Penny BrandonRezensionen

I submitted a prompt for the M/M Romance Love is Always Write and it was picked up by Penny Brandon. The prompt was a picture prompt of a man using a jackhammer. Here was my prompt:

Mike slowed his pace as he walked by “Jackman” as he liked to call him. The man’s shirt clung to his skin with sweat in the summer heat, highlighting his well-developed muscles. Mike debates buying Jackman a cool soda and chatting him up, but he wasn’t exactly the forward type. The jackhammer stopped and Mike’s heart pounded as Jackman caught him staring. Mike’s breath caught and Jackman gave him a smirk.




Steve is so sweet and I love his confidence and gentleness. He's the perfect man to reach past Mike's reserve and shatter his erroneous perceptions.

I love that the relationship was not one of those 'instant love' relationships. This was like how a real relationship would start, full of miscommunication and assumptions that need to be smoothed out as the couple get to know each other.

All the surprises that popped up one after the other about Steve kept Mike on his toes and that was one of my favorite parts of the story. I had no idea what Penny would reveal next. The quilting was a big surprise and had me laughing because I've quilted also.

The last surprise was the one where Penny worked in 'Jackman' into their sex life. I loved that they could be so playful together and it was my favorite part of the story.

This was absolutely charming and Penny hit so many of the things I love about M/M romance, I'm so happy with the way she wrote it. Thanks so much Penny! :D

Very cute, light-hearted story. I enjoyed it much.



I enjoyed the two mc's Cody and Jayden and pretty much figured out that Jayden was the brother of Cody's future brother in law right off the bat. The awkward breakfast the morning after was hilarious :D

Jayden was a sweetheart that Cody underestimated. For some reason as soon as I started reading the story, I got this impression that Cody was a bit effeminate, but that feeling grew less as the story progressed.

Loved the HEA. Good job :)

Jade Archer – Cupid's Beau ★★★★✩
J.P. Barnaby – It's the End of the World As We Know It ★★★✩✩
Sarah Black – Sucker-Punch ★★★★✩
Scarlet Blackwell – Breaking Waves ★★★✩✩
Penny Brandon – Wanting Jack ★★★✩✩
Lee Brazil – Be a Bad Boy ★★★★✩
Cardeno C. – Woman With a Dildo ★★★★✩
L.C. Chase – Open Tackle ★★★★✩
Kim Dare – Masochism 101 ★★★✩✩
S.J. Frost – A Little Bit Country ★★★✩✩
Jeanette Grey – Heart and Soul ★★✩✩✩
Jambrea Jo Jones – Wild Blue Yonder ★★✩✩✩
Pender Mackie - Dog Days of Summer ★★★★✩
KM Mahoney - Show & Tell ★★★★✩
JL Merrow – Bear Naked ★★★★✩
M.J. O'Shea – Bridges ★★★★✩
Neil S. Plakcy – Photo Booth ★★★✩✩
D.A. Rhodes – Storm of Passion: A Short Story ★✩✩✩✩
Jaime Samms – Mourning ★★★★✩
Justin South – Reflections ★★★✩✩
Zach Sweets – Luscious Love ★★★✩✩
Piper Vaughn – Wanting ★★★✩✩
Silvia Violet – Time to Tell ★★✩✩✩
Deanna Wadsworth – Unscheduled Maintenance ★★★★✩
Stuart Wakefield – The Elements of Love ★★★✩✩
Alex Whitehall – Hold Me Tight ★★★★✩
Lisa Worrall – Just One Kiss ★★★✩✩
Connor Wright – Gone to Pieces ★★★✩✩

As one of the group who worked on editing and proofing these stories and helped put the anthologies together I might be considered biased, but these anthologies are definitely worthy of the 5 star rating.

Suspend reality and just sit back and go with the flow. It you're able to do that then this is a lovely story.

Numerous sex scenes interspersed with a tiny bit of plot.

A sweet short story that proves "Never judge a book by it's cover." and "First impressions are important, but everyone deserves a second chance."

Rated based on parts 1 & 2.

Once again I'm amazed by the creativity of the authors involved in the Don't Read in the Closet events.

This is based on my prompt. To be honest, I had a completely different scenario playing out in my mind while I wrote it. But that is what is so awesome about this event. With a few deft twists and turns, Ms. Brandon led me in an entirely original and unique direction and I LOVE that!

3.5 stars The ending was a little too quick and easy, and Luke's past that he was so afraid to tell Adam about was really not that major of an ordeal. I don't really understand why he thought he was a murderer?!

