New review of THE DEFINITIVE ALBERT J. STERNE

It's lovely to know that some of our old favourites are still filtering through people's 'To Be Read' piles, and here's a review of Julie Bozza's THE DEFINITIVE ALBERT J. STERNE from Rosa at My Fiction Nook to prove it.

"I think this is a love it or hate kind of book. It's a bit dry in the beginning, but once you push though that and kind of go with the flow of the novel, it's awesome and singularly different from other MM books."

We quite sympathise, Rosa! Albert, the dear old curmudgeon, doesn't give his readers an easy or a comfortable time - but the end is totally worth the journey, and we're very glad you stuck with it. Thank you for your lovely comments!

New reviews of RANDY

Some of our reviewers have been very quick off the mark this time, and there have been at least three release-day reviews of RANDY by Jane Elliot. (If there are more, we haven't seen them yet.)

They're a fascinatingly mixed bunch, which only goes to prove that people read from such varied points of view that no two opinions are ever likely to be the same - and this, believe it or not, is exactly the reason why we love what we do; if we were all the same, after all, what a boring world it would be!

Let's start this time with Jenni at Boys In Our Books, who - it's fair to say - didn't have an overwhelmingly positive experience:

I went into the story thinking there would be a hard fought, hard won May/December romance, and there was almost none. In fact—yes, epiphany here!—the novel read more like a (very boring) friendship, with one character coming to the realization that he might actually be attracted to men. (Queue annoying internal dialogue.)

Whoops! We're very sorry Jenni didn't enjoy the book, but we can certainly understand and respect her point of view - and we thank her for taking the time to comment.

Cat, at MM Good Book Reviews, came up with a very different response:

I liked this story because it isn’t your usual love story. It’s not actually a romance at all, but it is about love and friendship. I couldn’t put the book down once I started. I hope there is more to come!!

If you like trappers, the old west, beautiful friendships, gamblers and a gripping story, this is definitely for you!

[Scroll down the page for the review and a giveaway offer!]

She's absolutely right; if you go into RANDY expecting it to be a neat-and-tidy traditional love story, you may be quite surprised!

Delicately balanced between these two opinions is a perceptive review by Cindy on Love Bytes, who discusses in some detail the emotional journey she went on while reading the book and concludes with these words:

...if you’re someone who appreciates that real life doesn’t always go the way we wanted to and that not every romance has a happy ending then I think you will love this well-written story.

Thank you, Cindy; we understand that this may not have been the perfect book for you, but we're glad you recognised its qualities nonetheless. What more could anyone ask of a review than that, really???

So there you go, folks - a very mixed bag of reviews covering an intriguing spectrum of opinion. But don't just take their word for it! Why not dive right in and experience Jane Elliot's RANDY for yourself?

Normal service has now been resumed...

Apologies to our 'early bird' customers; there seems to have been a slight technical hitch with the online shop this morning. It was scheduled to update automatically at 01.00 as usual, but for some reason that didn't happen; however we have now updated it manually and orders can be received and processed in the usual way. Thank you for your patience.

Two new titles published today!

Our two newest titles are now available to order!

There's a welcome return for Jane Elliot, who brings us another of her always-popular authentic stories featuring gay life in the Old West. Here, it's the tale of Garrison who - down on his luck after a series of catastrophes - is rescued by RANDY, a young man who will change his life in ways he can't even begin to count. Unfortunately, though, the path to true love never did run smooth ...

The main protagonist in Liz Powell's novel HUNTED is facing a similar crisis - but there the similarities end! Adam is a professional footballer, and everything he says or does is subject to scrutiny; when rumours of his affair with team-mate Louie begin to surface, he might just as well have a target painted on his back - and Adam's increasingly desperate efforts to deflect suspicion only seem to make things worse ...

Liz is a new member of the MANIFOLD PRESS family; we'd like to welcome her to the fold and wish her and her book every possible success.