My review of “Bluff” by Gianni X

“Bluff” by Gianni X

There are a few minor spoilers here, but I don’t believe there is anything that will take away from your reading pleasure.

This is my first review of a work by Gianni Holmes and it’s long overdue, as I’ve been reading her stories for a few years now. Here, writing and publishing as Gianni X, her spicier nom de plume, I have to hand it to her. This one was a winner right out of the gate. I’m not usually attracted to conniving bitch-wife stories, but when I saw who the author was, I took a chance and downloaded it as a BookFunnel freebie when I saw she posted it in the Free MM Ebooks group at Facebook. I wasn’t disappointed.

Written in the first person narrative of the husband, “Bluff” opens with the briefest interaction between him and his wife, Liz. It wasn’t until just now, as I had to search for it, that I realized we don’t learn his name until midway through the story. It’s mentioned only twice. That’s how good of a writer Gianni is.

We discover at the onset that Liz has pressured her husband into allowing her to screw around on the premise that they need to spice things up in the bedroom. Once he has picked out a partner for her, she will reciprocate. He reluctantly agrees after she informs him that whether he participates or not, she is going forward with her plan. Liz has already had her encounter with, as it turns out, the husband’s best friend, Wes, and tonight it’s the husband’s turn. With the parting words of “Enjoy, love,” Liz is out the door, leaving the husband to wonder, and fantasize over who, from among her friends, she has selected for him.

When Liz’s brother, Griffin, shows up at the house, it all becomes clear. Liz, the bitch, has screwed her husband over once again. I could easily envision Griffin drooling over the prospect of an encounter with his brother-in-law, as we learn he’s had the hots for the guy for like forever. When Griffin witnesses his brother-in-law’s sharp, negative, knee-jerk objection, once he realizes what Liz has done, he is crestfallen.

What begins as an attempt to ease some of Griffin’s disappointment, and teach his wife a lesson at the same time quickly snowballs into the brother-in-law finding himself aroused by the possibility of his first man-on-man encounter, and let me tell you, snowball it does! It’s kind of cute (and titillating) how he vacillates back and forth between fear, shock, and arousal as Griffin’s ministrations start him on a fantastical journey of erotic ecstasy once he discovers the heights of pleasure a man can experience at the hands, tongue, and other body parts of another man.

Before we know it, he’s experienced Griffin’s head between his legs, blowing his mind and something else, to discovering the pleasures Griffin’s tongue creates as he moves from one erogenous zone to another, to him learning how to reciprocate as Griffin guides him through his first manly encounter while he moves from one end of Griffin’s body to the other. One might believe that sliding into the tightest, most stimulating hole he’s ever been in would be the crescendo of orgasmic pleasure, but let me tell you, Gianni, as a master of erotic description, has more in store for you. So as to not to take anything away from her method, I’ll let you find out for yourself just how HARD you’ll become at her physical descriptions of their bodies and lovemaking, let alone the mind-blowing, emotional rollercoaster they ride, repeatedly.

I love the way Gianni ends the story. Again, I’m not going to steal her thunder, but I will say it was wonderful to read how Liz was handled. Sometimes, the satisfaction one craves in screwing over others can be forestalled by the unintended benefit others might experience from the encounter.

A little housekeeping; I recognized only two typos. The first, “chest collides” instead of “chests collide” near the end of the story. Piggy backed to the repetition of “collided,” three words later in the same sentence, was a bit awkward. The second, “otherwi-se honest about,” where the line break is not between syllables, also near the end of the story tripped me up a bit. This could easily have been written as “honest about otherwise,” thus avoiding the necessity to hyphenate the word. I can easily forgive these, minor glitches.

I’ve intentionally left out quite a bit about “Bluff” so that you can experience for yourself just how good of a writer Gianni Homes really is. There’s nothing that displeases me more than to encounter major spoilers in a review, thus sabotaging the joy of discovering them for myself.

You can find it available as a FREE download here.

Lightning’s Hidden Menace has received its first review!

I’m so excited to share this review of my newest novel, Lightning’s Hidden Menace, with you. The novel was first available on Amazon, Evernight Publishing, and BookStrand, and now it’s available through Smashwords and Barns and Noble!

Lightning’s Hidden Menace

This reader seemed to capture the essence of what I hoped to achieve for Aaron and Jason’s relationship. Thank you Leo F!

The review:

“I melted the moment Jason found himself back in Aaron’s arms. The author really has a knack for making you feel the warmth, emotion, and lust between the lead lovers. I was surprised, then, when the novel took a darker turn. But then I was hooked, because while the first book painted such a loving, passionate, happy picture of jarhead meets jock, this book took me to a much deeper place as suspenseful as it is erotic.

The sex scenes don’t disappoint. In fact, they are even edgier than before, caught between the ecstasy of unbridled bliss and a gut-wrenching struggle to survive. The medical details and intense description of what is happening put a razor’s edge on a plot that strikes like lightning when you least expect it. It’s titillation mixed with trauma and true love’s kiss at the bottom of the foxhole. There’s even a twisted scene that caught me off guard – it’s unforgettable and left me hard as a rock.

All I can say is get ready for the ride of your life. From an author that really knows how to play your heartstrings and make you believe in love again, I was taken to places I totally didn’t expect not only through shocking plot twists, but also when romance is found in the tender moments you wouldn’t expect. Get this book! And if you didn’t read the first one (From Lightning to Love), I’d definitely recommend reading it first – it will only heighten the shock and awe when you get to this one.”

Leo F.