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Leta Blake

author. human. working hard to become stellar at life.

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seattle

BIKE BOOK REVIEWS!!: THIS CHARMING MAN REVIEW! @flickerjax #gay #amreading

May 15, 2015 by Leta

“I just love a book that grabs you from the start, and the way this book starts, holy crap, you can’t help but know it is gonna be a hell of a ride! My first impression of Steven was that he was more than the club scene, and more than his best friend Adrian made him out to be. It is an author with real talent that can make you know that about a man in just a few chapters!

You will love this book friends, it is a story of one man’s determination to be more and better to prove to the man he is enthralled with that he is worth it! Thanks Ajax, for giving us a book that proves we can be who we want with a little effort and love!”

read more via BIKE BOOK REVIEWS!!: THIS CHARMING MAN REVIEW!.

Filed Under: books Tagged With: amreading, beautiful cover, coming-of-age, gay, gay romance, m/m, m/m romance, may/september, mmromance, older/younger, reading, romance, seattle, this charming man

Great discussion on choosing a genre: Can you tell what it is just by looking? | Ajax Bell #gayfiction #genre @flickerjax

December 17, 2014 by Leta

“The defining factor of so many books is Genre. It’s an excellent way to find the stories you want to read, to find community who shares your literary wishes. You know how it is, you’re talking to a co-worker and discover you both love reading. Giddy with the connection you ask what they are reading, and then it’s crashing disappointment when you discover their deep love is True Crime and you’re all about hard Sci-fi. Sure your Aunt May reads constantly, but it’s all Mysteries and you’re not interested in those so much, even if you’ve read a few you like.”

read more about the difficulties of branding a book with a particular genre via Can you tell what it is just by looking? | Ajax Bell.

WILL SEATTLE MAKE A MAN OF HIM YET? It’s 1991 and Steven Frazier has danced away half a decade in the Seattle club scene with his beautiful-but-poisonous best friend, Adrian. Two glittering princes against the world, too high above life to care about what they might be missing. But everything changes when a chance meeting with older—not to mention handsome—businessman John Pieters, reveals a cosmopolitan world and possible futures Steven’s never considered. Flashy club clothes won’t impress John, this charming man who knows so much about many things. Motivated by fantasies inspired by his crush on John, can Steven finally fight Adrian’s sick hold? As he steps out into the larger world, supported by new friends, Steven must prove to John—and to himself—that he’s not a hedonistic rhinestone club kid, but a true diamond in the rough. CLICK TO GO TO AMAZON TO BUY!
WILL SEATTLE MAKE A MAN OF HIM YET?
It’s 1991 and Steven Frazier has danced away half a decade in the Seattle club scene with his beautiful-but-poisonous best friend, Adrian. Two glittering princes against the world, too high above life to care about what they might be missing.
But everything changes when a chance meeting with older—not to mention handsome—businessman John Pieters, reveals a cosmopolitan world and possible futures Steven’s never considered.
Flashy club clothes won’t impress John, this charming man who knows so much about many things. Motivated by fantasies inspired by his crush on John, can Steven finally fight Adrian’s sick hold?
As he steps out into the larger world, supported by new friends, Steven must prove to John—and to himself—that he’s not a hedonistic rhinestone club kid, but a true diamond in the rough.
CLICK TO GO TO AMAZON TO BUY!

