She Reads Too Much

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Um. Yeah. No.

There wasn't anything spectacularly awful about this book but there was nothing at all that stood out. It was, in a word, mediocre.

Which was a disappointment.

Two scarred and damaged men, finding each other and overcoming their shit should have been golden.

Instead I found a somewhat snobbish academic (Jesse) that I never forgave for disparaging remarks about high school teachers and a terrifyingly insecure rocker (Templeton) with serious self esteem issues.

I actually liked two supporting characters, Jesse's mom Amelia and his best friend from high school Davey, way more than either hero.

Which I think kinda defeated the purpose.

So, I didn't connect to either of the heroes. Couldn't stand the whole activist angle. Felt like the relationship did not progress normally or realistically and nearly laughed my way off the chair when the GSA sponsor concocted a "solution" to some very bad press.

Had a crazy, possessive, abusive, stalking ex (which was the most realistic storyline, speaking from personal experience), stupid lies and miscommunications. Some fairly meh sex.

And...the end.

I finished but it was more out of a combined sense of duty and curiosity regarding what other not quite believable stuff I would find.

Can't recommend to my GR peeps. Somehow it just sort of never got on the right track and managed to derail anyway.

Surprisingly sweet, a bit sexy and a bit emotional.

The blurb explains the story quite well and the author does a good job exploring how a straight guy finding himself pledging to a gay frat might react.

I enjoyed it though it was too pricy for the length. Wish it had been longer and a relationship had developed with one of the frat brothers. So this wasn't a romance but it was, as I said, sweet and sexy.

Rating: 3-stars

Read as part of the Secrets of Neverwood bundle.

I enjoyed the final installment of this three book series though it ended up losing half a star because it felt as though not all the threads were wrapped up and was a bit like a cliff hangar for me, which I HATE! I mean Devon and Nicholas seemed to be headed towards their HEA but there were more questions than answers about the house situation and the future of the foster home. The very end of the book did leave the door wide open for more to be written in the future.

The relationship between Devon and Nicholas was, in my opinion, pretty unlikely but had a strong thread of hurt/comfort running through it. This trope is one of my kryptonites and it was done well here. A good portion of the book is spent on the search for Nicholas' run away son and then on how things play out once he is found. While the two heroes do spend a lot of time together they are not focused wholly on one another and that did take away my enjoyment. Watching Devon grow and open up was actually quite wonderful. He was a tough nut to crack.

Smexy times were good, there was a lot of simmering feeling to go around and we got to see continued relationship building between the brothers.

Overall I liked this book and would recommend it to lovers of hurt/comfort stories who don't mind kids as a major plot device.

I've reviewed each of the three stories in the bundle separately and averaged the ratings.

One Door Closes by Diana Copland by Libby Drew fangirl. One of the reasons is her excellent execution of the three sibling paranormal trilogy. I eat them up like freeking candy! When I saw this bundle of books I totally got a lady boner 'cause I thought I was going to get the gay equivalent to a La Nora trilogy. Eh, not quite.

These three books, I think, could be read as stand alones however I do believe you'd lose something in doing so because there are two story arcs that span all of the books. Because of that, even though book one made me rage panda, I'm going to recommend this series to be read as a series to fans of hurt/comfort M/M romance. While there is sex in all three books I wouldn't classify it as erotica, so don't expect that. Also don't expect strong family ties out of the gate either. That grows over the course of the books though I do wish there had been MORE interaction as a family.

The mystery sub-plot seems to be the weakest to me. And the fact that I felt as though there were still lose ends at the end of the final book took away from my overall enjoyment of the series.

Final rating, 3-stars.

Rating: 4-stars

Read as part of the Secrets of Neverwood bundle.

See, now I'm glad I purchased this as a bundle because if I hadn't I would have missed this wonderful book. The last book pissed me off so much I would never have gone back for more in the series.

The Growing Season, for me, had everything One Door Closes was missing. Namely the two heroes were together a lot, working on their problems, being faced with simmering sexual tension and finally pretty dam hot sex.

What I loved here was the hurt/comfort aspect of Danny and Sam's relationship, the growing connection between the brothers and surprisingly enough the continued threat against Neverwood.

