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Rough and ready tapioca plantation manager Duggan has always preferred young blond twinks who he can overpower and control. But when he arrives in Thailand to manage an upcountry plantation, with periodic visits to the male brothels of Bangkok, he learns that he likes even better small, submissive, boyish Thai men who he can overpower and control. On a visit to Washington, D.C., to document his company’s plantation operations, Duggan falls under the spell of a sexually refined Thai, Amnad, who he first encounters in a men’s club sauna. Duggan discovers his Bangkok hotel is nearly next door to architect, opera set designer, and minor royal, Amnad’s canal-side Thai-style compound.
After overcoming the competition from Amnad’s U.S. Army black major lover, Duggan moves into Amnad’s compound and his bed, where he finds that the casual sexual environment he finds with Amnad extends to the willing servants. The one impediment to Duggan having found paradise on earth is that Amnad raises a pack of small, yappy Chinese crested dogs that he’s having trained for dog shows. The dogs drive Duggan to distraction, and when he unexpectedly comes into full possession of them, he seeks to find them new homes after having fulfilled Amnad’s dream of taking one or more of them to the winners’ circle at an international dog show.
Young Australian plastics manufacturer and dog show judge, Jason Fielding, appears in Bangkok to both make a business deal with Duggan’s company and to judge an international dog show. Although both men are coming off painfully broken relationships, when they meet they have an immediate attraction to each other. The chance they will ever find each other sexually, though, is seriously challenged by misunderstandings and the sexual maze of attempted bribery by a gaggle of grasping pedigree dog owners hoping to influence Jason’s dog judging decisions
After overcoming the competition from Amnad’s U.S. Army black major lover, Duggan moves into Amnad’s compound and his bed, where he finds that the casual sexual environment he finds with Amnad extends to the willing servants. The one impediment to Duggan having found paradise on earth is that Amnad raises a pack of small, yappy Chinese crested dogs that he’s having trained for dog shows. The dogs drive Duggan to distraction, and when he unexpectedly comes into full possession of them, he seeks to find them new homes after having fulfilled Amnad’s dream of taking one or more of them to the winners’ circle at an international dog show.
Young Australian plastics manufacturer and dog show judge, Jason Fielding, appears in Bangkok to both make a business deal with Duggan’s company and to judge an international dog show. Although both men are coming off painfully broken relationships, when they meet they have an immediate attraction to each other. The chance they will ever find each other sexually, though, is seriously challenged by misunderstandings and the sexual maze of attempted bribery by a gaggle of grasping pedigree dog owners hoping to influence Jason’s dog judging decisions
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First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 1, 2012
2.5 stars
Do I need to tell any of you that this book is ridiculous? No? Well this book is ridiculous and up until the second part I was actually kind of digging it. I mean, in a sea of delusionally self important romance novelists (including myself *g*) it's nice to find something unpretentious. Despite some roughness and repetition in the prose I found myself really enjoying this.
Then they killed the love interest D:
Here's the deal: the first part of this book is about Duggan, an American businessman who inherits a tapioca business and spends most of his time trolling for twinks to have rough sex with. Blonds are his favorites. Consent is optional. Then one night Duggan takes home a Thai he thinks will be an easy conquest only to come up smitten when his boy toy takes control. Sure Amnad is still the bottom here, but he's easily able to disarm Duggan and have him eating out of the palm of his hand. This was hot. Amusing, charming AND hot :D
So Duggan and Amnad have there Great Misunderstanding(TM) thanks to a big black major that Amnad used to have kinky sex with but does not need anymore because now he has Duggan for that... They settle into domestic bliss: Duggan, Amnad, all Amnad's servants/potential-threesome-partners and Amnad's pack of show dogs. Yes, show dogs. It looks like we're on the road to HEA-- Then an opera set falls on Amnad and squashes him like a bug.
Not kidding.
And I didn't realize Amnad was dead until much later when Duggan mentions it off hand to Jason-- wait, who's Jason? Ah well ... Jason is the actual love interest. Jason is from Australia. He's young, twinky, probably blond and currently looking for a man to take him hard ... he also happens to be a show dog judge ... and part owner of a plastics business that is looking for a tapioca supplier (no really).
It took me a while to get over the giant loop this book was making-- taking Duggan from meaningless rough sex with blond twinks to a relationship of love and respect with a top-from-the-bottom kind of lover ... back to meaningless rough sex with blond twinks-- but there is something amusing about part two of this book as well:
Everyone suddenly becomes super interested in dogs. I mean everyone, even characters that showed no interest before are suddenly acting like this shitty regional dog show Jason is flying in to judge is like a WORLD CUP match. Everyone is also totally into gay sex apparently ... which means all these rich and powerful dog breeders (O.o) spend most of part two trying to bribe Jason by throwing cock at him.
And cock... and more cock: old cock, young cock, strong cock, weepy cock. Jason has a LOT of sex on his trip to Thailand. Every dog breeder in town is lining up to either blow him themselves or force a servant to do it.
Well, all except Duggan who is innocent and pure (*snort*) and only showing his stupid 'yappy dogs' because they were important to Amnad (aww~) Duggan does not attempt to bribe Jason with cock, which obviously means they are meant to be together.
