Sweet Little Thing gives us a glimpse of Mia and Will’s life as a couple starting out a new journey and pursuing their dreams in music. This, hands down is one of the best novella sequels ever! I love that Renée Carlino gave us a chance to see how Mia and Will’s adventures in life panned out as they also start creating a family of their own. It’s a beautiful, beautiful journey and reading it made giddy with happiness. Thank you Renée for this wonderful novella!
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
(Spoiler Alert)
For a Lost Soldier is a 1992 Dutch film based on the autobiographical novel by ballet dancer and choreographer Rudi van Dantzig. It tells a tender, quietly haunting story about the bond between Jeroen (Maarten Smit), a young boy from Amsterdam during World War II, and Walt (Andrew Kelley), a Canadian soldier who helped liberate the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
When the Canadian troops arrive, Jeroen finds himself drawn to the young soldier. Walt, in turn, shows affection and interest in Jeroen, and their relationship gradually turns physical.
This is where the film enters more complicated—and at times uncomfortable—territory. Walt is clearly an adult, likely in his early twenties, while Jeroen is on the cusp of adolescence. It’s easy to view their relationship through a romanticized lens, especially as the film leans into nostalgia and longing. But there’s also an undeniable undercurrent of unease. Questions of consent, age, and power dynamics linger, and it’s hard to ignore the implications of what is, by today’s standards, statutory rape.
What I appreciated most about the film was its atmosphere and emotional resonance. The nostalgia Jeroen feels as he reflects on this chapter of his life is palpable. There’s a bittersweet ache in the way the story is told, and I found myself hoping, perhaps irrationally, for a reunion—sorry for the spoiler.
In the end, I was left wanting closure. But maybe that’s the point. Not every story has a neat or happy ending. Like the real-life Jeroen, we’re left yearning for a lost soldier who may never return.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Cast: Maarten Smit, Andrew Kelley
Director: Roeland Kerbosch
I’ve been meaning to read this one earlier this year but I got soaked up with a lot of fantasy and sci-fi reads. The first book I’ve read by Renée Carlino entitled Nowhere But Here was released earlier this year and I totally loved it. Now Sweet Thing was actually her debut and it’s just up there! It’s crazy good and it’s the kind of story that I’d die to see in movie (I already have Anna Kendrick in my mind playing the lead role lol).
Sweet Thing centers on Mia Kelly landing in New York to start out a new life after the untimely death of her father leaves her with all of his assets and a café to run. Then he meets Will Ryan, a struggling musician who ends up renting a room at her father’s house. From there, their friendship blossoms and any tinged of romance was easily killed off by Mia fearing the involvement with Will would result to the destruction of all her carefully planned goals. As usual, life would keep getting in the way and Mia needs to figure things out and rearrange her plans before truly losing her dreams and the love of her life – that is if she’s not already too late.
The characters of Mia and Will here just have this unbelievably great book chemistry leaving us readers rooting for them from start to finish. Mia seems like a real 25 year old woman who’s still searching for her place in the real world. Will meanwhile is a heartachingly beautiful guy that readers would totally fall in love with – I know I did. *blush* Aside from being beautiful, he’s also smart, funny and very talented. ‘such a perfect book boyfriend. With these two entangled in a journey of finding themselves and finding their way through love – things couldn’t get any better.
I said it before and I’m saying it now – Renée Carlino writes with passion and this book is a clear testament on how really good a writer she is.
Bravo!
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Published May 5th 2014 by Atria Books
About The Author
Renée Carlino is a screenwriter and bestselling author of romantic women’s novels. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons, and their sweet dog June. When she’s not at the beach with her boys or working on her next project, she likes to spend her time reading, going to concerts, and eating dark chocolate.
via goodreads
I actually find the first few chapters interesting – I mean pretty interesting like this is going to be so good but then somewhere in the middle, it just became messy. I don’t know why I had this foreboding that this thing about the couple won’t go well. By the end of it, I was utterly stunned by their revelation. Jax’s illness was already a foreshadowing on what’s going to happen but I still refused to accept it. Then about fifteen more pages from the ending, I was like – why is the narrator stalling? There’s definitely some dark shit looming here. I was indeed right but it still came as a shock. It was sad and heartbreaking but something’s gonna give what with everything they have endured – Jax and his bittersweet relationship with Lee and Lee himself and his inner demons.
synopsis via goodreads: When Liam Dailey arrives in his hometown of Flint Hill, Virginia because of a family tragedy, he has every intention of leaving with the first flight back. Unfortunately, when he encounters long time ex Jackson Brooks, things start taking a turn for the worse and Liam finds himself getting stuck in a spiral again. Will he ever be able to leave?
