After the fake dating game, Timothy Janovsky had literal miles to climb to meet any of my expectations again. I hated that book so much that I was actAfter the fake dating game, Timothy Janovsky had literal miles to climb to meet any of my expectations again. I hated that book so much that I was actually skeptical to read anything else by him. But my love for never been kissed and new adult led me to give this one a chance. If he can write a great debut and follow up then surely not all of their books can be bad. And this book isn't bad not necessarily. It's also not that good.
I feel like this book thrives on the first two parts and absolutely crumbles for the last third. I really loved the OCD representation as well as the anxiety representation and the medicated representation we get from both of our main characters. I was intrigued by the concept that both of them served alcohol for a living but didn't drink very much. As someone who has worked in hospitality for over a decade, I enjoyed the hospitality aspect. I even liked their sex pact but the ending of this book totally lost me.
Someone else mentioned that this author is more dedicated to quantity over quality at this point and I am on the verge of agreeing. It feels like he constantly has a new book out yet I don't think that he's spending enough time with each book. This could have been so much better than it was. I also feel like the queer representation is getting really pigeonholed. His first couple books had more dynamic queer representation and now it really just reads as a sex-obsessed cis gay man and I am kind of over it truly.
Friends to lovers is arguably my favorite contemporary romance trope and while I did enjoy this one I feel like it has a lot of potential that wasn't Friends to lovers is arguably my favorite contemporary romance trope and while I did enjoy this one I feel like it has a lot of potential that wasn't reached.
So first and foremost I'm actually surprised to say this just because I haven't found quality representation and so long but the age play scenes were the best part of this book. The romance between the two characters was okay but the age play is where this book really shined. Owen embracing his own regression and learning to accept himself as an individual and in a group of his friends was the best character development in the book and the best part of the book for me. Oh and that cat named Elizabeth.
I was really excited for Barrett and Owen's story from the glimpses we got from the first book but I think a lot of this entire friendship dynamic and kink club environment is so underdeveloped. I thought it in the first book and it really kind of comes through in this one as well that it just needs more work. Maybe it's because I've read a wide selection of book series that have a kink club at the center of the setting but this one doesn't live up to those expectations I have.
I also was a little bit disappointed in the actual romance. I believed that Barrett loved Owen but I didn't always believe that Owen loved Barrett. I think there is some miscommunication and maybe just it's internalized trauma but I didn't always believe that they had been friends for a decade and supposedly in love with each other secretly for that long.
My review is sounding a little negative and I don't necessarily mean it to. I did enjoy this book and I do look forward to reading Jakob and Reed's story and hopefully one about Anders dumping his shitstain of a boyfriend. It's slightly above middle of the road for me but I'm going to read the author's future books and I maybe will read the other couple that she has out....more
This was really cute. It's been too long since I've found a new queer age play book that didn't disappoint me and I'm so happy I snagged this one on aThis was really cute. It's been too long since I've found a new queer age play book that didn't disappoint me and I'm so happy I snagged this one on a stuff your kindle day.
Their meeting is a little too perfect but I don't even care. I loved them both and their relationship growth. There is some serious miscommunication involved and that's annoying but again, I'm not mad at it....more
I wasn't sure if I was gonna like this since both the MC and LI spend a large chunk pining over other people but to my surprise, I ended up enjoying iI wasn't sure if I was gonna like this since both the MC and LI spend a large chunk pining over other people but to my surprise, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.
The entire premise is that this woman's best friend is getting married and that's great, except she's in love with him. When she catches her best friend's brother monologuing to himself about how in love with the bride he is, she stops him from breaking up the pair and instead helps him out. A platonic night turns into everyone thinking they hooked up so they decide fake dating/fake flinging? Is a good way to get through the wedding of their nightmares.
But it turns out neither of them were ready for the hope and the promise of a new relationship. And neither one was ready for the brightness that each other would bring into their lives. Neither one was ready to admit that the decade (s) they spent pining was a waste of time until they were forced to realize it.
This does have a fat main character but I really got the impression she was more midsize. And just going off the cover I would classify this as a mid-size representation not fat rep which is unfortunate. Not that we don't need midsize size representation but I just want fat characters. Genuinely fat characters. If you can find clothing in a store, you're not fat.
Anyway that's really my own personal gripe and unrelated to the book itself. Technically this has plus size representation if that's what you want to call it and there is some internalized and externalized fat phobia happening throughout the book. I do think this book would have benefited from a dual POV. I think that that is partly my own desire to see people be so unapologetically attracted to fat people and I absolutely die every time we get POVs like that. I think it would have added a lot to this book and to my own joy.
