Home Ground by Ann Somerville

4 STARS

Darshian Tales - Book 4

I totally enjoyed this 4th volume of Darshian Tales. 

I love how Ann's characters take their time falling in love and how each love is different - so often in series works, we see the same relationship played out over and over again with only the names changing. Not with Ann's works. 

Home Ground was a little ... I guess more quiet than the other books, but that, I believe, is because Wepizi is a calmer, more even-tempered character than any of the others that Ann has written about. 

Now, Prince Juimei is anything but even-tempered, but by the end of the book, he's well on his way to a peaceful life, albeit a very interesting one! 

And the other story, Bearing Fruit, well, I loved it. I cried. And it was so wonderful to see so much of my favorite Kei and his mate Arman and see them so happy. 

I must add that Ann's world-building skills are impressive! The world of Periter and it's lands, Darshian, Andon, Kuprij are distinct and well-defined, their cultures full and well-rounded. A wonderful read!!

Kei's Gift by Ann Somerville

5 STARS

Darshian Tales - Book 1

Damn, I enjoyed this one! :) 

It started off a little slow as we got to know the characters, Kei and Arman as well as their friends and family who will play a big part in the coming story, but that was okay because this is really the story of how two young men grow into mature men. 

I only had two little problems with the story. The first was that I wanted to know more about Arman's father and brother. And the second was that I kept reading Arman as older than he was. I believe his stated age was around 24 or 25, but he read to me like a man closer to 30. Of course that might be due to the life he lead up to the point where the story begins. 

Now some might find that Kei, the gentle healer and Arman, the honourable young general, were a bit too good to be true, but you know, this is a romance and the characters NEED to be a little bigger and better than life. Both men DO have their faults and Ms Somerville explores them in depth. And the romance takes time to develop. This is sort of momentous for me, because most of the m/m romance novels I have read seem to be fast and quick and done with in little more than 100 pages. This book is a hefty, juicy read. No novelette here, my friends. And I love that about it. 

And the sex scenes... the intimate scenes... OMG, they were lovely! Y'all know that this is a major part of the reason we read romance/erotic romance novels, and in my opinion, Ms. Somerville does a TERRIFIC job. Arman's fixation with Kei's hair, for instance; even when it wasn't supposed to be hot, it was. :) And as always, my mind tends to cast actors in the major roles, so all the while I was reading, I was seeing Chris Hemsworth (who will be starring as Thor in the new movie) as Arman and Jesse Williams (Dr. Jackson Avery from Grey's Anatomy) as Kei. 

In conclusion, I really loved this book and would recommend it highly to anyone who's looking for a juicy, m/m romance - the fantasy angle of it, while important, doesn't overpower the lovely character studies or the love story. I will definitely be reading more of Ann Somerville's work, I can tell you that!