Volume One-Elliot
SA Collins
Released: March 23, 2015
540 Pages
GMR 5 STAR REVIEW-PAUL
Set against the backdrop of competitive sports, this character study work deep dives into the lives of these young men who each must "play the game" so Marco can continue to play the game he loves. They are just trying to find some small slice of happiness to call their own amidst their hellish final year of high school.
Author's Note:
Angels of Mercy is first and foremost, a character study. A great deal of it is inner-monologue. Elliot will pause the action, will break momentum as he grapples with his world – all the while flipping a finger to the fourth wall. He knows you're there. It was far more important to me as its author (and a gay man) that the reader come away with the whys of Elliot’s choices in how he navigates his often tumultuous world. The same can be said of Marco (his jock boyfriend) who will pick up the tale with Volume Two (due summer of 2015). I’ve read much queer literature and what I find rather interesting is that for the majority of it, very little is written about the character’s headspace. When you live in a world where you constantly have to be vigilant as you navigate through, it can make for some very powerful storytelling. That is my goal in writing these boys’ lives. I want the reader who may not be queer themselves to come away with what it might be like to be in a gayboy’s shoes – constantly polling and pulse-checking your world because your very survival depends upon it. All of that while you hope, you secretly pray, that you’ll find someone who will see you too and find they can’t live without you in their world. A small slice of happiness to call your own. And though you do everything to keep to yourself, you may still run into those who find your very existence threatens who they are and how they think the world should run. I pull no punches with this work. They are hormonally charged eighteen year old young men who are sexually active. While the sex is present in the work it is not gratuitous in that the main character does evolve from his physical intimacy with his high-profile boyfriend. It is not a genre romance read either, though it has a very strong romance threaded in the work. These elements bring a light to their world that attracts all the wrong attention. In a time where more queer youth are coming out to their teammates and their loved ones, I find that work of this nature is both timely and necessary to tell. I hope you'll find it as interesting and provocative a read as I believe it is.
Elliot a shy guy at Mercy high is out for all intents purposes but he prefers being in the background that is until he meets Marco, the star quarterback and nothing will ever be the same for either boys again.
When Marco makes a play for Elliot and to see his reaction was so funny that this hot quarterback is actually coming onto him was some of the greatest scenes to read. Marco is so persistent and nothing will keep him from the guy he loves even though the object of his attention is having a hard time excepting Marcos love. When Elliot finally gives into the quarterback is when things really start to heat up and the beautiful connection between these guys is something so very special. The relationship starts off and Marco needs to stay in the closet for the time being and Elliott needs to find where he fits into is quarterbacks life.
I really enjoyed these characters, Elliot knows who he is and owns his sexuality and even though he might be shy it's very clear how he's accepted being gay. What really spoke to me was how Marco the hot quarterback liked and went after Elliot. They look like they come from different worlds which they actually are but Marcos attraction to Elliot is so intense that I found myself rooting for them right from the start.
Just loved the self discovery journey that Elliot and Marco took and the great love that they found along the way. The way the author grows these characters together in such a beautiful story was some great writing. I felt connected right away to the great story that these men shared. I quite enjoyed this novel as the setting was so rich and the characters were so well written in depths of pure true honesty. I'm a huge fan of sport genres and was a beautiful setting of true gay romance and what the price of love actually costs. I found the pages flowed beautifully and the author captured their love so brilliantly that I found myself lost in their love. The author was highly detailed in creating this type of story and the characters were developed beautifully. I'm looking forward to reviewing the entire series and I highly recommend Angels Of Mercy: Volume One-Elliot to anyone who loves reading a great true gay romance novel.
AllRomance - https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-angelsofmercyvolumeoneelliot-1766747-145.html
BarnesAndNoble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/angels-of-mercy-volume-one-sa-collins/1121493073?ean=2940151831222
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/529495
Angels of Mercy – Volume 2: Elliot - due Fall 2015.
Angels of Mercy - Diary of a Quarterback Part 1 - due Late Fall 2015
Angels of Mercy - Diary of a Quarterback Part 2 - due Early Winter 2015
Angels of Mercy - Volume 3: Pietro (The Sins of the Solstice) - due Early 2016
I already surmised that he was a man full of surprises. He was thoughtful, gentle and very passionate. But the most surprising thing about him was his patience. I was a jumble of nerves and conflicting emotions. Not about him. I knew I loved him. I was overwrought inside, concerned if I would make the grade, be an adequate lover the way he would wish me to be. Turns out, I needn't have worried.
