Love and loss, grief and pain, they are central themes in this book.
The pain that Ricci writes about is palpable. One that you could likely only writeLove and loss, grief and pain, they are central themes in this book.
The pain that Ricci writes about is palpable. One that you could likely only write about after suffering your own loss. It grips you and doesn't let go.
The relationship between stepbrothers, Cannon and Easton is complex, and both characters are fully drawn. Like real people, they’re fallible. Their emotions, their love, the pain, their grief, the heat that sizzles between them, it all just jumps off the page.
The character, Easton, feels like Ricci’s love letter to the ocean. You can feel it in every word, every reference to the waters. And there are many, but they are beautifully written. I love the ocean. It has that power over some people. That ability to calm and heal.
Cannon is the love and stability that keeps Easton from shattering beyond repair. Ever-present. He often sacrifices himself and his own peace to take care of Easton. Through a great deal of the story, their love is not all that healthy, but it’s the kind of love that you want to read about - powerful and all-consuming.
There are a ton of quotes that I highlighted. If I had the paperback (which I will soon) the edge would be littered with colorful flags as placeholders for yet another phrase or paragraph that moved me enough to mark it. I’ll leave you with one of my favorites from Easton:
"No one can give us what the other can. No one can soothe the aching pain and the throbbing hurt lingering in our veins while we do our best to keep from shattering entirely. But the pieces of who we are have changed and warped, not fitting together the way they used to. And no matter how hard we try, forcing them back together only makes it worse. So somewhere during our efforts to put each fragment back in place, we decided to forget to whom each piece belonged. We just healed each other. And now my soul is not mine and mine alone. It’s also his. Just as his is now mine."
They’re just words, but they string together one of the most beautiful descriptions of love I’ve ever read....more
This an epic love story. It is a very long book, slightly over 700 pages, yet I read it in a day. I think it could’ve possibly been shortened a tad, bThis an epic love story. It is a very long book, slightly over 700 pages, yet I read it in a day. I think it could’ve possibly been shortened a tad, but overall I felt that it was well written. This is a book of pure angst. There’s some sweetness, instances that made me smile and warmed my heart, but they are limited. I have read a few books with this subject matter, but I think this is probably one of the better ones. It’s an emotional journey as we follow Ezra through a few heartbreaking years of pain at the hands of his abusers and what those years have done to him mentally. The trauma he endured is horrific, and does indeed merit a trigger warning.
That said, this one did not affect me as greatly as Where There's a Will recently did. That's not to say one was better than the other. Just that my reaction to them was. I’m not sure why. Writing style maybe? It was not as evocative. It’s not any less traumatic. They are similar in theme. It did pull some tears from me, but I was not destroyed. And given the things I read, I should have been. I don’t feel as gutted after finishing it. Not as invested. Which makes me feel … I don’t know. Wrong somehow given the content. It was heartbreaking and emotional. I deprived myself of sleep to finish it, yet it did not drain me as other books have in the past. Does that make sense?
That’s not to say this book isn’t good, because it is. I still loved it, but I’m trying to explain why I did not give it a 5 star rating.
This begins as an bully romance/enemy to lovers story. Ezra is in a bad place mentally when he moves to the small town in Alabama, and punishes Josh, his stepbrother, for it. For his seemingly perfect life that he is painfully jealous of, so much so, that devises a cruel plan to ‘break him.’
He knows it’s wrong, and while he initially drives great pleasure from it, after an event happens he can’t do it anymore. He’s never hated Josh, not really, he just projected his own self-hatred onto him. Ezra struggles with his self-worth throughout.
Only assholes act like this to other people. Only fucking dickheads treat the person they like most in the world this way.
While this part may feel long, in the scope of the book, it’s only about 20% at most due to it’s length. They give in and fall for each other and it was a beautiful thing to see.
If you’re a fan of the hurt/comfort genre, this is your book. Fairly evenly split between both (maybe leaning more toward hurt if I had to pick) throughout the book. Josh becomes Ezra’s safety net, more or less. His protector.
“Look at me, Ez. Look at my face.” He shuts his eyes. “Tell me this much: Who fucked up before me? Who fucked around with you and made you feel like loving you was hard work?”
There’s also some obsession here, their relationship isn’t exactly healthy either. There’s a lot of codependency. Their love for each other is all-consuming. While unhealthy, it did make for some good reading too. The sex became somewhat repetitive over the course of 700 pages. Not because there was too much of it, but because it didn’t vary much in style.
But, there are some beautiful and tender moments throughout this book during their times together. It’s a long journey of pain and eventually, the beginnings of healing, for both men.
