Safe In His Arms

This was a safe read. Very low angst, easy to get into. No real problems. It losses a star though for one big technical issue from me. Rome vs Roman. The book starts off in the first paragraph saying "Roman was". The very next paragraph says "Rome looked". I thought there were two different people. It didn't end there. It goes on to introduce the pack members, cousins brothers and even his twin with whom he is only ten minutes older. With all these names and the consistent changing from Rome to Roman, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't lost, confused, and a bit annoyed.

In all fairness, I've seen this done before. Hell, I've done it. So it isn't the fact that both names are interchanged in the narrative it's the placement. Something about it jarred me. Maybe it was that I wasn't set up for this. It happened so fast. First word first paragraph, which was really short, had one name. The second had another name as the first word but I wasn't told his name was Roman but his friends call him Rome. There wasn't a dialogue section where they called him Rome after setting the reader up with the name Roman. Can't really place it but I was confused by it in this novel for some reason.

Corruption: A Bureau Story Book 1

This was a short sweet story. But for something that I was expecting to be a romance, even possibly with a little BDSM. It didn't deliver. Unfortunately, the book wasn't tight enough to read like a short story. It actually gave me the feeling of the beginning of a full-length novel. I knew this wasn't going to be happening having read the blurb for the next two novels before buying this one.

Jumping between marks and audience really threw me off in the first chapter. Especially when marks is more commonly used for say a hit in assassination stories or the person one is following in an espionage type novel. In this case, they were audience members at a carnival. What they most accurately were was customers. Marks was odd and the inability to stick to audience or marks added to the oddity of it.

Loving Luke

As a whole, this book seemed like I'd love it. A nice hokey romance that starts in the midst of a problem instead of dragging you through the problem. It didn't quite lift off the page for me though.

Firstly I'd like to point out I had zero problems with the book starting after a major event. Luke made a bet. Harley found out about it and now he needs to fix the mess he made. My problem with it was how long it took to mention the parameters of the bet. Like the full details didn't drop until his apology which is way down past 70percent. Secondly, most importantly, how the hell did Harley find out? Not detailing the scene fine, but not expressing the specifics of the bet and how Harley found out was what made it hard to get into. 

Going Down

I enjoyed reading this. Glad to finally say that considering my last couple of reviews. This book did have a few errors but I didn't pause while reading it which is good. There was the use of the word bowels that took me out of the story a bit. But beyond that, I enjoyed reading this.

The technical thing that stood out the most was after a night of being too drunk to immediately remember a party it takes a few days to remember the party and another few to remember the guy who saved him from the morning hangover that same night with a hangover remedy. I assumed just over a week might have gone by so a week is doable but the author says they were talking more. They hadn't talked in a week so the saying when they next met they were talking more seems like they had been talking already. 

Driven To Love

This was a light sweet read. This could've been a five-star book. It had the makings of a nice steamy low angst fast love story. But there were some things plot-wise and character-wise that just didn't do it for me. There's a strong chance this is all personal preference so if you read this review and think 'he hated on that' and roll your eyes you will probably love this book.

Right from the first chapter, there's this scene where Ben has a text exchange with his best friend. It was a good chance to develop Ben's relationship with his friend and his own character but instead of receiving this text exchange in dialogue we are just told this happens.  It happens again when he finally calls him to tell him about his budding relationship. We are told what transpires in a paragraph or two but not shown. Incidents like this happen a few times, where characters meet or are in a situation where stuff happens but the stuff doesn't happen beyond being told it happens. Makes it hard to connect with the characters.

The Kinsey Scale

This story was too slow for me. I couldn't finish it. I pushed to about halfway but then gave up. My problem was the whole slow burn and used tropes. It started to lose me when Eric decided he needed a fake boyfriend to seem unavailable or not a loser to a straight guy. I dunno I guess I'm over the whole fake boyfriend/girlfriend thing when it's used this way. It's been done so many times before and this one was not only with an ex but an ex who was seeing someone if I recall. Next it was the girlfriend back home. The girl these 'not so straight guys' always have so the gay love interest can validate why he could never have him because you know, girlfriend back home. In this instance it seemed like Eric was the only one talking about said girlfriend and not Will. This made it even harder to get into this plotline.

Wild Hearts

I couldn't finish this. It seemed like it would be the perfect book for me. Introvert meets wild biker but it didn't live up to the hype. Especially with the promise of an exploding house. Ultimately the book didn't deliver.

One of my first main problems was the narrator constantly referring to the leads as the biker and the writer even though we knew their names. Usually this device is used when you either don't know their name yet or, for plot reasons, are withholding the name until you do reveal it and then use the name. The interchanging of actual names to biker/writer was frustrating.

Pit Fighter 1: The Opportunity

The entire premise/idea of this book is good. Very good even. I went into this thinking I would really love it. A world filled with animals, fighting and maybe some steam on the side. But it didn't live up to any of that. The story doesn't actually go anywhere. It reads like the opening to a part one or a full novel instead of a fully completed part one. There's no end goal reached so it's a cliffhanger ending instead of an ending that leads into the next part. It doesn't succeed at fulfilling the needs of the first, of coming to a conclusion but not reaching the end goal, Which I'm assuming is finally getting to meet his crush.