He was so sweet-tempered, taking his time to undress me slowly, gently batting my hands away anytime I tried to help him. With a lone small table lamp on the nightstand next to the bed, our bodies shadowboxed on the wall behind us. In that silhouette I became so ultra-aware of how inadequate my body was in comparison to his. I tried to hide it, painfully aware of how glorious he was, and how not, I was.
He smiled softly, but he said I was perfect for him in every way. He reminded me gently of how long he had watched me, how his desire to have me for himself had built over the past two years. Then he said the most amazing thing to me: he told me that he hoped that he would be everything I would want in a lover, that what I thought mattered to him so much that he was a bit nervous. He hoped it would be good for me. His hands were trembling, a slight quiver to his voice. My heart melted for him.
I just watched him. I heard the words; I knew what they meant. But for the life of me I couldn't make it make sense. I could see he was becoming pensive, being so vulnerable with me about his insecurities. There was no way I was going to let him think he would ever be inadequate.
I pulled him to me and we fell onto the bed with a ferocity that I didn't know I had. We tangled; we writhed, our bodies becoming slick with the passion we felt for each other. And it mattered to me that he was just as unsure as I was. Marco, my confident, sexy-as-hell boyfriend, was vulnerable with me. He allowed me to see that in him. And it mattered. It mattered in ways I couldn't even fathom in that moment of our passion. It was something I found I would ponder from time to time thereafter. Truly astonished that someone who seemed so sure of himself and his place in the world, was worried about what I thought of him, of whether he'd measure up to what I wanted. If anything, it made my heart flutter just thinking about it, the way that sentiment from him did. But after that admission, I could see it in his eyes. Tucked there, in the furthest reaches, along with his abiding love for me was the fear that he'd fail me. Absurd. Completely absurd that he could ever fail me.
His kisses brought me back to the moment.
He whispered that he loved me, every inch of me, proving to me that he did by covering every inch of me in soft kisses. I tried to return each of his ministrations, but he wouldn't have it. He said it was my night. He wanted to spend the night making love to me, pleasuring me, letting me take from him what I wanted.
And make no mistake, I wanted him.
When the moment arrived, he looked into my eyes, and he spoke of our love again , of how he knew how much trust I was putting in him. I had reason to be concerned he was no shrinking violet. Italian Stallion didn't begin to cover it. But there was no way I was not going to do this. With an ample gob of lube, he worked his fingers into my ass to get me used to it. I knew he didn't have to do that, after all, he was a hormone raging teenage boy as was I. He could have just plowed me for all I was worth. But he didn't. That's not my Marco.
After a few minutes of his fingering me because we'd watched it on a porn once (exchanging charged looks between us as we did so), I told him I thought I was ready. He leaned down and we kissed very tenderly. He asked me again if I thought I was sure. He wanted me to have a way out if I was worried. No way. I was in all the way. I wanted him to take me, no matter the pain, no matter the cost. He slicked up his sizable condom-sheathed cock, my eyes wide at how much of him there was. I wasn't sure how all of him was going to fit in so little of me. But I'd remembered the porn videos about it and saw that some twinkish guys like me were able to take some massively hung men so in theory it was possible. A part of me was inflamed with the possibility, but the more reasonable part, the part that was speaking fairly loud at this point, wasn't so sure.
He paused, unsure if we should do this. No going back. I reached down between my legs and gripped that slicked up monster cock of his and pulled him to me, letting him firmly know that we'd passed that point of no return the moment we became a couple. I wanted him to know that I was good with it. I wanted it. I wanted him.
I don't know if he thought it would be sexy or if he was trying to distract me from that impressive cock of his, but when he pressed into me, kissing me while he was shaking it a bit with his hand as if that would get me to loosen up further, there was precious little that would have distracted me from what I was feeling. There was no denying it. It hurt, far more than I was prepared.
With my sharp intake of breath and a deep moan, he stopped his eyes soft with fear, saying over and over how sorry he was that we should stop. When he began to withdraw I found something within me clicked, I knew I didn't want him to stop. I hooked my feet around his back and drew him forward. I was already committed to being there for him. I would endure anything for him even if that meant enduring the pain as if he were cleaving me in two. I was determined for my body to learn of his passions and not only accommodate them, but become adept at pleasuring him. I never wanted to become so good at something as I did in that moment.
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