JJ
2.5 stars
This book was a bit too sappy and long-winded for my tastes. Parts of it were really good, but then there'd be a long emotional monologue that I had a hard time believing anyone would really say. I also found it unlikely that any 8-9 yr old, no matter how smart, would say the things Ty did. What got on my nerves the most, though, was the many times too often repeated cycle of Bear deciding to come out or speak his true feelings, only to chicken out or be thwarted at the last second by an interruption. It just kept happening and got old fast.
Loved the story, but I'm taking away one star because some of the dialogue was too sappy to be believable, and the book is poorly edited. I've never seen so many unnecessary commas in my life!
The characters are well-developed, as is their relationship, and there's loads of sexual tension. I loved Noah and Coop, and look forward to reading the next book for Wes and Brayden's story.
My overall response to this book was “Meh.” It was alright, but I didn't like it enough to really enjoy reading it. Too much about the characters' behavior was unbelievable to me. For example, would a closeted conservative politician take his male escort to a public bar? I don't think so. I also couldn't believe anyone as over-the-top unpleasant as Andrew's dad could have possibly attracted not one, but two people enough for them to fall in love with him. I dunno, maybe my expectations for humanity are still too high.
My other problem is that I really couldn't make myself like Cormac. Closeted politicians, pastors, and other people in positions of leadership that openly speak out against homosexuality just absolutely disgust me. I completely understand his confusion and the pressure he was under being raised in a conservative family - I was raised the same way. I didn't fault him for being closeted. But to then gain a position of power and take a public stance that he knew was wrong, just because of pressure (and probably voting on bills based on that stance)? That's cowardice.
I didn't read anything about Cormac's honest positions on political issues in his discussions with Andrew that would have kept him from being able to identify as a Democrat rather than a Republican. I couldn't figure out why he identified more with the Republican party (at least not the fucking joke that party has become since Obama was elected President). He seemed to imply that Democrats are pro-illegal immigration and anti-corporations, when in reality, they just want to make it easier for people to immigrate legally and become contributing members of society who can get legitimate jobs and pay taxes. They also realize how vital corporations are (we do have a capitalist economy after all), but believe that without regulation, corporate greed can get out of hand and damage our society, and that the free market doesn't always get things right (e.g. healthcare). Cormac's most passionate issue was environmentalism for goodness sake! All that to say, there wasn't anything stopping him from switching parties and coming out of the closet.
Granted, Cormac did eventually change his public position on homosexuality, but it seemed to me he only did it to win Andrew back, not because of strong moral beliefs. Maybe I'm being too judgmental, but his political shit just rubbed me the wrong way.
Lastly, it was completely obvious from the start that Andrew's sister would die, so since I was waiting for it, I wasn't upset at all when it finally happened.
Despite all that bothered me about the book, I didn't hate it, so it gets 2 stars. Wow, my political rant made this review much longer than I intended. Oops.
4.5 stars
This book was kind of amazing. It was creepy, suspenseful, and horrific, and I realized I actually really do like tentaclesex, okay? I feel like everything I want to say about this book requires a spoiler tag, so if you haven't read it and you're a fan of scary movies, you should definitely go for it! I would easily give it 5 stars if not for the numerous editing mistakes which got particularly distracting when a name mix-up made me think for a moment that an unexpected guest had suddenly appeared where he did not belong.
If you plan to read the book, don't click the spoiler tags below!!