Filed Under: books Tagged With: ajax bell, gay fiction, gay romance, gay what?, genre, how to choose a genre, seattle, this charming man

The Dream of the 90s Is Alive in THIS CHARMING MAN by AJAX BELL #seattle #GenX #gayfiction @flickerjax

November 8, 2014 by Leta

This Charming Man (A Queen City Boys Book)This Charming Man by Ajax Bell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This charming book is chock full of interesting, lovable, and, at times, hate-able characters. First is Steven, the narrator and main protag, who has come to adulthood but hasn’t really found his footing as an adult. For the past five years he’s been happily lost in that place familiar to most readers–somewhere between dependant adolescence and independent adulthood. Sure, he’s not living at home with his parents, but he’s holding a retail job during the day and clubbing the night away with his fascinating-but-cruel best friend, Adrian, most nights. He’s a typical Gen-Xer in that way, delaying adulthood and responsibilities, and prolonging the time between. Which, huh, speaking of Gen-Xers, he is one, since this this story is set in 1991. And that realization has given me a whole new spin/outlook on Steven. Basically, if you’re familiar with that Portlandia song “The Dream of the 90’s is alive in Portland”? Well, that’s the dream of the Gen-Xers, man, and Steven’s living the dream. [reference: http://youtu.be/TZt-pOc3moc]

But somewhere beneath his shiny, glittering night club life, he’s tiring of it all and he’s growing up, wanting to find something meaningful in his life, something beyond coffee shops, bumps of coke, and his retail job at a fashionable clothing shop. He’s wanting a career, a life, a true love, a home. And yet his current situation keeps sucking him back. It’s easy to stay the same and hard to change–especially when his best friend, whom Steven is half in love with, seems very invested in keeping him stunted.

Speaking of Adrian, he is a scene-stealer in the best way. He’s horrible and yet so compelling. If any reader has made it to adulthood without knowing (and being compelled by) someone like Adrian then you’re a lucky dog. I’ve certainly known enough Adrians in my time to feel both drawn to his flame and an intense world-weary disgust with him. It’s easy to see how he’s manipulated Steven into being his emotional prop through the last five years, and how Steven has been his eager toy.

Enter Steven’s motivation to change. One John Pieters, a charming older man (think Baby Boomer to Steven’s Gen-X) who has life experience and drive. He’s suffered through the 1980s horror of AIDS and clings with tight loyalty to his friends, demonstrating the kind of connection with his self-made family that Steven yearns for and doesn’t get with Adrian. He’s an adult in a way that Steven finds inspiring, arousing, and intimidating. Steven knows that a charming, handsome, older man must look at him and just see a wasteful club kid with nothing going for him.

While Steven does keep John in his mind as a motivator for the life changes he makes in the wake of meeting the man, it’s clear that Steven’s metamorphosis, his true coming-of-age, comes from within. John is the carrot that drives him, like a fantasy or a dream, but something so unattainable at first that it’s only as Steven begins the process of changing the he realizes that maybe it’s not so unattainable after all. At first his metamorphosis is about wanting to be the kind of man John would notice, but it isn’t long before the satisfaction of change motivates him on its own.

I don’t want to spoil too much, and a lot of the wonderfulness of this story is in the details and the way that Steven’s character (and every character of the book) is so relatable and yet so identifiable as being tied to the time (1990s) and place (Seattle). You’ll love Steven and want better for him, like a mother hen ghost, silently following him as a reader and rooting for him to make better choices and then cheering when he finally does.

Speaking of Seattle, the city during the 1990s is beautifully captured here and comes alive in the reader’s mind. While I was not in Seattle in the 1990s, myself, I’ve been given to understand from other readers that the scenes and places discussed are real and recognizable to people who were there.

This Charming Man is a charming, lovely read. There are no difficult hoops to jump through to get into the book. The writing itself is sharp and straightforward. I’ve read it twice and loved it both times, and both times found a deeper connection to the story and the characters.

I think Gen-Xers will especially identify with this story but it’s a great read for all lovers of gay fiction.

View all my reviews

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 1990s, 5 stars, age difference, ajax bell, coming-of-age, gay fiction, generation X, genX, m/m, m/m romance, may december romance, may september romance, portland, portlandia, romance, seattle, this charming man

Seattle? Club Kid? Older Man? Fall In Love with This Charming Man by Ajax Bell #gay #amreading @flickerjax

November 5, 2014 by Leta

WILL SEATTLE MAKE A MAN OF HIM YET?