As a whole I think this is a really beautiful book. It isn't a favorite of mine but it is one I would recommend to people who like a complicated rom-com....more
Okay so there's a couple things that I think are going to bring you more enjoyment before you start this book. The first is to read fly With me which Okay so there's a couple things that I think are going to bring you more enjoyment before you start this book. The first is to read fly With me which is a companion novel to this book. I did not realize that and I would have done a reread prior to starting this one had I realized that. It would have refreshed my memory on who all these characters were and all of their relationships. I genuinely think that I would have enjoyed this book a lot more had it done that. So don't be like me and do yourself a favor and go read fly with me again if it's a reread for you before you give this one a chance.
The other thing that is out of my control but definitely would have helped is had the characters had different fuckimgy names. So both characters have names that start with the letter d and my brain did not like that at all with audiobook. I kept getting them confused and I could not keep them straight. Not only did they have names that started with the same letter but they were the same number of letters too. We have a Dylan and we have a Derek and I still could probably not tell you which ones which. I know that there is one fixer upper renovator and one is an ER nurse. One is best friends with the characters from fly with me.
That being said and even though I really struggled to remember which character was which, I still really enjoyed this one. It is a little bit over the top in the beginning with the levels of thirst and terrible jokes but if that's your kind of humor you're going to like it. I have seen a few reviews saying that they had to DNF before like 30% and I don't think that that gives you a fair view of what the book is like in my opinion. I think that at its core this book is about two very strong-willed men who are learning that they deserve someone to stand up for them and how to do that for both themselves and for others. I really loved the ADHD representation and the chaos and also all of the comfort. I think I'll probably do some rereads here at some point of both books because I would like to tell the characters apart ...more
It's been a long time for me since I've read a good age play book and I genuinely thought this was going to be a five-star read for the first half of It's been a long time for me since I've read a good age play book and I genuinely thought this was going to be a five-star read for the first half of the book. The characters are well thought out and I especially appreciated that there are a variety of genders and body types and kinks displayed within the friend groups. So often we get these MM romance books that are only cis gay men and I am exhausted by that. Kink is not just for cis gay men and it is incredibly unrealistic to think that kinky friend groups are going to only be one gender and sexuality. Anyway so this book had that going for it and I was a really really enjoying it. I loved the slow build of their relationship and their dynamic and then the unnecessary bullshit happened.
There's a big event maybe a little more than halfway through this book that sends both of these characters into different versions of themselves and it was not an enjoyable to read. It felt super unnecessary and even if the event had to happen the corresponding events afterward were way blown out of proportion. It really felt like they had lost any sort of communication that they had going on and it genuinely felt like I was reading a different book. The first half of this book is a five star The second half of this book is a two star which means this is going to end up as like a 3 and 1/2 star book for me which is pretty disappointing....more
I picked this one up because a fellow fat person recommended this and I liked it more than I thought I was going to like it for a straight werewolf roI picked this one up because a fellow fat person recommended this and I liked it more than I thought I was going to like it for a straight werewolf romance ...more
So this one falls into the category for me where the book is good but the narrators did not work for me. So I actually liked one of the narrators but So this one falls into the category for me where the book is good but the narrators did not work for me. So I actually liked one of the narrators but because I didn't like the other one I had to speed this narration speed up and that made the narrator that I did like too fast. But the narrator that I didn't like talk to slower and so I needed her voice to be faster. I realize I could have gone in every time the narration changed and changed the speed of my book but that just does not work with the way I listen to audiobooks. I tend to listen to them at work and I am always busy so pausing to change the speed is not something that's feasible and I decided to just suck it up and deal with it.
I ended up liking the book itself for the most part. I didn't love it but I did like the organic growth of their relationship and how both characters had their own things to deal with with their family and their own mental health and physical health. I feel like some of the really important conversations were left off page by the time they got into a relationship but I'm not super mad about that. I think my main critique for the book itself is that it's too long. And I think some of that is based on my own dislike of the narrators and the fact that I felt like I was listening to this for days.
Anyways, take my review with a grain of salt. If you like a rivals to lovers sapphic romance, you will probably enjoy this one. There are a few explicit scenes on page but you can skip them without missing anything. I actually skipped one of them and it didn't seem all that important. That's my own issues with body dysphoria and vaginas but if you are a fellow person who struggles sometimes with explicit content, just know that you can definitely skip them without it ruining the book or taking too much away from the book.