I love the feeling I got when I started reading and knew that something was off about the whole island and its inhabitants. It was even obvious that something wasn't quite right with Will, since he had no idea why these people thought they knew him, and his own behavior was a bit off (I believe being partially seeded as a child - holy shit, Cy did that to and eight year old!!! - had him somewhat brainwashed, drawing him back to the island despite the creepy way everyone was acting, and causing him to run off into the woods without much thought). Then I wasn't entirely sure whether Cy was a bad guy at first. I wanted to like him, but his calling Will his lovely was a pretty effective way to clue me into his creepiness; that and his expectation of unquestioning obedience. He's a wonderfully evil monster :). I found the dub-con tent-sex (when he used the goo to make Will pliant) incredibly hot, and the non-con tent-sex was horrifically good. And then...THEN!! The shark attack, with the arm!! And when Cy spit-roasted him with a suckered arm - I mean, holy crap. Then we found out Cameron and Ryan were his half brothers and Mr. Falconer was his father, who was basically just breeding little boys for this monster!! Just, wow. All this kept me glued to the pages when I really needed to go to bed. I had to finish it! Also, I found it hilarious when Aiden said "I'd like to point out at no time did you ever tell me Cyrus was a giant tentacled...thing." LOL
I'll end with a question for those who have read it, or the author is welcome to answer as well: Okay, so Sina is a similar creature who controls birds, and she wanted to get rid of Cy because he was being too obvious, and she chose Patrick to help her do that. I assume she brainwashed him into being with her similar to what Cy did to Will, which makes me feel bad for hating him in the beginning. Anyway, why did she lead Will to Cy's cottage that first night with the bird in the woods? How did that fit into her game plan? Why give Will to Cy if she's just going to have to rescue him later? Was it to temporarily distract him? Or to protect Ryan? Theories, anyone?
Xing's pic from his review of [b:In These Words Volume 1 13549765 In These Words, Volume 1 Kichiku Neko https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1387548728s/13549765.jpg 19116141] is perfect for this story as well. I'm still too stunned to put my thoughts into words or even choose a rating! It's not lower than a 4 though.UPDATE: I'm going to settle on 4.5 stars. This is an incredibly disturbing read, but it is very well done. It was interesting to read from the perspective of an insane person, to see why he did the things he did (even if they didn't make logical sense to me). The only thing that would have made it more disturbing would be if they hadn't been complete strangers and Uriel had helped raise him as a boy. Of course, if that were the case, Gabriel wouldn't have done what he did.UPDATE #2: Apparently I was so traumatized by the prior events of the book, I failed at reading comprehension, missing an important part of the plot near the end. I had lowered my rating by half a star because I thought there was a plot hole that I now know didn't even exist, so I'm now raising it to 5 stars.
I don't really know how I feel about this one. I like it and hate it at the same time. I like that it demonstrates that life in general and your love life in particular don't always work out the way you plan it. However, in order for me to really enjoy a book, I need to care about the characters, and somewhere in Part 2, I stopped caring for the most part. Tim pissed me off, Jace was a little too perfect, and I just couldn't muster up much of any feeling towards Ben. I really liked Part 1 and all the angst that came with it. Part 3 and the Epilogue felt rushed and too convenient. So it breaks down as follows:
Part 1: 4 stars
Part 2: 2 stars
Part 3: 2 stars
Epilogue: 3 stars
Overall: 2.5 stars
3.5 stars
I'll start with what I didn't like then end on a high note.
I don't feel like I really got to know the person that Darius is. There wasn't much depth there, or in his relationship with Rhys. I also never really understood Rhys' thought process when it came to his hang-ups about the multi-partner sex. Every time I thought I understood the problem, he seemed to say that wasn't it, so I was just confused. The worldbuilding left me with some questions: Why would they choose a virus that was spread by any open wound, even a small cut?? I assume soldiers get cuts all the damn time doing what they do. It's hard to believe any scientists would be dumb enough to think that would be a feasible idea. Also, why infect women with it knowing they'd be spreading it anytime they're on their period?. Finally, those soldiers had to be the most incompetent group I've ever read about. These are supposed to be highly trained individuals, yet they leave Jacob unattended after his fight with Rhys, knowing he could be planning something dangerous and that he's already shown signs of being a little unhinged?? Then they let Rhys fall behind in an unsecured area, far enough back that a rev has a chance to tackle him and bite him before the nearest Jug can stop it? Then, the medic doesn't think to immediately treat him with antibiotics, but instead waits until an infection takes hold to do something about it?? I'm surprised they'd survived as long as they had to get to that point!
