Arcada 1: Blacque/Bleu -Review-

Being Gay and in the closet is hard enough in a small town.  Now add a super attraction to the near century old vampire next door, a pushy father who wants grandchildren and you to take over the family, a sister who is in to everything, and oh yeah you just happen to be an alpha werewolf.  That is only the beginning of what is going on with Lukas Blacque. 


Lukas has been in the closet his entire life and had done really well until Bleu stepped into his life and messed with everything he thought he knew.  Lukas thought he had enough in his life to keep him occupied, he had a successful mechanic shop, he was slowly adding on to his tattoo, and the world was running the way his father would have wanted it.  Until the day that his father decides that Lukas is going to take over the pack and needs to be put into training to be Alpha.  Part of this training is to start having children. 

Bleu had been fading for years, just wanting his afterlife to end.  Nothing excited him anymore.  Until he had his chance with Lukas then everything changed.  He had a reason to live again and a reason to fight convention.  However the situation going on behind the love affair means that it will be over before it starts. 

Belinda McBride delivers a very enjoyable romance between two hot paranormal men.  While I know this is not the first in these particular genera it is the one I have enjoyed the most.  I look forward to seeing what else McBride has to share with us about the lives of Arcada. 

Promises in Every Star-Review

Promises in Every Star is not normally what I would have chosen for myself. However, there are some great stories hidden in this book of short stories.  It would be a mistake to label any of these stories Romance, some are not even that erotic, and in fact almost all of them end in almost a sad way.  While there is defiantly a touch of hot and steamy, but in some of the stories the sex is not the main focus.  There are stories about lost love, new adventures, ghostly encounters, and encounters with creatures of the deep in this book.

What this book does offer is a great view on the insight of an aging gay male and the fantasy's that one might have.  However, each fantasy is touched with more than a little reality.  At the end of the book I couldn't help but feel sad for most of the men I met.  While they do get sex, most do not find what they are really looking for. If you are looking for happy endings, and forever ever after I strongly suggest you find another book.  If you are looking for a collection of erotic stories with a touch of real life thrown in then you might want to give this book a read. 
 

Here is the Synopsis for the book.  

Todd Gregory has become one of the most acclaimed writers and editors of gay male erotica over the past ten years. His short stories run the gamut from romance to noir to horror to fantasy—but the common denominator is always hot, passionate sex between two men. Published everywhere from websites to anthologies to magazines, Todd Gregory is always provocative—physically and intellectually. Here, in Promises in Every Star, for the first time, all of his published short stories are in one place. This collection also includes several never-before-published stories.