The stories you are about to read celebrate love, sex and romance between men. They are a product of the Love Has No Boundaries promotion sponsored by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, and each anthology is published as a gift to you.
What Is Love Has No Boundaries?
The Goodreads M/M Romance Group invited members to choose a photo and pen a letter asking for a short M/M romance story inspired by the image; authors from the group were then encouraged to select a letter and write an original tale. The result was an outpouring of creativity that shone a spotlight on the special bond between M/M romance writers and the people who love what they produce.
Nearly 190 stories were submitted and have now been published as a twelve volume set with two additional bonus volumes, titled Love Has No Boundaries. This edition is Volume 3.
Words of Caution
The stories in this collection may contain sexually explicit content and are intended for adult readers. They may also contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that the reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.
Stories in Volume 3:
PER ARDUA AD ASTRA by Gil Cole OUR PIECE OF SKY by Eden Connor THE MEET by William Cooper MEANT TO BE? By Chris Cox WINTER WINDS by Missouri Dalton TAKEN by Kim Dare THE CIRCLE by Myka Ramos LIFE DRAWING by Jane Davitt NOR SUB NOR DOM by Gabbo de la Parra THE ROAD FROM MARYVILLE by Gabbo de la Parra TARNISHED TOYS by Gabbo de la Parra THE THREE OF US by Stephen del Mar ONE MORE DANCE by Nicole Dennis
Kim is a thirty-three year old bisexual submissive from Wales (UK). First published in 2008, she has since released almost 100 BDSM erotic romance titles ranging from short stories to full length novels. Having worked with a host of fantastic e-publishers, she has just moved into self publishing.
While she has occasionally ventured towards other pairings, Kim's first love is still, and probably always will be, Male/Male stories. But, no matter what the pairing, from paranormal to contemporary, and from the sweet to the intense, everything she writes will always feature three things - Kink, Love and a Happy Ending.
The Three of Us by Stephen del Mar - 1 star My review.
The stories in Love Has No Boundaries anthologies celebrate love, sex and romance between men. They are a product of the Love Has No Boundaries promotion sponsored by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. The Goodreads M/M Romance Group invited members to choose a photo and pen a letter asking for a short M/M romance story inspired by the image; authors from the group were then encouraged to select a letter and write an original tale. The result was an outpouring of creativity that shone a spotlight on the special bond between M/M romance writers and the people who love what they produce.
Per Ardua Ad Astra2 stars I'm not a fan of stories with military themes, especially not historical ones. Throw in some BDSM and I'm an even less happy reader. The story felt a bit rushed and superficial, but after all, this is a short story so I shouldn't expect anything else.
Our Piece of Sky2 stars Well, this was a confusing read! It's a friends-to-lovers story taking part in the US South, which in this story is depicted as horribly homophobic. Didn't really hold my interest. Or even catch it to begin with, I guess.
The Meet1 star Eeeewww! Be warned! If you, like me, find even possible incest between brothers totally yucky – stay away from this one! There wasn't any hot sex or anything like that, but it was still out of my comfort zone.
Meant To Be?4 stars Sweet story about two young men who have been together for a time and now they have a difficult decision to make. I wish that the author would make this one into a longer story, even with this brief story I found myself caring about what happens next and what their future will be like. Kudos to the author for managing to write interesting characters in so few pages.
Winter Winds3 stars This isn't a short story – it's a whole book! Unlike the previous story I would actually have liked this one to be shorter, as I felt it was dragging on and being repetitive in some ways. And I didn't really get the ”love vibe”, or even the ”lust vibe”, between the MCs, deaf and lonely vampire Cilian and banshee Donal. But apparently they themselves did, and that's all that matters (to them).
Taken2 stars No. Just no. Dub-con, menage, BDSM, oh my! Could it get worse? Oh yes, it most definitely could, but luckily this story is too short for that. If I had cared enough I would have broken into the story to free poor Maxen from being kidnapped and violated by multiple elves, but I think I'll save that particular super-power for someone more deserving.
TheCircle3 stars Kind of shallow and rushed story about thwo young men (boys) set in a dystopian world where their fathers are political enemies. The boys wants to be friends at first, and then they want more. They don't get it in this story. I didn't feel that the story was finished when it ended and I'm quite sure that the author intends to make this into a longer book, or even a series.
Life Drawing4 stars BDSM isn't my thing. Neither is D/s, nor lacy underwear on men. However, in this story it all fits, it's not so much a story about those things I mentioned, but a story about how the world perceive us, if we truely are who other people assume we are, just by looking at us. I liked that big strong Rob got what he wanted, but unfortunately I wished he had found it with a more likeable partner than Jamie.
Nor Sub Nor Dom2 stars And now to another heartfelt Eeeewww!. Menage and BDSM again, two of my biggest turn-offs. So what can I say? Charity public spanking at a street fair? Seriously? And that's how the two ”first” MCs, Bruno and Fabian get together! And then they involve other ”players”. So not for me!
The Road from Maryville2 stars Two brothers, who apparently dislike each other but we're not really told why (but I kind of disliked both of them so it wouldn't be a stretch to understand why they didn't like each other), are going on a road trip to visit their mother. The youngest brother's ”flavor of the week” twink comes along for the ride, annoying brother dumps twink and leaves (with another twink) and slightly less annoying elder brother is stuck with annoying, dumped twink. So lots of ”annoyingness” to go around (is that a word?) and not very expertly written.
Tarnished Toys2 stars Wow! Here the author actually managed to squeeze in all kinds of sci-fi/fantasy/huh? elements into one short story! The main idea seemed to be that if you've done something wrong, you need to be punished for it – with rough sex! Depressing story with an annoying ”choose your own ending” feature, there were two seperate endings, like the author couldn't be bothered to finish the story properly and instead left the outcome to the reader.
