Boots for the Gentleman by Augusta Li and Eon de Beaumnt

This is a wild ride! 4.5, I think, but rounded up for being so creative and original. I really haven't read anything like this before. It's more of an action-adventure story than a romance, just with gay main characters. This won't be for everyone, because it is really different.

First, the characters aren't typical heroes. Querry, the character whose POV the story is told, is a thief, a bit of a slut, and at times so reckless he's almost silly. That's who he is though, and he just won't bow to anybody. I kind of liked that about him, even when he made bad decisions, he was true to what he believed. He's had a rough life, and really could have turned out a lot worse than he did. He steals from rich people, but has a sort of code of honor of his own. He's a little arrogant and frustrated me at times, but overall I understood his motives, to survive and be free. Reg grew up with Querry, got a good break, and wants to lead a good life, which means getting married and breeding kids. When it comes down to it, he can't abandon his old friend and first love, and actually can kick some ass when he needs to.

Frolic, I loved. I don't want to ruin the surprises but that's him on the cover. He's a great character,personality, skills, beauty, everything. I loved him, and it hurt when he had to suffer and be confused.

The plot of this book is non stop action. There are plenty of fights, there's magic, and there's crazy technology. Querry gets his ass kicked A LOT. He takes it though, because he's so strong in his beliefs, and after a while so strong in his need to protect Reg and Frolic. The faeries are great, not human at all in their thinking. They're scary and intriguing at the same time, especially Querry's special "gentleman."

There are times when it feels like Querry is cheating, but I didn't hate him and kind of understood. There's no spoken restrictions on any of the men in the relationship, and he seems pretty confused. It felt realistic, what he did. That's my opinion, and other people might not agree, but it made sense in the context.

If you read this whole rambling mess, hey thanks!

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Miles and the Magic Flute by Heidi Cullinan

When the forest behind a Minnesota pawn shop turns out to be the doorway into a faerie paradise, Miles Larson doesn't see any reason to complain. He's bankrupt, single, and living in a trailer in his backwoods hometown after being laid off from his big city job: he could use a little downtime in a homoerotic dreamland.

But Miles soon learns that in the faerie world, nothing is quite as simple as it seems. The beautiful faerie man who has captured Miles's heart might also be after Miles's soul. The frightening beast who chases him through the forest is actually a noble-hearted human under a terrible curse. And at the center of it all is the deathly beautiful Lord of Dreams, a faerie so powerful that if Miles so much as looks at his face, he will be lost in dreamland forever.

The only hope for Miles's escape is a magic flute, an enchanted instrument that holds the answer to the faerie lord's defeat. But even if Miles is smart and strong enough to wield it, will he dare? When the cold light of truth dawns, if there is no reality beneath the love he's found in the faerie realm, Miles will have to return to his own world—alone.

This is a little difficult to review because I admit some of my personal preferences influenced my enjoyment. I really like fantasy and I love, LOVE faeries. (Go ahead and make jokes at my expense, I know you want to, LOL) When I first met Miles, the protagonist, I really didn't like him because he was whining, entitled, and basically just wallowing in self pity after he lost his job. I realized as I read further that the author made him that way on purpose, to show a contrast as he gradually became less selfish and less inclined to complain that life isn't fair and he deserves better. Miles is staying with friends and working at a pawn shop. He feels pulled to the woods nearby, where he eventually meets a beautiful fey named Terris and a beastly creature that Miles names Harry. He's given a choice between them, and of course he chooses the pretty faerie over the nasty, stinky creature intent on catching and raping him. This begins a series of odd events that take Miles to various dream and nightmare like realms as he tries to discover what is happening to him and how he can save himself from the Lord of Dreams.

Terris is great. I loved him. He's a true faerie: cold, manipulative, deceitful, vain and selfish. I know that doesn't sound very likable, but he's really well done, has some tragic back story to explain his motivations and...I really like faeries. Harry I couldn't understand. We're told he's good and noble, but I never saw it. I never understood why Miles fell so in love with him so fast, to the point where he's thinking about Harry while having amazing sex with perfect, beautiful Terris. I though Harry was just gross. He's hideous, smells bad, and wants to rape Miles. Eventually Miles decides he wants to save Harry and Terris from the Dream Lord, though he eventually sort of abandons Terris and focuses on Harry. To do so, he enlists the help of his friends, three lesbian witches who started out kind of cliched but eventually ended up fleshed-out and likable. He also must learn how to use the magic flute he finds in the pawn shop, and that's an interesting, intricate plot thread.

