Dirty Games edition by Barbara Elsborg Romance eBooks
Download As PDF : Dirty Games edition by Barbara Elsborg Romance eBooks 
Let the games begin.
When you play dirty, mud gets in your eyes. And when your vision clears, it might be too late to say sorry.
Linton Williams is moving up in life, he’s secured a great job, he’s living his dream - until it all comes crashing down, courtesy of a brother who’s hooked on cocaine and owes money to dangerous people. When Linton’s offered enough cash to pay off his brother’s debts and send him to rehab, he can’t say no.
But there’s a catch. To save his brother from the hell of addiction, Linton makes a deal with the devil. His job? To teach film star Thorne Morrisey a public lesson in humility that might just destroy Thorne’s acting career for good.
When Thorne and Linton meet, sparks fly, and one kiss sets into motion a chain of events that could destroy them both. By the time Linton decides the price is too high, it’s too late. He’s fallen hard. And now he’s trapped between destroying his lover or his brother.
Game over
Dirty Games edition by Barbara Elsborg Romance eBooks
So Thorne plays a dirty game...A star of film and television, he is becoming more famous. And he flirts heartlessly, sleeps around casually, snaps angrily at intruding fans, and has a filthy temper particularly when his trust is betrayed. And Linton plays dirty....For love of his brother, he lets himself be bribed and blackmailed into doing a heartless thing.Linton's boss in particular is rolling in the mud, full of nasty tricks to get revenge. And Linton's brother and two of Linton's ex boyfriends each play their role in dragging Linton down. Oh, and the neighborhood drug dealer...And some metaphorical penguins. And Linton himself just seems to make things worse and worse...
There are only a small handful of interesting secondary characters who don't have ulterior motives. And the penguins, of course, only have benign intentions despite the necrophilia.
So, through manipulation and malice Linton and Thorne meet...well, actually they meet by accident, but the stage is set. Some fairly unforgivable things happen and it all becomes a somewhat complicated fiasco of two shielded people connecting and working their way out of the maze to their HEA. These guys cause some of their own problems, and I am not so sure if everyone deserves the HEA...hmmm...but in the long run ( in the epilogue) I felt that everyone got their just desserts.
Recommend. Smooth dialogue, complicated but organized and approachable storyline. A couple extra/missing words, but otherwise professional editing. A contemporary mm romance, focused primarily on the relationship, but with lots of wicked machinations and childhood and adult trauma to deal with. The malice ranged from ridiculous to really awful.
Some things I consider in an mm romance
Smexy scale 1-5: 3
These two are very attracted to each other, and have explicit sex ... full of teasing commentary. A little kink here and there (very light bondage, public). Hot moments for me were their first kiss...and their second!
Humor scale 1-5: 3
These guys have their funny light banter, and there are a few chuckles here and there. I like right after they first met, when Thorne tries to not think about Linton, but he keeps sneaking right back into Thorne's thoughts. However this is by no means a silly book.
Angst scale 1-5: 4
Lots of trauma, in current events and personal history (see bottom of review for lots of possible triggers possible spoilers) and lots of guilt and worry and intimacy fears, like many contemporary romances.
"....You should learn from your father’s mistakes, not repeat them. We’ve had this conversation before. Parents f*k us up but we’re adults now. We make our own decisions.”
Likable MCs 1-5:3
I do like them. Linton really unable to man up for a really long time, unable to just tell all and end the blackmail. I am not ashamed to admit I yelled at my kindle a few times to try and convince him he could do it...And Thorne has one of the nastiest tempers...not sure if he is forgivable the time we see him go cold and icy and mean. But I like them together and bought that they could get to a happy ending (just not sure I could have been as forgiving!).
If you like this mm contemporary romance then I also recommend
Barbara Elsborg's Falling
A. E. Ryecart's Urban Love series
Sydney Bell's Bad Judgement
Karen Stivali's Moment of Fate
Santino Hassell's Five Boroughs series
Christine D'Abo Working It
Triggers/spoilers
current date rape described in some detail, using date rape drugs, underplayed the emotional consequences, victim blamed himself. Drug addiction. Personal history of rape in childhood for two characters, experience of very poor parenting and emotional abuse, one incident of domestic violence between MCs, post traumatic episode. Physical assault (not between mcs) a couple of times. Suicide attempt (not mc).
Product details
|
Tags : Dirty Games - Kindle edition by Barbara Elsborg. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.,ebook,Barbara Elsborg,Dirty Games,Fiction Romance Gay
People also read other books :
- Fatal Healing The Dragon Hunters Drako Latrele Bobo 9781481152488 Books
- Erosion Control and Land Restoration Pablo A GarciaChevesich PhD 9781478765837 Books
- The Ark Of Adams edition by Jack Kane Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
- His Roman Conqueror I Enslaved By The General Ancient Warrior Series Book 1 edition by Sam Seiman Literature Fiction eBooks
- Music And Sound In The Healing Arts An Energy Approach edition by John Beaulieu Religion Spirituality eBooks
Dirty Games edition by Barbara Elsborg Romance eBooks Reviews
The synopsis of this book is very good so I'll just not redo that. From about the third paragraph I knew this was going to be a big mess so the book is aptly named. There are a lot of connections between the players and different plot lines that could have come off as over the top and unbelievable but Elsborg makes it work. Linton and Thorne meet and while there is a lot of subtext going on their spark is immediate. The romantic chemistry between these two characters is fabulous from that moment. Barbara Elsborg is a master of making the emotional intensity and intimacy in the sex scenes shine. There are a few instances of extreme angst and some things happen that in real life might be inexcusable but again she pulls it off. A great, fast paced, sexy, uber romantic read.