Nights With Roarsen

Couldn't really get into this story. It's part of a series or a short in connection with the Chosen Series, but it works as a stand-alone. It has the HEA, has a bit of fluff but mostly it doesn't take itself seriously and that was the problem for me. The subject matter of this book needed more serious. The trauma of Enid's past was pretty much what defined him and were his reasons for not wanting to get close to anyone yet it felt more glossed over than dealt with. There was a lot of I told Roasen things, but none of me as a reader witnessing these conversations. This is a short story and it felt like the opportunity to milk these nights with the Tiger thus making all the fluffy relationship stuff that much more rewarding was missed. It's called Night's with Roarsen but these nights never happen.

Catching Orion

I didn't really enjoy this. I found it a bit tedious. It started of well but it went from somewhat passable beginnings into absurdity way to fast.

Firstly I can almost suspend belief to jump into the fantasy of deception, but only almost. Knox's uncle enter's him in a dating site raffle unknown to him and he wins. after winning his uncle confesses.  This isn't too bad. The problem is in order for Ryan, (his name is Orion and I spelt it wrong before editing because he's called Ryan in the book so Oryan was the most logical leap. Maybe I'm just weird but... yeah lol).

Love

I wanted to connect with this story but couldn't. It's short sweet but the romance never seemed to develope. Even by insta love standards it didn't have enough oomph to be a fast romance.  

Rory is a struggling artist who can't seem to connect with his parents. After a visit that leaves him feeling down he goes for a walk and passes a book store where he meets Brett and so begins the love story. It's your stnadard fare for a short story but instead of being jammed with the most pertinant of information since it's not a long read, it still reads like a standard sized novel. Like there's going to be more time for the story to develope but there isn't. 

Ship Work

I enjoyed reading this story. It was quick light fun with an occasional laugh. After being forced on a singles cruise by his parents Holt believes he can turn this into a work vacation but his assisstant, Dane, is not having any of that on his first ever cruise and decides fun is much more important, almost more important then his hot boss.

The story follows the same formular as most of these romances but still manages to be enjoyable even though you know where it is going. There were a few things that bothered me though. The shortlived jealousy bit. It's like in these m/m romances the only way for the guy to notice he likes the other guy is if he gets jealous of him spending time with other guys. There has to be another way to do this. We can't always be getting jealous and if we must how we come navigate that can be switched up.

Hopping to Happiness

This was a short easy read. Boy wants a pet, pet turns out to be a shapeshifter and love ensues. What's not to love really. Unfortunately the book felt a little too simple at some points. I read it twice before writing my review and had the same response to it. The first two chapters seemed a little slow and very repetitive. Especially the one were Bryce continuously found multiple ways of saying being gay was not his fault in his introductory section. It was written like a hard sell when it didn't need to be said that much. I don't know why, cause I'd definitely go to a shelter first myself for a pet, but the idea of shelter versus pet store also came through like a hard sell mostly for it's repetitiveness as well.

I did start to enjoy it come the third chapter though.  The book flowed faily well. had a few laughs, mostly due to Bryce in rabbit form. That's when he and the writing seemed to be at it's best. His reaction to things as a rabbit knowing he was indeed human were by far my favourite parts to read.

Sergeant Delicious

This was an enjoyable read. Short, sweet and flowed rather nicely. I liked how the story progressed over emails to the physical meeting then beyond. The bond between the two main characters felt real and I could get into it as I followed Xavier and Damien along their journey together. Also, food makes everything better so this being a partial foodie romance made it that much more entertaining.

My only real sticking point was Damien's doubts. Not that he had them, but how he behaved about having them. With all the signs clearly pointing to a love connection the better and definitely more dramatic option would be to go with it and still have all the self-doubt and worry and hope that it's just paranoia and things work out. It came off more like he didn't want a relationship instead of him being afraid that Damien didn't want one. It didn't sell well. Thankfully this didn't pop up often enough to matter.

By His Bootstraps At my neighbours mercy

This was a short, steamy read. I wanted to enjoy it but didn't. The blurb lead me to believe this was going to be a short story about someone straight giving in to not-so-straight desires. It didn't live up to that. It read more like an already gay boy continuously telling himself he's not gay only because I'm supposed to believe he's straight. There is nothing about Tyler that screams straight boy confused about lusting after his neighbour. It's mostly gay boy embarrassed that he feels a certain way about his neighbour.

The book starts with him moving into an apartment with only a pull-out couch to his name. His only link to straightness is his ex-girlfriend. That's her only purpose to hang his supposed straightness out there. His neighbour helps him with the couch as Tyler is too scrawny and weak to do it on his own. His description of his neighbour alone screams I'm gay. Instead of 'I notice you workout'. When he spies on him later that night there's zero resistance. Just lusting at the older man from his bedroom window. Skip to the next day and he's on a leash in public? Just 24hrs to leash.

Happy Endings: Demonic Magic Book 1

This book had me laughing way too much. Right from the first chapter it was clear the humour in this book was meant for me. I'm definitely a fan of witty banter. Miles was hilarious, Havoc was what every demon should be. Evil, spunky and classy all in one. And the side characters added just enough depth to keep the story vibrant and entertaining.

What I really liked about this book is that it was a romance not stylised as a romance. A lot of times you go into these LGBT themed books and it's all about the relationship. It could be a mystery, a drama, fantasy, or even espionage but the budding relationship takes centre stage and the actual plot just flits away into the background. This story, however, was about people dying, about finding out who the murderer was, and finding them before they could do too much damage. The relationship was something that happened on the side of the main focus of the story which is as it should be.