Torquere recs - the last of the Top Shelf
Mar. 11th, 2007 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrWhat should I do next? Screwdrivers? Singleshots? Anthologies? Any pref, lemme know
Music and Metal by Mike Shade
This is a very good book. Years and years ago, the two MC were loves but pretty uke boy wanted to play rough, hot seme wasn’t down for it, they broke up. Ten years later they meet up again and everything is different.
I will say I wish they’d taken longer to meet back up, but that’s a personal pref for enjoying a build up. The story is very good, well paced and played, and even the freaky stalker guy works, rather than feeling like an obvious gimmick.
I have this one in print, and have read it more than once. Worth buying, definitely.
Mysterious Ways by Julia Talbot
My favorite books by Julia Talbot are her Rossi stories – Italy, hot Italian men….serious fetish for me, and she does it verra verra well. I wish all her stories were as solid as the Rossi books.
Mysterious was the first Torq book I read, and I was ecstatic to realize it had a priest who falls in love with twins, and all of this while being entangled in a long-ago tragedy. This story has history, cool chars, reincarnation stuffs, a plot – it remains a favorite. I read it often.
There are other Rossi books (Rossi, I mention belatedly, being the Old Family of Italy around which all these stories revolve). The other Top Shelf Rossi book is The Peacock and the Firebird and that one I enjoyed as well. There is also a Screwdriver, set in much earlier Italy, which is called Masque. All of these are worthwhile, especially if you’re a sucker for pretty Italian men doing naughty things.
Need by Sean Michael
Man picks up pretty street hustler. Man and hustler fall in love. Man is actually a vampire!
I sound bitchy and I don’t mean to, but we all know how I feel about vampires and this is one of those reasons. There’s nothing particularly creative about it. I recall my roommate actually said (she bought it) ‘you’re going to hate it’ and I did.
So, I can’t review honestly. So far as I’m concerned it’s yet one more reason I hate the whole damn genre. As a matter of fact, I think there might be only one vamp story of Torq’s I kind of sort of like (and it’s a screwdriver, to which we’ll attend some other time).
Imho, not worth it. But as stated, I’m heavily biased.
Off World, Old Town New, and On Fire I haven’t yet read. They’re some my roomie bought and which never really sounded interesting. I’ll crack into them at some point, I’m sure. If anyone else has read them, do let me know your thoughts.
Perfect by Julia Talbot
Another miss, I feel, though as it’s moved to print it’s obviously doing well sales wise.
The premise isn’t too bad, a fairly standard contemp one – two guys break up with the intent of find something better, only to realize as the story progresses that each other was all they really needed/wanted.
I dunno, it never really read well to me. I was bored more often than not.
I think Talbot does much better with her period work, and all of her Italy-set stuff is stellar. Most of her contemp stuff just doesn’t work as well, but that could be me. A lot of contemp stuff doesn’t jive with me, most of it just feels like a really bad play.
Perfect Ten by Sean Michael.
Al her “Going for the Gold” books are pretty good, though I think sometimes they run a little long. I like the first one, about a swimmer - Personal Best better than Perfect Ten - but Ten isn’t bad at all.
Best has a sequel, but I no longer really trust Torq’s sequels. Read Best, and if you like things a little more serious and solemn read Ten.
Racing the Moon by B.A. Tortuga
Now here’s a kickass book. Oh my good it’s funny, and hot, and endearing. Very very rare is the book o’ pr0n that make me laugh. I love Sonny and MJ. They’re a fucking riot.
The story is also just plain fun, and well done. It’s obvious the author enjoys writing these.
Sadly, the sequel - Steam and Sunshine - while bad, wasn’t quite as good. The new chars in that are equally endearing and funny, but there wasn’t as much hilarity as I would have expected when the four all came together. It seemed like they should have gotten along better, by the end.
And way too many torquere books have a a bad, bad habit of going on too long. If this story had been about 50 or so pages shorter, I would have like it a lot more (though I should also note there are some books that would have been vastly improved by being longer, but we’ll get to those later).
Though I will say this is the only sequel of Torq’s which I do not abjectly hate or otherwise detest.
I did order both of these in print, though I’ve yet to receive them, I think they’re arriving in April…
And as a side note, when ordering Torquere books in print – I’ve found it’s a lot less painful, and cheaper, to buy them via amazon (or bn, if like me you have a membership and get the 10% off).
