Okay, writing nerds: Did any of you play the writing game “Round Robin” when you were younger? Heck, maybe some of you stillReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
Okay, writing nerds: Did any of you play the writing game “Round Robin” when you were younger? Heck, maybe some of you still do. You know, you start a story, then you fold the sheet of paper over so only the last line or so is visible, and the next person in the circle only has those two lines to go off of to continue the story…and so on until the circle is completed and you see how the story played out under those limited circumstances.
That’s part of the vibe I got while reading The Grimoire of Grave Fates. An overarching concept story, each of the chapters done by a different author (which gives it an almost-anthology feel due to the variations in each author’s writing style and voice), and each author carrying their assigned character through the story with only the limited knowledge of what’s already happened in the story prior to their chapter to guide the way. It’s a sophisticated game of Round Robin, with Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf playing the roles of (essentially) comperes: checking for continuity and other possible goofs so that, when the individual chapters are collected from the contributing authors and put together, the story blends almost seamlessly into a single compendium made of many disparate parts.
The most important part of this book, which I didn’t realize when I requested it, is that the release date on the first Tuesday of June (HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!) was not coincidental: The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a book where every chapter is written from the POV of a marginalized member of society. Minorities, disabled people, LGBTQ people, mentally ill people, and even a young criminal who’s no stranger to jail. Not only that, but more than one allusion is made about the school in this book (Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary) that likens it to the Hogwarts of the transphobic JKR’s brain (and points out how inaccessible castles like that are to the disabled), and the central mystery of the book centers around the murder of a professor at the school who is somewhat like Snape, if Snape cared about money.
(But, the castle also wins points for being able to fly like a gyroscope and Howl’s Moving Castle is mentioned. So mad props.)
See, I get what Owen and Alkaf were trying to do. I don’t know if it’s my age (I read YA all the time, but this felt like maybe it was made for the younger section of the YA set–maybe closer to 13 than 16-18?), but this book felt a little simplistic in the writing and ran too long for my tastes. It’s not the book was bad; it’s just that the book seemed to go on far too long and I started to feel like Owen and Alkaf were just trying to shoehorn in as much diversity as possible.
By all means: Do that. We need diversity. We want diversity. It’s necessary. The more diversity there is on bookseller websites and library bookshelves and home bookshelves the less excuses there will be to take them down. I’m all for publishing diverse reads in ever genre and every format possible.
Will that change my mind about how I rate this book, though? No, it won’t. But I can tell you this is a book I’d recommend to someone like my 13 year-old niece. She’d probably give it 5 stars and a place of honor on her bookshelf.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the creators/editors. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
I don’t often go in for a huge amount of emotional angst in my romances. I mean, I don’t mind my characters being a hot mess, but usually too much of I don’t often go in for a huge amount of emotional angst in my romances. I mean, I don’t mind my characters being a hot mess, but usually too much of it just brings me down and I’m not down for it. I got my own depressive demons to deal with, you know? I guess that’s why I love Andi Jaxon’s books. They’re thick books (this one comes in at 431 pages and I still finished it in less than 6 hours), but inside those pages are a shockingly consistent, well-balanced, and well-placed amount of angst, spice, humor, and genuine emotion. Throw in making it a hockey romance and we get some of that sweet locker room action, along with some action on the ice.
The plot of this book is a doozy, and I was here for it. I can’t say much about it because of spoilers; but Preston, one of our two MMCs, is new to Denver and its’ college hockey team after he was forced to move from Boston by his father, who is a famous and renowned plastic surgeon. Since he’s moving to the university past the housing deadline, he has to share a dorm instead of having a single like he’s used to. He ends up rooming with our other MMC, Jeremy, who is Preston’s opposite in just about every way. This, of course, leads to just about my favorite romance trope in the world: forced proximity. Heck yeah! Contents under pressure, man.
Preston is indeed the definition of a pressurized container, because he is a bottle stuffed full of secrets, lies, pain, and shame. He’s surrounded by walls made practically of adamantium, mainly because he’s made sure he’s been alone for so long. Living in close quarters with Jeremy begins to quickly erode Preston’s walls and his resolve.
Is there angst? Oh yes. Plenty of angst. You will feel plenty of emotional pain for both Preston and Jeremy, and you will feel rage on one character’s behalf as well. I know I did. Luckily, Jaxon knows when to lighten things up just a little, throwing in humorous scenes that will make you grin, cackle, and snort. If you aren’t busy laughing, you’re reading about hockey, reading about Preston and Jeremy trying to find their way through to one another, or reading one of many (but not too many) scorchingly hot spice scenes (hot, fast, and dirty, just like I love them).
If you’ve never read Andi Jaxon before, you’re in for a wild ride. She doesn’t pull punches with her characters and her writing never shies away from the darker side of romance. I know for a fact she puts a lot of time and care into writing her books and fine-tuning them into the creatures they become. Her novels are some of my favorites because they draw you in and don’t let you go.
This is where I say, “It isn’t the book, it’s me”. It’s not necessarily Dykette or author Jenny Fran Davis’ fault in any way that I find myself ratingThis is where I say, “It isn’t the book, it’s me”. It’s not necessarily Dykette or author Jenny Fran Davis’ fault in any way that I find myself rating this book so poorly. As a matter of fact, It’s likely Jenny Fran Davis’ talent as a storyteller that kept me hanging on just enough to even finish this book, because I almost DNFd it more than once.