Unfortunately, at least for me, Miles has to do some pretty bizarre sexual stuff in his quest to save Harry. Some of this stuff is clap your hand over your mouth awful, especially when he has sex with Harry in his beast form. It was awful, I almost stopped reading. There are ginormous, magical sex toys, too much fisting, and magic faerie lube that facilitates the fisting. While I like the story, the interesting and inventive plot, the creative conflicts and unpredictability of it all, the sex was just not hot. Not at all, after the initial Terris scene, which wasn't romantic, but was at least pretty. After that I felt like I was watching a train wreck. This is just my opinion of course, but it was way outside my comfort zone.

Also, it wraps up a little too neatly in the end, and the last battle was a let down. Other than that, I did enjoy the story, some of the characters, and the fantasy setting. Just not the sex. Still, it deserves a good rating for an inventive story that I really did want to see resolved, and an interesting world, and some very cool characters.

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To Adam With Love by Adrienne Wilder

Adam's mother brought him as a child to the Gray Zone, the no man's land between the crumbling city and the Dens were the Kin-the Dragons-and Lesser-Breds-their mixed-blood offspring-live. He was different, not completely Human, and she knew fear and prejudice would drive people to do horrible things... like a father trying to kill his son. Five years later, Adam's father is behind bars and Adam has come home to the Zone, the last place anyone would expect innocence, loyalty, and devotion, to complete his becoming Lesser-Bred and find his best friend and only love, Ean.

But Ean has a life of his own. He's always wanted to belong to Batu, the Male Kin who has watched over him since childhood, but now Ean's caught in a deadly trap of biology and vengeance: he isn't enough to feed his beloved Adam during the dangerous transformation, and Kin won't allow an emotional bond in their midst. Years ago Ean lost Adam after failing to keep him safe. Now that Adam is back, will a simple feeling give Ean the strength to defy everything he's ever known and keep them together?

 I didn't realize when I purchased this book that it was set in an established world, and for a while I was a little lost. The protagonist, Adam, has known since childhood that he has dragon (called Kin) DNA, and one day his body will undergo a change as he takes his true form. As a boy he meets Ean, who while human has been raised by the dragons and behaves like them. Ean can't read or write, he barely wears clothes, and while he touches and licks Adam, he doesn't know how to kiss. Ean also doesn't understand love, he understands belonging and owning as the Kin do, and he hopes the dragon he belongs to, Batu, will also want to keep Adan so they can be together. But since Batu has Ean and two others dragons, he doesn't feel the need to add Adam to their family, and he can't understand the human emotions Ean has toward Adam.

The story alternates between flashbacks from Ean and Adam's childhood and the present. I found it particularly interesting to watch Ean and Adam grow up and start discovers their feelings for each other, even when they didn't know what they felt or they hurt each other. Also interesting is the contrast between their plans as boys and how those plans have to change to survive in the adult world. Ean is a fantastic character. He's fiercely loyal and would do anything for Adam, though at a few points in the story I felt like Adam didn't exactly deserve him. Adam takes Ean for granted at times, though he clearly does value him.

Since I've been asked specifically, no, there's no weird sex, like human on dragon, bdsm, or multiple partners, at least not on screen. It alludes to the idea that when a human belongs to a Kin, he can feed him, and if I understand this correctly that means the dragon literally eating bits of his partners during sex. Their bond with the dragon lets them heal from this. It's not shown in this book, and I really hope its not going to be shown in the future. As bad as it gets in this is just some biting, and its Ean and Adam, so it's hot and sweet. There's quite a bit of sex, maybe more than necessary, and its explained that going through this change makes Adam need it almost constantly. I'm getting a little tired of that cliche in shifter books, not that this is really a shifter book, IMHO. Still I see that excuse used all the time for a ton of sex scenes.

I had a problem with the ending. I'll try hard not to spoil anything, but if you're really planning to read this (and it's totally worth reading) you might stop here. Adam does something really, really bad at the end of the book. Like, horrific. And it's just kind of glossed over like its no big deal. I just couldn't see how he could do what he did to Ean after everything Ean went through for him. Honestly, it pissed me off. Then the subject of it was just dropped because out of nowhere, and without explanation as to how it was possible, another unlikely event occurs. Then it just kind of ends with characters still injured and some issues unresolved. This was a five for me, despite being a little unfamiliar with the world, up until the last few chapters.

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