Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Brit Boys: On Boys
AUTHOR: Ashe Barker, M.K. Elliott, Lucy Felthouse, K.D. Grace, Lily Harlem, Clare London, Sarah Masters, and Josephine Myles
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 440 pages
BLURB:
From east to west and north to south, these British boys are having a blast in and out of the bedroom with the men of their dreams. They’re topping and bottoming from London to Cardiff, living out fantasies in the wildest fells and hooking up while serving HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
With passion and lust the name of the game, nothing is off limits. Throw in honed muscles, high-strength testosterone and an accent to die for and there is nothing they can’t do and no one they can’t get in this world or another.
Don’t miss Brit Boys: On Boys—a smokin’ hot box set, containing 147,000 words/440 pages of unforgettable M/M erotic romance from eight popular British authors.
REVIEW:
Bodywork by Ashe Barker–4 stars
Only a few points from having his driving license yanked from him, Alex does not need any more problems with, in, or near his truck. So of course, on his way to a mandated Speed Awareness class, he backs up into Graham’s car. Luckily Alex owns a repair shop and is able to convince Graham to have his car repaired on the down-low…free of charge. But what should have just been a quick patch-up job leads to heated kisses and quite a few late night working on each other’s bodies.
It took me a few pages to get into the swing of this story, mostly due to the fact that I had trouble wrangling my brain into a more British mindset. But once Alex and Graham got together I was pretty much set. There was a lot of sex going on here, and the relationship did move at lightning pace (they’d known each other for less than a week before they exchanged keys), so I did have trouble sometimes buying the ‘love’ between them. I guess I just wanted to have the relationship built up a bit more before they barreled full gear into love and cohabitation, and because the groundwork wasn’t really there I had mixed feelings about the whole ‘Big Misunderstanding’ near the end. I mean, no wonder it went so far off the rails so quickly…they barely even know each other! Still I did enjoy the story, so it clearly wasn’t that horrible.
Breaking the Marine by M.K. Elliott–3.5 stars
As he sees it, Brandon has two choices: let himself get drawn deeper into the local gangs (and resign himself to a life in and out of jail) or sign up for the Royal Marines. Despite the fact he has no clue how he is going to survive in the straitlaced Marines, Brandon prefers it to a life of crime.
This was his escape. It might not be perfect, and he knew he was going to struggle taking orders, but he couldn’t see any other way to make something decent out of himself.
On his last night as a free man, he takes himself off to a local pub and ends up meeting Will. Will, who is older, hotter, and just about everything he could ask out of a one-night–ok, more like 20-minutes-if-he-was-lucky–stand. Only problem is when he wakes up the next morning and finds that Will of the back alley blowjobs, is Corporal Will Stewart, Drill Instructor and pain in his ass (in more ways than one!).
Hunky Marines in a forbidden romance? Yes, please! Ok, the whole illegality of a Drill Instructor boning his recruit was a bit hard for me to handle, but I have to admit that it sure did make the rest of it rather hot. Sure, it wasn’t the best idea in the world, but it was also clearly something they were not going to be able to outrun, either. Plus with the 33 week timeline for this story, I was able to buy that something indeed had grown between them. Plus, I’m just a sucker for high-risk sex in very dangerous places…say like the showers in the recruits bunk?
Love on Location by Lucy Felthouse–3.75 stars
Theo is in Stoneydale to shoot at movie when he runs across part-time groundskeeper and sometimes extra in the film. What starts as a friendly walk around the local area to help Theo get in character, though, soon turns into something more. Too bad Theo isn’t–can’t–be out…no matter how much the local man gets his blood pumping or his heart jumping.
I kept expecting something big to drive a wedge between these two, but other than a brief spat of stupidity on both sides, this was rather more angst free than what I was expecting. That was probably a good thing, since low-angst is the name of the game this time of year. The story was good, and the sex seriously hot, so I enjoyed this.
Landscapes by K.D. Grace–3.75 stars
Alonso Darlington is usually very good at keeping certain parts of his life separate, but when he sees Reese Chambers across the pub he is tempted to break all types of rules (though, at this point, there are very few of those left). But there is something about Reese that is dangerously tempting, and seeing as Alonso is rather well acquainted with thing that are dangerous, he should know.
So, for the most part I found I liked this. Alonso has nothing glittery about him, and that is rather refreshing. He has no deep moral dilemma about who and what he is, and I like that. However there’s rather more het sex in this than I normally like popping up in my m/m. It certainly had its place in the story, so I don’t mind too much, but still…not something I enjoy reading. Overall, I guess it was a good story though I had to get thru the beginning before I really started to enjoy it.
The Chase by Lily Harlem–2.5 stars
Steve and Robert have been quits for about a year. But even if their Dom/sub relationship crashed and burned, their friendship actually stuck around. Now on a busy night at Jugglers, a Cardiff comedy shop that Steve bartends at, the two men are finding their sights set on the comedian on stage. But they don’t know if the man would want either of them…or maybe both.
I had a hard time feeling any real chemistry between these guys. Which is odd because threesomes and D/s relationships are something I love, both apart and together. But the connection between them never really got off the ground. Also, the editing here was a less than stellar. There were several sentences where the names Steve and Robert got swapped incorrectly, and other times where the words used made no sense at all (I have no idea if these words were some type of weird Welsh slang or just spelling errors, but either way…not clue at all what was meant to be said).
Dish of the Day by Clare London–4.25 stars
Richie’s dinner is a disaster…which wouldn’t be the end of the world if that dinner didn’t also happen to be the very thing he’s serving in his new restaurant that opens in only a matter of hours. And it’s not only the food that seems to be off. Everything on his opening night is falling apart around Richie and he’s at his wits end trying to save what seems like an already sunk ship. Luckily he has a few friends of his sleeves.
This would probably have slightly higher rating if these guys would have nixed the food. I just have a weird thing about food and sex…that thing being that neither the twain shall meet. But seeing how this is a personal issues, I tried to minimize how it affected the rating. (Though if anyone had decided to use butter as lube there’s a chance I would have just run away screaming ‘ewewewewwwwww!’). Other than the food this was a great story. I love me a threesome, especially ones where friends decide that what they really need is each other. I will say that if anyone had pulled the stunt that Craig and Ben did on Richie, though, I would have given them a close a personal inspection with my shiny knives (but then again, I don’t do well with secret plans I’m told nothing about till it is too late anyways).
E2 By Sarah Masters–3.5 stars
Ever since The Change six months ago, London has been divided between those on the other side of the Thames and those on Archie’s side. Archie’s side are the lucky ones, though. They are still normal, still relatively unharmed. But when Dan comes up from the river–from the other side–Archie’s preconceived notions about ‘safe’ and ‘normal’ are turned upside down.
This was never going to be a story that I really enjoyed. I just don’t like dystopian-esc, big-brother is controlling your every move, type stories. They drive me nuts, to be honest. From the get-go I had a really hard time buying the very premise of the story…and that made it very hard to actually enjoy reading it as I got deeper into the ‘truth.’ But if you like this type of story (or, hell, just don’t find them as annoying as I do) then you are probably going to love this. I just can’t. It’s well written and the characters are interesting, but the whole government control thing just doesn’t do anything for me at all.
Locked Out by Josephine Myles–4.5 stars
When you are spending Valentine’s Day with your recently dumped sister, something is not going right in your life. When you get locked out of your room, stark naked, you pretty much have proof of it. But when Rod comes across the incredibly embarrassed (and under-dressed) Martin Cooper in the hallway of their hotel, things might just be looking up. Except for one tiny little detail…
Josephine Myles was pretty much the reason I first picked up this anthology. I love her stories and didn’t want to pass up the chance to read this short one. And I’m glad I did because this has to be my favorite story of the bunch. It was cute, it was funny, it was hot (if a tad embarrassing). And even if there is a bit of issue with Martin’s inability to keep to the truth, it never really got angsty, which as nice. Also, who knew I would find toe-sucking a turn on. Not me, that’s for sure.
This is probably going to be my last anthology for a while (thank god!) and overall I have to say it was a nice way to end my month-long run of anthologies. I always love a story set in Britain, and there was enough variety in these stories that I was never bored. Some of the stories might not have been to my own personal taste, but all of them were well written. And I have several authors I’ll now be checking out because of their stories. In the end, a nice anthology.
RATING: 
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