Landscapes: A Medusa's Consortium Story

Medusa's Consortium

by K.D. Grace

A Medusa's Consortium Story.Alonso Darlington has a disturbing method of keeping landscaper, Reese Chambers, both safe from and oblivious to his dangerous lust for the man. But Reese isn't easy to keep secrets from, and Alonso wants way more than to admire the man from afar. Can he risk a real relationship without risking Reese's life? Landscapes has been previously released as part of the Brit On Boys boxed set.

Genres: M M Romance, Paranormal, Romance

65 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 24, 2016

About the author

For K D Grace, penning a good tale is a physical act. When she’s not writing, K D is veg gardening or walking. Her creativity is directly proportional to how much soil is under her fingernails or how quickly she wears out a pair of walking boots. She’s having a mad affair with a pair of kettle bells at her local gym and an even madder affair with a stainless steel pole in the pole fitness studio just across the street. She’s fascinated with mythology and fairy tales, which inspires many of her stories. She loves to read. She loves anything that gets her out of doors. But she loves writing a story best of all.

Voted ETO Best Erotic Author of 2014, K D is the author of sixteen novels and multiple novellas and short stories for multiple publishers. She also writes romance under the name Grace Marshall. At present she is excitedly publishing her Medusa’s Consortium urban fantasy series. The first three novels, beginning with In The Flesh, are now available.

Find K D Here:
Websites: http://kdgrace.co.uk/
http://www.thebritbabes.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KDGraceAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KD_Grace
Newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/kdnewsle...
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/kdgraceauthor/
Amazon: http://author.to/kdgrace
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/k-d-g...

Reviews

[Optimist ♰King's Wench♰ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

This was my second experience with this author and her writing style continues to impress me with its rich imagery. I had an almost visceral reaction to this setting, could visualize the night garden and the fells surrounding this old stone manor.

I like paranormal romances involving vampires in particular mostly because vampires have a tendency to be unscrupulous. I don't like my vampires all emo and sparkly. I like em more like...



Alonso Darlington kind of towed the line betwixt sparkly/emo/lonely/woe is me and ruthless vamp. He's instilled himself in his childhood home which is in dire need of renovation and he's got a serious crush on Reese. How exactly he got so hung up on Reese alludes me, but he is so I just went with it. He hires Reese to construct a night garden. Because vampire. And he goes from crush to near obsession.

Fine, fine, whatever. Dramatic vampire is dramatic. I can get on board with that, but... what skeeved me out was his... "usage" of Talia. (Read: m/f sex) Talia and he have apparently been friends for quite some time, and to be clear, she seems mostly fine with the whole situation. But I have issues with people blatantly using other people to achieve their objectives. If you're going to be an unscrupulous bastard then be an unscrupulous bastard all the time. Not to mention how on earth could he ever be sure of Reese's feelings for him were reciprocated? I just didn't sit right. I might've been more comfortable with the situation had a truly understood the desperation to have Reese. But I didn't.


The sex wasn't anything to write home about either, so I'm left in this sort of Meh Abyss. I liked the writing style but the story itself left something to be desired.


Recommend for those who enjoy a quick paranormal read.



A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Serena Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Landscapes' doesn’t only contain bisexual characters (and some explicit descriptions of what the men get up to with the female succubus in the early pages of the story), it is also decidedly not a fluffy romance. In fact, it is not a love story either; the closest I can come to describing it is as "highly erotic with questionable morals". It is also an interesting paranormal tale that mixes sensuality and an array of all the senses with the sheer brutality and ruthlessness of a vampire's existence.

Alonso is that vampire, and he takes no prisoners. When his desires collide with Reese's, who is human, Alonso's overpowering and heavy-handed approach pushes aside everything that is right and wrong as Reese sees it, and disaster ensues. However, there is an undeniable connection between the men. Neither can deal with staying away from the other but it is up to Reese to deal with his own reactions to the catastrophe of Alonso's revelations and the truth of what he has done to get close to Reese.

If you like stories outside the traditional boundaries of romance and don’t mind some nonconsensual activities and one main character's rather inconsiderate use of others to achieve his goals, if vampires in all their brutality and thirst for blood appeal to you, and if you're looking for a read that is sensual yet brutal, then you might like this short story.


NOTE: The anthology this story was published in has been provided by the uthor for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[Lisabet Sarai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a rough formula for writing reviews. Usually I’ll begin with a paragraph or two to put the book I’m reviewing into a personal context. For example, I might discuss my overall feelings about a particular sub-genre, or mention other works I’ve read by the same author. Next, I provide a brief summary of the story, to give readers some notion about the characters and plot, at a sufficiently general level that I don’t create spoilers. Finally, I’ll proceed to my evaluation of the book, discussing issues like the originality of the premise, the plausibility of the characters, the quality of the writing, and so on.

