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Mixed Tape #1-6
Mixed Tape Series Volume #1
Way back when, when you needed to tell that special someone how you felt instead of writing a note you put together a compilation cassette tape of MUSIC. Songs that reminded you of that special someone, songs that told them how you felt so you didn't have to say it to their face (just in case they didn't feel the same).
Volume One's play list:
"Wouldn't It Be Good" by Logan Zachary
"500 Miles" by Parker Williams
"True" by Sabrina Luna
"Heaven" by C.J. Anthony
"Say Everything" by Gina A. Rogers
"Sharp Dressed Man" by T.A. Chase
So sit back, curl up with your eReader of choice and as Frankie told us in the 80s --- Relax.
Volume One's play list:
"Wouldn't It Be Good" by Logan Zachary
"500 Miles" by Parker Williams
"True" by Sabrina Luna
"Heaven" by C.J. Anthony
"Say Everything" by Gina A. Rogers
"Sharp Dressed Man" by T.A. Chase
So sit back, curl up with your eReader of choice and as Frankie told us in the 80s --- Relax.
- GenresAnthologiesM M Romance
314 pages, ebook
First published June 5, 2013
2 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 11, 2013
Overall 3.75 stars, primarily because of '500 Miles' and 'Heaven'. Got bogged down by 'True' and 'Wouldn't it be good'. I reviewed them each separately, so I just provide the link.
"Wouldn't It Be Good" by Logan Zachary -- 2.5 stars
"500 Miles" by Parker Williams -- 5 stars
"True" by Sabrina Luna -- 2 stars
"Heaven" by C.J. Anthony -- 4 stars
"Say Everything" by Gina A. Rogers -- 3.5 stars
"Sharp Dressed Man" by T.A. Chase -- 3.5 stars
I believe this anthology will be remembered for '500 Miles,' the great debut work by Parker Williams.
"Wouldn't It Be Good" by Logan Zachary -- 2.5 stars
"500 Miles" by Parker Williams -- 5 stars
"True" by Sabrina Luna -- 2 stars
"Heaven" by C.J. Anthony -- 4 stars
"Say Everything" by Gina A. Rogers -- 3.5 stars
"Sharp Dressed Man" by T.A. Chase -- 3.5 stars
I believe this anthology will be remembered for '500 Miles,' the great debut work by Parker Williams.
July 31, 2013
Normally I would give each story within an anthology its own rating and its own little mini-review. However this particular collection, Mixed Tape, Volume 1 begged me to approach this review differently. The unique beauty of this work was its cohesive theme; coming of age…first loves…this anthology got better and better as each new story was presented.
Tying each story together was the music theme that ran through each, whether it be a certain song that reminded a character of his realization that he was truly gay, or a series of songs a “mixed tape” that led a character to reminisce about how he met the one he loved. Each story used the thematic element so cleverly and as one who actually remembers the dinosaur age of cassette payers and yes, did my own fair share of mixed tapes I was delighted with this aspect of the anthology. So with all that in mind, the rating above reflects the success of the excellent editing as well as the talent of each author presented. Now, lets begin discussing this delightful collection of stories.
Every collection has its standouts and its weaknesses. While these first two stories were not the strongest this series had to offer, they were by no means poorly written. Instead I felt that they lacked in pacing and structure and were not as cohesive a read as the other offerings presented in the anthology. I think that the first story by Logan Zachary, Wouldn’t It Be Good and the last by TA Chase, Sharp Dressed Man were, for me, the weaker selections, for very different reasons.
Wouldn’t It Be Good by Logan Zachary was a sweet coming of age and anti-bullying short story yet I felt that there was a lack of depth that was intrinsic to the rest of the anthology. I also felt that this story was the most unbelievable as well.
Scott Parker was a loner and often bullied by his peers. He had harbored a secret crush on Jason Leigh, a football player and fellow high school student for a while. What I found hard to grasp was that not only Jason but also many of his friends from high school all ended up at the same college with Scott and the bullying continued, seemingly unchecked. However this time, Jason stands up for Scott and the main bully backs down—without a fuss, even after having been benched during a critical game because of being reported for threatening Scott. While I can imagine and believe one boy standing up for another, it was hard for me to swallow that the other obvious bully would back down so easily—it was all a little too contrived and easy. Plus it was quick, there was little time to really get a sense of the characters and, consequently, it was difficult to feel really sympathy for Scott’s plight or the strength it took for Jason to stand up to his friends.