Rain and Whiskey by BA Tortuga
Love this book. Hot former football player and a beach bum bartender, reasonably rough play, and they’re just plain cool and fun and likeable. The break up scene hurts and it’s so sweet seeing them get back togther. Love love this book.
The premise for the sequel - Tropical Depression annoyed the living fuck out of me. Even that small bit made the chars seem OOC, and I detest that. I really wish Torq would stop doing sequels that ruin their best loved characters.
Have Rain in print, love it to death. Am not going to risk ruining them by purchasing the sequel.
Redemption’s Ride by BA Tortuga
Given I generally like Tortuga’s stuff, you’d think I would have given this book a chance. Maybe someday I will, but the premise always seemed laughable to me.
Preacher used to be a bank robber and killer, but now spreads the word of god. Accompanied by three-legged dog, a mute Apache and a flatulent Englishman. Ostensibly, that should amuse the fuck out of me. It sounds like Saiyuki gone horribly fucking wrong.
Then comes Hawk, who has amnesia and senses Preacher might be a key to it.
What it really sounds like is a bastardization of a Louis L’Amour I read (and loved, that man really does know his shit).
Mostly, though, I don’t trust Old West stories.
Especially when the author makes it a point to have the MC name his horse. They didn’t name their horses. Horses were tools, the cars of the wild west in a way. Yes, I know people name their cars and I think it’s stupid.
But my point is that if that little detail is off, how much off is the rest of the story?
Maybe I’ll give it a fair shot, as I really should. I think I avoided it before b/c I was thoroughly disillusioned by torq at that point. If anyone can rec this one to me, I’ll pick it up.
Otherwise I’m sticking to L’Amour.
Riding Heartbreak Road by Kiernan Kelly
Oh my fucking god this story pissed me off.
I detest making a story tragic so that it’s More Meaningful, which is exactly how this one came off.
Otherwise it was just overall annoying.
Maybe I really am becoming too bitchy.
Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow
This is the name for the overall trilogy, the first book being The Pedlar and the Bandit King, the second being Mariner’s Luck and the third (which I don’t think is out yet) The Land of Night.
If Torq put out more books like this, I’d have more respect for their claim that they put out plot-driven romantic/erotic fiction. Cause as it stands I really don’t.
But I am a fangirl of this series. Crow pays a lot of attention to details that make me go “why didn’t I think of that sort of thing, damn it!”
And Scarlet is love, even if I want to kick him sometimes.
So wish these were in print.
Most definitely worth buying.
Secrets, Skin, and Leather by Sean Michael
I’m noticing, as I write these reviews, that Sean Michael disappoints me a lot.
This one def did.
I really thought, from the premise, that it would be much better.
Scott is a good little business man by day, naughty naughty by night.
His boss catches him at it one night and decides to seduce him.
The seduction happened quick, and after that it was just a fuckfest that quickly got boring.
The plot didn’t return until they were at a club and someone else saw them at a club.
Here’s where I get annoyed. The premise even says Scott freaks and run when his secret gets out – but the Scott in the story doesn’t strike me as the type to just run like a bat out of hell. He’s too good at hiding, faking, covering. It seems more to me that he would have worked it out some other way.
Not to mention that this only happens at the end, and I never totally buy it as there’s too much fucking going on for the reader to get a sense of just why he’s so paranoid. I mean yeah, contemp, gay and naughty bad -- but I had the feeling more it was all in his head, esp. since at the end he’s barely suffered at all and is partying down with his friends.
It was all contrived around the fuckfest, and that saddened me, b/c all I see reading it is all the ways it could have been hella fucking cool.
If I had the patience for this type of premise, I’d tackle it in a heart beat.
So if you want a fuckfest, boys in corsets, go for it. Definitily hot, until it gets repetitive.
Sleeping Stone by Alexa Snow
I really don’t like the one char, Jazz, but I’ve never liked that particular character type.
That being said, this story is pretty solid. A think a little long, and I would have preferred straight up linear to the flashbacks, but it does well overall, especially for a contemp story involving a threesome.
Overall, no real complaints. It’s not zomg wow amazing, but it’s good.
Switched by Sean Michael.
Never read this one, and I’ll tell you why – my roommate didn’t like it.
