Reviewer Announcements (or is it Reviewers Announcement?)

Hey y’all.  As you know, our collective cup runneth over when it comes to available offerings in this genre we all love, so many that we probably could never review them all.  In an effort to tackle as many as possible, we occasionally look for new voices and extra hands in the effort.  With that in mind, Wave and I are thrilled to announce three new reviewers to the site.  Two are long-time visitors and commentors and one is a relative newbie.

Let me introduce Andrea, Larissa and Jeayci:

ANDREA

Hi, I’m Andrea. I’m a stay at home mom with 2 little boys, they’re 4 and 5 years old. My educational background is as a pharmaceutical toxicologist but I haven’t work in that field for almost 6 years and have no plans to go back in the future.

I have a market garden and sell produce at the local organic co-op. If I’m not in the garden I’m probably hanging out by the pool reading. We also have a couple vintage Airstreams that we’ve restored and travel in as much as possible. I get antsy and cranky if I have to go more than two weeks without traveling.

I started reading romance books when I was in junior high, took a break from them for almost a decade and then got back into them a couple years ago. My love of romance books is kind of ironic because I’m probably one of the least romantic people you’ll ever meet. I like books with lots of sex and a bit of romance, anything with syrupy sweet romance is a turn off for me. Hyper-emotional, irrational characters frustrate the crap out of me and make me want to slap them. I’m also easily annoyed when characters make bad decisions. I love intelligent, realistic, flawed characters and if the author can throw in some humor I’ll be even happier.

My approach to reviews is pretty simple. I tell you what I liked, what I didn’t like and why. Hopefully that’s enough information to give you a good idea of whether or not you’ll like it.

LARISSA

Who is Larissa?

Larissa would be the incredibly chaotic, sword-wielding gypsy cowgirl from the Netherlands who lives and breathes books (and sometimes horses). Currently on the move in Australia she devours books whether she is watching goats after being evacuated after a flood or sitting in a bus for 22 hours.

A very long time ago (think centuries) she read the great classics from Homer to Shakespeare to Tolstoy. Then she discovered the hot man-love books with cowboys, were-animals and vampires and her world hasn’t been the same since. Now the Homer, Shakespeare and Tolstoy have to play nice with the shifters, cowboys and hot leather wearing studs who make the (digital) shelves heat up.

Making no secret about what she reads, she is continuously teased by knights until she goes into detail about what dragons can do with their tails. Then even brave knights go a little green and squirmy. (They only read out loud from one of her books once).

Between the reading, the traveling, the station hands and the horses, she has plenty of time to read and even review a book or two. That is, so long as she doesn’t end up (again) on that one remote station where internet hasn’t found a connection yet.

JEAYCI

An avid reader from an early age, the library was my second home and my library card my most treasured possession throughout childhood. Until I got into ebooks, that is, and it was replaced by my ereader and the internet. I’ll read almost anything (except horror; I don’t like to be scared) as long as it’s written well. I will eagerly suspend disbelief and go anywhere an author wants to take me, as long as they write believably. I’ve been delighted to discover so many wonderful writers in m/m, and I’m sure that is a lot of why it’s currently my most-read genre.

Some of my favorite m/m authors are Kaje Harper, Abigail Roux, Amy Lane, Marie Sexton, TJ Klune, James Buchanan, LA Witt, J Rocci, and too many more to list without putting everyone to sleep. The ones I’ve named specifically are ones I’ve learned I can count on (almost) every time to take me out of my world and into their own. They write characters who stay with me not only for the duration of the book, but who I find myself thinking about months later, like old friends I haven’t seen in a while. And like old friends, I enjoy revisiting them periodically, and enjoy the books as much on rereads as I did the first time.

Help me and Wave make them welcome.