Sharp Dressed Men by TA Chase, on the other hand, dealt with two men meeting for the first time since their graduation, twenty-five years earlier. I like this author immensely but this short story had a rushed feeling to it and a really implausible outcome. For two men who had moved on in their lives, dated others and had successful careers, the idea that within minutes of meeting after so many years of silence and immediately falling into bed with one another, declaring love for each other—well, it was just too unbelievable. I felt as though I barely got to know these characters and that the trajectory of this story was so obvious from the very beginning. Such transparency meant underdeveloped plot and characters. I felt I barely got to know these characters and suddenly their story was finished. This was not the quality of product one so often sees from this author and, again, the story was not poorly written, just sloppily executed.
Now, let’s move onto the gems hidden inside this work.
True by Sabrina Luna was a little snippet of a boy’s first sexual encounter as a gay young man. Dan, no happily married to Ian, returns home to help his mother clean out the attic. While there he finds and old box of his own and recalls for Ian the first time he acted on the crush he had on a boy from high school. Still in the closet at eighteen, Dan goes to a party and sees Russ, the guy who always had it so together and lived out and proud. They have one night together, and that night really begins Dan’s journey towards accepting himself and solidifies the idea that gay is who he is and will be for the rest of his life. The story, while simple, is well done and just a lovely memory told by one man to his partner—a glimpse into who he is and how he started on that path of self-awareness.
500 Miles by Will Parkinson was a sweet and gentle love story that spanned a boy’s younger years to his coming of age at eighteen and beyond. At the age of 14, Mark begins to have an innocent crush on his brother’s best friend, Jase. As the years go by and Mark’s crush develops into the beginning stages of young love, we watch as both Mark’s brother and Jase got off to join the army and eventually are deployed to Kuwait.
500 Miles is very much Mark’s story and we get a beautifully written window into his soul and how his love blossoms and develops for Jase. The only real drawback to this story is that I felt it could have been much longer. Mr. Parkinson just begins to tap into these characters and then rushes to get their story wrapped up so that they can have their happy ever after. I felt as though there was more to be written here and that the author should have taken time to develop his secondary characters—particularly Mark’s love interest, Jase. However, overall this story was sweet and a treat to read.
Heaven by C.J. Anthony simply blew me away! By story’s end I wanted to adopt both Joey and Brian and then go camp outside Ms Anthony’s door and beg for a sequel. I could not get enough of her sharp humor that was so apparent in her story. At the tender age of 5, Brian goes to live with his gay Uncle Jay and away from his drug addicted mother. His very first day he meets the little dynamo that lives next door, Joey, and the normally shy and socially stunted Brian finds his best friend. For the next 13 years these boys will share just about every milestone together and, in the end, despite their extreme differences in personality and styles will come to find that they are made for each other. But the journey in getting there—oh dear reader—what an incredible story. Chocked full of fun, tenderness, and compelling to the end, this story was just outstanding.
Finally, Say Everything by Gina A. Rogers was perhaps the most gut wrenching of all the stories. Gregory is a man trapped by guilt over the death of his best friend. Until Chad enters his life, he has carefully kept himself walled off from loving another person and has buried himself in the past along with the room full of old memories. With just a hint of BDSM, the hot passions and deep emotions that are packed into this story were staggering. In just a few short chapters, Ms. Rogers manages to evolve her main character so effectively—I felt I had gained as much insight into Gregory as I could have in a full length novel—really stunning character work. I also really appreciated that the demons Greg struggled with did not just go away as he fell more and more in love with Chad. In the end, he had to confront them and, thankfully, Chad was there to help him. This was a really well written story of forgiveness and redemption.
Mixed Tape, Volume 1 is a fine collection of stories that meshed well together due to both excellent writing and superior editing. I definitely recommend this anthology to you.
