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I'm in love with Katrina Strauss
Or, erm, her writing at least.
Most notably her most recent novel, published by Loose ID, title Blue Ruin 1: Some Kind OF Stranger. Long title, we'll just call it Blue Ruin because I am lazy and hate typing long thingies.
First off, let me just say that I don't know Katrina. I've never spoken to her, I don't write for any of the pubs she does, so this is not pimping a fellow author because it's the nice thing to do. No way. This is "OMG I saw a pimp of this book on Jana Hanson's blog (she was the editor btw and a fine job she did) and went to read the excerpt and then proceeded to beg my roommate to loan me her credit card so I could buy a copy." And so I did.
I've tested the waters of ebooks before, being an ebook author myself, but honestly had yet to find any author or book that really made me sit up and take notice. The kind that made me say to my friends, fellow book whores, "You guys *have* to read this!". Thanks to Katrina and Blue Ruin, that's all changed.
Blue Ruin is the story of Derek, smexy part-asian hottie with an angsty secret, and Blue, hot little homeless piece who falls right into Derek's well-endowed lap and is more than happy to stay there. Blue is called Blue because he has, well, blue hair. Not the most clever of nicknames and a bit much considering he also works at a club called Blue Ruin, but the boy is absolutely adorable and mischievous and wickedly sensual, so I totally forgive the slight lack of imagination.
Now, if you're looking for actual gay smut, look elsewhere. This is pure yaoi boylovin' goodness. The bishies are pretty as peaches, soft and fruity smelling and tears are not ashamed to be shed. Bondage and spanking and pert reddened bottoms abound, teary-eyed uke and loveable asshole seme. Blue is one of my favorite kind of uke's, though, the smart-mouthed, tempermental, top from the bottom kind. No woe-is-me angstiness for Blue, he's tough and street smart and clever enough to wrap Derek right around his skinny little finger while not even totally conscious their first night together. That takes skill, yo.
I'll be honest, the plot, what there was of it, was just "okay". But the characters were awesome. 3 dimensional and real and funny as hell. I laughed out loud a good dozen times just from Blue's lines alone. And Derek's reactions to Blue were just as amusing. It's a fun, fun FUN story, sexy and very much character-driven. Luckily for me, that's my favorite kind of story. I'll happily trade an intricately detailed plot for some hardcore, awesome characters any day.
If you like yaoi, bishie's and hot D/s-infused sexiness? Definitely get your hands on Katrina Strauss's Blue Ruin 1: Some Kind Of Stranger Purchase it here: http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=635
I hear tell there's to be a follow up, not surprising since it is, after all, titled Blue Ruin *1*. I don't know if it will be Derek and Blue again. I hope so. If not, I hope it's at the very least another set of sexy uke and sexy seme. I was pretty bummed to see she hadn't written anything else m/m, because I was hoping to buy a couple more titles to enjoy from her backlist, but I just don't read het. So I shall eagerly await Blue Ruin 2 and make do in the meantime with rereading Blue and Derek.
Well done, Ms. Strauss. I loved it.
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