Bottom Line:
- Shabbu is actually two authors publishing under one name (they have since changed that name to Stephen Kessel, FYI) Thankfully this book does not have the obnoxious tandem style of other cowritten M/M stories (Cut & Run, Special Forces), but it does still have some repetition issues. Each chapter is told from the POV of another character, with lots of boring rehashes of things that have already happened each time, but this is slightly easier to deal with then doing the same thing EVERY paragraph. It's amazing to me that a shitty porno manages to be better edited than mainstream M/M but there you go.
- The sex isn't really all that hot in this book. There are definitely some hot situations, but I don't think there's a single sex scene over two or three paragraphs. Not very sensual, lots of "he fucked my channel with his massive cock" sort of moments, reads very and-then-they-had-hot-sex0r *fade to black*
- Amnad :(
- if you are sensitive about race issues this is NOT the book for you. Thai men are all effeminate slutty bottoms. Black men are all thuggish rapey tops. The rich white guy ends up with the other rich white guy ... but not before they BOTH treat just about every non-white character as living sex toys. I don't think the authors meant offense with this, but it was rather tiresome. Especially since I liked Duggan/Amnad so much. IR romances are so difficult to find. It seems kind of cruel to tease us with a clever one only to take it away.
[Disclosure: This review was written by an author, see my review policy for more information]
Do I need to tell any of you that this book is ridiculous? No? Well this book is ridiculous and up until the second part I was actually kind of digging it. I mean, in a sea of delusionally self important romance novelists (including myself *g*) it's nice to find something unpretentious. Despite some roughness and repetition in the prose I found myself really enjoying this.
Then they killed the love interest D:
Here's the deal: the first part of this book is about Duggan, an American businessman who inherits a tapioca business and spends most of his time trolling for twinks to have rough sex with. Blonds are his favorites. Consent is optional. Then one night Duggan takes home a Thai he thinks will be an easy conquest only to come up smitten when his boy toy takes control. Sure Amnad is still the bottom here, but he's easily able to disarm Duggan and have him eating out of the palm of his hand. This was hot. Amusing, charming AND hot :D
So Duggan and Amnad have there Great Misunderstanding(TM) thanks to a big black major that Amnad used to have kinky sex with but does not need anymore because now he has Duggan for that... They settle into domestic bliss: Duggan, Amnad, all Amnad's servants/potential-threesome-partners and Amnad's pack of show dogs. Yes, show dogs. It looks like we're on the road to HEA-- Then an opera set falls on Amnad and squashes him like a bug.
Not kidding.
And I didn't realize Amnad was dead until much later when Duggan mentions it off hand to Jason-- wait, who's Jason? Ah well ... Jason is the actual love interest. Jason is from Australia. He's young, twinky, probably blond and currently looking for a man to take him hard ... he also happens to be a show dog judge ... and part owner of a plastics business that is looking for a tapioca supplier (no really).
It took me a while to get over the giant loop this book was making-- taking Duggan from meaningless rough sex with blond twinks to a relationship of love and respect with a top-from-the-bottom kind of lover ... back to meaningless rough sex with blond twinks-- but there is something amusing about part two of this book as well:
Everyone suddenly becomes super interested in dogs. I mean everyone, even characters that showed no interest before are suddenly acting like this shitty regional dog show Jason is flying in to judge is like a WORLD CUP match. Everyone is also totally into gay sex apparently ... which means all these rich and powerful dog breeders (O.o) spend most of part two trying to bribe Jason by throwing cock at him.
And cock... and more cock: old cock, young cock, strong cock, weepy cock. Jason has a LOT of sex on his trip to Thailand. Every dog breeder in town is lining up to either blow him themselves or force a servant to do it.
Well, all except Duggan who is innocent and pure (*snort*) and only showing his stupid 'yappy dogs' because they were important to Amnad (aww~) Duggan does not attempt to bribe Jason with cock, which obviously means they are meant to be together.
Bottom Line:
- Shabbu is actually two authors publishing under one name (they have since changed that name to Stephen Kessel, FYI) Thankfully this book does not have the obnoxious tandem style of other cowritten M/M stories (Cut & Run, Special Forces), but it does still have some repetition issues. Each chapter is told from the POV of another character, with lots of boring rehashes of things that have already happened each time, but this is slightly easier to deal with then doing the same thing EVERY paragraph. It's amazing to me that a shitty porno manages to be better edited than mainstream M/M but there you go.
- The sex isn't really all that hot in this book. There are definitely some hot situations, but I don't think there's a single sex scene over two or three paragraphs. Not very sensual, lots of "he fucked my channel with his massive cock" sort of moments, reads very and-then-they-had-hot-sex0r *fade to black*
- Amnad :(
- if you are sensitive about race issues this is NOT the book for you. Thai men are all effeminate slutty bottoms. Black men are all thuggish rapey tops. The rich white guy ends up with the other rich white guy ... but not before they BOTH treat just about every non-white character as living sex toys. I don't think the authors meant offense with this, but it was rather tiresome. Especially since I liked Duggan/Amnad so much. IR romances are so difficult to find. It seems kind of cruel to tease us with a clever one only to take it away.
[Disclosure: This review was written by an author, see my review policy for more information]
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
probably-not
November 24, 2012I was totally going to read this, because lol, that blurb. Then I read the excerpt. Can't do, it even for s&gs
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews