Ray
As someone who was a staunch believer of the fact that no amount of slowburn is too much slowburn... My opinion has been changed.
I think this book went too far with it.
The main characters get together for the first time at around the 70% mark. Childhood best friends, known each other all their lives, one of them has been in love with the other for NEARLY TWO DECADES. of those two decades is one decade spent parenting a whole dang child. I understand Easton is demisexual and I love that but isn't an entire DECADE enough to strengthen the already tight friendship they've always had? Especially watching the man you love parent your child as his own? The 10 year time jump straight up ruined it for me I think. It was so hard to watch Wyatt being so hung up on Easton. Another thing that annoyed me was Becca's character. When she clearly knew that these two were so in love with each other why still make a move on Easton? Especially when she could clearly tell that Easton wasn't really all that into it, but eventually gave in. All she does is leave cryptic notes??That they don't even happen to receive??
Also for all the slowburn I was expecting more... Payout.
The smut was disappointingly minimal for my personal liking.
Apart from that I liked the small town cowboy setting much more than I was expecting to.
Plot was predictable. Really aggressive Texan accent if that's not something you're into.
Can't say I'm too attached to the characters but it was an entertaining time (albeit a little frustrating), yet I think I will check out the next book in the series.
Firstly, that cover is amazing lol, why wasn't there a story based on that
Anyway, this was an okay anthology for me. There were a few stories that, in my opinion were not erotic at all.
However, there were maybe 5 or 6 stories that I really enjoyed.
I thought ‘The Middle Leg' was great. ‘The Mummy's Curves' was spooky but also kind of hilarious. ‘Prenuptials' was so well written.
Also there was some really good artwork before each story which i enjoyed.
Although there were things I enjoyed about this, i still found it overall to be quite bland.
Still would say I had fun though.
This book was a much, much better experience than the first book for me. Sierra Simone is so fantastic in her writing, especially the smut. So good.
Unfortunately though, apart from the writing style, I didn't enjoy much else.
I was so, so, so annoyed by just how many times he says “she's so young... She's just SO YOUNG”
And i understand it's a massive age gap, he's 36, she's 21, but at times, he was acting as if she was 12. Her character confused me too, there were certain times that she was so bold, so badass about demanding what she wants sexually, and then suddenly switches over to her thinking he's a genius because he asked her if her first time having sex hurt, when she didn't use any lubrication or foreplay. Of course it would hurt lol
The beginning portion did feel a little insta love to me, and it did kinda turn me off a little bit. Even throughout the story, it told a lot more than it showed, if you know what I mean.
Sean's faith confused me, he does have a weird journey but hey, I'm not Christian, so i didn't think too much of it.
Overall i liked it, but not a favourite.
Although I didn't think this was a 5, it was still massively entertaining and very well written in my opinion.
I loved it, I can totally see myself getting obsessed with Katee Robert's books.
This was a great book as a series finale, and i enjoyed reading it, but I feel I had different expectations for it?
I wanted to see some resolution for Giovanni, maybe more in terms of his mental growth, treatment of mental illnesses, maybe some resolution of his trauma, and yes I understand that a trauma as heavy as his is not something that can be solved in a set amount of time. So I guess it's okay for what it's trying to portray.
I like how the grief was handled and i enjoyed that this was narrated by Silvio.
I did observe some minor shift in his character, in the previous book he is portrayed as extremely playful, energetic, doesn't take himself too seriously, whereas he had a more serious tone throughout this novel. Again I think that can be explained by grief.
Overall this is a great series, with unique dynamics I've never read before and thoroughly enjoyed.
I found this perfectly average. There were a lot of British references that I didn't get so maybe it's on me. But I didn't feel much of their chemistry at all.
I didn't like the repetitive dinners and making fun of Oliver's vegetarianism. I mean once would have been fine, but it was annoying to have it done repeatedly throughout the book.
This wasn't for me.
Let me start by saying my expectations for this was absolute shit after what I've heard about this so this has just been sitting on my shelf for years, but I finally picked it up.
I was pleasantly surprised, this did not feel solely like a cash grab, atleast in my opinion. She definitely did put effort.
Lily's character didn't grow all that much here, not that she needed to. But we get to see Atlas's pov, and I loved watching his character develop throughout. I love how they go on their seperate journeys without each other. That way when they did come together they were strong, and independent individuals. Not just ‘2 broken people fixing each other' trope that I was expecting.
What I didn't like is how black and white it was, Ryle vs Atlas. Ryle bad, Atlas good. The reason why I loved It Ends With Us is because of how wonderfully well depicted Ryle was as an antihero, we see all sides of him whereas in this one he was completely villainised. Don't get me wrong, he is an absolute piece of shit, but he was so complicated in the previous book, I felt like he was really simplified here.
Meanwhile on the other end Atlas is so incredibly perfect, flawless in every way imaginable, and it was clear that the author was trying to point out that contrast.
