September 1919:20 year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver some letters to Marian Bancroft, letters that she’d sent to her brother Will. Will and Tristan trained and fought together. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He holds a secret deep in his soul. One that [...]
Filed under: 1910's, 1920's, Europe, Fiction, John Boyne, Reviews, three stars, World War I | 2 Comments »
It’s 1886, and Chicago is booming, but for nineteen-year-old Torsten Pilkvist, American-born son of Swedish immigrants, it’s not big enough. After tragically losing a rare love, Tory immerses himself in the pages of a Wild West mail-order bride magazine, where he stumbles on the advertisement of frontiersman and Civil War veteran Franklin Ausmus. Torsten and [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, America, Reviews, Shelter Somerset, Western | 1 Comment »
In 1932, after Captain Joshua Pascal’s family loses its fortune, the Great War veteran’s sense of duty compels him to help his mother convert his childhood home into a Jewish boarding house. He’s lived openly as a homosexual among his friends, but now Joshua must pretend to be a “normal,” and hiding his nature is [...]
Filed under: 1930's, 4 stars, America, ebook, Reviews, Ryan Loveless | Leave a Comment »
On the battlefields of WWII Europe, Charlie Harris fell in love with Roger Black, and after the war, Roger marched home without a glance back. Ten years later, Charlie receives a cryptic summons and quickly departs for his former lover’s hometown of Whistle Pass. But Roger Black isn’t the lover of Charlie’s dreams anymore. He’s [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 2 stars, America, Fiction, KevaD, Reviews | 4 Comments »
London, 1822 It was only supposed to be one night. One night to determine once and for all if he truly preferred men. But the last thing Lord Benjamin Parker expected to find in a questionable gambling hall in Cheapside is a gorgeous young man who steals his heart. It was only supposed to be a [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, Ava March, ebook, England, Fiction, novella, Regency, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
When royal sartorial adviser Beau Brummell meets a pretty soldier at a ball full of people who have begun to bore him, he’s only thinking of a brief affair and the opportunity to prove that clothes make the man. When Toby turns out to be not only beautiful but kind and a generous lover, Beau [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Cecilia Ryan, ebook, Fiction, novella, Regency, Reviews | 1 Comment »
When confronted by a rampaging comic genius, what’s a studio publicity fella to do? Review by Erastes I believe this book was out once with Torquere, but lucky you lot, if you didn’t manage to get hold of an ecopy back then (it was published in 2005 I think) there’s a free version on Parhelion’s website, together [...]
Filed under: 4½ Stars, Fiction, free read, novella, Parhelion, Reviews | 3 Comments »
In the year 338 BC on the plain of Chaeronea, a war was fought between the allied armies of Thebes and Athens, against the might of Macedon ruled by King Philip and his son Alexander the Great. In that bloody battle Thebes was defeated and lost almost every man of its exclusive fighting force called [...]
Filed under: Ancient Greece, Fiction, G.A. Hauser, Reviews, three stars | Leave a Comment »
In 1918, Michael McCready returned from the war with one goal: to lose himself in the pursuit of pleasure. Once a promising young medical student, Michael buried his dreams alongside the broken bodies of the men he could not save. After fleeing New York to preserve the one relationship he still values, he takes a [...]
Filed under: 1910's, 4½ Stars, America, Fiction, G.N. Chevalier, Reviews, War, World War I | 3 Comments »
During the Civil War, two young soldiers on opposite sides find themselves drawn together. One man, Ian, is a war-weary but scholarly Southerner who has seen too much bloodshed, especially the tortures inflicted upon the enemy by his vicious, sadistic commanding officer, his uncle. The other, Drew, is a Herculean Yankee captured by the ragtag [...]
Filed under: America, American Civil War, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, Jeff Mann, Reviews, War | 4 Comments »
It is 1899, and young Andrew Wyndham has accepted a position tutoring the unruly son of wealthy industrialist Duncan Stewart in the hopes that the work will be brief yet provide an avenue to pay for his passage to France to study art. But Seacliff is a dark and eerie mansion enshrouded in near-eternal fog, [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, America, Fiction, gothic, Max Pierce, Reviews | 5 Comments »
The year is 68 CE. Led by the fanatical Sicarii, the ideological dagger men, Jews seize Jerusalem, execute the Roman garrison, and begin to cleanse Judaea of all impurities and foreign influences, including Greek love. Nero sends Vespasianus with three legions to quell the revolt. Caught in this conflict is the Sacred Community of Men, [...]
