Thursday, February 16, 2012

Blind Passion / The Sculptor's Muse

Two e-books this time, both blind guy male-male erotica with supernatural elements.

Blind Passion
by Penny Brandon

***

Steamy, explicit homoerotica set in Australia. Adam is an elementary school teacher, blind since birth. Luke is a bit of rough trade who is assigned to be Adam's reader as community service following a crime he committed. Sparks fly immediately, but even though Adam is assured and competent in his everyday life, he's never been with a guy before. Luke has never had a problem picking up guys, but he can tell Adam wants more than just sex and he thinks Adam will hate him once he knows the truth about his criminal past.

Adam is an appealing character, and I really liked how well adjusted and confident he is. However, he also has a supernatural ability that partially compensates for his blindness: when he has a strong emotional connection with someone, he can see whatever images the other person imagines. Normally I really hate this kind of thing, because it's just an excuse for an author who doesn't know or want to write honestly about blindness. Here, it doesn't so much stand in for normal vision as serve to heighten the bond between Adam and Luke. It was more an annoyance than outright hateful.

The balance between sex scenes and character development is pretty good, although heavier on the sex than the plot, which is slight. Still, an enjoyable read, with some good devo moments.


The Sculptor's Muse
by Emily Veinglory

**

Karl is a rising star in the London art scene when he suddenly goes blind due to a disease. Clarius is his muse, a disembodied spirit charged with inspiring his art. But with his new blind-guy nonvisual senses, Karl notices Clarius, who breaks the heavenly rules by taking physical form and becoming his lover. What could possibly go wrong? Oh yeah, and Karl also has a murderous ex-lover stalking him.

I found the devo factor on this one relatively low. The focus throughout the story is on Clarius, not Karl. His illness is never even named or described, just one example of lazy writing. While the premise is quite original, the secondary characters are all stereotypes, and even the two main characters seemed rather flat.

Both these books are extremely sexually explicit, so be warned.

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