[Review] Read Roundup - Feb 2024
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booknookI read quite a few things as part of a reading challenge in a discord server I'm in. Part of the challenge is reviewing what you read in order to prove you read it, so you can get those sweet fake internet points. And I figure I can share these with you! :D
These are pretty short reviews, since the purpose was just "hey I read this book!"
These are in reverse order of the time I read them, since I copied the reviews from discord in newest -> oldest order. The date beside the title is the date I finished/reviewed them.
Book Author: Lily Mayne
Book Genre: Monster Romance
Finished Page Count: 422
Review: An absolutely delightful lighthearted romp of a monster romance! All the characters were brimming with personality, and I *loved them all. * It was so much fun from start to finish, just really lovely.
In this book, Taylor (human) has an identity crisis when he realizes he's still working the shitty job his ex convinced him to get four years after being dumped by said ex, and accidentally leaves his keys in the office during an office party at which he spitefully actually ate the cake. But oops! There's something happening in the building's basement! Could it be a mobster—no, it's monster wrestling! Wohoo!
A case of mistaken identity leads Taylor and Holt (monster) to spending an evening getting ridiculously drunk together and spilling all their secrets to each other, and then they just keep hanging out because the monster that erases memories is on a cruise, lol.
I really enjoyed this book! Excited for the sequel!
Book Author: Cat Sebastian
Book Genre: Historical Romance
Finished Page Count: 102
Review: This was absolutely lovely. It was really cozy, and I loved all the characters. So much emotion and depth packed into a pretty short read; I am in Awe™️. Super loved it!
It's a second chance m/m romance: Everett returns to America after years in England, and runs right into the man he's been avoiding all this time, Tommy Cabot. Tommy is freshly divorced, cut-off from his family after coming out as gay to them, and his life is kind of in total shambles.
This was just a really nice read, with a really sweet relationship and cool characters.
Book Author: Tanya Huff
Book Genre: Urban Fantasy
Finished Page Count: 328
Review: In Blood Price, cop turned private investigator Vicki Nelson is forced to reckon with the fact that vampires are real after she witnesses a strange murder where the victim was drained of blood. But with the cops refusing to consider that possibly, Vicki is hired by the victim's lover, Coreen, to solve the murder. And on a stakeout, she runs into Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry VIII, now a vampire. Together, they must solve the murder(s) before the city descends into chaos and starts hunting vampires on the weekends.
I enjoyed this one! I've watched a few episodes of the TV series that is based on this book series (Blood Ties) and so was a little worried I'd spend the entire book comparing them, but this felt sufficiently different that there wasn't an issue. I enjoyed all the characters, and the worldbuilding felt interesting, and the solving of the mystery was fun. My favorite character so far is Tony, even though he appeared very little
Overall, I really enjoyed it and look forwards to the sequels!
Book Author: Pelaam
Book Genre: Sci-Fi/Alien Romance
Finished Page Count: 108
Review: This is an m/m/m alien romance. Nakai (alien) rescues Einian (human) and Sukh (another kind of alien) from a pirate ship and then spend some indeterminable amount of time courting them.
Honestly, I didn't vibe with this. The characters fall flat to me, the worldbuilding wasn't particularly interesting, and all the relationship development seemed to happen off-screen. It wasn't very interesting to me, and my suspension of disbelief fell apart pretty quickly.
Yeah, this just didn't work for me.
Book Author: Eden Finley, Saxon James
Book Genre: Sports Romance
Finished Page Count: 284
Review: This is book 3 of an m/m hockey romance series, and I still adore it. I just vibe a lot with the writing style—I find the progression of the romantic relationships to be very smooth and the characterizations to be very fun. I love all the characters I've met so far!
In this one, Lane (pr manager) and Oskar (hockey player) hook up after Oskar has had one too many scandals and needs to be properly supervised so it doesn't happen again, a duty Lane goes all in on. It's fun, and I think they're cute together, and I enjoyed the story from start to finish. (My only real gripe is that Dex from book 2 of the series shows up and the authors manage to get in even more digs about how dumb and stupid he is and it still feels entirely unnecessary and mean-spirited to me.)
Book Author: Lily Mayne
Book Genre: Monster Romance
Finished Page Count: 269
Review: Soul Eater is a m/m monster romance in a post-apocalyptic setting. It stars Danny, human, and Wyn, monster. I still adore this book. This was a reread—it's been a few years since I've read it so I'd forgotten basically everything, lol, but the book made me feel all gushy inside <3
I love the progression of Danny and Wyn's relationship, and I adore the post-apocalyptic imagery, all the abandoned places and so on. I think it's really well-done. I love Edin (monster, friends with Wyn) too; he's so kind, and just, I love him. I have so many feelings about this book/series and they're all good ones <3
Book Author: David Weber
Book Genre: Sci-Fi (Sci-Fi Fantasy?)
Finished Page Count: 545
Review: Alien invasions means battles ahoy. Shongair (not sure if I spelled that right, lol) attack Earth, and what follows is a lot of battle scenes as various people fight back, mostly with guns. So many guns. All the guns. ...It kind of got a bit annoying after awhile.
This was a reread and I'm not quite as in love with it this time around. Some characters just annoyed me somewhat (mainly the Dvorak family) and some of the dialogues were very... not my style, I suppose. I still really like Mircea (Count Dracula, lol), though, and Stephen! Best part of the book, in my opinion (and naturally as this was a reread I was well aware of the vampires saving the day.
But despite my increasingly lukewarm attitude toward it, I finished the book!
Book Author: E.M. Lindsey
Finished Page Count: 340
Review: Julian's ex-husband is marrying his cousin, so he hires an escort to join him at the wedding and pretend to be his boyfriend. Problem? It's a wrong number and it's not a professional escort that shows up but Archer, astrophysicist extraordinaire and brother of a Governor. Oops.
All-in-all, this was absolutely lovely <3 I adored all the characters and found the writing style to be very pleasant. The romance was sweet and the angst when the truth that Archer was not in fact the escort came out was very nice. A good combination of angst to renew my soul with lots of sweet fluff and some steamy action. Adored the ending, too! ❤️ (Also loved all the references to the stars and space, as I too love space.)
These are pretty short reviews, since the purpose was just "hey I read this book!"
These are in reverse order of the time I read them, since I copied the reviews from discord in newest -> oldest order. The date beside the title is the date I finished/reviewed them.
Impromptu Match (Feb 26)
Book Author: Lily Mayne
Book Genre: Monster Romance
Finished Page Count: 422
Review: An absolutely delightful lighthearted romp of a monster romance! All the characters were brimming with personality, and I *loved them all. * It was so much fun from start to finish, just really lovely.
In this book, Taylor (human) has an identity crisis when he realizes he's still working the shitty job his ex convinced him to get four years after being dumped by said ex, and accidentally leaves his keys in the office during an office party at which he spitefully actually ate the cake. But oops! There's something happening in the building's basement! Could it be a mobster—no, it's monster wrestling! Wohoo!
A case of mistaken identity leads Taylor and Holt (monster) to spending an evening getting ridiculously drunk together and spilling all their secrets to each other, and then they just keep hanging out because the monster that erases memories is on a cruise, lol.
I really enjoyed this book! Excited for the sequel!
Tommy Cabot Was Here (Feb 24)
Book Author: Cat Sebastian
Book Genre: Historical Romance
Finished Page Count: 102
Review: This was absolutely lovely. It was really cozy, and I loved all the characters. So much emotion and depth packed into a pretty short read; I am in Awe™️. Super loved it!
It's a second chance m/m romance: Everett returns to America after years in England, and runs right into the man he's been avoiding all this time, Tommy Cabot. Tommy is freshly divorced, cut-off from his family after coming out as gay to them, and his life is kind of in total shambles.
This was just a really nice read, with a really sweet relationship and cool characters.
Blood Price (Feb 19)
Book Author: Tanya Huff
Book Genre: Urban Fantasy
Finished Page Count: 328
Review: In Blood Price, cop turned private investigator Vicki Nelson is forced to reckon with the fact that vampires are real after she witnesses a strange murder where the victim was drained of blood. But with the cops refusing to consider that possibly, Vicki is hired by the victim's lover, Coreen, to solve the murder. And on a stakeout, she runs into Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry VIII, now a vampire. Together, they must solve the murder(s) before the city descends into chaos and starts hunting vampires on the weekends.
I enjoyed this one! I've watched a few episodes of the TV series that is based on this book series (Blood Ties) and so was a little worried I'd spend the entire book comparing them, but this felt sufficiently different that there wasn't an issue. I enjoyed all the characters, and the worldbuilding felt interesting, and the solving of the mystery was fun. My favorite character so far is Tony, even though he appeared very little
Overall, I really enjoyed it and look forwards to the sequels!
Captive (Feb 19)
Book Author: Pelaam
Book Genre: Sci-Fi/Alien Romance
Finished Page Count: 108
Review: This is an m/m/m alien romance. Nakai (alien) rescues Einian (human) and Sukh (another kind of alien) from a pirate ship and then spend some indeterminable amount of time courting them.
Honestly, I didn't vibe with this. The characters fall flat to me, the worldbuilding wasn't particularly interesting, and all the relationship development seemed to happen off-screen. It wasn't very interesting to me, and my suspension of disbelief fell apart pretty quickly.
Yeah, this just didn't work for me.
Shameless Puckboy (Feb 18)
Book Author: Eden Finley, Saxon James
Book Genre: Sports Romance
Finished Page Count: 284
Review: This is book 3 of an m/m hockey romance series, and I still adore it. I just vibe a lot with the writing style—I find the progression of the romantic relationships to be very smooth and the characterizations to be very fun. I love all the characters I've met so far!
In this one, Lane (pr manager) and Oskar (hockey player) hook up after Oskar has had one too many scandals and needs to be properly supervised so it doesn't happen again, a duty Lane goes all in on. It's fun, and I think they're cute together, and I enjoyed the story from start to finish. (My only real gripe is that Dex from book 2 of the series shows up and the authors manage to get in even more digs about how dumb and stupid he is and it still feels entirely unnecessary and mean-spirited to me.)
Soul Eater (Feb 16)
Book Author: Lily Mayne
Book Genre: Monster Romance
Finished Page Count: 269
Review: Soul Eater is a m/m monster romance in a post-apocalyptic setting. It stars Danny, human, and Wyn, monster. I still adore this book. This was a reread—it's been a few years since I've read it so I'd forgotten basically everything, lol, but the book made me feel all gushy inside <3
I love the progression of Danny and Wyn's relationship, and I adore the post-apocalyptic imagery, all the abandoned places and so on. I think it's really well-done. I love Edin (monster, friends with Wyn) too; he's so kind, and just, I love him. I have so many feelings about this book/series and they're all good ones <3
Out of the Dark (Feb 12)
Book Author: David Weber
Book Genre: Sci-Fi (Sci-Fi Fantasy?)
Finished Page Count: 545
Review: Alien invasions means battles ahoy. Shongair (not sure if I spelled that right, lol) attack Earth, and what follows is a lot of battle scenes as various people fight back, mostly with guns. So many guns. All the guns. ...It kind of got a bit annoying after awhile.
This was a reread and I'm not quite as in love with it this time around. Some characters just annoyed me somewhat (mainly the Dvorak family) and some of the dialogues were very... not my style, I suppose. I still really like Mircea (Count Dracula, lol), though, and Stephen! Best part of the book, in my opinion (and naturally as this was a reread I was well aware of the vampires saving the day.
But despite my increasingly lukewarm attitude toward it, I finished the book!
The Edge of Heaven (Feb 5)
Book Author: E.M. Lindsey
Finished Page Count: 340
Review: Julian's ex-husband is marrying his cousin, so he hires an escort to join him at the wedding and pretend to be his boyfriend. Problem? It's a wrong number and it's not a professional escort that shows up but Archer, astrophysicist extraordinaire and brother of a Governor. Oops.
All-in-all, this was absolutely lovely <3 I adored all the characters and found the writing style to be very pleasant. The romance was sweet and the angst when the truth that Archer was not in fact the escort came out was very nice. A good combination of angst to renew my soul with lots of sweet fluff and some steamy action. Adored the ending, too! ❤️ (Also loved all the references to the stars and space, as I too love space.)
no subject
Date: 2024-04-10 06:51 pm (UTC)Love Cat Sebastian too. A good novella is a wonderful thing.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-11 04:53 pm (UTC)a good novella most definitely is a wonderful thing <3
no subject
Date: 2024-04-10 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-11 04:50 pm (UTC)