• manga,  Uncategorized

    MANGA: Otoko Yamome Mo Hana Wa Saku

    Image result for Otoko Yamome Mo Hana ha Saku manga

    Otoko Yamome Mo Hana Wa Saku – Yukue Moegi

    Middle-aged salaryman Uematsu (40s) was surprised to learn that the restaurant part time-worker Asahikawa knows about his food habits. When Uematsu got promoted to department head he thought his life will be smooth sailing from then on but very soon his wife left him and the people assigned to him are utterly useless…

    After hitting his 40s he felt like his stamina, energy, everything has been depleted, so he tries to avoid anything troublesome. But strangely he feels a sense of ease whenever he is with Asahikawa and starts warming up to him, but it’s feels like Asahikawa wants to get closer to him more than he could have ever imagined… 

    Nothing like new love to make an old man feel rejuvenated.

    A delightful age-gap, older uke/younger seme romance that’s soft and pure. Makes the heart feel 10 times lighter.

  • book,  Uncategorized

    REVIEW: The Rising by Morgan Brice

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    Badlands: The Rising – Morgan Brice

    A big storm is brewing, there’s a killer on the loose, and the ghosts of Myrtle Beach are restless. Psychic medium Simon Kincaide and his sexy cop boyfriend, homicide detective Vic D’Amato have their hands full helping the Grand Strand brace for rough surf, driving rain, and high winds as a winter storm roars toward shore.

    Everyone’s on edge, and rumors are rampant about sightings of Blackcoat Benny, a ghostly omen of danger, and worse, the Gallows Nine, the spirits of nine infamous criminals hanged back in the 1700s, a harbinger of disaster. Rough tides wash the wreck of an old pirate ship into shallow waters, high winds threaten to damage an old mansion with a dark past, and the citizens of the beach town hunker down to ride out the storm.

    As the skies grow dark and the sea turns wild, several men from prominent local families end up dead under suspicious circumstances. Simon’s premonition confirms Vic’s gut feeling—the killing is just getting started. As Simon tries to reach out to the spirits of the murdered men to help the investigation, he’s attacked by malicious ghosts that don’t want anyone getting in the way of their long-overdue vengeance.

    With the storm hammering the coast, and new victims piling up, Simon is certain that the sins and secrets of the past are coming due, and that the murders have a supernatural link. Vic and Simon race to stop the murders against an unholy deadline, but as they battle rising tides and risen ghosts, can they save the intended victims without getting trapped themselves?

    The Rising is the second novel in the Badlands series. It is a MM romance intended for readers 18 years of age and older.


    Hmm…I don’t know if I’m in a slump but I wasn’t into this the way I was with the first book, Badlands.

    I like Simon and Vic and appreciated that the book avoided the usual petty squabbles between couples, focusing instead on the adjustment to their new life and dealing with the fears and dangers of being in a relationship with a cop and a psychic. However, much as I like these developments, I can’t help feeling that the execution of their couple downtime felt a little mechanical a.k.a kind of blah. This is something I’ve noticed with Morgan Brice‘s books, the smexy times are not necessarily forced into the scenes but they don’t feel organic either.

    The book is a great mix of police and psychic procedural, taking time to lay out the step-by-step of the investigations and Simon’s rituals. Simon had to deal with dead pirates, sunken ships, haunted houses and vengeful ghosts while Vic tackled a case of multiple suicides, murder and possibly, spirit possession. The cases crossed paths and led them to two ghosts who were bitter enemies back in the day when they were privateer and pirate. And one of them had a special connection to Simon!

    As interesting as these sounded, I wasn’t surprised by any twists. I found that answers came too easily, via visions. This is convenient and welcome since it makes life easier and safer for Simon and Vic but it also makes it easier to predict the outcome. I guess it makes a nice change from the usual vague and obscure psychic visions but unfortunately doesn’t help in creating tension and excitement.