I'm very sad that I didn't care enough for this, since I've loved so many of Barbara's books. Barbara does tend to write books that have some darkness in them. This definitely had its share but it was also very intriguing following all the twists and turns of the plot. I liked Lintons character a lot and it was quite easy to understand his motivations and his internal struggles. Thorne's character was very hard to like and by the end of the story, other than the epilogue, I could not find any redemption. His character was far too arrogant and thoughtless, and his anger issues really needed professional help. Really, just about everyone in the story needed therapy. I don't know how everyone got over some of these traumas on their own.
Some of my difficulties with it were also due to my own state of mind. However, it still didn't seem like a smooth flow. There were several secondary and other side characters that made the narrative feel too busy. Having their brothers there was fine but add in the other friends, the agent, the brothers that railroaded Linton, and the criminals, I felt distracted. I had a hard time getting the feel of Thorne and Linton's developing relationship. Barbara's talent with humor and banter was there but it seemed a bit too much in the midst of the sex scenes. I couldn't connect there, either. They seemed too quick and unromantic.
At the major crisis point is when it went downhill for me. After Thorne's actions, not so much his words, it seemed to get resolved very quickly and easily. What Linton did was wrong but he got over Thorne's disgusting behavior far too easily for me. Then boom, it's the epilogue. It seemed like too much missing. I wanted to see at least a little more of them building up their connection again than just one night. It was a let down in too many ways at the end. I'm sure I'll reread it in the future and perhaps my impression will be better.
Goodness, this just grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until the very end of the book. Everyone has secrets. You're not sure who is a bad guy; who is a good guy. Everyone has a sordid past of some sort. But I was mesmerized! Twists and turns, red herrings and brilliantly written! I was a little confused by the author's focus on bisexuality and the somewhat negative view. Did she support it or not. But in the end, it didn't matter. This was a kick-butt book with memorable characters and non-stop action. And the names - I loved the names. In a mm book world full of Joshs, Ryans, Zanders/Xanders, we have Linton, Dirk, Thorne, River and Owen. So creative and they fit the characters. Crisp, witty strong writing. "Some mix of airborne chemicals that made their hormones jump and jiggle as if they were teenagers." Thorne is a "marauder, invader, ruthless conqueror." "Once Thorne has fxxxed him, sxxxed him dry, and had taken what he wanted, he'd be tossed aside for a more attractive prize." "....like a sharpened guillotine held by a frayed rope." Linton and Thorne's hard won love. Good golly, this was awesome!
So Thorne plays a dirty game...A star of film and television, he is becoming more famous. And he flirts heartlessly, sleeps around casually, snaps angrily at intruding fans, and has a filthy temper particularly when his trust is betrayed. And Linton plays dirty....For love of his brother, he lets himself be bribed and blackmailed into doing a heartless thing.
Linton's boss in particular is rolling in the mud, full of nasty tricks to get revenge. And Linton's brother and two of Linton's ex boyfriends each play their role in dragging Linton down. Oh, and the neighborhood drug dealer...And some metaphorical penguins. And Linton himself just seems to make things worse and worse...
There are only a small handful of interesting secondary characters who don't have ulterior motives. And the penguins, of course, only have benign intentions despite the necrophilia.
So, through manipulation and malice Linton and Thorne meet...well, actually they meet by accident, but the stage is set. Some fairly unforgivable things happen and it all becomes a somewhat complicated fiasco of two shielded people connecting and working their way out of the maze to their HEA. These guys cause some of their own problems, and I am not so sure if everyone deserves the HEA...hmmm...but in the long run ( in the epilogue) I felt that everyone got their just desserts.
Recommend. Smooth dialogue, complicated but organized and approachable storyline. A couple extra/missing words, but otherwise professional editing. A contemporary mm romance, focused primarily on the relationship, but with lots of wicked machinations and childhood and adult trauma to deal with. The malice ranged from ridiculous to really awful.
Some things I consider in an mm romance
Smexy scale 1-5 3
These two are very attracted to each other, and have explicit sex ... full of teasing commentary. A little kink here and there (very light bondage, public). Hot moments for me were their first kiss...and their second!
Humor scale 1-5 3
These guys have their funny light banter, and there are a few chuckles here and there. I like right after they first met, when Thorne tries to not think about Linton, but he keeps sneaking right back into Thorne's thoughts. However this is by no means a silly book.
Angst scale 1-5 4
Lots of trauma, in current events and personal history (see bottom of review for lots of possible triggers possible spoilers) and lots of guilt and worry and intimacy fears, like many contemporary romances.
"....You should learn from your father’s mistakes, not repeat them. We’ve had this conversation before. Parents f*k us up but we’re adults now. We make our own decisions.”
Likable MCs 1-53
I do like them. Linton really unable to man up for a really long time, unable to just tell all and end the blackmail. I am not ashamed to admit I yelled at my kindle a few times to try and convince him he could do it...And Thorne has one of the nastiest tempers...not sure if he is forgivable the time we see him go cold and icy and mean. But I like them together and bought that they could get to a happy ending (just not sure I could have been as forgiving!).
If you like this mm contemporary romance then I also recommend
Barbara Elsborg's Falling
A. E. Ryecart's Urban Love series
Sydney Bell's Bad Judgement
Karen Stivali's Moment of Fate
Santino Hassell's Five Boroughs series
Christine D'Abo Working It
Triggers/spoilers
current date rape described in some detail, using date rape drugs, underplayed the emotional consequences, victim blamed himself. Drug addiction. Personal history of rape in childhood for two characters, experience of very poor parenting and emotional abuse, one incident of domestic violence between MCs, post traumatic episode. Physical assault (not between mcs) a couple of times. Suicide attempt (not mc).
0 Response to "[QMA]≫ Download Free Dirty Games edition by Barbara Elsborg Romance eBooks"
Post a Comment