|
Sinful Sirens Blog Hop (ends at 12:01 AM on May 21st)
Wet and Wild Giveaway Hop... (starts May 20th and ends May 25th)
Fantasy Blog Hop... (starts June 27th and ends June 30th)
**More contests will be added as the schedule is updated.
Thanks for dropping by Blackraven's Erotic Cafe!
January 30th, 2012
 Dharma Cafè by Jessica Freely
Publisher: Loose-ID
Genre: GLBT, M/M, Paranormal, Multicultural Romance
Length: 232 pages
Summary:
Welcome to the Dharma Café, a restaurant like no other. There is no menu. The waiter, Samura, uses mystical powers to read what each customer needs, and the cook, Agatha, prepares the food with ingredients like love, hope, and courage.
The café is a refuge for the new busboy, Charlie, who was kicked out of home on his eighteenth birthday. Irresistibly drawn to Samura, Charlie soon discovers that the stern, formal waiter harbors a heartbreaking past and a dangerous secret.
Samura lives in fear that one day, the darkness inside him will burst forth to destroy all he loves. Now that includes brash, infuriating, delectable Charlie, who has broken through all Samura’s defenses and taught him to trust himself.
Just when Samura thinks it might be safe to reveal the truth, his worst nightmare walks back into his life: His father, Akio, the evil food sorcerer who runs the burger stand on the other side of town. Akio’s business is expanding and he wants his son to manage his new location, where the Dharma Café now stands.
It will take the combined resources of an ancient cook, a novice dishwasher, and a cursed waiter to fight Akio and protect the café. But when Samura succumbs to Akio’s magic, will it be enough?
Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual situations, graphic language, and material that some readers may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices.
To read an excerpt, visit: http://www.loose-id.com/Dharma-Cafe.aspx.
Tamara’s Review:
 What can I say about Dharma Cafe by Jessica Freely? First of all, this isn’t my normal type of book. I love m/m but am more used to a in your face, lets get it on type of book (not that it’s a bad thing.) This book is one that I wouldn’t mind giving to my teenaged son or any young man who thinks they may be gay or even bi. The tasteful way that Ms. Freely handles this subject, intermixing it with a fantasy plot was absolutely wonderful.
In the story both Samuara and Charlie are very young (eighteen in fact). But what I happen to love about Dharma Cafe is the life lessons that it brings, about how not to judge a person by what you see but instead by their true selves. While there is m/m sex in this book, it was done in a delightful way that I don’t find objectionable or even coarse. When these two characters, Charlie and Samuara decide to finally make love, that’s exactly what they are doing. I wasn’t expecting to find a sweet romance story when I picked up Dharma Cafe. To say it rocked my world is an understatement, and proves the old adage of not judging a book by it’s cover very true. I will be looking for other books by Jessica Freely when I’m needing a lighter but more emotional type of read.
Rated 4 Ravens by Tamara!
Have Your Book Reviewed
Become A Reviewer
Posted in 4 Ravens, Author Review, Contemporary Romance, Dharma Cafè, GLBT, Jessica Freely, Loose Id, m/m, Multicultural, Paranormal Romance, Raven Divas, Tamara | No Comments »
June 7th, 2011
 The Ice Prince by Jessica Freely
Publisher: Loose-Id
Genre: GLBT, M/M, Contemporary
Length: 155 pages
Summary:
The habit of silence is hard to break.
Isolated by a cold and lonely past, David was on his own until Seth came along. Together they’ve forged a life full of love, friendship, and scorching hot sex. But just days before Christmas, David discovers a long buried secret that sheds new light on the father who rejected him.
The revelation dredges up painful memories and threatens to exile him to an icy land of silence. When Seth opens their home to a young man in trouble, David withdraws even more in a misguided effort to deal with his confusion and jealousy. The fact that the bookshop he’s worked at since high school is in danger of closing just makes everything worse. Seth wants him to talk about his problems, but what good are words when they can’t pierce his unresolved grief?
Seth is worried about David. Something’s wrong and he won’t talk about it. Day by day, he’s closing himself off, and everything Seth does to try to reach him just drives them further apart. As the holiday’s approach, both men will learn valuable lessons from unexpected sources, but the most important will be the secret to melting a frozen heart.
Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices.
Sofi’s Review:
Ice Prince was well worth the read. I enjoyed the story, and was surprised, after everything these guys went through in Rust Belt ,that there was any story left to tell. However, you soon discover that although they weathered a rough storm together–more than one, in fact–both David and Seth have a lot of room to learn and grow as people, and that puts a lot of strain on their relationship.
