nigmatillium

This was definitely the saddest book in the series so far. I liked Emma since the start, she is great, so it came as a big surprise that something could happen to her. On another note, when I first saw the suicide warning next to the series I thought Emma was more prone to do it for some reason. No idea why because there's nothing to indicate that way and I'm certain she wouldn't do it. That being said, the fifth part of the series really made me sad.

Reading it I was confused, something was off and I realised what it was when I read one of the reviews. There are some really good points on why the fifth book seemed off and also some really good questions. I'm hoping to find an answer to at least some of them (dunno, Michael's parents were absent all the way. I don't even remember if they were mentioned at the wedding) in the sequel.

It looks like Neil is moving forward in a steadier manner after everything he went through, so what about Sophie? She didn't really have when to process what's going on, she was literally forced into caring for Olivia and as much as she cares for her, this is not at all what she wanted. I was more worried that the book's title would mean Sophie getting pregnant and having a kid which is the exact thing she kept saying she doesn't want.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. In a fucked up way. It made me really, really sad and I found myself not looking forward to any of the sex scenes (except for before everything went south), when Neil did what he did I didn't even believe it until after there were doctors involved (what a weird thing, right? not believing he would do it), but yeah, this part of the series made me ache. It's safe to say I am super involved with the series.

The next title gives me anxiety. Again. I'm not reading the synopsis before reading the books, only after, so I have no clue what to expect. I have a few ideas, but I don't like any of them.

Well, only one way to find out what's going on there.

A while ago I read the Urban Soul series by Garrett Leigh and since I liked both books quite a lot, I thought why not read something else by the same author. That worked out beautifully because I enjoyed What Remains so much. Both Jodi and Rupert are so great, I loved them together, they make a beautiful couple.

I didn't actually read the synopsis before I decided to read the book so I had no idea what I was getting into. The prologue was good, really good, and that made me worry that something bad is coming, and boy did something bad come. Jodi was snatched away from Rupert so fast and he was away for so long. It was heart-breaking; but man, Rupert was not ready to let go of him even for a second. I loved the way he loved him.

I liked the first few chapters, alternating between past and present, they offered a background to Jodi and Rupert that made me like them even more. I liked it after that just as much, as Jodi started his recovery and Rupert silently loved and watched over him. And I must say, the patience both of them have warms me up.

What Remains made me feel so sad and so happy. Garrett Leigh writes beautifully, nothing was rushed or forced, it is filled with so many different emotions and I was completely lost in the story.

First of all I take back what I said about Emir's relationship in the review I wrote on the third book. I should have known better too, he was obviously not thrilled about his wife's vacation, only I thought he was simply missing her. That being said, Emir is still awesome and despite not being in the series that much, he's definitely one of my favourite characters.

Turning my attention to Sophie and Neil, I was a little anxious reading this book. The title made me wonder who the ex is, or better said which one of the exes. Like in The Bride where the bride was, well, all of the brides, here the ex was, well, all of the exes, only some of them more troublesome than the other.

At first, when I started reading the series, I saw Neil as a regular 45+ year old guy, nothing special about him, but after reading more than a half of the series he's much more attractive to me. Getting to know what he's been through and how he dealt with the issues in his life does something to me and I am even more proud of him than the last time. And what a weird thing, this shift on how I view Neil throughout the books.

I'm completely taken with this series, I am enjoying it so much.

Luckily for me the next title is not as anxiety inducing as the others or as it was before I read this one, so I am looking forward to whatever else happens in Sophie and Neil's lives. And, as usual, I'm keeping an eye open for Emir.

The Story of Us is far from being an easy read. I was not even halfway through when I had already gone from sadness to anger to happiness a few times and in different orders. Without any kind of exaggeration I despised both Zed's and Capsian's families (to varying degrees). They were so awful. Zed and Caspian both deserved so much better.

A bit of a warning if you haven't seen it already, there are some really difficult scenes to read regarding abuse. While I read those I kept wanting something to happen, something to set things right. This book gave me so much anxiety! Every time I saw a glimmer of hope, it was taken and stomped on. There was nothing I wanted more than everyone to let Zed and Caspian be.

The book stretched over a very long period of time, ten summers to be more precise, and I am glad I could go on this journey with Zed and Caspian. These two are so different, they come from two very different—yet similar—worlds and they want the same things: to be loved, to be praised for once, to love each other. They are both working so hard, they are trying so hard and it's crushing when no one sees it.

