D
3.5, rounded up because I was pleasently surprised.
I liked Diana (smart, smart woman “I forgive you, Kit.”Marlowe's head swung up in surprise at my words.“Why?” he asked, dumbstruck.“Because as long as Matthew blames you for what happened to me, a part of him remains with you. Forever,” I said simply. “Come upstairs and say your farewells.”).
I liked Philippe.
I liked the conversation about vampire novels :D
1.5 stars, rounded up.
A half-stars option would be highly appreciated.
The bdsm element didn't bother me. Didn't appeal to me, either, but I didn't really mind it.
What DID bother me was that (almost) every screwing up went without apologizing to the wronged part.
My probably biggest problem was this: “Stop it. Go away. Damn it, stop. STOP. ” “Sshh...sshhh.” Marcus. Marcus' touch on his back, Marcus' thighs straddling his hips, the other men moving away at Marcus' murmured word. The electronic stimulation stopped. “Let me go.” “In a minute. I promise, in just a minute. You need to calm down first. Deep breaths.” “Why did you do this? This wasn't about...l ike the rest. I'm not...” I'm not theirs. I'm yours. Thomas wanted to say it, but he didn't. Not right now. He was angry, hurt. He wanted to be let go.
This makes me SO MAD! And all we got from Marcus - and only in his head, later on, was that he “didn't know what had gotten into him.” Please.
I know Thomas didn't use safe word (And seriously, stop??) before that particular part started or even when Marcus told him others were going to touch him, but exposing a private person to this kind of “scene” and nearly causing him a panic attack is not okay. And Thomas should have addressed it.
As he should have addressed his moronic mother. How could a parent do that to a child they claim to love? And I'm not talking about the “You have responsibilities, so you can't be happy. No, wait, you can, but only on my terms” BS and guilting him into staying. I get that. And I get that, on some level, Thomas was using it as an excuse. But the crap with the painting is beyond me. On a bitchscale from one to Vivienne, Thomas' mother rates in the top three without difficulty. Which is why I don't buy the last scene between her and Thomas and the phone conversation with Marcus and her change of heart. And she didn't apologize about the painting, either.
Neither did Thomas apologize for prying into Marcus' past. It's true that waiting for “Master”
to trust him was going to take forever, but an apology for getting into another's private business was not out of order. Duh. Or maybe I'm wrong.
As a result,
I am exhausted. This was a beautiful book, but not one I would reread with pleasure. And definitely not one I'd recommend for a first m/m read.
Comic relief:
“You and the rest of the world. He's very private. Likes living on some ass-end remote island off the coast of Florida.” Thomas stopped dead. His charcoal made an uncontrolled smudge as he forgot to remove it from the paper during his swift turn. “J can actually stand for a name beginning with J,” Marcus pointed out. “Like Joshua. Josh.” “I was talking to J. Martin? That's Josh? Holy—why didn't you tell me? Holy Christ. I... You fucked J. Martin. Holy Christ.” Thomas broke off, scowled when he saw Marcus with his hands laced behind his head, eyes dancing with laughter at his reaction.“So now it's okay that I fucked him?” “You dick. I'm going to throw you off this roof.” “Security will not let you stay for dinner tomorrow night if you kill me,” Marcus said, rolling to his feet more quickly than expected as Thomas came after him. He dodged around a tree anchored in a massive clay planter. “I'll make it look like a suicide,” Thomas promised.
I needed that laugh. Honestly.
“You could've told me we were only there to help make up the numbers. I'd have brought a blanket.” Warrick decided to up the game. “Don't worry, I shall know not to ask you next time.” Cornered, Toreth shrugged. “I've had worse afternoons. Didn't you say they do evening performances in bars? That wouldn't be so bad. Something to drink...” His hand dropped below the table and Warrick felt a touch on his knee, then fingertips walking slowly up his thigh. “Nice dark seats at the back.”
