Born Again Sinner

Since the first book in this series was okay I figured I'd go along and read the second. It started off okayish. But it quickly sank into something that didn't quite live up. Basically, it was more of the same as the first except this one had even more chances to be gritty deep and interesting while still being hilarious and erotic at the same time.

Cody starts off just being mean. I actually like him the most and he isn't that likeable. Mean isn't a bad thing per se but when coupled with his ignorance about his injuries. It was too hard to buy. No man that hard up on not being what he used to be wouldn't do all he could to get that life back. It was hard to fall in line with his anger when he routinely did things to make him permanently damaged just to prove a point. 

Football Sundae

This was a fun read. I started off really enjoying it. It was one of those you can tell where it's going after the first meet but weren't put off by it. Genuinely wanted to see how the author would get there. There was a particular scene where the main character Tannor gets blamed for a plumbing accident that got my biggest laugh. Comedy gold. My problems arose as the book continued.

It was an okay book but it didn't leap in any real original way. Once I got to the good bits the dynamics between Billy and Tanner didn't cross new ground. Without the side characters and the comedy, it didn't move or more accurately grow much. Instead of being excited about Tanner's big reveal, I felt annoyed. Like of all the times, this is the time you do it? It made so little sense beyond one obvious bit, to drum up some drama to make the story more interesting. Instead it just seemed like another unrealistic plot moment designed for people who like drama and can suspend heap loads of reality for the sake of it.

One Good Man

This was tedious. I bought this book with the promise of an angsty military drama. What I got was not much really. There is a lot of talk about weapons and tactics. An occasional bit about DADT. And all sorts of things I was already prepared for before reading the first page. There wasn't much else really. Nothing too in-depth about the main character. No real interaction with the other characters beyond gym workouts. Which were probably, by far the most entertaining thing about this book. And that was it.

I kept turning pages thinking that some interaction would happen. Even when the main characters did meet it didn't get involved and in the 60 percent or so of this novel that I slugged through, I can count on one hand how many times the two mains met. The other stuff was all military jargon and noise vaguely relating to the main characters gayness and distant relationship with his dad but not digging into it in a way I can recall. Nothing tangible. 

Dirty First Dates: The Arcade

I legit smiled before writing this first sentence. This book had me all sorts of grinning while I read it. Violet was perfect. Just the right amount of submission with a hint of defiance to make it all that much more fun when the fun happens.  Aiden... okay my opinion is biased here. Tall, deep voice tattoos and plugs. Yeah he had me based on description alone. Just... *hyperventilates*.

Using the arcade as a setting for gameplay both literally and erotically was a nice touch. It could've dropped into cliche very easily but the author avoids that by the way Violet's internal monologue attacks every situation. It's hard not to love Violet. How she switches between demure and bratty rather smoothly and even sometimes gets surprised not just by what she says but how she says it.

Off the Ice

I thought I would love this book. Mostly because sports jock M/M romance is my favourite trope. It had all the makings of a good novel. Teacher lusting after a student, student lusting after a teacher. Tension and angst. Basically all the components of the formula for this type of novel. Yet it didn't jump of the page for me.

Warning this contains one plot point that happens early in the story..

I pretty much skimmed through the first parts. I didn't really get into it. Once I did start paying attention there were too many things that didn't make sense. For instance, when Sebastian assumed the non-jock looking kid would be the one to write a paper about, well, hockey. With such effortless detail thus going against type but then on the flip side assume the jock, Tristan, was the one who stole ta later paper thus going with type. It didn't fit his character on so many levels to choose the exact road of the type of thing he was trying to teach his students not to do.

Stay

When I read the blurb to this I thought I was getting something entirely different. To be fair I can't really remember what that was but I enjoyed what I did get. This book was a nice dark gritty story. It was relatable on a few levels. Mostly it was just nice in the big sea of M/M romance to read something with more than surface value and steamy sex. Which I love, but sometimes It's nice to have something more solid and this story provided that.

The struggle of being afraid to let anyone in because that has brought you nothing but pain was believable. The questioning of anything good because of said fear was relatable. And the certain level of irrationality to it fit the main character, Joe, quite well. It made sense. The story between him and the other main Madden progressed at a good pace and I didn't feel bogged down or rushed at any point in the story.

DEMIGODS

BR:7

PER:7

Blog

Twitter

This was an interesting read and a difficult review to write. This story had the action, had the good versus bad and the naivety of the reluctant hero. A perfectly laid out villainous plan that magically fails in the end and even a sick child to empathise with. It honestly should've been amazing. However, with all that going for it I still wanted more.

This book hits that old adage of show don't tell in a way that created good well-written scenes but not much connection for me. The whole back story of how Steve the human became a supernatural took up a few chapters. I don't even remember the scientist's name. I was so focused on what happened in the chapter before these scenes and where they would lead I skimmed them.

The Gate

The premise of the gate is a good one. I started off following along with the lead character Kiva fully invested in the story. A woman stuck on a planet ruined by humans failed attempt to fix climate change. The only viable option to live in a world where simple pleasures like the sun can be is to go through the mysterious gate to another planet. The survival rate is low at best.

It tackles tough ideas like climate change, politics, the difference between being alive and living in an effortless and intriguing way. When I started I was loving the book. Somewhere in the middle, even though the story itself was still good it stalled. Like it was set up to go somewhere but then floated at the point just before it went.

The Auctorati

This story was a great read. Great enough to read more than once. It starts right of in the action pulling introducing the characters all at once leaving come things shrouded in mystery and others clearly defined. The type of chapter that makes you want to keep on reading. The characters are well developed and all have different motivations for doing what they do but all these motives bring them towards the same end goal. Destroying the Villian Talon.

What I like about Talon is as a villain he makes sense. He's just a man trying to come out from the hand life dealt him by whatever means necessary. Evil though he may be it's not hard at all to sympathise with his reasoning. That and he gets some of the best one-liners. Comedy gold.