For those that don’t know, I am constantly harassing my poor (tolerant) roommate over her lack of taste in reading material. She will be the first to admit her selections in certain genres deserve to be laughed at (yet in other realms she has excellent taste. Then again, I’m the one who collects bad porn…) To each his own, though.
Still, when she doesn’t like something, that is more than enough for me.
The Name of the Game by Willa Okati
I think a lot of people have liked this, and I wouldn’t say it’s bad. Certainly not. More just wasn’t my style, and I got impatient with it. I thought it would have been better as a short story, and not dragging on and on.
But, in all fairness – this isn’t my kind of story. I usually avoid these. Better to ask someone else.
But style wise and all, I had no complaints. The characters were cool, I just thought the whole thing dragged.
Three Day Passes by Sean Michael
I do believe this is one of Torq’s more popular set of stories. A marine, a doctor, and a green marine. It has….three sequels, though one is technically a prequel involving just the first two chars.
I thought the sequels (minus the prequel, which I haven’t read) were boring and redundant. Even the first one kind of drags on toward the end.
Pick up the first one, but so far as the sequels go – you’re money. If you’re a huge fan, you’ll probably like them. I’m content to just read the first one.
Tomb of the God King by Julia Talbot
This book is a joke, I’m sorry.
The characters are so cookie cutter it hurts (wow, a brash, gun-totting American digging up artifacts in the desert), I never felt any real chemistry between them, and I’m sorry. The god they worship?
Cthulhu.
Perhaps it’s just that I’ve only ever seen him as a grand joke, but I could not take the book seriously after knowing that was the god involved in this story.
And I got so bored with it, I never even finished it.
Talbot’s greatest work is always her period stuff – this was a sad exception.
But I may be alone in thinking that, b/c it was popular enough they released it in print. So, the opinion of a fan would be interesting to hear.
Touching Evil by Rob Knight
This is one of those books I love and hate b/c I cannot ignore its flaws but so very badly wish I could.
The chars are cool (especially the cat ahahahahahaha), the sex is hot…
….but the story does not hold up. But there’s no way I can explain my problems without completely spoiling things so:
SPOILERS
Okay. What irks me is that Greg is being stalked/harassed/terrorized by this serial killer guy. Not a problem except
That the serial killer is kidnapping women to build from their various parts the perfect woman. One who isn’t dirty or a slut or whatever.
Okay, fine.
Greg used to be a brilliant doctor/professor. A real genius. Then he was pushed down the stairs and when he woke up he had the ability to ‘read’ objects – know what the person touching them had been thinking/feeling/etc.
So he’s a hermit now, and leads a very strict, ordered life so he doesn’t basically lose his mind.
Before all this, he was quite the flashy player, pissing off a lot of people and all.
So here we have this psycho straight guy who wants to build a perfect woman and he not only chooses a slutty gay doctor who can’t leave his house but thinks the best way to go about this is to terrify the doctor to death?
Does that seem horribly off to anyone else?
A psycho like that would insist on building the chick himself, and if he’d wanted to learn how to do it then Greg would have, at one point, been the one to teach him. Yet after he fell, Greg was useless.
So it all makes no sense to me.
Sadly, because I badly wanted to be a major fangirl of the book.
I have it in print, and read my favorite bits, and just generally try to ignore the glaring plot problems *sigh*
Where Flows Water by Sean Michael
Ah, now here is why I do not give up on Sean Michael. I love love love this story, and wish badly there was more of this verse available.
I’ve read this entire story, start to finish, at least three times, probably more.
If you like Wild Rock (manga) this is a similar sort of world, but with subtle magic involved.
It’s just overall pretty, and fun to read, and I really wish Michael did more stuff like this.
Highest Top Shelf Recs
A Gentleman of Substance
An Agreement Among Gentlemen
Jumping Into Things
Lightning in a Bottle
Music and Metal
Mysterious Ways
Racing the Moon
Rain and Whiskey
Scarlet and the White Wolf
Where Flows Water
Music and Metal by Mike Shade
This is a very good book. Years and years ago, the two MC were loves but pretty uke boy wanted to play rough, hot seme wasn’t down for it, they broke up. Ten years later they meet up again and everything is different.
I will say I wish they’d taken longer to meet back up, but that’s a personal pref for enjoying a build up. The story is very good, well paced and played, and even the freaky stalker guy works, rather than feeling like an obvious gimmick.