—-
So Warrick cares just a bit more for it to not matter at all, but not enough for it to make a difference. Good to know. It isn't really a newsflash, though.
Toreth didn't say anything at all as they walked. However, he was whistling. Usually a good sign, if hard on the ears.
LMAO Everyone is always complaining how out of tune Toreth is.
Toreth smiled, as predatory as anything they'd seen during the day, but without the reassurance of a barrier between them.
Control Just quotes
Their Saturday morning routine.
Toreth had spent the evening reading pharmaceutical journals he'd been putting off for weeks, and enjoying the idea of Warrick at a table full of clients.
Then he looked up and lost track of the plan, distracted by Warrick's dark eyes. Warrick was watching him with a combination of curiosity and hungry excitement that temporarily cleared Toreth's mind of all plans.Finally, he focused on Warrick's parted lips, and that at least prompted movement. He tightened the lid on the oil, then leaned down, took his weight on his elbows and kissed Warrick. Then he kept kissing him until he realised that not only had he forgotten the plan, he'd forgotten to breathe as well. He lifted his head, feeling a little dizzy.
...revelling in the heat and Warrick's hands shifting, squeezing just exactly, perfectly right, because he knew what Toreth wanted without having to ask because he knew him, he knew—
Toreth gave in to the complaints of his neck and rested his forehead on the pillow, turning to breathe against Warrick's neck, drinking in the tang of his hot skin. Usually it turned him on unbearably. In his current haze it stirred different feelings, warming and relaxing him, urging sleep.
“It was a fuck of a lot more fun with you. Weird, huh?”
He was humming, which seemed oddly more tuneful than normal. A side-effect of being Marc, perhaps.
There was something strange happening. Something very, very strange, but somehow he didn't care, or couldn't be bothered to worry, and wasn't it Toreth with him? Everything would be all right. Warrick placed his hand firmly in the centre of Toreth's chest and pushed him back against the sofa. Then he kissed him until he felt he'd conveyed sufficient appreciation of the evening's entertainment, and until Toreth's heartbeat had picked up speed under his palm.
At least this was Toreth's flat, where crumbs on the floor were merely part of the ecology. LOL
3.5 Unexpectedly nice. Difficult topic handled well. Second time I get acquainted with a certain type of gags. My (virtual) education in the world of bondage is a never-ending journey. o_o I liked the characters - Adam, Denver, Louisa. Wantend to kick Brad in the nether regions, but liked everyone else. It felt like I shoud know them, though, and I don't. I've only read one other book in this series - [b:Where Nerves End 14061034 Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs, #1) L.A. Witt http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337538048s/14061034.jpg 19698182] and I don't remember much about it other than 1) I liked how the pain management problem was presented (also difficult topic well handled) and 2) I wanted a book about Seth (which I'm getting, yay [b:Covet Thy Neighbor 17305027 Covet Thy Neighbor (Tucker Springs, #4) L.A. Witt http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359499031s/17305027.jpg 23963301]) - and Seth is the best friend who introduced indirectly the main characters whose names I don't recall. It took me awhile to get into the story. My mind was preoccupied with other stories yet unfinished and/or unpublished and this just didn't feel like the right distraction. So I started it, stopped, went to free shorts, to free long stories, to rereading favourites. But maybe it's not just me, maybe it does take a while to get connected to Adam's mind process and to get to care about him. I loved the final scene.
2.5 stars
Warning in advance about rambling and mild spoilers.
Random thoughts:
- It was definitely the wrong time for me to pick up this book. As Lover at Last's release date gets closer, I get more excited about it. Since this book is PNR, a m/m novel in a mainstream series - as far as I am aware, certain correlations are inevitable. It got me worried about LAL, because of reasons. This book reads like het PNR, only the chick replaced with a guy. Worse yet, I wasn't sure which guy was the chick. (This doesn't have to do with topping or bottoming, it's a great plus that they were both versatile and switched.)
