This is an amazing collection of stories, and even though one of them is mine (and I don't want to rate that), I still think this anthology as a whole deserves five stars. ( )

Best friends becomes lovers. ( )

25 Kurzgeschichten wurden hier von unterschiedlichen Autoren geschrieben und veröffentlicht. Das Thema, das sie alle verbindet: Gayromance und Weihnachten.
Bei manchen der Geschichten ist der Bezug zu Weihnachten schon sehr entfernt, aber das ändert nicht an der Tatsache, das es mir zum größten Teil Spaß gemacht hat, sie zu lesen.

Abgesehen vom Weihnachtsthema ist die Bandbreite immens. Da gibt es Stories über beste Freunde, die sich ineinander verlieben, romantische Coming out Stories ebenso wie solche mit paranormalen oder BDSM Inhalten. Allerdings bedeutet diese Vielfalt auch, das wohl niemand alle Geschichten gleichermaßen gut finden wird, dazu sind sie einfach zu unterschiedlich.
Ich möchte jetzt nicht auf alle Stories einzeln eingehen, aber ein paar habe ich mir rausgepickt:

A Shiny New Toy von M. J. O'Shea, von der ich schon ähnlich gute Geschichten gelesen habe. James und Quinn sind schon lange Freunde. James ist verliebt in Quinn, doch er glaubt nicht, das diese Liebe erwidert wird. Die beiden sind einfach süss und knuffig, wie ihre Geschichte.
The Conquerors von Mark Alder - schauerlich. Und das nicht im positiven Sinn. Es geht um Sportler in einer fernen Zukunft, die vor den Spielen ihre Geschlechtsteile abgeben. Die Beschreibung der Körper fand ich ziemlich abstoßend. Nach den Spielen und wieder in Besitz der guten Stücke wird dann munter drauflos gerammelt - ist aber todlangweilig erzählt.
In A Wish for Jamie von Em Woods haben Jamie und Alex schon länger eine heimliche Affäre im Büro. Eigentlich denkt Jamie, das sein Boss ihn nur als eine belanglose Affäre sieht, aber Alex hat ganz andere Wünsche. Die Geschichte hat ein paar tragische Elemente, ist aber im wesentlichen eine süße Romanze.
A Bugger to Pack von Kim Dare enthält einige Sub/Dom Elemente. Aaron arbeitet als Türsteher in einem SM Club und lässt sich kurz vor Weihnachten zu einer Versteigerung überreden. Vier Stunden muss er dem Bieter zur Verfügung stehen. Allerdings rechnet er nicht damit, das sein Boss ihn ersteigert. Große Überraschung bietet die Geschichte nicht, aber sie ist schön geschrieben und die Sub/Dom Elemente sind nicht besonders extrem.
Enttäuschend fand ich dagegen Cocklebur's Christmas von Amy Lane. Die Story gehört wohl zu Green Hill Serie. Die kenne ich allerdings überhaupt nicht und im Gegensatz zu ihren Romanen war die Story kein bisschen bewegend. Wobei die Story auch ziemlich unfertig wirkte, vielleicht handelt es sich dabei auch um eine rausgeschnittene Szene.

Richtig seltsam und schauderhaft fand ich nur zwei - kein schlechter Schnitt. Wenn man dann noch bedenkt, das das eBook kostenlos erhältlich ist, dann kann man frau da nichts verkehrt machen.

Fazit: Für Fans von Short Stories, Gayromance und eBooks. ( )

I found this anthology after a search for Kim Dare stuff and I'm so glad that I did. I have some discovered some fabulous new authors and the time, and energy that has gone into this is astounding. I can't review all the stories...I wish I could but the review is long enough! There isn't a bad story amongst the lot and I have chosen to write about my top 10, in no particular order! The variation of themes within the anthology is great as it means that there is something for everyone...myself, I particularly liked the BDSM and ménage themed tales but there is angels, shifters, smutty Santa, plumbers.....the list is endless :)

Ladies and Gents I WOULD like to see the pictures that each story is based on though:)

A shiny new toy – M.J. O Shea – 4 stars

A fun yet steamy story of one friend’s seemingly unrequited lust for his roommate. However on one dark and stormy night, and with a fun sounding sex toy, when they finally get it on. I liked this one - short stories sometimes feel a little cheap and sleazy but the writer made sure you knew this was the start of a new chapter by two friends. Both characters were fun and likeable