I have this one in print, and have read it more than once. Worth buying, definitely.
Mysterious Ways by Julia Talbot
My favorite books by Julia Talbot are her Rossi stories – Italy, hot Italian men….serious fetish for me, and she does it verra verra well. I wish all her stories were as solid as the Rossi books.
Mysterious was the first Torq book I read, and I was ecstatic to realize it had a priest who falls in love with twins, and all of this while being entangled in a long-ago tragedy. This story has history, cool chars, reincarnation stuffs, a plot – it remains a favorite. I read it often.
There are other Rossi books (Rossi, I mention belatedly, being the Old Family of Italy around which all these stories revolve). The other Top Shelf Rossi book is The Peacock and the Firebird and that one I enjoyed as well. There is also a Screwdriver, set in much earlier Italy, which is called Masque. All of these are worthwhile, especially if you’re a sucker for pretty Italian men doing naughty things.
Need by Sean Michael
Man picks up pretty street hustler. Man and hustler fall in love. Man is actually a vampire!
I sound bitchy and I don’t mean to, but we all know how I feel about vampires and this is one of those reasons. There’s nothing particularly creative about it. I recall my roommate actually said (she bought it) ‘you’re going to hate it’ and I did.
So, I can’t review honestly. So far as I’m concerned it’s yet one more reason I hate the whole damn genre. As a matter of fact, I think there might be only one vamp story of Torq’s I kind of sort of like (and it’s a screwdriver, to which we’ll attend some other time).
Imho, not worth it. But as stated, I’m heavily biased.
Off World, Old Town New, and On Fire I haven’t yet read. They’re some my roomie bought and which never really sounded interesting. I’ll crack into them at some point, I’m sure. If anyone else has read them, do let me know your thoughts.
Perfect by Julia Talbot
Another miss, I feel, though as it’s moved to print it’s obviously doing well sales wise.
The premise isn’t too bad, a fairly standard contemp one – two guys break up with the intent of find something better, only to realize as the story progresses that each other was all they really needed/wanted.
I dunno, it never really read well to me. I was bored more often than not.
I think Talbot does much better with her period work, and all of her Italy-set stuff is stellar. Most of her contemp stuff just doesn’t work as well, but that could be me. A lot of contemp stuff doesn’t jive with me, most of it just feels like a really bad play.
Perfect Ten by Sean Michael.
Al her “Going for the Gold” books are pretty good, though I think sometimes they run a little long. I like the first one, about a swimmer - Personal Best better than Perfect Ten - but Ten isn’t bad at all.
Best has a sequel, but I no longer really trust Torq’s sequels. Read Best, and if you like things a little more serious and solemn read Ten.
Racing the Moon by B.A. Tortuga
Now here’s a kickass book. Oh my good it’s funny, and hot, and endearing. Very very rare is the book o’ pr0n that make me laugh. I love Sonny and MJ. They’re a fucking riot.
The story is also just plain fun, and well done. It’s obvious the author enjoys writing these.
Sadly, the sequel - Steam and Sunshine - while bad, wasn’t quite as good. The new chars in that are equally endearing and funny, but there wasn’t as much hilarity as I would have expected when the four all came together. It seemed like they should have gotten along better, by the end.
And way too many torquere books have a a bad, bad habit of going on too long. If this story had been about 50 or so pages shorter, I would have like it a lot more (though I should also note there are some books that would have been vastly improved by being longer, but we’ll get to those later).
Though I will say this is the only sequel of Torq’s which I do not abjectly hate or otherwise detest.
I did order both of these in print, though I’ve yet to receive them, I think they’re arriving in April…
And as a side note, when ordering Torquere books in print – I’ve found it’s a lot less painful, and cheaper, to buy them via amazon (or bn, if like me you have a membership and get the 10% off).
Rain and Whiskey by BA Tortuga
Love this book. Hot former football player and a beach bum bartender, reasonably rough play, and they’re just plain cool and fun and likeable. The break up scene hurts and it’s so sweet seeing them get back togther. Love love this book.
The premise for the sequel - Tropical Depression annoyed the living fuck out of me. Even that small bit made the chars seem OOC, and I detest that. I really wish Torq would stop doing sequels that ruin their best loved characters.
Have Rain in print, love it to death. Am not going to risk ruining them by purchasing the sequel.