    The highlights for me were the seances and these were definitely suspenseful and exciting. Narrator Kale Williams did a wonderful job creating varied voices, some pitiful and some malevolent and he was able to amp up the scare factor effectively. As if that’s not scary enough, it’s quite something to read about these events in the dead of night where spirits were summoned, witches worked their magic and a storm unleashed its fury while an actual one is raging outside right at the exact moment. Talk about realism!

    What’s also fascinating about this book are the rich folklore and the magical practices that the author was able to make good use in the story, particularly through Miss Eppie’s and Gabriella’s talents, in addition to Simon’s academic background and his skeleton crew’s gifts Their hoodoo and witch magic made them formidable enemies so it’s a good thing they got Simon’s back. I want to see more of these folk magic again in the future.

    Overall, The Rising had all the right ingredients but some things were bland and predictable. This could be a ME thing because many people gave it high ratings. I’d still read the next books. The Badlands series, and Brice‘s paranormal universe as a whole, has many interesting elements that I would like to explore. I’ll give this one a passing grade for now.

    P.S.

    Badlands books are best read in order. Review of book 1 here

    Other psychic series you might enjoy:

    Psycop review here
    The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal review here
    Psychic Detective Mysteries review here
    Tyack & Frayne review here
    Russ Morgan Mystery review here

    Rating:
    3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked it

    Soundtrack: The Mariner’s Revenge
    Artist: The Decemberists
    Album: Picaresque

  • Uncategorized

    We are two mariners
    Our ships’ sole survivors
    In this belly of a whale
    Its ribs are ceiling beams
    Its guts are carpeting
    I guess we have some time to kill

    You may not remember me
    I was a child of three
    And you, a lad of eighteen
    But I remember you
    And I will relay to you
    How our histories interweave

    At the time you were
    A rake and a roustabout
    Spending all your money
    On the whores and hounds
    (oh, oh)

    You had a charming air
    All cheap and debonair
    My widowed mother found so sweet
    And so she took you in
    Her sheets still warm with him
    Now filled with filth and foul disease

    As time wore on you proved
    A debt-ridden drunken mess
    Leaving my mother
    A poor consumptive wretch
    (oh, oh)

    And then you disappeared
    Your gambling arrears
    The only thing you left behind
    And then the magistrate
    Reclaimed our small estate
    And my poor mother lost her mind

    Then, one day in spring
    My dear sweet mother died
    But before she did
    I took her hand as she, dying, cried,
    (oh, oh)

    “Find him, bind him,
    Tie him to a pole and break
    His fingers to splinters.
    Drag him to a hole
    Until he wakes up naked
    Clawing at the ceiling of his grave.”

    It took me fifteen years
    To swallow all my tears
    Among the urchins in the street
    Until a priory
    Took pity and hired me
    To keep their vestry nice and neat

    But never once in the employ
    Of these holy men
    Did I ever once turn my mind
    From the thought of revenge
    (oh, oh)

    One night I overheard
    The prior exchanging words
    With a penitent whaler from the sea
    The captain of his ship
    Who matched you toe to tip
    Was known for wanton cruelty

    The following day
    I shipped to sea with a privateer
    And in the whistle of the wind
    I could almost hear
    (oh, oh)

    “Find him, bind him,
    Tie him to a pole and break
    His fingers to splinters.
    Drag him to a hole
    Until he wakes up naked
    Clawing at the ceiling of his grave.

    There is one thing I must say to you
    As you sail across the sea:
    Always, your mother will watch over you
    As you avenge this wicked deed.”

    And then, that fateful night,
    We had you in our sight
    After twenty months at sea
    Your starboard flank abeam
    I was getting my muskets clean
    When came this rumbling from beneath

    The ocean shook
    The sky went black
    And the captain quailed
    And before us grew
    The angry jaws
    Of a giant whale
    (oh, oh)

    Don’t know how I survived
    The crew all was chewed alive
    I must have slipped between his teeth
    But, oh, what providence
    What divine intelligence
    That you should survive as well as me

    It gives my heart great joy
    To see your eyes fill with fear
    So lean in close and I will whisper
    The last words you’ll hear
    (oh, oh)