Instead of Roses and Rings

Instead of Roses and Rings is a wonderful tale of love and healing for two men in one university. This is not a "smut" romance – you will not find erotic scenes in this tender, insiders’ view into the life of men who prefer the company of men.

Chris unknowingly haunts Alexis from the moment they meet. Alexis sees things that lead him to believe that Chris has the gift of sight and this intrigues him - yet Alexis also fears an eerie paranormal connection between Chris’s features and an old lover who died in the past.

Innocent of all of this, Chris clumsily struggles to understand his sexuality and the new lifestyle without the aide of having someone there to explain things to him or share his fears with. He selflessly and without pride, adores Alexis with such intensity that it almost destroys them both – yet it ends up being their very salvation.

Torn between emotional scars from the past and society’s expectations, they attempt to maintain composure while dealing with these new and intense feelings. Leering and biased adversaries seem to lurk around every corner, yet good–hearted friends give them the strength and the council to get beyond misunderstandings and face the strong, confusing emotions that come with the beginnings of love. These two men are from the same world, but have come from opposite ends of the spectrum – love soon proves to be blind to all such boundaries.

I would be remiss as a reviewer if I did not mention the myriad of grammatical errors in this book. Sentences were occasionally missing entire words or used the wrong word (i.e. hear instead of here) and the author’s use of incorrect punctuation brought down the quality of my journey in this tale as a reader.

The dream sequences were some of the most unique that I have read. The author decided to refrain from any punctuation of any kind, which once accustomed to, actually brings a real sense of the speed and flashing events that people experience in dreams.

ISBN#: 0-9549992-0-7
Author: P.A. Breinburg
Publisher: Petrojass Publications

Some Enchanted Autumn

Some Enchanted Autumn by Linda Andrews is an excellent gift idea for the Halloween season. Vampires, skeletons, spiders, witches… they are all here – but this is definitely not a children’s book.

One town, founded by the same wagon train during the pioneering days of the North American continent, holds a secret that could destroy them all.
Divided by a bitter and ancient rift, it becomes two rival towns – Pumpkin and Holly. These folks take their holidays seriously, but none more so than Pumpkin’s residents do.

Lonnie, who is running both from herself and from facing her pompous and boring boyfriend, returns to Pumpkin - her hometown. There she meets Nicholas who is both more wonderful than her wildest dreams and as frightening as her childhood nightmares. Together they are assigned the difficult task of discovering the "Prankster’s" identity and the reason’s why that person is set on keeping the ancient rift between the towns alive.

Nicholas and Lonnie harbor a steamy and slightly erotic passion for one another, which they do their best to keep in check. Their family ancestors, after all, were the main players in the rift that continues to tear the towns apart.

I would classify Some Enchanted Autumn as a fantasy-fiction, paranormal-romance novel with comedic elements. Although it begins with a bit of confusion, the story rises in pace until I felt unwilling to put the book aside. This 238-page book is not the author’s first endeavor. In fact, Linda has written two other books, The Christmas Village and Ghost of a Chance.

ISBN#: 1-55410-287-1
Author: Linda Andrews
Publisher: Zumaya Publication

Waxing - Book Review

The excerpt in the opening page of Waxing, before all the credits and the title page, was fantastic! That little enticing excerpt compelled me to read on with energy. This compact, 204 page fiction could be classified as a paranormal romance fantasy.

Author Megan Powell uses wit and pace to create a fun and suspenseful story. An alpha werewolf male is cursed and assailed from unexpected directions. In desperation, he turns to a solitary witch in hopes of righting wrongs and keeping peace within his pack. This is a story about obligations, finding love and balancing an underground life while intermingling with a society that must never know their kind exists.

Contrary to many stories involving werewolves and witches, Waxing has a believable scenario, is action-packed with an interesting and complex romance between the main characters, Derek and Liz. The author displays a rare talent in bringing the reader into the story at a deeper level by showing the thought processes of her main characters.

Having written her own books, participated in several short-story anthology books and currently editing two e-zines while doing book reviews for another e-zine, one could easily say that Megan Powell is an accomplished and busy writer. Her work tends to involve notes of magic, mystery and the intrigue of the unknown.

I enjoyed reading Waxing by Megan Powell. Actually the story reminded me of another enjoyable book entitled Shifter by J & G Reeves-Stevens - book one of the Chronicles of Galen Sword. Waxing, however, would be appropriate for young adult and adult readers alike.

ISBN#: 1-55410-263-4 (also available in e-book format)
Author: Megan Powel
Publisher: Zumaya Publications