Resolution Review - Mexican Heat
Feb. 7th, 2009 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wook77As I had problems concentrating at work yesterday, I downloaded a book that came highly recommended. Mexican Heat is a m/m erotica/romance from Samhain Publishing.
The book up until the pivotal scene was brilliant. Well-paced, fantastic amount of UST, great characters, men written as men and not as chicks with dicks. There were no weepy, emo boys in this book. The sex scenes were hot and brilliantly written. They weren't forced and the plot didn't revolve around getting them into bed again. Up until the the pivotal scene, it was, hands down, the best m/m book I've read other than Kirith Kirin, especially awesome for a piece of supposed erotica.
But then the pivotal scene and everything after. So the pivotal scene is this - Gabriel gets hit in the face with a bunch of heroin, gets shot a few times and goes into convulsions. Antonio kills everyone around Gabriel and then washes the drugs from Gabe's face. He then decides he's in love with Gabriel and just hadn't realized it until now. Antonio proceeds to sit next to Gabe's hospital bed for 21 days and emos over his fate.
But wait. There's more. This isn't the contrived plot device I'm going to rant about. See? I could buy all of this as the author had built up enough UST and care between them in an awesome show of "show not tell". I'm with her (sort of) up until now thnking that she's been awesome so far and then...
And then she hits me with Gabriel's random blinding. Gabriel is not only weakened due to a collapsed lung (ok, that's currently a trigger for me so I could buy that), not only couldn't he really care for himself due to his bullet wounds (ok, maybe I could buy this) but he's also blind. It's like a one two THREE punch to this amazingly strong character. He suddenly turns into emo, clingy boy who doesn't like that he clings but cling he does.
And that's where she lost me. Why the fuck did she need to add in the blindness? Srsly - it didn't move the plot any further on. There were thousands of other devices she could've used to get them together rather than having Antonio (the strong man of the relationship) take care of Gabriel (the "chick" of the relationship who likes his sex rough and being dominated in bed). I just seriously wanted to throw the book but, alas, it was a .pdf. Instead - she just took a previously strong-willed character and made him weak and at the mercy of the alpha character. She tried to build him back up but didn't try all that hard and she certainly didn't succeed.
There is no need for yet one more "woe and alas" moment. Know when to cut your losses. The weakened state? I buy that. The lung shit requiring more care? I buy that! Both of them would allow Antonio and Gabriel time to bond. But dude. The blinding so that now Gabriel is totally and completely at Antonio's whims? Seriously? You turn such a strong character into a weak little pussy that tries so hard to be a strong cat but fails miserably. Oh. Did I mention that Antonio's nickname for Gabriel is "gatito"? Little cat. What the fuck. Thank you for making the circle of what the fuck complete with showing how much Antonio really wears the pants in the relationship and that the submissive sexual partner has to be completely dependent on the alpha male instead of being a strong-willed character in his own right. 10 out of 10 up until the Major Pivotal Scene. 3 out of 10 after that.
The book up until the pivotal scene was brilliant. Well-paced, fantastic amount of UST, great characters, men written as men and not as chicks with dicks. There were no weepy, emo boys in this book. The sex scenes were hot and brilliantly written. They weren't forced and the plot didn't revolve around getting them into bed again. Up until the the pivotal scene, it was, hands down, the best m/m book I've read other than Kirith Kirin, especially awesome for a piece of supposed erotica.
But then the pivotal scene and everything after. So the pivotal scene is this - Gabriel gets hit in the face with a bunch of heroin, gets shot a few times and goes into convulsions. Antonio kills everyone around Gabriel and then washes the drugs from Gabe's face. He then decides he's in love with Gabriel and just hadn't realized it until now. Antonio proceeds to sit next to Gabe's hospital bed for 21 days and emos over his fate.
But wait. There's more. This isn't the contrived plot device I'm going to rant about. See? I could buy all of this as the author had built up enough UST and care between them in an awesome show of "show not tell". I'm with her (sort of) up until now thnking that she's been awesome so far and then...
And then she hits me with Gabriel's random blinding. Gabriel is not only weakened due to a collapsed lung (ok, that's currently a trigger for me so I could buy that), not only couldn't he really care for himself due to his bullet wounds (ok, maybe I could buy this) but he's also blind. It's like a one two THREE punch to this amazingly strong character. He suddenly turns into emo, clingy boy who doesn't like that he clings but cling he does.
And that's where she lost me. Why the fuck did she need to add in the blindness? Srsly - it didn't move the plot any further on. There were thousands of other devices she could've used to get them together rather than having Antonio (the strong man of the relationship) take care of Gabriel (the "chick" of the relationship who likes his sex rough and being dominated in bed). I just seriously wanted to throw the book but, alas, it was a .pdf. Instead - she just took a previously strong-willed character and made him weak and at the mercy of the alpha character. She tried to build him back up but didn't try all that hard and she certainly didn't succeed.
There is no need for yet one more "woe and alas" moment. Know when to cut your losses. The weakened state? I buy that. The lung shit requiring more care? I buy that! Both of them would allow Antonio and Gabriel time to bond. But dude. The blinding so that now Gabriel is totally and completely at Antonio's whims? Seriously? You turn such a strong character into a weak little pussy that tries so hard to be a strong cat but fails miserably. Oh. Did I mention that Antonio's nickname for Gabriel is "gatito"? Little cat. What the fuck. Thank you for making the circle of what the fuck complete with showing how much Antonio really wears the pants in the relationship and that the submissive sexual partner has to be completely dependent on the alpha male instead of being a strong-willed character in his own right. 10 out of 10 up until the Major Pivotal Scene. 3 out of 10 after that.
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Date: 2009-02-08 07:18 am (UTC)That really is the MOST frustrating thing...when a story has you sucked in and ready for a logical ending - and it craps all over you, knocks you over and steals your burrito...metaphorically, of course.
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Date: 2009-02-08 03:25 pm (UTC)I'm not a fan of Ally Blue, I have to admit. JL Langley is hit or miss for me. This author was definitely a new try for me. If she'd left him weak and needy, I would've bought it and enjoyed the book. A little less, but still would've enjoyed it. The blindness thing was just an obvious attempt to make Gabriel totally dependent on Antonio and it was just too much. (I obviously have my rantpants back on)
Yeah - this one definitely stole my burrito, ate it and then went on and on about how much I needed that burrito but it wasn't going to even think of replacing it. It also went "neener neener" at me.