No half finished thoughts and sentences here! Thank God! Because of that I was able to actually get a sense of both Danny and Sam as people. I cared what happened to them and was convinced they'd have a HEA.

Also nice to see was the little glimpses into Calvin and Wil's continuing relationship. I find I like Cal more as a secondary character, his head was too exhausting for me to be in.

Now I'm looking very forward to Devon's story and the resolution to the house issue.

This one I can gladly recommend. I would believe it could be read as a stand alone though I do think you'd miss the tension of the continued house issues and the satisfaction of seeing the Danny from book one turn into the man he becomes in this book.

Rating: 2 stars

Read as part of the Secrets of Neverwood Bundle.

This book hurt to read. A lot. It touched on issues that are personal and painful for me and I'm sure that had a huge impact on my inability to fully enjoy the book.

Aside from content issues I found it difficult to deal with the frequent unfinished sentences and thoughts peppered throughout the narrative. It was as if I was expected to have all the knowledge that the characters had and with that, would have been able to finished these sentences and thoughts. The fact was, I didn't have the knowledge and it left me feeling confused and frustrated. Not a pleasant state of mind when you are reading a book to escape life.

In terms of content, without giving much away, Calvin is a character who takes martyrdom and self flagellation to impressive levels. It's not enjoyable. The angst level was pretty high and I guess I wasn't really in the mood for it. Actually, the three "brothers" presented in this first of three books were a highly unlikeable group of people. If I hadn't already purchased the bundle I wouldn't go any further.

My favorite character of the book? Wil, Calvin's love interest and perhaps the most patient man ever created.

All of this being said, the premise of the book (and series) drew me in. Three foster brothers reunited after their foster mother died, working to keep her house and re-establish a foster home. However I did feel mislead as these three men had no real relationship with one another. In fact two of the three only lived in the same house for just about a year and none of them had seen each other in something like 10-years maybe? I was hoping they'd have a bit more history together and what they actually had for most of the book was antagonism.

I applaud the author for taking on the subject matter but there was too much time spent on having Calvin and Wil apart and not nearly enough of them together, working out their issues. The sex was fraught with tension, rightly so given several important plot points, and sensual. It was intimate and I wanted more. Really, there were 2 sex scenes and they were at the end of the book. Not cool.

There was a small element of the paranormal involved as well.

Okay, I've been trying not to say it but it's burning inside me. Please, if you don't want a major plot line spoiled don't read the spoiler. It's part commentary anyway...

Calvin is clinically depressed and has a history of medication usage for this condition. Some of the drugs were heavy duty, reacted poorly with one another and caused Calvin more problems than they solved. This entire thing was portrayed as shameful and it infuriated me! Like steam coming from my ears infuriated! I've had the same diagnosis. I've been on medications. There is NOTHING SHAMEFUL ABOUT A MEDICAL CONDITION AND FUCK EVERYONE WHO THINKS THERE IS!!!!! The treatment of this condition pretty much killed whatever enjoyment I had been deriving from reading the book and pushed me into rage panda mode. I had to sleep on the review before I wrote it and writing it has gotten me all wound up again. Gahhhh. So if this is a trigger for you, like it obviously is for me, consider yourself warned.

Also, I could be totally overreacting because, hello, mental here!

In the end I gave this 2 stars because I really liked Wil, when the sex finally happened it was so intimate and I felt like these guys were gonna have a HEA.

The next Weird Shit We Read on Wednesday read! All welcome to join in and freak the fuck out enjoy!

Discussion Thread



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REVIEW

In honor of this book the entire review will be written in italics!

I'm not entirely sure what the fuck I just read.

The writing was actually not bad at all, aside from the serious abuse of italics. But, I just. I don't know what happened. What was it all about? It felt like being dropped in the middle of the forest and told to find my way out. Via dragons, knotting and eggs.

So we've got a pretty boy mage who seems to dress like a girl and shave his legs with magic (which is, admittedly, very cool).



Okay. I mean, cross dressing and/or gender bending is not my favorite thing but I can deal for smexy times.

It seems this mage has a limited supply of magic that can only be replenished by sex. Well, okay then! This sounds like we could have lots of smexy times...



So pretty boy mage is riding through a strange land, all out of magic, when he finds a residence in a large crystal.