I was forewarned that Darius called Rhys “boy” a ridiculous number of times in this book, so considering that the overuse of that word makes me feel violent, I used a find/replace tool to change it to Rhys, which gave me a laugh when I came across words like Rhysfriend and flamRhysant while reading.
I really liked the premise for the book, as it reminded me of 28 Days Later, my favorite movie of all time. It combined fighting scary infected people (good) with an excuse for lots of sex (even better). And how hot all that sex was, with Darius at least! An attitude adjustment would have made the rest of it better with the other guys, but I understand wanting to keep what was between Rhys and Darius special and separate from everyone else. Overall, it was pretty good!
4.5 stars
I'm not really a big fan of YA novels in general, but this one was really damn good. I felt surprisingly invested in Alex and Seb's story, like I needed it all to work out for them. There was plenty of angst, but it didn't feel fabricated to me. I thought the story dragged a bit earlier on, but it wasn't long before it really picked up, and then I was unable to put it down.
I didn't enjoy this book. I couldn't relate to any of the characters and nothing they did made any sense to me. I didn't like any of them. For most of the book, it seemed like no one knew what the hell was going on, yet they thought and spoke in a way that implied that they did. They seemed to speak in code, saying things like “You know what you need to do” (I'm paraphrasing here), and all I could think was Really? Cause I don't think he does, and I don't think you do either. Could someone kindly inform me what needs to be done because I don't know WTF you're talking about.
Turns out, all that needed to happen was for Charlie to fuck some sense into Malcolm. Who knew the solution could be so simple?! eyeroll
Anyway, there's also a side plot that kind of gets forgotten about until it's mentioned in passing in the epilogue like “Oh yeah, that big dramatic thing? It's all good now, no biggie.” Still, the book wasn't horribly written, so it gets two stars.
Also, there is a random extra hand on the cover.
Nice love story between and former foster kid and an inexperienced guy who has had a heart transplant, with some dangerous situations in their small town thrown in.
I enjoyed reading about these two, but there wasn't really anything that set it apart from other similar stories. There were some editing errors that occasionally annoyed me (incorrect word choice, incorrect tense, first saying Alessandro had been gone 3 years, then saying it had been 6 years), and did whoever chose the cover even skim the book? Neither look like they could be Alessandro.
I did like both the MC's though, and there were some very hot scenes involving another couple of guys. I'd like to read more exploration of that portion of Jaime's sexual discovery in the next book.
It was refreshing to read about a sub that felt no need to act submissive toward other Doms besides his own. However, I was a little annoyed by the instalove:
“I loved you the first moment I set eyes on you, sir.”
Why? What drew Bret's attention to Marcus that first night?
Just one week after their first scene together, Bret thought:
Marcus was essential to his survival. His heart wouldn't be able to beat without him.
Again, what makes Marcus so special to Bret? No explanation is ever given for this immediate devotion. After finishing the book, I know nothing about Marcus other than that he's a Dom and he likes Bret's cheekiness.
It was a nice light read, but it definitely lacked depth.
I hate reading dream sequences (don't know why, it's just a thing with me), so I really didn't like parts of this one, and I would have rated it 2 stars if not for the great ending. Everything I disliked was purely because of my personal tastes though so don't let that keep you from checking this one out!
Contains spoilers
This book is set in a world that I'm looking forward to learning more about. I really enjoyed reading this, though I wanted it to be longer, and felt that one week after torture and rape was a little too quick for Daniel to want Carl to fuck him. I wanted to see a bit more buildup and development of their relationship.
3.5 stars
I still love the story of these two characters, but the writing style diminished my enjoyment again. My eyes frequently wandered off the pages, and at one point I even found myself distracted by basketball on TV (I hate watching basketball). It just failed to hold my attention for long periods of time.
The narrator is a very intellectual person, which I can appreciate. I even married someone like him. The problem intellectuals can sometimes run into, however, is taking so long to say or explain something that the listener loses interest. This happens a lot with my husband. Many times I'll ask him a question and tell him to limit his answer to 5 sentences or less, and he never even comes close. I don't think Michael would be able to do it either.
