Orbiting Bodies by Diana Jean

Orbiting Bodies by Diana Jean

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I received an ARC of this book from Less Than Three Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well this is a somewhat strange position I find myself in. In 2016 I read and loved a book by this author. In 2018 I reread that book and loved it again. I’ve now read two more works – both of which I read today. Didn’t love the short story, but it was a good enough way to pass the time. This brings us to this novel here – which I somewhat unexpectedly find that I also loved.

Unexpectedly? Well . . . there’s like 80 (no, there’s just 4) point of view main characters in this book. All of them young adult college students. It is somewhat harder for me to love a multiple cast point of view book. Not impossible, just harder. Plus – I had been eyeballing this book for a while now, and kept not getting it because of the sample – Caleb, the star of the beginning chapter, seems a pain to be around – a super hyper super-selfish extrovert type who has great trouble sitting still for longer than three minutes, and brings unrelated books to tutor sessions in case he gets bored. He seemed . . . annoying when I first glimpsed him in the sample. Then he made me laugh a few times in that sample, so I got the book.

So that’s Caleb – super hyper short slim dude who is an extreme extrovert, wants to be friends with everyone, and is quite pushy in getting people to do his thing – oh and he can be quite . . . dramatic. He is also 18 and a college freshman and the roommate of another main point of view character, Andrew.

Andrew, also a freshman, is also probably 18, though the one and only time his age was given, it was 15 – but that was also an unexpected flashback.

That happens a lot in this book, by the way, flashbacks. Also – merged . . . um sessions. There were times when a character, in the present, would be doing something and have thoughts of the past – detailed thoughts. There were also times when a flashback would occur – and then there would be italicized text – thoughts from the present. That was . . . different.

But I was on Andrew and got distracted.
Andrew, when he first appeared, was dressed all depressing like and .. . well, I forget the exact words Caleb used. Emo? Goth punk? Something in that range. Andrew’s life is art, and that’s why he’s at college – to get an art degree and do art. He is also, unlike Caleb, gay. And a little bit (or more) lusting after Caleb, who reminds him, personality wise, of his great lust-person of high school years (Daniel, the name was Daniel, right?). Andrew kind of became the fifth well in this book, even though there were only four points of view. But, eh, whatever.

As I mentioned, Caleb is quite pushy and gets his way a lot. I mention this because, the first day Caleb and Andrew move in on campus – Caleb drags Andrew to a club mixer thingie. Which I mention less to mention Caleb being pushy, but so I could mention that that is where the two meet Jun. Sitting at one of the club tables (Astronomy).

Jun, unlike freshman Caleb and Andrew, is a junior – studying for a bio-chem degree (degrees?, I forget if that was described as ‘bio chem pre med degree’, or bio chem degree and pre med degree or . . something). Jun is the third point of view character in the book. He is very studious to the point he rarely does anything else. When he was 7 his family moved from Japan to the USA, which I mention because the transition was such that he lost the ability to make friends, or something like that, and so went a different direction – taking on a persona of hiding, and being studious and not pursing friendships and social interactions.

Jun is roommates with the final point of view character, Piper. Who pulls in Lizzy, though Lizzy, oddly, doesn’t get a point of view in this book. Lizzy and Pipper are seniors and girlfriends. Jun was a last minute addition to their apartment, as they figured that having another person in the application would increase their chances of getting the apartment. Piper is into Computer Science, while Lizzy is into dance. Piper’s the one who pulls in the family (though Caleb’s mother is mentioned and very briefly seen in the opening chapter) – for the mother, Piper’s that is, keeps opening stating things like how Piper’s going through a phase and stuff, by dating women (though . . . eh, let’s not give everything away).

There’s a slight disconnect between me and the characters involved. Possibly due to there being so many to follow, possibly for other reasons. That doesn’t mean I didn’t feel them at times – like, again unexpectedly, there were moments when Piper and Lizzy’s story-line made me vaguely teary eyed.

Right.

So, young adult book. Many characters. Three men, two women. Mix of LGBT characters. Multiple LGBT couples in the same book. Mix of MM and FF in same book. Lastly: the only thing graphic was kissing.

Enjoyable book.