While this is marketed as a stepbrother, somewhat taboo romance, there is actually very little of that written. It’s not really played up in the book much at all. If you’re looking for that aspect in the writing, you will be disappointed. What there is, is angst and hurt/comfort, homophobia (both internalized & external), themes of abuse (including what I would consider noncon – description of past abuse), suicide, substance abuse, and addiction. In spades.
There is some drama about two-thirds of the way through that was frustrating. I’m not going to go into details because I don’t want to spoil anything. The consequence of it covers a good portion of the book.
There is healing though, and hope. They do get their hard fought HEA in the end. It was well worth the read, but I don’t know that I would do it again in the end.
I …. I don’t even know how to rate or review this one. I really don’t. On one hand, it was so utterly and completely, ridiculously OTT, that it reI …. I don’t even know how to rate or review this one. I really don’t. On one hand, it was so utterly and completely, ridiculously OTT, that it requires a strong suspension of disbelief to read it. On the other hand? I couldn’t stop reading it.
So, as you can see from the publishers note above, this is meant to be a standalone. It’s not. At all. I get why it’s marketed that way, as people don’t want to alienate readers, but it really shouldn’t be. I was fairly irritated reading it as a result of so much missing information from the previous book. I almost DNF’d it more than once.
I stick to mainly the m/m genre in my reading. Sometimes that varies, but not often. The first book in this series is centered around a m/f pairing, so I chose to trust that I could skip it easily. I couldn’t…
That said, this book was recommended to me by a follower on Instagram, so I decided to check it out. From the blurb, it appears to have that emotional component that I love and I figured as a standalone, it’s worth a shot.
Right off the bat I’m hit with all of these references to the previous book. Events that have happened, people who have died, gone to prison, you name it. I spent the better half of the book feeling like I was the new friend in a group struggling to piece together all of the information. I wasn’t even 30 pages into it and had already been hit with numerous references like this. So, why did I keep reading? Good question. …
Answer? Levi & Wren. Childhood friends to lovers. My favorite trope. Their chemistry was off the charts and I really wanted to see what happened between the two of them. I really liked the two of them as a couple. I like the alpha personalities they had, but were still able to be vulnerable with each other. I kinda loved them.
He feels like home and I need more […] “Are you mine?” He laughs lightly at that, slowly pulling back until his eyes hit mine. “I’ve always been yours, Wren.”
He wants my heart? He’s got it. The fucker.
And then it became this soap opera like trainwreck that I literally could not look away from. I mean, this takes place in high school. These kids are eighteen or younger, yet they read like some sort of covert operatives sometimes. All of them carry guns, arrange hits or kidnappings, I mean, it’s… I don’t even know what it is. And yet, I could not stop reading it. It confused me to no end.
So, that said, it’s really hard for me to rate it. I’m going to go with a 2 or maybe even a 2.5 on a generous day, because it did keep me reading, so that’s something, but it’s so ridiculous that it’s hard to find any credibility in it whatsoever. I read for the relationship and emotion though, and that’s something that it did have, so I’ll give it that. Not enough to make me swoon or cry, but it was enough to hold my interest. Entertaining. That’s a good word for it I guess.
This book didn't just break me. lt fucking destroyed me beyond my ability to describe with words. And I loved it beyond measure.
I can't belieThis book didn't just break me. lt fucking destroyed me beyond my ability to describe with words. And I loved it beyond measure.
I can't believe this is a debut. girl has a gift. She can turn a phrase. The writing was haunting. It's been 2 days and I'm still thinking about this book.
These two have more baggage and trauma than Grand Central Station has people at rush hour. The bulk of the book is spent working through avoiding it. And watching it unfold as it consumes everyone within a ten block radius. It’s painful as hell to witness. I spent the better half of this book in tears. Not just tears, but flat out ugly crying. Not ashamed to admit that. It’s hard to fathom that this is a debut novel.
At heart though, this is a love story, albeit one wrapped in razor wire, but still, a love story. There is some sweetness. It’s just quieter, subtler. The kind that makes me melt when someone so rough around the edges gives in and just … lets go. There’s something about that display of vulnerability that just gets me every. damn. time.
“Way,” he breathes, and fuck me, if his lips don’t pucker and release like a goddamn kiss around my name. What the hell do I even do with that?
Because in this moment, all I see and feel and taste and hear is Will. And he is, and has always been, so much bigger than anything else in my life. It was never a question of whether or not he could consume me – it was always just a matter of me letting go enough to let him.
