alyssa
“Last time, they spent 800 years running towards each other. This time, it only took an instant to fall into each other's embrace.”
THE ULTIMATE LOVE STORY 800 YEARS IN THE MAKING! stories like this are why i have unrealistic expectations for men
Oh wow, if this is what it's like to be spoon-fed pure sugar and clever banter, I beg the literary gods above for this moment to never end!
Such a charming debut(!) collection containing three short stories and two couples (Zack and Richard, David and Julian). Yes, there's some of that jolly holiday instalove magic, but before you say nah I'm good and walk away, I implore you to reconsider. This is an absolute gem of a read from the very first paragraph, and with each delightful passage, my heart did grow lighter and lighter just as promised!
I especially adored Zack and Richard's storyline. Zack, who is indeed mischievous and as “disarmingly adorable” as he claims to be, please never stop being you. I would love nothing more than to follow you on the twitters. And Richard, the sheer power of this man. A well-dressed civil servant with the ability to level everyone with only his presence, PHEW! How very sexy of you, dear sir.
Having not had read the blurb, I was more than pleasantly surprised to see more of these two in the third short story against the backdrop of Farringdon Club snobbery. It was a treasure trove of hilarity and entertaining shenanigans, as well as undeniable proof that Zack and Richard are a power couple!
I feel truly blessed to have come across this book and can only hope we get more of these two couples in some form or another. J.R. Lawrie, I bow down before you and look forward to all your future releases
out of all the reveals, i'm most baffled by Seong-Jae's singing abilities - leave some talent for the rest of us, good sir!
[3.5] i officially have a new anthem, say it with me: Tucker the F*cker deserves to get run over by a trucker! again, louder for the people in the back!
[3.3] enjoyed this more than the last novella but i'm also terribly underwhelmed by the short bursts of semi-communication sprinkled throughout, half of which are (rudely) interrupted by baddies, sexual impulses, etc. while i'm sure the author is saving it for book 2, the novellas have dragged this out longer than my patience can take
better than book 1 but don't come in expecting the mystery to take center stage. it's all about the cloyingly cutesy wootsy romance that screams honeymoon phase
[3.5] i know i am not the target audience (YA is not my standard fare by a long shot), but a transmasc nonbinary latinx pirate possessing magia PLUS that gorgeous cover? i couldn't resist requesting this literal pirates of the caribbean story.
my favorite aspect of the book: Mar is the perfect vehicle for proper lgbtqia+ representation. i love that in this world, no one bats an eye at people's gender identity or sexuality. Mar still has to confront their feelings of body dysmorphia, but it's depicted in a sensitive manner that i believe any reader in a similar boat can relate to and feel seen. this is coupled with their arduous process of coming to terms with their magia as a power for good and not evil during their quest to save the people they love.
the story is very much plot-driven - some developments a bit cliché at times and the grand finale predictable, but one that i imagine a younger me would have had fun with. my biggest niggle comes with the dialogue. occasionally stilted, it made getting a nuanced feel for the characters beyond a broad overview challenging, such as the love interest Bas. he's a supportive, happy-go-lucky guy with a talent for maps but that's everything i could glean from the text. i think i was hoping for him amongst other characters to have been fleshed out more. but that being said, i'm also a sucker for found family and unlikely allies, so it was most exciting for me to find that both featured prominently. those tropes truly reign supreme!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of the book - this is my honest review :)
"Tell me something real."
[4.4~4.5] approaching follow-ups in any book universe is invariably laced with some hesitancy, but particularly after what i'd consider one of my favorite reads from this year, Until You, well, i was hesitant in more ways than one to say the very least.
the relief when i realized that fear was wholly unwarranted.
dislike to love (appreciate the distinction!) + fake dating (those who are not a fan of the trope can rest assured; it's more of an impetus for that initial shift in their relationship rather than their dynamic throughout the entire story) + a frivolous jokester hiding his well of trauma + a deceptively stony-faced, inquisitive enigma = me as a happy camper
out now! at the end of the fever dream that's four back-to-back releases - get your latest dose of Dag & Eli before entering DuPage hibernation.