Tying each story together was the music theme that ran through each, whether it be a certain song that reminded a character of his realization that he was truly gay, or a series of songs a “mixed tape” that led a character to reminisce about how he met the one he loved. Each story used the thematic element so cleverly and as one who actually remembers the dinosaur age of cassette payers and yes, did my own fair share of mixed tapes I was delighted with this aspect of the anthology. So with all that in mind, the rating above reflects the success of the excellent editing as well as the talent of each author presented. Now, lets begin discussing this delightful collection of stories.
Every collection has its standouts and its weaknesses. While these first two stories were not the strongest this series had to offer, they were by no means poorly written. Instead I felt that they lacked in pacing and structure and were not as cohesive a read as the other offerings presented in the anthology. I think that the first story by Logan Zachary, Wouldn’t It Be Good and the last by TA Chase, Sharp Dressed Man were, for me, the weaker selections, for very different reasons.
Wouldn’t It Be Good by Logan Zachary was a sweet coming of age and anti-bullying short story yet I felt that there was a lack of depth that was intrinsic to the rest of the anthology. I also felt that this story was the most unbelievable as well.
Scott Parker was a loner and often bullied by his peers. He had harbored a secret crush on Jason Leigh, a football player and fellow high school student for a while. What I found hard to grasp was that not only Jason but also many of his friends from high school all ended up at the same college with Scott and the bullying continued, seemingly unchecked. However this time, Jason stands up for Scott and the main bully backs down—without a fuss, even after having been benched during a critical game because of being reported for threatening Scott. While I can imagine and believe one boy standing up for another, it was hard for me to swallow that the other obvious bully would back down so easily—it was all a little too contrived and easy. Plus it was quick, there was little time to really get a sense of the characters and, consequently, it was difficult to feel really sympathy for Scott’s plight or the strength it took for Jason to stand up to his friends.
Sharp Dressed Men by TA Chase, on the other hand, dealt with two men meeting for the first time since their graduation, twenty-five years earlier. I like this author immensely but this short story had a rushed feeling to it and a really implausible outcome. For two men who had moved on in their lives, dated others and had successful careers, the idea that within minutes of meeting after so many years of silence and immediately falling into bed with one another, declaring love for each other—well, it was just too unbelievable. I felt as though I barely got to know these characters and that the trajectory of this story was so obvious from the very beginning. Such transparency meant underdeveloped plot and characters. I felt I barely got to know these characters and suddenly their story was finished. This was not the quality of product one so often sees from this author and, again, the story was not poorly written, just sloppily executed.
Now, let’s move onto the gems hidden inside this work.
True by Sabrina Luna was a little snippet of a boy’s first sexual encounter as a gay young man. Dan, no happily married to Ian, returns home to help his mother clean out the attic. While there he finds and old box of his own and recalls for Ian the first time he acted on the crush he had on a boy from high school. Still in the closet at eighteen, Dan goes to a party and sees Russ, the guy who always had it so together and lived out and proud. They have one night together, and that night really begins Dan’s journey towards accepting himself and solidifies the idea that gay is who he is and will be for the rest of his life. The story, while simple, is well done and just a lovely memory told by one man to his partner—a glimpse into who he is and how he started on that path of self-awareness.
500 Miles by Will Parkinson was a sweet and gentle love story that spanned a boy’s younger years to his coming of age at eighteen and beyond. At the age of 14, Mark begins to have an innocent crush on his brother’s best friend, Jase. As the years go by and Mark’s crush develops into the beginning stages of young love, we watch as both Mark’s brother and Jase got off to join the army and eventually are deployed to Kuwait.
500 Miles is very much Mark’s story and we get a beautifully written window into his soul and how his love blossoms and develops for Jase. The only real drawback to this story is that I felt it could have been much longer. Mr. Parkinson just begins to tap into these characters and then rushes to get their story wrapped up so that they can have their happy ever after. I felt as though there was more to be written here and that the author should have taken time to develop his secondary characters—particularly Mark’s love interest, Jase. However, overall this story was sweet and a treat to read.
