Brittanie

The Bright Sessions is a podcast that starts as different characters being in therapy with Dr. Bright, a psychiatrist that specializes in people with superhuman or inhuman abilities that are all psychic in nature. You're basically a fly on the wall for the sessions. However, as the podcasts progresses, you start to hear more scenes outside of the office in these characters' day to day interactions and how their abilities hinder or not their normal lives. As a longtime fan of things like X-Men, this was a really interesting and fun podcast to listen to.
This book takes place alongside the first season of the podcast but focuses on Caleb as his ability starts to manifest in high school (a little later than typical of X-Men, which usually has the tipping point at puberty). He gets in trouble at school because he's an empath and the constant barrage of other hormonal teens' emotions has had him on edge, where he finally breaks and punches another student. As part of his punishment, he also has to attend therapy sessions. It's not really explained how his parents picked Dr. Bright but it's a “happy accident” that she's the perfect psychiatrist to help him with his unique problem. Caleb, despite being written as a pretty typical jock, is actually a really lovable and kind character. It could stem from his empathy but I don't believe that would overwrite his personality entirely. Caleb and Adam together are super cute as well. Adam is a normal teenager but has a real problem battling depression and self-harm. He doesn't seem to go to therapy even with neuroscience parents and a past suicide attempt (though he mentions having been in group therapy as part of the recovery) which I thought was strange. We read that he's not hurting himself often now and he's putting on a front for his parents to satisfy them, but it seems really unhealthy that he's basically lying to everyone. As Caleb is an empath, he of course can sense it immediately, but doesn't seem to actually help Adam that much either using outside resources.
So while I enjoyed the book immensely, I think it still had some head scratch moments when it comes to how it handles and details mental health problems and solutions. You definitely have to keep in mind that this is fiction and written by a screenwriter, not a doctor.

I'm kind of bummed with myself for waiting so long to read this, I even had an ARC I won in late 2019 I just never got around to reading. But maybe I was doing myself a favour because I was able to continue right into the sequel which has already sucked me in.

Note: It's hard to tell if you need to be a fan of the podcast before or not but as I was* I think that did add a bit to it for me. This book is written from a different character's point of view with some of the same scenes showing towards the latter part of the book but from that different perspective, but depending on how much of the podcast you've listened to, you have some insight into the questions non-listeners are going to have as they read. I would suggest listening to at least the first season or so first, just because all of that was written before the book but takes place at the same time.
*I kind of stopped listening sometime in 2019 when I went off of drama podcasts but it's sat in my subscriptions updating and waiting for my return.

I enjoy this series because it is packed full of a lot of action and interesting takes on the paranormal but I really wish Schwab had made the girls older, spaced the books out a little farther apart on a timeline (it's only been like a week this entire series which is insane), and maybe spent a little more time herself in New Orleans before writing an entire book set there.

Major gripe with this book: No way would any parent who cares anything for their child let their twelve-year-old girl walk around by herself this much. I didn't even want to do that in Nola in my 30s. ESPECIALLY after all the trouble she caused them in Scotland and Paris mere DAYS before. Someone needs to call social services.

This is a murder mystery taking place in small town Vermont in the middle of winter. Declan, a well-known but declining writer running from NYC to try to get his next best seller out, is a bit of a snob. He spent his summers with his family at this cabin but now that both his parents have passed, the cabin is left to him and his sister and is Declan's last place to go with his money and fame running low.
Declan wasn't a character I really cared for and couldn't relate with. The central relationship was also a bit of an insta-romance with a small town cop-not-cop (with the writer jumping on recent anti-police rhetoric that hardly felt realistic for a small Vermont town). I found myself much more interested in solving the murder and felt Declan's self-insert into the investigation and the town's business was more annoying than helpful. I think Adler was going for a “Castle” (the TV show) type set-up but it fell flat.
There's also no more than a few stolen kisses in the entire book which made Declan's constant knobslobbering frustrating in the end.
This book might be interesting to readers just dipping their toe into M/M and interested in murder mystery plots, but those looking for a more intense experience will be disappointed.

