Publisher: Torquere Press
ISBN-10: 1603701508
ISBN-13: 978-1603701501
Genre: LGBT (M/M); Suspense; Contemporary;
Series: White Tigers; Toshi Genjin/John Holmes Mysteries; Previous Book: His Beautiful Samurai
Release Date: September 26, 2007
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In the wake of mourning his uncle’s death, Inspector Toshiro Genjin unearths a long-held secret about the man he thought he knew completely. At the same time, Toshi is embarking on a relationship with his new lover, John Holmes, and must confront his family about the decision that will change all their lives. If this isn’t complex enough, Toshi is given a request he cannot refuse: find the missing nephew of his uncle’s best friend. In spite of Toshi’s obligations and of his uncle’s deception, he must not only honor his uncle’s memory, he must find a young man who could be in life threatening danger. Before it’s too late…
The search brings Toshi and his new lover, John Holmes, undercover to The Temple of the White Tiger, tucked away in Tokyo’s vibrant gay community, where eroticism leads to spiritual bliss and men love each other freely. Though he and John are searching for the missing man, the sensual world of the Temple and its alluring occupants mystify them and they discover things about themselves, body and spirit, that challenge their own relationship and make its future seem shaky.
However, they must proceed with caution, for although the path of the White Tiger leads to the heights of erotic pleasure, the web of relationships within it are not always what they seem. The lines of good and evil are blurred, leading Toshi and John toward Tokyo’s dark side - a place where John isn’t the only one with psychic powers and a fierce desire to protect the man he loves…
John slumped forward, sank against Toshi’s bare chest, soaked in the comfort of Toshi’s warm skin and musky scent. Gradually his lover’s body heat dispelled the hellish images of the dream.
Damn it. He’d had this dream a thousand times since the Gulf War, But that didn’t matter. It always felt too fucking real.
As if knowing exactly what he was going through, Toshi’s arms closed more tightly about John, his palms pressed into John’s bare back. John pressed his forehead on Toshi’s shoulder. The quiet act of resting in his lover’s arms eased his mind and body fully into the present. Even though they’d barely known each other a week, Toshi’s touch and voice had this healing effect on him. John had never experienced anything like it before in his life.
The dream faded, quickly replaced by guilt. John lifted his head from Toshi’s shoulder and gently pulled away. Toshi’s large dark eyes regarded him with understanding. No one had ever looked at him with such concern. John sighed. “Toshi, I’m so sorry. I…have these dreams sometimes. It’s part of the whole aftershock thing.” He looked down, miserably aware of the way sweat covered his body, dampened his underarm hairs, beaded on the back of his neck and on his upper lip. “You don’t need this right now.”
Toshi didn’t answer. Well, not with words. He passed a hand gently over John’s brow then eased John back against the pillows, covered John’s naked body with his own. Leaning his weight on his elbows, Toshi stared down into John’s face, caressed John’s hair with one hand.
John returned his lover’s gaze, caught as always by Toshi’s beauty, the way his ebony hair framed his angular face in feathery wisps. John’s gaze moved downward, to the deliciously plump fullness of Toshi’s lower lip, the darkness of his light morning stubble and the flawless dusky gold of his skin. John’s hands registered the hard, sinewy muscles of Toshi’s back, the warm heat of Toshi’s body against his.
Toshi nudged John’s legs open with one knee and fit his body between them so that their cocks touched. Toshi’s dark gaze took on a darker, hungrier look. “John, you are just what I need.”
“I meant—“
“Shut up, okay?” Toshi brushed a thumb across John’s cheek then lowered his face closer to John’s so that their lips almost touched.
John smiled in spite of himself. “I was just going to say that waking up next to you is the second best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Toshi stirred against him. The slide of his bare cock against John’s sent sparks of delicious friction through John’s hardening cock. If it hadn’t been for the nightmare, he’d already have had a full-blown hard-on.
John skimmed his touch down Toshi’s back, dappled his fingertips down the smooth furrow of muscle along Toshi’s spine.
Toshi grinned, his breath pulsed warmly onto John’s lips. “Oh yeah? And what’s the best?”
John chuckled. “I’ll show you.” He slid his hands down to the smooth skin of Toshi’s ass and squeezed his ass cheeks. Damn, nothing felt better under his hands than Toshi’s ass.
Toshi sighed and slid his cock against John’s again, rocked his hips in a slow, steady rhythm. Toshi closed the tiny space between their mouths, slipped his tongue eager and hot between John’s lips.
John’s eyelids fluttered and his body melted, sank into the mattress, the nightmare forgotten. He parted his lips, swirled his tongue in greedy strokes against Toshi’s.
Toshi groaned, rocked his hips faster against John’s. He cupped John’s face, kissed him deeply then pulled his mouth from John’s, nibbled John’s lips and jaw. John slid his hands up Toshi’s back again, squeezed him in his arms. Making love with Toshi was perfect.
In a surge of passion, John rolled them both over, so that he was now on top.
Toshi looked startled for a moment but then a wicked grin came to his full, beautiful lips.
John smiled back down at him and took his mouth, swiped his tongue greedily against Toshi’s. Every time they kissed, John wondered how he’d made it through life without this man. He slid his hands out from under Toshi’s back and up his arms, fingers taking in the firm smooth muscles and warm skin. Reaching Toshi’s hands, John laced their fingers together, lifted them and pinned them gently down on the mattress on either side of Toshi’s head.