Filed under: 2 stars, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, ebook, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Lord Edwin Nash has been sent to London by his father, threatened with disinheritance unless he finds a wife. Lord Thomas Downe sees through the mask Edwin presents to the world and leaves Edwin powerless to deny his love. Threatened by his father with disinheritance, Lord Edwin Nash arrives in London for one season to [...]
Filed under: 3½ Stars, ebook, Regency, Reviews, Sue Brown | Leave a Comment »
Painfully introverted and rendered nearly mute by a heavy stammer, Lord George Albert Westin rarely ventures any farther than the club or his beloved gardens. When he hears rumors of an exotic new orchid sighted at a local hobbyist’s house, though, he girds himself with opiates and determination to attend a house party, hoping to [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, ebook, England, Fiction, five stars, Heidi Cullinan, Reviews, Victorian | 2 Comments »
Alexander Norton loathes the festive season. The revelry of the ton is a reminder of Christmas four years ago, when his first love, Thomas Bennett, broke his heart and fled to New York without a word. So when he encounters Thomas at a holiday ball, Alexander is determined not to let on how much he still hurts. [...]
Filed under: 3½ Stars, Ava March, ebook, Fiction, novella, Regency, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Rag & Bone is #2 in the Inspector Raft Mystery Series. Scotland Yard Inspector Philemon Raft arrives on the scene of a deadly fire in Whitechapel, only to find a much more sinister force at work, destroying lives with swift abandon – and a lunatic may help Raft capture the master criminal known only as [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, Fiction, Joanne Soper-Cook, Reviews, Victorian | 1 Comment »
It is 1963. Being gay is a sin against God. And twenty-eight year old mechanic Will meets Bran for the first time. Over the years a close bond forms between them despite the seventeen year age difference. Will teaches Bran to swim and helps him with homework. The years pass, Bran drops out of school [...]
Filed under: 1960's, America, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Marie Sexton, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Book one in the Past Perfect Series Love stripped down to the bare bones. 1875. The Bone Wars. Dinosaur hunters will go to any lengths to make bigger, better discoveries—and to see their rivals broken. Henry is a man of science—precise, proper and achingly correct. When Albert arrives in his life in a storm of [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, America, ebook, England, Fiction, Paige Turner, Reviews, series, Victorian | 2 Comments »
Gaius and Achilles is a gay historical romance, set in Late Republican Rome, concerning the choices facing Achilles, a young aristocrat from Paphos whose life is thrown into confusion when he is captured by pirates and separated from his lover Hippothous. He finds himself the slave of decadent Roman poet Gaius Manlius Torquatus, a sensitive [...]
Filed under: 4½ Stars, Ancient Rome, Clodia Metelli, ebook, Fiction, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Can two men build a relationship when one must tear down each stone that the other has worked so hard to build? In the year 1535, after a misspent youth, Brother Mark is a hardworking Benedictine monk toiling as a stonemason at Tavistock Abbey. There he finds himself irrevocably drawn to one of the men [...]
Filed under: 16th Century, England, Fiction, Reviews, Stevie Woods, three stars, Tudor | Leave a Comment »
When Nathan Shern, Duke of Byworth’s, empty sham of a marriage is threatened by a fellow duke he is naturally aggrieved. He cannot allow the potentially damaging contents of his wife’s diary to reveal the depths of their estrangement because exposure of his secret dalliances with other men would taint his innocent children’s lives. Not [...]
Filed under: 2½ stars, ebook, England, Fiction, Heather Boyd, novella, Regency, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
By the author of American Revolution: A Gay Novel. The story of the war at Troy, as Homer’s readers all knew, was not only a tale of battles and exemplary heroism, but also a a story of love between men–of the devotion of Achilles, unrivalled hero, terrible warrior, and so it is said in legend, [...]
