Two great stories - first a review of our Promising Author AFriendlyFace's Buy Me A Drink followed by a review of Author Frostina's Prison of Hope. I hope you enjoy these reviews and check out the stories - and if you are interested in a reviewing a story, let Renee Stevens or myself know!

Reviewer: Trebs
Status: Complete
Word Count: 30,401

Aaron starts off as just a clinical sociology student who hangs out at the local gay bar with his roommate Mick, the straight male stripper. Ummm - k...

Aaron spends the night taking notes on the scenes around him, in hopes of using it all in an eventual dissertation. He has cute nicknames for each of the "specimens" he observes: Daisy, Cosmo, Georgio and BMAD (shorthand for "Buy Me A Drink" - the mating call of this particular specimen).

AFriendlyFace paints the scene so wonderfully, you quickly relate to the main characters - whether you've had friends or classmates like Aaron, or run across bar-types like Daisy and Cosmo. But then with the foundation laid, AFriendlyFace starts making you realize that these are three-dimensional people that he's writing about - a realization that shocks Aaron.

Aaron quickly finds out that while he may be seeing what is happening around him, he really doesn't know or understand much. These specimens actually are real people, have real problems and motivations and secrets. And maybe, instead of trying to study those around him, he might have given some thought to studying his own life.

Buy Me A Drink is a well-written tale of college-aged men learning about life, friendships, misconceptions, caricatures and love. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it. AFriendlyFace did started a sequel, but unfortunately that has been on hold for a while. Buy Me A Drink stands on its own - but I would have enjoyed seeing where AFriendlyFace would have taken this...

Reviewer: Houdinii
Status: Complete
Word Count: 6,944

I just read a story that got me at the core. Sent by the people above, I decided to review a work by Frostina, and I landed randomly on Prison of Hope. I have always loved dark fiction, and yet again for the second time today, I get to review a truly awesome story. I've never read Frostina's work before, as I'm not a fan of shorts, but I think I'm definitely going to read more.

How I'm going to write this review without spoiling the ending I'm not sure, outside of just giving it up. I began reading the story around 11 pm, and even passed up the necessary bio breaks to finish, and was met with what I would consider the best ever ending to a story. Character development was key, never missing a beat. I envisioned my own brother listening to the story, and was amazed I didn't nominate Paul as the antagonist of the year.

Rubbing elbows with some of the talent this site produces makes me feel both privileged, and honored, and it astounds me that it is only a hobby for the majority. I've been a reader for well over a year, and when it's time to hit the books, I'm never without a great story to read, and Frosty just proved that point in a well written Anthology addition. You surprised me, seriously. The little blue tag I see in chat does you no justice. Your an author in every sense of the word, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to review you