Amy

This is a soft, quite romance between two trans men that have been sharing letters for six years that finally get to meet in person. Of course, it has the additionally unneeded side plot of possible wolves in the forest and one of the two - Richard, the newbie to the country - having nightmares about being watched by it. And a sex scene that happened quite out of the blue and I would have been happier if it had focused more on the actual romance instead of feeling like the couple were just working towards the sex the entire time.

Finally, it desperately needs a copyeditor to take a pass as there are wrong words used, misplaced and missing commas and words added to odd places in sentences.

I liked this book. For what it was, I really liked it. But the problem is that it feels like half of a story. Not that there are more adventures for our people to go on - which I would be totally okay with - but that this story is severely abridged.

I have so many questions at the end: who are the Tall Ones, why do they want Aeris' children, why do they seem to hate Aeris, who is Aeris, where does he come from and how did he get where he is, who has Will been living with. ... Those are the main ones.

This story feels like it was just plucked up and set down with absolutely no past or backstory beyond what we need to explain why Will was so willing to pack it all in. (Also, never having Will's POV was a disservice.)

I liked this book, with a couple of caveats.

First, I've read nothing of Sylver's before this. I've been interested in a lot of the books, but my library doesn't have any of them and they never really seem to go on sale. So, before dropping money, I wanted to see if the writing style even worked for me at all.

Secondly, this is exactly the type of fanfiction that I grab a hold of and look for more like this. So...yeah.

Definitely interested in some other books by this author now.

I liked this more than the previous one. The plot was much tighter, with one main case clearly leading to the next. I also appreciate that, even for how obviously dense the world building is, the author just basically dumps you in and doesn't hold your hand or come off self congratulatory the way so many authors of fantasy books do nowadays.

“I hate that they put me in a tower. But I'm glad it was your tower.”

Maybe a 4.5 rounded up. But, really.

That was so much fun and so sweet. I wasn't expecting that. (Especially as I read some not to glowing reviews.) In fact, for the first 2-3 chapters, a DNF was being considered because I hate Gerald's family. They are awful - and he isn't seen in the best light around them at the start, either. But then Dragon was introduced and...well. I started to love the story.

It's fun, it's cute, it's sweet, nothing too terrible really happens, it was just an easy read that I would LOVE to have a sequel to.

Mhm, I liked the first one better. Honestly, I don't have a lot to say about it. It was a nice listen while I was working and it wasn't terrible - though it wasn't ‘amazing, oh my god, I have to listen to more of it right now'. (In fact, all except the last 45 minutes or so was listened while I was at work and I don't work again til after the end of this month and I wanted to finish it this month.)

Thoughts? Hmm. The narrator was obviously having a lot of fun with the material. I don't like the big reveal (tm) at the end of the book. (Very cheap.) I do like the squad of four teens and that they are aware of stuff. I don't like that sometimes this book reads like an after-school special. I do like that the parents aren't perpetually kept in the dark.

I'm not against finishing this series, but I will not be buying the next book (hinthint library of mine) and I will be looking at it with lots of trepidation, because judging by how this book ends, there are two major plot points of the next book that I will either hate, or dislike. (And, in fact, the main plot of the next book, sounds like a plotline I will hate unless it is handled very, very carefully.) (And, to be fair, I'm not sure I've ever seen it handled in a way I like.) (shrugs)

While I do like this one more than my reread of the last one - for the fact that it is dual pov, if nothing else - this book also feels a lot more focused on the romance. To the detriment of the hockey, honestly. The hockey team feels a little...underdeveloped, underutilized and underappreciated. The only guys on the team we really get to know are the ones that were established in the previous book. (Yorkie and Kitty.) I also feel there was a lot of attention given to family of the two main guys and none to the family of the rest of the team. (I now nothing about these players families, unlike the last book.) And, really, we could have done with less Tara because she is super annoying.

(Also, if nicknames change with teams, why are they still Yorkie and Kitty?)

(To be fair, this book probably deserves a lower rating than I gave it, but, despite all my complaints, I did like it. And, honestly, Kitty deserves all the stars.)

I liked it, though not as much as the first book. Of the things I liked in this book, the couple is towards the top. It's a little too insta-love for me, but I liked that we actually see them courting. There are walks together, gifts given, kisses on hands. It's sweet. My absolute favorite thing though, seeming to be a theme in this series, is the community. There's this group of people that is dealing with a curse, but instead of being down about it, hating themselves for looking ‘monstrous' or taking it out on each other, they pull together, do what's best for the community and, honestly, this is almost a utopian society. (The only reason it's not is the dwindling resources and the villain.)

What I had some trouble with in this book was the villain. Not because they weren't a good villain - though becoming so obsessed with ‘love' (really, just obsessed over a person that they are obsessed over) that you turn to villainy is, without a doubt, one of my least favorite villain reasons - but because I felt like screaming at the characters to realize what was going on.

Light villain spoilers to follow:
The denouement was just one long series of me nodding my head because I saw it all coming. The only thing I didn't fully know or understand was the why of it (obsessed love) but every worst idea I had that 'oh, I think that's what they did/are doing/plan on doing' turned out to be 100% right. I mean, for two hundred pages I knew who the villain was. (Ugh.)

Heavy villain and plot spoilers to follow:
Seriously, my first thought was that Levi wasn't a construct, but a Frankenstein's Monster of the previously living. Check.I figured that Braxton was going to use Levi's body for his own soul. Check.I guessed that Levi's draught had special properties to make it easier for Braxton to inhabit him. Sorta check, what with it mind raping Levi to be susceptible to suggestion and Braxton basically making Levi fall in love with Ash.I even suspected that Braxton was the one actually behind the curse. Even that was right.Oh, and I almost forgot my first idea that Levi was the person that the Prince rescued in the previous book. I had that idea way back in the previous book and it turned out to be...as right as it could be when body parts were Frankensteined together.

So, honestly, I felt for most of the book like I was banging my head against the wall. And then we finished it up with something that never fails to give my anxiety a little kick up. (Like it doesn't usually run high enough.) Body swap.

I mean, I liked the book. I did, because I liked the characters and the society they built, but it was way, way to predictable and obvious what was really going on.

I randomly grabbed this book while it was free because of the cover (<3) with the added bonus that this is a friends-to-lovers romance (which is my absolute favorite trope if done well). I knew nothing about it, didn't even check the Goodreads reviews first. And it turned out really well.

I love the fact that they talk. They talk so much and they have conversations that I'm not used to seeing - but I think that comes from being best friends. Because I could feel that and I love how casually they are in each other's space all the time. (And the constant reiteration that it's ‘them, just them'.)

I'm not really the biggest fan of meddling family's in my romances, and I really didn't like how in the book the meddling family provided both the entire amount of angst as well as the forward momentum for the romance. I would have just preferred that the romance start more naturally.

I will be checking out more books by this author - even if they tend towards having my most hated covers for gay romance (shirtless men).

I don't really have a lot to say. Enjoyed it just as much as the first one and am hoping for another one. I like that the mystery develops James' past. I also like that there is more quiltbag representation than just our two main characters. I also like mystery books - but can't read them any more because 97% of people (main characters and otherwise) in mystery books are horrible, terrible people that I don't want to spend two minutes with, much less the length of a book. These characters are almost universally at least tolerable, if not likeable.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I ever thought I would. Like, a lot a lot. For me, the only slightly weak point is the romance. I didn't dislike it, and I am pleased for the couple in a very quiet way, but I never felt like I just had to see them together. I think that's mostly because it moves a little fast, so by the time I was finally starting to ship them, they were already a couple. (Nothing bad here, but would have been happier with the ‘getting to know you' phase lasting longer.)

But, really, the romance isn't even needed, which was a nice surprise. Look, I was so enamored by the world building, the characters that inhabit said world and, mostly, the strong threads of found family and themes of finding your people, a place where you belong, that I was sold on the book long before I even was sold on the romance.