I wish that I could write something more eloquent to convey everything that it was and make everyone read it, but I can’t, and I shouldn’t. This is not an easy read. It packs a punch. It will not be for everyone. However, I think Ms. Walker handled it well. It’s ugly and brutal, but that’s life sometimes. It’s honest.
I'm pretty well screwed for the rest of the year I think. I've had more five star reads (3) in as many months than I have in as many years.
My favorite books are often the ones that gut me and leave me a broken mess on the floor in their wake. The ones that force me to take a break after IMy favorite books are often the ones that gut me and leave me a broken mess on the floor in their wake. The ones that force me to take a break after I’ve finished them because they were so well crafted and powerful, that reading another shortly afterwards would be cruel. It would place that author at an unfair comparison because nothing would live up to what I just read.
Bad Wrong Things was that book for me. Tears and all.
This is an intense read. No question. Not always something I can do because my job is emotionally draining, and sometimes I just don’t have the energy to spare. It’s why I’ve read so much fluff lately. lol. But I’ve read this author before. Surviving the Merge, was one of my favorite reads of 2020. Ms. Harris can write hurt/comfort like no one’s business, and I’ll take that any day.
I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced review copy from the author and I went into this book blind. The only thing I knew was that it was an age-gap, best friend’s dad/forbidden romance trope.
The book opens with a scene in present before it goes back in time, and you can feel the depth of the desperation and sadness in these two.
“Yes, you fucking own me, Clint.” I gave him a different truth. It was the best I could do. “And no one fucks me like you do.” I scraped a nail along his jaw. “I’ve missed you so much I’ve gone blind. Feeling my way through life. My senses are fucked, Clint. Nothing looks the same since you, nothing smells or tastes the same. The world is bland.”
and later, see the obsession begin to build…
I wanted him too much to ever settle for something as superficial as pleasant with him. Fuck pleasant. I wanted the kind of passion that left us standing in a pile of rubble.
The aftermath left when two people become so toxic, they destroy each other and everything around them.
“This isn’t love, Clint.” I cried for all three of us, weeping all over him. “Not anymore.” “Then what is it?” he mouthed more than spoke. “Poison.”
It gripped me from the start and I could not put it down. I wanted to know what they did to each other to bring them to that point, and watching their story unfold was painfully beautiful. Ms. Harris’ writing is evocative and dramatic without being purple. Her ability to convey passion, even the anguish of it, is so well done throughout. Simply put, she just has a way with words. I have so many favorite quotes highlighted throughout this book that I can’t possibly include them all here. They’re like poetry. She also includes one of my all-time favorite songs, Wicked Game. I'll let you read about how. ;)
That’s not to say that she can’t bring the heat though, because let me tell you, this book is filthy. Like the most decadent dessert on a menu. There’s a lot of sex, but I never seemed to tire of it. Every scene serves a purpose, a touchpoint. From the sexy beginning to the vicious and violent end.
This was, without a doubt, one of the most toxic and painful couples that I have read about in a long time. CP Harris nailed that aspect. It’s a story about three broken people. All struggling with a different kind of pain. These men’s lives are irrevocably intertwined. And while Raven and Clint may be the MCs, Joey, his son, plays a pivotal role in the story. The pain of love bound them together, but in the end it’s their forgiveness that makes them whole. Harris quotes another author in this part of the book, but it’s still a beautiful one.
Today I decided to forgive you. Not because you apologized, or because you acknowledged the pain that you caused, but because my soul deserves peace. ~ Najwa Zebian
There is an HEA here, but it is hard-fought. Ms. Harris made them work for it and I loved that. I hate when authors put their characters through hell, but don’t take the time to build them back up so you’re left feeling bereft. The consequence of reading emotionally-driven stories is that not only do the characters suffer, if the author is skilled enough, the reader does too. We need a little time to heal as well. Depriving your readers of that is cruel. You can’t just slap an happy ending epilogue on it and call it done. It’s lazy writing. There’s a reason it’s called hurt/comfort. Ms. Harris understands that.
These two forgive themselves for the pain they caused, move on and grow up over the years. There are still shades of who they were, but they are unapologetically true to themselves without the unhealthy codependency that caused their downfall.
I can’t sing the praises of this book enough. I loved it and highly recommend it.
I’m going to leave you with probably my favorite quote of the book, because in the end, it’s what everyone strives for. It’s from Raven in the beginning of the book when Clint learns how Raven feels about him:
“I want to be seen for who Ireally am, and loved for it anyway.”
Thank you to the author, CP Harris, and Foreword PR, for providing a copy of this book for me to review. A positive review was not promised in return.
