Review: Lucky by Ana Bosch

Lucky (Evergreen) by Ana Bosch
Dreamspinner Press
Short Story: 76pgs
4 Pants Off

Blurb:
Ever since Martel Heller rolled his first dreadlock, his love life has been blessed. For seven years he’s had the luxury of cherry-picking the hottest men available. But when the dress code at his new job forces him to hack off his lucky locks, his good fortune comes to an end.

To make matters worse, if Martel shows up at the company Christmas party alone, his creepy coworker Phil will know he’s single. As a last resort, Martel enlists his best friend, Felix, a fashion photographer, to hook him up with a model. Then plans fall through, and Martel ends up stuck at the Christmas party with the last person he expects—but as the hours pass, he wonders if he's finally learned what it means to be lucky.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2012 Advent Calendar package "Evergreen"

Review:
Martel has a lot going for him; especially his dreads that guarantee he gets laid. Never one to be turned down, that is until his boss tells him to get it cut because it doesn't suit the workplace. With the haircut Martel seems to have lost his mojo, also the hairdresser left a shaved streak in the back. Martel then blames his best-friend Felix the one who sent him to the salon. Well, Martel needs a date to his work holiday party and he needs it bad. Phil his boss has been making sexual advances and he wants to put him off for good, and he needs a hot date to pose as his boyfriend (might not happen cus his hair is so messed up, boohoo).

With his mojo gone (the hair) it's up to Felix to land him his hot date but instead Felix turns out to be his hot date (say what). Martel doesn't think it will work: for Felix isn't hot enough (though he's dressed to kill and looking good) but he really isn't the type he would go for. However, beggars can't be choosers and hopefully pervert boss Phil will get idea, Martel is surely taken.

Really, Martel is a shallow character but I really liked him. He's not completely horrible and has moments of kindness. Plus, he's Cuban-Jamaican and any diversity in a character is a sure win in my book. My only big problem was that of his boss Phil *grrrr* there is office flirting, and then there is one comment away from ending up on a sex offender list (This rings true of Pervert Phil). I can't imagine a job being so important to take someone saying they’re going to tie you up. That is just all kinds of inappropriate.

Lucky also has one of my fave tropes, the friends to lovers. I was rooting for them from the beginning, and Felix easy acceptance was just beautiful. There was no questioning; he just went with the flow. I wanted it to be longer, but I feel good about how the author ended the story. It’s the right kind of holiday feel and Martel's job really makes it especially Christmassy.

Should You Read It? Yes, because it has interracial love :D and Martel had dreads (that’s freaking cool) and he really grows on you. Check out pervert Phil, he's so vile I am surprised he hasn't been arrested yet. Really nice read!

4 Pants Off

2012 Book Wrap-Up: Fehu's Favourites

Oh well there are many books to chose from :)

Favorite book 2012 from a debut author is.....: To Touch the Stars by Jeremy Pack

But as a contemporary novel I'd have to say : The Rare Event by PD Singer (I hadn't thought all this economy and hedge fond stuff could be interesting but she managed to make it quite the read.)








Fave Wolves-Shifters of 2012:

Body Magic by Poppy Dennison
Raven and the Wolf (Eyrder Saga #1) by Mari Evers









Fave Vamps of 2012
Written in Blood by Luisa Prieto
Blacker Than Black by Rhi Etzweiler



Fave Butt Virgin or Overall Virgins of 2012

The Last Concubine by Catt Ford

Fave Young Guy Gets Poked by Older Dude (like a 10 or over age difference)

Chaos by Megan Derr

Fave PNR (Paranormal Romance) of 2012:

Black Magic by Megan Derr

Gravediggers Brawl by Abigail Roux

Fave Crime-Mystery of 2012:

Stars & Stipes by Abigail Roux

Fave Series of 2012: 

The Lost Gods by Megan Derr

Guest Post: Christmas special no-nos (a subjective list) by K.A Merikan

It’s that time of year again. Everything’s red, white and green, there are Santas on every street corner and tv shows indulge us all with the proper Christmas spirit. All those commercials that promise amazing festive deals for those who so far forgot to buy gifts for their loved ones (just like me at the moment I’m writing this) inspired me to reread some of the christmas-themed stories/specials/chapters I’ve written. Let’s face it: anyone who reread their early works was at least mildly embarrassed by what they’ve found. Well, my Christmassy stuff from years ago is horrendous, with the ones written in high school topping it all.

