Annery

This was a sweet slow burn until the MC's got together as a couple and that was a good thing as you can really feel how they get know each other apart from the immediate but unexpressed attraction they feel for each other.

Alexei & Mike are hockey players who share other interests in life and that's a good thing.
Mike knows he's gay however coming from a conservative family he hasn't been able to be in any kind of relationship but when he meets Alexei, the goalie of his new team, he's a goner. Except he doesn't know that Alexei is gay and thinks he is hopelessly pining for someone who quickly becomes his best friend. Meanwhile Alexei keeps a low simmer of lust going for his friend until they come together and they discover that they complement each other in so many other ways: Mike's submissiveness and Alexei's deep need for control. Match made in heaven.

The sex is HOT HOT HOT but the love and care that shines through is what really makes this a winner.

TWO ½ Stars
Although the MCs in this short are post-college and already in the workforce (one is) it very much felt like an NA to me and that's one genre I tread lightly. In any case this was a sweet friends-to-lovers story for Justin & Sean friends since childhood who had “fancied” each other since their teens but had never let each other know in spite of being BFFs mainly because Justin came out young but not so Sean.

Fast forward and Sean is returning home after doing some traveling and is staying with Justin for a few days. Justin has broken up with a cheating ex and needs a date to the office Christmas party. Sean volunteers to pose as his new boyfriend and .... we all know what happens.

I guess I wasn't convinced that there was a real lasting passion in these two. It felt more like “lads” scratching an itch and it does seem fun but as far as a HEA I'd have to see more of them in adult form to believe it.

Something to read if you have a couple of hours to kill and don't want to engage your brain much. I quickly forgot the name of both MCs because they had zero personality traits to make them memorable.

Reread Christmas 2016 because it made me/makes me Happy

Thanks to freak snow storms and a poor sense of direction hair stylist Frankie gets stuck with three Bears in the middle of nowheresville and fate dishes out love. sigh

Marcus & Frankie are perfect for each other in that they each have what the other is lacking and though they have to overcome bad first impressions it soooo worth it and they get a sweetly deserved HEA. Frankie brings the beauty, magic and caring and Marcus is the care taker who makes life's wheels and cogs turn.

Fellow Bears Arthur & Paul are interesting enough that I want to read their stories but I'll save them for Christmas 2016

This is a story of fated love arriving just in the nick-of-time. Trevor Morrison & Marcus Roberts meet when they are both almost dead: one figuratively and the other quite literally. So it's a Christmas miracle that they meet and love alters the paths they were on and what a sweet detour it is.

I won't go into details but I very much liked that the way in which Trevor's problem is solved is not at all what I expected but rather showed how just meeting Trevor changed Marcus' life in every way good even if they never met again. But of course this is a romance and a Christmas themed one to boot so a HEA is in the horizon and an earned on too. Perhaps too sweet for some tastes but I'm making an exception ‘cause it was a Christmas read and a well done one.

my 2016 “read” of this was the audio by [a:Nick J. Russo|8141120|Nick J. Russo|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Perfect.

This was mostly an audio by [a:Jason Frazier 7761542 Jason Frazier https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1493585524p2/7761542.jpg] and I enjoyed it very much.Fielding & Mick are not a natural couple except that they are perfect for each other! It's narrated in Mick's POV and he's just such a sweet and thoughtful young man that you can't help but root for his emotional growth.Mick is a natural care taker and absent minded/obsessive genius Fielding needs that. He also has a serious hero worship thing with Mick and that pushes them to discover each other and in the case of Mick his heretofore unacknowledged homosexuality or is it only for Fielding? And Fielding? He is only just discovering attraction, sex and love but no worries. He's a quick study.I like how Fielding's parents each in their own way try to do the best for him and the best of course is Mick. And that epilogue was just perfect for these two. sigh

