Audiobook Review of Burly Tales

Burly Tales by Evey Brett, B.J. Fry, John T. Fuller, John Linwood Grant, Jonathan Harper, Alysha MacDonald, James K. Moran, Charles Payseur, Rob Rosen, Mark Ward, M. Yuan-Innes, and Ann Zeddies. Narrated by Eric Umstott, Idan Englander 4*

BLURB: What has been missing from the daring tales of fairy tale heroes is quite simply some heft. In Burly Tales, Lambda Literary Award-winning editor Steve Berman has gathered a dozen stories of whimsy and romance that feature gay men with plenty of curves and fur.

Run away with us to enchanted woods, where the cubs and bears are not going to eat you (not without informed, enthusiastic consent), where no one will judge if you take up residence in a house with seven bearded men and only one bed, and where if you fall in love with a large, hairy man with a forbidding castle and a well-stocked library, he'll still be that way after you kiss him. 

With stories of handsome princes trapped in towers or cursed to appear like actual bears, the plight of lonely giants in the clouds, and a trio looking to celebrate at the local gay bar only to face down a troll, the stories in this book will certainly enchant.

©2021 Steve Berman (P)2021 Lethe Press

My Review:  This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review. Got to love Audio Boom when they offer up such good gems as this just for leaving an unbiased review.

So anyone who's followed my blog knows I am always honest about my opinion (some might even call me brutally frank about it) but I have to say this audiobook would probably have been reviewed even if I'd used up a credit on it. 

The stories were varied and enjoyable with the thread of being adaptations of fairy stories, and the main characters being burly, bearded, and gay to link them all together. These are very adult stories and, in most of them, I even recognised which fairy tale inspired it. I think my favourite was The Red Bear of Norroway by John Linwood Grant closely followed by A Giant Problem by Charles Payseur. 

My least favourite was probably actually the first one ‘Three, To The Swizz'!’ by James T. Moran because it had too many fairy tale references in it, as if it couldn't quite make up it's mind which one it wanted to adapt.
Never the less I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone who enjoys unusual takes on fairy tales and loves a romantic story with gay bears as MCs.