What I liked most about the book was the action scenes which were very well written as well as the world building and mystery plot. It was a very well plotted novel, the only issues I had were with the characters.
Initially it was pretty difficult to get past Jainan's personality and inner dialogue. He's obviously a product of 5 years of emotional and possibly even sexual abuse but over 300 pages of him jumping at each little thing or totally shutting down was frustrating. He shows no initiative to speak about his issues; he is very meek and nervous, but instead of voicing concerns or fighting for himself, he just shuts down. Nearly everything we learn about his past as the reader is from Kiem finding out from 3rd parties or guessing so not totally reliable. I personally have a hard time with empathy so instead of making the character more realistic and making me sympathize with him, I quickly got to the point that I wanted to tell him to go to therapy or get over it. Many of his issues, besides the physical from Taam which aren't known to the reader after 100s of pages in, seemed to stem simply from misunderstanding or assumptions or simply a lack of confidence on Jainan's part and that's really what made it so hard to understand.
I did start to like him more in the latter half of the book when his abuses weren't a big mystery and he started to get more comfortable around and with Kiem, plus his interactions with the other characters.
Kiem himself is a lot more straightforward and he was immensely patient and accommodating to Jainan with little to no feedback. When they finally do show intimacy, it seems almost like a Stockholm Syndrome reaction than genuine attraction and was pretty unexpected at that point.

Overall, a good study in world building and interesting scifi tech, but not really a book I'd recommend unless you have a very empathetic personality.

This is a short novella set in an alternative Britain where same sex relationships have been legal and accepted for generations. It seems just a way for the author to minimize the angst and allow a more public relationship and eventual marriage between the characters as it otherwise doesn't really add much to the story, as no other aspect of society is changed (that we see in this short of story).
The main character is an older gentleman who fell for a young lord when he was still a teenager and, now that he is of age and his father has died, the main character feels it's time to ask for the lord's hand in marriage. There isn't really a courtship in the story and the lord was only 16 when the gentleman “twice his age” fell in love so it's a bit in creep territory.
Without further information into the other changes in this society or for us the really get to know these characters, this story seems rather pointless and almost uncomfortable to read, but it is a different idea than one I've seen previously.

This book was just ok. It could have been edited down another 100 pages or so to make it better paced. There was a lot of extra information, especially about side characters, that was just unnecessary and there were many times I almost gave up because I was uninterested or just bored - and in fact skipped through the last couple of chapters just to get it over with.
The visuals are pretty strong in the writing - the descriptions of the different areas of faerie as well as the characters themselves are described well. However, the voices/dialogue between the characters aren't and I would forget which one Larkin or Merrick was until someone said “Prince” or described them.

I didn't realise I had read one of Ringle's books before and hated it because of her take on fae as well as her style of writing or I probably wouldn't have started this one, but the summary and premise sounded interesting.

Charles is a master of the regency MM romance and they've done it again with this one. I absolutely adored all the characters and, while the premise itself isn't that unique in the genre, it was a really fun read that I didn't want to put down but also didn't want to finish. Robin is such a loveable character even while his intentions are less than savory.

I really enjoyed this series. It definitely has its problems, especially with consistency which was mentioned in a few other reviews, but the premise is really fun and all of the characters are distinct and interesting. Arthur and Rory are one of my favourite MM couples I've read and I hope there's more of them in the future, perhaps with lower stakes and less death. I would definitely recommend this series to people who enjoy historical romances mixed with adventure, fantasy, and magic.