Heaven by C.J. Anthony simply blew me away! By story’s end I wanted to adopt both Joey and Brian and then go camp outside Ms Anthony’s door and beg for a sequel. I could not get enough of her sharp humor that was so apparent in her story. At the tender age of 5, Brian goes to live with his gay Uncle Jay and away from his drug addicted mother. His very first day he meets the little dynamo that lives next door, Joey, and the normally shy and socially stunted Brian finds his best friend. For the next 13 years these boys will share just about every milestone together and, in the end, despite their extreme differences in personality and styles will come to find that they are made for each other. But the journey in getting there—oh dear reader—what an incredible story. Chocked full of fun, tenderness, and compelling to the end, this story was just outstanding.
Finally, Say Everything by Gina A. Rogers was perhaps the most gut wrenching of all the stories. Gregory is a man trapped by guilt over the death of his best friend. Until Chad enters his life, he has carefully kept himself walled off from loving another person and has buried himself in the past along with the room full of old memories. With just a hint of BDSM, the hot passions and deep emotions that are packed into this story were staggering. In just a few short chapters, Ms. Rogers manages to evolve her main character so effectively—I felt I had gained as much insight into Gregory as I could have in a full length novel—really stunning character work. I also really appreciated that the demons Greg struggled with did not just go away as he fell more and more in love with Chad. In the end, he had to confront them and, thankfully, Chad was there to help him. This was a really well written story of forgiveness and redemption.
Mixed Tape, Volume 1 is a fine collection of stories that meshed well together due to both excellent writing and superior editing. I definitely recommend this anthology to you.
July 5, 2013
Mixed Tape Series Volume One is an excellent start to the series based on popular songs of the 80s. Written by six very talented authors, each story brings back memories for those of us who were growing up during this time, and offers a fascinating glimpse into that wild and exciting time for those of us who didn't. The microwave was the latest must-have gadget, Atari was THE gaming system, Pac man was the most popular video game, and being gay wasn't something you admitted to being in small town USA.
Wouldn't It Be Good
Scott Parker was a loner in high school, bullied and harassed by all the jocks except for Jason Leigh. Jason didn't pick on Scott , and actually tried to help. The harassment continued into college, and when Scott is injured in a locker room incident, Jason uses music to connect with Scott, and finally admit how he really feels about him.
500 Miles
Jase and Eric are best friends and Mark is Eric's younger brother who wants to hang out with them all the time. Eric is annoyed about it, but Jase tells him to let him come along. Mark is secretly in love with Jase and it breaks his heart when Eric and Jase enlist in the military, and leave Mark behind. Jase breaks Mark's heart by telling him that he's found someone else. Years later, it takes a tragedy to reveal the truth.
True
Danny and his partner Ian are in the attic getting Christmas decorations for his mom. Danny comes across an old trunk containing stuff from his high school days. He opens it and finds a cassette tape labeled Songs. Ian asks him about it, and Danny tells him the story of Russell-an old friend he hooked up with once, and who gave him the tape.
Heaven
Brian Davis and Joey Whitcomb have been friends since they were five years old and Brian came to live with his Uncle Gary. The two are always together, and as they grow up, the two go through the trials and tribulations of figuring out who they are, and what they want from life. Turns out that it's each other for life.
Say Everything
Gregory is finally getting rid of all of his things from when he was a teen ager. Chad is the guy who responded to his Craigslist ad because he's throwing an 80s themed party for a friend of a friend's birthday party. Gregory and Chad end up in a relationship, but it takes Gregory confessing to a tragedy in his past before he can admit he loves Chad.
Sharp Dressed Man
Jim Stanton is surprised when he gets an invitation to the 25th reunion of his high school class. He reminisces about Dan Perkins-his best friend in high school, and how he regrets losing touch with him over the years. He secretly loved Dan, but didn't say anything because he didn't want to lose his friendship. He tries to have other relationships, but none of them work out. He hopes to reconnect with Dan and tell him how he feels. The two meet at the reunion and turns out that Dan had felt the same for Jim. They regret the lost time, but look forward to the future together.
