Laissez les bons temps rouler, bebe!



Whoo boy, was this an unexpected surprise from MC.
A Jizzmas gift from a fave MC couple, Darcy and Caleb (Remy)!

Mercy Celeste is my kinda comfort read: hot times between passionate guys and dramatics to keep the page turning.

And for less than 100 pgs, we get just that.

Lagniappe starts months later from the ending of Behind Iron Lace. The couple is going strong in Oregon. But Darcy is Darcy, clueless and trying to help everyone. And Caleb's new restaurant & bar is almost open.

But their exes won't let the lovebirds be great. Jealousies, light OTT antics and a plot twist that you could see a mile coming happens in this Jizzmas tale. Throw in insatiable sex and chemistry when their exes aren't testing Darcy and Caleb's limits.

The ending isn't one I saw coming (for a pair of secondary characters). I'm kinda happy with it. Expect twists

This is an erotic glimpse in the future. The Cajun is just as hot and volatile. *grins*

There were a few editing issues but I didn't care. I came for Darcy and Caleb and their hot loving.

And it's what I got.

Also, I'd like to thank my secret Jizzmas Santa for getting me this. You're A++++!

DNF at 81%

About a quarter of the book was good. I liked Darcy's personality, I liked the chemistry between him and Caleb. It may not be gay-for-you... it is in reality a I-realize-I-am-gay-because-of-you, which is nearly as good as a g4u. Nearly, in my mind, but not entirely. The sex scenes are smoking hot. The lust and heat between these two was amazing. For those scenes alone I would have rate it a lot higher. And what I love the most is that their hot scenes are not in the bed, but on an otoman, on the floor, on the couch, etc. Super steamy.

But we know that a MM Romance is not -entirely- about sex scenes.

The things I hated **spoilerish**:

- Insta-love. They are proclaiming their love for each other at the 3rd day. THIRD DAY. While I may have forgiven that, they were saying ILY every freaking chance. And not only when they were intimate.

- Darcy had never been with a guy before. Never thought about being with a man before. But he bottoms like a pro. Takes it like a pro. And they did not even use a freaking lube. Gah, while I think spit is a gross form of lubrication, at least there is a kind of lubrication. But not to use it at all on a virgin-butt guy... and that he enjoys it... yeah, right. Oh, and the tiny little issue that THEY DO NOT USE CONDOMS. They have known each other for 2 days, Caleb could be a manwhore for all we know, but he gaves the "I am clean" trash.

- Caleb is WAY too dramatic. His life I mean. Everything bad that could happen to someone happened to him. His mother has cancer, when he was younger he had been used by his first lover (who used him as a prostitute), he killed that guy, he had been in prison, he had been raped, etc. WOW, talk about a rough past. It was just too much.

- Darcy's ex-girlfriend is a crazy psycho who did crazy stuffs. Another WAY too melodramatic problem.

- Turns out, everyone is gay. Darcy, the goth guy, Bailey, Amber, Caleb's mother and his housekeeper, Caleb's best friend. Am I missing someone else?

- Which leads to the final con. Bubba, Caleb's best friend, is in love with him. He hates Darcy. He is also married to Caleb's cousin. I hated when he showed up when Darcy and Caleb were having sex and watched them. It made me sick. But worst of all, when he, afterwards, kissed Caleb and Caleb kissed him back. With tongue and all. And of course, Darcy discovered them and then ran away. They were already in an established relationship -Caleb and Darcy-. They were living together, Darcy came out with his parents, were so "in love". Then goes freaking Caleb and kissed Bubba like he meant it, and oh, all because he had known Bubba for years and had been his first love.

People, THAT IS CHEATING.

I don't care if there are past feelings or whatever. Caleb cheated on Darcy and would have continue if Darcy did not walk on them. **vomits**

I HATE any kind of disloyalty. I guess stupid Darcy will forgive him eventually, so this is a DNF for me.

2 stars - 1 for some scenes, 1 for N'awlins


Dang, what the hell happened here?

I read my share of Mercy Celeste's work, and I already know that her writing and her characters are somewhat... unusual? I like that about her. Most of her stories really work for me, even with a lot of purple and cheese and sugar.

But this one?! Boy, did I really just read that?!

But first, the good part. New Orleans is a great place and a wonderful setting for stories with a little "bite", some sultry love and dirty little (and huge) secrets. I've never been to Oregon, so I can't say the same about that place, but New Orleans - when described good - really does it for me. And it worked fine here.

I also liked to read about Darcy in the beginning. Marcy Celeste knows how to write jaded, complex characters and Darcy wasn't an exception. Life is seldomly black and white, and it reflects beautifully in his musings about his private life, his professional decisions and his regrets. I liked that.

And I was happy with some of the sexy scenes.

Unfortunately that also brings me to one of the two things that absolutely ruined this story for me. Darcy never consciously even LOOKED at another man, yet he let's Caleb fuck him BARE WITHOUT LUBE after knowing him for two days?! Really? There are so manny things wrong with that, I can't even... NO! What really killed it for me though, was the situation after their break-up. You KNOW you've been with other people, and you didn't get tested afterwards. I don't give a flying fuck how careful you think you've been, you don't go bareback after something like this! It enrages me to no end how actions like these are described here, and without even a hint of doubt, of danger, of fear afterwards. Wihtout even thinking twice about it. You say you were careful, and I have no reason to trust you other than I want to, so let's do it. What the hell?! Nail -> coffin for the story.

The other problem I had was the dialogue. I love the accent, even though I don't understand everything when it's spoken. But it sounds beautiful to me, and I like to read it, too. Nevertheless, the sentences should make some lick of sense in relation to each other. But half of the time I felt like people just threw words and phrases at each other without listening, without any kind of logic to it. I was more confused and skipped huge parts of it in the end. Especially this whole drama with the two ex-lovers. And babys, and families, and death, and moving, and murder and the mob and god knows what. Usually, I love Mercy Celestes own brand of crazy in her stories and the history of her MCs, but this time I was just annoyed. I didn't feel a thing for these guys even though their stories should have broken my heart. Not cool.

I'm very disappointed, the sex-thing pissed me off something fierce and I was generally hoping for a lot more when I picked this up. Just no.