Center

Center of Earth and Sky #1-2

by Sean Michael

Combining two previous Sean Michael novels, The Center of Earth and Sky and Painting the Desert, Center focuses on twins Grey and Raine Holstein, who have a good life together. But that doesn't mean they're not willing to play. When they meet schoolteacher Whit, they both want to take him home. Whit is quickly drawn into a sensual world where passion overcomes panic, where a simple meal becomes an erotic feast, and where love is the paramount rule. The three of them try to find a way to make a life together, making sure no one is left out. Grey, Raine and Whit seem to be living a charmed life, but their whole world is threatened when Grey is diagnosed with cancer, and everything starts to fall apart. Grey is their rock, and as he's ravaged by the cancer treatment, Whit and Raine struggle to hold it together. Will Whit find the strength to be what his lovers need him to be? Can he remain in the center of such a storm and survive it intact?

Genres: M M Romance, Menage, BDSM, M M M, Erotica, Contemporary, Adult

390 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Often referred to as "Space Cowboy" and "Gangsta of Love" while still striving for the moniker of "Maurice," Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and persuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to "Chicago."

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He'll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Reviews

[Kazza]

I'm not going to rate this book because I would not rate it well. Center is the amalgamation of two books - The Center of Earth and Sky and Painting The Desert. The second part was slightly, and I do mean slightly, more meaningful. However, both have big problems with dialogue -

"Oh...." "I need..."Love." included.

Which never made any sense, a couple of times, OK, after that....NO! I kept thinking "finish the fucking sentence."

I get really ticked off when people call erotica porn. This book is what gives people that idea and that angers me. Erotica is storytelling with sex, and the people I read write beautiful, fun-filled, exciting, interesting, sci-fantasy, shocking, even literary books. Some of my favourites are in this very genre. Sean Michael had a chance here to write something really lovely but he didn't, he copped out, in my opinion, and wrote what amounts to porn. By the way? I'm not against porn believe me but I want to watch porn not read a script, albeit a long script.

Raine, Grey and Whit seem like nice characters, but none were fleshed out much. They could have been really memorable, this book could have been ethereal. The prologue is one of the most interesting pieces of writing I've read, otherworldly, with a transmundane feel. I thought we may just go somehwere new, different. But. No. It just went into sex scene after sex scene - fuck, eat, sleep, fuck whilst eating, sleep fucking, fuck fucking, and eat, sleep, fucking some more.

The reason I won't rate this book is I don't want to rate it at 1 star, due to the prologue and the time spent in the desert; plus I finished it after all. I'll just leave the rating off.

[Allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad that's over. I managed to get through this book by sheer willpower and perseverance because it was a long book with very little content unless you want to read about 3-way sex constantly.

And, don't get me wrong, the whole 3-way relationship (even in this day and age) is still frowned upon so I am not sure how Whit was able to work as a teacher and have an open 3-way relationship (regardless of gender). I'm not entirely sure I would feel about it IRL. I hate to be an ass but it seems that, if they are keeping the twincest (another thing that I would have a problem with in a teacher for no reason other than morals) secret from family back home in the desert why are they open about it in their everyday lives? That confused me especially when you take Whit's job into consideration. Hell, some people have problems with gay teachers so a teacher in any form of 3-way may not go down well. This is a niggle for me. I hope I am making sense here. I don't want to sound like an ass but I think some people (myself included as far as any form of 3-way goes) would have a problem with this relationship. But then I have not found it a problem in other books so it might just be this book LOL

The crux of my reason for not liking this book much was the lack of storyline (other than the one event that happens in the second part of the book).

[Caroline Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Aղցela W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading Sean Michael. This book was over sexed and at times overly emotional and I loved it. Center" is the story of twins Grey and Raine Holstein and Bartholomew "Whit" Whittaker the man who enters their lives to become the center of their joined universe. After meeting one night under the dim lights of a neighborhood bar. Raine and Gray are identical twins born six minutes apart. The nature of their relationship is such that they share every aspect of their lives with one another, including a sexual relationship. They are two halves of the same whole two hearts, two minds, one soul. Raine is the more outgoing and frenetic of the twins always chattering and fluttering about he seldom sleeps. He is the sky and Grey's voice. Grey is the more introspective and quiet of the two and sleeps for the both of them. He is Raine's heartbeat, his earth and the foundation that keeps Raine grounded. Whit's entry into their world as their lover and partner serves to enhance Raine and Grey's relationship by adding another dimension to it. Although Whit immediately realizes that he is falling for both Raine and Grey and would like nothing more than to become a permanent part of their lives he remains tentative. He secretly fears that his inclusion in their lives as their lover is something that the twins will eventually tire of. But as the year progresses Whit comes to realize that they both love him as much as he they, and that he has become the center between Grey's earth and Raine's sky. Grey is diagnosed with cancer, and everything starts to fall apart and brings them to their knees. Grey is their rock, and as he's ravaged by the cancer treatments Whit and Raine struggle to hold it together and to find the strength to be what Grey needs them to be. As each one struggles in there own way with Grey's cancer I found it very interested how the author dealt with each of there emotions as a person dealing with a sick loved one with this disease I found that there emotions were true to the real feelings that one has in dealing with this disease and for that I am glad that it was written the way it was. This was a good book.