YEAH I TEARED UP READING THE FINAL SHORT, WHATCHU GONNA DO ABOUT IT
happy release day! when GA announced this crossover series with his first ever Kickstarter last June, little did i know how much these books would become a sort of lifeline in the chaos of adulthood. it's a true honor to be a full-time GA promobot, wholly powerless against the hold he has on my psyche and all the better for it.
until we meet our favorite 8-person sleuthing squad as a complete entity again, Hazardverse fam
Happy release day to this spin-off from the perspective of one of the messiest characters in the entirety of the Hazardverse (and GA veterans know there's no lack of gargantuan messes to sift through)!
- Buy direct: https://shop.gregoryashe.com/b/sfZAG
- Audiobook (narrated by Greg Tremblay): https://www.audible.com/pd/Body-Count-Audiobook/B0F6DT9JMW
Suggested reading order: after all three Hazard & Somerset arcs (H&S Mysteries, Union of Swords, Arrows in the Hand) and The Evening Wolves (Iron on Iron #4)
- List of CWs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-4poLMcuCtu5p8C-SqDygXCUsZ9sp9Jgj2qIEHVz_qM/edit?tab=t.0#bookmark=id.a8j9boi139wf
—–
[4.4~4.5] One of the highest compliments I can dole out to Gray Dulac in an attempt to encapsulate his no-limits, fratboy, noir-esque cynicality and self-deprecation is the mirages of Nick Nowak, protagonist of the incredible Boystown series, that I saw in his wake. Dulac's younger in many ways, arguably more self-aware in some, but their similarities are ever prominent in the directional shifts: the prolonged fall, adrift and lost for too long and with little means to cope, to meanderingly slow rise, from bitter venom to golden drops of elusive hope.
GA enacts an impressive display of the duality of man by penning this at the same time as his cozies. It's as if everything he's been holding back found their outlet in a cathartic rush. The angst, the grit, the swearing - a dam burst so painful and delightfully familiar, a flood relieved to spew unrestrained at last. No punches were pulled in the making of this book, much to Dulac's chagrin. So much so that you'll do well to heed the first two sentences of the blurb.
The case in parallel sets Dulac on a stuttering trot across a field of thorns to the land of self-reflection. While at times nebulous on the logistics, the mystery held me in rapt attention. I loved the tie-ins, the situations Dulac was led into, the creeping doubts. Taking flawed characters to their limits is where GA's stories excel, and this was no exception. I'm already wearing the edge of my seat for the official release of Dulac's Story Part 2, and sincerely hope a certain other individual gets to tell his story in the future.
Thank you to the author for providing a complimentary copy of this book; this is my honest review :)
——pre-release thoughts——
From what I've read of the serialization so far, this book is a dangerously compelling character study into a broken soul that redefines rock bottom. It's also been personally the roughest for me to digest in all its difficult themes and graphic depictions - no ifs, ands, or buts about it. To be honest, I don't know if I'd be able to read this again without a narrator holding my hand through it. I'll be here desperately waiting to learn who the narrator is of this far-off audiobook
***please make sure to read [b:A Surplus of Light 50632410 A Surplus of Light Chase Connor https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579770652l/50632410.SX50.jpg 65116393] before jumping into this!***I suppose that is what we're moving toward in life—becoming a piece of the hazy collective memory of the people who knew us least and haunting the memories of those who can't forget us.Like memories of past summers in the creek.[4.4~4.5, rating in conjunction with the short story at the end of the book] a month since Ian and Mike have left Podunk, Texas, the creek has gone dry, and two boys standing on opposite sides of the dried creek bed lay eyes on each other.this is the story of Kevin and Carson's very own summer.there's something about the way Chase Connor establishes a sense of place in his books that draws me right in. the blazing heat of a nasty drought, the whispering and nodding of townspeople, the buzzing of hundreds of bees. it's been a while since i read A Surplus of Light, but once again i felt like i knew this small town, with its limited selection of stores and slew of backward-thinking residents, like the back of my hand. i would like nothing more than to sit down with Wallace Lee in his backyard and contemplate what the world has to offer.i wish i could write more, but i still haven't packed for my trip, so i'll leave you with a few of my thoughts on that ending. the last few pages were far from what i envisioned for the two of them, but even in their ambiguity, or rather my initial reluctance to accept their implication at face value, rereading the short story “A Species of Special Concern” immediately after had coated on the sugar to a decent afterglow. hopeful and lonely no more, that's enough to keep my greed at bay (for now, though more short stories and the like are always welcome
~ HAPPY RELEASE DAY! ~
>> you know the drill - obligatory spoiler warning for those who haven't read the original Hollow Folk series yet! believe me, this spin-off hits more keenly and with more oomph post-HF, once your brain's undergone a fundamental change in its chemistry.