Re-Read/Listened February 2019Well .... what a difference a day makes or 3+years. I'm not going to change the rating because evidently that's where may head was back then and that was my level of enjoyment. Today this would be more like a 4.25 for the story and 3.50 for the AB. I'll explain.I don't dislike the story, on the contrary, having now listened to the whole series I like Bryce and Nick very much, though I love Nick, however it seems more like an optimistic, wishful thinking kind of story about two suddenly bi-curious guys coming to embrace their new sexuality. I'm happy for them and am enough of a romantic to believe in their HEA, and I liked that [a:Riley Hart 7013384 Riley Hart https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1364660147p2/7013384.jpg] kept enough family grittiness in, some of it spilling in to the other books, to make the story feel real. However I would've expected a smidge more introspection from the MCs, given their age and heretofore heterosexuality. This second go around did give me a chance to ponder that perhaps Nick is maybe a bit demi, which makes his unabashed acceptance of Bryce plausible. I also got a fresh start on hating or at least strongly disliking both their families, particularly the mothers. Maybe I'm too far removed in age from up-in-your-business family, but ... ugh!!! @#% they were just too much. Even though there's this undercurrent of “they just love their children so much and want the best for them”, it was annoying and I would've happily made Bryce & Nick orphans in a heartbeat. The other thing is that this book, and series, can easily be subtitled Straight Guys Learn How to Have Gay/Anal Sex, and Love It. It might be Woody Allen's next project. shrug I know it's de rigueur to have everything overly explained and to have both parties be verse or your not really gay or haven't “given yourself completely” but that's not necessary or real. Just saying. As for the audio it saddens me to say that I now feel like Sean Crissden rushes or shilly shallies the delivery. Everything is very NICE but also kind of casual. Emotions creep in occasionally but not as much as I would've hoped. I dunno, tastes change, I guess, but he does do a professional job. Maybe it the story?*************************ORIGINAL REVIEWWow!!! This was awesome!!! I loved everything about it. I won't recap the plot as I'm sure many have done so. I'll just go with what worked for me in this book: EVERYTHINGSorry for the fan-girl gushing but this just made me happy and I think I was very much in need of that. A story of two good people discovering love a little later in life than most and dealing with the expected and unexpected reactions from family, friends, society and themselves but the obstacles never outweigh the romance and you are rooting for them every step of the way. From their first awkward attempts at sex to Bryce's “can-do, jump-in-with-both-feet” to any situation and Nick's loyalty and willingness to give himself up to love. If this love story had a theme song I think “Two Fine People” by Cat Stevens would be ideal.Bryce seems like a guy who just flits from one thing to the next but that's only until his passion is engaged and that passion is Nick. Nick who has only been with one other person in his life and that happens to be his ex wife. But they make sense and fit like pieces of a puzzle and the best part is that we see this love blossom and grow, we're not just told about it. Kudos also to [a:Riley Hart 7013384 Riley Hart https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1364660147p2/7013384.jpg] for creating a real and lived in world for these two, populated by recognizable siblings, parents and friends who may have prejudices and preconceptions but who in the course of time change and adapt like loving families do everywhere. I liked that Nick's wife was not portrayed as a shrew & that Nick acknowledged the role he played in their parting.This was an audio for me by the excellent [a:Sean Crisden 4531094 Sean Crisden https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] and I loved it so much that I'm getting the book too just for those moments when I need a little reminder of good stuff in the world.