3.5 stars The ending was a little too quick and easy, and Luke's past that he was so afraid to tell Adam about was really not that major of an ordeal. I don't really understand why he thought he was a murderer?!

There storyline was okay, but predictable. 2.5 stars.

This isn't what I expected at all from the cover and description. It's a sweet story, although most of it unbelievable for me. Both characters are much more complex then I thought they would be, and I really liked Mike's thoughts and reactions. I like that not everything about Jackman was perfect, and that he was a bit off sometimes. but it started way too fast, I like a bit of story and tension before the MCs get together, and it ended way too abruptly. I felt like a big section was chopped off before the epilogue, an important section.

This isn't what I expected at all from the cover and description. It's a sweet story, although most of it unbelievable for me. Both characters are much more complex then I thought they would be, and I really liked Mike's thoughts and reactions. I like that not everything about Jackman was perfect, and that he was a bit off sometimes. but it started way too fast, I like a bit of story and tension before the MCs get together, and it ended way too abruptly. I felt like a big section was chopped off before the epilogue, an important section.

This isn't what I expected at all from the cover and description. It's a sweet story, although most of it unbelievable for me. Both characters are much more complex then I thought they would be, and I really liked Mike's thoughts and reactions. I like that not everything about Jackman was perfect, and that he was a bit off sometimes. but it started way too fast, I like a bit of story and tension before the MCs get together, and it ended way too abruptly. I felt like a big section was chopped off before the epilogue, an important section.

See some of the earlier reviews for feedback as they've said it far better than I could have.

An easy read that doesn't quite delve deep enough into the characters or their motivations. Scott was likable but we didn't get to know much about him. David was the biggest lightning rod for trouble and I can't blame him for being worried about hurting those around him. I did think he was a little bit spineless in regards to his family. His reasons for allowing them to affect him like they did seemed a bit weak.

Nice read, funny and sweet with plenty of hot sex.

This collection has a little bit of everything in. All though there did seem to be a high proportion of first love, newly out, friends to lover plot lines. I think the only thing I will different when reading through the rest of these volumes is to break it up with other books. This is a great volume with tons of stories and at least in Nook pages over 600 of them. I think breaking it up would take away some of that oh here's the same kind of story feel. The concept was wonderful and how wonderful to be able to enjoy these great stories for free.

Recently, Penny Brandon, a friend and fellow author had this book panned on Goodreads with a few 2 star reviews. As her first published book, “Blind Passion”, rated much better and her Goodreads free summer short story was well received, I wondered why.

After reading the book and checking the comments made, I found I agreed with the majority of them. The criticisms mainly referred to impossible coincidences, misunderstandings, plot holes and an unrealistic recovery time after a car accident.

What really struck me, was that these plotting problems could have been avoided quite easily or at least addressed. For example, the unlikely circumstance in which Kyle hitches a lift with the person who lives in his old home.

Here’s how this could have been avoided:
The place they meet is described as being “near Jared’s home” (in this case birthplace) where he’d grown up prior to moving north to Kyogle.

As it is written, we never learn what Kyle is doing other than drifting, but let’s say he needed to go back to Kyogle to supervise the sale of the property he’d inherited from his grandfather. Then, all the story would need is the fact that because Jared was formerly a local, people may be aware of his movements. eg the service station owner/attendant (Aussie equivalent of a truck stop proprietor) might know he was due to pass through there on his way back to Kyogle where he now lived. In a small town, everyone knows everyone else’s movements. He could have even been visiting relatives in the area or it could be a regular port of call on his way through where he stops to catch up with old friends.

If Kyle had asked whether they knew of any trucks passing through that might be headed for Kyogle, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the attendant suggests he should hang around for a few hours until Jared came through.

The encounter in the showers that the book opens with could then occur as written.

Kyle wouldn’t know at that stage that Jared was the guy he was waiting for.

Then later in the truck he could discover that Jared actually lived in his old house.

This latter fact has been said to be too much of a coincidence, but in small country towns, houses don’t change hands that frequently, therefore it’s quite possible that someone new to the area might buy the only place to have come on the market in the past few years. Then, if Penny had used this fact and mentioned this coincidence, it would be enough incentive/motivation for Kyle to walk out on Jared if his memories were that bad.

Similarly, as part of the plot revolved around Jared trying to buy the neighbouring land, that could have been why Kyle wanted to go back in the first place. Country properties are often split off for children, so again the fact that the two properties are side by side is quite plausible.