Redemption’s Ride by BA Tortuga
Given I generally like Tortuga’s stuff, you’d think I would have given this book a chance. Maybe someday I will, but the premise always seemed laughable to me.
Preacher used to be a bank robber and killer, but now spreads the word of god. Accompanied by three-legged dog, a mute Apache and a flatulent Englishman. Ostensibly, that should amuse the fuck out of me. It sounds like Saiyuki gone horribly fucking wrong.
Then comes Hawk, who has amnesia and senses Preacher might be a key to it.
What it really sounds like is a bastardization of a Louis L’Amour I read (and loved, that man really does know his shit).
Mostly, though, I don’t trust Old West stories.
Especially when the author makes it a point to have the MC name his horse. They didn’t name their horses. Horses were tools, the cars of the wild west in a way. Yes, I know people name their cars and I think it’s stupid.
But my point is that if that little detail is off, how much off is the rest of the story?
Maybe I’ll give it a fair shot, as I really should. I think I avoided it before b/c I was thoroughly disillusioned by torq at that point. If anyone can rec this one to me, I’ll pick it up.
Otherwise I’m sticking to L’Amour.
Riding Heartbreak Road by Kiernan Kelly
Oh my fucking god this story pissed me off.
I detest making a story tragic so that it’s More Meaningful, which is exactly how this one came off.
Otherwise it was just overall annoying.
Maybe I really am becoming too bitchy.
Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow
This is the name for the overall trilogy, the first book being The Pedlar and the Bandit King, the second being Mariner’s Luck and the third (which I don’t think is out yet) The Land of Night.
If Torq put out more books like this, I’d have more respect for their claim that they put out plot-driven romantic/erotic fiction. Cause as it stands I really don’t.
But I am a fangirl of this series. Crow pays a lot of attention to details that make me go “why didn’t I think of that sort of thing, damn it!”
And Scarlet is love, even if I want to kick him sometimes.
So wish these were in print.
Most definitely worth buying.
Secrets, Skin, and Leather by Sean Michael
I’m noticing, as I write these reviews, that Sean Michael disappoints me a lot.
This one def did.
I really thought, from the premise, that it would be much better.
Scott is a good little business man by day, naughty naughty by night.
His boss catches him at it one night and decides to seduce him.
The seduction happened quick, and after that it was just a fuckfest that quickly got boring.
The plot didn’t return until they were at a club and someone else saw them at a club.
Here’s where I get annoyed. The premise even says Scott freaks and run when his secret gets out – but the Scott in the story doesn’t strike me as the type to just run like a bat out of hell. He’s too good at hiding, faking, covering. It seems more to me that he would have worked it out some other way.
Not to mention that this only happens at the end, and I never totally buy it as there’s too much fucking going on for the reader to get a sense of just why he’s so paranoid. I mean yeah, contemp, gay and naughty bad -- but I had the feeling more it was all in his head, esp. since at the end he’s barely suffered at all and is partying down with his friends.
It was all contrived around the fuckfest, and that saddened me, b/c all I see reading it is all the ways it could have been hella fucking cool.
If I had the patience for this type of premise, I’d tackle it in a heart beat.
So if you want a fuckfest, boys in corsets, go for it. Definitily hot, until it gets repetitive.
Sleeping Stone by Alexa Snow
I really don’t like the one char, Jazz, but I’ve never liked that particular character type.
That being said, this story is pretty solid. A think a little long, and I would have preferred straight up linear to the flashbacks, but it does well overall, especially for a contemp story involving a threesome.
Overall, no real complaints. It’s not zomg wow amazing, but it’s good.
Switched by Sean Michael.
Never read this one, and I’ll tell you why – my roommate didn’t like it.
For those that don’t know, I am constantly harassing my poor (tolerant) roommate over her lack of taste in reading material. She will be the first to admit her selections in certain genres deserve to be laughed at (yet in other realms she has excellent taste. Then again, I’m the one who collects bad porn…) To each his own, though.
Still, when she doesn’t like something, that is more than enough for me.
The Name of the Game by Willa Okati
I think a lot of people have liked this, and I wouldn’t say it’s bad. Certainly not. More just wasn’t my style, and I got impatient with it. I thought it would have been better as a short story, and not dragging on and on.
But, in all fairness – this isn’t my kind of story. I usually avoid these. Better to ask someone else.
