Book Review - Hearts Truth

Heart's Truth
Tasmin Baker
ISBN: 978-0-9875982-3-3
Publisher: Steam eReads

Heart's Truth is a lovely little novella that strikes at the core of the struggles same sex relationships struggle with in our day and age. Yet, despite this awareness, Tasmin Baker offers the avid romance reader a HEA ending, so Heart's Truth becomes a charming story of one young man's discovery of his homosexuality and the journey he takes to come to terms with it, bundled up with the joy and celebration of love typical of all romance novels.

The novella starts out from thirty year old Marcus' point of view, a single gay man at a party with mostly straight people. It doesn't take long for his ravenous eye to settle on Danny, his friends younger brother, a twenty-one year old whose loins are set to flame at the sight of Marcus, and yet who hasn't really examined the truth of his feelings for men. We first meet the men on equal terms, the narrative delicately flitting between Marcus' careful seduction of Danny and Danny's growing enthusiasm as he finally finds a connection that gives him pleasure.

However, soon Heart's Truth becomes Danny's story, as Marcus comes to terms with the changes happening to him by the middle of the novella. It is Danny who has the biggest journey to travel here, and Danny who carries the burden of straight opinion of queer lifestyle. Under Tasmin Bakers deft hand, the careful blossoming of the relationship develops to the point where Danny must make a choice.

Tasmin Baker has taken a lovely story and woven it carefully around deliciously erotic couplings between the experienced Marcus and the tentative but highly aroused Danny. It's an exciting and titillating thing to be in the same room as these two men as they express such deep intimacy and passion for each other.

Heart's Truth is a short read, but a very pleasant one. 

The Bucket List: Part Two - Caught. Book review

The Bucket List Part Two: Caught

Author Annie Oakfield
Publisher: Steam eReads
ISBN: 978-0-9875982-6-4

The Bucket List part two: Caught is a very nice follow on from the first book, except this time Annie Oakfield toys with a more traditional fantasy. The Bucket List Part two: Caught is still a very imaginative read, even if the premise is one we might all recognize and perhaps even have our own fantasies about.

I don't want to give a plot spoiler, because if you don't know what's coming, its a lot more fun. However, this book is more sexually transgressive than the previous one, actually moving deeper into the realms of sex, and using more graphic language. Unlike the first, this novella focuses more on the sexuality than the relationship between the two women, however these two characters are so artfully drawn by Oakfield, I was really starting to wish I had a friend like Amber.

In sexual terms, this is a version of a BDSM style with menage and lesbian themes. The sex is darker and does play at the edges of permissions, in a safe sane and consensual way. Oakfield uses characterization and her talent for delving deep into a psyche to create a mix of feelings around the idea of "permission" which is something all women can relate to. Just what are you saying yes to when you say yes, and what does it mean to trust someone when you're pushing boundaries in sex?

What the novella doesn't do is explore more of the relationship between Amber and Lucy, and I would have liked a little more of that, but as a fan of the series, I'm assuming that will get played out with more depth in later works. It is tempting to ask how Lucy got herself into this, although we have a general idea, the way the relationships is organised is vague. But there is no mistake that this is a deliberate ploy to draw us closer to the overarching narrative by Oakfield, as we are often given little teasers of insights into the connection between the two women. She knows what she is doing when she draws us in by the nose.

The Bucket List Part two: Caught is every bit as fun as the first, with a little more salt on the lips, perhaps. The first was a steady and satisfying warm up to what Oakfield had in mind, and if the current trajectory is any indicator, future books will spice us off into orbit. 

Book Review - The Bucket List (Part One)

The Bucket List - Part One

Author: Annie Oakfield

Publisher: Steam eReads
ISBN: 978-0-9874581-2-4

It is a testament to the excellent writing of Annie Oakfield that The Bucket List part one is as sexy as it is - not to mention her wild imagination. I was following the new publications at Steam ereads at the time and I confess the thought of erotica centered around a women's only sex toy party wasn't a premise I was expecting to be that exciting, particularly because I had attended some of these gatherings in my past and they were giggly and fun, but erotic? No.

Boy was I wrong. Annie Oakfield is a fine writer for one, so that makes a very big difference when approaching any subject matter. She takes her time too, despite the short length of this novella, to expand into eroticism, which is the heart and soul of a good erotic novel, but particularity necessary when the subject matter is unusual. This all helps the reader build to the burn (so to speak) and work their way into an erotically charged scenario that is really more about absorbing experience rather than titillation.

Quiet, reserved Lucy lives with sexy wild Amber. They're room mates who occasionally provide for each other benefit-wise, though one senses Lucy might like something a little more from Amber who seems to enjoy teasing everyone, male or female. When a shy , but wild underneath woman attaches herself to an extrovert, it is often a set up to facilitate some action they don't have the talent to create for themselves. Not only does Annie Oakfield know this about her protagonist Lucy, but Amber knows it too, and steps in to provide access to secret fantasies Lucy doesn't even like to admit she has.

One night when drinking they create a 'Bucket List' of erotic experiences, a 'dumb things I gotta do before I die' list. Lucy coquettishly thinks this is all fun, but to her horror, Amber starts setting up each scenario. My understanding (and hope) is that the future novels will continue with this premise. Book one is Lucy's fantasy of being the try out model at a sex toy party filled with women, and the rest is... as they say, history.

The relationship between the two women, emphasized at the start of The Bucket List is underplayed for the rest of the novella, but one assumes this will be the long running theme that works through the other stories. The sexual premise is unusual, and therefore the sexual writing becomes very interesting, transporting the reader into a world they might not have experienced before. This is part of the purpose of erotica, (like all good literature) to transport the reader into an experience they may not have had, and in fact may be intrigued by, but have no intention of having. With such lovely writing, the novella is not only a physical pleasure, but also a well written one. Below is an example of a sentence from the start that I loved:

"My jeans were draped over the back of a nearby wicker chair, the empty legs hovering over my walking boots like a deflated version of myself."

This is the quality of image and sentence deceptively simple, but lovely sentence structure one can expect, and it brings Lucy and Amber alive.

I am currently reading the second in the novella series, and will review when done. This first is a strong recommendation from me.

You can purchase The Bucket List Part One here. 

Spellbound to be published by Steam eReads on February 14 2014

Spellbound

I am thrilled to announce a new novel I've written entitled Spellbound. I wrote Spellbound at the end of 2012 and it had a strange journey, moving from agent to agent, until I entered it into the (very lucrative) Steam eReads erotic fiction contest, where it became a finalist. As soon as Spellbound made it through the first round, I pulled it out of the agent selections, and let the novel find its own path.  I was offered a contract by Steam eReads and jumped at the chance to be published by this exciting new publisher.

Spellbound is the first of a trilogy about Connie, a young woman in Sydney's Kings Cross who is struggling to become a film maker. Struggling, that is, until she meets the handsome multi-millionaire Jack Sinclair, who introduces her to the world of BDSM, as seductively as he creates film connections for her career. But Connie is independent, and Jack isn't all that he seems - which is a problem because Connie is falling hard.

Spellbound is heavily influenced by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and uses many Hitchcock tropes such as slow winding suspense and small mysterious clues, along with old world 1940's glamour set in a 2013 lifestyle. It's a fun novel - fun to write and fun to read.

Oh and of course, like all Barbra Novac novels, its very very HOT.

Spellbound will be released by Steam eReads on the fourteenth of February 2014 - the best publication day of the year for erotic romance. Check out my authors page at their website here.

The famous Dali scene from Hitchcock's film Spellbound.