Bad Wrong Things is available Thursday, April 14th. You can pre-order it on Amazon now. This title will also be a part of the Kindle Unlimited library.
Ms. Leigh’s debut novel is a good one. I really loved it. It’s such a sweet romance with great characters. Their relationship has a depth that you canMs. Leigh’s debut novel is a good one. I really loved it. It’s such a sweet romance with great characters. Their relationship has a depth that you can only gain from knowing each other since childhood. While they weren’t necessarily friends, they did grow up together which is how their relationship develops organically with deeper bonds than we might see in a new one.
I don’t know when it began for me with Kepler, but it’s always been there like my own heartbeat, my own breath, the stars above—ever present.
I usually have one MC as my favorite, but honestly, I loved them both.
This is a quiet romance. At times, I felt like I was intruding on a private moment as I read. Like I shouldn’t have been there. That’s not to say that it’s boring, because it’s far from it. I started this one morning and then came back to it later and was unable to put it down. I ended up reading it until 5 am. Ms. Leigh shines here in her ability to create atmosphere and moments that make you swoon and others that tug at your heartstrings.
Jae-Jin or Jin as Kepler calls him, finds strength in Kepler’s presence. He’s tired. He’s spent his entire life trying to hold his family together after his father dies. His somewhat estranged brother is a cop and his mom is an addict, unable to cope with his loss which is a subplot throughout the book.
If I have any complaints it’s the almost never-ending inner monologue of Jin since we’re only in his head. While most of the time, I was able to read along and absorb the scene she was setting, there were spots where it grew tired, and I would rather have had some dialogue to show the same sentiment to break up the text.
Second, I’m going to have a little PSA here, that is indeed a spoiler. (view spoiler)[More research was needed in treating alcoholism. You can’t take all the alcohol away from a raging alcoholic of nearly ten years (how his mom is depicted) without severe, possibly deadly consequences. I know because these are my patients; it’s what I do. Severe alcohol withdrawal can kill a person. There is a scene where Jin takes all the alcohol out of the house and then leaves his mom alone. You cannot do this unless you take the person to a medical detox where they can go through withdrawal safely under supervision. PSA over. (hide spoiler)]
That said, there are so many swoon-worthy (sometimes cheesy but I didn’t care) moments that made my hopelessly romantic heart sing.
“You don’t know how many firsts you’ve given me.” “Name one,” I challenge him. “Love.”
Leigh’s use of definitions to convey the overall theme of the coming chapter, while not new, was something I hadn’t seen in a while that I really enjoyed. I also liked learning the Korean words she used while telling the story. The most central one being:
‘Simkung.’ It’s Korean for that throb you get in your chest with some people.
This is the feeling that Jin uses to describe how he feels whenever he’s near Kepler. With the exception of the couple of things I mentioned, I truly enjoyed this read.
Overall for the series as a whole, I give it 4 stars. It held my attention and I was eager to start each book in the series. My least favorite was WicOverall for the series as a whole, I give it 4 stars. It held my attention and I was eager to start each book in the series. My least favorite was Wicked Princess, #3, but I think it was because it was basically the first half of this book and felt unfinished b/c let's face it, it was.
I give this final book a 4.5 I think, rounded up. It's hard. It was my favorite of the series, so that's why I'm rounding it up. I generally don't do that anymore. This series was an emotional rollercoaster that read like a soap opera at times, but I enjoyed it. Oakley was my favorite. <3 This whole family was broken, but he tugged at my heartstrings the most. ...more
What is it about vampires that so many people find so alluring? They’re sexy, powerful, and mysterious, but also dangeroFull Series review 4.5 stars!
What is it about vampires that so many people find so alluring? They’re sexy, powerful, and mysterious, but also dangerous killers. And yet, we gobble up stories about them. Romanticize them. Dream about them. I gotta admit, I’m no different. I love stories about vampires – for all those reasons. They’re the ultimate bad boy.
That said, it can be difficult to find ones that are readable, let alone actually good. Especially in the m/m genre. I’ve read a ton of them, but most of them are average. I loved this one though!
Was it perfect? No. Some issues here and there, but overall very readable. A word of warning. Every book ends on a cliffhanger, but the series is complete and all are available so have no fear. It's a fated/soul mates story, so there is that note insta-attraction/love there, but it’s written in such a way that it bother me in the slightest. I often forgot it occurred in about a week's time.
Favorite quote:
“When a good man loves you, he will break any rule to protect you. When a bad man loves you, there are no rules.” ~ Lucas
There were so many quotes and scenes that I loved, but with 7 books and 900+ pages, I'd be citing forever. If you like vampires, it was well worth the read for me.
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