(Also, I must note that this is a ‘magic is evil' fantasy book, but there is a reason that magic is seen as evil and that is pretty much put to paid by the end of the book. So...if you have the same issues I do with ‘magic is evil' but are liking the book despite that, stick around. It gets even better.)

(And celebrate for the eBook cover, because that paperback cover is a thing of horror.)

Usually this would be the point that I say that the time it took me to read this book is not an indication of how much I enjoyed it, but taking nearly six weeks to read this book is an indication that I did not enjoy it at all. In fact, if this hadn't been the final in the series, I would have happily DNF'd at the 40% point and moved on. But no, I had to finish it because I wanted to know how things ended.

(Anticlimactically, and making me dislike the universe as a whole and the majority of named characters in this story. I do like Kumar, at least somewhat and appreciate his morals and him taking a stand (several times) over them. I am curious about Gabe and would have loved to see Kate actually have the emotional thrust that his storyline should have had. The actual ‘plan' before the plan went to pieces as it is wont to do for this crew was, to put it bluntly, craptastic and I hate Mops just a little for thinking that was the solution.)

Look, I honestly thought the book was terrible. Not terrible in the ‘it never should have been published' way, but in the ‘I know the author is better than this' way, and that hurts. Especially because at one point, Hines would have been on my very short list of favorite authors. (Like top 3-4 material.) (The more books of his I read, the less I like him work since I finished his Princess series.)

But this book is...honestly, I think it's nothing. It's cardboard science fiction. It's not funny enough to be humorous, which is something that I'm surprised by knowing Hines' work.

It takes no time to develop characters (even less than the previous two in this series). By this point we should know these people, but I still don't know anything about Mops. Kumar gets a little character development here, a very tiny amount, that just leaves me even more upset because...is it just me or did it take until the final sixth of the entire series to find out that Kumar gets panic attacks?

It's really no surprise that I was most interested in the ‘new' characters like Gabe, Kate and Azure because they were each set up well in the previous book and they haven't been totally dragged down by the cardboard cutouts that everyone else is to indicate that they have as little personality and character as everyone else.

This book isn't military sci-fi, even though the characters are in the military. Nor does it have a wide enough scope to be space opera. (Though it does try and open up the world by bringing in more POV's and, for me, it was a very poor choice because those sections really added little to nothing to the story.)

Instead of either, we unfortunately spend the bulk of this story on one planet (that I was looking forward to leaving ever since they arrived there) making first human contact with a new to humans race. (A race that's basically brainwashed eugenicists.)

I found this book to be a depressing slog to get through and I was just unbelievably disappointed.

Also it is furthering the trend that I find in sci-fi of being crazy depressing and people just generally being out for themselves and damn everyone else.

So... I enjoyed the book - possibly even really liked it - but I am unable to really say why. I can't really point at anything and say that these are the things I that made me like the book. Except for the fact that I do seem to like enemies-to-lovers if the enemies are actually fighting each other. (This book and Netflix's She-Ra has convinced me of this.)

Pan and Hook are neither the most likable characters, though they are both very interesting. I probably would have gotten more out of the story had I ever read/watched the original. All I know about Peter Pan I gained through cultural osmosis. (And tv shows and books that run in their own direction with the story/characters.)

It's a quick read (I read like three-quarters of it in one morning) and I was excited to know what was going to happen once things started moving.

Standard, basic I'll be Home for Christmas type plot for this standard, basic short story. Eminently standard, basic and forgettable.

A star added for there actually being reasons that the couple liked each other.

A star taken away for lack of epilogue.

(Also: highly improbable premise, late story sex scene that I would have traded for an epilogue.)

Maybe more of a 3.5 rounded up.

So, I'm not going to get into the whole toxic masculinity, straight passing stuff this book looks at. (Or how wonderfully parents can screw up their kids.) I honestly don't have the energy for it and I'm sure that there's reviews on here that examine that much better than I ever could.

Instead I am going to talk about myself and enjoyment level.