Filed under: Ancient Greece, Byrne Fone, Fiction, Reviews, three stars | 1 Comment »
Orphaned as a boy and brought up by the crusty, disapproving Edward Collins, Dr. David Jameson may not know much about love, but he makes up for it with an encyclopedic knowledge of Egyptian history and language. Too bad his job as linguist for a team excavating in the Valley of the Kings puts him [...]
Filed under: 1920's, 3½ Stars, ebook, Fiction, J.M. Gryffyn, novella, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Ragnar, a hardened Scottish soldier, is indifferent to English rule of his homeland until he falls in love with Gylis McIvoy, a fellow Scotsman. They have a brief and passionate affair, but circumstances tear them apart permanently. Ragnar swears vengeance, and soon becomes a freedom fighter modeled on the recently captured and executed William Wallace. Ragnar manages to [...]
Filed under: 1 star, 13th Century, ebook, Fiction, Jay E Hughes, Reviews | 3 Comments »
‘… The accounts of these cases are too bound up with events in my personal life which, although they may provide a plausible commentary to much of my dealings with Mr Sherlock Holmes, can never be made public while he or I remain alive …’ Although Dr Watson is known for recording some sixty of [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, detective, England, Reviews, Rohase Piercy, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
Phillip Froelich and Tim Danelaw are irresistibly drawn to each other. Both are in every obvious respect what is generally considered masculine, and live and work in a completely normal man’s social and professional world. Other men respect and admire their courage and ability and even their physical prowess. Women are very much attracted to both of [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 4½ Stars, America, Essential Reads, Fiction, Reviews, World War II | 2 Comments »
Ahoy, me proud beauty, shiver me timbers! I ask ye to sail me jollyboat on the high seas, lubber, but will ye dare to accept? On offer be a pirate’s life full of danger and risk, and not just to yer neck, but to yer very virgin heart! There’s many a bodice to be ripped–or [...]
Filed under: 17th Century, 18th Century, Age of Sail, Anthology, Fiction, pirates, Reviews, three stars | Tagged: 17th Century, 18th Century, Age of Sail, Anthology, Fiction, pirates, Reviews, three stars | Leave a Comment »
From the Lambda Literary Award and Bram Stoker Award-winning author Lee Thomas come a new thrilling novel. 1944 – Barnard, Texas. At the height of World War II, a killer preys on the young men of a quiet Texas town. The murders are calculated, vicious, and they are just beginning. Sheriff Tom Rabbit and his [...]
Filed under: 1940's, America, Fiction, five stars, Lee Thomas, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II | Tagged: 1940′s, America, Fiction, five stars, Lee Thomas, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II | 8 Comments »
At 6 years old, long before he discovers that he is gay, Banat Frantz learns that being Jewish in Hitler’s Germany is a bewildering crime for which he and his family must pay. Fire and loathing greet his emerging consciousness and a resourceful child begins to learn survival skills. Violently forced from their home and [...]
Filed under: 1930's, 1940's, 2½ stars, America, Bud Gundy, Dave Lara, Fiction, holocaust, Reviews, World War II | Tagged: 1930′s, 1940′s, 2½ stars, America, Bud Gundy, Dave Lara, Fiction, holocaust, Reviews, World War II | Leave a Comment »
James guards his secrets. Uncertain as to whom he can trust with his family’s secrets, James Bradford has lived a lonely life since becoming Baron of Riverside. When he meets an equally enigmatic violinist named Sheamus, he begins to wonder if he’s found someone with whom he can share everything. Sheamus guards his body. No [...]
Filed under: 2 stars, Reviews, Stella Notecor | Tagged: book review, gay historical romance, stella notecor, two stars, Victorian | 3 Comments »
Trusting a psychic flash might solve a mystery…and lead to love. Inspector Robert Court should have felt a sense of justice when a rag-and-bones man went to the gallows for murdering his cousin. Yet something has never felt right about the investigation. Robert’s relentless quest for the truth has annoyed his superintendent, landing him lowly [...]
Filed under: 4½ Stars, BDSM, Bonnie Dee, detective, ebook, England, Fiction, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | Tagged: 4½ Stars, BDSM, Bonnie Dee, detective, ebook, England, Fiction, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
The best jobs in 1911 Belfast are in the shipyards, but Donal Gallagher’s pay packet at Harland and Wolff doesn’t stretch far enough. He needs to find someone to share his rented room; fellow ship-builder Jimmy Healy’s bright smile and need for lodgings inspire Donal to offer. But how will he sleep, lying scant feet [...]