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Re-read/Re-listen 10/1/17-10/3/17A re-do because the sequels are out and I'm preparing for the pop quiz ... LOL ... Actually I wanted something fun to listen to while I finish some unpleasant reads. Reasons I'm glad I picked this because it's just as crazy and improbable as I remember and I love it. As a matter of fact I feel like I should disavow my original review. I don't know what cantankerous person wrote that. Maybe I'd been body snatched? Dunno. Logan and Tate are every fantasy you ever wanted and I use the word fantasy on purpose. Are they possible? Sure. Anything can happen. Probable? Likely not. And yet I don't care. I like to think of these two paradigms of male beauty lighting up Chicago with their unbridled lust and sexual stamina. Lust. Sex. Rinse. Repeat. That is really the driving force of the first 70% of the book. I was happy with this. It's done very well. claps What puts this on the tier of “like verging on love” is the other 30% of the book, the parts where Tate “decides” and jumps into the deep end of the pool and the parts where Logan is vulnerable and we get a peek at his humanity. What puts this over the top is the promise of what's to come and for that I'll bump it up to 5. Also a bump because, unlike other series/books, time has made me like it more than I did upon the first read. I've kind of gotten used to [a:Shannon Gunn 6996772 Shannon Gunn https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s level of enthusiasm when he does the sex scenes. He is very good with Logan's voice, Tate's veers between okay and making him sound not too bright, but women just elude him. There are male narrators who do women's voices very well, see [a:Chris Patton 1381825 Chris Patton https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1297104882p2/1381825.jpg] in The Adrien English series, but that is not the case here. You can't win them all. Let the re-reads continue. ;)********Re-read/re-listned to on from 6/13/16 to 6/17/16In the wake of the Orlando horror I felt like I needed something mindless to ease me back into reading and had recently gotten an audio deal on some books I already owned, such as this one, so I felt this would be a good option for my AM & PM commute. Zero stress. And I was right. It is fairly much as posted on my original review with the happy update that I kind of got to like the MCs and see where they're coming from and that plain old lust can surely lead to something more, which is what Logan & Tate will presumably explore in the next installments. I will however have to read those as the narrator [a:Shannon Gunn 6996772 Shannon Gunn https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] seems to be reading some kind of horror book and not a romance. This is particularly jarring during the sex scenes and the voices he does for women are just NO. But the worst is the way, especially at the beginning, he makes Tate sound almost like a dumb lug. Granted we know nothing really about Tate save that he's a soon to be divorced-motorcycle-riding-bar-tender who seems to be a little unhealthily attached to his family and what they think of him, given his age (29) but hopefully there's more to him than just looking hot in leather.So to recap: I'm glad I reread this as it was bit sweeter the second time around. People falling in lust/love was a good antidote to the news streaming in of hate and the attendant pain it brings.***********ORIGINAL REVIEW:This was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the smexy times but can't say that I liked anyone in this book. Not the MCs Logan or Tate to Tate's family who we can just tell are going to be awful to Tate's soon to be ex wife who seems to have come out of central casting as WICKED WITCH.Tate seems to be nothing but a pretty boy who looks hot in leather and on a bike and Logan is the guy you hate except that he's one of the MC's. Aside from the physical attraction and the hot sex we don't get what else these two have in common or what a future they may share. Don't get me wrong a scorching smexy MM read is nothing to scoff at but it's so far not a romance in the larger sense of the word. I'm on the fence as to whether to continue with the series. I'm a bit compulsive so I might but for now it's on hold.