Before anyone tries to burn me in effigy, please let me explain.
When I requested to read this book I was very excited to read it, because of the blurb. That’s part of the problem: I feel for the blurb. The blurb isn’t a lie, but it certainly plays down certain aspects of the novel and exaggerates others. I knew we were getting into a book about queer couples and that the book took place at the upstate New York house of two lesbians. I didn’t know this book was going to be deeply steeped in dyke and butch discourse and terminology, none of which I understood. Yes, I realize that’s a “me” problem. The blurb also makes this book sound much more seductive and salacious than it actually felt to me, and it greatly exaggerates Sasha’s role toward the end of the book. I really feel robbed of what I thought I was getting.
I realize a lot of this book “not being for me” is due to my passing privilege. I am a proudly open and out polyamorous bisexual, but I’m cisgendered in the day to day and very femme when I go out at night. While I’ve known dykes, butch lesbians, other femmes, and am related to other members of the queer community, I don’t know lesbian or dyke culture well enough to say that I could pick up on half of the terms, references, or importance of the currents of discourse the characters in the story were having. There was no room for me to feel anything but confused or exasperated for the vast majority of the book: Whether it was about how these people treat one another or it was about pop culture references I was probably too busy raising my kids at the time they happened to understand.
I did enjoy Davis’ writing style. She does have a keen eye for satire and barbed wit. While I may not have enjoyed some of the more visceral and colorful descriptions Davis used in this book there’s no denying they are employed to great effect.
I feel a bit embarrassed for being a member of the queer community and yet not knowing a thing about a corner of it. My ex-spouse is transgender and pansexual, so I’ve educated myself pretty damn solidly on those topics so I can support her in her new life. My older kid is gender fluid and bisexual and is still trying to decide which pronoun fits best or if they all fit just fine. My younger son is asexual, and if he’s happy then that’s all I want. Yet I picked up a queer lit book and found myself completely perplexed.
I don’t regret reading the book at all. I just wish I could say I knew what was going on in it. But that’s on me and my own ignorance–not the book.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Owing to personal policy regarding book reviews three stars or lower, this review will not appear on any bookseller or social media website.
File Under: Just Not For Me/Lesbian Romance/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/Literary Fiction/OwnVoices/Women’s Fiction ...more
In my last year of high school, I felt like I was more than ready to blow that popsicle stand. It was almost a physical itch to get out of that schoolIn my last year of high school, I felt like I was more than ready to blow that popsicle stand. It was almost a physical itch to get out of that school and out of my small town. In my mind, I was already gone and it was only my physical body that was stuck with these small minds and forked tongues. I always knew I was somehow mistakenly born in a small town when I was meant to live in big cities. I was not born to live in the small dairy town I was born and raised in. I hated every moment spent there.
So I completely identified with all of our four boys as we rejoin them in Afterglow after the events of Golden Boys (which was also a brilliant novel). After a summer away from one another, each of our main characters comes back to their hometown to find they feel even more out of place than they felt before the previous summer. Not only that, but their best laid plans may not be the best of plans after all, and isn’t senior year hard enough without having to worry about changing your life plan, too?
Just like Golden Boys, Stamper writes Afterglow as a bittersweet ode to those formative friendships that build and hold as fast as Urban Decay’s All Nighter Setting Spray (Ha! Makeup joke!). No matter how circumstances change, no matter how mad they get at one another, no matter how many times relationships form and then break, these four boys are tied together by years of laughing, crying, celebrating, making playlists, throwing parties, supporting each other at events, and comforting one another through yet another breakup.
See, I seem to have liked the first book better than Afterglow, but that’s because I have a great affection for yearning. Golden Boys had acres and acres of yearning. For home, for friendship, for love, for connection, for inspiration, for motivation, and more. Afterglow feels more like a combination of disillusionment, pressure, discovery, drifting, and time sneaking up on you.
And, of course, I want to thank Phil Stamper for writing not one, but two optimistic, lovely, realistic, relatable, non-toxic books about LGBTQ+ youth in middle America. I could just stop at saying, “Thanks for writing great LGBTQ+ books!”, but I think it’s important to acknowledge so many books in this genre are set on the coasts in the major metro cities, and yet Stamper chose to make the hometown setting in these books somewhere in the midwest, where queer representation in literature is not prolific; and, if there are queer characters in books set in the midwest, they usually aren’t shining stars who get the best representation. I may live on the west coast, but I can acknowledge this choice will probably give heart and hope to a lot of LGBTQIA+ folx in the midwest, no matter what the age.
I was provided with a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All views and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Friendly Reads/LGBTQ Romance/YA Romance/Young Adult/YA Book Series/Coming of Age/High School/YA Drama/YA Fiction ...more
Talk about a book destined for a ton of highlighted quotes!
The sarcasm and snark is real, folks, and it is HOT.
I don’t play hockey. I don’t watch hoTalk about a book destined for a ton of highlighted quotes!
The sarcasm and snark is real, folks, and it is HOT.