This is my first Barbara Elsborg novel, but I don't think it will be the last. I loved the writing, I always like angst when I read something, and this book had been just so good. I instantly feel for Zed and Caspian, I can't even think of them separately, they are so right for each other.

Mild spoilers

The reviews I read for this book are surprising to me and initially I wanted to say something about it, but I changed my mind. However, I will say that I understand why some of the readers have a problem with the book and if you are sensitive to subjects like abortions, threesomes and/or illness, don't read it.

The Girlfriend was an interesting read more than anything. I didn't come across the subject before in a book, so it was definitely new to me. It was interesting to see how Sophie coped with Neil's illness and how he coped as seen by Sophie. I think Abigail Barnette did a great job describing everything.

The book is not perfect, but I wasn't expecting it to be anyway. Even so, my want to read the series wasn't deterred and I am hoping the next one will be more exciting and entertaining.

I am glad Sophie got closer to Emma; for some reason I really like Emma, she's pretty great and has a neat sense of humour. I would have liked to get to know Michael too, I'm sure he's a good fit for Emma, but I would have liked for him to be more present.

All in all it was a good read and I am ready for the next part. If I didn't get it wrong (I only kinda skimmed through the first line of the synopsis) Emir is going to make an appearance in the next book and I'm looking forward to it.

After all I really can't continue with this series. I only read the first chapter of this book and it was enough for me. Well, I didn't technically finish reading the whole chapter.

Here's my three issues—the first one contains mild spoilers from the second book.

01. '[...]two of their best friends had just gotten engaged.' This refers to Apollo and Dylan who got engaged at the end of the second book. Okay, but when on earth were they best friends? In the second book all of them were actually in the same space... twice. Dylan more, but not because they were friends who wanted to spend time together, but because they just happened to be in the same place, and then because Ben needed to throw his latest conquest at someone. Dylan, Ben, and Maddox are not even friends, let alone best friends. Apollo, yes, he's their friend, but then again, there's no 'best' there.

02. I'm looking at 300+ pages of denial. What's worse is that this has been going on for a very long time and while I'm glad the reader isn't put through all of that, that's just too much. I understand denial, but when it goes for 10+ years it's just ridiculous, especially when they live together.

03. I didn't like Ben at all in the second book so I don't want to read about him. Like I really don't want to read about him.

Seeing how I'm dropping the third book I'm just going to drop the whole series. One of the books features Dustin, Dylan's brother, and I really don't want to read about him either. I don't think I know any of the characters from the other books and if I did come across them before, yikes, pretty forgettable. I'm not put off Annabeth Albert, though, I enjoyed the writing on all of the books I read from this author, it's just that Out of Uniform is the same plot recycled again and again and it seems that once, twice if I really push it, is all I can go through.

The first chapter alone has so much tension (all kinds of tension) that it would have been impossible for me to not read the novel in just a few hours.

I kept telling myself that I shouldn't like Zane, but how could I not like him? I was instantly drawn to him, he likes playing games and he's a great player. Zane got my attention just as fast as he got Quinn's. And speaking of Quinn, he's absolutely adorable in his innocence.

The novel is very well written, a bit too sudden at first, but once I got used to the writing style (my first Louise Collins novel) I was all in. I liked that there was some description on the other inmates Quinn was interviewing, I liked how he compared each of them to an animal, but I wasn't so fond on Cleo. At least at first. I thought she was going to be that type of annoying advice giving/problem solver type of character, so I was delighted when Cloe was just Cloe.

I must say I was expecting something more dramatic from this novel, but I can't complain about the outcome. Oh, no! It is perfectly fine just how it is. Maybe it could have been a little lengthier, but again, I am not complaining, I just really liked it.

And, oh my, is this one steamy hot novel? Yes, yes it is.

Oh, where do I even start? So many things happened in this book. I guess I'll have to start from the beginning. I already knew from my past experiences that when reading a Barbara Elsborg novel I have to be ready for high levels of anxiety, a lot of bad things happening, and a very tricky and complicated situation. Dirty Games did not disappoint. From the start I was both anxious and curious about what's going on. More curious than anxious, because a lot of things have been hinted at and there was no kind of explanation or context in sight. It almost frustrated me, but I knew that if I keep reading everything will become clear so that's what I did.