This was a good read and one I would have been drooling over during my Historical/Regency craze so I rated it accordingly ... LOL ...

Keegan is a man with no particular political ideals who is reluctantly thrust into the battle of Culloden and comes out worse for wear but also changed by the loss he experiences and with a plan for revenge & redemption which of course goes awry in the person of Zoe Morgan.

Zoe is that girl you want to hate but can't help but love. She's a hypochondriac with a sense of humor about her impending demise and after a while you find yourself laughing and cheering her gumption.

The romance is a bit of a slow burn but once it gets going oh how sweet it is! There are no missish recriminations or misunderstandings. The MCs face some dire situations and come through with a believable HEA.

Recommended ;-)

I really liked this book. I won't rehash the plot but suffice it to say that though it takes place in post-Revolutionary France neither the H nor the h conform to what we expect in such tales particularly the H.I think it most closely reminds me of Anna Cowan's [b:Untamed 17877553 Untamed Anna Cowan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1367479430s/17877553.jpg 25034172] in that the H is not exactly an ideal man as far as societal standards by design & fate of the Hero himself and yet [a:Edie Harris 4862906 Edie Harris https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png] without prettifying or excusing the behavior makes us believe in the the deserved HEA that the couple gets.The Heroine is an average woman living and also rebelling against the constraints of family and society but this doesn't make her magically beautiful or in the case of Claudia Pascale lose her stutter. She's is credibly strong in spite of all her restraints but not in those suspension-of-disbelief that many Regencies & Historicals require. I also liked that as far as I could tell the historical details are accurate.Recommended.

David has been in love-lust with Wiley his brother Derek's friend from the moment his teenage eyes saw him. Now that he's in college and sharing an apartment with his brother he gets a chance to see Wiley every day as Wiley needs a place to crash for a while until he can move into his own place.

This is an almost fantasy story of our crushes coming true and I expected there to be an epilogue that had David waking up from a nice dream.

The story was sweet and I did like David very much and his brother Derek. My stumbling block was the object of their affection Wiley. He almost felt like a fantasy man.

What I did love was the fact that although David is younger than Wiley and the artsy one he's still the one who is sure of himself in his life and choices and if they have a future together David will lead them thru.

An overall sweet novella that felt like a HFN and perhaps that's not a bad thing.

This was a super sexy and hot read and [a:Kele Moon 4340854 Kele Moon https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1364407503p2/4340854.jpg] is a very talented writer who packs enough back story to make the MC's stories believable and their HEA a well deserved one.Be ready for scorching hot sex but also some sweet.

This was cute in that rom-com, sit-com kind of way, a little- a lot like an episode of “The Big Bang Theory”. The concept was promising and I didn't dislike it but when it came down to it for me it just didn't work as a romance I could believe. Mason and his grandmother are like stock characters and all we know about Shane is that he's hot, nice and maybe has a thing for smart guys??? I don't know.

I would still recommend it as a light and funny palate cleanser in between super angsty or intense reads. A nice couple of hours to reset and recharge with no harm done and no stress. That ain't bad.

Is it possible to be bored by a book mainly concerned with sex? Kinky BDSM sex? That's supposed to be a thriller about a serial killer too? Can there be too many sex scenes and can the reader yawn at them after a while and just desperately be watching the percentage progress on her Kindle wondering when it will all be over? Can all this be true and yet acknowledge that the book is well written, though a little purple at times?

Maybe my issue is that perhaps I was expecting a greater level of believability but I just couldn't fathom any police department functioning like this during an investigation and the development of the relationship between Mick & Caro is almost beyond insta-lust which I've been okay with in many other books but just seemed much given how they end up after just a week.

Having said all this I'll still rate it 3 solid stars as I did like Caro very much and the way she owned her sexuality. And as usual I think it may just not have been for me.

Yes. Late to the party again or shall we call it fashionably late? In any case THIS MAY HAVE SPOILERS as I figure anyone who was jonesing for this jumped on it a while ago. This was a Free Audiobook for me which was perfect for my weekend activities. Hands free ;-) And I enjoyed it. It was done by [a:Jill Redfield 6421428 Jill Redfield https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1353841639p2/6421428.jpg].I think it's needless to rehash who came first [b:Fifty Shades of Grey 10818853 Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) E.L. James https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385207843s/10818853.jpg 15732562] or [b:Bared to You 20448515 Bared to You (Crossfire, #1) Sylvia Day https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433411511s/20448515.jpg 18973111]. It hardly matters. I think the more important aspect is how [a:Sylvia Day 19823 Sylvia Day https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1484817078p2/19823.jpg], [a:E.L. James 4725841 E.L. James https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1308409727p2/4725841.jpg] etc. honed in to a vibe in the zeitgeist and the flood gates to these types of books were busted open.Once again we have young, impossibly beautiful people meeting and becoming instantly obsessed with each other in every aspect. Of course they can't have it all or there'd be no book so dark, painful pasts rear their ugly heads and our MCs own insecurities threaten to tear apart what is clearly a match made in romance heaven. But I sound snide and I don't mean to. I very much enjoyed the book. Although it was an audio I can tell that it was well written and the moments of justified crazy from both MC are resolved rather swiftly and it helps that both Gideon and Eva are aware of their issues and seem willing to work on them.The smexy times did not disappoint. I can well appreciate why Gideon Cross is a favorite book boyfriend. That level of commitment and adoration is enviable except I guess when you actually have it. Or maybe it's just me. But as a fantasy guy I'll take him any day.My misgivings come from the fact that I now know that the author has made this into what seems an interminable series thereby I'm sure adulterating the love affair between these two and giving the readers filler & nonsense that will make you forget why you loved the first book.Maybe I'll just stop here as the ending has them heading out to work on their HEA and isn't that what we are all doing in our daily lives anyway.