[4.25] yesterday i sat myself down at my desk with the full expectation of knocking out a review before dinner - back straight, fingers poised, ready to produce a clickety-clackety melody on my mechanical keyboard - only to find the words wouldn't come. i was dazed. overcome. and feeling a wee bit fragile, to be completely honest. imagine me encased in a bubble wrap burrito with red “handle with care” tape slapped across my chest. a little something like that.
i don't do well with endings or goodbyes. i gratuitously ponder the end of adventures i have yet to embark on, and then oftentimes get too lost in premature mourning to fully appreciate the ride once my turn's come. a week of quarantining hasn't helped much either, both dulling my physical senses and sharpening the emotional ones. in essence, i'm unstable enough as it is. so why not read the final book of a Gregory Ashe series to add fuel to the fire?
GA had me in the first half, not gonna lie. i regrettably haven't found the mishmash of factions and leaders in this universe to be massively compelling and i can't quite put a finger on why that's the case - are they too tame? too shrouded in cryptic flimflam for me to make heads or tails? or did i just devour these books without pausing to savor them properly? (the last one. definitely the last one.) the shorter length of these books may have also undermined the sense of urgency and threat from these vertiginous antagonists, because as much chaos as our heroes have had to bear already, it still feels as though we've only scratched the surface - but that could very well be my insatiable greed talking.
the faltering reached its peak with a few situations requiring a touch too much suspension of disbelief for my liking (i know, trying to logic the paranormal genre is futile, but the brain does what the brain wants), but trust me when i say hang in there: those last gobsmacking chapters downright made me their prisoner. if you had passed by my room then and did a double, triple, quadruple take, you would've caught me in a new state of mental distress each and every time: buffered screams, explosive laughter, statue-still shock, silent flopping about like a fish on land, the list goes on. my family didn't even deign to check in because they're already well-accustomed to my emotions going haywire. just another day of going full bananas over fictional characters.
now, when i tell you the Jimmett ship goes through it, i mean it in every sense, shape, and form of the phrase. i had to give myself a few moments to collect my composure, because the way some scenes had me scrambling to pick my jaw up off the floor...
we were all thinking it, but HOLY KAMOLEY. no punches pulled, which was oddly & perilously cathartic in the entirety of this wild whirlwind of startling reversals, nostalgia trips, and bitter doses of biting honesty.
Emmett remains the snappy, zesty fiend we all know and love. a wild, injured animal you stumble upon on the side of the road with a charismatic allure that compels you to offer a helping hand, only to return home with a failure in the books and one less functional limb. sure, he's a handful. but he's Jim's brattylicious handful.
Jim(bo Baggins), on the other hand, has miraculously managed to maintain an inhuman level of composure so far. until now. the more we learn of his past, the closer his hour to assume a razor edge, taking a page or two out of the all-consuming Manual of Mayhem, approaches. this is a two for one combo that might just break your heart.
but throughout the highs and lows, interlaced with the miasma of fear, pretend, and vacuity, they recognize on a bone-deep level that they are each other's anchor when circumstances set them adrift, and guiding beacons of light in the lifelong struggle of giving oneself grace.