In this review, I’m going to cut to the chase. KD Grace’s novella Landscapes is, quite simply, one of the best pieces of paranormal erotica I’ve read in a very long time. Ms. Grace’s eloquent, sensual prose weaves a spell that pulls you into the shadowy world of vampire Alonso Darlington and turns his desperate, reluctant, indirect pursuit of landscaper Reese Chambers into a pulse-pounding, breath-stealing fever dream. Although Alonso is a traditional blood-drinker in some ways, the author ventures off the well-trodden path of the vampire romance genre by including a third character who is neither vampire nor human. I won’t explain Talia—you should have the pleasure of discovering her secrets on your own—but her presence gives the story a distinctive twist that I found extremely satisfying. Indeed, I’d love to see a sequel focusing on this intriguing female.

Magic suffuses every page of Landscapes. Power flows not only from Alonso’s and Talia’s supernatural endowments but also from the earth itself—mysterious, fertile, wild and treacherous. The book is set in rural Cumbria. Ms. Grace does a wonderful job evoking the rough beauty of this region as well as the dangers of its precipices and abandoned mine shafts. Reese is mortal, but his strong connection to the land makes him especially sensitive to its magic. Effective paranormal fiction should evoke both wonder and terror. Landscapes generously fulfills this promise.

You might be puzzled by the fact that in the paragraphs above, I have referred to this book as both “erotica” and “romance”. Landscapes doesn’t fit neatly into either box. It’s labeled as “gay erotica”, but the focus is on the loving relationship that develops between Alonso and Reese, a connection that transcends the physical from its very beginning. At the same time, the book breaks romance rules because both male characters interact sexually with Talia. Indeed, the term “gay” is a misnomer, since neither Alonso nor Reese is attracted solely to males.

This ambiguity might frustrate some readers. I loved it. As a long-time critic of restrictive genre labels, I’m always thrilled when I read a book that blurs the boundaries in this way. It takes a brave author to follow her inspiration beyond the limits set by the market. KD Grace trusts her erotic and artistic intuitions, with surprising and arousing results.

[Tifferz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars, 4 Flames
Reese's life and passion belong to landscaping and creating the perfect atmosphere for his clients gives him a high like nothing else. Alonso has seen this passion first hand at a club where Reese sat in a corner and drew his next masterpiece. And Alonso wants; all of Reese in any form, shape and position.

Let me first say that this is my first K.D. Grace novella, and I am not sure if I fully love it or if it is just a good in-between read; something quick to read when nothing really interests you. This is part of the Brit Boys Box set and I can honestly the first few pages I was completely confused about what was going on. The synopsis did not state how deep Alonso's obsession with Reese was and why he was so driven to keep his distance. It was a nice surprise to find out this was a paranormal romance instead of a regular contemporary romance.

I enjoyed getting to know each of these characters even Talia. It was interesting to explore this author's view on these creatures and how they live. Reese was not as shocked about what he found out until he "believed" he was used. He blew up without really thinking only feeling, this is understandable as he just seen that creatures of the night do exist. Alonso for all his bickering on how he did not want Talia to interfere in any part of his relationship between him and Reese, she is the only reason Reese came back. I mean get your head out of your a$s Alonso and go after your man!

With that said, it was an interesting read and kept me glued until the last page. Will I read more from K.D. Grace, I might.

I was gifted a copy of this novella from the JeepDiva in exchange for an honest review.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the Brit Boys on Boys Anthology and I am pleased to see it got it's own release.

I am not a huge paranormal fan, it is not my go to genre, but the chemistry between the vampire, a succubus and a landscape gardener is off the scale.

A great read and even better news - the gang appear in KD's online series In The Flesh - which can be found on Wattpad or via KD's website http://kdgrace.co.uk/blog/in-the-fles...-

[Sarina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5* Review written for Love Bytes Reviews.

*sigh* Okay, let’s talk a minute, shall we? I can’t imagine that I’m the only person that goes into a new book with a certain set of expectations based on the information available about what they’re about to read. In this case, my only concrete expectation was that this was a m/m story with a bit of an enigmatic description that piqued my interest. Unfortunately, what I wasn’t expecting were the fairly descriptive M/F sex scenes that take place in the first half of the book and I’m perfectly willing to admit that completely skewed my thoughts about the rest of the story. The endgame in the book was m/m but the author put more effort into the m/f interactions than on the ones between the main characters and that was just really off-putting and, truthfully, if I’d known there was m/f in this book I would’ve skipped it altogether.