Despite that, I actually really enjoyed this one. I think she said all she had to say, all the right things that had to be said.
Maybe my opinion is underrated but i really liked this book.
Saving Noah is one of my all time favourite books, and it touched me emotionally like nothing else ever had. Untill this book.
This has very similar themes of motherhood and troubled teenage sons, grief, and family drama due to the grief.
You can clearly tell this was written by a psychiatrist. The characters' emotions are brought out so well I felt like I was having a heart to heart with them. It's so emotional. I love when books make me feel such real emotions.
The plotline itself was very good in my opinion, it ran at a nice pace.
Coming to the ending, which is what most of the people's complaints are about. I wasn't expecting the plot twist. I liked it.
The last chapter? I don't know why the author did that.
I really don't think you can get pregnant by a cup. Especially not when the woman in question is 40.
But just like I did in Saving Noah, I'm just going to sit here and pretend like that last chapter did not happen. That's because I loved the rest of the book.
I would highly recommend if you're looking to read emotional thrillers with a family drama and secrets trope.
This was so fun. Adorable characters, great chemistry, easy banter, amazing spice. I loved the intimacy between these two, even more than the spice.
This was a cute little sapphic romance that was quick and entertaining.
I loved the representation of Desi parents, the way they talked, the expectations they hold, it was so real.
The biphobia too, ‘just pick a side' attitude that some people have, that too, felt very real.
The characters were brought out really well for their school setting.
But like every YA book, I felt like the problems just get solved too easily and everything's tied up neatly with a bow. How Hani's dad just listened to her and admitted all his wrong doings. How Aisling decides to apologise to Hani.
Overall it's okay, I suppose. I was willing to overlook it because it's a wholesome story.
Probably my favourite from jon athan, as someone who's grown up with a lot of “Stranger danger” fear, this book felt like my own personal nightmare.
Love how even in such a short length, Ethan's character and it's layers was so beautifully portrayed.
Truly had me terrified from how realistically terrifying it was.
I liked this book so much. I really did. The characters were amazing and lovable and the chemistry was sizzling and the spice was fantastic.
If I could somehow erase those last 50 or 60 pages, this would truly be such a fun time. I hate the golddigger evil bitch woman trope, I've unintentionally read wayy more of those than i would like. Paired with a third act miscommunication and kidnapping and ABSOLUTELY NO RESOLUTION to ANY of those in the end? It was a train wreck.
Aggressively average, although there were some fun scenes, I loved the one where they go on a hike together
This is a beautiful tale, no doubt. Grief horror is always fascinating to read because it's so interesting to watch how different people process the same grief.
The concept is very interesting too, a woman who literally feeds her grief.
This is very beautifully written, engaging, and fast paced.
What I didn't enjoy was probably Lena's whole character, i didn't see the point of why she was included in such detail, only to not give her a satisfying ending.
also i don't know if this is just because it's a man writing the book, but quite a few times the author uses ‘vagina' when I think he means vulva? Quite a few fingering scenes, and the author says vagina every time.
I read one book from this author a few years ago called Swan Song and i remember loving that one so when I randomly came across her again, i prioritised reading it.
This one to me was a disappointment unfortunately. It was just so high stakes all the time that even though there were moments of such tension it didn't hit me as it should have. I wanted to be on the edge of my seat and it just didn't feel that way. I would've liked it if the stakes went up and down, that would've brought weight to the moments that were tense. Instead it got old after a while.
This is just my opinion, obviously, but i feel like I'm just over the kind of heroines like Valeria here, who pretends like she isn't interested in the guy but in reality she's been crushing on him so hard for years (since this is a brother's best friend romance). I think if done well it's a fun dynamic to read about but this felt so cheesy, and it was a major turn off to me for the rest of the book.
The writing too just didn't feel as good as i remember Swan Song being.
All that being said I've heard great things about this book, so if it sounds interesting maybe pick it up but it wasn't the book for me.
This book was a massive wave of nostalgia for me, I used to LOVE reading fantasy books with angels and grim reapers and vampires and all that in my teens, and Laura Lascarso served it all gay and sizzling hot!
As usual I'm obsessed with the writing, and the second person pov was perfect.
Can't wait to get into the rest of this trilogy!!
Also I had way too much fun with reading ‘Henri' in my head in a French accent lol (I'm not french at all)
Usually i love reading books set in the 80s and 90s, but as a person who wasn't alive in the 80s, there were wayyyy too many references that i don't get and there's no point in proceeding when i don't enjoy it
I've never read anything like this before, and i don't think I'll ever read anything like this again. But wow. I don't even know what to think about this.
I cannot ignore the fact that Dr Spencer Black is an animal abuser. But again, that was just the time, medical ethics were sparse back in the 1800s.
Letting that go, this book is fantastic. The biography is excellently well written, it's so dark.
The illustrations were so good. Very, very interesting.
I'll definitely be coming back to this book, just for those illustrations.