[Charly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet story, but the angst is through the roof

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 7/10

PROS:
- I was drawn into the story immediately upon reading the preface, which is mystical and poignant and magnificent. Two pages and I was hooked.
- There are some very sweet scenes. Grey and Raine have the spiritual connection common to twins, but their Native American blood makes the connection stronger than normal. And they draw Whit into their relationship beautifully, giving and taking from him as though he really is a part of them, and not just a third wheel. I loved how Raine, especially, refers to his lovers as “my Grey” and “my Whit.”
- There are a lot of similarities between this book and Tempering, the fourth book (and my favorite) in Michael’s Jarheads series. The characters aren’t all exactly the same, but they’re the same TYPES of characters: Grey is gruff and quiet like Rock, Raine is fluttery and outgoing like Rig, and Whit is solid and practical like Dick. And one of the characters gets very ill in each book, and the illness is so traumatic that it almost tears the relationship apart.

CONS:
- Possible spoiler here: The book has a happy ending. HOWEVER, the journey the characters go through to make it to that happy ending is harrowing. Michael explores the effects of Grey’s cancer in pretty minute detail, and the last 50 pages or so are absolutely heartbreaking. I cried and cried and CRIED--I don’t remember the last time I cried so much reading a book. And to be honest, I don’t really see the ending as unequivocally happy. It’s like life for anyone who undergoes cancer treatment: it’s gone for now, but no one knows if/when it will return, and that not-knowing hovers constantly like a black cloud of death.
- There’s a lot of sex, and it gets repetitive. My suggestion is to read small bits at a time.
- Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which character is talking: there are lot of “he”s without the benefit of character names to indicate which “he” we’re looking at.
- The book isn’t horribly typo-filled, but the references to Whit as Walt (on more than one occasion), when that’s not his real name or a nickname or anything, are annoying.

Overall comments: The characters here are different than the Jarheads characters, but there are some marked similarities in the relationship dynamics. This book has some sugary sweet moments and some lovely sex scenes, but there’s also a long stretch toward the end of the book that’s incredibly sad. In fact, I found it so sad that it was difficult to finish, and I don’t see myself reading it again anytime soon.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Center of Earth and Sky is a wonderful romantic story. I find it a comfortable story that I can just get lost into. It is mostly sex {including fisting and twincest} but there is a story weaved in with the sex a long with some delightful descriptions. I've read the story 3 times and enjoyed it each time. I wished their second argument had been better resolved... more talking before the sex. The preface was sad, for me, due to Raine's other lovers and what one causes him to do. This isn't gone into in graphic detail and is necessary to the story but my heart broke for Grey.

Still, for me The Center of Earth and Sky is a great book. There is much I love about this book: the length, the romantic feel of it, the characters, and the way they were shown as unique individuals, the way they met, Whit's thankfulness for the two of them, the way Whit became their centre, their thoughtful gifts to each other, the descriptions that put one in the story, the beautiful ending, and I also love how the author showed them falling in love with each other, and the growth of the relationship. The return to the bar where they met, on their 1st anniversary, is just perfect. The story has a clear HEA. The ending is complete, which I really like.

Painting the Desert has a lot of angst in it. It's a great book but for those who do not like angst, the story does not have to be read. There are health issues in Painting the Desert, but the three remain in love and committed to each other.

Painting the Desert is a powerful story of three men in an established relationship and their trials when Grey gets cancer. It is a story of love and commitment and standing by each other when the way is hard.

The ending is delightful. I do wish readers were given more assurance that they will have a long time together.

More of these three can be found in the book, Toy Box: Twins. I wish this story had been the epilogue in Painting the Desert.

[Beck · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my second Sean Michael book (I finished Bent yesterday) because I wanted to see if Bent was indicative of Michael's style or an aberration. Unfortunately these two books are distressingly similar in style & as other reviewers have called these books "classic Sean Michael" I would have to say that this author is not for me.

I can't read any more of this book at the moment because the snooky-snuggums lovey-dovey language is nauseating me. I am starting to wonder if the author isn't actually female because I have NEVER EVER read books like these written by men. I am perplexed.

The one star rating reflects my opinion of the book, not the quality of the writing. I am well aware that I can't be objective at the moment & may amend this review at a later date if I re-read this book. I made it to 20% before admitting defeat.

[Sue bowdley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a typical Sean Michael book right up until the second part.....I loved all the MC's in this...Raine was so sweet and hot....Always on the go hardly ever sleeping......Grey with his deep voice and forever sleeping....The twins complimented each other so well....Then there's school teacher Whit......He fell for the twins almost right away...His twins.......The first part of the book is basically sex sex sex but that's how Sean tells most of his stories through the sex....It's the second part that's the killer......When Grey is diagnosed with cancer it nearly tears them apart an it certainly broke my heart hoping they'd be ok......I've never read a SM book without a HEA...he loves his HEA.....But it certainly was hard to read hearing of what the boys went through just as in the Chess series with Knight.....I loved this and will definitely be reading it again x

[Marsha Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! The threesome of Raine, Grey and Whit is lovely and their relationship really works for me.

[Tamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read. Wonderful characters and good story. As usual a LOT of gratuitous sex, but you always feel the love there... not just the sex. Loved this one just like all the others.

[Riayl · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5