Despite my trouble becoming immersed in the story, I still want to continue reading the series to find out how it's all going to play out.
2.5 stars
This story got off to a great start with Clyde's amusingly antisocial take on life. I, as an introvert, was able to relate quite well to him, as I am also easily annoyed by most people I encounter in daily life. However, the more I read, the more Clyde became one of those very people that annoy me. His hatred of others was a little over the top, and people's response to it wasn't believable enough (Rob's laughing off Clyde throwing a stapler at his face hard enough to bruise, for example). I did really like Sam though.
In summary, it's highly amusing at times, pretty annoying at others, and some parts just left me feeling skeptical.
3.5 stars
The first half was brutal, and the second half seemed a bit slow. It's definitely in need of editing, but the story is pretty good.
Dharsha's progression from rebellious slave to completely and utterly broken animal, then to confident hunter is very well done. I'd like to have seen more development of his relationship with Caled though.
I was in the mood for something difficult to handle, and this worked nicely.
3.5 stars
There's nothing unique about this story, but it was surprisingly good. It had plenty of funny moments and one sex scene in particular had me panting.
This book is good if you're looking for a light and entertaining read.
Side note: I discovered that “hon” might be the only endearment that doesn't annoy me.
Covering a large span of time without distancing the reader from the characters' emotions is a difficult task. Doing that as well as bringing three very different men together in a believable way is even more challenging. Hart not only accomplishes this, but does it well.
Call me cold-hearted, but only a select few books have literally brought tears to my eyes, and this is one of them. Most of the heavy emotions are in relation to Josiah and Mateo, mainly because Tristan likes to pretend he doesn't feel emotions.
The two little things that bothered me were at the beginning and end. One, the book starts by describing Josiah's personality, which was completely unnecessary because it is more than adequately expressed through his behavior. Two, things got a little sappy at the end of the book, and since I have a low tolerance for it, that almost soured it for me, but it wasn't enough to annoy me too badly.
I really enjoyed the book and would recommend to anyone looking for a tearjerker.
Fuck yes. The more I read, the more I love this series. We're left with the expectation of more excitement and suspense to come next season, and I cannot wait!
The cameo appearance of Ty and Zane in the beginning of the last episode came out of left field and had me wondering what the hell was going on, but it made me laugh. For those that hate the Cut & Run series, don't worry, they were only present for like one page and aren't directly involved in this story.
I love Mat even more now. He's the reason this is my absolute favorite series. No other books have made me literally shake with excitement and cringe in suspense like these have. Going to pre-order the final season now!
This book was ok, but there were too many irritating things that kept me from really enjoying it. The first person present tense with the narrator directly addressing the reader just didn't work for me. That's a matter of personal preference though. The other problems were things I just couldn't reconcile in my mind.
The result of Ian's eating disorder didn't make sense to me. With his physical stats and level of exercise, he'd require well over 3000 calories per day just to maintain his weight. However, he starved himself and purged the few times he did binge and every time he ate a regular meal, yet he didn't lose a single pound and in fact gained weight. It was just too difficult for me to believe that he'd manage to still average over 3200-3500 calories per day despite going days without eating anything then purging immediately after a single binge. He'd have to be binging much more frequently than was claimed for his body to absorb that many calories despite purging.
The other thing I found too difficult to believe was the reactions to Ian's sexuality. I can accept the weird looks and the bullying, and offensive comments by adults who should know better. I can even accept him being kicked out of school if it had been a private school. But as far as I could tell, it was a public school, so I just couldn't see that happening. Even if I was able to accept that situation, it would make it impossible to believe that everyone would applaud when he and Julian kissed at the prom. The more likely scenario in a prejudiced backwater town would be for most of them to stare uncomfortably with perhaps a few people saying something offensive or jokingly telling them to get a room. Roomful of applause? Don't think so.
All that to say, too much seemed contradictory to me, but other than that, it wasn't a bad story.