The first character we meet is Linton and I instantly loved Linton. He's so great, has only good intentions and life just doesn't want to cooperate with him. Soon after Linton we met Dirk who I disliked greatly at first, but warmed up to along the way. Next was Thorne who I don't really like. Well, I do, but... I have mixed feelings concerning him. Then there's Josh who I wouldn't have minded to see more in the novel, and then there's River who was so sweet. Who else? Ah, Pascal, and Max, and Owen, none of whom I liked. They were all awful.

I can't write this review chronologically because I keep thinking about the last few chapters. It was a long wait, but that's where everything comes together (obviously) and I can't write this without going back to the ending. So, okay, the story is enveloped in a fog and you don't really know what's going on until the end, and you might get frustrated along the way, you'll have questions, you'll start to piece things together and eventually start to realise what's happening and when you reach the end you realise everything kept building up and it erupts and then everyone is left to pick up the pieces and try to build everything in the correct order.

Linton is a victim in all this. He was trying so hard to fix Dirk, to help Owen, to please Max, to avoid Pascal, to love Thorne and I honestly don't know how he didn't simply give up. He was under tremendous stress, and when it all blew up in his face, when Thorne found out a part of the story and lashed out on Linton, I don't know how he didn't just crash. I don't know how he found the strength to keep going. Thorne was horrible to him. He was so selfish and cruel I don't know how Linton found it in his heart to forgive him. No, I do know, he's too good. Honestly, if Thorne treats him in any way than with kindness and love from now on, he's the worse and Linton is better off without him. Yes, I am not Thorne's biggest fan. I understand where he's coming from, but that doesn't excuse his behaviour and I was just so hurt for Linton. He did not deserve any of Thorne's harsh words.

Because the plot was revealed little by little, taking its sweet, sweet time, the last few chapters felt way too rushed. There was explanation after explanation and some of the characters suddenly started seeing reason and admitting to their wrong doings. Owen for one. He'd been so set on making Thorne suffer, but in between two conversations with Linton he suddenly accepted that him and Thorne were not meant to be. He also told Linton he didn't believe him when he said he'd been caught too that night, but next conversation they had he did believe him. Just like that. His sudden change of heart was so unrealistic, but I have to admit I am glad it did happen.

Dirty Games is not my favourite Barbara Elsborg novel and I'm wondering if I should rate it lower than the intended four stars. The build-up was great, but the ending was just too fast. I think the book could have benefited with a few extra chapters.

After I read ‘His Quiet Agent' I was delighted to discover this short story on here. I didn't even hesitate, I immediately got my hands on it and started reading.

I appreciated Martin's POV, and while this short story is welcome, it made me a little... not sad, but somewhere along the lines, and content at the same time. I am so happy Arthur is there for Martin. His devotion and patience are limitless, it makes me like him so much more. Martin too, underneath his straight face he's someone so complex and someone who needs just a little bit of attention. It's incredible how much we can learn about Martin despite everything he's not saying.

In a way ‘Merlin in the Library' is a sort of an epilogue where Arthur and Martin settle into a routine together. It's still early, but I have no doubt this is the start to something truly beautiful.

After reading the first book of 'Little Women' and learning about Louisa May Alcott and her works as A.M. Barnard I was excited to dive right in. I got two of the stories she wrote under the pseudonym and started reading.

At first I was unsure about 'The Abbot's Ghost', it didn't really keep my interest until the end of the third chapter when things got interesting. Unfortunately my interest wasn't kept for long. While the story has a lot of potential, I feel like the plot is underdeveloped. Also, due to the writing style it was rather difficult to understand who was saying what at some point in the dialogue.

As for the horror (ghost) factor... There isn't much of it. There's nothing scary or that keeps the reader alert. Overall 'The Abbot's Ghost' is a moralizing, predictable little story that can be enjoyed as a light lecture on a cold winter day.

When I started reading this book I wasn't expecting to like it that much. I was scandalized, to be completely honest, the first few pages until the first meeting between Sophie and Neil was explained. (I found out about ‘The Stranger' after I read ‘The Boss'.)

Abigail Barnette offered us an amazing novel. It feels real, it's hot, and it keeps you on edge.

Sophie is so relateable, she's a regular girl, trying to find her way. She has her priorities set straight and she's doing pretty well for herself until Neil comes back into her life. Oh, Neil. He's helpful, and he is adorable. Neil is also relateable, real, he's a regular guy, not the knight in shining armour, the impenetrable billionaire who doesn't take no for an answer. No, he's a really likeable guy, I was surprised at just how much I liked him. I found myself giggling along with Sophie.

