Rowan McBride - Want Me

Joel Beckett is blessed. He's popular with the ladies, a star on the football field, and worshiped by everyone on campus. Including Walker Cain.
Only Walker's worship has crossed the line, driving him to invoke ancient magic that binds them together in an inescapable downward spiral. Now reality is shifting, and with each new life Joel is forced to watch Walker steal away another of the blessings he'd always taken for granted.
It's never enough. Cursed blood runs hot, and with every turn of the spiral, Walker breathes the seductive words that Joel can't resist. The words that could drag them both into hell - 'Want me.'

Comment: I've had this book to read for a long time. I saw that it has been waiting in the pile and this month added it to my list of books to read. I haven't read any reviews before this so I went to it expecting something completely new but (hopefully) good.

This book is weird, it features Joel, a college athlete, popular in everything. His roomate is Walker, a thin, shorter and shyer guy who thinks himself in love with Joel. Knowing Joel wouldn't ever be willing to be with him, Walker casts a spell to ensnare Joel and make him want to be with Walker. However, the more power Walker adds to the spell, the more changes we see happen between them. In the following weeks, Walker and Joel switch places and when the book ends, Joel is the quieter and shorter one while Walker is now well proportioned and getting bigger and stronger. But will things remain as they are?

Sadly, for me at least, they did. I simply cannot understand the point of this story. So we have Walker, a guy that apparently has direct ancestry from Cain, the Biblical son who jealously murdered his own brother. So, Walker has a out-of.jail chance to turn into someone redeemed. But Walker, like all men from hi family before, decides to use his sort of time-out to put a spell on Joel, so he could want Walker above everyone and everything. Bad things come from not letting others make their decisions and in this case Joel changed but was helpless to fight the spell.

I never got to understand why the spell worked and why Joel, apart from physical attraction, even when Walker answered this. It felt so random.

The narrative is continuously changing along the guys' physical appearances. The word "life" keep being repeated and I inferred each time Walker abused the power to keep Joel under the spell, a new reality would happen the day after for them. But why was this happening and what did it mean in terms of future, would they always keep changing until Joel became a dwarf or a child? It was very confusing and lacking purpose.

The way things are told can be quite brilliant but I missed out on many things with all the shifts in scenes and even in the outcome of the intimacy between them.

I don't think I'd have to say their relationship isn't perfect or balanced. Joel never consents and it bothered me how Walker simply couldn't see this. How could one expect a HEA at the end of this book? I kept hoping to see Walker realizing how much harm he was causing Joel and how the Joel he was "improving" couldn't have real feelings for Walker, but no, he never did. At some point - I was really confused - it seemed Walker was finally seeing reason and started to feel guilty but it was already too late and as far as I could tell, things never went back to what they were. Is this supposed to mean Joel stayed like that, that he never went back to his initial appearance and aspect? If not, then what's the point? Is Walker supposed to have a pat on the back for being clever and feeling guilty and Joel just forgive him because his mind changed too and he got more sensitive? I just didn't get it.

It seems this book has a more recent edition with a sort of epilogue or extra final chapters and things improved, but sincerely I can't understand how they could ever work based on the development. Walker abused Joel and never truly fought his instincts. I don't agree with the message in this book that one can harm us and if we are good people we just forget it, where's the balance in this? I never trusted the character's feelings because they are clearly out of hand in my opinion.

One could say Joel needed to see things from a different perspective to be fair and not as arrogant but I really think the idea of losing your ability to decide on your own and to be a slave to the ideas of someone else and their desires is never a good choice and is definitely not the idea of a good romance for me. Walker and Joel had a sick relationship after all. I can try to see some interesting ideas here and there but I could not separate myself from all the negative details. It's a no good for me.

Grade: 3/10

Rowan McBride - One Shot

Nick Carlyle understands the intricacies of his job better than anyone. He lives to crunch those numbers and his skills are valued throughout the company. If his personal life might be lacking, he doesn't notice, especially whenever he steals a harmless glance or two at Riley Jameson's tight body.
When a universal flu shot is developed, it's hailed as a miracle, and rightly so. But the seemingly harmless side-effects begin to change the world, warping the statistics that Nick's always used to guide him through life.
No one changes as much as Riley. Suddenly the young man is bigger, stronger. He's also aggressive in ways Nick isn't prepared for, and for the first time analyzing the numbers does nothing to help the situation.
And if numbers can't help him, what can?