Toshi moaned softly into John’s mouth. The vibration urged John to rub his cock against Toshi’s, which was fully erect and slid deliciously against his. The pleasurable heat went deep into John’s balls and each stroke of their cocks together brought him closer to coming.
Toshi’s fingers squeezed his and he panted into John’s mouth, one hard breath with each thrust of John’s pelvis against his.
The pressure built hard and fast and John couldn’t hold back. Toshi was too hot. He tasted and felt incredible. One stroke. Then another. John exploded. His cock twitched, his body tensed and he lay still, hot come spilling onto Toshi’s smooth, flat stomach.
Toshi never broke their kiss. His lips remained parted and he swirled his tongue lazily against John’s, absorbed John’s panting breaths. John collapsed gently onto Toshi, breathing heavily, their hands still joined. Toshi’s skin was warm and slightly damp.
John pressed his lips into Toshi’s chest, tasted the salty-sweetness of his lover skin with the tip of his tongue.
Toshi nuzzled John’s cheek, brushed his lips across the soft skin under John’s ear. He nipped gently at John’s earlobe, unlaced their fingers and embraced John, caressed his back. Toshi’s cock, still hard, pushed into John’s stomach. John felt Toshi’s coiled passion, the wildness in Toshi that their lovemaking released. Toshi seemed to be holding back.
John lifted up, braced his hands on the mattress and gazed down at Toshi. “Is something the matter?”
Toshi shook his head. His dark eyes simmered, belying the calm way he was acting. “I didn’t want to attack you. I always seem to do that.”
John stared at him, momentarily surprised. “Attack me? What are you talking about?”
Toshi shrugged. To John’s surprise, a shy look stole into Toshi’s eyes and John remembered their first conversations, the way words just seemed to get locked up inside Toshi, making him unable to speak. John chuckled. “I tell you what. I’ll attack you and then we’ll be even, all right? You can answer nonverbally, if you like. Just nod if that sounds good to you.”
A grin played on Toshi’s lips and he nodded.
Ms. Guillone has created an incredible story that is very visual, fast paced and riveting. John and Toshi are two very real to life characters who seem to leap from the pages of the book as the reader is drawn into their very real to life characters who seem to leap from the pages of the book as the reader is drawn into their lives and experience the poignant love they have for one another. It was incredible to see the difficulties and gifts that John has and how Toshi accepts them and is there to support John anytime he can. John is incredibly sensitive, but he puts Toshi’s needs ahead of everything else. Come and enjoy as Toshi and John fight to stay alive as they unravel the mystery to save a young man’s life.
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I might watch more of the Cop shows on TV if they included the eroticism and love between Japanese Police Inspector Toshiro Genjin and his American partner John Holmes. Sedonia Guillone continues the love story between Toshi and John that began in HIS BEAUTIFUL SAMURAI with this mystery of missing persons, Japanese mobsters, mysterious teachings of the Temple of the White Tiger, and John’s psychic gifts.
Disapproving family members, emotional blackmail, lovers’ insecurities, and the bindings of unconditional love and trust and much more are written with compassion and sincerity. In this sequel, Toshi’s world is rocked when an old family secret is disclosed regarding his much respected, trusted, and loved Uncle Musashi. John and Toshi are pulled into a possible kidnapping case and undercover work posing as themselves in the Japanese Gay Community where the Temple of the White Tiger is located.
In BEAUTIFUL SAMURAI, WHITE TIGER even the short duration of Toshi and John’s relationship is believable. The passion they share is sexy and hot, but tender as well. I particularly enjoyed, Toshi’s continued issues of trying to restrain himself, rather than what he saw as attacking his partner. John’s psychic gifts are a little scary sometimes, but his complete loyalty, love and surrender to Toshi were steadfast elements throughout the story. A definite recommended read!
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The affection between John and Toshi is lovely to read and gave me the warm fuzzies. Toshi doesn’t like feeling controlled but is willing to give a lot in bed. John’s care and generosity towards his lover is really heart-warming.
There’s several love stories going on in this book - John and Toshi, Yuzo and Kiku – but my favourite couple is Tokuma and Musashi, whose story begins during the Second World War. I absolutely loved these two characters. Their passion is frowned on by society and they know they can never be together forever, but despite this they try to be happy.
The themes of guilt, shame and honour run through all of the plotlines, and fit the background of the story – Japan, with its cultural insistence on ‘face’ – perfectly. Toshi strives for acceptance from his father. Yuzo ran away from his own family because they were ashamed of him. John is still haunted by his feelings of guilt from the Gulf War. Musashi allowed society’s rules to force him apart from Tokuma.
The path of the White Tiger, which I believe features in other books by Sedonia Guillone, seems to be the gay version of the Dragon/Tigress concept in Jade Lee’s books. While I found it a bit daft in Jade Lee’s stories, I thoroughly enjoyed it here. The ‘live demonstration’ attended by John and Toshi is very hot and yet intensely romantic.
WHITE TIGER, BEAUTIFUL SAMURAI delivers a strong plot, great characterisation and genuine emotion along with the feel-good fluffier moments. This is exactly the kind of M/M story I’d like to see much more of in e-publishing and I heartily recommend it. Now I’m going to go buy the first book. Sedonia Guillone just got herself a new fan.