I don’t play hockey. I don’t watch hockey. I don’t even like hockey. I don’t even understand hockey except that the puck goes in the net and there’s a lot of fights and there’s a penalty box where grown men throw temper tantrums until they’re let back out. But Eden Finley (and, to an extent, Saxon James) have somehow made LGBQTQIA hockey romances my jam, and I think I loved “Shameless Puckboy” more than I’ve loved any of the other hockey romances written by either author.
I’m not kidding about the highlights, by the way. I found myself snickering, snorting, cackling, and giggling so much that I couldn’t help but highlight passage after passage because the banter was just so witty and vibrant, the dialogue so quick and funny I just don’t understand how these books aren’t on shelves at all major bookstores selling like hotcakes because they’re that good.
Maybe it’s just me, but this book was filled with such teasing, such sexual tension, and such chemistry it was like these two characters could be peeled off the page. It was so steamy and rich I got squirmy in the good way and regretted deciding to read in the living room with family around so I didn’t spend the day in bed.
And can we just talk about how this book hit some of the best buttons? Major exhibitionism? Check. A brat who isn’t a boy? Check. Two men who like it hard and fast? Checkity check check. Two men who really just want to take care of one another? Freaking SWOON. Conversation as foreplay? HELLO.
I loved this plot because I felt it felt like it wasn’t like some unrealistic fever dream that couldn’t ever happen in the world of hockey. The plot wasn’t overcooked or overcomplicated, it was just two men who had deep insecurities and had to decide what was more important to them in the end.
Now, I’m going to tell you if you haven’t read the previous two Puckboys books or aren’t familiar with Eden Finley’s Fake Boyfriend series you probably are going to be completely lost going into this book. You are going to want to read the previous two Puckboy books at least, even though I will recommend reading the Fake Boyfriend series as well to get familiar with the entire Queer Collective (the members of which do play a part in this book). It won’t be time wasted, however, because any time spent with either Eden Finley or Saxon James is never time wasted!
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
File Under: 5 Star Books/Contemporary Romance/Books in a Romance Series/Books in a Romance Universe/LGBTQIA Fiction/LGBTQIA Friendly Reads/LGBTQIA Romance/Rom Com/Spice Level 3/Sports Romance ...more
In the first few pages of this book one of our two main characters, Alexei, is setting off on what I would call a “catharticReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
In the first few pages of this book one of our two main characters, Alexei, is setting off on what I would call a “cathartic hike” (which I am fond of myself”, or maybe you could call it a long, dark journey of the soul on the infamous Pacific Coast Trail (do yourself a favor and look it up, because this trail covers some of the most beautiful land and views on the west coast and stretches from Mexico to Canada). Anyway, he’s hiking to grieve and hopefully close off some chapters in his life so he can start over as a revision of his former self, hopefully without all that baggage on board.
It’s going well until he’s only been on the trail a nebulously short amount of time on the trail, when he suddenly has a funny, if terrifying meet-cute with fellow PCT hiker Ben. I had to admire both hikers for handling the situation at hand in this scene, considering I’d lose my marbles in the worst way. Alexei joins up with the other hikers Ben’s been blazing the trail with for a while until all the people and chaos gets to him and he decides he wants to get back to hiking solo. To his surprise, Ben asks if it’d be okay if he hikes along with Alexei until they get to Kennedy Meadows (a well-known refueling and rest stop on the trail). Alexei’s crush on Ben, along with how Ben seems to need a little saving here and there leads Alexei to agree to the proposition. And so our two intrepid explorers set off, with mutual chemistry, fascination, and awkwardness settled over them like a transparent cloak.
I didn’t hate this book, but I was disappointed by it. I live within a couple of hours of several PCT trailheads and have hiked small sections of it before. I wanted to backpack most of it before I was 50, but chronic back injuries and epilepsy took that away. And I love gay romance. The blurb for this book had me so excited I knew this was one of the titles I was most excited for this year. But I feel let down.
Kelly’s debut effort, “Love & Other Disasters”, was one of my favorite novels last year. It was effervescent. It was like champagne bubbles in a book. It was impeccably written. This book? It doesn’t shine like L&OD did. It’s just as well-written (save I thought the book lagged a little in pacing during the early part of Act II), and the epistolary section of the book in Act III made me sob like a baby (I seriously tear-stained my silk pillowcase something fierce), but the book as a whole doesn’t feel as polished. I never felt like it was much of a comedy, but closer to a dramedy, and I never felt like it fit into the grumpy/sunshine trope. I feel like marketing Alexei as grumpy is insulting and it does the character a grave injustice, especially given events later in the book.
