Through Neon Eyes 7: Power 2 by Michael Barnette
24 May 2011 Leave a Comment
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Title: Through Neon Eyes 7: Power 2
Author: Michael Barnette
Publisher: Shadowfire Press
Pages: 112
POV: 3rd
Sub-Genre: YAOI
Book Cover Rating: 4
Kisses: 5
Blurb:
Playing power games with corpers can be risky. Playing them with Zoners can get you dead.
Power games. Corpers play them for reasons of wealth and satisfaction. Jessman is trapped in the middle of a power game with his boss, Director Perez. But Zoners play power games too, and they play for keeps.
Review:
This book picks right up where six ended. Power games indeed. Perez is up to his usual games, Bells finds he can’t just kill anyone whenever he wants to, and David realizes without Perez he has nothing.
In this one there’s a lot of sex, BDSM plays a big part, and more of Bells doing what he does best. Protecting his lover, the man he loves from what he can. A character from the last book, a Mae is back and she’s a snide mean thing that I’m willing to bet will be around in the next book to make Bells’ and David’s lives hell.
This book in the series has become my favorite. Expect more non-con, more love, more sex between Bells and his boy David, and evil doings by Perez.
Reviewer: Michele
Through Neon Eyes 6: Power 1 by Michael Barnette
24 May 2011 Leave a Comment
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Title: Through Neon Eyes 6: Power 1
Author: Michael Barnette
Publisher: Shadowfire Press
Pages: 161
POV: 3rd
Sub-Genre: YAOI
Book Cover Rating: 4
Kisses: 5
Blurb:
Power can be a dangerous thing.
Power has its price. Now the head of Polymer Gel Research Department at NeuroTech, what will Jessman have to give Director Perez in exchange for the privileges that come with such a rise in the corporate ranks? What will Bells do if he turns out to be the party favor in a game of corporate politics?
And exactly what is Director Perez really after? Is it David, Bells, both of them or something else entirely? Then there’s the Director’s gunwhore, Mae. Bells doesn’t trust her, but then again, he doesn’t trust anyone, not even David
Review:
This series continues to grasp its reader by the seat of the pants and challenges one to NOT feel some sort of apprehension. Right at the start I was taken in and I didn’t come up for air until the last word.
Power has its price. In this book nothing could be truer. Bells and David are still at it, their love stronger, both of them freely admitting it; however, there’s always something or someone to keep them from having what many of us take for granted. Right from the get go we see Bells in his world and possibly dying. In the last part of book 5 he was involved in a bad fight, he was shot several times and though he’s part machine of some sort, he can still be killed. He goes back to the Zone to his doctor where he knows he can be saved, but he almost did indeed die. The price he paid to remain with the man he loves is indeed high. In the corp world the heavy price David pays just about broke my heart. And then seeing Bell’s reaction to the non-con going on to David, oh I wanted to cry.
Non con? Oh yes. Mr. Perez, the big dog at Neuro Tech promotes David for one reason and one reason only…And he holds David’s whole future in his hands, or would that be pants? And Bells, bless his sweet head of hair, he offers himself up, the Dom mind you, to Mr. Perez’s sick mind to protect his David.
The story continues to climb and keeps its readers glued to each word and page. The sex scenes, which do involve BDSM in all of them, are amazing! The reader should be able to feel the power between the men from the first kiss. Richer, more dialogue and lots more to feel. These characters are in my heart and I applaud Michael for giving us Bell’s and David.
Reviewer: Michele
Through Neon Eyes 5: Breakthrough by Michael Barnette
24 May 2011 Leave a Comment
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Title: Through Neon Eyes 5: Breakthrough
Author: Michael Barnette
Publisher: Shadowfire Press
Pages: 365
POV: 3rd
Sub-Genre: YAOI
Book Cover Rating: 4
Kisses: 5
Blurb:
Bells has to find a way to end the threat to David’s life, which means going back to the LCFree.
