| Title | : | Red |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 50 |
| Publication | : | First published July 14, 2013 |
Photo Description:
A muscular young man in a bright red hoodie makes a tempting target. He may be far more dangerous than he seems!
This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.
Red Reviews
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3.75 stars rounded up
I admit, the world/dystopian setting was a bit difficult for me to understand at first. It was like I was being pushed into this world without any background information or preparation. However, after awhile, I got sucked into the story -- Red being a shifter and Stephan being a hunter who killed beasts (or shifters) were a delicious set-up for a romance. But this one was more than just paranormal romance set in dystopian world. There was a mystery on the works as well, about a serial killer who was on the loose.
I loved how Red knew Stephan (and vice versa) from years back and then they met again when Stephan crossed Red's path (Red was a detective now) hunting the killer. I definitely LOVED the twist -- -- and BOY, what a HOT sex that was *roar*.
The ending was tagged as "hopefully-ever-after" (). Belinda McBride
wrote in the comment section, that her agent was thinking of expanding the story. Well, I would definitely be there for the expanded story! This was a world that I definitely would like to read more... -
The sexy picture that inspired this story was what made me to decide to read this contribution to the LHNB event.
I read the tags and wasn't really going to read it, post apocalyptic setting and some of the other tags weren't my usual reading material, but the picture was very cool and I do try to use these group events to broaden my reading horizon.
I don't really want to give much away, but I will say boy am I very glad I read this one. It literally grabbed me after the first paragraph and it got even better after that. The world building in this short was so very good, the author gave just enough to keep me guessing but enough to follow along and not feel lost.
The ending is hopeful and I usually hate the way this one ended but somehow it worked for this story and I have a feeling she is going to give us more about these two men. At least I'm really really hoping she will. -
4.1 Stars
WOW! I'm actually quite impressed with this interesting re-telling of the Little Red Riding Hood story. Inventive, different...sexy as hell with an unexpected twist. -
Offered for
FREE from the M/M Romance Group's Love Has No Boundaries event. Thank you too all the amazing authors who participated!
OK, the pic didn't quite make sense until the end, now I get it! So anyway, I liked this. It's very short to try to squeeze in a complex post-apocalyptic world though and have us fully understand it. Although they tried to explain it they didn't do a great job and it felt forced, Red asked his mentor and the guy even prefaced his re-cap by saying, "I'm not sure why you're asking, you know all this." You don't get a more obvious info dump than that.
But I liked the characters and they smexin' was hot, so overall, a nice quick little read. -
Re-read:
Definitely a lot better than the first read, prolly cuz I have more info now/context/whatever. On the reread, I liked it a lot more, and I wasn't too caught up in trying to figure out what all these obscure things and universe points meant. I was actually able to enjoy the "budding romance" that happened in the last couple of pages (before it cuts off unceremoniously with a bombshell xe dropped), and this time, it was hot. I enjoyed the dynamics, although maybe it's telling that I had to wait until the second time before I could start enjoying it...
For that, it only gets 3 stars and not 4.
Original review:
The exposition isn't laid out nicely. It's got that pseudo-suspense manufactured by the author purposefully withholding shit-ton of information and then dangling the fact that so much is missing in front of our faces.
The sex was awkward.
It was stilted and awkward. I was kind of happy when I got to the end... -
Dark tale that borrows from little red riding hood with some big twists. Though the world they live in is dark and terrible, I liked both mcs and would like to read more of their story.
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I think I need 'part' 2 to sustain the high I got from reading this 'little' one.The only downside is that these offerings are too minute,small,tiny and I have a huge appetite for the word.
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Ugh.... while this story was a little hard to follow along with in the beginning, I absolutely loved it!! And then I hated it because I realized it was left opened ended with the expectation of a sequel... but was written in 2013 and still no book 2... fuck me...
On the plus size I’ve had some of this authors other work on my list for awhile and I will proceed with reading those... so long as they aren’t an unfinished series... -
I got to the end and was like-oh no it finished :( This read like the beginning of a novel-an interesting one that I really want to finish! More please-pretty please! Oh and thank you!
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This was a short quick read that I liked. This book was set in a post-apocalyptic world with the deserts flooded the rain forests died and sickness that ravaged the population, when the women died and when babies were born they were mutated into beasts or hunters. Stephan is a Hunter he is back in town to hunt and beast when he runs into Detective Colin "Red" Redington in a bar. Turns out they a hunting the same beast these two have history and a lot of attractions. This was my first time reading this author. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to reading book 2.
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Around 3 stars, but just.
The nice new cover drew me to this novella, and the blurb.