Wait, be right back. For some reason this review is making me want Spaghetti O's (with meatballs). I'm gonna make some right now...



Okay, I'm back. You don't know this because you are reading this review but it was a 4 minute break that involved a microwave, plastic utensils and a can opener that really should be replaced. I can't believe I'm 41 and have freeking Spaghetti O's (with meatballs) in my house.

Anyway.

In the crystal house our pretty little mage finds conjoined men...



That he somehow knows are shifters. When he calls them out they become a two-headed dragon.



These stupid dragon heads have the most annoying amusing banter that takes up pages and pages..




So then there is dragon sex, and something that might? be dirty talk? And knotting. And coming. And a dragon egg.



The sex wasn't even hot. It confused me. I was confused by sex. To be honest I'm not sure that's ever happened before.

After that we've got more dragon head banter, the pretty mage getting all his magic back, the pretty mage using all his magic up and riding away, a mysterious stranger at the door and...the end?



So while this was not terrible I was completely underwhelmed. I mean, come on - I made Spaghetti O's (with meatballs) while writing my review! I didn't even get annoyed enough to make a ranty review.

The final verdict? Read it. Or don't. It's okay with me.

And Spaghetti O's (with meatballs) really should NOT taste as good when you are an adult as they did when you were, like, 8.

Josh Lark continues to please with this unexpected feelz wrapped up in PWP.

I also appreciate the way coming misconceptions are kind of torn apart and the underdog wins.

And the freeking sex is HOT.



Seriously, if you have tried the wonder that is Josh Lark please do so.

Disclaimer: I consider the author a friend of mine however I purchased this book and will provide a fair and honest review.

This was incredibly short and I think it hurt the story. There was very little character development for Eddy and though I knew Nate from the previous book I had hoped to lean more when he was featured in his own book.

Like the May/December aspect, loved that Nate was 53 and getting a second chance at love

Over all a sweet story though Nate remained a bit too antagonistic. I continue to love the fact that he is this caretaker for all "his boys" and under his gruff bluster he really is all heart. Just wish we could have seen more of it on page with character interaction. I think more words could have helped that issue.

I enjoyed it.

Okay. Okay.

Wow.

Well.

The book ended at 7% which was 6.9% longer than it needed to be.

I was hoping for this:



And I'm pretty sure I got this:




And a lot of racism, utterly disgusting words and descriptions and nothing hot at all!

You can forgive a lot when it's something hot.

But, um, nothing hot here. Please move along. For your own sanity.

I'll admit it. The first 70 to 100 pages were rough for me. Samuel was an analytical, controlled, highly detached character. Because he was so baffled by simple human interaction he was unable to deal with a hug from his mother I had a very difficult time connecting to him. And seeing as how the entire story is from his POV he was starting to worry I simply wouldn't connect with the story or I'd be so put off by Samuel I wouldn't care about his HEA.

But now? After the whole book?



In what I now understand is true Cardeno fashion our two mates, once they actually connect, are rock solid, sappy, sexy and never waver. And that is something I can truly get behind. Or watch them, either one of them, get from behind. I'm easy that way.




All of Samuel's personality flaws are healed by the mighty wang possessed by Korban. Samuel possesses the drive and direction Korban needs. They are really two halves of one whole.

So when all is said and done I really liked this book. The smex was hot and quite endless once they got down to it. The intrigue part was fairly well done and the supporting characters were nicely crafted. I find this world to be quite interesting and will gladly read another installment.

Because really? Biting?

So I'm not entirely sure what just happened. Why do these Siren Manlove books alway seem so poorly written and edited?

The writing was awkward and wall to wall purple prose that made my head hurt.

I should have loved the gay for you aspect, the May/December romance, the idea of an alpha hero and a beta hero but I got....nothing.

Too much telling, not enough showing. The romance was pretty non-existent. The boss just kinda seemed to hang around at work and one day ended up at Robert's home taking care of things and making out. Sex was blah. The reaction to the BIG THING seemed way over the top and just, ugh!

For me! Story fail. I'm giving it 2-stars 'cause the concept was good, the kids weren't overdone and because I don't want to be a bitch. But in all honesty I though it was kinda awful.

