Served Hot

I was looking forward to reading this because it sounded like some of my favourite fanfiction (the “coffee shop AU” is a favourite trope) but the characters themselves left me disappointed. I just didn't care about either of these people and they didn't seem compatible at all. When you force a fluffy romance between two characters with zero chemistry, it just reads very uncomfortable and somewhat one-sided. In this case, Robby seemed domineering and internally used his controlling ex-boyfriend as a comparison in this new relationship constantly. The reader isn't given really any background information on that relationship though besides that the ex was also a customer and was in the closet. Robby doesn't want a relationship like that again where he feels he's a dirty secret so he kind of forces David's hand. David seems like a wet towel, is very self-conscious with low self esteem with a lot of trauma and abuse in his past, so he lets Robby take the lead but because he's so uncomfortable with it, withdrawals and Robby feels he has to confront him publicly and make an ultimatum. Basically, it's not a healthy relationship and these two are not good together. If this is your idea of a good relationship, you might need to reassess things.
Overall, while I did finish the entire story, I have no interest in reading more from this series or author.

** 3.5 **
This was a sweet, slow burn romance between a still grieving and previously closeted David and Robbie and outwardly easy going barista who is yearning for a real relationship after having been kept a secret by his prior boyfriend.

There is no kink, Alphas or super heroes here, just two everyday flawed people trying to cope with past experiences yet recognizing and reaching for love, plain & ordinary love when it's within grasp.

“Since David had come into my life I'd learned a lot more about hope. It looks like ivory sheets and stacks of paint cans and two pairs of shoes next to the bed. It sounds like rustling bed covers and murmured endearments. Hope tastes like skin and soap and victory and coffee.”

A sweet read for an afternoon, maybe with a nice mug of coffee too.

In a bid to find a book to read from the ebooks on offer from my library, I grabbed another Annabeth Albert - mostly because I was remembering how much I liked her #gaymers series and was hoping that maybe it was just her military series that didn't work for me.

However, this novella really didn't either.

The novella is divided into four parts.

Part one is the get together and I liked it and our boys.

Part two is sex and drama. Lots of sex. Too much sex for me, being honest.

Part three is the lack of communication drama. And sex. Hated both.

Part four is something that actually looks like a healthy couple.


I'll take the first part and the forth part and a little dose of the second part (the drama) and be happy. The third part made me kind of dislike eveything - but especially the way hese two refuse to communicate and Robby in general.


General Word-vomit to Follow








It started off well Robby being cute and awkward and David being sweet and awkward. Then they got together and it soon (in the story, because it skips months at a time) became a case of every time they are alone together, they have sex. Not something I like.

But then, after being together something like nine months, we get this quote from Robby: ‘I wasn't sure we wanted the same thing.' (This book is told in Robby's first person perspective.) This is because Robby and David do not communicate. There's many, many times Robby thinks/feels he should say something to David, ask what David wants, make sure they are on the same page, but he doesn't.

David, who knows what's going on in his head. Is he as conversation-phobic as Robby? Does he actually think they're communicating well and on the same page? We'll never know. But Robby knows David doesn't know what he's doing. David had an asswipe of a boyfriend and Robby learns this is why David assumes things in a relationship to be one way. (Such as never spending the night after sex.) And Robby still refuses to bring these things up.

Which leaves me veering between thinking it is manufactured drama and having no liking of Robby. At all. And I'm so ot used to the romance in novellas relying on miscommunication - or, rather, in this case, missed communication - and it's a big hate of mine. (And the almost requisit misunderstanding that forces the couple apart.)

“You need to at least ask him what he wants instead of decinding for him.” (20 year old barista. Who has more sense that our ‘hero.' And I don't know how old Robby is supposed to be, but he reads very young.)