Steve Worley

Man inexplicably gets pregnant with Alpha's pup ?

Revisado: 08-05-22

After hundreds of listens on Audible, I can say that this book is the most confounding story I’ve ever run across. I’ve read numerous stories involving ‘shifters’ who become wolves but never one that completely ignores biology and makes no sense at all! After an Alpha shifter finds the MAN who is his “fated mate,” the human “goes into heat,” becomes pregnant and conceives a PUP after having anal sex with the Alpha! ! Absolutely no explanation is given to how this could possibly work. The human man’s anatomy is described as having the regular male genitalia. NO ONE is the least bit surprised by this impossible development. Of course after 9 months the man gives birth through a caesarian section (as opposed to delivering the baby through his penis ?? What the hell is going on here? I kept listening expecting some explanation but one never came. I want a freaking explanation ! None of the other reviews even mention this bizarre and nonsensical anomaly.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

This should be a movie

Revisado: 02-08-22

This story of a girl's survival in a world that is endlessly expansive and yet profoundly small, personal and heartbreaking invokes view of nature that is beautiful and frightening. Despite the meticulous detail given to survival in the wild, it is only the grace of nature that might allow her to succeed. The crafting of the story constantly brought to mind cinematic visuals that would make for a great movie. Excellent narration!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Everyone NEEDS to hear this book!

Revisado: 01-08-22

I have to say that anyone reading this book in the traditional way is really missing out by not experiencing the audiobook version. Billy Porter is such an amazing performer that only he can bring the full impact of his story to life with this performance!
This deep, moving and very entertaining book is refreshingly honest and Mr. Porter pulls no punches! Loved it!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Time well spent!

Revisado: 01-08-22

Having just finished all the available titles in this series (and more than 100 hours) I’m saddened that I can’t look forward to more. Finding material that is actually appealing for an adult to listen to isn’t very easy in the realm of gay romances. Too many of them are written by clueless, straight ‘gay for pay’ writers who present characters whose desires suddenly spring up out of the blue having never experienced same-sex attraction weirdly breaking their solid record of heterosexual relationships because of one exceptional person, or more often they take the standard heterosexual formulas and just plug gay men into it, totally ignoring the differences of same-sex relationships known to every actual gay or queer person. The only thing missing in this series is a more mature and honest look at non-monogamous relationships. Even if the author wants to center a book on a monogamous couple, they could at least acknowledge the existence and validity of bi-sexuality, polyamory, and just having sex for fun.
But no matter how well-written a book is, few can afford productions featuring multiple narrators or super slick productions, so it is the exception to find audiobooks like this with narrators as good as Gomez Pugh, who manages a host of all kinds of characters that manage to be widely varied in his performance without ever sounding unbelievable or even annoying. His performance choices never took me out of the listen, they work to keep me in the moment.
Listeners who have experienced other ‘gay relationship’ series can also enjoy another difference in this one from the usual. In many authors’ series, each book will introduce some new couple that dominate that book, then each additional book focuses on a some new couple. In this series, the focus remains primarily with the couple introduced in the first book, but expands with other characters who open up the world of the books and make them more interesting. A good solution to the problem of ending up with a pethora of characters and couples that become impossible to keep clear in your head without a score card.
Finally, this series also avoids sex scenes that endlessly repeat the same descriptions over and over. Like most relationships, the focus on sex lessens over time. That said, they still keep it interesting and the sexual attraction never wains. Here’s hoping the series continues!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

So Predictable

Revisado: 05-02-21

If you’re looking for romantic stories of gay love that is heteronormative, monogamous, super white, predictable, and generally unadventurous, stop reading this review and buy this audiobook. If you are an actual gay man, you will not see yourself or anything resembling reality in these stories. First the premise. Six males all gay or bi who met in high school have become long-term best friends. Amazingly, though they’re all from the same high school class, none of them have ever dated each other and there is zero sexual tension between them even though they are all exceptionally attractive. The six books predictively follow the six original friends as they meet and pair off with six other men. It is doubtful that the female author of these books ever bothered to run her stories past any actual gay men or even knows any. The couples neatly fall into stereotypical sex roles with one member of each couple primarily being the top while the other partner, usually smaller, takes the roll of bottom. The ignorance of gay male sexuality ranges from oral sex with condoms, men bottoming for the first time with no discomfort at all, amd most surprisingly not once instance of the 69 position. Of course they’re all jonesing for marriage and children and none of them have the slightest interest in open relationships, polyamory or even playing with a third person ever. I had originally read the first book a while back and when i saw this collection of the whole series I naively hoped that would give the author the opportunity to present some actual diversity, both in ethnicity and sexually. It was depressing to realize these stories would all be the same pablum.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Going out with a Wimper

Revisado: 02-13-21

For the most part this series has been enjoyable. Hot cowboys and action, serious obstacles and difficulties. Then comes George. Poor little scared bunny rabbit George rarely leaves his apartment since he might see his shadow and have to rush back in to hide and cower. Hot Levi is inexplicably attracted to George and sets to wooing him with constant praise for "sharing his truth," holding him tight when he's terrified with the sight of a butterfly and buying him a trophy for having taken the bit step to using a toilet by himself. Seriously though, once a professional ice skater, George has never had a single sexual impulse and doesn't even know if he's straight or gay! (Give me a break!) The constant saccharine of this 'relationship was nauseating.' But then, they do sometimes take a break from comforting each other to play with Levi's kitty cats! Sadly, Levi's sexual fantasy of being topped by this 3-year-old never comes to pass. Will George ever grow a pair? Ugh..