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
via wikipedia
I was bawling after watching this film. I’m just like that – but only when the movie is sad and has a really good story. The Cure stars the late actor Brad Renfro and the very young fragile looking Joseph Mazzello. Dexter (Mazzello) is suffering from AIDS that he acquired through blood transfusion and his neighbor Erik (Renfro), a loner and into his adolescence befriends him that led to their journey in finding the cure for the young Dexter. Both have found someone to cling to in their young lives and they went into a short journey that made them entangled until after life.
This film is truly sad but endearing at the same time. There was ignorance about the disease but that did not drag the film. It didn’t talk much about AIDS but rather the personal and moral issues that was subtly masked thru simple lines and actuation of the people in the film. Annabella Sciorra who played the loving mother of Dexter was amazing! You’d really feel the pain that she was feeling as the mother who’s trying to make his son’s remaining days easier and happy. I know that there are similar cases like these in real life where young kids are affected not only through blood transfusion but also in different ways and that thought just adds additional heartache.
For some reason, the feeling that I had about this film reminds me when I watched The Boy Who Could Fly. There was this heartache I’m feeling for both young Dexter and Erik but there was also a sense of serenity because of the friendship they have imparted with the audience.
Posted in Movies
Tagged Annabella Sciorra, Brad Renfro, Diana Scarwid, Film Review, Joseph Mazzello, Peter Horton, The Cure
via goodreads
This is by far my most favorite Cameron Dane’s book. It’s sweet, romantic, moving and feels oh-so-realistic.
Recently divorced and out of the closet in his middle age, Noah Maitland is still testing the waters on the do’s and don’ts of dating another man. An all-around handyman, he stumbled upon the young blue-eyes Zane Halliday on his way to work. Zane who takes care of his brother and sister who go thrown up from their apartment was offered help by Noah that led to their eventual friendship. From there, both developed feelings for each other but for Noah, Zane’s age feels inappropriate for him while for Zane, his need to keep custody of his siblings prevents him from pursuing the older man.
Now this is one book that will make you feel so good and will make you want to fall in love after reading it. I love me some DILF. Haha. The romantic aspect of the book was very well captured by Dane’s writing similar to his “Dreaming In Color” novel. This books feels like watching a beautiful Disney fairy tell (yeah the M/M edition) – there’s the giddiness like a kid for the character, the contented sign with its happy-ever-after conclusion and that pure bliss just about the whole thing.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Posted in Books
Tagged A Younger Man, Book Review, Cabin Fever #3, Cameron Dane, Noah Maitland, Zane Halliday
via goodreads
Grey’s Awakening would’ve been perfect if it didn’t get too much on everything. There’s just too much in it – too much sex, too many hang ups, too many unbelievably annoying conflicts and did I say too much sex… not that’s I’m really complaining but c’mon man…
The story centers on venture capitalist Greyson Cole and trucker-cum-artist Sirus Wilder. Both are healing from their past and doesn’t need the complications of getting romantically involved so they agreed to a sexual affair while staying in Grey’s cabin (yeah, FYI – Sirus’s cabin’s just across this one and he’s staying here due to some bathroom repair – shrewd huh?)
The excessive number of sex involved prevented the story to develop more. I get Grey’s aversion but find his actuation childish in contrast with his business persona. Sirus on the other hand was underplayed when he’s actually more interesting than Grey.
The ones that I mentioned didn’t keep me from finishing the book so you can try to read this one for yourself if you’re up to this sort of stories.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
via goodreads
This is my fifth book by Heidi Cullinan and each book keeps getting better. Let It Snow is not just a cabin-fever story that involves a hair stylist twink and three sexy lumberjack bears. It has a beautiful story on choosing how to live your life. Heidi has this ability to weave a story so smoothly that she doesn’t need to prolong it by adding unnecessary shit to make it work. It’s always fun reading scenes that are so realistic you’d feel like it could actually happen to you. The sex scenes in particular are graphic as usual but they are apt. The three “bears” are just adorable most especially the grumpy “Papa Bear” – they’re just so hot more than anything!
I’m totally spending some to get more of Heidi’s books. Like real soon if I get to read more of something like Let It Snow.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Posted in Books
Tagged Book Review, Heidi Cullinan, Let It Snow, Minnesota Christmas #1
via goodreads
Jesse Clayton loves painting, his cowboy grandfather, and his life as an artist with a wild abandon that leaves scorch marks on everything he touches. Budding Navajo cartoonist Lorenzo Maryboy is a hard-working former Marine: staunch, brave, and honorable. Chance brings them together on the road to Marathon, Texas, and passion flares.
Just as always, Jesse puts his art ahead of everything. He betrays their growing trust, and that Lorenzo can’t forgive. But Jesse’s found something he loves more than his art, and what he does to win Lorenzo’s forgiveness is far more dangerous than either man understands. – via goodreads
This is one of those novels which I find utterly strange and its fast pacing didn’t help at all to give it some sort of excitement. There were some funny lines which is a plus but other than that, the story failed to deliver enough narrative covering “Marathon” and its main characters. It has an interesting first few pages but it weakens considerably when Jesse and Lorenzo started fooling around (which shouldn’t be the case right???!) and it didn’t pick up after that. The story feels unfinished (perhaps because of all the death threats looming around Jesse?) and factoring the (not so convincing) romance between JC3 and zo-zo, it still failed to capture or realize the potential of its premise.
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
I’ve had a hard time coming up with a proper review for this book. It’s just so special to me that I feel like limiting it with the sound words I could say about it won’t suffice at all. Aspiring rock star Topher Manning (who first appeared in The Nothingness Of Ben) had a weird but surreal field day when he met Stanton Porter, a music critic from New York who’s in the small town of Dime Box in Austin for a music festival. With luck on his side, he found himself getting a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen, which led to many possibilities that neither he nor Stanton ever expected.
I do love how Stanton’s past and future clashed in the story. The retelling of his past gives me this nostalgic feeling, especially with the talks of music, Stanton’s early college days, his friendship with Marvin and the guys, and his relationship with Chris / Hutch. It was just unbelievably sad.
I also fell in love with Topher here. That guy is the cutest thing ever! I loved his personality, and the exuberance of his youth towards Stanton is just too adorable. He’s the perfect book boyfriend – sweet, sexy, intelligent, sensitive, and cute rolled into one!
I thought the whole reincarnation thing was sad and beautiful at the same time. There’s this one particular scene where I have to stop and tear up when Topher asked Stanton if he minded Maurice calling him Stan. Stan then answered, “Maurice can call me whatever he wants. He was always my favorite” (referring to Michael)
I also loved the extensive pop culture references here. It was so good it’s almost overwhelming. One of my favorite moments in the book was the Greatest Game scenes – both games played in the past and the present (Topher’s time.)
You see, The Return is one of those books that have its magic. It has its power and that something special that would stay with you for the longest time. It’s the perfect book to bring when soul searching or when you want to laugh or cry. The Return will give you all the options – pull different emotions out of you. If you liked The Nothingness Of Ben, The Return would be the perfect follow-up. It’s just perfection. Again, thank you, Brad Boney, for writing this fantastic piece of gem.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
About The Author
Brad Boney lives in Austin, Texas, the 7th gayest city in America. He grew up in the Midwest and went to school at NYU. He lived in Washington, DC and Houston before settling in Austin. He blames his background in the theater for his writing style, which he calls “dialogue and stage directions.” His first book was named a Lambda Literary Award finalist. He believes the greatest romantic comedy of all time is ’50 First Dates’. His favorite gay film of the last ten years is ‘Strapped’. And he has never met a boy band he didn’t like.