Oh [a:Jade West 10681321 Jade West https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429497078p2/10681321.jpg]! I hate you! LOL This was an Audiobook and free to boot as a lure to try Audible. I picked this tittle as a challenge to myself. It looked like a whole bunch of stuff that I knew I wouldn't like and I was sure it would definitely not be a romance much less one with a HEA. At this point I must confess that though I read and have read my fair share of BDSM, I'm not too keen on the S&M part when the MCs are M/F and the female is the submissive. It almost feels like too much of an imbalance of power but I know that that's just a senseless bias on my part and there have been exceptions I've quite enjoyed.On to this book: it threw me for a loop! Even though I'd never trade places with Lydia, I fully believe in her and James. In their journey to love and that the acts they engage in lead them on that path and it brings them pleasure equally. I had started wanting to hate James for being an asshole and damn if I wasn't surprised when I found myself rooting for him and my adoration of him was sealed with the final scene at the office. He is a total badass and yet the romantic hero Lydia needs and deserves.Lydia was equally good. Not a pushover but rather a woman who has found what will bring her freedom & fulfillment and isn't embarrassed to go after it.And what to say about Bex but that she's the best friend anyone could ask for.I know some will be aghast at some of the sexual acts depicted as they clearly aren't for everyone, hell they're not for me, but Ms. West fully made me believe in James & Lydia as a couple on equal footing and in their HEA. So yes: I hate Jade West. LOLKudos too to the narrator [a:Anais Inara Chase 16317954 Anais Inara Chase https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. She was perfect.

A new found fixation with my Kindle, contemporaries & MM had me set this aside for quite some while and I do regret it because it is a beautifully written book full of rich imagery, sensual scenes and a H/h who are actual adults and ones anyone would be glad to know as they are smart, funny and able to have direct conversations. There are no Big misunderstandings but real actual conflict that is resolved in a non Fairy-God-Mother kind of way.

Plus there are passages like this:

“Until she'd known him she'd never experienced sorcery. Never known what it was like to feel passion. For the sheer blinding alchemy of that she would ever be grateful. But being with him was oddly more. It was the taste of an orange, the smell of a rose, the touch of the first spring raindrop expanded and multiplied and folded over itself. The meaning, perhaps of joy.”

Or:
“Dawn was making an appearance on the horizon. The sky was growing lighter; its midnight blue fading reluctantly like a reveler not ready for his bed. Across the horizon streaks of pink, a hue to match the the color of Margaret's cheek, warned of the sun's approach.”

I'm pretty sure I may be giving this a reread at another time when because I'm sure it would benefit from an active read rather than a scattered read over a couple of months.
Recommended for lovers of smart & sensual historicals.

