Ellen HolidayCritiques

Captain Merric by Rebecca Cohen - DNF
Touched by the West Wind by Ellen Holiday - 3,5 stars stars
The Golden Galleon by K.R. Foster - 3 stars
My Hand in Yours by Emily Moreton - 3 stars
Ghost of Jupiter by Jana Denardo - 2 stars
Officer and a Gentleman Pirate by E.S. Douglas - DNF
Objectivity by K.J. Johnson - 3 stars
Worth the Price by Cornelia Grey - 2.5 stars
Peter and the Lost Boys by Juan Kenobi - 2 stars
Irish Red by M.J. O'Shea - 3 stars
Black John by Piper Vaughn - 2,5 stars
Rough Trade by Cooper West - 2,5 stars
From a Simmer to a burn by B. Snow - 3 stars
On the Wings of Lir by Riley Shane - 2,5 stars
The Winds of Change by Maggie Lee - DNF

The story of Tony a home remodeler who moves into a home with Bryan and Marcus to work on some projects.

This story is told in first person through Tony's eyes, and I couldn't quite indentify with Tony. I kept thinking this story might have been better told in third person. Tony's character wasn't as clear to me, I got a much better feel for Bryan and Marcus. The one thing I got about Tony was that he was incredibly lonely.

I think I would have liked to learn more about Bryan and Marcus and find out what attracted them to Tony and what sort of conversations they had with each other about him. As it was, the couple's background felt 'incomplete.'

The sex was hot and filled the prompt picture well.

I can't give more than three stars, because I need more info about Bryan and Marcus, and also not feel so distanced from Tony.

I was given this book by the Hearts on Fire blog, for an honest review, thank you.



Summary :

Senator Davis Hudson is a focused, ambitious, forty-seven year old politician who knows the right thing to say at the right time. He’s up for re-election and is wondering whether to run for Senate again or aim for something higher. Davis sets the Senate on fire with his speech “Daniel in the Den of Lions” and suddenly he’s in the limelight. Now, Davis needs to keep himself in the public eye. But instead, he becomes more and more distracted by Kurt Lamb, a makeup artist for CNN whom Davis meets when Davis shows up for an interview at the station. What starts out as a friendship over coffee between the two gradually develops into something much more. Try as Davis might, he finds it impossible to resist Kurt and falls for him hard. He’s conflicted about his feelings because the situation with Kurt could ruin his run for the presidency, yet he can’t stay away. Never having been with a man before, Davis is fearful, not just of the sexual acts themselves, but that by exploring this aspect of himself further he will commit to a certain road that could ruin his career and from which he can’t turn back.

Kurt Lamb is smart, a liberal and once worked in media analysis. Comfortable with himself and his life, Kurt falls for Davis soon after they meet. He’s willing to be ‘Davis’ dirty little secret,’ if Davis needs Kurt to be that. He gives himself fully to their relationship from the very beginning letting Davis set the pace in how fast and how far Davis is willing to go, both emotionally and sexually.

Things should be looking up for Davis now that he’s found Kurt, but a vindictive ex-wife hovers in the background waiting to wreak havoc on everything that Davis has achieved and with some help from another enemy on the Hill, they just might succeed. Little do they know that Davis has acquired a powerful friend who comes through with valuable advice when it’s sorely needed.


Review :

Inside the Beltway is told in third person through the eyes of Davis Hudson, Davis’ ex-wife Helen and for a brief moment Linda Wythe of the Washington Post. I would have preferred to read the story all from Davis’ pov, but I can understand why the author also showed us what was happening through Helen’s pov. I’m not really sure that it was necessary to show us what was happening through Linda’s eyes since her pov was pretty brief. I found the inner monologues rather boring, they could go on for quite some time describing the world of politics, the media, or Davis’ past relationship with Helen and her past with Davis. I’d find my mind wandering and then having to bring my attention back to the story. I don’t know if it’s the author’s writing style that made the monologues boring, or if she was trying to show how dull and colorless politics and Davis’ relationships had been before Kurt’s involvement in Davis’ life and how brighter it was with Kurt. I’m guessing it was the author’s writing style because even after meeting Kurt, Davis’ thoughts were still bland and did not brighten except when they involved Kurt. In any case what made the story interesting were the interactions of the characters and not the background information or descriptions.