It’s 1991 and Steven Frazier has danced away half a decade in the Seattle club scene with his beautiful-but-poisonous best friend, Adrian. Two glittering princes against the world, too high above life to care about what they might be missing.But everything changes when a chance meeting with older—not to mention handsome—businessman John Pieters, reveals a cosmopolitan world and possible futures Steven’s never considered.Flashy club clothes won’t impress John, this charming man who knows so much about many things. Motivated by fantasies inspired by his crush on John, can Steven finally fight Adrian’s sick hold?As he steps out into the larger world, supported by new friends, Steven must prove to John—and to himself—that he’s not a hedonistic rhinestone club kid, but a true diamond in the rough.

via This Charming Man Queen City Boys Book 1 – Kindle edition by Ajax Bell. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com..

Filed Under: books, Gay, LGBT, Reading Tagged With: 1990s, ajax bell, gay, m/m relationships, m/m sex, queen city, queen city boys, recommendation for new to m/m romance, seattle, seattle in the 1990s

The Grrrl of Limberlost: Rain City Comedy of Manners by @AnniePearsonOK #Mystery #Thriller #Suspense #FREE

October 21, 2014 by Leta

It’s Annie’s birthday and her book is FREE right now on Kindle! Check it out!


The Grrrl of Limberlost Rain City Comedy of Manners Book 1 – Kindle edition by Annie Pearson. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
.

A murder in a Seattle coffee house. A murder on a decaying boat dock on Puget Sound. Samsara Byron, the security expert, insists this has nothing to do with her. She’s heroically fending off an attack on the world’s cyber infrastructure—if she could only get a cell signal. 

After escaping exurban life on Limberlost Island a decade earlier, Sam became a rockstar among anti-hacker security programmers: appearing at BlackHat conferences in vintage t-shirts and combat boots; investigating international security conspiracies with the FBI and NSA. 

Now Sam is dragged sideways by chaos back on Limberlost Island: her brother accidentally embroiled her flakey father with gun runners; the boy next door came home as prodigal son, hiding from Eastern European gangsters; a porn farmer thinks he’s in love. 

Meanwhile, the local weather guru promises that the large cold air mass headed for the Puget Sound Conversion Zone will dump record snow. Seattle is always paralyzed when it snows. 

The Grrrl of Limberlost follows three self-absorbed voices through the frenzy and terror in their daily lives, mired in family losses and betrayals, while weaponized malware threatens to ruin Christmas. The key mystery: which voice is the unreliable narrator? 

This light comedic suspense novel tries to include romance, but hardly anyone has time for it. It does contain inexplicit sex scenes and the sort of language you’d expect from gangsters, porn-farmers, and retro Riot Grrrls. 

Annie Pearson’s Rain City Comedy of Manners series explores misadventures in contemporary Seattle among people whose work drives their hearts’ desires, often in conflict with other love affairs. When bad things happen to quirky people, can they survive the wretched comedy of romance under grey skies? 

Rain City Comedy of Manners Series: 
#1 The Grrrl of Limberlost (Sam and Matt: cyber-thriller on Puget Sound) 
#2 Artemis in the Desert (Eliot and Sean: adventure on two wheels) 
#3 Nine Volt Heart (Jason and Susi: musical ride through Seattle’s backstreets) 

Each book can be read as a standalone story, with no cliffhangers. 
Later books do not reveal the stories of earlier books. 

Reviewers say: 

“Annie Pearson’s characters and story line in The Grrrl of Limberlost are contemporary to the mystery novel just as Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles were in his day. Pearson captures the ethos of people caught in the electric speed and electronic maneuvering of our times where a murder is just a click away and every double cross comes with a backup. Don’t miss this one—it’s your new world and it’s shifting under your feet as we speak.” 
— Don McQuinn, The Moondark Saga

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: comedy of manners, cyberpunk, grrrl, limberlost, mystery, rain city, seattle

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