Need Paperback – August 7, 2008

I expected lots of sex in this Sean Michael paperback that I read in November 2009, and well it was in there, but it really was part of the story. I was surprised by how much emotion and angst were in this story.The vampire turned out to a fifteen year old in size and appearance, but he is actually 750 years old. He usually just hung out with a group of "friends" that he partied with, played with, and Fed from. Meeting a eighteen(?) year old street hustlerrent boy changes everything.Abusive family / runaway / homeless / rich vampire / Greek / like turns into need / need becomes love / hard- / revealing self (as a monster)

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 5/10This is a sweet premise: two close friends finally finding their way to each other after the death of one’s partner a couple of years before. But there’s nothing unique about it. It’s exactly like most other short Hammer stories I’ve read recently: idealized characters, a bit of conversation, and 85% sex.

Not that the plot be without potential or the writing bad, quite the contrary. I am a sucker for slash vampire stories: the ingredients for a good vampire hunk vs human hunk interaction are always the same, nobody cares about originality.Whithin limits, of course.Here the characters are hard to believe, their personal development and interaction unclear, sex scenes repetitive and full of high sounding sentences and poor in excitement.

"Need" needs plot development. There are good episodes, many very touching, but without a well-constructed plot the book goes nowhere. The two principal characters are fascinating, especially the vampire. It is hard not to care for them, but the story peters out. Writing courses have too often done their students a great disservice. Good writing is not about self-expression; it's about communication. Good writing needs structure. There is some good stuff here, but the book needs more. Merely writing good episodes does not produce an excellent novel. This could have been a great book. I wish it had.

I loved the story but wish it were longer. The story was good and good character development. The sex...well Sean delivers hot gay sometimes BDSM erotic sex! I have been reading many of his ebooks and am hooked. Sean is thinking of part II for Bast and Trick. This book is much shorter than his usual length. But he is a very prolific and imaginative writer and many of his books are quite long.

Trick was looking for just that, a trick, when he runs into Bast. Trick is a street hustler with very few options or prospects and he hits pay dirt when he meets Bast who could not be more different if he tried. Trick lives with other squatters and has to sell his body to eat while Bast has money to burn.Bast is a centuries old vampire who is hoping for a good time when he hooks up with Trick. He just wants to play and, after some very hot sex at a club, invites Trick home with him for one night of fun which turns out to be memorable. They meet again shortly after and can't keep their hands off each other so Bast invites Trick home again, but this time he stays.Bast and Trick become more and more addicted to each other and they fall in love. Then Bast tells Trick what he is. He is devastated when Trick leaves, calling him a monster and vowing never to return. Bast is heartbroken and moves away for his own safety as well as to forget about Trick, but nothing works. Several weeks later Trick finds him and is horrified at his frail and weak condition and promises never to leave again. Can Trick accept what Bast is and love him regardless?Trick and Bast are two halves of one whole; they are obsessed with each other and can't bear to be apart. They are so open about their feelings that reading the book, I felt like a voyeur at times. It's hard not to become captivated by this couple. Bast is gentle, needy and playful and Trick has to learn to trust again, in spite of the tough life he has led. The emotion and sensuality between the two main characters, the palpable need that is ever present, and the passion and eroticism in the tale are addictive. In Need, Sean Michael could not have come up with two main characters whose lives and personalities are more different but the concept works because he wields such a masterful, yet sensitive touch in a different kind of vampire love story.

I actually did enjoy this story. Trick is a hustler who sells his body and thinks Bast is just a 'rich kid' when he first meets him. How wrong he is. Bast is actually a very very old vampire, who's never killed anyone and has collected a great group of friends. I liked the way their relationship develops, as if each of them was surprised that such a thing could exist. Trick's family and friends seem to be dysfunctional beyond all reason, so he's always out for the main chance and Bast's affection for him blindsides him. Bast thinks he'll never experience love for a second time - the first being a couple of hundred years ago and he's intrigued by Trick's nature. Trick, being the night owl that he is, doesn't catch on to the fact that Bast only operates at night. When Bast's feelings for Trick grows and he decides to be honest with him, Trick feels betrayed and angry (because Bast has bitten him during sex) and leaves him, only to realise he actually loves Bast and goes back to him, where they work out their differences and everyone lives HEA.Now, that's a really short description of the plot. The rest of it's filled up with smouldering sex, hot sex, fiery sex, hard sex, group sex - and just in case we haven't had enough, a lot more of the above. Now, I love erotica as much as the next person, but even I was becoming desensitised to the 'sex on every other page' thing. You can actually open a random page of this book and find a sex scene. However, somehow, Sean (our author) manages to eek out enough for us to feel empathy and joy for our main characters - and we do care about them - but almost every scene was punctuated by a sex scene. Not saying they didn't love each other but I found myself thinking, 'not again...' and reading through it quickly.The other thing that confused me is the fact that Bast starts to fall apart when Trick leaves him. I was surprised by his dependency on Trick because there was no talk of any kind of 'bonding' that other vampire or were-creature novel talk about, so I wasn't sure why the attachment was so strong. Maybe someone could explain.Saying all that, however, I do like some of this author's work. This is my third book by him and I'll continue to read his books. But I do like a really good story with my sex, Sean. So, four stars it is - because I did like it, although I really wanted to love it.