Review: Never Have I Evan

Never Have I Evan by D.J. Jamison

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sorry but no.

Never Have I Evan by DJ Jamison is the first entry in her male-male romance series Games We Play and follows Dawson Woods and Evan Moore.

Dawson is the cousin of Evan’s BFF Calisto and was a college football player with prospects of going to the NFL until a drunken mistake caused him to fall from a roof, injuring his spine and ending his football career. He then gets an assistant coaching offer at a high school in small town America, where he meets 19-year-old virgin and geek Evan.

Evan is socially awkward due to being home-schooled and supposedly super smart. I say supposedly because the only evidence we’re given of his intelligence is the dating/studying app he’s been working on it prior to meeting Dawson, yet it sounds like something a newbie coder could make in a few months and not something someone like Evan, who’s been coding for “years,” couldn’t bang out in a couple of days.

Let me begin with this: my main issue is this book uses some of my least favorite tropes, namely gay for you and the jock-nerd/geek couple. The latter is beyond cliched, and Jamison did nothing new with it, while I detest gay for you.

For the unaware, this is where a character who’s only previously had heterosexual relationships falls for their same gender. The problem, as in this book, is the “straight” character shows no attraction to anyone else of their gender outside the love interest, nor do they consider themselves anything but heterosexual.

For 99.999% of this book Dawson reiterates he’s straight, then in the last few pages he gives his ex a throwaway line about how he’s now pansexual. No. Just no. This wasn’t earned, as Dawson never questioned he was anything but hetero until the very end.

Furthermore, it treats sexual orientation as a plot device and reinforces the erroneous myth that people just wake up one day and decide they’re LGBTQ+.

Hell to the no.

And if this wasn’t bad enough, the reason they get together made zero sense.
When Dawson learned Evan was gay and a virgin, he suggests they have casual sex so Evan can get experience.

Boy, bye. No straight guy would do this unless they were being paid to or there were zero other alternatives.

And Dawson had zero experience with gay sex outside of porn, which he said he had a meh sexual and emotional response to when he watched it. So, explain to me how he knew exactly what to do when it came time for them to hook up, so much so there were no bedroom mishaps.

Yeah, no.

You can tell this was written by a cis het woman for cis het women, as Jamison just copy-pasted heterosexual relationships dynamics onto Evan and Dawson, with Evan being the woman. Had I known this in advance, I’d have skipped on this book.

As it stands, I can’t give this more than 2 stars and have zero desire to read the next in the series that was obviously setup at the end of this one.

Skip this and read something better.

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The American Dream is Killing Us

Piggybacking off yesterday’s Daily Drabble, why do we allow others’ thoughts to affect us so much?

Why do we obsess over whether randoms online like or share our posts or what peeps irl think of us? It’s not like we’ll ever meet or see them again, so way so serious?

The answer, like most things in our modern hellscape ties into capitalism. Everyone is trying so hard to go viral in the hopes this might translate into dollars. 

Everywhere you look people are trying to sell us something(guilty as charged), because we’ve been conditioned to monetize everything we do.

So much so, people’s first instinct is to whip out their phones and start recording when an incident happens long before they consider helping out.

Why?

So they can become famous and live with some semblance of leisure outside their wage-slave jobs.

Repeatedly, we were told if you work hard and go to college you’ll get ahead. But the reality is most businesses couldn’t care less about their employees,and successful people are often products of dumb luck mixed with nepotism and sketchy ethics.

You can be the best in your field or craft and still fail commercially. And history has shown the opposite is true. Under capitalism everything is reduced to money and the more you have or something earns the more its perceived value.

This is no way to live. Yes, we all must pay the bills, but everything we do or are shouldn’t be monetized. We are not brands; we are people with hopes, loves, triumphs, and struggles.

What we are, what do shouldn’t be reduced to sound bites or tweets packaged for social media. My soul, my being isn’t for sale to the highest bidder. And neither should yours be.

New Year’s Drabble

Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash

Hello,

As this is the beginning of a new year, I thought I’d try something different with this blog. So starting today, I’ll be posting a microblog of 200 to 500 words every day in addition to the standard Wednesday posts, which I’ve been neglecting to post for the last several months.

