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Vinnie's Ghost
The delivery of a letter could mean everything to two lonely men, connected by the life and death of a man who meant something special to each of them separately.Lee Fellowes is a wounded warrior, ex-Army vet, whose best buddy died in his arms. As buddies do, Lee and Vinnie had shared intimacies—Vinnie even shared some of his steamy letters from his state-side lover, Stroker Smith, a man who makes surfboards, and communes with the sea. Now, Lee returned from the front lines and suffering from PTSD, goes in search of Stroker to deliver Vinnie’s last letter. What he never expects to find is a passion that can heal his wounded soul, fill his heart, and free his spirit. Can these two men, who both cared for another, each wounded by that loss, find healing, peace and love together? Or will their separate burdens of loss keep them from finding a true and lasting love in each other’s arms? This story was originally released in September 2012 by Loose Id This story contains explicit sexual situations and strong language. You must be over the age of 18 years of age to read this story.
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First published September 10, 2012
2 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Adrianna Dane
120 books139 followersAdrianna Dane (who also writes as Tess Maynard) has been putting pen to paper since the age of ten. She currently resides in the state of Washington and is a member of Romance Writers of America, EPIC. and Broaduniverse.
The first defining love story Adrianna read back in junior high school was "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, and that set her on the road to her long standing love affair with the romance genre. Her inspiration in writing often can be found by listening to song lyrics and reading poetry by such poets as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Allen Poe, and Ranier Maria Rilke. But finding inspiration for her stories truly has no boundaries for Adrianna.
She freely admits she is a romantic by nature and adding sensual heat to romance with a dusting of suspense is her motto. "Esmerelda's Secret" released by Amber Quill Press in June of 2004 was Adrianna's first book, and with that story and her subsequent books has firmly established herself as a voice within the sensual/erotic romance genre.
Adrianna always looks forward to hearing from her readers and she may be contacted at adriannadane@yahoo.com. Find out more about her current releases as well as planned future releases and book signings by checking for updates at her website periodically.
Don't forget to sign up for her newsletter, Torid Tidbits, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Adriann... and be automatically entered in her free drawings.
The first defining love story Adrianna read back in junior high school was "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, and that set her on the road to her long standing love affair with the romance genre. Her inspiration in writing often can be found by listening to song lyrics and reading poetry by such poets as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Allen Poe, and Ranier Maria Rilke. But finding inspiration for her stories truly has no boundaries for Adrianna.
She freely admits she is a romantic by nature and adding sensual heat to romance with a dusting of suspense is her motto. "Esmerelda's Secret" released by Amber Quill Press in June of 2004 was Adrianna's first book, and with that story and her subsequent books has firmly established herself as a voice within the sensual/erotic romance genre.
Adrianna always looks forward to hearing from her readers and she may be contacted at adriannadane@yahoo.com. Find out more about her current releases as well as planned future releases and book signings by checking for updates at her website periodically.
Don't forget to sign up for her newsletter, Torid Tidbits, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Adriann... and be automatically entered in her free drawings.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 16, 2012
3.75*
I really don't know how to describe this story, I guess it's about grieving, healing,forgiveness and moving on.
Lee suffers from PTSD and tons of guilt, for a lot of things, survivors guilt and now he still has to deliver Vinnie's last letter to his lover Stroker.
Stroker is instantly drawn to Lee, but Lee is keeping secrets and they have to deal with issues and actually it's nice to see they do it for themselves and not just for or with the other.
The romance is subtle in this story, even though there are words of love spoken it's a slow quiet kind of love.
Stroker has a lot of patience and understanding for Lee and his situation, that spoke more of his feelings for him than anything he could have said.
I would have liked to see more of their quiet times together, the good times, to help balance out some of Lee's suffering.
The situation with Mosaic didn't quite fit in the story for me, but the touching parts with Vinnie and the last scene with him made up for some of the issues I had with other parts of the story.