Alright, that being said, I did like the fact that there was a strong female character in the story as sometimes that can be lacking in the m/m genre and I was fascinated by the abilities Talia possessed in the sharing of feelings/memories/impressions etc. Alonso was kind of your typical paranormal entity in that his behaviors were both stereotypical and expected; I didn’t really feel any strong feelings about him in one way or another and that was a little disappointing in a main character. Reese was a bit more interesting and I liked that when he didn’t like what was going on that he left rather than just giving into the situation but my feelings on him were pretty much the same.

I just….really didn’t care for this one. I fully admit that I would’ve liked it better if there hadn’t been such explicit m/f sex (more than once, even) but the overall dubious nature to the relationship between Alonso and Reese didn’t endear me to the story either. While their interactions did improve by the end of the book there wasn’t enough there to redeem the story in my eyes and I was more than happy to be done with it. If you like paranormal stories and don’t have any issues with the things I’ve mentioned you might enjoy this one but I really can’t recommend it and I won’t be reading it again.

http://lovebytesreviews.com/2016/06/1...

[Diverse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Landscapes is part of the Brit Boys Anthology but I read it separate. I have a lot of fun with paranormal stories and Landscapes didn’t fail in that department. It’s a story of a Vampire, a Succubus, and a Landscaper… “One of these kids are not like the others…”

I found this short story to be suspenseful and actually emotional. It’s an abnormal romance. You’ll have personal reservations but...uhm… PARANORMAL! You need to suspend reality.
I enjoyed the characters and the back stories. All in all it’s a short, exciting read.

[Emma Jaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, unique disturbing for its emotional intensity, sensual and erotic.
A cut above 99% of vampire tales.

[DC · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Couldn’t get into the wordiness. And the whole first scene when Talia returns to Alonso was really turning me off.

[Nerdy Dirty & Flirty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always find it difficult to rate novellas, they are meant to be short and packed but I tend to feel like I needed more. That's exactly what happened in this book. It was packed full of information; we had the mysterious Alonso, his faithful servant, Talia and the object of his obsession, Reese.

This book was steamy, through and through. I find vampires sexy and then when you add m/m into the mix, it just takes it to a whole different level. I have never read this author before and I found her writing to be poetic and descriptive. The scenes where richly detailed and gave the ability to feel like your were there with the characters.

I did find that I wanted more; I wanted to understand more of the character's history and what they were going though during this piece of time. Because there is not a lot of fluff we moved though time quickly and at times I felt rushed. That being said, I still enjoyed it and it was a nice little escape. It took me less that an hour to read the whole thing and it went down well as a before bed read. I would continue to read this author, especially if these characters are revisited.

[Joanne Mountford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very short story, but a weirdly good read. If you love all things paranormal and the gay genre then you will love this book. This story is also available in the box set, Brit Boys: On Boys.

Alonso is a dangerous man/vampire, but he seeks passion and love from a man that has no clue who he is or what he is capable of. With the help of his friend and witch, Talia, he gets to know everything there is to know about, Reese Chambers the landscape gardner. When I say everything, I mean every intimate detail. Alonso some how uses Talia's body as if it was his own.

Reese Chambers is struggling with the weird feelings he is having. Is he dreaming, imagining the sexual encounters or is it reality? Finding out the truth is always hard to take, but it also makes things become very clear.

This book reminded me of the tale, Beauty and Beast. It's the romance we fall for, no matter how the beast looks, acts. It's all magical when love is in the air.
I will definitely be reading more books by this Author.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story packed a wild punch and entailed a full story. What happens when you combine a vampire, a succubus and a landscaper? One fantastic and holy hotness story! I was captured from the first paragraph with my heart racing, not knowing what was happening. This is definitely not a normal romance. You may feel as though the romance is forced through what Alfonso does, but knowing that Reese stands up when he knows he was used, makes it all worth it. Alonso was mysterious who lived in the dark. It did break my heart to know his backstory in which we learn through Talia. It was a good twist with the succubus, Talia. Reese was the gorgeous landscaper that Alonso cannot stop thinking about. Reese had the kindest heart. Being openly honest and nonjudgmental wins out and love can be obtained.

*I received this book to read for Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review.*

[Renay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had great chemistry between a landscape gardener, the vampire, and a succubus. I found this tale very interesting paranormal story with a huge sensuality with sheer brutality and ruthlessness. This short story stood outside the traditional boundaries of romance with a strong female character. A good rollercoaster of fantasy and emotion.

[Karen S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this short story. Give me a vampire and I'm a happy girl and Alonso is one sexy vampire with an unusual way of gaining information on potential lovers/food. Look out Reese, his sights are set on you, you lucky boy!

[Jecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

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