I want these drabbles, as I’m calling them, to be more conversational and not have a fixed topic so I can explore whatever’s on my mind that day.
Without further ado, I’ll get into today’s drabble.

A few months back I posted chapters of my debut novel Palingenesis, its sequel, and another novel I’m working on to a website geared toward my target audience. And while the comments have been helpful, I’ve noticed myself obsessing over the number of views and comments each chapter got.

As writers, we often don’t know if a project will succeed or fail till many months or years after we start, and often we seek validation from others as an ego boost.

However I’ve realized some things while revising my current WIP.

First, that I live for those moments when I get lost in my own stories and forget I’m the one writing it.

Second, I don’t need validation for my work;as long as I’m proud of it that’s enough.

Third, that while it would be nice to become famous and wealthy from my books, if that never happens I’ll still write because it gives me joy.

Despite what we’ve been conditioned to believe, not everything should be turned into a side hustle. Some things should be done for fun.

So while I’ll still promote my work and self publish it, I’m okay with not ever make any money from it as long as it continues bringing me joy.

I realize this isn’t everyone’s mindset, and I’m not knocking you,but I’m done chasing likes and views. I don’t have the time or energy to do so anymore and would rather focus my efforts on, ya know, writing and other things that bring me joy.

Well, that’s it for today’s drabble. Happy New Year!

Review: The Ultimate Horror Collection

This couldn’t have oversold itself more if it tried.


Since Halloween was coming up, I thought I’d check out this collection horror stories. However, to my horror many of the stories in this collection weren’t horror stories, and those that were, I found boringly tame.


Of the bunch I found, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein my favorite. My biggest complaint is that most of this collection consisted of short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe, whose work I discovered I loathed. The other issue with this collection is it lacks any works by modern works or writers of color.


Overall, I was sorely disappointed in this audiobook set that touted itself as the ultimate horror collection. Don’t waste your money on this. I give The Ultimate Horror Collection 2.0 out of 5.0 stars.

Review: The Mythology Book by Big Ideas Simply Explained

“The Mythology Book” by Big Ideas Simply Explained charts myths from across the world. However, so much time was dedicated to Greek and Roman mythology, and that of the wider European peoples, and barely any to people of Africa, The Middle East, Asia, Pacific islands, and indigenous folks of the Americas.


I get they couldn’t cover everything, but it seems suspect to me how they glossed over the mythology of non-European cultures. This was especially egregious regarding their treatment of African cultures. They did one detailed section dedicated to Egyptian mythology, then glossed over everything else. It would have been nice to learn more about the Yoruba people and Orishas, or the Dogon people of Mali.
I guess I expected too much.


I give “The Mythology Book” 2.0 out of 5.0 stars. Skip this if you want to learn more than the CliffsNotes version of mythology outside of Europe.

Review: Just Above my Head

Baldwin’s final complete work, Just Above My Head follows brothers Haul and Arthur Montana and their related friends from childhood to adulthood. Arthur’s death prompts Haul to recollect how Arthur became a famous Black gay gospel singer, who had to remain closeted for the sake of his career. Much of the novel is set during the ‘60s in the deep south, and tackles topics like the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, masculinity, and the intersection of Blackness and queerness.

Haul is the elder brother and narrates the events. I wasn’t a fan at first of how the story jumped from characters to characters and between the past and present. However, toward the middle the plot settled down, focusing mainly on Arthur. Haul, and their friend Julia and her brother James.

I was struck by how insightful Baldwin was regrading what we now call toxic masculinity and intersectionality, and how he laid bare the issue of child sex abuse in the Black community, something still taboo today.

The relationship between Haul and Arthur is the heart of this sprawling novel and I wish more media showed Black and brown men openly expressing their affection for each other, be that platonic or romantic. And speaking of romance, I loved how this book centered Black gay love as being natural and positive, especially given the time it was set in.

However, the passages describing Julia’s father sexually abusing her were hard to get through, And I can see how they could turn off people.

If I had one complaint, it’s, as previously mentioned, how unfocused the first half was. However, this didn’t take away from the listening experience. And by the end, I was on the verge of tears.

Overall, I give Just Above My Head 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A staple of gothic horror dripping with queer subtext, Oscar Wilde’s tale of eternal youth gone awry is a cautionary fable on how beauty is only skin deep and how we must all accept we will grow old.

