Jonathan TreadwayReseñas

Love Has No End was written for the 2013 MM Romance Group Love Has No Boundaries prompt event.



The prompt contained three paragraphs and the author based this very short story off the last paragraph.

It's a cute story but I would have preferred more showing and much less telling with the internal monologue.

I give this 2.5 stars but round it up to 3 stars because the author contributed his/her talent to this fun event.

What in tarnation did I read? I read about a toxic couple who fight. Not a screaming match, no, not that. They literally fight with their hands. If this isn't an extreme case of GET OUT then I don't know what is. This couple needs to break up and one needs to move across the country.

As one of the group who worked on editing and proofing these stories and helped put the anthologies together I might be considered biased, but these anthologies are definitely worthy of the 5 star rating.

This is another story with a great message of hope.

Dillon lost his partner due to a drunk driver a year and a half ago. With the upcoming holiday season he realizes he's ready for another relationship. His colleague Peter has caught his attention and Dillon sets out on a 'campaign' of winnig him over.

I enjoyed the gradual steps of gift giving which merge into mutual exploration and a final determination of both men to really explore their relationship. The story has a slow and gradual movement to it which madeit very enjoyable.

Things are not always like they seem, especially where relationships are concerned. Nobody "on the outside" can really see what's going on, and this story about Joe and his husband of ten years, Doug, is a good example.

Joe, a cop with straightforward tastes, and Doug, with a very refined palate and a snobbish group of friends, are not exactly well-suited to be a couple - not at first glance, and not even when looking a little more deeply. Both are strong men, both are stubborn, and they fight a lot. I mean a LOT. Even getting physical is not outside the realm of almost-normal for them lately. But the one thing they agree on is that they love each other and that a life apart from each other would be far worse than toughing it out together. While they both admit life together isn't easy and their relationship has gotten worse in the last few months, they haven't really done anything about it. It takes a pretty traumatic event for them to realize they may need to do more than "try to talk to each other".

If you like realistic stories about men with relationship issues and don't mind some violence, if men struggling to deal with their differences interest you, and if you're looking for a short read that might make you think about how couples deal with problems, then you will probably like this free short story.

A Victorian time machine may be unlikely, but then, so is a lot of other fantasy and sci-fi. Once you accept that there may have been a very clever scientist back in the 1860s, one who builds a time machine to travel through the centuries, you can take this story for what it is. A sweet tale about Thomas who is curious about the future and ends up traveling to times and places very different from his own time.

Wallace is the guy he encounters, and once Wallace has adjusted his mindset, they end up having some fun together. Thomas feels he needs to get back to his family, even though Wallace wants him to stay. Since they have the time machine, however, cross-temporal dating is not an issue for them.

If you're looking for a short and entertaining read, if the idea of a Victorian guy finding his way in 2012 sounds like a fun topic to read about, and if you're in the mood for an uncomplicated plot with no conflict or horrible obstacles for the main characters, you may like this short story.




NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

A Hearts On Fire Review

ONE STAR--Jonathan Treadway's "Arriba Aruba" is a vacation-love themed novella features insta-love between a jilted groom and a man he meets on his flight to his vacation.

Cray is 26, his best friend and female fiancee just eloped on the day of what was supposed to be Cray's wedding. The jilted writer is down in the dumps. His Waltons [insert your ideal perfect family here]-like family tries to comfort the sort of upset/sort of relieved weird angst of being jilted, MANTEARS-having Cray but even their perfectness can not change Cray's need to get away. He has long...dry...uninteresting internal dialogues about his fiancee, her family, who's paying the wedding, the evilness of his fiancee and many more off tangent thoughts. He's worried about how people will perceive him and is happy he won't be the bad guy this time. I mean he did do nothing when he caught his best friend/ best man and fiancee making out in public the night before.

Who can pass up a babe like Cray? *raises hand*

So on Cray's long drawn out adventure where he flies from California to Houston to Miami to Aruba, he meets blonde, long haired Stone, handsome gay graphic designer. And would you believe that both men live in LA and are travelling to Aruba together? Coincidence? And Stone is a walking Aruba history/culture buff because he goes into detail about a lot of interesting facts on Aruba. (ex. Aruba is a desert island- they have to have most of their food imported, the weather is usually the same year round, etc.) I had to recheck to see if the tourism board of Aruba didn't have a hand in writing this story.

Believe me, Aruba is interesting and I'm sure the author wanted to include all of Aruba's fact but this was supposed to be MM romance, not a vacation guide.

So after sifting through the dry, history, aruba research, the romance kicks in after the 50% mark...and it was lusterless insta-love that was. Once Stone stop spouting Aruba facts and deals, I still couldn't connect with him. He was such a flat character.

And Cray? *sighs* Uninspiring, boring, Cray. I'm certain his internal dialogue was supposed to maybe endear him to the reader, but it fell way off the mark. He's never been with a man or, really, a woman other than his fiancee (and beware there's mention of vaginal sex if it's not your thing to read about) He's practically a buttsex virgin. And once he meets Stone and his long blonde braid, he's suddenly a gay man.

Here's a taste of his revelation:

"Shit, I can't believe I waited so long for this. That was absolutely fucking amazing! Why would anyone want pussy after that?" Cray remembered William's words as he finished speaking.

"Haven't a clue. Wait until you're on the receiving end. Having a cock stroking over your prostate is better than just about anything in this world. You'll be fighting to be on the bottom from then on."

Again I ask, who wouldn't fall for Cray?

Plus, the way Cray spoke...I just did not care for it. When he's on the phone, he thinks: "One ringy dingy. Two ringy dingy." There are other odd quotes peppered throughout "Arriba Aruba".

Consider it a non match made in reader's heaven for me. Weird, uninteresting dialogue, bland characters, weird pacing between the romance and missed marks(the glossing over Cray's first time being a bottom...WHAT?!), excessive MANTEARS, lame sugar sweetness, awkward sex scenes and an abrupt ending. The book could possibly have a sequel in the future.

I'm not checking it out or more from this author.

But this book might be able to appeal to certain readers! Whom? If you're a fan of Scotty Cade or Etienne, you might be able to enjoy this. Or if you're interested in learning more facts about Aruba. Because this read more like marriage between a tourism pamphlet and a pseudo-romance."