I know I seem to be in the minority in not singing this book’s praises, but I call it like I see it. I’m still a huge fan of Anita Kelly’s writing style and their efforts to bring us contemporary romances for the OwnVoices crowd. I can’t wait to see what they bring us next.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All views, opinions, and thoughts expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Gay Romance/LGBTQ Romance/MM Romance/Romantic Comedy/Rom Com/Contemporary Romance/OwnVoices/Books with a Psych Aspect/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Friendly Read/Spice Level 2 ...more
Back in October 2022, Eden Finley dropped a little book named Football Royalty in an interconnected series of LGBTQIA+ romance novels known as FrankliBack in October 2022, Eden Finley dropped a little book named Football Royalty in an interconnected series of LGBTQIA+ romance novels known as Franklin U (more colloquially known as FU). If you haven’t read it, then I suggest you go read it because that whole book is beyond awesome and because there’s a scene in that book that is then alluded to in Can’t Say Goodbye (but is not vital to reading said book) that then resulted in every Eden Finley fan immediately salivating for the story of Brady Talon and his two Navy SEALs. And when I say we were all salivating, I mean we might as well have all been on our knees, begging and pleading and willing to be Eden’s slaves if she would give us this book.
So when Can’t Say Goodbye was announced in the fall, we all might as well have collectively swooned like a southern belle whose corset had been laced too tight. We were dogs collectively chasing our tails, not known to scratch our watches or wind our butts. And then the waiting and the teasing began.
So, I’m sure you all want to know: Was it worth the wait? Oh, oh my darling dears, it was. It was worth every day since we found out Brady Talon had a thing for more than one man in uniform.
It’s not unusual for people in a position where they spend every day taking care of everyone else, putting out metaphorical fires and carrying other people’s worries and fears on their own shoulders day in and day out, and putting a lot of pressure on themselves to succeed not because of external forces but because they want to be the best they can be to want to come home to someone to help them lay those burdens down, to help them put down the weight, and take care of them. And that’s Brady Talon. No one’s pressuring him to go to law school: He’s doing it because he knows it’ll make him a better sports agent. He’s not becoming a sports agent because it’s his legacy: He’s becoming a sports agent because he wants to be the one to advocate and take care of his brother and his brother’s legacy. He wants to be a part of the agency his uncle founded and join him in his work because it’s how they all came together as a family and the mission it started with and the goals it works toward are some of the most important things in his life.
When Brady meets Kit and Prescott at a bar known for catering to sailors, all he’s looking for is a good time, but from that very first night, it’s like something clicks, and holy patty melt does it click! Brady is a needy boy, all hands and skin and mouth. He wants these large men, who can turn him into putty, inside out, manhandle him, wreck him, and leave him feeling warm and absolutely broken down so all his cares and worries have floated away for as long as that high can last. Usually, these kinds of hook-ups are a one-time thing, but these sailors are in town for a bit, and none of them can stay away from one another; and when it comes time for Kit and Prescott to depart (Prescott to deploy, Kit to take a job at the Pentagon), none of them can stand to permanently say goodbye. The goal is to meet up once a year. Yeah right.
In a novel like this, with this level of pining (and I love a good pining), there tends to come too much angst for my taste. But this is Eden Finley, and she’s too good of a writer in her genre to let her readers languish in angst. It’s just not her bag, baby. Brady, Kit, and Prescott are pining, but none of them are emotionally stunted. Conversations emotional, steamy, and serious are had between them all. We’re given a lot of insight into who Brady Talon is professionally, and those scenes are captivating, because we get to see just how good of an agent he will be once he’s done with law school and interning for Damon. We also get to see how close he and Damon are, which is something that’s never been explored in previous books that make up the Sadenverse. (Side note: This actually WAS really, really nice and so insightful and revelatory when it came to both Brady and Damon, and it would be nice to see in future Sadenverse novels if there are certain characters who are closer to one another than others that we didn’t know about before).
I enjoyed the spicy scenes so much, but I can’t pretend it’s not because I adore mmm scenes. Three sweaty males, and twisted up in a bed together? Don’t get me started. The way Brady becomes this needy, greedy, insatiable thing around Kit and Prescott, and the way they spoil him and give him everything he needs and wants until he’s broken down into pieces? Please. Nothing’s hotter.
The emotional development of all three men is sexy, if only because it’s free of the toxicity that could have permeated this novel in the hands of another author. You’d expect it of Brady, given the family and environment he was brought up in. I think with Kit and Prescott it comes from their long history of being the best of friends and from lonely Kit being swallowed up and adopted by Prescott’s open and accepting family. You don’t see these two Navy SEALs who carry themselves around like they are at the top of the predator chain: You only see two guys who know they’re hot and all they want to do is chill and take care of each other and (especially) Brady.
Polyamory sometimes comes together out of the blue or it’s built on top of the foundation of an existing relationship. Either way, it doesn’t come together easily, cleanly, and it takes a metric ton of open, honest, and effective communication. It’s also still stigmatized by society for more reasons than I can count. Watching our boys in this story not only come to terms with what they are, what they want, what they need, what they can’t live without, and then accept they refuse to live their lives any other way is not only beautiful but it’s moving. It’s scary to tell the most important people in your life that you want to live a life less ordinary. I can relate, since my family didn’t take my own poly coming out well and choose to ignore that aspect of my identity. It seems love is love is love… as long as that love is with one person. It’s one more stigma that needs to go. Eden does a lovely job of explaining polyamory as it exists today and writes a coming out for Brady that is a mix of emotionally moving and humorous, as only she can.
It’s another novel knocked out of the park for Eden Finley, and such a freaking hot read. Brady Talon got his HEA, and us readers got the book we’ve been salivating over. It’s a win all around.
The author provided me with access to this title. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Thank you.