For someone who doesn't usually read F/M romance novels, I am surprised to say that I'm looking forward to the rest of the books in the series.

And then take a look at what else Jenny Trout wrote (as Jenny Trout, Abigail Barnette and Jennifer Armintrout).

Obligatory I didn't read Pride and Prejudice, so I can't compare this novel to the original.

What a ride! I can't remember the last book that made me feel so anxious and so frustrated with the characters. I knew where this was heading, of course I did, but that didn't take away from the frustration. Most of it was because of misunderstanding and while I would normally have a huge issue with the characters not talking about what was going on, it made perfect sense here. It fit the story, and it fit the character's personalities so I have no complaints.

What I may complain about is that some things were superficially explained—some of the situations and a part of Jamie and Tim's relationship—but the frustration kept me occupied enough to not be too bothered by it. And, boy, I can't express just how much of that there is. I literally had to remind myself that there are always two sides of a story otherwise I would have dropped the book so hard. (No, I wouldn't have, at this point I was so into it, I had no option but to find out what happens next.)

I didn't like almost anyone except for Jamie, Bennet and, only later, Darius. I didn't see much of Tim, he seems like an okay guy, but he was a fool.

I liked Jamie and Bennet's friendship, Bennet was the only one out of their friends who actually got Jamie, who didn't make any idiot jokes and just accepted his principles. They all should have. He also was willing to give up on what he wanted in order to not hurt Jamie. Speaking of Jamie, I didn't like his reaction when he saw Bennet and Darius together. He immediately assumed that Bennet would stoop so low as to sleep with someone for a job and that's just not how their friendship went until that point. It was out of character for Jamie to think that and he should have known better. Other than that, he was great.

I didn't like Bennet so much at first, but after the first five chapters or so I warmed up to him. He's clever and a generally good guy, despite deeply prejudiced. Luckily there is a cure to prejudice, so no harm done.

Darius was by far the most frustrating character. Not knowing why he acted the way he did or what he was thinking made it really easy to misjudge him. I still wanted his side of the story, but man, it was tough.

As for the other characters, Philippe and Nigel were great, I instantly disliked Leon and Kofi (and I mean instantly) and while I kind of liked-but-not-really Charlotte in the beginning, in the end I really didn't like her.

Overall I liked the take on the plot (if I didn't read the original it doesn't mean I don't know what's going on there), it was good. I liked the rock climbing as a means for the characters to interact more, and for most part it made sense. It also mentioned some heavy themes (trigger warning rape, recording sex with a minor, and recording sex without the partner's consent) and I'm not sure how to feel about that. Normally it's not an issue for me reading about these kind of themes, but in this case I think it could have been replaced with something less weighty. I'm 50/50 on this.

I would still say to give the book a try if only for the anxiety and the frustration. And, obviously, if you are a fan of the original and would like to try a retelling of it. Might not make it to your favourites, but it's still a pretty good read.

Finally a novel where I actually get to read what these guys go through. In Loving a Warrior we get the training, the emotions and then some more training. I loved reading about it, seeing how Matt and Shane deal with the mental aspect of the BUD/S training, how they learn from their mistakes (well, one more than the other) and how they would finally, finally, work out their feeling for each other and deal with them. Half of the book almost drove up the wall, at some point I was thinking this better be good, or else. And good it was.

Shane and Matt worked their way through everything. From earning the trident to earning each other. I loved how they grew more comfortable in each other's company, how they became completely honest and transparent, opened up and blindly trusted the other. They both had some tales to tell and they both proved to be understanding and a rock when needed. It took a while and a lot of work, but there's no doubt they got this and it's all going to work just fine.

All in all, great read. After a few fails in the military genre I am so glad to have found this novel. Oh and I liked the 'three-foot-world' concept so much.

I didn't even know about the existence of this book until one day before I started reading it. It came up in a conversation as an inside joke (too much to explain there, and don't want to anyway, but trust me, it's funny) and something about it made me curious. I looked it up, the cover put me off instantly (the other one, not the nice blue one), but I read the synopsis and I was like wait a minute! This sounds interesting. Yet, I was pretty certain I would not like it. I was thinking this is going to be too rose tinted, too rapey, too Stockholm syndrome-y. I will admit I went into this with a 'let's see how bad it is' mindset.