Bells returns to the LCFree while Jessman deals with the backlash of his inattention at work. What will the two men do in order to stay together despite the different worlds in which they live? And how far is Bells willing to go in order to assure David’s safety?
Review:
Bells and his motorcycle.
Both were one of a kind in the LCFree.
They called it the Free but no one was free.
Not the residents of the Zone.
And at the start of this part we’re with Bells in the Zone. Right from the get go we’re into an action scene with Bells and we’re shown his skills as a killer. Nothing much scares him, well nothing but losing the man he loves. So, he is on the hunt for the people who want to see David dead.
Expect to see more of Bells dialogue in this book, and if you read the fourth one, you’ll have had a taste of how he speaks and honestly I have come to love it, makes him more alive in my mind. He’ll show you more of his feelings about David, about his adopted family, and about the world they live in.
David is still a corper and finds that his boss, Hartland has it out for him to the point that he wants David gone. You’ll see if David is as innocent as he acts in this book and then you’ll get to see David face Mr. Perez, the boss of bosses. And you’ll see David literally fight to stay alive within the safe confines of his corporate world.
Michael Barnette seems unstoppable when it comes to writing these amazing characters in their world that was once our Florida. The characters are even richer, the story more engaging, richer, and longer. I was so excited to see that. Expect to have your heart race a bit, in good and anxious ways…
Reviewer: Michele
Through Neon Eyes 4: Promises 2 by Michael Barnette
23 May 2011 Leave a Comment
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Title: Through Neon Eyes 4: Promises 2
Author: Michael Barnette
Publisher: Shadowfire Press
Pages: 159
POV: 3rd
Sub-Genre: YAOI
Book Cover Rating: 4
Kisses: 5
Blurb:
David’s addicted to Bells, and a gunwhore is a hard addiction to break.
Addictions have their drawbacks, and David Jessman would be the first person to admit he’s addicted to the passions he’s only felt in the arms of one man: Bells, the LC Zone gunwhore and deadly zonewarrior. Having gotten so wrapped up in his personal life that he forgets to do anything but daydream about a certain blond gunwhore David finds himself in serious trouble with his boss. Trouble that Bells promises to make right—somehow.
Review:
Bells is the highest priced, piece of gun-toting ass offered. At almost twenty-five thousand in hard-earned cash for a single night, not many could afford him. But David did and it was a night that changed his life forever. This story picks up the day after the prior in the series. It’s an interesting idea actually from Michael to have the story all take place in just days instead of months or years.
At the start of this one we are with Bells. The Medusa tangle of braids draped around his shoulders lay still, the bells at their ends silent. Bells that gave him his street name. A name that was the only one he could recall most days, at least since the gun-battle that had nearly taken his life. From the bits and pieces he remembered from his existence before then, it was just better that way, as far as he was concerned. So, imagine my excitement upon seeing we are going to be spending some more time with him in his head. And we discover quite early that he went and fell in love with David. Go Bells!
Now, if only things were so easy for him and his lover, but they’re not and they won’t be for sometime. There are people who want Bells dead, and now, there are people who want David that way, too. The one thing that stands out the most for me here in this story is the way Bells talks when he’s talking to the people in the Zone, and sometimes when he’s talking to David. Here’s an example: “I done guessed that shit. That be my worry. You know I handle my own biz. Right now you biz is to let people know anyone mess with my money I come to dance the apocalypse with them. They want dying, I give it to them no charge.” He almost sounds as if he’s from a foreign country but he’s not. This is how they all talk, so at first I had to slow down a bit to fully grab what the characters were saying to one another and I honestly thought to myself—OMG..I don’t know if I can do this but wow, am I glad I did. Talk about rich verbiage and talent on the author’s part. This just makes Bells a lot more loveable and more of a fleshed out character with his own personality, he’s anything but a cardboard cut out.
The one job Bells fails at is why David’s life is in danger. He was hired to kill him back in the first book if you recall, and here we are in the fourth and Bells is in love. No killing going on here that’s for sure. He has an argument with his pimp, as I call her, she wants him back on their side of the wall to service demanding high paying clients and he wants to stay right where he is.