Black lesbian MC with depression, Black Bisexual MC with carpal tunnel...more
I think I'm the problem with this one because this was recommended to me by someone I totally trust with reviews and I did like it but I didn't love aI think I'm the problem with this one because this was recommended to me by someone I totally trust with reviews and I did like it but I didn't love at the same way they did.
I honestly think a lot of it is because I had this jump scare at the very beginning because this book starts out with a very explicit sex scene and no warning and I started this book at 2:30 in the morning while I was getting ready for work and I just don't think I was ready for it. I also don't think that that scene was necessary in any way shape or form. It could have been expressed that her ex-boyfriend was clingy and ridiculous with a really good dick without having that scene.
I do like the premise of this book where we have a fat black woman who is on her journey to find a boyfriend and there's also this undercurrent of grieving her sister's death and dealing with fat phobia from family members. I really loved the friendship that she formed with the bartender and all of her dates and experiences that lead to the ending.
I couldn't pinpoint exactly why this one didn't hit a five star for me beyond the unexpected sex jump scare at the beginning. I really did like the relationship and the two people and I like that they both had journeys of self-care and self-healing to deal with. Maybe this book is too long? I honestly couldn't tell you. Anyway I do think I would recommend this one but I might warn people about the first page sex....more
Well I was in the mood for a fat romance and this certainly fits the bill. There are certain books of Talia hibbert's that I love and will reread all Well I was in the mood for a fat romance and this certainly fits the bill. There are certain books of Talia hibbert's that I love and will reread all the time and then there is this book in this series that are just not turning out to be favorites. It's not that they're bad they're just not as good as I know she can write.
This book has fake dating and insta love as tropes and I like both of those normally but I just didn't feel the connection between the two. I don't know if it's because we don't get that 6 weeks / 6 month period (I cant remember how long it was) where they get to know each other and that happens before they go to the holiday event thing that requires the fake dating or just because the book is 200 pages. Some authors can handle a 200-page book and bring you on a journey and some authors can't.
I love that we had a queer male main character and a fat black female character. The representation is good The depth of writing not so much....more
Elf x Orc queer trans smut wasn't on my 2024 bingo card but I here I am.
But honestly this book is so much more than really exceptionally good smut. IElf x Orc queer trans smut wasn't on my 2024 bingo card but I here I am.
But honestly this book is so much more than really exceptionally good smut. It's about this elf prince who is kidnapped by this orc leader in hopes of ransoming off and bargaining with the king. Except the orc overestimated how much the king would want the elf back and how annoyingly bratty the elf would be. And the elf overestimated how much he would enjoy living with the orcs and having the freedom which sounds counterproductive since he's being held prisoner essentially.
The two of them very slowly begin to trust each other and to see the goodness in each other even though they've been told their entire lives how terrible the others are. The elf is able to embrace himself and his true calling and to find a place where he actually fits in in the orc is able to find someone to provide for and show his community that leading by example is the most important thing there is.
I don't know how to explain how great this book is. If you don't mind explicit scenes in books, I highly recommend this one. The descriptions of everything are really exceptional but I especially love the descriptions of the top surgery scars. Truly beautiful. 10/10 recommend...more
So I've read all of Steven Salvatore's books and I followed him on social media and I think that's the reason I like this book. I like it because I knSo I've read all of Steven Salvatore's books and I followed him on social media and I think that's the reason I like this book. I like it because I knew how personal it was and understood why things were happening and how the characters were but I don't think I would have liked it had I not had that context. Or at least I wouldn't have liked it as much. This is definitely not a favorite of mine and it's honestly probably one of my least favorite of the author's books but it is a good book.
I think my issues came with the secondary plot lines. The main plot was fine and I liked the two main characters but there were some things going on in the background that didn't feel fully meshed out or dealt with and that was unfortunate. I also feel like their first sex scene was so awkward and so cringy to listen to. It got better as the book went on but that one did not work for me. That was very little consent happening in terms of kink and BDSM and I just was not here for it. I normally love kinky books but they have to be done well and that scene was done very poorly in my opinion....more
Wow. This series took over my entire week of reading. I spent a minute rereading the first and second books and then dove had first into this one. I lWow. This series took over my entire week of reading. I spent a minute rereading the first and second books and then dove had first into this one. I loved it. I know that there's a little bit of mixed reviews about the ending of this series but I thought it was incredibly well done. I loved all of the different perspectives as always and even though I do wish that there had been more of a focus on all of the highlighted relationships and not just the one, I did still enjoy this one a lot. I was on the edge of my seat for most of it and there were moments where my boss laughed at me because I just stood there for a minute and had to process what I heard as I was listening to them at work.