- Drecks are described, as far as I gathered, as Jotun. Which promptly made me think of Loki and Avengrs fanfic. Definitely a plus.
- I got the impression of nicely done BDSM. But I'm not much into het bdsm so I skimmed it.
- I liked the side characters. Stryker, Mikah, Malek. Felice, Gena, Kota.
- Bonding - calling and suffering. Nice way to enrich the (known to me) mitology.
- Predictable.
- Cheesy.
- Predictable. No, seriously. I saw each and every obstacle they came across from miles away. As would they have if they had gotten their heads out of their respective a–es.
- I liked Lakota. Only I keep calling him Dakota in my mind, which brings the association with Dakota Fanning. That makes a hilarious mental picture.
- MCs: one paints, the others play musical instruments. They're both gay. They fall for each other What are the chances? Not liking the stereotypes here.
- They forgive too easily. Or at least Sev does. Well, it goes without saying, had he worked out the situationd in his mind beforehand, there would be better understanding between him and Ari and less chance for things to go wrong and him get hurt in the process.
- They were all to mild for hardened warriors.
Perhaps I expected too much? And/Or I haven't read PNR for too long? I don't know which it is, of it's the book's fault or mine, but this book wasn't a win for me.
Of course it would end there. Of bloody course.
Actually I expected it to end 20-ish pages earlier, but it makes more sense this way.
Quotes ahead. Spoilers for Vol. 2.
To get what you want, you have to know exactly how much you are willing to give up. A kingdom, or this.
Laurent said, ‘When this campaign is over, I think — if you are a man and not a worm — you will attempt to gain retribution for what has happened to you. I expect it. On that day, we roll the dice and see how they fall. Until then, you serve me.'“...You don't understand the way a mind like that thinks. I do. If I were Jokaste and a king maker, I'd have chosen Kastor over you too.'‘I suppose you are going to enjoy telling me why,' said Damen. He felt his hands curl into fists, heard the bitterness in his throat.‘Because a king maker would always choose the weaker man. The weaker the man, the easier he is to control.'Damen felt the shock of surprise, and looked at Laurent only to find Laurent gazing back a him without rancour. The moment stretched out. It wasn't . . . it wasn't what he had expected Laurent to say.As he gazed at Laurent, the words moved through him in unexpected ways, and he felt them touch something jagged-edged within him, felt them shift it a first, tiny fraction, something lodged hard and deep, that he had thought immovable.He said: ‘What makes you think Kastor is the weaker man? You don't know him.'‘But I'm coming to know you,' said Laurent.‘My honourable barbarian. I wouldn't have picked that as your type.'‘Type?' ‘A pretty face, a devious mind and a ruthless nature.'No. Wait. I... wait.' Damen stopped, and turned. Laurent's gaze was edged with indecipherable emotion, and his jaw was set at a new angle. The silence stretched out for such a long time that the words, when they came, were a shock.‘What Govart said about my brother and I . . . it wasn't true.'‘I never thought it was,' said Damen, uneasily.‘I mean that whatever... whatever taint exists in my family, Auguste was free of it.'‘Taint?'‘I wanted to tell you that, because you,' said Laurent, as though he was forcing the words out, ‘You remind me of him. He was the best man I have ever known. You deserve to know that, as you deserve at least a fair... In Arles, I treated you with malice and cruelty. I will not insult you by attempting to atone for deeds with words, but I would not treat you that way again. I was angry. Angry, that isn't the word.' It was bitten off; a jagged silence followed. (Ch.14) ‘Don't go,' said Laurent, quietly.‘I'm just clearing my head. I already told my escort I wouldn't need them until morning,' said Damen.And there was another awful silence, as Damen realised what Laurent was asking him.‘No. I don't mean—forever—just—' Laurent broke off.‘Three days.' Laurent said it as though producing from the depths the answer to a painstakingly weighed question. ‘I can do this alone. I know I can. It's only that right now I can't seem to . . . think, and I can't . . . trust anyone else to stand up to me when I'm . . . like this. If you could give me three days, I—' He forcibly cut himself off.‘I'll stay,' said Damen. `You know I'll stay for as long as you—'‘Don't,' said Laurent. ‘Don't lie to me. Not you.'‘I'll stay,' said Damen. ‘Three days. After that, I ride south.'Laurent nodded. After a moment, Damen came back to rest against the table beside Laurent. He watched Laurent find his way back to himself.
