WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 35. Top Secret by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

I read it and enjoyed it, but my expectation was pretty on par for what it was, so there wasn’t much disappointment. It was an easy read. They had some fun banter. 

4 minutes ago, Mrsgnomie said:

I read it and enjoyed it, but my expectation was pretty on par for what it was, so there wasn’t much disappointment. It was an easy read. They had some fun banter. 

It's enjoyable, but I wish some of those plot elements paid off more. I think their first joint venture with HIM spoiled me, it worked far more.

I'll be reviewing Sarina Bowen Roommate next month, which I think worked much better than Top Secret, if you haven't read it yet, I suggest you give that book a shot. I also am partial to New England settings, bakers, and repressed artistic gay farm boy. I know it's a standalone set in the Vino et Veritas Universe of gay romance stories by various authors, so I'll use that to give people a glimpse at that collective universe.

I agree wholeheartedly with your review, although I would struggle to give this more than 2 stars. I bought the book straight after finishing HIM and US, both of which have become firm favourites. Fortunately, at the same time as downloading Top Secret, I stumbled upon Sabrina Bowen’s solo effort The Understatement of the Year, which in my view is far superior. I finished Roommate last month and agree it’s better than Top Secret, but still not her finest work. 

29 minutes ago, lomax61 said:

 I stumbled upon Sabrina Bowen’s solo effort The Understatement of the Year, which in my view is far superior.

Downloading now.

I also read Roommate a few months back and it was ok, but not among my favorite.

2 hours ago, lomax61 said:

I agree wholeheartedly with your review, although I would struggle to give this more than 2 stars. I bought the book straight after finishing HIM and US, both of which have become firm favourites. Fortunately, at the same time as downloading Top Secret, I stumbled upon Sabrina Bowen’s solo effort The Understatement of the Year, which in my view is far superior. I finished Roommate last month and agree it’s better than Top Secret, but still not her finest work. 

Looks promising, I'll have to read Understatement of the Year, it looks like a prototype for HIM/US.

Have you read EPIC in the series, it sort of completes the story-line.

1 hour ago, Mrsgnomie said:

Downloading now.

I also read Roommate a few months back and it was ok, but not among my favorite.

I enjoyed the first half of Roommate a lot, the slow-burn romance was fun. I think some of the story-line might be a little too perfect, but it does fit the Vino et Veritas  universe and if you enjoy hetero-romance True North general romance universe.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/308145-vino-and-veritas

-------------

I am planning to review Sarina Bowen's alternate pen-named story Goodbye Paradise, she wrote it under her Nealy Wagner pen-name. It is an interesting plot and has some fun concepts that I've rarely read about in one package.

@Mrsgnomieand @lomax61, by the way,  I try not to give writers extremely negative reviews on gay fiction books, unless the books clearly deserves it or the author Queerbait the reader, like Emily Skrutskie's Bond of Brass, which earned my only 1 star review so far and I ask for a refund from Amazon. That book left me unsatisfied, angry I wasted my time, and not happy with the author, who shows she can write heterosexual characters but is so confused and restrained with writing her main gay/bi protagonists.

6 hours ago, W_L said:

@Mrsgnomieand @lomax61, by the way,  I try not to give writers extremely negative reviews on gay fiction books, unless the books clearly deserves it or the author Queerbait the reader, like Emily Skrutskie's Bond of Brass, which earned my only 1 star review so far and I ask for a refund from Amazon. That book left me unsatisfied, angry I wasted my time, and not happy with the author, who shows she can write heterosexual characters but is so confused and restrained with writing her main gay/bi protagonists.

 

The act of finishing writing a book is so momentous that I respect any author who manages to get that far. If they’ve also done the legwork of getting published and marketing (or self-published, and done a good job of redrafting and editing) then I am never going to give someone a 1 star review. If it’s dreadful, I would rather not review at all.

I have been known to give low reviews when the gay characters are inauthentic and unbelievable, or if the story feels contrived or unrealistic. My problem is that I read MM romance and fiction from the perspective of a living, breathing gay man, and forget that we were never the intended audience. Does that mean the concept of Queerbaiting does not apply? (Discuss, lol). These writers are creating a fictionalised world in which usually masculine men (policemen, sportsmen, detectives, firemen, soldiers) have romantic feelings for another man and the setup plays out a sexual fantasy on the page for their female readers. Conversely, a lesbian friend tells me that a significant proportion of lesbian fiction is written and read by straight men. 

The key for me is whether it’s done well. That’s why I love writers like NR Walker, Sabrina Bowen, River Jaymes, and, to a lesser extent, Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban, because they research and write their characters realistically. Maybe that’s also why gay male authors like Brad Boney, J F Smith and Marshall Thornton, who (IMHO) truly understand and create believable gay characters, are often passed over by female readers of gay romance, because they include all aspects of gay culture, warts and all.

I’ve downloaded EPIC, by the way, and am already halfway through Blood and Milk, and loving the storyline. N R Walker has a real knack for taking you to another place, the way she did in the Red Dirt series.

@lomax61

Agreed, I don't like discouraging writers, who put in the work and actually craft good stories. I also don't have a problem with Fan-Fiction writers as some people might, it's nice to see new ideas and concept created from preexisting concepts. We all have bad days and make mistakes when we write, there's no fault for being creative and things falling through. L.A Witt is a great author, but I had to give her Husband Gambit a 2.75 out of 5 review, because the story just didn't work for me, there's better stuff out there and she's written better books, which you can compare things to. Still, a 2.75 rating isn't unreadable, it's just a book that didn't work for me as a reader.

However, I do have a line in the sand, when an author misrepresents their stories and create character that are counterintuitive to a story arc and plot. For me, a 1-star review is reserved for those authors who craft a bad story with deceptive themes, a 0-star review is a special, kind of the like the last circle of hell in Dante's inferno for histories greatest betrayers.

In terms of superb gay fiction, I think there are standout gay male writers. Tal Bauer is really good male gay writer, his Executive Office series is like the gay version of a Tom Clancy's Ryanverse. He also has a really good Duology: Hush/Whisper, thrilling international thriller, courtroom trials with high stakes, and intricate terrorist plots. He's basically GA's CJames, if CJames went into mainstream publishing. I might love romance, but I also appreciate strong gay/bi male characters written with a complex plot and high stakes.

Bill Konigsberg and Jay Bell are just as good if not better gay romance writers than many of their female counterparts, they actually have won acclaim for their complex gay romance novel series. You might want to give them a read at some point.

Jordan L. Hawk is one of my favorite southern Trans authors of gay fantasy that most people don't even hear about, but I follow his work, too. You don't need to be a cisgender gay male or heterosexual female to write superb stories, a small sub-segment of trans/non-binary authors do exist in gay fiction. If you want a fresh take, give them a try.

I'm fine with stories written by heterosexual female writers too, I read KM Neuhold and Ana Byrd for the escapist fantasies, Leta Blake and Keira Andrews for exotic concepts/stories with deep psychological characters, Nora Phoenix for my more extreme interests (I'm debating on whether or not I should post the review for No Shame Series, an in-depth BDSM book series might be too much for most readers), and countless others.

-----------