As I often say in my reviews, there's an art to short(er) storytelling. This wasn't developed with the length in mind. I felt dropped in the middle of something. There was no particular character development but I saw the potential. The characters could have had so much going for them and at times I felt it. The world wasn't able to be explored either, but it could have been really good. That's my take from this - "if only, it could have been..."
Basically, in the washup, it's okay. The size of the novella didn't allow the author's concept to really shine through. -
I've made no secret of how much I just absolutely adore these m/m retellings of fairy tales, so when I saw the prompt and summary for this one, it immediately jumped to the top of my tbr list.
Reading it was an interesting experience. We jump right into the story in Red's head and get to see through his eyes for a while what this dystopian world is like before we're told any of the back story. I actually found myself totally enjoying this approach, as it allowed me to try to guess and draw conclusions of my own rather than being fed the information through the typical info-dump.
The most delightful part of the experience of reading this, though, was that for maybe 70% of the story, I still wasn't entirely clear on who was what and how the pieces fit together. I was just about to reach the point were I sighed in frustration and decided that there was simply too much here trying to be stuffed into a novella and that the dots simply hadn't all been connected. And then poof! Red makes one comment, and suddenly all the pieces fit together, all the dots connect, and I'm left a little stunned with awe at how brilliantly it was all done.
A very, very fun reading experience. 4.5 stars rounded up for being free. -
LHNB story released 14.7.13
just over 4 stars
Really well written paranormal story set in a post apocalyptic type world where a bio-war has virtually wiped out women and caused genetic mutations leading to the creation of "beasts" - similar to three form werewolves. Red is a scrawny kid who is first spotted by Stephan, a hunter, working in the gym. Ten years later Red is a detective and Stephan is still hunting, and an out of control beast is in the area and has killed several times. There is a very intense attraction between the two men, but this is a story without a traditional HEA, though it reads as though that will be the ultimate conclusion of their relationship, the time just isn't right yet. Enjoyed this one a lot. -
This didn't seem to be very well done if only in large part because the whole biogenetic tampering/crazy people/wolf shifter thing is never exactly explained in a way that made sense. Something about a bio thing that went wrong and then some men started turning wolf, but some turned rogue? And others were wired to hunt them? Then it gets into this whole thing with Red having multiple shifted forms with no real reason. Add in that it seemed Hunters weren't human, but then they are....it just muddled the whole story and at the end I felt I really didn't know more than coming in. Disappointing.
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3.5 stars
Interesting take on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. The story kept me interested and the dystopian setting (and the backstory regarding women) was quite intriguing. My only complaint is that the story seemed to be set in the United States, but there were some references to things that were clearly British: pubs, Shepherd's Pie and bangers and mash. Granted, those things can be found in the States, but they're not as common. -
Very nicely done. Good world-building, some hot sex, and a creative little twist.
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Excellent world building! I am really fascinated with the backstory that eventually brings these characters to life. I also need to know what happens next!
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Clever and exciting. Nice romance built in a pretty horrible world. Interesting conclusion
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Very good. Eerie and dark and romantic. I hope there is more to come in this universe.
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Some interesting concepts in this one, but it just didn't come together for me. I felt like the author was trying really hard to write the ~dark~ and ~intense~ sci-fi thriller, but most of the time it was just angsty (and not the good kind of angst). The exposition was poorly executed - as other readers have noted, I often felt like I didn't have the information to understand what was going on, only to find the necessary details awkwardly dumped into the story a few scenes later. I really didn't connect with either of the characters, nor did I feel that they had any chemistry other than the author telling me they did. I would have also appreciated a more cohesive plot - the story barely got around to even making clear what the plot was and then it was over.
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Great mix of dystopian and paranormal
The desperation between these characters was tangible both for survival and for each other. I loved the descriptions of my beloved city by the bay and hope this is the beginning to a great series! -
This is a decent short story and it has a good basic idea. It could have been a little longer to fill in a little extra world building but it got it's idea along in the time it was squeezed into. I like the twisted take on Little Red Riding Hood.
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Nice start.
The end, I was ready to jump on the next installment. Sadly, there isn't one.
Interesting world. I would love to see it developed into a longer story.
I liked when Red suddenly morphed larger. Nice touch. -
Kindle-Sort-ReRead
Impossible to connect and care because nothing is really explained. I couldn't picture the dystopian world, had no real idea who was a 'beast' and what what entailed - beyond a really awkward bit of info dump. -
3.5 Stars :)
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A Quickie
This was a quick story, nice story. But, it was full, it had punch, and I’m looking to read more. -
⭐️ 2.5 stars ⭐️
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Great short story.
And it's free.
