Redemption Lane

Eh. It was just okay. It just... didn't do it for me... like I liked it enough for 3 stars, but...

(Definitely just went down a deep rabbit hole exploring what I didn't like about this book and just came back to it after 4 hours)

Ultimately, at the heart of it, the book was fine. Good. The passion, desire, heat was there. It was good. I physically had to turn off the audiobook multiple times because it hurt too bad to hear how badly they wanted one another (loved it but hurt because I don't have that in my life). Once the guys started hooking up, I felt a definite shift in my feelings toward it. It was all too quick and too unrealistic, according to my lived experience. Suddenly it was all about the sex and didn't feel that same tension as before, so I didn't care for it as much.

But in a larger sense, I don't know how much I'm going to enjoy M/M romance books, even though I am gay. I went down the rabbit hole of why women are predominately the ones who write gay romance novels (could be one of many reasons–number of romance authors who are women, forbidden love trope is easily done by changing sex of MC, fetishization, sexual exploration with a safe distance without a woman, etc.).
I realized I didn't like this book more, because it didn't feel real. It felt like a woman's portrayal of gay relationships or gay sex (granted my opinion might be wrong of what I expect a relationship to be like). It was almost like it was the woman's idea of what the male gaze is (and could be for many or most gay men). It just isn't what I want from something that I hear called a romance novel.

I will still read other books. Riley Hart did nothing wrong and honestly this book was hot and was a good read to get me started into the M/M genre. I'm not sure how much I will enjoy the other books I read, but it's still good.

I detested the narrator's voice for any female characters. Not great narration. I found myself mocking some of the scenes because of the narrator. Just my personal take.