Leaking Pipes – Deanna Wadsworth – 5 stars

I really enjoyed this one! It did make me chuckle as the premise sounds like something from a cheesy porn flick but the writer made it work! Sam has leaking pipes. He phones the plumber to get it fixed and who turns up but the hunky BJ. After spending the majority of the visit lusting over BJs butt, Sam eventually gets caught perving. This leads to an incredibly sexy and steamy scene in the kitchen involving a blowjob (I just caught the joke writing the review...BJ gives Sam a BJ...ha-ha ) Well worth a read and based on this story I’ve added another of her books to my to-read

The new man's army - Michael S – 4 stars

Wow, this one was hot! An American tourist comes across a military guarded checkpoint...when he is taken into the back he ends up having more than his details checked! I enjoyed this...to be honest I would have happily read a little more about the “special unit”

Mark Alders – The Conquerors – 5 stars

Well this one just made me blush! This futuristic tale is set at a wrestling event. In this reality, all the athletes must compete in the nude and must detach their genitals (!) Our team consists of Jasper, Chalky and Paddy, who all seem to enjoy their afterhours “celebrations” as much as each other do. Jasper meets Carlos after a mix up at the genital exchange and promptly starts to fall a little bit for him.
This was incredibly imaginative! The whole concept was fabulous and I loved that, even though he had sex with them all, there was a distinct difference to Jasper over teammates and his boyfriend. The sex scenes were amazingly hot, mostly ménage, but the sex scenes between Jasper and Carlos were very different from those involving his teammates. A good read!

Em Woods – A wish for Jamie – 5 stars

This one was sweet. The rest have been very hot and heavy but this one got five stars for making me believe in the connection and love between these two men! Alex is Jamie’s boss but they have been seeing each other as well for 6 months at the time we meet them. Jamie is scared to commit to Alex because of a secret in his past but it all comes to a head on Christmas Eve when Alex requests his presence and he refuses to be there. Of course, Alex finds out what the secret is and actually realises that his boyfriend needs some support rather than a dumping as the secret is not actually that much of a secret AT ALL. The way he looks after him is adorable...I only wish I had an Alex when I felt bad. Lovely story!

Masters And Boyd – SJD Peterson – 5 stars

Jesus this was hot. This is the story of Carrick and his slave on holiday. It is a shining example of how the best BDSM scenes are written – between two people who trust each other, as shown by the interactions and aftercare after the sex. What I really enjoyed about this was how the writer showed us just how difficult it is to stay in control as a Top – that although it always looks like the bottom is getting the worse deal, there is more than enough torture to go round in sex games. This was a hot little story that has made me go searching for more books by this author.

A bugger to Pack – Kim Dare – 5 stars

This was the reason I looked into this anthology and boy am I glad I did. Aaron is the bouncer to a BDSM book. He agrees to be auctioned off as a slave for charity and is bought by the club owner Patterson to save the beefy man from becoming a whipping post for the clubs sadists (I had a little issue here as I thought most sadists in the scene only enjoyed inflicting pain on those who enjoyed receiving it....) Turns out they both secretly had been falling for each other ever since Aaron had began to work the doors! The story is about a submissive (who doesn’t know he is a submissive) on his first foray into BDSM with a Dom who cares about him. It’s erotic and heart-warming both at the same time! I wouldn’t mind reading what happened in Ben’s slave time too

Las Posadas – Ocotillo – 5 stars

Loved, Loved, LOVED this one! This is the story some doctors and a rescuer letting off some steam after a busy day of rescuing people. Kit is the hero in question and the doctors (Raf and Lars) CERTAINLY makes sure he gets a good time after injuring himself rescuing a child from a landslide. Ménage is always hot to me but ménage with a sprinkling of BDSM...well I think I’ve said it all

The Gift – Angela Benedetti – 4 1/2 stars

This was as a dirty futuristic Pinocchio crossed with Blade Runner! Austin gets a gift of a sex droid that looks exactly like the man he has been lusting after. Pretty soon, he likes the droid more than the man! The Sci-fi fan in me loved this story...the droid was so sweet! I loved it and have added the author.
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Like all anthologies the stories were short and got right to the action yet many of them really had a great story to them as well. While I didn't love all the stories there were so many and so much variety that it was easy to find something in this great set of stories to love. Wonderful variety and great Christmas season read. ( )