I enjoy Thalassa's stories even while rolling my eyes at much of it. Each couple in this series have been basically the same - a Strong Female Character archetype with a checkered past meets a Horsemen of the Apocalypse who just can't help but fall for them tits first. In this one, we're in Brazil where a sex worker is offered by her Madame to Famine as a sacrifice but he's not interested in humans that way (so he says) and has them both killed. Magically, the woman survives being basically gutted and wakes in a pit of bodies, drags her self all the way back to her previous rooms while passing by more bodies, and nurses herself back to fighting fit. But she's not done with Famine because, as it turns out, she's met him before and wants Famine to remember her while she attempts to assassinate him. Well, you can't kill a messenger of God but that's besides the point - apparently.

From there it all goes as expected based on the past two books. I didn't like Famine as much as War or even Pestilence but the end of this one was interesting, as Death seems a little more distinct with totally different abilities as his “brothers”. Thalassa relies heavily on stereotypes in this one as well (see her unsavory handling of Middle East politics and history in War) and the dialogue she used for Ana is 110% American, especially in the slang. Come for the descriptions of hot bodies smacking against each other plus some strong gore if you're into that, not for the geopolitical studies.

To be honest, I haven't read the first book since 2018 so I went into this one with very little memory of what happened before and relied on this book to remind me. I really enjoy Albert's writing because it's whimsical without being over-the-top poetic or metaphorical like some writers can get when trying to write fairy tale type stories. I also enjoy that this is darker interpretation including some actual blood and guts. Like the first book, and maybe even more because it's been so long between books, I really didn't care about what happened to these characters. This one was definitely a little more “in the day of” rather than full of action so parts were a bit boring. There also were less characters as this centered on Alice and Sophia's friendship with the mystery plot going on in the background. Suddenly, in the middle of the book, we get every other chapter being from Finch's POV as he travels between worlds with a new character. Finch's story is a little more interesting because he has a better outlook and is actively travelling into different worlds, and isn't all woe is me like Alice can get.
I recommend these if you're into dark fantasy and faerie stories but definitely read them back to back. I think this book might have been more compelling if I didn't spend some of it a little confused.

This is a relatively quick read in a world where mages are the norm and they are separated into classes (by element) with specific powers for each class. Sage is a low-level “social mage” meaning he's supposed to be able to use powers to manipulate emotions on various levels but also has the more uncommon ability to see ghosts. His recently passed away father is now one and haunting the book store he owned and had Sage work at, and their relationship was never good but is even worse now that one's dead. One day, however, after a weird event where he now has a fox as a familiar (though he'll deny it because of his low power) a ghost stranger from the 1800s dressed in cowboy gear turns up and tells Sage that Sage is actually a lot more than he's been told all his life and that the cowboy was sent to guide him. It sounds a little ridiculous because it is but it's fun to read, if a little slow in parts. I thought the world built here was interesting but, besides some of the rules surrounding mages and a paranormal-run government bureau, it's basically the same exact book as [b:Silence of Winter 43225966 Silence of Winter (Cromwell Chronicles, #1) Avery Blake https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1544729158l/43225966.SX50.jpg 66772501] - including the quirky girl best friend, using lay lines for power, and a ghost boyfriend from 100s of years ago. I liked that this book has them all as adults but have a feeling it was just for the sex component. The fox familiar was also a fun addition. The two books are just too similar and since Silence was written two years earlier and I'd read it before this, this is just going to feel like the cheap knockoff even if I liked them just about the same.

This is probably my favourite MM paranormal series and I'm glad that Adhara has kept writing it.
This was a great addition to the series. The mystery was more interesting than the last book's and there were less characters and personal drama to take away from the main plot that they're detectives. The wedding plans seemed a little ridiculous - Cooper obviously has a lot of internal issues that don't really seem to have an origin besides his own head - and Park seemed a bit more meek than in past books, but overall I really enjoyed it.