As it was written over a century before Stonewall and the gay liberation movement, it does suffer from the dreaded bury your gays trope. Also, Wilde’s tendency to filibuster on what he considers “good art”, and other subjects made the plot stand still at times for several passages. I also wasn’t a fan of how stuffy and pretentious the writing was.

That said, I did enjoy the novella and identified with Dorian’s wish to remain young forever, as I’m approaching middle age.

However, the way everyone thirsted after Dorian was rather disturbing, given he was described as barely out of his teens; it recalled how the queer community often puts young and beautiful people on a pedestal, then throws them away once they age out of being hot.

Overall, the ending felt maudlin and Dorian’s punishment disproportionate to his crimes.

I give The Picture of Dorian Gray 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. You should check this out if you like Victorian gothic horror, but know the ending is far from happy.

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Review: Witch vs. Witch

Witch vs. Witch by A.C. Merkel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An interesting premise marred by subpar writing and stale tropes

Witch vs Witch by A C Merkel is a female/female paranormal romance centering on witches Farrah and Sirena who fall instantly in love at first sight only to later discover they are on opposite sides an apocalyptic battle.

I wanted to love this story , but it was sorely lack in plot, characterization, and the prose.

First, due to this being a novella, there wasn’t enough time to develop the plot beyond save Adrick, save Sirena, save the world. And because of this the relationship between Sirena and Farrah wasn’t developed at all. They literally go from strangers to hooking up and being being madly in love with each other after only seeing each other three times.

Moreover, the world building was lackluster and not fleshed out at all, and the story dragged towards the end.

This was made worse by the utter lack of variety in syntax or any detailed descriptions.

And when I finally got to the end it was beyond cheesy.

While this was a quick read, I only finished it because it was so short. Otherwise, I would have DNF’d it were it 300-plus pages.

Honestly, this read more like a first or second draft than a finished manuscript and could use a ton of editing/rewriting.

While I did enjoy Farrah’s sense of humor and thought her plant magic was a cool concept; it, like the novella in general, lacked in execution.

Overall, I didn’t like this novella much and only give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Maybe this story will resonate with you but it’s a pass for me. Rent it or sang it when it’s on sale.




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Review: Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination

Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Written in 1992, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination by Toni Morrison is a work of literary criticism that focuses on how much of the western canon centers whiteness, to the exclusion of Black and Brown readers and writers, and how this limits the imaginative works of white writers.

At just over 100 pages, this is a short but dense essay, that is divided into three parts, each examining different works by white writers. It took me a minute to get what Morrison was laying down, and I plan to reread it and take notes as she packs so much knowledge and observations into such a short work.

Also, this book was a revelation to me, and I read it at exactly the right time. When I began writing, I eschewed “Black” stories and dialect, favoring universal (white) characters and modes of speech.
However, following the death of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Sandra Bland, and too many others to name, I’ve been leaning into my Blackness and pulling on the lived experiences of those around me.

Rather than swing from one extreme to the other, Morrison’s essay has showed me I don’t have to “write Black,” just write my truth by centering Blackness and not dumbing things down for those outside the culture.

What I loved about Morrison’s criticism was her unflinching honesty and lack of concern for the reactions of others. I also loved how she broke down things in each example she gave. Her prose was as precise as it was concise and was a pleasure to read.

While I was familiar with her fiction, this was the first piece of literary criticism from Morrison I’ve read, and I want to read more of her essays.

I can’t recommend this enough and given its low page-count it could easily be read in a day or two, making it the perfect weekend read.

If I had one criticism, I wished it were a bit longer, as I felt some topics were touched on without being fully explored. But otherwise, it was a great read. I give Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination 5.0 out of 5.0 stars.




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Review: Beauregard And The Beast

Falls flat on both the romance and fairytale retelling.

Let me start by saying I wanted to like this book. A gay spin on Beauty and The Beast? Sign me up. Grumpy/sunshine, introvert/extrovert, nerd/jock? Triple check. However, this didn’t do it for me.

I will say from a technical standpoint Evie Drae is a competent writer as this book had few if any typos, grammatical errors, and was formatted well.