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Time Travel not worth my Time

Revisado: 12-27-20

One difficult choice authors have to make in telling stories like this one is how much descriptive detail to put into the characters. Too much specific physical description, as in the series I read right before this one, and they run the risk of limiting the characters to ‘types’ that the reader may not identify with or find attractive. To little description and it gets hard to remember who is who. I found myself having to go back and listen to previous chapters to keep the characters straight in my mind. Ultimately, I didn’t relate to any of the characters at all and didn’t really care what happened to any of them. The lack of character development here is crippling to the book.
The mechanics of the storyline were explained well with more than enough technobabble to follow the alleged science behind the possibilities. The obvious difficulties of time travel stories aside, this one wasn’t too difficult to follow though some information that comes late in the book simultaneously clarifies and complicates the story. I’m sure the next books in the series help to make sense of it, but since the second book of the five part series isn’t available here on Audible I guess I’ll never know.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

In the Monogamy

Revisado: 12-13-20

The fun thing about this series centers around the variety of super powers the metahumans have, the interesting situations they find themselves in and the interplay of the characters around their missions.
But if you’re a gay man, you won’t find yourself reflected in these stories. Not only does the author have no idea what men do in bed together but judging by the banter of the characters in their private lives, I doubt the author even has any gay friends. After the first couple of sex scenes they’re all just variatons on the same theme. All of the men are strictly tops or bottoms easily placing them in the banal roles of stereotypically heterosexual relationships. While none of these characters would hesitate to shoot an enemy in the head, light them ablaze or blow them to bits, it would never occur to any of them to flip roles or bring in a third person to enjoy in the bedroom. Craving ownership of each other and jealousy are desirable qualities and getting that coveted engagement ring and that death till you part commitment is the be all and end all of their aspirations. Can you say Harlequin Romance? If you like your men white, clean shaven, smooth and all six packy, their depictions will appeal to you. No bears, beards or hairy chests here. Superimposing any diversity over what’s presented requires some real work from the listener. So why have I listened to the entire series? The answer is narrator Greg Bourdeaux. Such a terrific narrator! With more than 15 recurring characters, he finds a way to distinguish them all from each other, deftly covers accents, and brings authenticity to each personality. Since losing most of my eyesight I’ve listened to hundreds of audiobooks and Mr. Bourdeaux is at the top of the heap.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 12 personas

I love these men!

Revisado: 11-28-18

'Purgatory' was the first book I discovered by Jeff Mann and after listening to all of his other available audiobooks I was saving 'Salvation' for the last. As a mature gay man I was delighted to listen to a story with well developed, complicated three dimensional characters placed in a serious situation with believable obstacles to overcome. Although the action takes place during the last days of the civil war, the predicament of being a man who loves other men in oppressive Christian America is all too familiar to me, especially having grown up here in the 1950s and 60s. As a nonviolent person, the violence and torture, especially in 'Purgatory' was hard for me to listen to, but I believed it and it is important to the story. More than anything else though, Jeff Mann's protagonists are the men I've always wanted to be in love with both in their physical descriptions as well as the depth of their characters. Very masculine but real - not stereotypes. Jeff Bratz's narration also deserves singling out. I've listened to hundreds of audiobooks, and single narrator productions often fall short of being listenable. There aren't that many narrators who can cover the variety of characters required and at the same time evoke the right context of what happens minute by minute. Bratz is excellent in this regard. I was especially impressed with his singing voice done simply and with no accompaniment. Not showy, just one man singing to another. Very moving. I was sorry the book had to end,

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Couldn't make it through

Revisado: 05-24-17

While I really enjoyed the first two books of this series, this one just never took off for me. As a mature listener, I'm not really into 'coming of age' stories and need at least one of the main characters to have a little experience and maturity about him. I found Will, the older of the two men, completely unsympathetic and Leo's fascination withhim utterly naive and immature. I assumed early on that this youthful infatuation with an older 'beautiful' man would eventually subside when he met someone with a little more substance and worth his time. As it is, I lost patience with the story until it was no longer worth my time to listen.

The change in narrators between the first book (Robert Nieman) and the second (Spencer Gloss) was really effective. Spencer's character stylings for Colin and Rafe were distinctive going into the second book and gave it a different feel. But when this third book revisited the characters of Daniel and Rex from the first book it was jarring to hear them voiced differently from their original characterizations by Robert Nieman. Daniel suddenly sounded like Colin and Rex sounded like Rafe. Weird.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona