This was a weird story for me. I haven't read many prison romances, but I was excited to try this one because of some rave review from my friends. I wThis was a weird story for me. I haven't read many prison romances, but I was excited to try this one because of some rave review from my friends. I was expecting something violent and gritty, which this book was. However, the romance for me was totally lacking, and I thought that Dane was a serious dick.
I'm very willing to suspend reality for romance books, and I do it all the time, but seriously?? With this one?? I don't even understand what was happening most of the time. Dane shanked like 100 people with no consequences in this book, and got off with just a shrug. The cop that sort of helped Dane out? What was his deal? The whole prison system made absolutely no sense.
Also, I didn't see why Bailey liked Dane at all. He was a royal ass, and I didn't see how or why there was any spark between them. The GFY was waaayyyy too fast and easy, and Dane was too flip-floppy as a character. It was a hot mess, if I'm being honest.
It wasn't all bad, but a lot of the book was "huh??"-worthy for me. Just not my speed.
Merged review:
This was a weird story for me. I haven't read many prison romances, but I was excited to try this one because of some rave review from my friends. I was expecting something violent and gritty, which this book was. However, the romance for me was totally lacking, and I thought that Dane was a serious dick.
I'm very willing to suspend reality for romance books, and I do it all the time, but seriously?? With this one?? I don't even understand what was happening most of the time. Dane shanked like 100 people with no consequences in this book, and got off with just a shrug. The cop that sort of helped Dane out? What was his deal? The whole prison system made absolutely no sense.
Also, I didn't see why Bailey liked Dane at all. He was a royal ass, and I didn't see how or why there was any spark between them. The GFY was waaayyyy too fast and easy, and Dane was too flip-floppy as a character. It was a hot mess, if I'm being honest.
It wasn't all bad, but a lot of the book was "huh??"-worthy for me. Just not my speed....more
Guys, don't crucify me for this, but I just don't see what the hype is about! I had the hardest time getting through this one.
Sometimes a book [image]
Guys, don't crucify me for this, but I just don't see what the hype is about! I had the hardest time getting through this one.
Sometimes a book that clicks for everyone else just whooshes right over my head. This was my first Allison Cassatta book and my third Kade Boehme, and despite the positive press around this one I just didn't feel it.
The beginning of this book is really compelling. Riley getting kidnapped and then rescued was a very powerful start to the story. However, I didn't really get why his parents abandoned him after he was found, and I felt like that was an avenue that could have used more exploring.
Once Riley and Hunter meet in Hartfield I was expecting the story to really get going. Instead, my pet peeves seemed to just pile up. I don't like when characters are constantly reading emotion in each other's eyes, like "sadness" or "hunger" or "longing." It just seems like a cop-out way of telling instead of showing emotions. There was a lot of that here. I also felt like Riley trusted Hunter way too easily and that their relationship grew too intense over such a short period of time. With Riley's painful past, I was expecting him to be much more guarded and less open. It didn't feel right with his character.
Sometimes, I can attribute my lack of connection to the audio reading, but I think that the narrator, Michael Ferraiulo, did a nice job. It wasn't the best audio I've heard, but I liked the differentiation between the two voices and his effort overall.
I'll admit, because I was so disconnected from the story, I sped up the narration quite a bit in an effort to finish. With an audiobook that is 7+ hours long, if you aren't interested after 3 hours of listening, it is hard to stay motivated to listen.
I know I'm in the very, very minority with this one. Some of my most trusted friends loved this. However, it just didn't mesh well for me.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
Merged review:
[image]
Guys, don't crucify me for this, but I just don't see what the hype is about! I had the hardest time getting through this one.
Sometimes a book that clicks for everyone else just whooshes right over my head. This was my first Allison Cassatta book and my third Kade Boehme, and despite the positive press around this one I just didn't feel it.
The beginning of this book is really compelling. Riley getting kidnapped and then rescued was a very powerful start to the story. However, I didn't really get why his parents abandoned him after he was found, and I felt like that was an avenue that could have used more exploring.
Once Riley and Hunter meet in Hartfield I was expecting the story to really get going. Instead, my pet peeves seemed to just pile up. I don't like when characters are constantly reading emotion in each other's eyes, like "sadness" or "hunger" or "longing." It just seems like a cop-out way of telling instead of showing emotions. There was a lot of that here. I also felt like Riley trusted Hunter way too easily and that their relationship grew too intense over such a short period of time. With Riley's painful past, I was expecting him to be much more guarded and less open. It didn't feel right with his character.
Sometimes, I can attribute my lack of connection to the audio reading, but I think that the narrator, Michael Ferraiulo, did a nice job. It wasn't the best audio I've heard, but I liked the differentiation between the two voices and his effort overall.
I'll admit, because I was so disconnected from the story, I sped up the narration quite a bit in an effort to finish. With an audiobook that is 7+ hours long, if you aren't interested after 3 hours of listening, it is hard to stay motivated to listen.
I know I'm in the very, very minority with this one. Some of my most trusted friends loved this. However, it just didn't mesh well for me.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**...more
I can't believe I'm DNFing this one at 60%. This has been on my to-read list forever! I just didn't connect with the characters.
This book has a 4.41 I can't believe I'm DNFing this one at 60%. This has been on my to-read list forever! I just didn't connect with the characters.
This book has a 4.41 rating with my Goodreads friends. That is a crazy high rating from a group of very discerning people (yes I'm talking about you, friends!). Perhaps take my review with a grain of salt then. I am one of the few that didn't love this book.
My issues with this one started pretty much right out the gate. For a guy who is used to working with some pretty shady people and has to watch his back, Danny is one careless mo-fo. Starting with letting the police manipulate him (come one, this can't be your first interrogation room! I wasn't even fooled by the stupid police ploys and I'm not a hardened criminal!). Leaving a safe-house to meet up with a friend on the street in the middle of the day?? Don't you think someone could be watching for that? The drug lords want you dead, man, you should be paranoid as $hit! Drawing a gun on some random guy walking his dog and then just standing there like a dummy while your FBI guy has to scramble for a lame cover story? Just plain stupid. It is no surprise the bad guys were onto you. I couldn't help myself compare this one to Zero at the Bone, and you can bet that D wouldn't step one foot in broad daylight for any reason while he was watching his man.
However, for me, the real killer was the lack of chemistry between the two guys. I didn't get why they all of the sudden went for each other. I didn't see the spark. The awkward sex-scenes didn't help either. I could definitely tell that this is Brooke McKinley's first M/M book. I felt a strange lack of heat between the two guys... it was like anti-sexy. Also, for someone as deep in the closet as Miller, he sure went from 0-60 in no time! He went from denial to love so quickly... it just didn't ring true for me.
I don't know, I thought that this book would be an easy 4 or 5 stars for me... I'm really disappointed that it was a miss.
Merged review:
I can't believe I'm DNFing this one at 60%. This has been on my to-read list forever! I just didn't connect with the characters.
This book has a 4.41 rating with my Goodreads friends. That is a crazy high rating from a group of very discerning people (yes I'm talking about you, friends!). Perhaps take my review with a grain of salt then. I am one of the few that didn't love this book.
My issues with this one started pretty much right out the gate. For a guy who is used to working with some pretty shady people and has to watch his back, Danny is one careless mo-fo. Starting with letting the police manipulate him (come one, this can't be your first interrogation room! I wasn't even fooled by the stupid police ploys and I'm not a hardened criminal!). Leaving a safe-house to meet up with a friend on the street in the middle of the day?? Don't you think someone could be watching for that? The drug lords want you dead, man, you should be paranoid as $hit! Drawing a gun on some random guy walking his dog and then just standing there like a dummy while your FBI guy has to scramble for a lame cover story? Just plain stupid. It is no surprise the bad guys were onto you. I couldn't help myself compare this one to Zero at the Bone, and you can bet that D wouldn't step one foot in broad daylight for any reason while he was watching his man.
However, for me, the real killer was the lack of chemistry between the two guys. I didn't get why they all of the sudden went for each other. I didn't see the spark. The awkward sex-scenes didn't help either. I could definitely tell that this is Brooke McKinley's first M/M book. I felt a strange lack of heat between the two guys... it was like anti-sexy. Also, for someone as deep in the closet as Miller, he sure went from 0-60 in no time! He went from denial to love so quickly... it just didn't ring true for me.
I don't know, I thought that this book would be an easy 4 or 5 stars for me... I'm really disappointed that it was a miss....more
I was about 25% into this story when it dawned on me that I hatedThe Pairing.
I can't even tell you how much I was anticipating this story. I'm a HUGEI was about 25% into this story when it dawned on me that I hatedThe Pairing.
I can't even tell you how much I was anticipating this story. I'm a HUGE Casey McQuiston fan, and One Last Stop basically changed my life, so I assumed (foolishly, oh so foolishly) that I would love The Pairing. But I was incredibly, devastatingly wrong.
Look, I think there is going to be a group of readers who adore this and think that I'm so boring and millennial for not loving the food-porn-orgy that makes up this book, but I really, truly just did NOT like it. I didn't like it so much that I would be cooking dinner or brushing my teeth, and my mind would be like AND ANOTHER THING with all of the reasons that I didn't like this story. It took me ages to finish it, and I skimmed the last 20%, that's how badly I wanted it to just be over.
I'll admit that the second half was better than the first. Theo's part of the story was just insufferable. I hated how Casey McQuiston wrote their journey through Europe as just some bacchanalia of pansexual, carefree, good-looking young people who all wanted to bone. I've been to Europe many times, and I can tell you that travelling is not sweet-talking your way into a billionaire's yacht where everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) wants you. Why was every single person down to have sex after literally one second together, and why was everyone bisexual and younger than 35 and attractive?? There were no stories there, no meaningful secondary characters. Everyone was rich and charming and flawless and was down for everything. It felt vapid and pointless. I HATED it. Nothing was memorable. The food and wine descriptions felt well researched, but also just... pointless. It was hard to see how they were advancing the plot. I'm a total foodie, and I was bored by it all.
Also, I hated Theo's struggle with being a nepo baby. Readers will discover early on that Theo's family is wealthy and well-known. Not just their parents, but sisters as well. All exceedingly wealthy and accepting and generous. Which is GREAT. But it made Theo's "struggle" to get their business off the ground and establish themselves by play-acting as a poor person feel insufferable. Theo's sisters offered multiple times to gift them tens of thousands of dollars. And Theo keeps saying no... but the reality is that people struggling in real life would take money with no strings in a heartbeat. It really irritated me. Stop acting like you have no options when you have multiple loving and RICH family members to fall back on.
Finally, the romance...
I have a particular hatred for second-chance romances where all of the emotional development and intimacy happens off page and the readers are just expected to know how much the characters love each other and why. That's EXACTLY what we get here. They grew up together, they know each other, and then things fell apart. Now they are back together and the readers don't get enough time to figure out why. Yes, they are sexually compatible, but it seems like they are also sexually compatible with half of Europe. Plus, Theo and Kit just don't seem like a good match to me. I much preferred Kit, as a person, but they both act like teenagers with their sex bets and dares and lack of communication. They just both seem spoiled, and the romance did NOT sweep me off my feet. In fact, I don't even know if this book even is a true genre romance. It really didn't feel like it to me. It feels like a book that Gwyneth Paltrow would write if she was nonbinary and taking a food tour across Europe, documenting her "deep" feelings.
There was no humor. The side characters were less like developed people and more like boring sex pawns (that came to me while brushing my teeth this morning). The book lacked so much feeling that it left me feeling bereft.
Yes, I'm being dramatic, and yes, I loved that this book was SO QUEER, but it really failed me on all other fronts. I hope other readers connect with it more than me.
**spoiler alert** *Warning- some minor spoilers ahead*
The more I sat on my review for Planes, Trains, and Hurricanes, the angrier I got. This story is**spoiler alert** *Warning- some minor spoilers ahead*
The more I sat on my review for Planes, Trains, and Hurricanes, the angrier I got. This story is not only beneath what I would expect from Eli Easton, but it felt very old-school M/M, in all the worst ways.
Maybe if I read this book 15 years ago, I would have been okay with the blatant cheating on the evil girlfriend (gag me, that's so early 2000s), but I'm NOT okay with it anymore. No one was forcing Joe to be with his rich girlfriend, who wanted to play tennis or go to the country club or whatever (the horror!), and no one made him decide to cheat on her. I don't care if he was swept up in the instalove, but I just disliked him as a person. If my friend was dating Joe, I would have said *boy, bye*.
Remy was the sweet savior with the mildly sordid past, and it was all so done before that it was hard for me to finish. And it's only a novella!
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but REALLY? I expect more from Eli Easton than insta-love and cheating with misogynistic undertones.
Everyone else seems to love this book and I'm just... *groans*. I was SO excited to read How to Love Thine Enemy bUGH. I'm now officially pissed off.
Everyone else seems to love this book and I'm just... *groans*. I was SO excited to read How to Love Thine Enemy by Eli Easton that I bought the book at full price (I never do that). I have the happiest memories of this series, but this book just didn't do it for me, and the let down really made me even grumpier.
These guys are supposed to be in their 20s, yet this book read like they were in middle school. It was all !!!s and young, bright emotions, and I didn't get very much depth. We find out early on that the two MCs were childhood friends, and so when they meet again, it's a very insta-lovey vibe. We don't get the relationship development and pacing that I needed. It was sudden and juvenile-feeling, and just didn't work for me at all.
Sure, this story was sweet and Romeo/Juliet-esk, but it was WAY too insta-lovey and way too underdeveloped for my tastes. I hate to say it, but I think I'm over this series.
When I feel exhausted at the end of a story, it isn't a great sign.
I enjoyed Happy Place, but more despite itself. I debated quitting this story seveWhen I feel exhausted at the end of a story, it isn't a great sign.
I enjoyed Happy Place, but more despite itself. I debated quitting this story several times, but ultimately powered through. I think the writing is really good, actually, like the banter and phrasing is done with care, but the plotline is a hot mess of miscommunication that made me pray for an end more than once.
I feel like Emily Henry makes things more complicated than they need to be. Who knows, maybe I'm just not the target audience for this type of story, but the back and forth plotline and the characters circling around feelings and never actually saying anything of substance was so tiring. I also don't think this book is genre romance (FYI, romance readers) because the focus seems to be more on friendship and self-discover than anything else. If the romance is supposed to be front and center, the author really missed the mark.
Also, second chance romance books are not my jam. When there is a history between the main characters, we don't get to see their firsts and how they got that emotional intimacy in the first place, which often makes me feel cheated, as a reader. I think the author tried to give us that intimacy, but it didn't quite work.
I think the friend group was too intense and too messy for my tastes, and I think the plot felt too long, but even with those flaws, I think the story was kind of... special? I don't know how to describe it, but it felt like one of those messy relationships that you want no part of but you also can't get away from. I was interested in reading on but I didn't necessarily enjoy the journey.
Probably one of my least favorite Emily Henry books, but YMMV with this one.
Has 2023 already broken me? Am I broken? Or am I taking crazy pills? I could barely finish The Rest of the Story.
This is the second Tal Bauer hockey book in a row that I've hated, so I think it's safe to say that his hockey books aren't my jam. I guess I can see how other people loved this one but I was just fed up with the story.
I like my romances to be slow burn or lead with more than just instalove, and these two MCs were making schmoopy eyes at each other right from the start. It was like two teenagers in love. I wanted more grit, more humor, more realism. The whole story felt too far-fetched and just too MUCH. I was rolling my eyes at Mr. Perfect MC with using his own money to save the children! and be a hero right from the start. UGH. Also, the plot felt slow and the romance was just way too sugary sweet.
This book was NOT what I expected (though I probably should have expected it, given the author is known for his sweet stories), and I just feel... dissatisfied. Yes, I know, I need to hang up my reader hat now that I've declared Tal's hockey books to be on my naughty list. Can I start 2023 again??
I adore Tal Bauer but this book was mega cringe for me, so much so that I gave up around 45% in. That's baaaadddd.
Now, Tal does schmoopy romances, buI adore Tal Bauer but this book was mega cringe for me, so much so that I gave up around 45% in. That's baaaadddd.
Now, Tal does schmoopy romances, but this sappy, insta-lovey story just about made my eyes roll permanently into my head. It was just too much
However, my main pet peeve was the weird insertions of French into every sentence. I've read a ton of books with bilingual characters, and they don't constantly shove in other languages in every sentence. Trust me, we would have gotten that he was from Quebec without Tal's awkward, novice-level French making every conversation feel stilted and strange. I had a hard time getting through it.
I love Tal AND I adore hockey romances, but this book is not it.
My first Tal Bauer book that I didn't enjoy. Had to fast-forward through parts of the audio. My first Tal Bauer book that I didn't enjoy. Had to fast-forward through parts of the audio. ...more
I usually love Jenn Burke, and I was feeling optimistic, so I bought the first three books in the Chaos Station series without reading any of then. I I usually love Jenn Burke, and I was feeling optimistic, so I bought the first three books in the Chaos Station series without reading any of then. I regret that now.
Most of the time, I adore space opera kinds of stories. I've been getting super into alien and sci-fi romance, so I thought these would be a sure thing. I guess not.
Chaos Station took me forever to finish. Right off the bat, I struggled. I have issues with romances where the MCs already know each other and we don't get that initial relationship building, and that's what we got here. The MCs already have a ton of history, and we are just playing catch up to "feel" the emotions that the characters supposedly already feel for one another.
I'm going to be totally honest: I found the characters to be boring and I didn't like the three points of view (why??? there are only two people in the relationship??). Every character felt flat and there was no fun in the story. I even skimmed the sex scenes.
Hard for me to even rate this two stars but I am to be nice. I don't know what I'm going to do with the next two books that I already purchased (#kindlegraveyard).
I actually feel kind of grumpy about this book, partly because I spent hours listening to it and waiting for it to get better (it didn't), and[image]
I actually feel kind of grumpy about this book, partly because I spent hours listening to it and waiting for it to get better (it didn't), and partly because I usually really like Christina Lauren, even when it isn't one of their more popular stories. Unfortunately, The Soulmate Equation was very much a miss for me.
I am a total slave for enemies-to-lovers books, like I EAT them UP, but The Soulmate Equation felt like a fake enemies-to-lovers. The animosity felt completely fabricated and over the top. Besides that, the plot was extremely obvious, and I just kept waiting for the inevitable to happen like I knew it would. And it did.
The romance? Yawn. Another rich, oblivious guy from a loving family. The male MC was boring city. The female MC was only mildly better.
Overall, the story was just so... MEH. Not even the great narration could make up for it.
Every once in awhile, a romance book will enter into the universe's collective consciousness, and a mainstream audience will latch on and say [image]
Every once in awhile, a romance book will enter into the universe's collective consciousness, and a mainstream audience will latch on and say OMG, this is GOOD. Inevitably, the book becomes a trending topic, and I'll hear about the story in my random mommy groups online. I always think, FINALLY, people will recognize the beauty of romance, but instead it becomes all about that one particular book. People We Meet on Vacation has a mainstream-acceptable cover, and a low enough steam level to be palatable to a wide audience. It's a light read, and very nicely narrated in audio, but as a romance-specialist, I'm here to tell you that this book is nothing special.
Is it a decent read? Sure, if you don't mind constant time, disorienting time jumps, a frustrating lack of communication, and a best friends-to-lovers story that takes ages to materialize.
Look, Emily Henry can write a compelling story, and I enjoyed the little vignettes... at first. I ended up having to speed up the audio in order to just get through what felt like the millionth dull vacation where these two MCs stared at each other with longing, only to go on and destroy their lives for another year without dating. Exhausting.
If you want to recommend this book to your local book club, I say please do. But gently remind everyone that there is a huge world of amazing romance books out there, and this book barely scratches the surface.
I'm going to have to face facts and admit that Nicky James might not be for me. I DNFed another book in the Trials by Fear series, and I barely made it through this one. However, so many of my friends love this author that it's painful to just give up, but I might have to do it.
My personal opinion is that Cravings of the Heart was riddled with issues. It was BANANAS to me that people couldn't make the extremely simple connection between Arden's twin sister dying of botulism from FOOD and him being afraid of eating. It was incredibly dumb, and made absolutely no sense. No one in his family notices?? Not even Iggy, who knew how his sister died??? I would just assume he would be terrified to eat if I was in that family.
Fine, aside from that, I thought Arden was just overall pretty bratty and demanding. He acted like a child, and I had a hard time picturing him in an adult relationship. Iggy catered to him way too much, even when Arden was obnoxious, and then became smooshy and insta-lovey with him way too early. I didn't love their dynamics and I didn't buy their relationship.
While the narration was good, I still almost DNFed it because I was rolling my eyes so much. YES, I know this makes me stand out amongst all of my friends who loved this book and this series. I'm literally one of a handful of my friends who didn't adore this one. Maybe it was my mood, maybe it was the writing style, but this series is just not for me.
Maybe 3 stars? I read this a few days ago and I've already forgotten it. Maybe 3 stars? I read this a few days ago and I've already forgotten it. ...more
The Love Hypothesis is the kind of book that I think is better for newbie romance readers. For me, with thousands of romance books under my be[image]
The Love Hypothesis is the kind of book that I think is better for newbie romance readers. For me, with thousands of romance books under my belt, it became painful to read by the end.
I started out reading The Love Hypothesis feeling giddy and elated. I *adored* the geeky, surly professor and poor grad student dynamic, and the narration by Callie Dalton was bangin'. I was 100000% sure that I was going to love this book, and I started recommending it to everyone. But slowly, slowly, things starting creeping in.
I will be the first to admit that The Love Hypothesis is an impressive debut from Ali Hazelwood. I'm impossibly excited to read her future work, but I dearly hope she changes a few things about how she crafts romance books for her second novel.
This book is *excruciating* at times. The number of miscommunications and misunderstandings and deliberate withholding of information truly boggles the mind. With such a skilled narrator and such a great start to the book, you would think I would be riveted to the story, but by the end I had to speed up the narration a ton just to force myself to finish. I wanted to smack both characters in the head. Repeatedly.
It is a huge pet peeve of mine when authors rely on miscommunications for the whole tension and plot of a book, and by 50% of the way in, it became abundantly clear that this is what we were facing. I was pretty upset that what had seemed so promising took such a sideways turn.
Look, maybe you'll love this book and eat up every morsel, but I was actually angry by the end of this book. Your mileage may vary with this one.
I need to try this book again in ebook format. I could NOT focus on the audio (even with Teddy Hamilton!!), and I ended up DNFing at 70% without reallI need to try this book again in ebook format. I could NOT focus on the audio (even with Teddy Hamilton!!), and I ended up DNFing at 70% without really even remembering much detail from the book. I was just not in the right headspace for audiobooks ATM. *shrugs*...more
It's rare that I read that far into a book and leave it with no rating, but I didn't feel right about rating Against the Grain.DNF at 54%. No rating.
It's rare that I read that far into a book and leave it with no rating, but I didn't feel right about rating Against the Grain. Sometimes, Jay Hogan work for me, and sometimes they linger on my shelf for months, half read. This is one of those cases.
In theory, I should have loved Against the Grain. I recently ADORED Off Balance, which featured a chronically ill MC, and I've been fascinated with wheelchair rugby since I watched Murderball all those years ago (I actually re-watched prior to reading this book because I was so excited). But, alas, this book and I weren't meant to be.
When I have issues with a Jay Hogan book, it's always because they start to feel too long and too unfocused. Her books tend to be very long, over 350 pages, and I often wish the editing was tighter so 50 pages or so could have been trimmed off. Against the Grain felt like it meandered for a long time with no direction, and I found my mind wandering for so much in the middle of the book that I totally lost the motivation to pick it back up again.
Would I have been able to read through the whole thing in a non-Covid time? Maybe. That's why I hesitate to give this book a rating. It takes a snappy plot and a very well-written story to hold my attention right now, especially because alone-time is non-existent at the moment. Do I think many readers would enjoy this book, especially if they have read this whole series? For sure.
Not the book for me at this point in time, but I'm not discounting it for the future.
Though a lot of my friends loved this one, I had the hardest time with it. Sure, We Have Till Dawn wasn't a bad book, but I felt underwhelmed by the rThough a lot of my friends loved this one, I had the hardest time with it. Sure, We Have Till Dawn wasn't a bad book, but I felt underwhelmed by the romance.
I immediately wanted to pick up this Cara Dee story because of the promise of an autistic MC. I love MCs that are not cookie-cutter, and I was extremely excited to get that here. However, that wasn't enough to make me enjoy the story.
We Have Till Dawn is the type of story that sorely needs a duel POV. I felt like I didn't understand Gideon at all. Nicky I got more, even if he was a bit too much for my tastes and didn't respect Gideon's boundaries all of the time, but Gideon was a big mystery for me. The whole discovery of his sexuality in his 40s didn't quite make sense to me. Why did it take him so long to get there when he was clearly a hyper-sexual person? I had questions.
I also feel like Gideon's autism got a very superficial treatment. I wanted to get to know him more, as a whole person, but I didn't get that experience. I think it also affected their chemistry because, while they started off with fireworks, I felt like that waned over time.
Truly, I almost DNFed multiple times. It was difficult for me to finish the story, even though there were some highlights, like Nicky's family and the music details. I just wasn't into the romance, which is a shame.
This is an extremely difficult review for me to write, so much so that I don't even want to do it. I mean, did being in quarantine during *2.5 stars*
This is an extremely difficult review for me to write, so much so that I don't even want to do it. I mean, did being in quarantine during Covid break my brain? How could I not love the final book in the Green Creek series?? I feel like crying right now, and it's not from the emotional ending to Brothersong.
Brothersong has a sea of positive, raving reviews from my friends, and I got warnings about you'll be crying your eyes out!, but I finished the book feeling, well, like nothing much at all. I enjoyed it, but I have to say, I feel epically disappointed.
Here is my honest (spoiler-free) breakdown:
I found the first part of the book to be confusing. The story in the beginning feels like you are reading it from underwater. It's all blurry, and gloomy, and muddled and the writing is purposefully vague and dark. I had a very hard time with it. At first, it was interesting to me, a stylistic choice from T.J. Klune that I was excited to try out, but then it just got flat-out difficult to read. There was so much going on, so much just thrown at us with lots of questions that I didn't feel were answered, that I felt just lost.
There are too many time jumps. The book flashes back a lot in time, and while a few of those are okay, I kept having to reorient myself and remind myself of what was going on and where I was in time. All of those flashbacks felt like clutter.
There wasn't enough focus on the romance between Carter and Gavin. I wish they had their own book prior to this final story because I felt like the romance was squashed in between the wrap up for the series. I truly didn't feel the love between these two guys, and that saddened me. There wasn't a lot of page time with just Carter and Gavin together, and I didn't feel like the romance was nearly as strong as the other pairings in the book. Gavin needed more time to show his entire personality, IMO. I really didn't feel like I knew Gavin as much as I needed to. And Carter, Carter!. He had so much potential based on his personality in the other books, and I fell like it was barely shown here.
There is too much page-time with secondary characters. I feel like it was a everyone in the pot! situation. Even minor characters got their chance in the sun, and it made the book feel unfocused for me.
I wish there were more times where Carter and Gavin got to shine, just the two of them. The story is very long and very plot-heavy, but the middle dragged on and on for me. It is extremely unusual for me to take three days to read a T.J. Klune book, but here we are.
No, I don't only have negative things to say about this story. I could see T.J. Klune's passion in Brothersong and his deep love of these characters. I felt like he really tried to show EVERYTHING in this book: the love between brothers, the love between mates, the love between pack, and the love between family. Every character gets a lot of page-time, and I feel like TJ was trying to send them off in the best way possible.
I don't know, I must be broken. BROKEN. I didn't cry, I didn't feel overly emotional, I felt sort of... nothing. And isn't that sad? I love these characters and this series, so it makes me feel truly upset that this book didn't touch me. It might be my mood, it might be the length of the story, it might have been a combination of things, but, alas, that is life. It isn't a bad book, but it didn't make me feel like I was expecting to feel.
Green Creek, I will miss you and your fantastically gay werewolves, even if this story wasn't a 5-star read for me.T.J. Klune wrote a powerful, memorable, awesome, emotional series, and I'll remember it for always. packpackpack forever.
Heather K (dentist in my spare time)
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