I really don't know how to describe this story, I guess it's about grieving, healing,forgiveness and moving on.
Lee suffers from PTSD and tons of guilt, for a lot of things, survivors guilt and now he still has to deliver Vinnie's last letter to his lover Stroker.
Stroker is instantly drawn to Lee, but Lee is keeping secrets and they have to deal with issues and actually it's nice to see they do it for themselves and not just for or with the other.
The romance is subtle in this story, even though there are words of love spoken it's a slow quiet kind of love.
Stroker has a lot of patience and understanding for Lee and his situation, that spoke more of his feelings for him than anything he could have said.
I would have liked to see more of their quiet times together, the good times, to help balance out some of Lee's suffering.
The situation with Mosaic didn't quite fit in the story for me, but the touching parts with Vinnie and the last scene with him made up for some of the issues I had with other parts of the story.
September 13, 2012
3,7* Nothing to turn the word around, but I liked it.
The writing is good and Vinnie is a really nice guy/ghost ;)
The writing is good and Vinnie is a really nice guy/ghost ;)
September 20, 2012
Review is also posted at Under the Covers Book Blog.
Vinnie's Ghost is a good and engaging novella. It is one of those stories that is tough to decide on a rating, however. There were some parts that I just loved, and there were some parts that were just okay, but for the most part, I liked and enjoyed the story as a whole.
While this story involves a monogamous relationship, there really are three main characters at play here: Stroker, a surfer and surf board creator in Pleasure Point, California; Lee, a roaming ex-Army vet; and Vinnie, Stroker's boyfriend and Lee's comrade in the Army, who died overseas while serving his country. Vinnie's Ghost begins roughly two years after Vinnie's death. In the event of his death, Vinnie asked his close friend, Lee, to deliver a letter to his boyfriend, Stroker. After leaving the service, Lee suffers from PTSD and roams, but finally finds his way to Stroker in Pleasure Point, intent to do the one thing that his best friend requested of him. It doesn't take long for Stroker and Lee to form both a friendship and quickly thereafter, a sexual relationship. Lee, however, has yet to give Vinnie's letter to Stroker. Why? We eventually are provided with a reasoning of Lee's withholding, but that is one of the things that was aggravating while reading it. I kept saying, "Please, just please give him the letter already!" Well, as expected, when he finally does, things go in the expected direction - south. I don't want to give too much away, but was it frustrating? You betcha! Does Dane remedy the situation, though? She does. She provides insight from both Vinnie and Lee's points of view, and all of the emotions involved make sense once revealed to the reader.
Of course there needs to be some sort of conflict between these two men to help them find their HEA, but as I said before, there is another character also at play here - Vinnie. Vinnie speaks to Lee in his head. At first you don't know if Lee is just suffering from more than just PTSD or if Vinnie is actually doing the speaking, and this is a rather odd part of the book. Ghosts fit in well with the paranormal and urban fantasy genre, but not the contemporary. It's a bit of a stretch. That said, though, at one point when I was so frustrated with Lee, I found that I was thinking to myself, "Wow - I really wish Vinnie was alive...I think he's my favorite character!" Vinnie's voice gave the reader insight as to the man that he was, and why both Stroker and Lee loved and cared for him as much as they did. And I'll just give a small warning, make sure to have the tissues ready when the letter is finally revealed.
Due to the reluctance to give Vinnie's letter over to Stroker, Lee's character is often quite melancholy, and I found myself wishing for at least a joke or witty conversation to make me laugh. It didn't happen however, but it does make sense: Lee suffers from PTSD and is also trying to figure out who he is, who he loves, and just what living is all about. Thankfully, Stroker is a patient guy, and he can see the good man that Lee is. And fortunately, the heat in the bedroom (or ocean, beach or workshop, as the case might be) is not lacking or influenced by that melancholy. These men are sizzling and just beautiful together. Both of them just need time to find each other and to move into a relationship where there is nothing (and no ghost) between them.