The Three of Us2 stars Kind of sweet love story between young college guys. Could have been quite good, if it hadn't been for one thing – there were three of them. The title of the story was kind of a give-away and by now you all know how I feel about memnages. So, could have been okay if it had been ”The Two of Us” instead.
One More Dance4 stars Dedicated professional dancer Jerome has previously had a three year realtionship with soldier Everett. The latter goes off to fight, gets hurt and not surprisingly gets PTSD. I usually like stories where one, of both, of the MCs, has some kind of mental or neuropsychiatric issues, and I liked it in this story too. What I did not like was that there was too much unnecessary lack of communication. This story could however maybe be made into a good full length novel.
3,75 stars The anthology has an interesting mix of stories, there are aliens, police officers, WWI pilots. From contemporary to PWP there is something there for everyone, a bit like a package of cady with different flavors.
There were stories which I liked very much, others I didn't care for, but all in all this volume had a nice collection of stories. The Road from Maryville and Winter Winds, were my favorite stories out of this bunch, Tarnished Toys being least favorite, not because of the writting, but well the plot was very strange and I'm not a fan of non-con. Winter Winds was a paranormal story about a vampire and a banshee, certainly not your usual pairing. The Road from Maryville was my own request and I laughed a lot reading about the trip, Trenton was a fun character to read about and it was relatively slow burn.The Circle by Ashlyn Daube was also quite promising, it captured my interest with from the first line, but ended too soon, to deliver all that it promised.
This may be my paranormal romance bias showing, but I thought Missouri Dalton's "Winter Winds" really made this anthology. I give that story five stars, setting it above the rest. The idea of a vampire with a "rebirth defect" was absolutely brilliant, and the story was well done. Loved it. The rest of the stories were also good, leading me to give an average rating of four, but they didn't stand out and pack the same punch for me as "Winter Winds." Vampire fans have got to read that one.
Life Drawing by Jane Davitt 3.5 stars - Hot Damn THAT PHOTO! The steam in this was great, I loved Rob's kink and vulnerability in regards to it. I liked how they met, and the fact that Jaime isn't perfect by any means. My one complaint is that the transitions to sex scenes were terrible, I actually went back at first to make sure I hadn't missed something. One second they're taking sexy pics, the next Jaime's cock is in Rob's mouth. Wasn't he dressed? When did he whip it out? What just happened?
One More Dance by Nicole Dennis 1 star - Meh, read like a public service announcement on PTSD. "I didn't understand everything, I mean, I've heard about soldiers with PTSD, but didn't know how it affected everyday life ... I didn't realize you need to be so disciplined with such a simple thing like sleep." All their conversations were like this, completely stilted.
It starts with Jeremy aka Jerome giving us a boring recount of his on and off three year relationship with Everette, twelve years ago. They never write or talked when Ev was on a tour because if DADT, he didn't say anything about love, it seemed pretty casual to me. Then Ev shows up with physical and emotional scars, they have a few awkward conversations, and voila! True love. When you have to skim a 40 page short, you know it's bad.
Instead of the long-winded description of Jeremy's performance, we should have been witnessing a heartbreaking split as Ev had to leave after 9/11, show, don't tell!. Then an emotional reconnection that didn't go quite so smoothly would have felt a lot more natural. Despite Ev saying he'll never be cured, neither we nor Jeremy get to witness him having an episode, which made it feel inauthentic and kept me at an emotional distance.
Like all anthologies some stories were great and some were not. "Life Drawings" is a wonderful, beautifully written story with fabulous two MC and a lovely ending. On the other end of the spectrum, I could have gone my whole life without reading "The meet", a story I found very disturbing. While not a big paranormal fan I really enjoyed "Winter Winds" the story of how a vampire and a banshee find love (and some world domination). "The three of us" was a sweet story, but it felt like part of it was missing.
3.5 Stars I reviewed each book individually on their own listing PER ARDUA AD ASTRA by Gil Cole 3 Stars OUR PIECE OF SKY by Eden Connor 4 Stars THE MEET by William Cooper 2 Stars MEANT TO BE? By Chris Cox 3 Stars WINTER WINDS by Missouri Dalton 4 Stars TAKEN by Kim Dare 4 Stars THE CIRCLE by Ashlyn Daube 4 Stars LIFE DRAWING by Jane Davitt 4 Stars NOR SUB NOR DOM by Gabbo de la Parra 3 Stars THE ROAD FROM MARYVILLE by Gabbo de la Parra 4 Stars TARNISHED TOYS by Gabbo de la Parra 3 Stars THE THREE OF US by Stephen del Mar 4 Stars ONE MORE DANCE by Nicole Dennis 3 Stars
PER ARDUA AD ASTRA by Gil Cole OUR PIECE OF SKY by Eden Connor THE MEET by William Cooper MEANT TO BE? By Chris Cox WINTER WINDS by Missouri Dalton TAKEN by Kim Dare THE CIRCLE by Ashlyn Daube LIFE DRAWING by Jane Davitt NOR SUB NOR DOM by Gabbo de la Parra THE ROAD FROM MARYVILLE by Gabbo de la Parra TARNISHED TOYS by Gabbo de la Parra THE THREE OF US by Stephen del Mar ONE MORE DANCE by Nicole Dennis
I loved this anthology! There were one or two stories I didn't care for but most of it was very enjoyable. It's long and it was a lot of work to finish but it is worth it:)
I read all the stories - some I like better than others (of course) but the entire event is amazing and so are the people who donate their talents & their time for it.