Filed under: 1910's, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Ireland, novella, P.D. Singer, Reviews | Tagged: 1910's, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Ireland, novella, P.D. Singer, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Traumatised by the nightmare of trench warfare in France, Robert Blake turns to rent boy Jack Anderson for solace. Neither man expects their business relationship to go quite so far. It is 1919, less than a year after the end of the First World War with a recovering Britain in the grip of the influenza pandemic. Crippled [...]
Filed under: 3½ Stars, ebook, England, novella, Reviews, Scarlet Blackwell, World War I | Tagged: 3½ Stars, ebook, England, novella, Reviews, Scarlet Blackwell, World War I | 7 Comments »
I hope you all had a great day, or are having one. Due to too many sherbets inhaled by yours truly, the prize list won’t go up until tomorrow! Many apologies – but it will be worth it, I promise you! Erastes
Filed under: Reviews | 2 Comments »
1748 Lieutenant Conrad Herriot and Seaman Tom Cotton have been master and servant for over a decade, and friends for almost as long. When Tom is injured during a skirmish, Conrad forgets himself and rushes to Tom’s side, arousing suspicion about the true nature of their relationship. All Tom wants is the chance to consummate [...]
Filed under: Age of Sail, Alex Beecroft, ebook, England, five stars, novella, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Two stories, two couples, two eras, timeless emotions. “This Ground Which Was Secured At Great Expense” It is 1914 and The Great War is underway. When the call to arms comes, Nicholas Southwell won’t be found hanging back. It’s a pity he can’t be so decisive when it comes to letting his estate manager Paul [...]
Filed under: 1910's, 1940's, 1950's, 4½ Stars, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, novella, Reviews, War, World War I | 1 Comment »
In 1944, Matt Jackson, a wounded RAF pilot, ends up in the Royal Infirmary after his squadron is attacked. When he meets Doctor Trynt Andrews, both men’s lives are changed with the instant connection they feel for one another. Alone and injured, Matt is invited into Trynt’s home and they become inseparable, finding a love [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 1½ stars, Anna Lee, Fiction, Reviews, World War II | 8 Comments »
Gay buccaneer historical adventure/romance. The third novel in a series chronicling the adventures of Will, a disenchanted English Lord, and his beloved matelot/partner, Gaston, an exiled Frenchman, set among the buccaneers of Port Royal, Jamaica, in the 1660s. In this volume, the men ponder the true definition of sanity and the necessity of compromise in [...]
Filed under: 17th Century, Age of Sail, Fiction, pirates, Reviews, W A Hoffman | Leave a Comment »
William Carey has played many roles in his thirty-two years of life. Though born to privilege, he fled his disapproving family and, purely out of spite, devoted himself to a life of danger and infamy. William never thought twice about his self-destructive behavior until he met a passionate woman who showed him how to harness [...]
Filed under: 3½ Stars, Fiction, Regency, Reviews, Rowan McAllister | Leave a Comment »
Not content with a life as a passive and powerless noblewoman, a young Bavarian woman dons her late twin brother’s armor and weapons and sets out to join the disastrous Crusade of 1101. She is able to pass as a young man because, as she observes to her squire, who was also her brother’s lover, [...]
Filed under: 12th Century, 4 stars, Crusades, Fiction, lesbian, Nan Hawthorne, Reviews | 6 Comments »
Speak Its Name (www.speakitsname.com) is looking for bloggers for their Third annual Advent Calendar series in December. It’s a great blog to reach new readers and perhaps promote a new book. from 1st 24th December SIN will feature posts every day on some historical, gay historical, or seasonal subject. Talk about some research, give us [...]
Filed under: Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Mick Reese is a Korean War veteran turned private eye, making a living sifting through the seedy underbelly of 1953 Cincinnati. But the night he busts into the Shooting Gallery, a casino cum criminal hotbed, all that changes. Accidentally rescuing Julian Marion, only son of a notorious crime boss, doesn’t bode well for Mick’s life [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 3½ Stars, America, Fiction, Kate Roman, Reviews | 1 Comment »
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