But style wise and all, I had no complaints. The characters were cool, I just thought the whole thing dragged.
Three Day Passes by Sean Michael
I do believe this is one of Torq’s more popular set of stories. A marine, a doctor, and a green marine. It has….three sequels, though one is technically a prequel involving just the first two chars.
I thought the sequels (minus the prequel, which I haven’t read) were boring and redundant. Even the first one kind of drags on toward the end.
Pick up the first one, but so far as the sequels go – you’re money. If you’re a huge fan, you’ll probably like them. I’m content to just read the first one.
Tomb of the God King by Julia Talbot
This book is a joke, I’m sorry.
The characters are so cookie cutter it hurts (wow, a brash, gun-totting American digging up artifacts in the desert), I never felt any real chemistry between them, and I’m sorry. The god they worship?
Cthulhu.
Perhaps it’s just that I’ve only ever seen him as a grand joke, but I could not take the book seriously after knowing that was the god involved in this story.
And I got so bored with it, I never even finished it.
Talbot’s greatest work is always her period stuff – this was a sad exception.
But I may be alone in thinking that, b/c it was popular enough they released it in print. So, the opinion of a fan would be interesting to hear.
Touching Evil by Rob Knight
This is one of those books I love and hate b/c I cannot ignore its flaws but so very badly wish I could.
The chars are cool (especially the cat ahahahahahaha), the sex is hot…
….but the story does not hold up. But there’s no way I can explain my problems without completely spoiling things so:
SPOILERS
Okay. What irks me is that Greg is being stalked/harassed/terrorized by this serial killer guy. Not a problem except
That the serial killer is kidnapping women to build from their various parts the perfect woman. One who isn’t dirty or a slut or whatever.
Okay, fine.
Greg used to be a brilliant doctor/professor. A real genius. Then he was pushed down the stairs and when he woke up he had the ability to ‘read’ objects – know what the person touching them had been thinking/feeling/etc.
So he’s a hermit now, and leads a very strict, ordered life so he doesn’t basically lose his mind.
Before all this, he was quite the flashy player, pissing off a lot of people and all.
So here we have this psycho straight guy who wants to build a perfect woman and he not only chooses a slutty gay doctor who can’t leave his house but thinks the best way to go about this is to terrify the doctor to death?
Does that seem horribly off to anyone else?
A psycho like that would insist on building the chick himself, and if he’d wanted to learn how to do it then Greg would have, at one point, been the one to teach him. Yet after he fell, Greg was useless.
So it all makes no sense to me.
Sadly, because I badly wanted to be a major fangirl of the book.
I have it in print, and read my favorite bits, and just generally try to ignore the glaring plot problems *sigh*
Where Flows Water by Sean Michael
Ah, now here is why I do not give up on Sean Michael. I love love love this story, and wish badly there was more of this verse available.
I’ve read this entire story, start to finish, at least three times, probably more.
If you like Wild Rock (manga) this is a similar sort of world, but with subtle magic involved.
It’s just overall pretty, and fun to read, and I really wish Michael did more stuff like this.
Highest Top Shelf Recs
A Gentleman of Substance
An Agreement Among Gentlemen
Jumping Into Things
Lightning in a Bottle
Music and Metal
Mysterious Ways
Racing the Moon
Rain and Whiskey
Scarlet and the White Wolf
Where Flows Water
no subject
Date: 2007-03-11 07:43 pm (UTC)Most of the ebooks I got because I was traking stuff down by this one author. (Hmm, one of the books is here. I read that she's going to do another in the same universe with a couple that was just starting to get together in WR, and I'm dead curious. Then again, it's werewolves. I'm a total sucker for werewolves. ^_^;; Even though they do that 'mate for life' thing, she manages to put it together in a way that doesn't make me want to claw my eyes out.)
From Loose Id, I got Tin Star and The Broken H.
They're contemp westerns, so I'm not sure how much you'd like them, but I rather like the author. Tin Star has a better, more involved plot, but it does deal a lot with homophobia and the like. The couples do trade uke/seme roles, but past that I usually don't spend a lot of time reading the sex scenes. ^_^;; There were a couple 'ride 'em cowboy' puns I definitely could have done without, but over all I rather liked them. (Then again, I'm really not all that discerning. And like I said, I'm new to ebooks and what to expect from them.)