Mercy Celeste

The setting of the story is a small Georgia town that had a lot of bad memories for Mason. He swore he would NEVER go back, but that's where his twin sister had decided to get married, so here he was, for better or for worse and right off the bat ...he found the worse staring him in the face in the form of Kirby, a retired Marine...out of the closet, out of the universe, gay as an Easter parade man that he was sharing the last vacant room in town with. I won't go into the unbelievable plot show more twists that take place almost immediately upon the two guys meeting and sizing one another up. Lets' just leave it at "unbelievable"...unless I misread it and Mason and Kirby are actually not human but two dogs in heat. Overall, in a little over 350 pages you have possible incest, crazy love triangles, suicide, child molestation, rape, disregarded homophobia, and possibly the worst negligent parents on Earth. I had to keep reading to see what crazy, off the wall thing, was going to take place next. The last 25% is nothing but one big angst fest with numerous participants. You now have this wacky story in a nutshell. I'm still trying to figure out if it was supposed to be a comedy. I'm glad I didn't buy this book, but it got 3 stars for the most twisted, unbelievable plot I think I have ever read. show less

Handsome heartthrobs wading through heartbreaking events and heavy emotions. So much more than just a ‘taboo’ love story. I held off reading this due to the whole porn aspect. My normal reading is seedy enough without the addition of the porn factor. This novel was so not seedy. It was beautiful. The only thing missing was an epilogue. Even that omission couldn’t dampen the fire that blazed throughout this book.

Emotional overload and scenes of panty melting passion combined to make show more this one of the top ten books I have ever read. show less

So, one picks up this book and thinks “this can’t be nearly as squicky and transgressive as the description makes it seem. I’m sure the author somehow manages to convey the relationship between a man, his son, and their shared boyfriend with good taste and tenderness.

One would be mistaken.

This absolutely would have been a DNF had I not been reading it for Scavenger Hunt. I would not have made it past Chapter Three. Because, when:

- you break up with your boyfriend of six years because show more he and a group of other men gang-rape you on your birthday, and
- then, four years later, your son takes you to meet his new boyfriend (they’re about to move in together), and it turns out to be the rapist ex

What would be your immediate response? Punch your ex's lights out? Take out a restraining order against him? Or say “Missed you, baby. Love you. I’ve never stopped” and then have (unprotected) sex with him (he’s still dating your son, mind you)?

Ew.
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I really enjoyed this one. Mercy Celeste really knows how to write a slightly screwed up character, a good sex scene, and some raunchy dirty talk. I don't usually like dirty talk, but it worked for me here.

Now here's to the rambly part that MIGHT give away a bit too much of the plot, so read at your own risk.

My only real problem with this book is it felt a bit like the last quarter of the book was a totally different story. The bit about Liv, Levi's club alter ego felt like it came a bit out show more of left field, there was no foreshadowing at all. I enjoyed what happened, it just felt a bit out of place. I wish there had been even the tiniest reference to Levi dressing up to go clubbing, and then some tidbit about Tracy having a one nighter with someone he couldn't forget, so it didn't all seem to have come out of nowhere.

Ok, last of all, the thing that a lot of readers had a problem with, between Bo and Levi? I didn't really have a problem with it. I got it, really. First Bo was lost as hell, and then even though he had found what he had lost, it was still kinda lost, and a very difficult situation. I didn't see it as him thinking with his dick, I saw it as him taking what comfort and security he could find, where he could find it. show less