The best part of the story for me, was the developing relationship between Davis and Kurt, this is where the author’s talent shone through. The care and eventual love that Davis felt for Kurt as time passed, was palpable. I could feel Davis’ belief that he had found his ‘home’ and that as long as he had Kurt, nothing else mattered. At first, it appears that Davis is not so much in the closet as he’s not even aware that he’s interested in men until Kurt comes along. His past relationships with women, including Helen, were not all that remarkable but he doesn’t really contemplate why they weren’t very fulfilling. For instance, he married Helen because he needed someone by his side as he pursued his ambitions and they were a good match at the time. Because of Davis’ desire to continue his career in politics and his fear of sex with a man, he is hesitant in getting involved with Kurt, but is too drawn to Kurt to resist for long. No matter how much Davis loved Kurt, it took him quite some time before he was ready to fully commit the final steps of giving his all of his heart and body to Kurt. This in a way, symbolized Davis’ indecision on what he was going to do about his political run for the presidency, was he going to run or wasn’t he? And if he was going to run, was he going to run for office like he did when he ran for Senator, or was Davis going to give his run a new approach? Only when things are pushed to a major turning point by Davis’ ex-wife Helen, and Davis receives a visit from Senator Randolph, does everything crystalize for Davis and he realizes what is most important to him and what he is going to do.

There are some sexual moments in this story, but they take a background to the politics, the ferreting out of secrets, and Davis and Kurt’s growing relationship. So if you’re looking for a book with lots of porn, this isn’t one of those. This also isn’t a book with lots of angst at least on my angst scale. I would say most of the angst comes from Davis’ indecision on what he wants from his relationship with Kurt and how Davis can keep it out of the public eye.

The story’s ending is open, letting the readers decide what the results of the exploratory committee are and whether or not Davis will run for presidency. So if you don’t like inconclusive endings, then this book might not be for you.

I read this story in pdf format on my NOOK and the formatting was terrible. Just about everything that could go wrong with the formatting went wrong. Only after I’d finished the book did I think to reformat through Calibre. This made the story much easier to read, but there are still numerous issues that needed fixing.

I’m conflicted on how to rate Inside the Beltway. On one hand, the long, boring inner monologues from Davis, Helen and Linda made my mind wander and cut down on my pleasure in reading the book, as did the formatting issues. But on the other hand, the author did an amazing job of showing us how Davis changed and began to care about people and life. She also showed us how Davis’ love for Kurt blossomed and how deep their connection grew, be it with or without sex. Because of how well Davis’ and Kurt’s love came through I’ll up this story to 3 stars else the rest of the book would have pulled it down to two.

I liked this story. There was some nice build up of a friendship between Tony and Marcus/Bryan (mixed in with Tony's feelings for the 2 guys that he worked for). Tony's frustration, fear, and sadness about thinking he had to leave them made me ache for him. Liked how the story all worked out.

As one of the group who worked on editing and proofing these stories and helped put the anthologies together I might be considered biased, but these anthologies are definitely worthy of the 5 star rating.

This short story had me bawling my eyes out because it brought back so many memories from that time.

I cried because my heart broke for Brandon and Richie and then again out of sheer joy! And on top of it all, it's absolutely beautifully written!

So a homeless man walks into a bar and he becomes the victim of insta-love from a millionaire.

The story sounds too good to be true but wait it gets...fantastically fiction like where the homeless guy refuses the help & millionaire's insta-love because the homeless guy wants to stand on his own two feet.

And how does the homeless guy do this? By telling the millionaire to get him a job.

*sigh*

Oh and they have sex.

The end.

Absolutely adorable! Made me cry a gallon of years. Recommended!

This book got under my skin. I found it completely engaging and very romantic. I look forward to reading more from this author.

This book got under my skin. I found it completely engaging and very romantic. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Bisserl viel paranormales Zeugs - da mich das nicht reizt, habe ich einiges überflogen. Den Rest fand ich aber ganz ok.

A good mix of stories in the anthology. Some were really good, and some were not exactly to my taste. But overall pretty interesting.
more later.

A good mix of stories in the anthology. Some were really good, and some were not exactly to my taste. But overall pretty interesting.
more later.

This book is not for the faint of heart with all the romances being between 2 guys otherwise known as a m/m romance. I did find most of the stories enjoyable and some funny/others emotionally touching. There are 14 pirate stories to tickle your fantasy if you enjoy this genre'. I have recently stumbled upon this genre' and have found it to be a new favorite of mine. What could be better than pirates on the high seas in historical romances that truthfully show the goings on behind the scenes with some of the most notable pirates of history.

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