And I was so freaking wrong.

This book is simply amazing! We have Jack who's a darling and I felt for him so much, and then we have Jenna and Ben, his best friends, who are great friends, and then there's everyone else (not the school director, he is the embodiment of everything that's wrong in the world, and not the stalker, but that's self explanatory) who Jack comes in contact with. Intimate or not.

I was surprised to discover this book deals heavily and in depth with bullying and stalking. I was honestly so anxious for Jack throughout the novel. He was put in a very difficult position and I actually agree to (almost) every decision he made. It's really sad to admit, but authority figures are useless and a waste of breath when it comes to people they don't agree with, who don't conform to their own ideas, who don't talk, dress, and behave the way they want them to. The book did a very good job portraying these things, and it made me angry. It's so true it hurts.

But then we have gorgeous Jack who is simply great. The book is dusted with all kinds of right things too and I think it's a good educational read for anyone who is interested in safe sex, bullying, and in what way(s) the society sucks. It answers some valid questions that I think most people ask sometimes, or don't even know they needed an answer for. I could recommend this book purely from a sex ed point of view, to be quite frank.

And then there's the mystery around it. Who sends those love letters to Jack? Who is hurting him so badly? What kind of a deranged person would do that? The mystery stays with us until the last few pages. I wasn't surprised about the reveal, but I must say the book did a pretty good job to shift the attention towards other suspects. The truth is, anyone can be a stalker, anyone can be a bully, and people should open their ears and listen when someone opens up to them and seek help.

As I already said, I agreed to almost everything Jack did. It was not ideal, it shouldn't have happened at all, but facing authority figures who don't believe him and being threatened and afraid, he did the best he could, he managed the situation the only way he could think of. What really got to me was how he thought about it, how it broke him and how he saw no way out of it except for going on with it, for changing everything about himself to conform to his stalker's standards. This was the hardest part to read. It made me so sad and I completely understood how powerless Jack felt.

This is a novel worth reading from every point of view. It is shattering and it will make you feel things.

Ugh society. Love Jack.

This was seriously so good! The plot is intriguing and I liked the whole mystery around Mr. X. Trying to figure out who he was was so fun. I liked the exchange between Mr. X and Jacob, the notes were so nice and I could almost feel their anxiety at some point.

I didn't figure out who Mr. X was, but I knew from the start who I didn't want him to be. Jacob deserved someone who really knows how to appreciate him. And he was right, if you need to ask if it's love, there's your answer.

Overall, fun little story and I am so glad to have read it. Despite it being this short I didn't feel like it was too little or like it was rushed. It really is a nice read.

This was actually a great read. For some reason I was expecting the novella to go straight to the deed, so I was pleasantly surprised to start off with the day in the office for Neil. Thinking about the first three books of the series I was glad to see my perception of Neil was 100% correct, and it was interesting to see where he stands on the ex/current girlfriend axis. Not that it wasn't clear before, but it was interesting to have it explained from his point of view.

Still thinking about the books, it was also weirdly reassuring to see how Neil thinks about Sophie and how he's completely smitten with her. He might be a little too smitten for my taste, but some people work like that and considering everything he went through it's not a surprise.

Forgetting about the series and looking at this from a Neil x Emir angle, it was great! I wanted them to go a bit deeper although I know that wouldn't have been possible, but it's not all lost; there's hint of a repeat or at least a get together and I'm going to keep an eye open for that.

Emir is great, I liked him since Sophie laid eyes on him. He's a great lover, he's dashing and he seems to be having an open and honest relationship with his wife (and I'm so curious on how that works, but I just might have to settle to a little glimpse), there's really nothing I didn't like about him.

Big thumbs up for safe sex all the way. It took a little from the eroticism of the scene, but I appreciate safe sex more.

(Since there is at least one other book in the series that I liked less than this one, I'll keep my rating in the 4-5 stars area.)

It is here! The last book in The Boss series, this time having Sophie in the limelight. You might argue that Sophie was always in the limelight since the whole series is from her point of view, but I am going to disagree. The other books in the series focused on one or multiple other characters, but this one, this last book of the series, it is all Sophie.

If I recall correctly, we left everyone worrying about what's to come in the last book. There had been a clash with Laurence and everyone was uneasy, so a wrap up was to come. Sophie is just that, it takes all the lose ends and pull them up into a bow, some more careful and tight than others.