Read this during a power outage following a thunderstorm on 7/8/14. I'm sad I have crap for cell connection (signal booster was also out) so I couldn't post status updates because most of this book I was either:



Or I was:



Technically there was nothing really wrong with the writing. The story, however, was very poorly done.

Down on his luck 22-year old gay guy applies for a too good to be true personal assistant job. He takes, against his better judgement, said job and it's all WTF from there.

Could have been hot. FAIL

Could have been hurt/comfort. FAIL

Could have been redemption. FAIL

Could have been a great initiation of a new sub to the BDSM lifestyle. FAIL

Romance fell flat with a highly unbelievable insta-love on behalf of both characters. BDSM fell flat due to lack of connection between the characters.

Just overall a pretty awful read for me.

Can't recommend. Even for a hate read.

Here we go....it's another tri-country buddy read with Kat and Tara.

Wow. Just. Wow.

What the fuck just happened there.

That was.

Oh. My. God.



That was only 2.5 pages of some of the worst writing I have ever read. Like, even worse than [a:Hunter Fox|8282452|Hunter Fox|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-09ae6e5eb554f8a5ab0515c05488ea34.png] who started Hate Read Wednesdays. The writing was so staccato, like gun fire. And it hurt just as much.

It was, um, gay for you I guess. So, there's that.





It wasn't even hot. I don't think.

I'm still. I don't know.

I'm confused.



Thank you Kat. I love you.

Tri-country buddy ready with fellow Josh Lark stalker fangirl Kat and Josh Lark virgin Tara!

Ahhhh, it's been a long week or so since I've read a Josh Lark book and diving back in with an Arctic werewolf threesome was a great return to my favorite lady-part-tingle-making author!

While this book lacked the surprising emotional aspects of my previous Lark reads, that was a-okay with me! This was simply straight up, panty drenching smut.



So what we have in this book is one clueless hiker with a serious attitude problem:



Two hot, hairy, muscular rangers:




Who happen to shift into wolves:



Then you get your smart ass hiker cold, wet and naked and what do you end up with?



A panty drenching threesome involving lots of bossing around, finger fucking, BJ's, some prostate massage and being fucked by two big men. Whew! Hot!



Another solid entry to my Josh Lark library!

Thanks for the buddy read ladies!

The book was not awful but, for me, it wasn't very good.

In general, I don't mind books with kids in them because I love to read about families in most of their incarnations. However there was way too much child in this one. And the child was not cute, clever or sweet. She was spoiled, selfish and a brat who was throwing temper tantrums pretty much every time we saw her on page. Which was most of the pages. Too many of the pages. She cock blocked several times and totally killed the book.

I've had a 7-year old and if she had behaved in this manner she would have spent WAY more time in her room and grounded.

In fact, I remember more about the kid, and her mother (who was badly behaved for most of the book and then we are expected to believe that one crying jag later she's a wonderful person) than I recall about Gavin and Brody - the two main characters of the book.

Brody, as a character, fell pretty flat for me. He was lifeless on the page. Gavin was a pushover for his kid which actually made him very unattractive to me.

There were several things, like Brody saying Evie (the brat kid) was good in small doses and he wouldn't want to deal with her full time, that made me unhappy with him in terms of being a step-parent to a child.

Now that I think about it, there was actually very little time with just Gavin and Brody on the page. It was pretty much alone or with Evie. And the times they were together Evie was still in the house. Cock blocking. So I didn't really buy into their relationship.

Also, they meet and a chapter or so later we're told it's several months later and I totally missed the development of relationship. In fact, what the hell was this story about anyway?

It was about Evie and how they interacted with her.

And for a romance, it fell flat. And the sex was mostly off page. Ugh.

I wanted it to work. I have a blended family and I understand the unique challenges in bringing someone who is not the parent into a relationship with your children. I also understand the fine line you walk in parenting a child who is not your own. The whole thing is a set up for strife and angst.

Not here though. The relationship was solid and loving. Which was wonderful. But made for boring reading.

And way too much Evie. WAY. TOO. MUCH.

So it was simply okay for me. Because it was well written and I did finish it. But it's not memorable and doesn't make me want to run out and by more by this author. And that? That's kinda sad.