Lynn Burke knows what her readers want and what they crave. Well, at least this reader anyway. As an author who stays in close contact with her fans aLynn Burke knows what her readers want and what they crave. Well, at least this reader anyway. As an author who stays in close contact with her fans and is attentive to their feedback, she’s always picking brains and brewing plots inside her naughty mind. It makes her all the more endearing when she puts out a gem like this book, “Due Process”.
This book hits some of my favorite gay romance tropes: size difference, overly-protective and possessive morally grey alpha male, psychologically-damaged cinnamon roll twink, lacy panties, gay-for-you, dirty talk… and it’s a courtroom drama too! (Just in case you’re wondering, the only tv show I love more than BTVS is every incarnation of Law & Order).
From the insta-lust between the two MMCs to each scorching hot spicy scene, this book hit so many of my mm romance novel buttons I could’ve have easily read an even longer version of it. It’s rare that I think a book could’ve been longer and I wouldn’t have minded one bit, so just take that one in for a second.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. ...more
This book has a whole lot of promise, but never has a chance to deliver, which is a shame because I would have loved to have seen all the potential inThis book has a whole lot of promise, but never has a chance to deliver, which is a shame because I would have loved to have seen all the potential inside the pages come to fruition.
My grandma, when she first met the man who would become my husband, said, “This one’s still too green,” meaning that he wasn’t quite finished ripening yet. Hadn’t quite grown all the way up yet. She was right. That’s how I feel about this book. It has the feeling of not quite being done. It still needs some time in the oven.
The reason I say this is because there’s just so much going on in this book: non-linear timelines, shifting POVs, shifting of characters at the wheel, shifting of POVs within the same character’s section, and more. And yet, this book has very uneven pacing and I have a feeling that which character you like reading about most will be different for different readers (I liked reading Chloe’s POV the most, but someone else might like reading Kate the most). Usually, uneven pacing is a sign the book is either too long or that it’s too busy giving attention to some sections while not giving enough attention to others. Either way, it’s an editing issue.
While the story itself is compelling, the way it’s told is not. I just couldn’t sink myself into it like I have other ghost stories and horror tales that have been released this year. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for granting me access to this title. Due to the 3 star or lower rating this review will not appear on social media or bookseller websites. ...more
First, a note for Sara Cate: I have been here from the beginning of SPC with you and I have been honored to have reviewed every single title of this sFirst, a note for Sara Cate: I have been here from the beginning of SPC with you and I have been honored to have reviewed every single title of this series as a member of your street team. Thank you for creating the SPC for all of us readers and inviting us in. It’s been a pleasure.
I have to say that I had my doubts when Sara announced there would be two more books added to the SPC lineup from the original four expected books. While I didn’t like The Highest Bidder as much as everyone else did, I absolutely loved Madame. It ripped me apart and then put me back together and then I sobbed like a baby at the end (actually, there were a couple of places here and there in the book where I teared up, too).
While this book generally feels like a mix of Eden St. Claire’s story and a general send-off for the SPC series as whole, it never feels like these two matters are just being mushed together for matters of convenience. It feels very organic, like it was meant to happen like this. After all, none of the characters of the SPC are getting any younger, and this book takes place two years after the events at the end of Mercy (book four, if you’re keeping track). All the founding SPC members have settled down in one way or another. Most of them don’t even come into the club anymore. Eden, the Madame who’s been a fixture at SPC since day one, is still there almost every night, working to support her and her son. Does she have control issues? Why yes. Even more so, she has trust issues. I can relate.
Sometimes, life happens though, and even Eden St. Claire can make a mistake. Like getting in a little too deep with a submissive named Clay. She was in too deep before she knew it and Clay was in love. She wasn’t ready for him and she cut the thread between them. She’s felt the ghost of him ever since.
Now, at the beginning of this book, Clay has a new girlfriend named Jade and he’s crazy about her, but she can’t give him everything he needs and part of his heart still belongs to Eden. Jade may be younger and a touch naive, but she knows Clay is hiding a part of himself from her. After a chance run-in with Eden and her son at a movie theater, Jade wants to know who Eden was to Clay, and once she knows a piece of the puzzle all Jade wants is to know more so she can make Clay happy.
So much of this book is focused on a very important point about any relationship, but it’s something that’s essential about BDSM relationships: You can’t just pick up a riding crop and start dominating your partner because you want to make them happy (or vice-versa). You have to want to do things for yourself, to make yourself happy. You can’t fake confidence. You can’t fake dominance. You can’t fake happiness. If you don’t actually want to dominate your partner, you can’t force yourself to. You have to want it for yourself. It has to make you feel good to be that person for them.
Another salient point this book makes is that communication in any relationship at all is key. Especially when everything is falling apart and when everyone is feeling their worst. That’s when it's most important to stand up, say something, and be honest. People can misunderstand things so easily when they’re already down or upset. If you aren’t open and honest with the ones you love, they could slip through your hands and you’ll never regret anything more.
I loved both Eden and Jade in this book. I didn’t like Clay as much. I found him to be a little too much of a privileged man child who didn’t understand boundaries or ethics, but I admired how much he loved Jade and Eden. I definitely identify with Eden, with my control and extreme trust issues.