That said, this book failed to deliver on both the romance and fairytale aspect. Bo and Adam had no chemistry whatsoever and instantly wanted to hook up with each other. And aside from being gave and supposedly liking books, they had nothing in common.

I say supposedly because I don’t recall Adam ever picking up a book besides when he and Bo are studying to get their GED.

This combined with their lack of chemistry had me scratching my head as to why they’d be declaring their undying love for each other after only a few months of knowing the other, let alone why they’d be together at all. It felt to me like their whole relationship was surface level and based solely on looks/wanting to hook up.

As for the Beauty and The Beast aspect, it was nonexistent. You could have changed the names and it would have no effect on the story. There was no curse, no magic, no whimsy at all.

Additionally, the whole third act could have been resolved in a matter of paragraphs had they just talked and been honest with each other about what they wanted and were thinking/feeling.

As for the sex scenes, they lacked emotion and sensuality and towards the end I skipped them as they added nothing to the story.

This leads me to my next issue. Halfway through the second act, the story drags and by the last 60 or so pages I was tempted to DNF as nothing was happening. And by the end I was just glad to be done with this story.

 This book just didn’t spark joy for me. Check it out and maybe you’ll have a different experience.  

I give Beauregard and The Beast 2.0 out of 5 stars.

Review: Claime Me, Love Me

Claim Me, Love Me by Jaiyde Thomas

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What a hot mess, emphasis on mess.

Claim Me, Love Me by Jaiyde Thomas is a BDSM m/m romance. It features Josiah, an out and proud frick boy who’s blind; and Caleb, his Uber driver, who’s closeted and suffers from anxiety and intimacy issues.

I wanted to like this book as I felt for Caleb and Josiah, but this book missed the mark in so many areas.

First, there was zero chemistry between Josiah and Caleb. They become obsessed with each other after exactly one meeting and then declare their undying love after only knowing each other a few months. I honestly don’t see what they saw in each other as they didn’t interact much, and when they did it was mostly to hook up (more on this later).

If this weren’t eye-roll-inducing enough, so much of the “conflict” in this story could have been easily solved had they just talked to each other. Also, they both needed a ton of therapy, but like in so many bad romances, Caleb’s and Josiah’s issues magically get better through the power of love (cue eye roll).

I don’t know much about BDSM, but I do know informed consent is a big part of it, and that was completely lacking with Josiah and Caleb. Josiah constantly sprang things on Caleb and expected him to be cool with it. And not to kink shame, but I found the whole Sub/Dom thing as depicted in this book to be abusive like crazy.

If someone isn’t comfortable doing something, as Caleb makes clear to Josiah several times throughout the book, then you should respect their boundaries. Yet, he kept pushing Caleb to do things he wasn’t ready for.

But the biggest offender in this book is the writing, especially the dialog. It’s just so bad. Like every time someone talks, they always say the other person’s name. Also, so much passive voice. And I lost count of how many times I cringed during Caleb and Josiah’s Sub/Dom conversations.

The common thread between them all being it didn’t ring true and felt forced.

I kept reading, hoping things would get better but they got worse, and I found myself skimming the pages, especially the mechanically sex scenes devoid of any emotion or sensuality.

And while I’m on the topic of sex scenes, there’s a scene where Josiah gets wasted and has unprotected sex with multiple people, then he later talks about how he doesn’t want to risk passing anything to Caleb so they should hold off on sex until he gets his test results. Yet they then have unprotected oral sex.

Make that make sense.

This book was just a hot mess, and I can’t give it more than 1 star. Skip it.





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Review: Storming (The Coven of Zora #2)

The second entry in LD Valentine’s QPOC-led fantasy series finds water witch Adam taking the reins as coven leader after a powerful psychic demon enthralls Xavier and kidnaps him.

It took me a minute to get into this book, but once I did, I loved it. It was nice seeing all the characters grow and respond to Xavier’s absence. I also liked the scenes between Adam and Serea and how they butted heads, and him having to deal with the politics involved with Zora.

But this book isn’t without its faults.

First, after Adam and Max got into a fight, I thought they were too easy to forgive each other given everything that transpired between them.

Second, the story dragged a bit towards the middle and got repetitive with all the scenes of them fighting Xavier only for him to best them and retreat.