This collection of six stories based on popular 80s songs are well-written, and each one is a snapshot of what life was like during this turbulent and exciting decade. It also reveals just how difficult it was to be gay during that time. Each one ultimately has a HEA ending, and I really, really enjoyed reading these fabulous and fascinating stories. I can definitely and happily recommend this anthology to everyone.
Pattycake's 4 1/2 sweet pea review appears at http://mrsconditreadsbooks.com/index....
Wouldn't It Be Good
Scott Parker was a loner in high school, bullied and harassed by all the jocks except for Jason Leigh. Jason didn't pick on Scott , and actually tried to help. The harassment continued into college, and when Scott is injured in a locker room incident, Jason uses music to connect with Scott, and finally admit how he really feels about him.
500 Miles
Jase and Eric are best friends and Mark is Eric's younger brother who wants to hang out with them all the time. Eric is annoyed about it, but Jase tells him to let him come along. Mark is secretly in love with Jase and it breaks his heart when Eric and Jase enlist in the military, and leave Mark behind. Jase breaks Mark's heart by telling him that he's found someone else. Years later, it takes a tragedy to reveal the truth.
True
Danny and his partner Ian are in the attic getting Christmas decorations for his mom. Danny comes across an old trunk containing stuff from his high school days. He opens it and finds a cassette tape labeled Songs. Ian asks him about it, and Danny tells him the story of Russell-an old friend he hooked up with once, and who gave him the tape.
Heaven
Brian Davis and Joey Whitcomb have been friends since they were five years old and Brian came to live with his Uncle Gary. The two are always together, and as they grow up, the two go through the trials and tribulations of figuring out who they are, and what they want from life. Turns out that it's each other for life.
Say Everything
Gregory is finally getting rid of all of his things from when he was a teen ager. Chad is the guy who responded to his Craigslist ad because he's throwing an 80s themed party for a friend of a friend's birthday party. Gregory and Chad end up in a relationship, but it takes Gregory confessing to a tragedy in his past before he can admit he loves Chad.
Sharp Dressed Man
Jim Stanton is surprised when he gets an invitation to the 25th reunion of his high school class. He reminisces about Dan Perkins-his best friend in high school, and how he regrets losing touch with him over the years. He secretly loved Dan, but didn't say anything because he didn't want to lose his friendship. He tries to have other relationships, but none of them work out. He hopes to reconnect with Dan and tell him how he feels. The two meet at the reunion and turns out that Dan had felt the same for Jim. They regret the lost time, but look forward to the future together.
This collection of six stories based on popular 80s songs are well-written, and each one is a snapshot of what life was like during this turbulent and exciting decade. It also reveals just how difficult it was to be gay during that time. Each one ultimately has a HEA ending, and I really, really enjoyed reading these fabulous and fascinating stories. I can definitely and happily recommend this anthology to everyone.
Pattycake's 4 1/2 sweet pea review appears at http://mrsconditreadsbooks.com/index....
July 12, 2013
I was going to write a well detailed review but I don't have the time so I'll just write a quick one. My favorites of this anthology was 500 miles by Parker Williams and Heaven by C.J. Anthony Both were sweet friend to lover themed stories and exactly what I was looking for when I paid $14.99 for this book. I highly recommend them to start with if your a looking for a sweet (but not overly so) and cute romantic read. I believe the stories are now available to buy individually, you can pick and choose which one sounds good to you.
The other stories in the book were good but just they didn't draw my attention like 500 miles and Heaven did. Loved the song choices though and I found myself humming the tunes I knew (which were 4 of the 6, the others I had to look up).
The other stories in the book were good but just they didn't draw my attention like 500 miles and Heaven did. Loved the song choices though and I found myself humming the tunes I knew (which were 4 of the 6, the others I had to look up).
May 14, 2018
Great stories. Of course I love Parkers's. But all were great
October 30, 2013
3.5 stars overall
July 29, 2016
A mixed bag with some definitely better than others. The theme is cute but the stories were a bit predictable and the authors had similar ideas about the main subject matter.
February 13, 2015
reviewed all separately they were all good story in their own way.
November 28, 2015
As always, I liked some more than others.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews