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.