Rating: 4.78

June 25 2018




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Puss in Prada by Marie Jacquelyn

Puss in Prada by Marie Jacquelyn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Considering how competent, interesting, and well-written this story here is, and how it is the only thing out under this name, I assume two things – that the author either publishes under at least one other name, and/or has written some fanfiction stuff (though nothing about the story screams ‘fanfiction graduate’ – as in, none of the little habits of fanfiction authors snuck into this story here). At least, I hope there are other stuff out by this author, because I’ve rather liked what I’ve seen so far.

This is the second time I’ve read this specific short story about the talking cat. It has a lot going for it – a good solid story with everything you might desire for a solid story (except for sex, but we are talking about a talking cat here).

The story is relatively simple to explain: prior to the start of this story, a man of 25 has spent his life doing massive amounts of drugs, drinking, not taking his medication (never explained what exactly the medication was for), and being a real asshole of a man and boyfriend. One night, on the way home from a party during which the man had consumed a large quantity of alcohol, some or all of which was ‘probably laced with something’, the man almost drives over a woman. He misses and attempts to go help her. She promptly curses him. Because, you know, that happens and stuff. Whereupon he was turned into a cat. He’s able to get help from his ex-boyfriend, despite a) ex-boyfriend; b) being a cat and attempting to be said cat while using the phone. Oh, right, he retained the ability to speak English (well, I should say that he retained his language skills, whatever they might have been previous to the transformation).

That man, Alexander, has spent the last few years as a cat living with that ex-boyfriend previously mentioned but not named (he being the fabulously well-muscled and tall Ethan). He’s retained his personality and ability to write (poorly, slowly, one letter poked at a time), which is important because he was a successful author before being turned into a cat, and is still able to write books – at least two of which have appeared since being turned into a cat (though he hasn’t been writing much lately – his agent is constantly screaming at him).

I’m not sure what I’d think of this story if it was altered somehow. As in, if it was Alex the human and Ethan the human – with Alex maybe living with Ethan because of some illness or something. But as a cute fluffy kitty-cat, his personality is perfect for kitty, and there’s a fun story to be found and read.

Great story, but just a tiny bit missing so it doesn’t rise to the top level of things I’ve read more than once (as in, the exclusive six star shelf), but a quite good story none-the-less.

Rating: 5.0

January 2 2018



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Port in a Storm by K.L. Noone

Book received from both Netgalley and Less than Three Press for an honest review

This is a quick short story of roughly 28 pages about a kitten and a man. And the relationship they have together. It's cute, sweet, about what you'd expect in such a situation. Oh, and the kitten is something like a 26 year old, in human years, cat shifter - the natural kind not the 'magician using temporary magic' kind. 'Natural shifters' are super rare.

More broadly: this is a story about a young man who had fallen into a life of enjoying being petted, likes sex, and likes the easy party life. But that leads him to the situation that opens this story, or, more exactly, leads to the picture on the cover. That of a drenched kitty in pouring rain. For, you see, Colin, the shifter, had gone home with the wrong man one night (oh, this is a m/m story, by the way), and ended up wearing a collar. A compulsion collar. And he was trapped in that situation for about 8 months - that is until the start of this story when he is making his escape. In the form of a kitten (he shifts between kitten and human).

Somewhere along the way he spots a nice looking car to huddle underneath. And does so. The owner of the car spots the kitten, and rescues said cat. Brings cat home. Tries to comfort cat. Naturally . . . . well, let's not tell the whole story, eh?

As I noted, short sweet cute story about a cat shifter.

Rating: 3.95

December 13 2017

Love vs the Limelight by Manda Olie

Love vs the Limelight
by Manda Olie
Pages: 45
Date: April 27 2016
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Series: N/A

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: April 4 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Less Than Three Press in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first story by this author.

I went into this story knowing that I’ve read several variations of it over the years. From J.A. Armstrong’s Off Screen series, to Jae’s The Hollywood Series, to Gun Brooke’s Course of Action, to Selina Rosen’s Vanishing Fame, even to the chick-lit Blame it on the Fame by Tracie Banister (‘even to’ because that’s an ensemble piece with many people involved, it just so happened that it included, among the characters, a closeted lesbian actress). They all have something in common with each other and this story here – people in the acting profession who have to deal with the issue of ‘coming out’. The difference between all of the ones I mentioned, and this specific story here, is that all but this specific story here involved women. This story here involves men. It intrigued me to see how this issue might be different or the same with men instead of women.

