey Deckard
M/M Fantasy/Pirates/BDSM/Threesome
4.5 Stars

Reunited once more, the crew of Baal’s Heart must make the long and treacherous journey south to the towering spires of the Devil’s Isles. The path through the mountain range is fraught with peril; mayhem and tragedy plague the pirate ship, but what the men find beyond the spires is the most shocking of all.

In this sequel to the acclaimed Caged: Love and Treachery on the High Seas, the pirates are dragged into a dangerous new world by Captain Baltsaros’s all-consuming obsession. In the midst of terror and chaos, Jon learns that the captain and first mate have been keeping secrets from him. But will the truth tear them apart?

Review:

Love, lust, obsession and adventure on the high seas.

You will get a lot more out of this book if you've read Caged first, as this one takes place almost directly after the ending of that one. Even though I'd read Caged a while ago, I was still a bit lost at the beginning, trying to remember what happened and who the characters were :) I could have done with a little primer at the beginning to recap what had gone before.

Our three heroes are reunited once again, this time attempting to cross to the other side of some strange rock-formations called the Devil's Isles. Everyone who has passed through there, or at least those who have actually returned, have all gone mad. Tom and Jon are worried about Captian Baltsoros on the journey, whose mental stablility has never been good to begin with.

Things do indeed take a turn for the worse once they are in the midst of the Isles, with crewmate turning against crewmate, strange visions and haunting sepectres on the water. But somehow they get through and discover a tropical jungle and a strange, golden city called Erem’ia Balor. A city rich with gold, but also a city full of blood scarifice.

Unknown to Tom and Jon, this was the very place Baltsaros has sought out.

I'm finding it a little difficult to review this book without spoilers, and I really don't want to spoil it for anyone who is going to read it.

I'm not usually a fan of threesomes, but for Tom, Jon and Baltsoros, it works for them. It is also realistic, with jealousy flaring at certain parts, with each wondering if they are welcome with the other couple. The sex scenes are raw and primal, with a veneer of sensuality that leaves your breathless.

Some parts are violent, including the sex, but these are real pirates, not some romantic Hollywood ideal. They live and breathe violence every day, it is not so surprising that it makes its way into the bedroom as well. I'm not sure I could say that I like Baltsoros; in some parts he is not a very nice character, but he is a compelling one and you can see why Tom and Jon could fall for him.

The story and the love scenes were well balanced, you didn't feel one was overtaking the other. The writing flows well and despite this being the author's second book, it feels as if he's been writing much longer than that.

An intriguing tale, well-told, with mystery and adventure in abundance.

Book Review: Moon Over Tangier by Janice Law

Moon Over Tangier
A Francis Bacon Mystery
by Janice Law
Mystery/Crime/Gay Protagonist
Mysterious Press/Open Road Integrated Media
Release Date: August 2014
4.5 Stars
Review Copy from Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher

Blurb:

In colonial Morocco, a painter navigates a conspiracy of forgery, corruption, and murder.

For Francis, life with David grows more dangerous by the day. When sober, he is charming, but when he drinks, he is violent, slashing Francis' paintings and threatening to gut the painter, too.

When David leaves London for Morocco, Francis cannot help but follow this man whom he loves but can no longer trust. In Tangier, they find a thriving community of expats who guzzle champagne while revolutionaries gather in the desert.

But in Morocco's International Zone, death does not wait for rebellion.

After Francis identifies a friend's Picasso as a fake, the police call him in to investigate the forger's demise. If he refuses, they will throw David in jail, where inmates and the DTs will kill him within the week. Between the bustle of the city and the emptiness of the desert, Francis finds that in Morocco, even the fakes can be worth killing for.

Review:

I read the sub-title, A Francis Bacon mystery, and assumed that there is a series of books featuring Francis Bacon. All true, but it was only as a I started reading and realised the main character was a painter that it finally clicked. It was the Francis Bacon, famous painter and I felt rather foolish that I hadn't connected the name already.

Although this is the third in the series, it works well as a standalone novel and at no point does the reader feel out of their depth.

The book opens with Francis being threatened by his long-term lover, David, who then ups sticks and moves to Morocco. Francis has little choice but to follow, for David is the love of his life and he can't do without him, despite David's drunken outbursts and abuse. David was a war hero and the scars on his psyche are not only skin deep. Francis wants to help him, but has no idea how, and they both chase after pleasure with other men in Morocco, all if it fleeting.

At a party hosted by one of David's ex-pat friends, Richard, their host is keen to show off his newest acquisition, a Picasso that Francis realises immediately was fake. Voicing these suspicions out loud soon as Francis on the run from the police, a murderer, Soviet spies and British ones too. What has he stumbled onto? And how can he keep David safe from all of it?

This is a wonderful, rip-roaring adventure, with lots of derring-do and stiff upper lips, as would have been the case in those days, set shortly after the Second World War. The author vividly paints the era and the locales in the book, from the hot, sultry and spicy heat of Morocco, to the grey and washed-out city of London.

I don't know much about the artist Francis Bacon and it was intriguing to find him the protagonist in a crime novel, but it worked very well. The readers knows, or gleans quickly from the book that Francis is gay, but it was not something to be discussed openly in those days, but people knew it went on. Francis' sexual encounters are hinted at, not described, but you do know they happen.

It is a very well-written novel, everything to do with the mystery gets tied up, nothing is left hanging. My one niggle was that a lot of the spelling and word choices were American, rather than British, which I would have expected in a book mainly about British characters and British set.

All in all a great read if you want a bit of adventure without leaving your armchair.