3 ½ STARSQuestion: why did I read this? Easy. I heard the Audio Book to the first part [b:This Man 16140036 This Man (This Man, #1) Jodi Ellen Malpas https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352790466s/16140036.jpg 21970768] a while ago in a fit of house cleaning and clearly my curiosity always gets the best of me: Why was this so popular? How does the HEA work out for these two CRAZIES? And yes. My first reaction was this book is headache inducing and Jesse & Ava are bat shit crazy and who actually lives and enjoys this kind of love? And then I got a not all that unfamiliar call from one of my girlfriends once again in frantic tears over the umpteenth time she and her man had gotten into a shouting match & he'd walked out. Again! After some talk and consolation hugs I assured her he'd be back because that's what she needed at the moment and I knew it to be true. Sure enough he showed up in the early morning hours, kneeling at her door and begging forgiveness. Just like that they're back on cloud nine. I later started to really listen to some of the pop music that's on rotation during my work commute: DAWES - “Waiting for Your Call”: ‘When your restlessness has lost its way / And you're finished with your need to stray / It's not even something I am proud to say / I'll be waiting for your call” BLEACHERS - “Reckless Love” ‘So give me a chance to remember / what I've given up to defend ya / that I burned my dreams away / to stand in the broken shadows / of your reckless love / your thankless love.”Yep. We are all batty when it comes to love or sexual thrall. We love the misery because the high is so worth it and no power on earth is going to make us love plain over spectacular even though it's married to sorrow.This is all a roundabout way to say that evidently these authors like [a:Jodi Ellen Malpas 6576110 Jodi Ellen Malpas https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1398113773p2/6576110.jpg], [a:Silvia Day 6572520 Silvia Day https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] or [a:E.L. James 4725841 E.L. James https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1308409727p2/4725841.jpg] have tapped into a vein in our collective sexual psyche even if it's not always in the most artful manner. In spite of our beliefs and declarations to the contrary we seem to like, want or need a good dose of screw-what-should-be for head banging sex with the Sex Lord of The Manor. LOLAt this point everyone knows the story and you have to just enjoy the CRAZY SAUCE ride for what it is or not. I did. ;-)

So I'm guessing I got this because of the cover because right now I can't remember and I don't know if it is but by the end it kind of felt like an NA novel which I'm not totally opposed to but not my usual go to read either. Having said that and coming to the realization that most surely I am not the target audience for this I'll give it a generous 3 STARS.

The 40% percent of this was okay and even pleasantly surprising. I think the author writes well and introduced us to a nice group of friends who happen to enjoy or work in the porn industry and that was cool as there was no value judgement placed on those choices ... until there was!

Kat and her friends at first seem like a refreshing group full of crass banter and assertive in their wants, likes and dislikes. However it became exhausting when every other conversation involved calling each other jerk, dumb ass, bitch or threatening to punch someone in the ‘vag' or nuts. Me thinks they do protest too much. I had to remind myself that these were people crossing into the second half of twenty and not middle school kids on a sleepover without parental supervision. So yes, that got tiring pretty quick.

On to the “romance” and I do qualify that as I'm sort of in doubt about that aspect the book. It is a SLOW SLOW burn. Nothing remotely sexual happens until maybe 65 or 70% in and the sexy times come in the last 15% percent of the book by which time I didn't care. Kat had gone from cool girl to your run of the mill chick lit heroine who wonders what she's feeling, what the male MC is feeling, ‘does he just touch me all the time because we are friends?' and ‘friends get naked in front of each other all the time right?' and to top it off I felt she had quite the double standard. She loves porn but can't fathom the idea that Tristan has been a performer and thinks of al the women who work in porn or the female audience as bitches or skanks. Double morality much?

Frankly the most interesting characters where barely addressed: Tristan – why did he get into porn and what were his experiences during and after and Nicole and her boyfriend Callum would make for a good story.

I'm sure that for the target audience this would be over 4 STARS but for me it was a sweet meh read that perhaps took a little too long in getting to the point which wasn't necessarily the romance but that we all grow up and move on to to the next stages of our lives all told in a very R rated “Friends” kind of way.

Okay Mr. Genao you are seriously making me consider Twitter and that is a vow I really don't want to break, so thanks to @Navessa for the link.

This was seriously awesome. Funny. And sexy as hell. All the more so for its brevity.

Now you owe us a peek at what's going on in the other room and Sea God for all of us. It's only fair.

