Tami Veldura

This is a short story composed of brief glimpses of the encounters between a professor, Conroy, and an ex-student, Matthew, and how they finally end up having sex.

I liked this even though it was very short and I hope the author will continue with this in the future.

I got the impression that the professor was a Dom and Conroy was conflicted about starting anything with Matthew because he believed he'd end up squashing the boy's free spirit, but Conroy was attracted to Matthew.

My question is why Matthew felt vulnerable that particular day? I'm guessing but maybe his mother decided not to take him with her when she moved and he was now alone and felt like no one wanted him. So when the professor took him home and after sex Matthew repeated "Thank you" over and over, maybe it meant that someone did notice him and wanted to be with him even if for a little while. At least that's how I put this story together with what little is given in for us to read. But I'd really like the author to complete it so I don't have to guess, lol!

I did enjoy this even though it's very short. The short snippets of their encounters didn't bother me since it's just a different style and I've use the same technique in some of my own writings.… (meer)

I was given Stealing Serenity from the author through the M/M Romance Group’s Don’t Buy My Love for an honest review. This story is told in third person through the eyes of Daniel a professional thief and Kearin, Daniel’s boss at the current company Daniel works at so he can locate his next heist. We only see Kearin’s pov during the very last chapter, the rest of the time it’s all from Daniel’s pov.


I think I’ll make this review into a Pro vs Con review since I have conflicting views about the book.

Pros :
1. I liked the way the author conveyed Daniel’s character. How his thoughts were sharp, precise and analytical. The sentences from Daniel’s pov were all that way, even when he started to fall under the spell of Kearin.

2. The book was a fast and somewhat easy read. I qualify the somewhat only because of the way that Daniel thought which made the writing harder, rather than flowing.

3. The editing was good. I don’t remember finding anything that bothered me enough to remember.

4. I liked how the author conveyed Daniel’s feelings as he was being bound by rope.


Cons :

1. As soon as I started to read this book and I saw the name ‘Kearin,’ it strongly reminded me of the name ‘Kenon’ from the book “Artist’s Touch,” by Kerry Adrienne. In Kenon’s case he ran an artist’s guild instead of a non-profit. But both dealt with art in some form with an obnoxious patron who threatens the second MC’s reputation and business. Both stories also contain a model who models in front of others and privately for the other MC.

2. We get a pretty good idea of Daniel’s personality, but really don’t know anything about Kearin except he’s a guy in control, he appears to be a Dom, a photographer and that he knows rope and bondage. We know facts but nothing about his personality. I didn’t like that.

3. Daniel’s a thief. It seems he goes around stealing objects of high value. The blurb says Daniel steals for the money, but that’s not emphasized in the story so I’m not sure if he does it for the challenge or for the money.

4. The photo ‘Serenity’ that Daniel is going to steal. We’re told over and over how obsessed Daniel is at finding it. All I can say is ‘so what?’ It never felt like a big part of the story. Why was it so important? Why was it so special other than it sold at auction for a high price? Tell me about its beauty. What specifically was it about that photo that made it outstanding and different from other photos?

5. The words, “The photo is everything” appears significant. I can’t figure out why, unless at the end Daniel uses it to tell Kearin that he made a choice between the photo and Kearin and he chose Kearin.

6. I really don’t get the big deal about Kearin’s non-profit. It seems that it’s supposed to do something about making the community better, but one project planted sunflowers next to a school and then took pictures. What was so special about that? Mostly the company seems to center around taking photographs. So what’s the real purpose of his company? It doesn’t really do anything although it’s presented to the readers that it does. This is one other part of the story where I’m unsatisfied with the incompleteness of info we are given about different aspects of the plot. Parts are shown and then ignored after we see them, never fully realized. It’s annoying.

7. Maybe someone else has figured this out? But why did Kearin, at the end make a call to find out if the money for the photo was ok?

8. Two last major things. How can Kearin trust Daniel now that he knows that Daniel is a thief and played him all along? Is it because Kearin himself is a player? And when Daniel gives him the photograph, what the heck is Kearin supposed to do with it??? Keep it for him which makes him an accomplice to stealing the photo? This is another unfinished plot hole.

Stealing Serenity was a quick, but frustrating read for me. I don’t like stories that tell me a tidbit of something then gloss over it later because the author is focusing on what they really want to tell. It’s like the author had the idea about the characters first then added the parts around it, because the author needed something. It’s like the story was meant to be a book on BDSM, rope bondage submission, but the author didn’t want to present it as such so added other stuff to disguise the D/s.

I liked the style of writing and the precision of the writing for Daniel’s pov, but I found the incompleteness of the background information was like some hazy mist that never materialized a solid platform to stand on. I didn't like that there seems to be too many questions about holes that aren’t filled. Not enough info about characters especially Kearin, about the photo, about why the idea of stealing a photo is the plot when it really wasn’t so much about the photo at all. If there's only one plot hole open that I can't figure out, I can ask the author in those little sections GR now has up for reviewers to use. But when there are loads of holes that don't make sense and I'm left unfulfilled, (sheesh this sounds like bad sex), then I'm annoyed and frustrated. I want to give this 2.5 Stars, but up it to 3 Stars.
… (meer)

I liked the concepts at work, the sentient ships and psychic connections and battles. There are certain things you can only describe in a book, never a film. Who doesn't like a space opera? I also enjoyed the presence of a multi racial and nonbinary gender cast of characters. I felt like the book lacked enough details to really immerse the reader in the world. I had trouble visualizing what everything looked like. That said, this was an interesting effort. It felt a bit like a sketch that could be expanded upon to really flesh out the large cast of characters and deepen the emotional impact.… (meer)