The next major sticking point was the injuries Kyle received by being run over by a car. But did he in fact need to be actually run over for the plot to work? In my mind, he didn’t. He could have been in the path of the oncoming vehicle which didn’t stop in time, and jumped to avoid being hit. The car then clipped him and he fell heavily. His laptop could have been run over and his injuries were mainly concussion when his head hit the bitumen.

This would have been enough to warrant constant attendance during the night and cautionary care over the next few days but made the sex quite possible.

I won’t go into other flaws or problems. Those above were enough to seriously upset a few readers, and understandably so.

When I discussed these with Penny, she told me that the book (written before Blind Passion) was substantially rewritten as it had been originally rejected by LooseID. All, or most of the above problems happened during the rewrites.

Since our long conversation over lunch yesterday when we discussed the book, Penny has provided me with a copy of the original which I've been able to check against the final version using Word's "compare" feature. This has allowed me to see where the changes have been made and confirm what I thought. For starters, there was a whole section removed from the early chapters where they discuss where Jared is headed and we discover the conflict. One of the other complaints was that the two characters didn't talk enough, it was all just sex at the start. Removing this long conversation and serious communication between the two added to this perception.

The reason, I’ve gone to this length in commenting is because it brings into focus a few points that I think are worth mentioning:

1. The editors should have seen these issues before publication, especially as many are easily fixed.
2. Writers need to have the confidence to argue for or against changes and ensure their characters stay true to type. Penny admitted the rewrites were entirely done at her own volition, but she was influenced by what she perceived to be wanted by LooseID
3. It is difficult in major rewrites for authors to keep track of what was revealed in the original version but gets “lost in translation” because the original version is still in their head. In Penny’s case, for example, the scene where Kyle looks at Jared’s driver’s licence was shown at the time in the first draft. In the final version, it’s not discovered until after it happens as we’ve been in Jared’s POV for so long. Thus Kyle’s knowledge of the coincidence becomes a WTF moment instead of being a logical progression.
4. Beta readers and critique partners are a writer’s best friend. Fresh eyes seeing only the final version should have been able to pick these problems before submission.

Penny admits that the plot problems detract from the book’s quality which doesn’t really reflect her standard of writing. There is a lot of good stuff there. She "shows" her scenes really well.

Given her time again, she told me that she’d love to fix the problems.

It would be a shame if this affected sales of her future books. From what I hear, she has two more nearly at publication stage, and is determined not to repeat the same mistakes.

The only positive to result from the experience is that she has learnt a few valuable lessons, not least of which is to be wary of major plot changes. She feels her original story (which was rejected) was actually superior in many ways. In attempting to “fix it” so it would be accepted, she actually “lost the plot” and to a certain extent her characters.

I know how many changes I had to make when one of my beta readers for “Caught” pointed out that the motivation for Taylor being at the cliff top weakened the plot. I made a minor tweak, but still every piece of dialogue and inner thought had to be checked and a large number of alterations were needed to reflect one simple change. So, when wholesale plot changes are made, it is difficult to do smoothly.

To look at the problem from another angle, it is also not easy for inexperienced authors to maintain the courage of their convictions to argue about suggested changes. Been there, done that. However, by discovering the words to argue the case when editors/beta readers/critiquers perceive problems, the author can actually discover ways to fix said problems. Usually the reason for doing things or writing characters the way they have is dragged out in the process of explaining the original concept, thus helping the rewrite.

None of this is an excuse for the quality of the book. After chatting to Penny at length on the subject, I have decided not to rate it.

My main reason for writing this review, is to explain to readers what can happen with major rewrites and to encourage new authors to use beta readers and critiquers to give feedback to prevent the sorts of problems that occurred.

I know from experience that a good beta reader is worth their weight in gold. Make sure though that this is a different beta reader from the one who first discovered the flaw/s as I have discovered that it is nigh on impossible to rid yourself of the memory of the original and see the altered story with fresh eyes.

See some of the earlier reviews for feedback as they've said it far better than I could have.

An easy read that doesn't quite delve deep enough into the characters or their motivations. Scott was likable but we didn't get to know much about him. David was the biggest lightning rod for trouble and I can't blame him for being worried about hurting those around him. I did think he was a little bit spineless in regards to his family. His reasons for allowing them to affect him like they did seemed a bit weak.

Nice read, funny and sweet with plenty of hot sex.