Thanks for this perfect nightcap. xoxo

I read this a little while ago and thought long and hard about to wether to rate it or not because as I've said before I don't set out to purposely hate read and this isn't even crazy-sauce, off-the-rails bad. Those are funny. No. It was just bad or maybe not for me. I'll take that.

But seriously when did Barbara Cartland start writing BDSM erotica and is the male MC a Dom or a vampire and then our Missy Weaver is no plain Jane submissive. Nope she's the most. Ever. In other words a doormat. Just for her I'm adding Too Stupid To Live shelf.

Again this might be someone else's catnip but for me it more like an emetic.
Sorry. :-(
For a better review see Mindy (Naughty Book Snitch). Perfect.

Soooo .... I think this was a solid 3 ½ Stars with a half or more docked for a crazy and unnecessary epilogue.

Right up front I must say that this is not the type of book I usually go for but the cover is hot, blurbs seemed interesting, the One-Click beckoned and a girl can't live on MM alone so I've had this sitting on my Kindle for a couple of months and October was declared clean-up-my-kindle-queue month.

At 25-30% I was kind of pleasantly surprised and enjoying myself and then we took a turn down FEELS highway with frequent ANGST rest stops and constant reminders of MYSTERIOUS PAST exit. The sex was great if at times overwrought but no I'm not complaining as first love can be overwhelming and in spite of their ages (Darby is 27 & Trick is 28) this is first love for both. The thing was that after a good start with a strong heroine and an enigmatic hero things went off the rails a bit for me. Darby becomes this needy, clingy mess who views every and any woman near or around Trick as a bitch who's out to get her man in spite of his protestations & demonstrations to the contrary.

Trick on the other hand seems to have no definable characteristics other than some poorly explained and inconsistent aversion to women except for Darby for whom he flips after knowing her for about 2 seconds. Don't get me wrong I do love me some insta-love but I just needed even a half hearted attempt at expressing why he loved her. Yes we are told she's kind, compassionate and caring but I'm not sure we are really shown that aside from her choice of profession (she's a PA) and Trick knows even less about her when falls for her after years of of being celibate and pretending to be gay . As for Darby she's just hot for the walking talking sex God that is Trick complete with tattoos, rock-hard body, mysterious past, few words and to top it off he's a make-up artist! What's not to love. LOL

But I digress. I was still enjoying the roller coaster of emotion & sex ride until the las 20% where the big reveal of Trick's past comes to light complete with evil "step-mother" and Darby who's every other thought or word is about how much she loves Trick, how her life started and will end with him and who was aware that his past could turn out to be not pretty suddenly can't cope. She leaves him for two months even as she witnesses his collapse as his memory returns and that in truth if we believe his version of events he was not to blame as he was a 20 yr. old addict . That had my head fuming. I can't stand weak or fickle love.

And then came the Epilogue. If you read the book and disagree with me and are loving it kudos to you. Wonderful. Really. But do yourself a favor and skip the Epilogue. I guess the author was trying to give her characters the happiest of happy endings but sometimes loss is part of life and we grow stronger for it and that's all to the good. All I'll say is that if I were Trick when I got one of my Christmas gifts that year I'd still be yelling WTF!!! to my dying day.

This a sweet sexy read. Perfect for the morning commute and it got me to work with a smile on my face. Sadly when I got there my elevator ride wasn't even remotely as eventful but alas one can dream. Plus wouldn't want to be trapped for even five seconds with any of my fellow riders. Seriously I was surprised at how much information about the characters [a:Laura Kaye 4805272 Laura Kaye https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1412350405p2/4805272.jpg] poured in to such a short read without any of it sounding like an info-dump and making the conversation (s) between the MCs seem believable and plausible and oh so tender. I was really happy that Makenna was a strong, smart and assertive woman who was also warm & giving, those things are not mutually exclusive though some authors seem to think so. It was also great that the reasonable moments of doubt (they've just met) are smoothed or talked over fairly quickly, and that in spite of his outer appearance the broken, delicate and soft one is Caden. I'll now make sure to carry food supplies when I get into an elevator just in case I need to share with some sexy stranger. Overall very nice. ;-)