I knew going into this book that Randy/Del and I had nothing in common. Honestly, he likes more traditionally femme things than I do. (Make-up, nail polish, coordinating your outfits...) But that's kind of part of the reason I wanted to read this book so badly. I like the take of ‘stereotype gay' vs. ‘straight gay' that comes to play with Randy/Del and how Del likes things that Randy would never have tried. (Not Randy's biggest fan because of what he does, but I knew that I disagreed with him from the synopsis, so I went into the book taking it with humor and didn't hate him.)

I, surprisingly enough, like Hudson, liked him right from the start because he said all the right things for me and by the time things start getting revealed about him, I was already invested in his character. I also feel really sorry for him both for his parents, and because of Randy. (Because, really, that's not how you go about getting someone's attention when you like them.)

I knew from the synopsis that Randy's whole plan to lie to get a boy to like him was one that I not only couldn't understand, I side-eyed with a great amount of worry. I went for the book anyway, because I thought this was going to implode early on and then it would be about dismantling toxic masculinity. (And probably the patriarchy.)

It's not. In fact, it's focused a lot more on the romance than I thought it would be.

Instead of all that, I wound up with Randy lying through his teeth (or by omission, like that makes it better) to a boy he professes to love, manipulating Hudson and even going so far as wanting to change this so called ‘perfect boy' so he's more like him. Which, even with a happy ending, I still didn't really like the romance because of all the lies. (Though, I suppose if they're both okay with it, more power to them. It just felt a little too...fairytale for me.)

All that being said, I did enjoy the book. I never got angry with it, except a little close to the end when things just seemed way too easy, and actually enjoyed it.

(Though, I have to admit, while I am happy for Hudson being able to at least see his true self, even if he can't be him yet, I really wish this didn't have every important young male character wearing nail polish.) (I mean, yeah, we don't get many, but all four that we know wear nail polish at least once and I feel like...like the message that you should be true to yourself kind of got lost in the message that gay men wear nail polish.) (Like, yeah, some gay men are not interested in wearing nail polish, that don't mean that is an exhibit of toxic masculinity, it just means they aren't interested in nail polish.) I don't know. I'm probably not explaining it very well.

Oh, gee, who would have thought I loved another Jordan Hawk book.

I'm shocked.[/sarcasm]

Anyway, I love the whole 20's and 30's prohibition era setting - just like I knew I would. I've gotta say, too, this really opened up the Hexworld, witches and familiars stories. Also, as a huge fan of Hawk's Hexworld series, I like that this one was distinct while still carrying some of the same traits that I loved in those stories.

Adore Sam and Alistair and, it seems, that this might be their series instead of a different couple in every book. (Though I certainly wouldn't be complaining if Philip and Doris each get their own story. And a prequel for Wanda and Holly wouldn't go amiss.)

So, really, no complaints and just a lovely story that really hits all the right notes for me.

Meh.

Would have liked it more if the basic setup hadn't been one man gets in over his head and the other man gets in even further over his head and is ‘vulnerable' and helpless and has to be rescued from a life of prostitution by his ‘angel'.

(Do love the idea for the Brotherhood/Chameleon Club though. I almost want to try another book in this series just for that.)

(And, if I'm being honest, there are some odd sentences in this book, and repeated words. Like using the word ‘need' three times in one sentence.)

(And, one of the men is a virgin hero - apparently never even kissed before - and he picks things up preternaturally quick.)

Nice enough story. Was actually expecting a little more in the way of ghostly frights, but sweet and cute enough and the boys are likable. My only problem is the ‘romance' goes from zero to eighty super quick and it feels a little like after one night they're ready to profess undying love and being eternal soulmates. (Also, honestly, I dropped a half star for the totally unnecessary sex scene.)

(And, truthfully? Silas? Not the slightest bit interested in him so probably won't try the novel.)

It took me quite a while to get moving in this book (like three months to read the first quarter) and I don't know if it was because I wasn't feeling this book, I didn't want to read, or just a slump feeling. But, once I did get moving, I read the remaining seventy-five percent in like two days.

Honestly, I don't know what I need to say. This marks the twentieth story (mostly novels, but a couple of novella's thrown in) by Hawk that I've read. I love his writing, his characters and they are just perfectly creepy for me without veering into unable to read horror territory for me.