While it is a good conclusion to the series, this book felt a little off. I am very happy that finally no one is shrugging out of anything (I didn't mention it in any of the other reviews, but the amount of shrugging out of jackets, coats and other outside clothing made me want to climb the wall), but there were other things... Some scenes felt very flat to me, when there were three characters (I mean Sophie, Neil, and El-Mudad) having a conversation, if felt like one of them wasn't there when they weren't actively speaking. I don't know if it's just me or there was something about the description, but I definitely didn't get that impression in any of the other books.

I appreciated the whole domestic violence discussion. I didn't like that it happened to one of the characters, but I liked that it showed that domestic violence exists without anyone outside of it even knowing. Without wanting to, I thought to myself that Valerie never gave me the impression of someone who would be a victim of domestic violence, she was a strong accomplished woman, but then I realised that's the whole point. There isn't anything to make someone more prone to being a victim, it can happen to anyone regardless of their social status or the way others perceive them. Very well done, Abigail Barnette.

In my first review on this series I said that Sophie is relatable and that's not the case anymore. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Sophie simply changed lanes, we intersected for a while then I watched her go a different way. Her evolution was very smooth and I might have not even noticed it if I wouldn't have had this period in between the first and the last book of the series. What I'm saying is Sophie changed. She started off as this ambitious poor girl who had big dreams, and became this comfortable, rich woman whose dreams and priorities changed.

My feelings about Neil and El-Mudad remained the same. I would have liked Neil to top El-Mudad, so, um, maybe, I can hope for a short story? Maybe? I won't keep my hopes up, just putting it out there. I must say that I liked Neil's relationship with Rashida and the way everyone became a big happy family.

Under the things I didn't particularly like is Valerie's long lasting feelings for Neil, to the point where it's completely unhealthy and more like an obsession. Get a grip already, Valerie! I was so glad El-Mudad stepped in and made both his and Sophie's feelings about that relationship known. Only Neil was too quick to accept it. And just to be clear, Neil is definitely guilty too in this Valerie-Neil relationship.

As I already said, this last book tights up lose ends and while I am glad everything was taken care of, I feel like some things were rushed. Neil's acceptance that he might just be wrong, Valerie's divorce—what happened to Laurence? I'm sure he put up a fight, that was definitely one nasty divorce. Did he walk away with Valerie's money? Was there no repercussion for his actions?—then the fact that matters regarding Olivia weren't taken care of until it absolutely had to, it all made it feel like this book's sole purpose was just that, cleaning up, and not offering a sequel, a story.

However, I did enjoy it. I laughed a few times, there were some good moments there, some harsh words were thrown too, and the book was overall entertaining. I just didn't feel it as close as some of the others, there was excitement, but in a very so long kind of way, I knew every step of the way that this is the last book, it loomed over me, and I wasn't taken by surprise at all by what happened. I like being taken by surprise when reading.

This is the driest novel I ever read. The only thing that comes to me while thinking about this novel is a stale piece of bread. Perhaps missing some key ingredients too. There are some missing in the novel for sure.

What makes me feel something about it, and that's being pissed, is that there is potential. This could have been a good novel. I feel like the author got sick of sad, angsty novels so they slapped a few words together and rolled with it without bothering too much.

I could have loved Liam and Alex, but as it is, I don't even know anything about them except for what it's said to us and even then I don't buy it. It's not believable. And the side characters exist only to tell us what is supposedly going on because the description does such a poor job at it. So yeah, no one is missing anything if they are not reading this.

When I start reading a Lyn Gala novel I don't actually know what I'm going to get. So far I read three novels by the same author and all of them were wildly different, to the point that if I would have read them without knowing the author beforehand I would have not guessed they are all written by Lyn Gala. Because of that chameleon-like writing skill, Lyn Gala is on my favourite authors list.

I instantly felt for Ollie, he was in a very unpleasant situation from the start and I was already anxious about what was coming next for him. I really, really hoped Milan wasn't the one for him. It's not that I didn't like Milan, although ‘like' is a strong word in his case, but it was obvious he didn't have any kind of romantic feelings for Ollie. I did appreciate him having Ollie's best interests in mind... Sort of. What I did like most about the whole ordeal was how in control Ollie was, how aware of his reactions and feelings he was.