When I was done mocking my early attempts at authoring, my first thought was to write a post about my take on the perfect Christmas story, but then again is there anything like that? I’m the type who can enjoy both fluff and a kinky short about a bunch of reindeer-boys pleasing their handsome and not-so-ancient owner (which is kind of in line with something I’m working on with my co-author right now). It is much easier to sum up the things one should avoid in Christmas shorts, based on my early failures. So here it goes:


1) Long descriptions of food/drinks
We all know the bigger the holiday, the more delicacies there are on the table, but is it really interesting to read all those descriptions? Is it sensible to tease the poor reader like that? What if all they have in the fridge is a box of cheap french fries? Pure sadism, especially if the characters are snacking on pecan pie.

2) Likewise, but with presents
I once wrote a scene with eight characters exchanging gifts and I not only mentioned each present, but even described some of them. It makes absolutely no sense and is boring to the reader. I guess it’s always best to stick to the meaningful gifts. The other ones will be forgotten anyway, because for meaningless things, most people have goldfish memory.

3) Cliches!
Ok, that’s a tricky one, because anything can work if it’s well done, but the fact is that everyone knows how Christmas should be like. For those raised in countries where Christmas is a big thing, the image of its idealised version is always ready to retrieve. It usually features a decorated tree, a fireplace with socks hanging over it, a nicely dressed family or a couple making Christmassy love in front of the already mentioned fireplace. That’s all cool, but the readers have seen it all. They are probably watching snapshots like that every time they switch on their televisions (maybe not the couple, but you get my drift). Even if the author’s idea of a twist on the topic doesn’t go all the way to mixing holiday spirit with sci-fi, it’s great to read something a little bit different. If the story’s meant to be semi-traditional, why not change the setting to somewhere exotic, or throw some kind of catastrophe on the characters. Or, literally, have a cat throw the christmas tree down the stairs. Yay for disaster.

I probably missed some valid points here, so I beg you to forgive me. It’s Christmas.

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Agnes Merikan is the worse half of the dynamic duo writing as K.A. Merikan( http://kamerikan.com ). Kat and Agnes have so far published two M/M romance novellas set in a steampunk world plagued by the undead, Scavengers: July( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14739686-scavengers ) and Scavengers: August( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15753465-scavengers ), as well as a free erotic short, Birthday Burglar( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16073518-birthday-burglar ). Agnes can be found on Twitter @AgnesMerikan .

Guest Post: Decking the Halls and Kissing Balls by Ana Bosch

~Ana Bosch is here with an awesome post, so be sure to comment and share your decorating skills~

Growing up, I was never a big fan of decorating for the holidays. To me, it was just another routine chore: drag the cruddy old artificial tree up from the basement, spend a few hours trying to untangle the tumbleweed of tacky neon lights, and then hang up the usual sticky ornaments that seemed to smell mysteriously like mold and cat urine. The end result never looked good, but it didn’t really matter because no one really cared.

It wasn’t until about five years ago that I finally gained an interest in holiday décor. To be totally honest, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I’d landed a job as a product developer in the field of holiday décor and collectibles, so if I wanted to be good at my job, I had to get educated.

At first, I fooled myself into thinking that holiday décor was just my job, and that it wouldn’t affect me as a person. But as I sat in my cubicle designing kitschy atrocities like Santa Claus carrying the baby Jesus, or suicidal snowmen gathering around a campfire, or dachshund nativity sets, little did I know that the holiday cheer was seeping into my pores and infecting my bloodstream. Before I knew it, I found myself getting excited at the sight of glitter and snowflake ornaments and Christmas villages.

After working in the industry for a few years, I finally decided that I would actually put in an effort to make my house look suitably festive for the holiday season. Really, I had no excuse not to. I had enough free samples from my job to turn my house into a replica of Santa’s workshop, after all. But my personal aesthetic was at odds with the company I worked for, and let’s face it, I wanted to have fun with my decorations. I also didn’t want to spend a whole lot of time or money, so I took every chance I could to spruce up my existing decorations rather than switching them out for Christmas. The end result was an odd mix of classic and… weird.

So now I’m going to share some of my favorite tips and tricks for holiday decorating:

1. I like to have a color theme when I decorate. These are a few of my favorites, although I’m partial to the “Elegant Christmas” palette. I use these colors as a guide when I’m picking up ornaments and picks and accents.

2. Nice tree skirts are really frickin’ expensive! I prefer to use a cheap, ugly, tacky tree skirt, cover it with fake snow, and put together a nice winter village. Now, this example isn’t all that special. I used a village from my job because I happened to have spare samples. But this year I plan to improve on it by picking up a few cheap plastic dinosaurs.

Beware: pets are likely to get the most enjoyment out of your fake snow.

3. Anything can be made into a Christmas decoration if you throw a bit of festive foliage behind it. This works especially well with white porcelain statues. Here you see my lovely Reclining Deerman, which I purchased from Melabo on Etsy. He stays out all year round, but during the holidays, he gets a pine and holly backdrop.