The poor man is so conflicted because he also has an adopted family in the Zone he feels responsible for, a lady and her daughter that he saved some years ago from rapists and murderers. He has no choice but to go back, however, David managed to grab his heart and soul. Nothing will be the same again.
Michael Barnette writes the BDSM scenes like a Master. He does an amazing job giving reason for it with the two men, it’s not something done for the hell of doing. David is so taken with the act that he can’t get enough, and Bells is a Master at Mastering his boy, David. I just could not pull my eyes out of the story, I got pulled in, enthralled with the plot to the point that I felt as if I were in the same room with the two men, seeing Bells perform and seeing David submit.
The story goes on to show their bond growing stronger, to show their love and care for one another, and no matter how hardass Bell puts himself off to be, you can see his love for his corper, his boy.
Michael did it again. He pulled me into this wonderful world and entertained me through the whole story giving me not one single break. Richer world, richer characters, and richer dialogue. Bravo, Mr. Barnette and thank you for sharing these incredible men with us.
Reviewer: Michele
Through Neon Eyes 3: Promises 1 by Michael Barnette
22 May 2011 Leave a Comment
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Title: Through Neon Eyes 3: Promises 1
Author: Michael Barnette
Publisher: Shadowfire Press
Pages: 141
POV: 3rd
Sub-Genre: YAOI
Book Cover Rating: 4
Kisses: 4.5
Blurb:
With his life– and emotions– turned upside down David finds himself unable to concentrate on his work because his mind is just not on his research. His thoughts are on the new experiments he’s been part of in his apartment. Experiments that are whetting new found appetites for things more satisfying than food or money. Research involving his own psyche and an addiction called Bells
Review:
Once again I was given the opportunity to review another book in the series, Through Neon Eyes. This story picks up where the 2nd left off, only with David sitting in his cubicle at work trying his damndest to concentrate on his research. However, that particular task seems to take the back burner in comparison with the man he spent the night with, the man who introduced him to the Sweet Sisters. Pain and Pleasure. Bells. David’s Gunwhore. His Zonewarrior and his Master. The fact that he paid for one night with the mysterious man with long blonde dreads with bells woven through them, that turned into two, has put David in a state of absolute bliss. He wanted more of Bells and what he could teach him and when quitting time appears he gets a call from his Bells to come home.
David resides in an apartment supplied by NeruoTech, the corporation he now works for and in his apartment his Angel of the fallen type awaits him. David knows he’ll be in trouble with his boss the next day for getting nothing done but he just can’t bring himself to care at that moment. All he cares about is getting on his knees and pleasing the man he’s quickly falling for in ways he never thought possible.
One of David’s biggest fears is that Bells will leave him and never come back. Bells belonged on the street, he is a Zoner who lived in the Freezone, he lived in Miami where nothing is as we know it is now. Dangerous streets, dangerous killers, and air that was so toxic it’d kill David if he entered the zone. Bells lived under one rule: Kill or be killed, survival of the fittest. This makes Bells a hard man and a quiet one. In this story he says very little but when he does speak, everyone listens. You want to listen. And though he doesn’t do a lot of talking, he does indeed think and we’re allowed to see this in this story.
Bells is not a man without feelings, he’s a man who has a past that I do believe he’s afraid of, but he’s a man with morals and he does say if he allows himself he could see himself falling in love with David…and this only after a day with the Corper, as he calls men who work in the corporate cushion world. Bells thrived on risk and danger where Death was a constant companion and he called her The Dark Lady. And Bells worried for David because of the people in the LC and if they found out about him, they would kill him.
Bells has a history of so much violence done to him, it’s tear jerking and to see this amazing man, to read him, he just makes you love him. Michael Barnette has done a marvelous job with this character. He builds this other world in a 3-D fashion, putting you there with the characters, he paints it so artistically that I’m prone to believe this parallel universe is there as he created it.
Reviewer: Michele