So while there were frustrating parts in Vinnie's Ghost, there were also some great ones, and overall, I did enjoy reading it. Beyond the story itself, Dane provides beautiful descriptions and details in her prose, and it is a breath of fresh air for how poetic her writing could be. I look forward to reading more from her.
*Review copy provided by publisher
Vinnie's Ghost is a good and engaging novella. It is one of those stories that is tough to decide on a rating, however. There were some parts that I just loved, and there were some parts that were just okay, but for the most part, I liked and enjoyed the story as a whole.
While this story involves a monogamous relationship, there really are three main characters at play here: Stroker, a surfer and surf board creator in Pleasure Point, California; Lee, a roaming ex-Army vet; and Vinnie, Stroker's boyfriend and Lee's comrade in the Army, who died overseas while serving his country. Vinnie's Ghost begins roughly two years after Vinnie's death. In the event of his death, Vinnie asked his close friend, Lee, to deliver a letter to his boyfriend, Stroker. After leaving the service, Lee suffers from PTSD and roams, but finally finds his way to Stroker in Pleasure Point, intent to do the one thing that his best friend requested of him. It doesn't take long for Stroker and Lee to form both a friendship and quickly thereafter, a sexual relationship. Lee, however, has yet to give Vinnie's letter to Stroker. Why? We eventually are provided with a reasoning of Lee's withholding, but that is one of the things that was aggravating while reading it. I kept saying, "Please, just please give him the letter already!" Well, as expected, when he finally does, things go in the expected direction - south. I don't want to give too much away, but was it frustrating? You betcha! Does Dane remedy the situation, though? She does. She provides insight from both Vinnie and Lee's points of view, and all of the emotions involved make sense once revealed to the reader.
Of course there needs to be some sort of conflict between these two men to help them find their HEA, but as I said before, there is another character also at play here - Vinnie. Vinnie speaks to Lee in his head. At first you don't know if Lee is just suffering from more than just PTSD or if Vinnie is actually doing the speaking, and this is a rather odd part of the book. Ghosts fit in well with the paranormal and urban fantasy genre, but not the contemporary. It's a bit of a stretch. That said, though, at one point when I was so frustrated with Lee, I found that I was thinking to myself, "Wow - I really wish Vinnie was alive...I think he's my favorite character!" Vinnie's voice gave the reader insight as to the man that he was, and why both Stroker and Lee loved and cared for him as much as they did. And I'll just give a small warning, make sure to have the tissues ready when the letter is finally revealed.
Due to the reluctance to give Vinnie's letter over to Stroker, Lee's character is often quite melancholy, and I found myself wishing for at least a joke or witty conversation to make me laugh. It didn't happen however, but it does make sense: Lee suffers from PTSD and is also trying to figure out who he is, who he loves, and just what living is all about. Thankfully, Stroker is a patient guy, and he can see the good man that Lee is. And fortunately, the heat in the bedroom (or ocean, beach or workshop, as the case might be) is not lacking or influenced by that melancholy. These men are sizzling and just beautiful together. Both of them just need time to find each other and to move into a relationship where there is nothing (and no ghost) between them.
So while there were frustrating parts in Vinnie's Ghost, there were also some great ones, and overall, I did enjoy reading it. Beyond the story itself, Dane provides beautiful descriptions and details in her prose, and it is a breath of fresh air for how poetic her writing could be. I look forward to reading more from her.
*Review copy provided by publisher
November 5, 2012
Actually I am going to say 3.5 stars. It would have been a solid 4 or maybe 4.5 stars but the ending dragged. It felt like the end was right there and I expected to see the Adrianna Dane info author business on the next page. Nope there's another chapter. I think the info in the subsequent chapters/paragraph could have been weaved better. Why am I going through all this for a 3.5 star read? Because had the ending been handled better I really think this could have been a really good read. I didn't realize how much momentum you can loose with a stringy ending.
October 15, 2016
Angst + sex + bad guy for drama = not good combination in a novella.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews