Friday Reads | Dance With a Vampire

I’m continuing the week with more vampires. Dance With a Vampire by Fabian Black is a seven pages long story. I love short fiction. Many make the mistake of thinking it’s easy to write—it’s not. It takes a lot of skill. Authors who master the form can rip my heart out in just a few words where others leave me quite unaffected. In a novel, you have time to grow to like a character, but in short fiction, that connection has to be established in just a few lines.

This is the second story I’ve read by Fabian Black, and my heart might not have been ripped out but I wasn’t unaffected either. At first, I found the narration a bit strange, or maybe not the narration, but the story is written almost like a letter where the MC is talking to a ‘you’. I was thinking the MC was another of those in your face, bratty, young characters, and he kind of is, but there’s also some subtlety to this short story.

There is one thing that always annoys me, though. Why oh why do bisexual characters always have to be described as unreliable? In this short, short story it’s even pointed out twice.

I made a mental note never to date a bisexual again. It doubled the chances of being dumped. – p.2

Bisexual faux vampire types were notoriously unreliable, emotionally draining and generally unsatisfactory. – p.4

But if you’re in the mood for a bratty twenty-one-year-old waiting in line outside a nightclub on Halloween and some vampires with a hint of BDSM, then Dance With a Vampire is for you.

You’ll find it here:

books2read.com/DanceWithAVampire *


A different kind of vampire tale, short and romantic, it uses a song title as a door into the story.


* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Friday Reads | Watching Elijah Fall

I haven’t read much this week, I’ve been writing. How people manage to do both is a mystery to me. That being said, I did read one lovely little tale, Watching Elijah Fall by Amy Spector.

It’s one of those stories I will remember for a long time. Not because it traumatising in any way, it’s a genuinely sweet story about moving on. What I liked best was the mood, I snuggled down in my bed and fantasised about darkrooms and sexy, vulnerable Elijahs.

I’m really hoping there will be a sequel, and I have it on good authority that Evan, one of the characters in Watching Elijah Fall, does show up in Cold Fingers – A Love Story * If you’re looking for a Halloween read maybe you should start with that one instead, or why not pick up both of them!

books2read.com/WatchingElijahFall *

What have you been reading this week?


Book Cover Watching Elijah Fall
Book cover by Amy Spector

A simple story about moving past the terrible things that life throws at you and finding happiness on the other side.

Months after his breakup with a long-term boyfriend, Jacob Pierce is still more than a little fragile, he has withdrawn from life, his friends are concerned and even he knows that something needs to change. With the encouragement of his friends and a nudge from the newest member of Jacob’s small circle, he agrees to sign up for a film based photography class.

Elijah Fall, a widowed photography teacher, is exactly the man to bring Jacob back to life. But, while Jacob may have found the man of his dreams, will Elijah, someone who has lost everything once, be willing to risk his heart again?


* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Friday Reads – Scar by Dee Aditya

I’m cheating today, I actually finished Scar by Dee Aditya yesterday, but since I haven’t started a new book yet I’m going to count it as my Friday Read of the week. I’m not big on Sci-Fi, but I do like me a post-apocalyptic story every now and then…or even more often than that.

Scar has a complicated family situation, illegal fighting, forced prostitution, and of course love. The world is one of great injustice and oppression. I greatly enjoyed the story and hope there’ll be a sequel out soon. I want to know more about the world and more about the warden.

If you’re into dystopian tales I suggest you check Scar out. It was written as a part of the Don’t Read in the Closet event and you’ll find it on Goodreads (M/M Romance Group), or here:

books2read.com/ScarDee *


ScarGabriel Lamb decides to go to the ninth district for peace and quiet after he is released from prison. A meeting with a stranger, and a case of restless boredom brings him to the illegal fighting rings that thrive in the ninth. Here he meets the most irreverent man he has ever seen, who still manages to rouse his protective instincts.

Russ Andrews has spent all his life in the ninth, fighting in matches to earn the money that lets his family eat. The ring is where he meets the bored new fighter who irritates him and arouses him in equal measure.

A tentative friendship turns into an arrangement of mutual comfort. But then, Gabriel isn’t prepared for the rush of possessiveness he feels for Russ, and Russ isn’t prepared for his world to crumble around him. As things come to a head, they must learn to lean on each other to get through the tough times.


* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.