At first I was equally as confused as Ollie was about what was happening, I needed to know who was to blame, and I was so happy when it all got cleared up. There was still a way to go, but, darn, that felt good. Somehow I really connected with Ollie. I wouldn't say I relate to him, but I did feel him very close to me. I have no idea how that happened, but I welcomed it.

I also liked the plot a lot. I found the shade clubs concept really interesting and I did look it up after reading the novel to find out if it's a real thing, but all I could find were sunglasses shops, and that's obviously not it. I would not be surprised if shade clubs were an actual thing and although I couldn't find anything claiming they are I'm still not convinced they are not real. I'll put that on Lyn Gala's masterful writing and the way she constructed the plot.

Another thing I really, really liked was the setting, or more precisely the way it was dealt with. At some point it becomes obvious that the plot happens sometime in the future, no clue what year, but there's more advanced technology available, as well as Mars expeditions happening. What I liked about it was how casually it was revealed. There was no list of news headlines of the last 10 major advancements or more than a couple mentions of the Mars thing. It was very natural, it was described exactly like any regular person today would think about what happens around us and if that would be a more common thing in novels I might actually get to read SciFi more often.

I really liked the women in this novel too, good and bad. It's quite rare to have a female character in an MM novel who's not there only for offering support or messing things up for the main characters so it was refreshing to have all these women around who actually did stuff. It goes without saying that Sewell was my favourite, but I liked them (almost) all.

I liked following Ollie's journey to discovering himself and him fighting for what's right. I must also mention Travis and I have to say I liked him a lot too. He was such an honest guy. A bit on the dumb side here and there, but a really good guy. Better than most good guys, actually. He hit a lot of good points.

I pretty much enjoyed everything about this novel. I was not expecting to like it this much when I started reading it, but here we are. I'm really glad about that, though. I would have loved reading more about Ollie and Travis, and for that reason I'll keep the novel somewhere close, just in case.

This book feels more like the start of something than a standalone novella, but I did enjoy it a lot. It's funny, exciting and takes a completely new approach on superheroes. Or the lack of superheroes. The whatever superheroes, they are not important in this book.

I liked the main characters a lot, they are both adorable and much more complex than one would expect.

I liked the perspective of this novella, it was refreshing and enjoyable.

It was odd reading something written in present tense, but it was not bad, I would read something like that again.

I mostly kept on reading this because of the windows, if I am being completely honest here. I like huge ass windows and this novel had plenty of those. It was funny too at times, I liked the interactions between Avery and the rest of the characters and, yeah, he's pretty likeable. Glad he learned some things too. Good thing Avery has really good friends, but for who don't, repeat after me: always use safe words when playing.

The novel felt weirdly rushed and not at the same time. The action definitely focused on Avery and Malin, and while that's obviously not an issue, in doing so some parts were rushed and brushed over. I would have liked to read what actually went on every time, in every interaction regardless of the characters involved, especially since I liked pretty much everyone. The ending followed the same pattern and so I don't feel satisfied. It was a good ending, but not presented in a satisfying way.

I'm gathering this is one of the first novels published by Avon Gale, and having that in mind, Let the Wrong Light In is a darn good read. I am having hopes for this author and I am definitely interested in what else may come from them.

After I read The Psychopath and The Freshman, I finally managed to read The Rat as well. The only thing these three books have in common is the setting, they are all set in a prison of some sort, but other than that, they are not connected. Despite that, I can't think of them as not being related and I wonder why the author made the decision to not bundle them up.

Anyway.

I did not enjoy The Rat as much as I thought I will. If anything, by the end of the novel my excitement and interest went lower and lower. I already knew where this was heading and although I couldn't pin point exactly how all was going to go down, when the plot was revealed to me I just shrugged and moved along.

I didn't like the main characters very much. They didn't feel like prisoners to me, but more like college students, they were too soft. I got an explanation for that, but it still didn't feel right or even remotely realistic. Rory is the worst spy there ever was, he has no idea what he's doing, but that's not really important because he's not doing much anyway.

The prison psychiatrist is the most useless psychiatrist ever and I don't know how he still holds his job. Young, okay, but incompetence doesn't sit well with me. But hey, no worries, Rory is there, fixing everything. Wait, what? Ugh.

While I did manage to get through most of the book fairly easy, the last few chapters were so cringy. For the most part the novel held its pace, but towards the end, Louise Collins seemed to be in a rush and I really didn't like that the characters' emotions weren't dealt with properly.