I seem to find that the vampire/vampire pairings are the most interesting and “believable” as this is definitely my second favourite installment in the series (first fave being Rafe and Phillipe's story). Aiden seems like a genuinely interesting character and it was nice to finally get some real back story as well as see his power. I felt the power reveal was a bit anticlimactic however, possibly because we didn't get told why he really used it last time or how (thought he says it's been centuries). Maybe a flashback to when he first discovered what he could do, similar to when Winter's power was revealed in the last book. Making him at least 1,000 years old also seemed kind of unnecessary unless it was just for Drake to not to have to come up with any real history links. If it was in Scandinavia in the 1,000s, there were many fiefdoms and kings so it would be hard to trace Ronan in any real historical context. However, the names Aiden and Ronan aren't historically accurate at all for that area. I can only assume Drake didn't really know what she was going to do with Aidan's story when she gave him that name. I'd like a little more info from their origin story just clear all that up.
Overall, a fun series but not consistent enough for me.

Marlowe's writing seems to be hit or miss for me, and this one was a miss. It really drags through these little interactions and drama of the side characters that have little to do with the story other than aggravate the MC. As many other reviewers said, it also seems pretty historically inaccurate about the interactions between servants and servants with their employers. There's also little romance here, just a teenage-style infatuation that didn't appeal to me and wasn't even the main plot point in the book. If you want to read about the hijinks of an rich, na??ve Georgian eccentric and the trouble he puts literally everyone he knows through, then you might enjoy this but otherwise I'd give it a miss.

This was a fun, quick read set in a world where humans know about vampires, werewolves, witches, etc. because of the vampires “coming out” to humanity and setting up their own laws and culture in order to live in harmony with humans.
One of the rules is vampires aren't legally allowed to stalk humans for prey or change humans to vampires and also aren't supposed to involve themselves romantically with humans (because it usually leads to them wanting to turn their lovers).
Ethan, a French 200-something year old vampire that's lead his life as a loner and a mercenary for hire, literally stumbles into Tristan, a NYU music student, and can't seem to forget him no matter how hard he tries (or how many bad guys he kills). Luckily for him, Tristan has somewhat of a vampire fetish - but has been spurred by an abusive ex-lover so is still very wary when Ethan starts to pay attention to him (see: stalk).
I found both of the main characters very likeable though this book is all from Ethan's POV. Four stars because there were a lot of cringe or eye-rolling but nothing atypical of romance, but those moments are sprinkled among a lot of laugh-out-loud and/or very sexy ones that kept me from wanting to put the book down.

This was disappointing. I was hoping for a bittersweet sordid romance with the tragedy of war as the backdrop but what this is is a group of young adults with no communication skills whining constantly about their post-war lives and finding solace in sleeping around with each other instead of actually talking. None of the characters had redeeming qualities and while this may be a pretty realistic view of 1910s small village Britain I just found it all rather boring.

The first half of the book seemed like this was going to be a fun, quick romantic read, even if a bit on the sappy side, but it just went on for far too long. About 100 pages or so could be cut from this book and you'd get a better, more satisfying romance. There was just a lot of filler like pages-long descriptions of them going about their normal day to day activities or little explainers that were unnecessary for anyone alive today. The dog thing was a red flag for me and also didn't add anything to the story in the long run (I mean, they'd been on maybe 3 dates at this point? and Simon pushes a dog on him? No, sir).
I had to really push myself to finish this at about 75% done and it became a burden. I didn't want my first book of the year to be a DNF.

This book takes place over 3 time periods but with the same main characters starting during the Cold War era and ending during modern times. The two mains are both undercover government but one is Russian and the other American. We follow them throughout the country as they try to solve the mystery of an assassination attempt they think was also an attempt to start an actual nuclear war between the respective countries. So it's a sort of enemies to lovers but they never were really enemies, just strangers set against each other by politics. It was a little slow at times but I found both characters to be very charming and it seemed a realistic glimpse into a bygone era I don't know that much about.