Eden’s story is touching, as is her evolution as a person and a domme. Seeing her find her place in love and at SPC was a spicy, lovely read. I’m going to miss this series so much but I know I’ll always have at least two copies of every book in the series to keep me happy. You won’t regret reading this book.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Alphabet Soup Romance/Book Series/Contemporary Romance/Erotica/Kink and BDSM Friendly/Lesbian Romance/LGBTQ Romance/Polyamorous Romance/Sex Club/Sex Worker/Spice Level 3 ...more
I honestly don’t know what I just read, but I do know I didn’t enjoy it and didn’t get the point of it. I don’t even know for sure if there was a poinI honestly don’t know what I just read, but I do know I didn’t enjoy it and didn’t get the point of it. I don’t even know for sure if there was a point.
“High Times in the Low Parliament” reads like a genre mashup of political satire, fantasy, and drug-fueled fairy tale. It’s a novella, so it’s not like the story itself is a hefty tome to take on for a bit of light reading, but at the same time I like anything I’m reading (even novellas) to at least have a point or to have a message of some sort I can take away with me to let my brain chew on for a while. Neither of these things happened with this story and it left me with that awful feeling of having wasted my time when I could’ve been reading something else that would’ve fulfilled me and really commanded my attention.
If you like LGBTQIA+ short stories way off the beaten track, then you may enjoy this little diversion from the real world. It just wasn’t for me.
Thanks to Tordotcom and NetGalley for access to this title. Due to the 3 star or lower rating this review will not appear on any social media or bookseller website....more
I’ve expressed my deep and abiding love for a deftly crafted novella before. I trace this love of short stories and novellas back to a course I took iI’ve expressed my deep and abiding love for a deftly crafted novella before. I trace this love of short stories and novellas back to a course I took in community college, when we would take stories like these apart and analyze them to pieces. (In non-shocking news, that’s also where I got my love of literary analysis as a whole from). There’s just something so spectacular about authors who can master the art of economy of words. Who can tell a whole novel’s worth of story in 200 words or less. To leave you feeling as fulfilled by their story as you would if you had read a much longer one. You may think it’s an easy job, but many authors would be willing to tell you it’s not.
“Even Though I Knew the End” is a beautifully written example of genre mashup literature. By that, I mean that there are so many genres kneaded into this story that the bread of it is an amalgamation of historical fiction/romance/fantasy/mystery, occult fiction, and LGBT+ fiction/romance/fantasy. I tend to love when authors go wild like this, when they let their imaginations run free and their fingers out to play over theirs keyboards, not stopping to think too deeply about things like, “How can I make a sapphic romance in the 1930s if I add in occultism and some really wicked magic?” and just letting the words flow. I’m sure Polk had to reign herself in at some point to wrestle the book into submission and bring method to the madness, but short stories and novellas are a great place to let experimental pieces out to play.
The story itself is mostly a fantasy/occult mystery wound around a powerful private detective/magician (though that’s not the term they use for her in the book) who’s on a very tight schedule and is in a long-term relationship with a woman who she wants to protect at all costs. There’s a big bad in town, and a powerful demon client wants our protagonist to find it so it can be taken out. Problem is, the powers that be in Chicago don’t like our protagonist very much, considering she doesn’t have a soul. I’d tell you more, but there be spoilers, and I don’t deal in those.
The magic system isn’t explained in any real detail, but it’s not something that really could be explained unless you sat down and wrote a manual, because it’s based in things like phases of the moon, numerology, astrology, planetary hours (which is also known as the Chaldean order), sacred geometry, and prayers. It’s more fun just to roll with it, honestly, because why would you want to spend pages with magic system exposition when you could be spending time wrapped in lovely prose, an alternative version of 1930s Chicago, and a beautiful love story between two women who really just want to move to San Francisco someday?
It’s really a fabulous read. Entertaining, compelling, fun, and beautiful. I highly recommend it.
Thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan-Tor/Forge, and Tordotcom for granting me access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The first book in Eden Finley’s Mike Bravo Ops series, “Iris”, was probably the best mm romance read for me in the first half of 2022. Bringing readerThe first book in Eden Finley’s Mike Bravo Ops series, “Iris”, was probably the best mm romance read for me in the first half of 2022. Bringing readers into this new series (which interconnects loosely with her Famous series) by way of the overgrown golden retriever manchild that is Iris and his basic training rival, Saint, was a brilliant move, because reading about a sexy man who makes doe eyes at a RPG but is hardcore competent but then turns around and names his adopted puppy Princess Smooshy Face and trains her to only respond to her full name was a great way to introduce everyone far and wide to the blacker-than-black private security firm known as Mike Bravo Ops. (BTW, you have to read “Iris” in order to follow the plot for this book).
Finley follows up “Iris”, which is chaotic, hilarious, incredibly spicy, and full of emotions with this action-packed, frenemies-to-lovers, love-on-the-run, zero-to-sixty adrenaline rush of a love story where the only people Rodriguez (who we met briefly in “Iris”) and Trav can trust are the men of Mike Bravo when Rodriguez gets in some hotter than hot water with the DEA and the only person he knows he can trust to keep him safe and help him get to the bottom of what’s going on is Trav, even if he doesn’t like the way he runs his business.