Mind you this isn’t actually the first story I’ve read that involve people who act who happen to be dealing with the concept of ‘coming out’ and who happen to be men. Alex Gabriel’s Learning How to Lose is different enough, though, to put it into a slightly similar though adjacent category – since the characters are (1) Japanese working in Japan; (2) musicians (as is one of the characters in Rosen’s book, but I had included it because of the other person in that coupling – who is an actress; plus there never had been any question about the musicians sexual orientation in that book, though there was about the supposedly straight actress).

Right, let’s get to the actual short story I’d read. Love vs the Limelight by Manda Olie. The title in and of itself tells you the thinking of one of the characters in this story. Does he want love, or does he want the limelight – the acting career.

I knew what I was getting into, and wanted to get into, when I received this story to read. I just didn’t expect to find that the majority of the book would trip me over a specific issue. Especially because of the way the story is described on GoodReads. From the description: “His silence when it comes to the truth may cost him Christian, the love of his life, who's grown tired of being a dirty little secret and has issued Rick with an ultimatum: tell the truth or lose Christian.” – naturally I assumed that I’d be entering a story involving Christian and Rick dealing with this issue of coming out, or having the relationship implode. Instead I’m greeted with the relationship already broken apart because Rick had refused to come out; and Christian left, not being able to take it any longer. None of this is the specific issue that tripped me up that is referenced in the beginning of this paragraph though. No, that would be the reasoning given. Partly Rick didn’t want to come out because of the potential consequences to his career. The career he had fought hard to achieve. Partly because, at least one of the reasons given, is because he wanted to ‘protect’ Christian from the harm that comes from being in the news, in the press, hassled by the paparazzi. That’s the issue that tripped me up – that self serving ‘I’m doing this for you!’ bullshit that I’ve seen pop up before.

Luckily, for my own piece of mind, while that comes up a lot, it always came up tinged with the idea that Rick actually knew that he was being selfish – it was more about his career, though there was just a tiny itty bitty part that is true, that he wished to protect Christian from the vultures of the press.

So, let’s try to boil this down a little more:
Characters
Rick Campbell is an actor with, as the description puts it ‘a great career’ who has spent a really large amount of time attempting to hide his gayness, by being shown being on the arm of numerous women. He has, also as the description puts it, a reputation ‘as a lady-killer’.

Christian is a lawyer from Iowa who is a long time best friend of Rick’s who started dating him two years before the start of this story. Tired of having to hide, he had issued an ultimatum to Rick ‘tell the truth’ or Christian would leave. Well, Rick didn’t tell the truth, so Christian left. Oh, and Christian is also, to complicate things, Rick’s lawyer.

Bella Carson is Rick’s agent. Or, at least, I think she is, though she seems to spend more time working as Rick’s publicist – the person who deals with Rick’s image. Ah. No, it actually says that Bella is Rick’s publicist. Hmms. The description mentions several things, like an excellent agent, but does not mention an ‘excellent publicist’. I’d assumed Bella was the agent because no one else fitting that description appeared in the story.

Andrew is Rick’s friend who is a director. He has a lot more . . . issues in his closet than would be advisable to be seen in print.

Jake is another of Rick’s friends and is an action star.

Keith is the tabloid guy trying to catch Rick doing something publishable.

Plot
The description is misleading in one way, and not misleading in another. The story is about the ultimatum, but the plot-line is further along than expected. We are at the point of attempting to keep the break up from cementing into permanence, and attempting to ‘fix’ the issue territory, not ‘ultimatum issued’ part of the story.

The story follows Rick as he attempts to deal with being separated from his love, Christian, separated by his own refusal to come out. He is attempting to figure out some way to keep the relationship going, or restarted, without actually having to give in.

Overall
The story was interesting – it’s neat to see this ‘issue’ from the male perspective. Long and short – I didn’t actually see any difference, at least not within this story, and all the other ones I read. Any difference, I mean, between the impact of being a gay man, or a lesbian woman attempting to work in Hollywood.

There seems to be a solid story here. It’s kind of short, but gives the details needed to be given to be a full story. For those interested in such – there was mention of sexual passion, of certain acts performed in the past, but other than some passionate kissing, there is no actual graphic detail in this story. That detail isn’t in the description over on GoodReads, but it is in the NetGalley description. So I knew that issue going in. I know that there will be people disappointed by the lack, and others who might not read the story because of fear of the inclusion, but so far the lack does not seem to be having an adverse impact on the ratings.

Overall, I’d give this short story a rating of around 3.80 to 4.20.

April 4 2016