High Country by Michael Barnette
I have a strange feeling at the end of this novel, I read a paranormal novel that is not a paranormal... No it's not the late hour that makes me going crazy, it's only that the author chooses to tell a shapeshifter erotic romance, and he stated it clearly more or less from the first moment, when Brad, after having sex with Linn, finds out that his new lover is not exactly human, but then they behave like it was nothing important, like being Linn a puca, one third horses, one third wold and one third elf, it's like having a strange hair color. This is probably the most interesting and original side of the book, in a way being a fae creature is not something that makes you "different", Linn is your everyday cowboy, and he and Brad behave like any normal man out there.
Brad is a sci-fiction author in searching of a nice and quite place to write. Just out from an abusive relationship, he wants only to rest and relax. But when he arrives to Linn's ranch, he changes his idea: Linn is a wonderful stud, and Brad wants a piece of that. There is very few trouble, or remorse on having only a month together, Brad and Linn are having sex from night one. But soon after their first encounter, Linn can't hide his true nature, and Brad understands that the man who just left his bed is not a man... any other man would have packed and gone in a blur of a second, Brad instead simply asks if Linn has any idea to kill him, and to his negative answer, he invites the man back in bed.
From that moment on, Brad and Linn are having sex steadily every night and for more than one time at night. No matter that outside there is a strange creature that is after Brad, no matter that that same creature sometime lurks in the shadow just outside Brad's cabin, and that makes his presence known with strange rumors, when Linn is in bed with Brad, nothing can distract them. Actually Brad leaves the cabin only the first day, to go shopping for some food, other than that, he spends all the novel inside the cabin, writing, cooking and waiting for Linn to come back home and having sex.
See? that's the most normal paranormal romance I have ever read. It's like the author was thinking that, any paranormal event he could write, the reader already knew, and so why not instead be all happy with some nice and good and often and detailed sex scenes? Yes, yes, there is an evil monster out there, yes, yes, Linn is not exactly Mr Ordinary Man, but does it matter? No.
Another thing I noticed is the approach to the relationship and sex; it's erotic without being sugary. That is quite a difficult task to achieve; it's a dry and good approach, and I use "dry" not with a negative connation: Linn and Brad like to have sex, and this is clear to the reader; they are open and free with their sexuality, and I like their down to earth attitude towards sex. At first Brad and Linn lust after each other and nothing else. There is no romantic idea, Brad is thinking to have fun for one month and so is Linn. The sex is good, and as I said before, even when Brad finds out the true, it's not so important, in a month Brad will be far from this place, and while he is there he can have fun. Even when the relationship between them evolves in something more, still they face it with a careless and happy-to-go perspective: why bother too much with such uneventful things like having a relationship with an otherworldly being?
For sure High Country is not your typical paranormal romance, even in the writing style, with both men pondering aloud in their mind about things. But among among the abundance of paranormal romance out there, I felt like this one was different, in a good way.
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Amazon: High Country
Setting the rules for the Rainbow Awards, first phase will start soon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/799266.html
Cover Art by April Martinez