Unicorn Favorites: Love's Landscapes Stories : Week Five

The M/M Romance Group on Goodreads hosts a Don't Read in the Closet event each year where they invite members to submit a photo with a story prompt.  Interested authors then volunteer to write the requested stories, which are published for free for everyone to read.  It's a fun/exciting/stressful process, and a great opportunity to read stories from favorite authors.  And chances are, you'll also discover some new authors, who hopefully have a backlist of goodies to check out :)

This year's event was named Love's Landscapes and they started releasing the completed stories on June first. Here at BMBR, we've been following along on comment threads, anticipating the stories from our favorite prompts, and now greedily reading the stories as they become available.

You can read about some of our favorite stories from earlier weeks of the event here. And some of our favorites from the fifth week of the event, June 29-July 5, are below:

Breann: Soaring Past Death by Morticia Knight

Reunited lovers. Aliens. Whips. Collars.(!)

A precious and pretty subby boy.

Can you feel my excitement growing? Can you? S'cause it is.

Awesome sci-fi with so much to offer in under 100 pages. World-building I could see and feel, along with character and relationship development that I could feel and believe.

44 and 13 had immediate tension because of their past. They had me waiting and wanting for them to get through their hangups just so I could see what 44's Dom was made of.

But first, 44 had a mission. I loved how brave 44 was for his family. He had to endure a lot to get there and it hurt him (oh, but it hurt so good), but the mission was his. He totally owned it and was a complete badass with the creepy alien-Lord-dude.

Once it was complete, 44 and 13 were free. Well, 13 was free. 44? Heh. Sexy, sweet boy doesn't wanna be free. Not from 13, at least. They were hot and kinky and I want more. More whips, more floggers and more collars.


Optimist ♰King's Wench♰: Pink Lace and Stolen Hearts by J.C. Wallace
"I don't consider myself a cross-dresser. I like to wear this kind of underwear. I like how it feels. I've worn some other stuff, like stockings and a corset, but I don't want to dress like a woman. I also don't want to be a woman, so I'm not transgender. I think they're pretty, and I like them."
Wooooooooooo baby, come to Mama!
Let's do this!
We'll work our way up the lingerie food chain incrementally.

Greg is a dreamer. Looking for his Prince Charming and so desperate to find him that he's settled for a douche canoe who judges him for his panty fetish. His loss, button.
The only thing that came to mind seeing his hard, lean body was beautiful.
His roommate, Law… *sigh* God love him, he's a little clueless regarding his feels. Everyone and their sister knows he's in love with Greg. I'm fairly certain even people in other solar systems got the memo. His first clue should've been that he drops everything to get to his anxiety riddled roommate every single time there is a sprinkling of rain. Hello, McFly! That's a skosh more than "just friends" wouldn't you say? 

But NOOOOOOOOOOOO what throws the light switch was seeing his roomie in some pink panties.  

Can't say I can fault the man there. *fist bump*

Pink Lace and Stolen Hearts has quite a bit of angst packed into a mere 10 chapters. Mr. Wallace did an excellent job of making Law's apprehension about being attracted to a man for the first time in his life believable. The dialogue was honest and genuine. The secondary characters added to the story in positive ways which moved the story forward.

I liked that the MCs had an existing relationship that evolved rather than going the instalove route. There were some fluffy feels that I'm overlooking in the interest of panty solidarity.

Yes, YES, YAAAAASSSSSSS!!!!

My thanks to Mr. Wallace for hitting me right in the panties. Tip o'the hat, sir.

Lorix: Pink Lace and Stolen Hearts by J.C. Wallace

 Like Wench, my favourite this week from the LL event is Pink Lace and Stolen Hearts. Now seeing as we claim to like different ends of the reading spectrum (Wench's kinky to my sweeeeeet feels), and this is the SECOND book this week we've agreed on, don't be surprised if the world stops turning or pigs start flying or you find a Leprachaun at the end of the rainbow, offering you gold.

Anyhoo - agree we did, so here am I telling my side of the tale. What was good about this sexy little knicker story? Well first of all, let's pause right there and think about that. Sexy knick-knacks on men. Yes please. OH DEAR GOD YES PLEASE. I mean lace and satin encasing all that manliness. Ho hum be still my throbbing...nope, never mind.

Moving swiftly on, and I'm going to shout again, FRIENDS TO LOVERS. Yep, this is my all time favourite story line of always and forever. There is something that just gets me about it - because love should be about friendship first. Friendship is the important part that lasts even on the days when lust doesn't. A good bit of how's your father is always very nice but friendship is the bit that makes my heart beat faster. The trust and love between two friends...OH EM GEE. Then add that lust into the mix and yes, yes, yes....please. And thank you muchly.

Was this book perfect...nope. I really enjoyed the first three-quarters, the UST was so hot but the last quarter I enjoyed less...it kind of moved from real to a bit OTT for me. First time sex is not that good for anyone. Little niggles but not enough to ruin the story. Yep, this little hottie was my pick of the week.Wench and I agree. Now go get your shopping done before the price of bacon goes up.

 
SheReadsALot: The Bigger They Are by Kim Alan
"Normal is overrated"
Tags: BDSM, spanking, discipline, Daddy kink, age difference, size difference, first time, multiple partners, multiple orgasms, rimming, cum play

See those tags up there? This story has earned every single one of them. HARD. I'm rating this all of the damn stars. *twirls around*

DADDY KINK!!! *wiggles*

I wanted this story since reading Mission: X last year and boy did this one up the game. KimAlan (yes, I call her by one name), got smuttier and I appreciate sooooooooooooooooo much!

Charlie and Wren, bodyguard and spoiled rich kid...also a Daddy and his boy. And that anaconda of a trouser snake. C'mon you've seen that prompt pic. It lingers on the brain.

Wren, naughty twink that he is, keeps pushing the limits until his Daddy has to come claim and reign him in. Kinky, delicious, boner worthy and smutty deliciousness. Wren is just enough of a brat to make the story interesting and Charlie is possessive enough to make it work

And as usual, there are awesome secondary characters I'd love to know more about (Ace & Joe with a third search...Devin? I'm not making hints or anything but I'd love some writez on those guys)

And the sex in this story? Look at the tags! Very hot!!!!!

Sunny: Wand-Losing & Other Things You Shouldn’t Be Doing by Gabbo de la Parra

This week, two stories tied for my favorite.  The Bigger They Are, by Kim Alan was deliciously kinky and I LOVED it! Because that story was already included in this post by SheReadsALot, also known as SheHasGreatTaste, I was free to add my other favorite :D

This was so much fun! I laughed and grinned at so many parts of the story, bit my lip at the steamy bits, and appreciated the more serious moments.   Max and Rezzu were an entertaining couple.

Other things I enjoyed ever so much:
Content warning of robotic foreplay
The world the story is set in
The sly, tongue in cheek humor
The dialogue
Rezzu's sister, Keda
The wands...how they are created and how they work

What I wish had been done differently:
I wish we had witnessed the initial meeting.  The Colviri didn't even know the planet was inhabited, what was their reaction to finding the mechanical humanoids?

I didn't understand Rezzu not sharing his mission sooner.  It didn't make sense to me and I wish he hadn't delayed telling Max.  I also didn't understand his reaction to the magic.

The telling of Colviri history and how Rezzu's fathers got together was a little rushed and confusing.

Some of the writing got a little unwieldy/confusing in the last quarter of the story.

Mostly, though, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

One word to describe this story?
Exuberant  :)

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