Did I like this book as much as “Iris”? No, but I’ve found it hard to find a gay romance to top “Iris” ever since I first read it (and I also did a re-read right before I started “Rogue”). That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it immensely. My issue was solely with the type of flirtation game that both Rodriguez and Trav play with one another: it’s not one I enjoy seeing or reading. Emotionally stunted men are not my jam. Flirting like an immature college boy is cringe to me. I could see where Rodriguez was wary of Trav’s intentions, because he pushed so much it was making me feel a little uncomfortable. I would’ve snapped at Trav and told him to knock it off. Honestly, it made me lose a lot of the respect I had built up for the character in “Iris”. He ended up not being anything like what I thought he’d be in this book and I felt thrown for a loop.
But the plot? The plot was great. I love a good cat-and-mouse, love-on-the-run, move-move-move, run for our lives story in the first place, but when you add romance and spice to the picture? It makes it so much more fun and ups the stakes exponentially. Adrenaline, sweat, blood, tears. Desperation and urgency. That sense that you may not have any time beyond right this moment, It jacks every feeling and every encounter up to 11. That’s something I can always get behind. And seeing how almost every member of Mike Bravo has followed Trav’s paranoia for contingency plan after contingency plan and how that ended up saving their butts was every bit as entertaining as I thought it might be.
I’m totally looking forward to the next book. I need to see what’s next. I know I won’t be able to keep from making grabby hands when the book is announced!
Thanks to the author and Foreword PR for granting me early access to this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. ...more
I wanted to like this book so much. I really tried. I started out intrigued and fascinated, but the deeper I went into the book the more I wanted to sI wanted to like this book so much. I really tried. I started out intrigued and fascinated, but the deeper I went into the book the more I wanted to stop reading it because the more I disliked it.
The issue wasn’t the plot, or even Courtney Gould’s stunning, evocative prose. It was the characters and the way they were written. See, it’s a bad sign when your protagonist is not only someone a reader can’t identify with but also genuinely thinks is a bad person. I couldn’t stand Beck, and by the end of the book I thought she was a horrible person who really should be put in jail.
They label this book paranormal fantasy, but what it’s closer to is metaphysical fantasy with a tinge of cult horror. Gould does great with the otherworldly aspects of writing metaphysical fantasy. She has a sincere talent for worldbuilding and vivid imagery. The decision to set this book in the desert helps with some of the imagery, given how much deserts remind people of mirages, air so hot it shimmers, slipping in loose dirt, and how easy it is to get lost in that environment. A desert setting is almost using subliminal messaging from the start to lay a foundation on which many other mysteries can be easily placed.
I don’t know if I’m alone in my disdain for Beck or not, but she definitely ruined the book for me. The only reason I finished the book was because I wanted to see how it ended. Given that it ended pretty much exactly how I guessed it would, I was disappointed.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Due to personal policy, this review will not be posted on any social media or bookseller website owing to a rating of three stars or lower. ...more
This book isn’t exactly bad, it’s just too long and too bogged down by unnecessary flashbacks.
Flashbacks are the enemy of sReal Review: 2.5 / 5 Stars
This book isn’t exactly bad, it’s just too long and too bogged down by unnecessary flashbacks.
Flashbacks are the enemy of suspense, propulsion, engagement, and pacing. They are the lazy path to exposition. And, in this book, they are redundant, as much of what is recounted in the flashbacks is either recounted again or alluded to in Terence’s (the protagonist) inner narrative as the book goes on. You show us, you don’t tell us.
If you took out the flashbacks, this book could’ve been about 50 pages lighter and probably a lot more engaging of a read. The way it reads now, it’s more depressing than romantic and more soppy than sexy.
I felt as if we got an uneven amount of time with all the characters in the book, and that irked me to no end when it came close to the end of the book and it was the very characters we learned the least about that stepped in to save the day, so to speak.
I’m sorry I couldn’t get into this book more, since a lot of people liked it. It’s just a no go for me.
Thanks to the author and The Hatters Author Services for providing me with early access to this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. As per personal policy, this review will not appear on social media or bookseller websites due to the 3 star or lower rating. ...more
One of my favorite characters from Lynn Burke’s “Sinful Natures” series, Lily, is back in the first book of a new series centered on a hookup app callOne of my favorite characters from Lynn Burke’s “Sinful Natures” series, Lily, is back in the first book of a new series centered on a hookup app called Missing Link. I loved Lily back when she first appeared in “Unholy Yearning” as the preacher’s daughter who has a dirty mind and is engaged to Levi, one of that book’s main characters, and I loved when both she and Levi found their own ways to be happy apart from each other while still remaining friends. Lily moved to California with her cousin to live free of her family, her former church, and to find love under her own terms. What she wants, what she craves, is two men. Two men at once. It’s been her dream for years.
First off? This book is hot, hot, hot. The blurb does a poor job of letting you know what you’re in for, seeing as most of what’s in the blurb happens before the 40% mark of the book, but hooboy! Beware all who enter: there is much spiciness to be had! (I’m kidding, because if you know Lynn, you absolutely know spiciness comes guaranteed). There’s also the typical lack of toxic masculinity I’ve come to love from Lynn’s books (yes, talk about your feelings!), along with complex familial dynamics.
