Cowboy Junkie, who also hangs out at The Phade forums (http://z3.invisionfree.com/The_Phade/index.php?s=e7497dd982e0d735b3f5983a44737697&act=idx), a M/M dessert place oozing with juicy recs, discussion, and author threads, posted a very thorough and complimentary review of Rough Cut here:

http://cboy-junkie.livejournal.com/6807.html

It always surprises and pleases me when folks do a granular reading of my stories. Readers who take the time to notice the details, the ones who appreciate the little turns of phrase that I worked so hard to get *just right*, the readers who come to care about the characters.

It’s a challenge when writing romance and erotica. As a writer, you could just assume that people are skipping around, rushing through to get to the “good parts”, but there are some readers who read for nuance, for romance, and for that emotional connection between characters and *with* the characters that’s incredibly gratifying.

It makes all the hard work and worry and revising and tweaking worth it.

Really, really worth it.

I can’t really tell if he liked it or not, but I kinda think so:

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=books&sc2=reviews&sc3=fiction&id=77620

I dunno; whaddya think? When a writer sees adjectives like tepid and stale in a review, isn’t that a bad thing? And yet, the romance-ness of the stories is a selling point for this reviewer. Heh.

It’s really my first “cold” review, meaning I really don’t know this guy at all, nor does he know me. But it gives readers a feel for the book, and an accurate one: Rough Cut is pretty romantic even if few of the stories really have a happily ever after. And many of the stories are linked so that seems to work for people.

It’s always interesting to hear/read readers’ interpretations of things. Keeps the writing life interesting.