I'm lucky enough that I can call Danny Wylde AKA Chris Zeischegg a friend. And not just a social media Facebook friend, although we are that too, but I mean a real life I actually know him and have hung out and talked writing and shit over coffee friend. And since I love to promote my friend's work and other writers work, especially when it is damn good, it is no surprise that I am reviewing Chris' first novel, Come To My Brother.
Now for those of you who read Chris' blog, which can be found here: http://trvewestcoastfiction.blogspot.com/?zx=232261a010af786d you know he's a helluva writer. He's a much better blog writer than I could ever hope to be and I enjoy reading his posts, so of course when I found out that he had published a book I immediately was the first in line to get an autographed copy when he was promoting it a few year's ago at the West Hollywood Book Fair.
And I was not disappointed. Being a huge vampire fan it was nice to read a vampire romance novel that is actually pretty fucking dark and shows what vampires really are. The book reminds me of something Jacqueline Susann would have written, if she wrote about gay vampires, and Chris' vampires would make the queen of the genre, Anne Rice, stand up and applaud him.
Come To My Brother is told in first person by David, a young film student at UC Santa Cruz who also works in porn for a BDSM site in San Francisco. Told in both present time and in flashbacks to David's childhood we learn that he did not have the easiest childhood. Coming from a broken home, his mom marries his best friend's dad while his dad marries his best friend's mom and the two new step-parents make the short and easy trek across the street to the others' new home making David and his best friend Daniel almost brothers; which gets further complicated when they become lovers.
Unfortunately David's young world comes crashing down when Daniel disappears without a trace, never to be seen again. Everyone, including David thinks he's dead and they're kind of right because Daniel reemerges a few years later as a vampire.
I won't give away anymore because this is a must read for not only vampire fans but also fans of great fiction.
The thing I really loved about the book is that the characters aren't perfect, they are real. They are both likable and unlikeable. We root for both David and Daniel and yet some of their actions make us want to see them not achieve their goals; just like real people and I really enjoyed the fact that there is no happily ever after ending like we usually get with romance stories; actually the way the novel ends, you want more and long for a series, hint hint, although so far we've only gotten a Come To My Brother short story, which I haven't read yet but it's on the list.
Another thing I have to point out is the love scenes. Now, I know Chris did straight porn and I know he's currently in a relationship with a woman, I don't know if he's ever been in a relationship with a guy or messed around with a guy or ever identified as bi or queer, but the sex scenes between Daniel and David, though brief and not vulgar in the slightest, are hot and filled with passion that will have you reach for a cold drink! Especially one particularly hot sex scene where, while in vampire form, David fucks Daniel literally to death and uses Daniel's blood as lube. That scene left me raging hard and confused as to why I was so turned on by the description of someone using blood as lube.
To purchase the book, which I highly suggest go here: http://www.amazon.com/Come-My-Brother-Danny-Wylde/dp/0985639539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432064753&sr=8-1&keywords=come+to+my+brother trust me you guys, you won't be disappointed and, luckily for me, Chris has a new novel coming out next month which I can not wait for! You can pre-order that, as well as his short story Fang Slut, here: http://www.amazon.com/Danny-Wylde/e/B00J2XCCG6/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1432064799&sr=1-1
In conclusion, check out the book. I've read it twice and both times have been exciting. It's a novel you can't put down until the end and once you're done, you will turn right back to page one and start again! 10/10 and A+
XOXO
-JOE-
No comments:
Post a Comment