There is a huge amount of personal trauma in this book related to one of the main male characters, and it results in a lot of angst in this book. Not as much angst as I’ve seen in some other books like it, but it’s there all the same.
By far, my two favorite things about this book is the complete triad of polyamory and the way Lily helped bridge the gap between Grey and Blaine when she saw how they felt about one another. Lily is a gregarious and generous girl with both her affections and emotions, and even though she risked being hurt again she put herself out there like that so these two guys could find each other. She’s just so sweet.
Thanks to the author for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. ...more
I gotta be honest with you: I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, and I definitely didn’t expect it to be as freaky as it was. Maybe it’I gotta be honest with you: I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, and I definitely didn’t expect it to be as freaky as it was. Maybe it’s because all the books people swear are scary aren’t scary to me or because I just have a very skewed perspective on the word “scary”, but this book is a trip and a half. It’s poetic, sad, angry, neurotic, tragic, disorienting, darkly romantic, fanciful (but not overly so), and deeply steeped in the darkest of fairy tales and American folklore. I guarantee you’ll spend most of this book wondering what the heck is truly going on, and that feeling only grows as the book goes on. In the end, you have to make a choice as to what you think really happened, and I don’t think there’s a wrong answer.
I’ll be frank with you in that there is a lot of homophobic language and behavior in this book, along with a lot of internalized homophobia. This appears both literally and metaphorically. If this behavior and the language surrounding it is a huge trigger for you, then be very aware that you will come across it multiple times in this book.
I found this book to be charming, in a way. Sounds unusual, I know, for a horror novel to be somewhat charming, but it sometimes was, with its bursts of Great Gatsby-like dialogue, small talk about mythology, ruminations on the original versions of fairy tales versus what Disney made of them, and shudder-inducing mentions of creatures from American folklore and Native American mythology that give even me the heebie-jeebees. It’s the kind of horror mixed with wonder that always makes me smile because it’s simultaneously exciting and terrifying all at once.
I will admit the story arc could be more solid. It’s not quite as well-plotted as it could be, but this isn’t a plot-driven novel. It’s a character-driven novel that could have been better supported with a more stable plot, but it didn’t need it to be a terrific amount of shivery fun. It’s not all fun and games either, let me tell you. There is a great deal of anger, sadness, and tragedy in this book too. And there’s also the eternal question when it comes to a novel like this (where our protagonist can see supernatural/paranormal beings): is it all in his head or not? Maybe it could even be both?
This book is a long, sad, horrible, freakish spiral into madness and desperation propelled by events that occurred before the book began and only perpetuated and/or accelerated by the protagonist’s mind or by events that happen during the book. It’s tragic, but the tragedy is a beautiful and angry mess. Well worth the read.
Thanks to NetGalley and InkShares for granting me access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.
There is something so very comforting about opening a hockey romance written or co-written by Eden Finley, because you know you’re not just getting thThere is something so very comforting about opening a hockey romance written or co-written by Eden Finley, because you know you’re not just getting the new characters being introduced in this book; you’re also going to be getting cameos, mentions, and where-are-they-now tidbits concerning characters from all of the other interconnected book series in Finley’s great web o’ books. And every time one of them is mentioned or makes an appearance the wings on my black heart fluttered happily in fond recognition.
Fake marriage trope isn’t one of my favorites (that has more to do with my attitude toward marriage than the trope itself, but I digress), but I loved the way Finley and James ran it in this book. It was character-consistent, if you want to put it that way. Like, I wouldn’t have believed it with anyone else (I was married in Nevada, so I know how it works), but with these two, I totally believed what happened. I even fully bought into the reasons they went into the chapel and did the whole thing in the first place. It reeked of “bad, bad choices we make in Vegas when we’re screwed up in multiple ways and trying to support one another”.
I did have a stumbling block with the Queer Collective’s initial plan to try and “help” Tripp. It seemed almost mean-spirited toward Dex, in a way. I kind of just wanted to beg Dex and Tripp to leave, since their supposed friends didn’t want to listen to a word they said.
Most of this book takes place in hockey’s off-season, so there’s not a ton of hockey action. That’s both a plus and minus. In “Egotistical Puckboy”, most of the book took place during the season, so we got all that great on-ice banter. That made sense though, because that book was enemies-to-lovers. This book is a true besties-to-lovers book, though, so instead of the easy on-ice zingers and snarky banter that comes from verbal foreplay, we get a lot of verbal humor that comes from Dex’s immature sense of humor and his thick-headedness, and also a lot of humor coming from Tripp in the form of a sense of, “I just don’t know what to do with you and I’m not even going to try, so I’m just going to humor your adorable face.”
This book is very low-angst with a huge HEA payoff. Even the “confrontation” with the antagonist isn’t really a confrontation so much as like if a firework promises to be totally awesome and then only lasts maybe 20 seconds before ending.
Do I care about any of that? No. Not really. I don’t read books like this because I’m looking to search my soul or mine my brain or wrack my heart. I read them to feel light, happy, and better than I did before I started it. Did all those things happen? They sure as heck did. I highly recommend it. ...more
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