4. The same goes for Santa hats. Throw one on anything, and it’s instant Christmas. I’m using a ferret hat because, yes, I happen to have ferret hats lying around the house. But you can just as easily make them out of paper or cheap fabric and craft pompoms. Watch while a simple Santa hat transforms this traumatizing dog toy into a traumatizing Christmas dog toy:

It’s like magic!

5. Nativity sets are always better when you mix and match. See how much classier my dad’s old Boehm nativity is with a bonus sheep from The Bradford Exchange’s Thomas Kinkade outdoor nativity set?

6. When decorating your tree, always make sure the size of your ornaments complements the size of your finials.

7. Inflatables are more fun when they’re only partially inflated.









As is always the case with my decorating endeavors, I start out classy and gradually go downhill. But hey, at least I have fun this way!

I used my holiday décor product development background as inspiration when writing Lucky, my newly released Christmas novella. Martel, the main character, works at a company that designs holiday products. Among other things, he gets to discover the joys of kissing balls, which are one of the more unfortunately named pieces of holiday décor out there.

How about the rest of you? What are your favorite pieces of holiday décor? What are your decorating secrets?

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Blurb:

Ever since Martel Heller rolled his first dreadlock, his love life has been blessed. For seven years he’s had the luxury of cherry-picking the hottest men available. But when the dress code at his new job forces him to hack off his lucky locks, his good fortune comes to an end.

 To make matters worse, if Martel shows up at the company Christmas party alone, his creepy coworker Phil will know he’s single. As a last resort, Martel enlists his best friend, Felix, a fashion photographer, to hook him up with a model. Then plans fall through, and Martel ends up stuck at the Christmas party with the last person he expects—but as the hours pass, he wonders if he's finally learned what it means to be lucky.

Purchase Lucky 

Review: By Chance by Cat Grant

By Chance (Courtland Chronicles #1) by Cat Grant
Self-Published
Novella: 103pgs
4 Pants Off

Blurb:
A life of wealth and privilege doesn’t equal happiness—just ask Eric Courtland. Growing up with a cold, unfeeling father and unstable mother has taught him exactly what he doesn’t want out of life or love. The troubled young man prefers a solitary life and is content to keep it that way until a campus emergency saddles him with an unwanted roommate.

Popular, wholesome, straight Nick Thompson is far more temptation than Eric’s prepared for, but Nick’s warm, easygoing manner gradually cracks through Eric’s prickly protective shell.

After Eric suffers a traumatic attack, their friendship gives way to an intense passion. Eric’s no stranger to casual sex, but what he feels for Nick is something deeper, and more fragile.

Independent Eric doesn't know the first thing about being in a relationship, much less with a lover who can't even admit he's gay. But conservative Nick can't seem to find his way out of his own personal closet.

Rock, meet hard place.

Review:
Eric Courtland had lived a life of privilege but the downside was being with his family. He's learned to keep everyone at arms length and cannot see himself connecting with anyone. He even pays off the person in charge of the dorm rooms so he can always have his own room. When a flood leaves many students without a room, there is no choice but to put another person with Eric. Lets just say he doesn't take it quite well and his new roommate Nick gets the fire of his anger.

Eric is unwilling to compromise so Nick gets to hit couch, but even though he rather be alone he can’t help but be attracted to Nick. Tentatively the men begin a friendship and it becomes more after Eric is attacked in a bathroom hook up gone bad and Nick provides comfort. A kiss has them both scared even more so for Nick, because now he has to question his sexuality.

Their relationship is a series of difficulties with Eric being openly gay and Nick never even knowing he had a closet to climb out of. Bring in Eric's rich family matters and you have yourself a recipe for disaster, emotions are running high and Eric's douchebaggery comes out in full effect. Luckily, Nick has his friend Ally (a past girlfriend) she really is strong character and provides the support that Nick so obviously needs, even putting aside her own feelings and making sure her friends are happy.

It’s a character driven story, and at most times the characters were frustrating. However, I did enjoy them a lot and found myself so caught up in their story and blossoming love. The glimpse into Eric's family life provided a nice foundation so the reader doesn't end up completely hating him. The ending annoyed me a bit (Eric pulls a douche move again) and the separation and reconciliation was just "meh". Plus, it left me doubting Eric’s feelings (man he just has a destructive type of nature).

This is a re-release of the series so I do know that it becomes m/m/f O_o and I am not sure I am on board for that. I'm not sure I really want to know how the characters develop into making it into ménage. However, I am very interested in how Nick/Eric relationship progresses cus this book ended on HFN feel.

Should You Read It? If you are a fan of Cat Grant, yes. It’s a good read with interesting characters, and who doesn't love a good college coming out. I doubt I will be continuing on, but I am glad I read By Chance.

4 Pants Off