That character development went hand in hand with a good plot. There are things, little bits and pieces of revelation in the first book that were never really explained, and those bits are what haunt this story. David’s past, only slightly hinted at when Seth’s drama was front and center, comes to the fore in Ice Prince and since his past is so much a part of how he deals with his present, it definitely has an effect on his relationship with Seth.
In the end, you can’t help but feel for these two, as they battle problems that are a lot harder to deal with than gangs and criminals, because these are matters of the heart, not things you can grapple with and throw down. In the process, they interact with some very compelling new characters, and as a reader, you can’t help but get attached to the other players in this story. Ms. Freely has done a wonderful job of drawing a whole new set of terrific characters to get to know and care about.
I would say the next to last chapter has a whole lot of Christmas bows tossed in there to tie up all the loose ends, and for my tastes, it’s a tiny bit of over-the-top candy-floss coating on the otherwise very satisfying bitter-sweet flavour of this book. The past is the past, after all, and you can’t go back. But going forward isn’t always guaranteed, either, and that’s something both David and Seth are forced to realize in this book.
Rated 4.5 ravens by Sofi!
Have Your Book Reviewed
Become A Reviewer
Posted in 4 1/2 Ravens, Author Review, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, GLBT, Jessica Freely, Loose Id, m/m, Raven Divas, Sofi, The Ice Prince | No Comments »
May 10th, 2011
 Rust Belt by Jessica Freely
Publisher: Loose Id, LLC
Genre: M/M, Erotic Suspense, Contempoary
Length: Novel
Summary:
Times are tough in the Rust Belt, where once mighty industries now wither and die. As a city struggles for survival, two men find passion, comfort, and redemption in each other’s arms.
Seth is scarred, body and soul, by his experiences in the Pit, an illegal fighting ring where men are brutalized for the entertainment of the crowd. Though he managed to escape, Seth will never forget those he had to leave behind. When he meets David, he is instantly attracted to him but knows that the sexy, bookish blond is far beyond his reach. Then David is attacked on the street and in an eye blink, Seth alters both of their lives forever.
For lonely, virginal David, Seth comes out of the night like a hero from one of his favourite books, only hotter. Seth’s passion and tenderness pierce the protective shell of isolation David has drawn around himself. In the wake of their shatteringly erotic encounter, David asks Seth to live with him. But just when it seems like happily ever after can happen even in Detroit, Seth’s past comes back to drag them back into the Pit.
Publisher’s Note: This is a sequel to a book released by another publisher, and contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices, strong violence.
Sofi’s Review:
Very rarely does a book come along that it pins me in that awkward space between needing to keep reading to reach the Happily Ever After, and needing to stop because I can’t take a moment more. Trust me when I say Ms. Freely had me filled with dread for the sake of her characters.
That dread came completely by surprise, too. If this book has one issue for me, it’s that I didn’t feel that close to the characters. Or so I thought. I guess both Seth and David snuck under my skin when I wasn’t paying attention.
Then Ms. Freely tossed Seth in the Pit. That’s when the push-me-pull-me set in. Do I keep reading and risk finding out that ‘more’ and ‘worse’ things happen to these guys? Or do I stop because it’s all so overwhelming and I think I might have a fit?
This is were that inherent promise between romance writer and romance reader comes into play. This is why that question, “How important is a happy ending?” is so oft asked. Because when a book gets so difficult and emotional to read you feel like you have to stop (and I confess, I did stop and take a breather, at one point), as a reader, you come to rely on that promise of a happy ending being fulfilled. Lord help the author who writes a book this gut-wrenching and doesn’t follow through on that promise, because what happens? This: Book, meet wall. Husband: add ‘fix hole in wall’ to your to-do list.
Luckily, that didn’t happen this time, because Ms. Freely follows through, and while this book packs a wallop, it also keeps all it’s promises. If the plot of Rust Belt is a tad formulaic, the way Ms. Freely pulls it off is most definitely not. She doesn’t pull any of those emotional punches, and the result is a story that is well worth the price of admission. I’m stoked to read Ice Prince.
Also, on a side, but related note: this publisher, Loose Id, deserves kudos. It is turning into a publisher I trust to deliver quality reading on a consistent basis.
Rated 4.5 Ravens by Sofi!
Have Your Book Reviewed
Become A Reviewer
Posted in 4 1/2 Divas, Author Review, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, GLBT, Jessica Freely, Loose Id, m/m, Raven Divas, Rust Belt, Suspense | No Comments »
|
|
What can I say about Dharma Cafe by Jessica Freely? First of all, this isn’t my normal type of book. I love m/m but am more used to a in your face, lets get it on type of book (not that it’s a bad thing.) This book is one that I wouldn’t mind giving to my teenaged son or any young man who thinks they may be gay or even bi. The tasteful way that Ms. Freely handles this subject, intermixing it with a fantasy plot was absolutely wonderful.