I went into this book blind but I'm a huge fan of Klune's writing so I knew I'd at least like that aspect of it, but I think not knowing what the story was about added to the excitement to continue reading. I'm not a huge reader of science fiction, especially alien stuff, but this book ended up being more about the characters themselves rather than the sci-fi aspects. It took a weird turn with the cult stuff in the second half but it makes it more interesting than them just being on the road/on the run for the whole story. The ending was kind of a cop-out, I'd have liked more details about what exactly happened between Art and the other ET beings rather than just a fade to white/curtains close kind of transition to months or years later but at least we got a bit of explanation and a HEA, though it also ends on a somewhat ambiguous tone and there's no plans for a sequel.
Overall, definitely a recommend for fans of sci-fi romances and I'd recommend Klune's writing to anyone.

This book starts a few years after the first one, and after some crucial developments that the reader isn't privy to until the latter part of the book. I found this frustrating because Silver constantly worried about this unknown event without just stating what happened throughout the story and the two main characters (Silver and Tobias) are at odds because of it. It turned out something pretty insignificant and petty imo so the build up didn't make it less frustrating. Also, half of the book is on a linear timeline but then suddenly we're jumping from two years before and back to the present. When I saw the “2 Years Ago” header I was like FINALLY we'll find out what happened between them... but nope, still not for another couple chapters.
I do like this world Tesh has imagined and we see a lot more of it, though the rules she seemed to have set out for the Greenman in the first book are completely broken/remade for it so it.
Overall, an interesting sequel with a lot more action and detail but I would like a more linear plot.

Interesting short story based on the Greenman lore, set in a world full of fae and cryptids and people that hunt them. It's seems barely mm - Silver is obviously interested but while Tobias seems to understand sex and homosexuality, he seems barely interested (this seems to change in the second novel but I'm currently reading that). 400 years of being alone will do that to you. The story gets a little dark and spooky towards the end with a somewhat HEA. If you're into paranormal romance, I'd definitely give it a shot.

Sweet and fun romance taking place right after WWI in New York. It's right before Prohibition and in the midst of strong anti-homosexuality laws, despite what you took comfort in overseas. Sutton and Jack are both very charming characters, as is the rest of the cast, but you will definitely get frustrated with them both. It's the typical “I have all these feelings but I'm not going to say anything which will cause a very dramatic miscommunication” trope in mm romance but it works itself out and you get that HEA. It tackles some tough problems - like PTSD, anti-gay laws, and war injuries -with aplomb but that I can see how it may read differently with someone who's actually experienced any/all of those things. Like all of Allen's stories I've read, it's a meandering, quiet romance between two men who are conflicted so while it wasn't a book I could have devoured in one sitting, it's still a recommend if you need something light and sweet.

This is a very short story and it left me feeling like we didn't really get to know these characters enough for impact so it's a bit unmemorable. One is a reporter who only gets paid per story and hasn't really had a break in awhile and the other is the son of a business man left with nothing after his father's death whose name was smeared. The reporter feels it'll be a great story he can sell so gets to know him and they end up falling in love. This is set in the middle of the Great Depression in New York so it deals a lot with homelessness and destitution of both the uppercrust and lower classes during that time.

This isn't as memorable as some other Regency romances I've read this year but the two mains are charming in their own way. It has the typical trope of dead/mangled women in order to establish the romance which I could have done without. How Captain Dacre sees Ben (sunny disposition, always smiling) isn't really what we see when reading from Ben's POV so the disconnect there was a little odd. Almost all the drama is internal with whole paragraphs of dialogue being seperated by internal thoughts so it was a lot of “JUST TELL HIM THAT.” thoughts, but I feel like that's a common trope in M/M romances. The dyslexia seemed like something just thrown in as it doesn't really create much conflict; it was probably supposed to give Dacre some vulnerability but it obviously didn't affect his career that much and just gave him one more thing to hide from the world and something to relate to with one of his kids.
Overall, I'll try to continue with this series but Sebastian didn't make her way into my favourite MM authors with this one book.

This is a very short origin story with Dominick and Alfie in the orphanage/work house. We find out that Dominick saved Alfie's life after he was basically thrown out as a toddler by his parents but also is the one who named him Alfie. I would have liked more glimpses into their life as they grew up together but this scene does cement the bond that these two have in the full-length books.