About A Giant's Friend
by M.D. Grimm
128 pages / 34200 words
ISBN: 978-1-661040-140-1
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Can love flourish in a time of war? Friends since childhood, Jeth and
Kodie now lead an army and guard a mountain pass against the invading
Carpathyns. Jeth's father was half-giant, and he has always been persecuted
because of his lineage. His mother died due to the bigotry of villagers,
unleashing the giant’s rage inside him. Jeth has found his purpose in war.
When Kodie admits his feelings of love, will Jeth find a new purpose in
life?
Before they can find out where their feelings might lead them, Kodie is
caught in an avalanche and Jeth must find him before the enemy does. With
war all around them, can these two friends find peace that only a lover’s
arms can give?
Review
Alexa Snow, author of Sleeping Stone, writes: Jeth
and Kodie have been close friends for many years. They've supported each
other through thick and thin, good times and bad, developing a
meaningful friendship despite the fact that Jeth is one quarter giant
and not all people trust him because of this. But Kodie has found that
his feelings for Jeth are evolving into something more than friendship,
and he finally comes out and admits this to Jeth. But they're in the
middle of a war between kingdoms, with Jeth in charge of commanding an
army unit, and relationships must take a back seat to war...
This is a wonderful story! It is full of interesting plot twists that
don't take over the fact that at its heart it's a character driven tale.
At times the storyline jumps backward in time to the main characters'
childhood, giving the reader a sense of how the friendship first
developed and how it came to mean so much to both Jeth and Kodie. The
dialogue is nicely written, the characters' motivations clear and their
emotions believable. The setting is a character in itself, easily
pictured in the mind's eye -- this is escapist fiction, carrying the
reader away to another land where the complications of modern life are
forgotten and the things that are really important become the focus.
Jeth and Kodie are both charming; this reviewer harbors hopes for a
sequel!
Sample
Jeth stood out in the freezing wind and snow, his cloak
flapping against his legs. He hunched his shoulders and watched his men eat
and drink next to fires that the winds threatened to douse. Each man sat on
long logs and tried to make the best of what they had.
He loved all of them.
He never thought he would. He had hated mostly everyone as a child and when
he entered the army, everyone was a competitor. But now, as lord of these
men, their lives in his hands, he loved them.
But one most of all.
He could always pick Kodie out of a crowd, whether it be fifty or one
thousand. His eyes would find him in a split second, never once missing. And
there he was, sitting with the soldiers, laughing and drinking.
He knew the laughter would be forced, however. He knew Kodie. Or thought he
did.
It was only a few hours after Kodie had admitted his feelings. Jeth still
didn’t know how to swallow that information. Kodie wanted him? The knowledge
of that still shocked him to the bone. It had made Jeth think of all the
time they had spent together. All the years of being friends.
Twenty years of friendship, and his friend had hidden his infatuation. How?
Why?
And why could Jeth not get his friend’s face from his mind? The way he
smelled, the way he felt, his voice. By the gods, it was as if Kodie
confessing his feelings had opened up something locked in Jeth’s heart.
He had never seen Kodie as a lover. They had been devoted companions and he
thought Kodie a beautiful specimen of masculine strength and wit but…desire?
Not until today.
Now he could think of nothing else. That brief instant Kodie had been under
him, his blood roaring and his anger still too close to the surface, Jeth
had the image of taking Kodie violently right there. If that scout had not
come in, he knew he would have done it.
It scared him. He would cut off his right arm before harming Kodie in any
way. And if Kodie wasn’t willing, then it would not happen. Period.
Jeth stomped his feet slightly, trying to get some warmth to them. He didn’t
hate the cold and the snow so much. One side of his bloodline thrived on
snow and the mountain terrain. Though he wasn’t related to ice giants, his
bloodline linking him to earth giants, he knew they still thrived in
mountainous areas. He knew Kodie hated it.
There it was again. Kodie. Kodie. Kodie.
Scowling at himself, Jeth pulled at his beard. He’d had lovers, not for very
long, Kodie had been right about that. They had been mostly nightly or
weekly distractions. And now that he thought back, Kodie had always seemed a
little distant and irritable every time he got a new one. But Jeth just put
that down to his friend not getting any.
In fact, now that he thought about it, he could never remember Kodie going
to bed with anyone, man or woman.
Interesting.
He looked at his friend again. Kodie was more beautiful than handsome. He
had an angelic face with intense blue eyes that had always captured Jeth’s
soul. Kodie’s facial features were delicate and in stark contrast to the
hard muscle of his body. Jeth would often find himself gaining pleasure from
just looking at Kodie.
Kodie could have anyone he wanted. And apparently, through some grace of the
gods, he wanted Jeth. Amazing. And not a little flattering. Having such
a…undesirable bloodline, Jeth was used to getting looks of disgust or fear
or hatred. His lovers were the few exceptions. And most of them had been
paid whores.
And then there was Kodie. A man in a category all his own. Never one to
judge, assume or hate, he was the greatest blessing in Jeth’s life. And why
hadn’t Jeth noticed it before? Well, perhaps he had known it, but he had
never acknowledged it. Now he wanted to show Kodie just how special he was
to him.
In a very physical way that would get them both sweaty and breathless.