I like Sebastian and Ves both, I like their sidekicks (though we all know Irene would not like being called a sidekick) and I love that Widdershins seems like it's going to be the setting for the entire series - because I love Widdershins and, honestly, I want to live there.

(Though if you're just being introduced to Hawk's books through this review, don't start here!)

I'm trying to conjure up some real feelings for this book, but I've got none. It was an easy read, of a series where I've enjoyed each book just a little less than the last. I'm not happy with all the time travel and the villains that are actually not - look, they're so wonderful, too - and certain characters (Tyler, Scarlet) get on my nerves nearly all the time and others (Auri, Kal, Fin) get on my nerves average half the time. (And I love Zila and am hurt that she is so under utilized. She has four chapters from her perspective, Tyler has three times that many. Urgh.)

Anyway, don't regret reading it as it wasn't bad just something I was disappointed with.

Oh, also, I am not pleased with the way literally every main character has to be paired off in a romance. Blech.

I should have borrowed Conventionally Yours by Albert instead of the bind-up of the first three books in this series. I didn't because I thought it would likely be a little more YA angsty and thought this series sounded cute and sweet. Jokes on me because this book is way to dramatic and angsty for me.

I do like Vic and Robin as characters - but I really don't like them together. First, friends with benefits always has more sex than I like, so I was prepared for that. I wasn't prepared for Vic to tell Robin (during their first time together? I can't remember) that he was going to ‘lick him all over.' That is so not my kind of kink.

Also, I'm not a big fan of most D/s relationships - and this one hits several of my least favorite tropes from this: older, bigger man is the dom; younger, slighter man is the sub. And I would have liked to have been warned that there is a ten year age difference here. (I don't dislike age differences, I just don't understand them. Especially when the younger is in their early twenties and the older has so much more life experience and they really have little to no common ground. Like this book.) Then there's the ‘boy' do this and ‘boy' do that and ‘baby let me take care of you' and I loathe ‘baby' as a term of ‘endearment'. (And am not the biggest fan of a sub always being called ‘boy'.))

And then we have all the drama. Like boatloads of drama and I just don't care any more.

And, finally, I nearly DNF'd this book twice (first because of the zing of energy when they touched, and the awareness between them and all the other sixth sense feelings I hate in romance and second because I started getting lack of communication vibes reminding me of the first book) and I kind of wish I had. (Though I will say that Vic and Robin seem to have a much healthier relationship and I do think they are much better for each other than the couple from the first book is/was.)

(I'm done with this series here, because at least the third book tells me there's an age difference and even more ‘no strings attached sex' and this is not me. Bye.)

In a bid to find a book to read from the ebooks on offer from my library, I grabbed another Annabeth Albert - mostly because I was remembering how much I liked her #gaymers series and was hoping that maybe it was just her military series that didn't work for me.

However, this novella really didn't either.

The novella is divided into four parts.

Part one is the get together and I liked it and our boys.

Part two is sex and drama. Lots of sex. Too much sex for me, being honest.

Part three is the lack of communication drama. And sex. Hated both.

Part four is something that actually looks like a healthy couple.


I'll take the first part and the forth part and a little dose of the second part (the drama) and be happy. The third part made me kind of dislike eveything - but especially the way hese two refuse to communicate and Robby in general.


General Word-vomit to Follow








It started off well Robby being cute and awkward and David being sweet and awkward. Then they got together and it soon (in the story, because it skips months at a time) became a case of every time they are alone together, they have sex. Not something I like.

But then, after being together something like nine months, we get this quote from Robby: ‘I wasn't sure we wanted the same thing.' (This book is told in Robby's first person perspective.) This is because Robby and David do not communicate. There's many, many times Robby thinks/feels he should say something to David, ask what David wants, make sure they are on the same page, but he doesn't.

David, who knows what's going on in his head. Is he as conversation-phobic as Robby? Does he actually think they're communicating well and on the same page? We'll never know. But Robby knows David doesn't know what he's doing. David had an asswipe of a boyfriend and Robby learns this is why David assumes things in a relationship to be one way. (Such as never spending the night after sex.) And Robby still refuses to bring these things up.