I am constantly in awe of authors who are able to weave such epic fantasy stories that span multiple books and it's just so complicated and complex to even comprehend creating the story....more
I kind of want to withhold a review because I genuinely think this is one that I'm going to love on the second read but the first read was very difficI kind of want to withhold a review because I genuinely think this is one that I'm going to love on the second read but the first read was very difficult for me. I'm not sure if that's necessarily the books fault or my own for not being in the right headspace or taking too long to listen etc, but I struggled to finish this. It took me over a week to get through this audiobook which is pretty much unheard of for me. It is a long book but even that is wild. I actually think part of my issue was with the narrator. Well I like Kirt Graves, something about his narration for these two characters didn't work for me.
I also am absolutely begging audiobook producers to include everything that is in the book in the audiobook. This includes introductions, prologues, character lists, maps or access to maps etc. This audiobook is not complete. I legitimately had to go and buy the e-book so I could double check and make sure that I wasn't missing things which it turned out I was, because I was so lost for the first half of this book.
I think another struggle I had with this book was just the sheer amount of characters. Because the audiobook is incomplete, all of these characters kept getting messed up in my head. Because not only do we have characters names to deal with but we have characters magical race to deal with as well. In the ebook, there is a glossary of magical race types with brief descriptions and that is missing from the audiobook. There is also a character guide in the e-book that the audiobook does not have. This makes the audiobook inaccessible.
I don't know how else to explain that your audiobook should have the same content as your ebook. It is ableist to not include all of the same content. People don't just listen to audiobooks because that's their preferred format, so many people listen to audiobooks because ebooks or physical books are inaccessible to them. So to then turn around and make audio books also inaccessible or incomplete is so annoying. And this is not the only book that this happens to. I just happen to be on a ranch right now so it's ending up in this review but for the love of everything, match your audiobooks to your physical content.
Anyway, the actual book content is very good. I think it's a really interesting story and town and concept but I feel like there's a lack of world building and build up that I personally needed to enjoy the story. Having finished it and knowing all of the background, I think that I would enjoy the story a lot more if I reread it.. I definitely understand why this book is on so many people's favorites list and look forward to reading the following books but I did struggle quite a bit with this one....more
When I was about 30% of the way in I was convinced that this book was going to be a three to a four star for me. I was enjoying it but I wasn't lovingWhen I was about 30% of the way in I was convinced that this book was going to be a three to a four star for me. I was enjoying it but I wasn't loving it. And then Kade joins and oh my god. This book went to a five-star so fast. I love so much about this book. I love the poly representation and the routinely checking in about communication. I loved the drinking and the cocktail recipes were such a fun addition. I feel like this book has a lot of balance for a contemporary romance. I do think I would have liked a little bit more details about Bebe and Kade professionally. But I'm not nitpicking. I love this book.
My favorite moments are the snow storm and the cocktail competition and afterwards. Iykyk ...more
As much as I liked the first book in this series, this one just blew that one away. I loved these two so much and I especially loved the autism rap anAs much as I liked the first book in this series, this one just blew that one away. I loved these two so much and I especially loved the autism rap and the aspec representation. Clementine is autistic and on both the asexual and aromantic spectrums which is just glorious triple representation for me.
The chronic pain rep was also fantastic and I just don't have anything negative to say. I can't wait for the audiobook of the third book to release!...more
Queer vampires? Sign me up! This is such a fun (and also serious) start to a series and I can't wait to see what the rest of the series holds. Highly Queer vampires? Sign me up! This is such a fun (and also serious) start to a series and I can't wait to see what the rest of the series holds. Highly recommend....more
So this book gives me vibes of a Reese Morrison book just not as well done. I wanted to love this and I did end up enjoying it for the most part but ISo this book gives me vibes of a Reese Morrison book just not as well done. I wanted to love this and I did end up enjoying it for the most part but I think that it's too long and at points it's just too flowery and over-described.
I love the idea of having characters who come out later in life in both their sexuality and their gender. I also love the idea of having an author and reader fall in love. Very cute. As an asexual person it feels odd saying this but I actually think that the sex scenes in this book are the best part of the book. They're very emotional and well done. There are a lot of them and they are pretty long so just a heads up that if that's not your thing this is not your book.
I think maybe where this book fails for me is the beginning. The first half almost is just too long. There's too much time between the characters realizing who they are to each other and getting together. I also had some issues with how quickly Cameron was willing to get physical with Sam despite not knowing that he was SMC. I'd say that's a spoiler but it's not really cuz if you don't know who they are then it's not a spoiler ...more
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