Third, I felt how Adam survived a fetal encounter tipped into deus ex machina territory, as it’s something that no water witch has ever been able to do nor is it ever explained and only commented on twice.

Fourth, the ending came off rushed, anticlimactic, and things wrapped up too neatly.

That said, I liked this book overall and can’t wait for the next in the series to drop. If you liked the first book, go ahead and add this one to your TBR list now.   

I give Storming (The Coven of Zora #2) 4 out of 5 stars.  

Review: Steppin’ Out: Poems and Thoughts From Yaad

Steppin’ Out: Poems and Thoughts From Yaad is a short collection of poems and reflection from Jamacian poet Patricia J. Cameron. Told in both Standard English and Pidgin English, the poems run the gamut from love, religion, family, and island life. 

At first the pidgin English was hard to understand, but I quickly figured it out and grew to love the musicality of it. I also loved learning about the Black experience through the lens of a native Jamaican. 

However, my biggest complaint is the formatting issues that made it at times hard to read. I also thought the collection was a little short at barely 60 pages. That said, I’m looking forward to reading more of Mx. Cameron’s work in the future. 

I give Steppin’ Out: Poems and Thoughts From Yaad  3.0 out of 5.0 stars. Definitely check this out.      

Review: Project Himbo

Project Himbo by S.J. Whitby

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What a weird, wonderful, wild ride through time and space.

Set after Mutantsitters Club, Project Himbo by SJ Whitby plays with time and narrative structure to show the events of the Dark Year and the backstory of several new characters.

Joining the cast are Goat Bee, a transwoman with goat hooves and horns; Eva, a sentient algae colony suspended in water contained in an AI-controlled suit who became a mutant to exterminate mutants; Ian, Ion Storm, Eva’s partner and lover who can manipulated electricity; Nails, who shoots nails from machinery in their mouth; Twinkle Lights, who has Jubilee-esque light powers; Hench, a windup biomechanical mutant who has worked for various villains to pay of her medical debt; and Tentacle Princess, a hyperdimensional alien creature whose race were worshiped like gods and fed on humans and Cybele.

Fan favorites Feral, Penance, and Onimaru also make appearances, but my favorite of the new mutants is Eva. Her backstory and raison d’etre drew me in, and I would read a whole book from her point of view. And it’s her quest to save Ian that propels the story forward as she seeks to reverse time, creating pocket dimensions and nearly destroying the space-time continuum in the process.

Which leads me to my next point.

Unlike previous entries in the series, Project Himbo uses multiple first-person POVs and switches between past and present, which was confusing at first trying to keep the timelines and characters straight. It also veers into metafiction at time with the characters talking about things like narrative arcs, plot structure, and character development.

Ultimately, I got what Mx. Whitby was trying to accomplish, but I can see how this book could throw readers off, especially in Penance’s chapters where it delves into religion, philosophy, and the metaphysics behind her powers.

At times, the book all but broke the fourth wall, and while I predicted the twist, it was still a head trip getting there.

Overall, I loved this book much more than The Mutantsitters Club and can’t wait to see where the series goes next. I give Project Himbo 5.0 out of 5.0 stars.





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Review: Epic Farm Boy

Epic Farm Boy by Sam Ferguson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Epic Farm Boy by Sam Ferguson is a metafiction fantasy novel about struggling writer Jack and Simplin the Wise, his disgruntled stock character who wants an adventure of his own and forces Jack to write it.

This is the gist of the story and honestly it falls flat.

Simplin , Lucas, Luriel, and the other characters were the definition of boring. I would have preferred reading more of Bevin’s story as that was at least interesting. But the story I got was just bad all around. The copious pop culture references to better fantasy series only served to drive home how much this book lacked.

And if that weren’t bad enough, the attempts at humor had me cringing they were so bad.
I was sorely tempted to DNF as the plot meandered and stalled, such as when Luriel’s sister recounted how she rescued Lucas and droned on for several paragraphs what could have relayed in a few sentences.

But worst of all was the ending. All the buildup to the confrontation with Skid Mark the Brown (yes, that’s the big bad’s name), only for it to mean nothing. After reading the last page I felt cheated and that my time was wasted.

Epic Farm Boy was an epic failure, and I give it 2.0 out of 5.0 stars and don’t recommend reading it.




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