Which leaves me veering between thinking it is manufactured drama and having no liking of Robby. At all. And I'm so ot used to the romance in novellas relying on miscommunication - or, rather, in this case, missed communication - and it's a big hate of mine. (And the almost requisit misunderstanding that forces the couple apart.)

“You need to at least ask him what he wants instead of decinding for him.” (20 year old barista. Who has more sense that our ‘hero.' And I don't know how old Robby is supposed to be, but he reads very young.)

Probably more of a 3.5 but willingly rounded up for nostalgia.

Look, I grew up with Power Rangers. I mean, Mighty Morphin was one of my staple shows as a kid. The funny thing is, though, I took a long break until Dino Charge came out, because it saw the return of the original sixth ranger. (That restarted my love for all things Power Ranger and I have now bought many, many seasons on dvd.)

Fast forward quite a few years and this comic confirmed what I discovered upon rewatching the first two seasons of Mighty Morphin: Tommy Oliver is not a team player. Oh my gosh, I grew to hate him in the series and having such a focus on him in the comic was not fun for me. (Hopefully, once his head gets on straight, it will quit being the Tommy Oliver show, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for that.)

I do like that there is some added depth that the show couldn't/didn't delve into. In this first omnibus, we're dealing with Tommy and his mental instability from being controlled by Rita, but there's also some distrust headed his way from Zack, Billy feeling out of place in a team of fighters (let's just ignore the show and how the super nerd Billy suddenly became as good a fighter as martial arts instructor Jason) and the whole problem between Jason and Tommy with the later not listening to the former.

(If Jason isn't the best red ranger, tell me who is. He is everything a leader should be, and I still say that.) (Note: I firmly believe he is the best red ranger, but he is not my personal favorite. Mostly because my personal favorite red rangers aren't the best leader material.)(And they're kind of goofy.)

I don't like the forcing of the Kim/Tommy thing, but I do like that she is very chill about it - as opposed to her show counterpart. Trini is as awesome as she always was. And that's all I have to say about our yellow ranger.

Not a bad first outing and I do hope that each of the other characters will get a chance to shine. (And that Zack will get some much needed character development.)

I like this. To be honest, I wasn't sure I would because of the fact that one of the people in the eventual couple is turned into an animal for a decent sized block of the story and is unable to communicate. But, I did like this because it's cute and sweet and, even for being just over 100 pages, takes its damn time. (AKA: it's not a race to see who can get naked or fall in love first.)

Maybe more of a 3.5 rounded up, but I was feeling good when I read this book and it made me happy. (And I did like the series I read by Burns co-authored by W.M. Fawkes and had been wanting to read more of each of them.)

I was going to say that this book reminded me a little of a fairy tale (and, yes, it can be a little shallow at times, just like a fairy tale, but, once again, I was so relieved that it didn't insist upon moving the relationship too fast that I didn't mind) but then I saw this was part of a fairy tale retellings series and ... yeah, I can totally see it.

1.5 rounded up because there is nothing objectively bad here, it's just very much not my type of read.

Look, everything was good until about fifty percent, when the miscommunications started rearing up. But I could deal with that. I could. The guys were nice and I thought they'd be pretty okay together. (Especially if you can ignore the little too much of John being the shy guy that we never get to see except for the first meeting with Teagan and being told thereafter how shy and nerdy he is, but instead his internal monologue is more like caveman ‘mine, mine, mine' over Teagan. Which I really couldn't, but still.)

Also it relies too heavily on miscommunication and ... oh, yeah, moves super fast with the first kiss/sex while neither one is sober. (Not drunk, but they'd likely been drinking a little heavier than I am comfortable with them following with sex, especially their first time - and then, at the end of their get together sex, there's basically a marriage proposal.) And don't forget the constant ‘baby' this and ‘baby' that from both of them.

Urgh.

I really did like it at first - first probably half of it, then it just kept getting further and further away from what I like.