I managed to read these three books, but I am not going to jump into another Louise Collins novel any time soon.

I read this and I liked it a lot, but I am in an impasse right now. It mostly has to do with how many books there are going to be in this series. Am I ready for the commitment? I have zero patience when it comes to waiting for a new book or chapter, reason why I don't go into ongoing series. I just have to have it all now or I lose interest. I really should have looked this up before starting reading it, because I liked it, but ugh, I don't think I'm ready for the commitment. I should also, probably, read the other series, but 36 books... Although 30-50pages each is not that much. It still makes me think about the other books I want to read. I don't know, I'll have a think about it.

On topic: I didn't actually get a grip of Ewan and Nate, although they seem likeable. The first instalment leaves you wanting more of them, see how they would manage. It also ended in a sort of cliff-hanger, and I'm not sure how to feel about that. I don't particularly like or dislike cliff-hangers, but having to wait for the next book for a while would rip out my interest. At this point I am willing to wait until the series is complete and then plunge into both of them. Into the series. Both of the series.

I also couldn't find any info on the author's site, the last book mentioned there has already been released two books ago according to GR, so I obviously can't rely on the site. But anyway, the point is the series holds a lot of promise, it might be really fun. I might or might not continue reading it, but leaving aside my concerns, by all means, go for it. I honestly can't think of anything I didn't like, apart from the wonder of why is it so damn short.

Edit: I decided I'm going to read up to the third book (possibly the two short stories as well) since that apparently makes up the first season, then I'll think about it. I really liked the first book, and I need some sort of ending, regardless of if I am going to read the whole series or not.

At first I didn't really expect much, I didn't even remember I had this on my pc, but as I started reading I got completely caught in.

The way this is written is completely new to me, and refreshing at the same time. And although I was pretty sure I would get to hate some of the characters, main ones even, I didn't. I like a lot how each point of view is written clearly; I even enjoyed the timeline jumps and I actually liked reading something and then getting a more complex description of the situation.

Another thing I liked a lot is that although I was pretty sure where this was going, I still had doubts, at times this book kept me on edge and that made it so much more entertaining.

I see why and how not everyone could get to like 3, but for me it was really refreshing and interesting. I think I might even look into more works of Mr. Flores.

All in all, good read, highly entertaining.

The third and last book of All's Fair series is definitely the most anxiety inducing. It just came and punched me repeatedly. One important note about this one: probably shouldn't be read as a standalone. I think most series can be read out of turn or you can only read certain volumes, but with this one you really have to read the first novel as well. The plots are tightly connected and you'd be lost without some background.

That being said, I loved that the plot is connected with the first book. Reading the second one I knew this was coming, but I wasn't sure if the Sculptor would be a secondary case or not. Well, it turns out the Sculptor wasn't quite done yet, still had some things planned.

Elliot and Tucker are as great as ever, they are well set in their routines, life's pretty good, but when Tucker went missing, oh my, I felt that. Reading the novel I knew this was coming, but I still didn't want to believe it until I saw the words. There was the question if Tucker's disappearance was connected to the Sculptor, was it related to another case he was working on, or he bailed and left Elliot. Well, we all know which one of those options is not it.

I missed not having Tucker around for a few chapters and I was worried about what his captors might do to him, but the mystery around it and the want to know what happened kept me turning page after page. I dreamed of reunion. I even got myself some wine to share with the characters when that happened.

There is an itty-bitty hint of a sequel. This might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I'm just saying. The series ended on a really nice note, I like it, I'm satisfied, and I might just keep the novels close in case I might want to read them again.

Erm, actual spoilers coming because there are two things I really want to say.

(01) I was so glad when Elliot found a dog and I was thinking, yes, that's it, Elliot is finally getting a dog, but then that sard came and shot it?? Made me sad, but good thing she was poor shooter and Elliot did get a dog! I loved Sheba and while it's clear where her loyalties stand, I would love to see more interaction between her and Tucker. The bit I got was funny.

(02) I kept saying how it's clear Elliot was a great agent and that I was sad he was not one anymore since it's obvious that's his calling, but everything turned out great! He was offered a position in the Bureau and, really, that makes me so glad. I just hope Elliot and Tucker won't have to give up on some quality time together. These two really need some, especially with the upcoming honeymoon and all, hehe.