A very wise man once said that courage is not the absence of fear, but overcoming that fear. And Hal Porter is about to learn about courage and fighting his fears.

As with all of Heidi's books, this one contains a message too. A lesson, if you will, one that Hal has to learn for himself, but one that applies to all of us just the same.

Hal is in the closet, you see. He's afraid of people's reactions if he were to tell them that he's gay. He's afraid to come out to his mother, to his boss. He lives his life alone, away from his family, working in construction in L.A.

When he's thrown headlong into a magical world, tasked with saving the Oasis, his fears lead him down the wrong path for a while, but eventually Hal realizes that the only way to get the life and love he wants is to forge ahead, overcome his fear and do what his heart tells him to do.

It was fascinating to see an earlier work of this author whom I admire so much, and see how her particular brand of magic shines even in her early novels.

The story flows easily and naturally, the writing is descriptive and perfectly suited to this type of story. It's a romance, of course, but it's much more than just that.

It's a book about the fight for the right to be who you are, a fight to be free, a fight to love whom you love. And within its pages, there is courage - oh, so much courage.

I enjoyed the mythological world Heidi created, and I adored both Hal and Morgan. And I thought the ending was absolutely perfect.

Give this a try, would you?

** I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. A positive review was not promised in return. ** 

So, I'm not much into shifter stories, but this one was quite good. Excellent spelling and grammar for the most part as well. 

Lots of sexing but then these two are a) teenage boys, and b) Colton is a wolf who's found his mate, and c) eventually, so is Parker. Naturally, they have lots of sex. In most cases this would get tedious after a while, and repetitive, and this book is no different, so towards the end, I skimmed those scenes, but the author did a great job keeping me interested in the plot. 

I also liked the lycan mythology, the pack dynamics, and the relationship dynamics between a hot alpha and his mate. Within the confines of the plot and mythology, I thought that Colton's behavior made sense. 

Some of the supporting cast were flat and one-dimensional, but served their purpose. Again, considering this is online fiction, and free, I'm not gonna complain about lack of editing. 

The mystery wolf subplot was not quite as fleshed out as I would have liked, considering the reason behind the rogue, and it was dealt with too quickly for my taste, and slightly predictable, even though the identity of the rogue surprised me. 

This is a free story on Literotica. Must now check out more by this author. 

I've decided to add this to GR. Been circling around this one for ages, unsure if I should show it to my fellow dark fiction readers.

So today, after chatting with Beth, I had this sudden urge to recommend her this piece of short fiction on captivity since she seems to love stuff of this nature.

Therefore I dig around my safe and was ever so glad I could still manage to locate it. Went online to edit a Book Cover for it and slap it on GR to show my love for this story.

Do you like the cover?

Just a simple one is better than none right? :D

You can click on the cover to jump to the story page or click this link here.

About the Story:

Since I've read this eons ago, I can't be writing up a proper review of it now unless I reread it again of which I might, since I have been missing it a little and it's short - very short.

What I can still remember is that this story is dark, disturbing and depraved. It might not be a masterpiece or professionally written but the concept and the story is gripping to me. At least, I could still remember it after years. And it still managed to disturb me whenever I think of it.

This story really isn't for everyone tho. It's sort of those 'acquired taste' thing.

There will be those who wouldn't feel for it. And yet some would feel strongly about it.

As it is super short, those who seeks for the value of character development and world building would definitely find none here. It's just a fanciful story, a fantasy for those who enjoy moments of wrongfulness and finding small thrills out of the horror created by such dark premise. Many of us are fascinated with how an insane or evil being mind works and the incomprehensible things they are capable of such as the permanent torture imposed on the protagonist of this story.

Since the story is just a narration of the protagonist (victim), we wouldn't be getting the POV of the antagonist (kidnapper). It's mainly the victim's re-accounting his predicament and longings due to his forced solitary.

Hence, if you are a forced captivity and dark fiction aficionados this might appeal to you.

Story Tags: M/m, voyeurism, D/s, B/D, slavery, bondage, chastity belt, realistic, noncon, Extreme, Heavy, Serious

Exit Strategy (Exit #1) - London Lampy

Straight 5 stars! Awesome world-building, amazing characterization and a mighty good plot.

I have just finished it and am still reeling from the emotional turbulence. Felt like I have been emotionally keel-hauled for good. The author is real good at prodding you at all the right places producing the all the right responses he/she wanted. At one time, I actually felt like I have a dick! Cos that blowjob was just out-of-this-world for me. Yes, the sex and 3some was good.

It's kinda weird that I could feel so much for a fictional fantasy world character. I can't believed I truly felt every single emotion he felt and even experienced intense heart aches when he got his heart broken or whenever he faces dangers. He bleeds, I bleed.

And damn Exit for his bleeding heart! He could be real frustrating at times cos I cared too much about him and he knows it! Or at least the author knows it. You evil being. Lol.

At first, when I started reading this book, I was thinking this is just going to be those same ol' formulaic fluffy fantasy romance story. Not expecting that the twisty roads ahead could turn this story into an amazing sexy adventurous pirate romance story that I never wanted to end.

It's a journey of self-discovery, self-acceptance, love-hate, brotherhood, family politics, romance, test of loyalty on the sea.

To sum it up, this book made wished I am a gay boy with an erogenous tail too. Hell, I got turned on each time at the mere mention of Exit's tail. O.o

This story is going to stay with me forever in my heart.

And this book should be published. It 110% deserved to be.