Comic drawn by keiki.
To get what you want, you have to know exactly how much you are willing to give up.
I want inside Laurent's head. I want it so badly!
Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult. Damen's view, half-truncated by the short chain at this neck, had been enough to see that. But Laurent's expression had shuttered quickly.__"...He has a mind for details.' ‘Yes, I'm learning that,' said Damen.__...To abuse someone who cannot resist—isn't that monstrous?'__Maybe he just wanted another chance to fight something. Preferably an insufferable yellow-haired princeling.__
2.5 stars
Stupid, stupid boys!
Would it have hurt if Dallas had been open with B. from the beginning? Those lies and evasiveness are har for me to forgive. And the hard work he obviously put in this does not in any way mean he chose the right way about this. And Brooklyn was in the wrong for not facing it immediately. They should have discussed it the same Wednesday he saw Dallas wasn't in the library.Were I in Brooklyn's place, I wouldn't "I was going to fight for you." Dallas, I would... be far more drastic.
Very, very good.
I am wary of the sequels, though. They sound too dark. [I started this story for many reasons—to explore the ideas, to write about the psychology of a certain kind of abuse] << Author's note after the epilogue of pt 7, which I don't find very encouraging.
And look at that length!
1 - Chapters: 22 - Words: 81,263
2 - Chapters: 33 - Words: 169,197
3 - Chapters: 51 - Words: 278,941
4 - Chapters: 86 - Words: 500,864
5 - Chapters: 125 - Words: 786,063
6 - Chapters: 124 - Words: 709,580
7 - Chapters: 107 - Words: 543,467
Holy sh!t. And I thought Turn was long. Not sure if I'm ready for this journey.
2.5 stars
Mostly unbelievable and not fully in character. I find some flaws more difficult to forgive than usually, not sure exactly why.
I liked the curse bit. Nice and nasty.
But still, Draco in the choir. Wiccans. Really? People change, but they don't change that much. :D
The ending was dissatisfying and uncovincing.
Regretfully, it's a miss for me.
The thing is, it is in Patroclus' point of view. And from a certain moment on, he shouldn't have a direct view. Because of circumstances I'm sure most are aware of. Also the voice goes from past to present tense back and forth (in the last third I remember it well, because it is recent).
Also, it seems uneven - fast pacing in the last pages, dragging in the middle. But perhaps my judgemant is even more subjective than usual because it took me so long to read it.
I want to give this book one star. It took me almost six months to read it. Had it been more captivating, I would have found the will to pick it back up sooner, yes? It didn't help that I know the story (who doesn't?) and wasn't looking forward to it.
I want to give it five stars. A book that makes me care enough to cry - more than a few tears at that - has earned it.
I am giving it three stars. It is a good interpretation of The Iliad. But it does have isssues.
It made me cry at 97% That's gotta be a new record.
It's probably been said before but my take on it:
- too many points of view
- Naomi is irritating. Her “relevation” is meh. I mean, she said it herself. How is she in college and not having figured this out?
- The male Robin is fantatic.
- I love Bruce The Second.
Almost dnf.
Definitely not the book for me.
You know how feeling nauseous while hungry feels like? Well, so do I and it's never a pleasurable experience.
Not sure what else to say. I want to read the ending of this story. Good, bad, torturous, hopeful, hopeless, I want to know it. Anything before that, I'll skip.