Title: Del Fantasma: Undertow
Author: J.M. Snyder
Published in November 2007 by Aspen Mountain Press
Genre: Paranormal contemporary
ISBN: 978-1-60168-073-0
There was only one thing Derek knew for certain. His life stunk. It was wonderful living as a human, as long as he had love, but that was lost four long months ago. That was the turning point, when a boating accident claimed the life of the only being he ever loved. Tad Archer, artist, lover, friend, and so much more had been swept overboard. Now, he was gone leaving Derek an empty shell, no longer really interested in life, trying but unable to move on. He was not expecting the pain he felt whenever he thought of Tad. Love had changed him, and deep inside, the man in pain had learned what the young gup out for a good time could not. It was not the sex, even though it was always good. It was the person, the gentleness, the respect, and the caring he shared with Tad that made what they had so very special. Tad had a sensitive nature, he had talent as an artist, and Derek knew without question Tad returned his love. He had never known love until Tad, and so on a night when he really didn’t feel like going anywhere, he had responded to a cryptic call, a voice claiming to have found what he lost.
The Del Fantasma, an ocean-side bar, was the last place Derek wanted to be, bars were not what his kind needed, they were susceptible to the pull of easy liquor, the addiction to alcohol. This, however, is where he was to meet the person who was insistent they meet, the person who claimed to have what he lost. The mysterious calls meant nothing to Derek, the only thing he lost was Tad, but there he was, heading to the beach and the bar, and the confrontation with someone who claims to have found something Derek lost. Something, most likely hope, drives him on, and even though reluctant, he can’t understand why such a force pulls him. He arrives at the bar only to be met with a strange drink called an Undertow, and a vague sense of something not being right. The bartender told him the drink was bought for him by a friend, and as he heads in the direction the bartender directs, Derek is shocked to find his childhood friend, Kellen. The last person he would think to see here on dry ground of all places, the last person he wanted to see.
Kellen was definitely out of his element, but he would do almost anything to get to Dere. He was not only fascinated with him, but obsessed with him since he was a gup. He remembered Dere as a daring soul, a rebellious youth, and an extraordinary lover. He didn’t want to lose him as a lover, but when he made the choice to live on land, Kellen lost him. But he watched, he saw Dere fall for the human, saw him draw ever closer to the land and farther from the sea. He was going the way of many merrow, both male and female, choosing to live with the humans they loved on the land, and Kellen hated that choice. He would and had done everything in his power to sway Dere back to the pod, back to their home in the sea, but it had all failed. Now, he had one final gambit, one final try at winning his love back.
He holds a secret he is sure Dere will do anything to get from him, anything might even include loving Kellen like he loves his human, Tad Archer. Yes, for that one chance, he is desperate, and it all comes down to whether or not Dere believes him, whether or not he can pull this off, and if he does, he may have his lover back. For Kellen knows Tad survives, and only Kellen can lead Dere to where Tad is trapped. Dere has to follow him, and has to see for himself, but Kellen has a secret, and it just may be the deciding factor.
J. M. Snyder writes a novel of unparalleled eroticism. In all the stories, the men are strong, the love all-encompassing, and yet each has its own twist, its own turns, and its own variations on a theme. For Dere, former merrow, and now a land dweller, there is nothing to hold him to the sea. In all his growing up, through out his youth, he enjoyed the watery world, but when he stumbled on the young artist, tad Archer, he course was set. Love found him, and happiness followed. Now, in a storm at sea, he appeared to have lost it all. Tad was swept overboard, and is lost, not even a body was found for Dere, known as Derek in the human world, to bury. Now he is faced with a choice, give in to Kellen’s demands for love, sex, and a relationship for however brief a period, and maybe get Tad back, or forget the whole thing, and try to forget about Tad as well.
With choices like that, there is no assurance of winning, but choices and chances are the things legends are made from. Now Derek has a choice to make, and it is boiled down to one of simple belief and trust. Can he believe Kellen, can he trust his former friend, one who has clearly shown his jealousy? After all, Kellen has been claiming Dere abandoned him. Is Kellen telling him the truth or it just a ruse to inflict more pain on an already hurting Dere for imagined slights from long ago? Del Fantasma: Undertow is available from Aspen Mountain Press, and it is one of J. M. Snyders better works. Riveting and sensuous, it takes the reader through myth, legend, and the love of two people that just might have the possibility to overcome all the odds and treachery a series of twists of fate can hurl at them. Pick up a copy today, and revel in the erotic done right. A word of caution, not everyone enjoys the homoerotic novels, and if you are not so inclined, then you will definitely not enjoy reading this particular author. For those of you who are more liberal in your reading outlook, this is another wonderful offering from the pen of J.M. Snyder, and to you I say, Good Reading!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
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