** I WON'T EVE RATE THIS ***

I won't give this a star rating because I just hated it so much that I know it must be that we were just a bad match. However I will say that the phrase “spears of hot flesh” did cross by my retinas. I persisted in finishing it even though I must confess to having skimmed the last 40% because apparently like Bryn I'm a masochist. I can't even say it's badly written. It just felt cartoonish to me and it felt like it was 1,000 pages long. Otherwise all good.

The best thing about it: The Cover.

[a:Kora Knight 8529860 Kora Knight https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1473434379p2/8529860.jpg] you are a Godess! Thank you so much for this perfect series and this scorching yet super sweet ending. Seriously the game of pool Tad & Scott get up to is perhaps the sexiest table game ever played. I loved how we got an insight into Scott's mind and how he really respects Tad for his bravery and is turned on by it. And Tad ... sweet brave man that he is, how can we not love him. In two months his life has been turned upside down and yet he is adamant about diving in head-first & showing Scott that he's not ashamed of him and then when they both confess to being in love ... swoon. :-))The complete [b:Upending Tad, A Journey of Erotic Discovery 31338640 Upending Tad, A Journey of Erotic Discovery Kora Knight https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470193403s/31338640.jpg 52013318] could've just been a five alarm sex romp but [a:Kora Knight 8529860 Kora Knight https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1473434379p2/8529860.jpg] has done something harder an infinitely more satisfying. She has convincingly told the story of a thoughtful and smart young man discovering his sexuality and made the case for two men falling in love through a series of sexual encounters that burn the page but also move and advance the story and the progression of feeling for both MCs.Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.p.s. I know Max & Sean are next but don't forget Breck & Kai

I can't say that I'm happy I read this. And that is sad. I know I've said it before but I can't stress how much love I have for [b:Another Way 12592780 Another Way (Another Way #1) Anna Martin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386588514l/12592780.SX50.jpg 17607664], the first part of this trilogy which should've just remained a wonderful standalone. What can I say? It's not even a bad book! It's well written and realistic in following a relationship that is now 7 years down the road, how the MCs are dealing, evolving and adapting to their lives as a committed couple. But that's just it: like the previous book [b:Of Being Yours 16209638 Of Being Yours (Another Way #2) Anna Martin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356170423l/16209638.SX50.jpg 21585828] everything is fine on the surface but there is no fire or rather we are told about it but I couldn't feel it. Jesse & Will have relocated to Georgia so that Jesse can be with his family after his mother's death. That's not a spoiler. It's in the blurb. Jesse mourns, cleans house, cooks etc. Will & Jesse have sex as a regular couple & in D/s scenes etc. but it all feels kind of like something that's good for you rather than a story that keeps you up at night and yes, I know that to a large extent this is about Jesse grieving, but OMG after a while I wanted to slap it out of him.As usual Will is a saint. He buys a house, relocates his job, is patient beyond measure with Jesse and his insecurities etc. Jesse seems to have turned into a middle-aged lady, overly concerned about money, house chores & what others think. In other words his voice didn't ring true to that of an under-thirty man living in America in 2014. All this stuff that I didn't like just gave me room to notice other things I didn't like such as the Englishisms that creep into Ms. Martin's writing: advert, air con? And the continuous recaps of the previous books. If it's meant for a reader who hasn't read the previous books it's not enough & for those who have read them it's just annoying. Now that I think of it Books 2 & 3 read like that blog Jesse talks of maybe starting up in Book 1, kind of detached and clinical. For the rest he seems to be a mouthpiece to voice the author's opinions, which I mostly agree with but that shouldn't be the aim of the book.What I really would've loved would be to be in Will's head but only with the Anna Martin from Book 1.