Comment: This is one of those books that also caught my eye because of the cover. I love these types of cover, really gorgeous art.
This isn't the first book I've read by the author, and despite having enjoyed the first, I didn't have many expectations about this one.

This short story - it's really not that big - talks about the possibility of one day existing a vaccine to stop the flu, like we nowadays have vaccines against measles or small pox, for instance. The vaccine has secondary effects, of course. For some people it also helps muscle growth, which means some people get bigger in size and stronger. For a small percentage of the population, however, the body size can decrease and people get smaller. But it's a risk many are willing to take so they can change the way they see themselves and how others will see them too.
Nick is in charge of one particular team in a huge company. He's not eager to have the vaccine but when his co workers all have one, and Riley in particular has it and grows several inches and starts looking him down, he fears his position in the company might be jeopardized because people react to confidence and size. So he decides to have the vaccine and after that, everything changes.

I think the concept of this story wasn't that bad. I'm pretty sure it's not as out there as so many others, especially considering the advances in science every day. It's still weird, but I wasn't put off by this and it did allow for some interesting thoughts, such as how would people want to modify themselves just to please others or what they should be like and how this would push people into thinking they had to belong to a certain group...it's all rather interesting, sociologically speaking. A great idea for a science fiction story.

In terms of characters, I got the dichotomy here. How the changes in the protagonists shaped the things that happened afterwards and how by taking the vaccine, the way they saw each other and others changed too. Nick was very by the rules and at first he didn't seem worried, but with time he started having doubts like I'm sure many would too, ad this prompted him to have the vaccine. I think the biggest lesson he had was how no matter people change their bodies, it's the inside that matters and if someone has confidence in themselves, they can charm others around them. Of course, things weren't this simple, but in the short amount of pages it took to tell this story, most concerns were addressed. The story it told by Nick's perspective, so we don't really have the others' thoughts unless when someone talks about it, and I think I could have used a second point of view in this, but overall, it's was fine.
It was a pity the story was so short, because the subject was interesting and with more time it could be more meaningful, especially for the main couple and how these changes had an impact on them. The way things are, I think everything was a bit superficial, and it had many interesting points to develop more if the author wanted.

All in all, it wasn't the best story ever, but I liked the idea, I liked some of the consequences addressed but wish there could have been more to develop.

Lewis Perdue / Rowan McBride

When Zoe Ridgeway, a prominent art broker, visits Switzerland with her husband, Seth, she expects to purchase the rich estate of a secretive art collector. But before Zoe can complete the transaction she and Seth are drawn into a thousand-year-old web of conspiracy, murder, and intrigue that begins and ends with the mystery of a female Messiah, a young girl whose existence, if proven, would explode the very foundation of Western culture.



Seth Anderson has finally found sanctuary in Brier, Iowa. Even better, he's found Rafe: a strong, giant of a man who owns the town pool hall. Seth has never been so close to anyone. When he's asked to give a series of lectures in DC, it seems only natural that Rafe come along. But in a few surreal days, his true nature is exposed and he brings both their lives crashing down around them.
Because Seth is not only a werewolf; he's also something much, much worse.

*  *  * 

Comment: Another two books I've managed to read in December.

Daughter of God is a mystery very focused in the historical background and information. We follow a certain number of characters while they try to discover what is happening because of an old religious text and box which is said to contain a Catholic Truth that would shock the world. While the two main characters try to help a group of protectors to retrieve the box and thus helping the Church, others want the box to show their power and influence in changing the world's view of how to look at the Catholic Faith. I found the book very good in information, I've leaned a great deal about how the Church first begun to function and some of the background about how everything works. In that, the book is great. the rest I think was just there to provide a plot because it wasn't memorable or amazing, not in the way Dan Brown showed us..I guess it's a writing style thing. I liked the book, but didn't love it, despite how informative it was and how not boring it presented things.

Lone is a book about a man who always lived alone because he thought he didn't deserve anyone. But one day he finds someone and wants to be with him all the time. One day, the truth about him being a kind of shape shifter is revealed and he fears the man he loves will turn his back on him, but this doesn't happen because true feelings are stronger than prejudice and fear. I think it was a good story, with a strong lesson, we must trust our feelings and others in order to be really happy. I'll eventually try more books by this author, for sure.