Alysses

This has to be my absolute favorite volume thus far... It has the least interaction between the two MC's.

It's like a 4.75. I just didn't like the very last parts of the ending. I swear this series is what made me fall in love with Julie Garwood's writing and it kills me that she didn't continue writing these kinds of historicals.

Might re-read again for book club Historical Hellions in July.

Read 5.2022 for Historical Romance Readathon Group Read.

I've been re-reading Julie Garwood in 2022 and have realized that I feel very differently about some of these reads this time around. I discovered Julie Garwood right about the time she first started publishing these books and later binge read everything she published. I read only one of the contemporaries because it was linked to the Buchanan Clan. I remember not really liking the Roses and all the ones based in the USA. They were okay. The Secret and Ransom are Bae. I was just chasing that feeling.

At any rate, the more I sat thinking about this read, the more I disliked it.

Christina gets a prologue and Lyon gets a prologue. Both are beautifully written and much intrigue is created.

Christina is raised by her Dakota family and I love how she states at every turn Black Wolf and Merry are her parents no matter who birthed her. I love that she is a warrior in her own right.
I don't think I like Lyon. I hated every time he called her names. I hated every time he said he would beat her. I hated that Christina didn't go back as promised to visit her Dakota family for a season. I didn't like how certain events were conveniently resolved without actual proof that it was a lie.

This might not make much sense to anyone else reading this but honestly, it's really for me just in case I want to re-read this one. I just know that I'm all good.

Perfection.

Clearly I'm missing something and didn't realize it until I finished the whole thing. This is the epilogue that takes place 5 years after Back To School (which I'm now reading but dreading a little bit because there might be abuse.)

I love BL manga but mostly light, slice of life, cute BL manga. If it has to be heavy, I'd like for it to have a smooth happy ending with hope. What I don't like, which tends to be a theme in most BL, is where one of the MC is totally into the other MC but that MC seems to not want love, affection, sex, or the other MC. Yet, they are in a committed relationship, living their lives like any other couple but with this unease always there. I don't like it. This one had a lot of that. It just sucks to be in a relationship where you are constantly being rejected and nothing is reciprocated. NO means NO but if you say NO and really mean yes and are saying no just to have the other person beg all the time... that gets tiring, is abusive and manipulative. The relationship then begins to feel toxic.

I'm reading the origin story simply out of curiosity. We shall see how it goes.

DNF'd at 50%. Basically for all the reasons the other folks DNF'd or rated the book at about 2 stars.

Right off, she's drunk and contemplating suicide. She has a gun and is talking about ending her life. He walks in and she's passed out but he sees the gun and a letter but can only concentrate on her tits. His words, not mine. Tits Tits Tits.


No. Just NO.

So darn cute. A little story about that day her bestest friend ever moved away.

I see more and more people consuming these books and not walking into these situations with a quiet mind in which to allow to absorb the newness of the book. I promise you that none of you know what it's like to live in this place because you never have. It almost feels like this is a gift some of you just don't deserve.

The first time I read this book was in high school and I remember feeling so proud and so seen. This book feels like home. Within these pages you tap into culture of many kinds, different flavors, community, and secrets. It's a look into the day to day of those quiet times when you could be carefree. Life is still life-ing but every now and then you get to breathe.

I was really hoping it would start totally different... le sigh

The passion was lacking.

Quite an interesting premise. I'm sure it's going to fly over people's heads. I like what was done here. I also love how the Puerto Rican culture was highlighted and not erased. Knowing that mom is a decedent of warriors, kings and queens and of a resilient people... imagine the greatness that could be tapped into and the level of super hero that can catapult Miles. If only.

This was an interesting read. Two actors grappling with the reality of ending their careers before it really takes off if it is revealed that they've been together in a relationship for years and are living with one another. Intimacy is also explored in this one.