Thank you to the author for providing a complimentary copy of this book; this is my honest review :)
—-pre-release thoughts—-
makes grabby hands who else wants to join me in screaming for March 24 to arrive already so book 3 can drop when book 2 hasn't even been set free yet? the good ol' gut's telling me we're going to be wishing they were released mere days from each other for sanity's sake
wuzhe is the master of hilarious flirty banter omg i could read lin yao and guan ze's convos all day!!! the plot is a bit 狗血 (which wuzhe admits herself) but it's still such a worthwhile read for the characters <3
mc, who plays a female character in an mmorpg, unknowingly marries his coworker in-game due to certain circumstances, and they learn about each other online (both unknowingly at first but....you'll see hehe) and offline. the ml's tragic backstory had me clutching my heart but the tender muahs and their hea were worth the pain
[3.25] I'll admit the beginning had me skeptical. I don't mind instalove as long as we get heaps of scenes where they get to know each other, but the story started off with lots of telling, little showing to the point where it felt like nothing happened and yet they were already well on their way to “love of my life” status.
But then the story took off, and watching two boys work through the physical distance and communication barriers carried my attention. While I wished we got more on the latter front (everything felt too perfect?), two people accepting each other as they are is always a beautiful thing to read about.
(On a side note, I will now expect all stories with a photographer MC to include a sensual photoshoot scene. Not having one will be considered an absolute travesty
⚠️ READ IN PUBLIC AT YOUR OWN RISK ⚠️
Ahhhhh Dale and Sean make a reappearance and I love how their chapter ends!! But holy cow that Masquerade scene was piping hot and steamyfans self
Greg:a palimpsest of desire and terror and confusion lingered on his face
me: yes
so much for being a native English speaker when i'm whipping out the dictionary every other page. i don't recall these words showing up on wordmasters challenges back in my day (as if i knew the ones that did show up lol).
jokes aside, writing this review means that there is one last book left in GA's backlist for me to read, and the stark reality of that statement has just settled in my bones with mute resignation. while it's a lot to keep up with, i'm so gosh darn thankful Greg is as prolific as he is. his books are like a nice, steamy bowl of noodle soup when you're feeling under the weather, and i don't think i can last more than a few weeks without a booster dose.
back to the story at hand... i know, i know: “Alyssa gave only three stars to a GA book, say what?!” i personally consider it the weakest thus far, mainly because the interpersonal conflicts didn't deliver to the potential that i am used to from him, and there was a very specific event that didn't sit well with me. in a surprise twist of fate, i even found myself liking a certain character often mentioned in the same sentence as a sauce associated with mashed potatoes more so than the rest of our ensemble at some parts. color me shocked!
to avoid accidentally spoiling peeps, i'll be leaving my “story so far” and other points under a spoiler tag. you have been warned!
~~~ spoilers incoming ~~~...
our squad may be fragmented, stuck together with a few slapped-on, loose strips of masking tape, but the squad is back no less! and holy nuggets, with the whole squad in tow, this adventure sure reached epic proportions.as we've seen in the previous book, we have another multiple (beyond the standard two) pov structure. as much as i enjoy camping in various minds and watching parallel timelines develop concurrently and their eventual collision, i find this comes with its own set of risks, the biggest of which is that the allotted time given to each interpersonal conflict isn't enough for a proper evolution and resolution. i wouldn't be surprised if my expectations were set too high, but the relationships - platonic and romantic, though more the latter in this case - didn't quite hit the beats i was hoping for the pairings to knock out of the park. the constant pov switcheroos and resultant lack of on-page conversations made for a weak understanding of the characters and their motivations, and my investment in their quest occasionally faltered.which leads me to my most controversial take: Irene and Cian the way they are is waaay too toxic. i don't know how else to describe their relationship - they're in dire need of couple's therapy AND individual therapy, and their passive aggressive schtick has to stop because it breeds nothing but contempt. the scene that shocked / repulsed me in equal measure was when Irene essentially used Cian - who was deeply intoxicated at the time, mind you - to impregnate herself based on a ghost's advice
