Robin York - Deeper

In this New Adult debut by Robin York, a college student is attacked online and must restore her name--and stay clear of a guy who's wrong for her, but feels so right.
When Caroline Piasecki's ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the Internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn't look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear, hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defense and punches her ex to the ground.
West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he's shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger--even after promising her dad she'll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works.
They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they're "just friends," their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself--and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her.
When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper. 

Comment: Why do I keep trusting that a YA/NA story would appeal to me I can't explain. I saw a good opinion about this story back in 2015 and I added this to my TBR but honestly, this desire I have to be engrossed in a great story when the protagonists are so young should be a lesson learned already. I always hope I'll be proven wrong and as it happened recently, some books do prove it.

This, however, was not the case for me.

In this story we meet Caroline and West, two different people but who attend the same college. The story begins with Caroline discovering an ex (she believes) has posted sexual pictures of her in the internet. She is embarrassed, terrified by the outcome and angry something like this happened. She tries to deal with it on her own but of course there are things can't do.

West is one of those "bad boys"  that often populate these sort of novels and he ends up being a support for Caroline although he also has a lot of issues to work out and deal with. The two form a team at a time things are very complicated, emotionally, but together they can achieve anything (or not).

Warning: 

I'll include some mild spoilers.

When I read this story would address the subject of online shaming and privacy being exposed, I thought it would a very contemporary theme in the NA genre which made me interested in seeing how the author would portray this terrible situation and how victims can't usually easily defend themselves.

I was even more curious because the author is Robin York, a pseudonym for Ruthie Knox, whose contemporary adult work I've read before and enjoyed immensely. 

This book, I can imagine by looking at some comments and grades on goodreads, can be quite amazing and resonates with some but for me, it was simply a waste of a good premise.

So we have a potentially interesting story about a girl who has never done wrong but who is the victim of a crime and I thought, surely the plot will focus on this, even more so as a sort of awareness tool for readers so that they can try to protect their privacy online as well. I have to say that although this is mentioned, the focus of the story is certainly NOT this subject.

It's understandable that the usual NA books marketing, especially if romance stories, would focus on that. But sincerely, I couldn't just accept it easily. Or maybe I'm totally different from everyone else. Or maybe I wanted a story that others just took for granted somehow and that is why the plot felt silly at times and without focus most of it.

So the poor girl has her life turned upside down, she has her trust, her confidence attacked, her good name and privacy squashed and what matters to her is the attention and the support of a bad boy who often doesn't care about her? Come on!

The message of this book should be that women/girls should not give up their rights and should protected themselves and fight for what is right but I felt this was all lost among the constantly annoying talk about what it could be like to have sex with West and why both lust after one another. Arggh! 

So annoying, what's the point of that! Yes, she should be able to have sex with whomever and no one has any business about that but she was the victim of a crime! How can she even think about being with another person so soon after such a terrible situation caused precisely because she has as any right to have sex as everyone else. I truly think the emotional and psychological aspects were not addressed correctly, even assuming Caroline is strong enough to put it aside when necessary.
Belief the next YA/NA could be gold: the trust on the partial thoughts of readers who, as always, have different perspectives of looking at things.

Other people didn't see it this way, I know. 

This is a first person narrator and that is beyond annoying. Should I be aware of or know where is the "rules book" about New Adult plots/stories being only labeled so if the narrator is 1st person? The narrator alternates between West and Caroline but this doesn't help at all. What they think, what they focus on... what does it matter they match sexually? Don't these people have more serious issues to deal with?

And I won't even start about their academic aspirations, much less West's past and experiences which are absolutely pointless in this story (but certainly didn't impress me at all), even if real life is filled with Wests trying to make a living after bad pasts/origins.

I thought something would be different about this story considering who the author is. 

This just isn't totally negative because there are references about self worth here and there and some situations were well portrayed, I think. But this could have been so much better!

There's a continuation but no way I'm wasting time reading it, with so much to read already...

Grade: 3/10

Alexis Hall - How to Bang a Billionaire

If England had yearbooks, I'd probably be "Arden St. Ives: Man Least Likely to Set the World on Fire." So far, I haven't. I've no idea what I'm doing at Oxford, no idea what I'm going to do next and, until a week ago, I had no idea who Caspian Hart was. Turns out, he's brilliant, beautiful . . . oh yeah, and a billionaire.
It's impossible not to be captivated by someone like that. But Caspian Hart makes his own rules. And he has a lot of them. About when I can be with him. What I can do with him. And when he'll be through with me.
I'm good at doing what I'm told in the bedroom. The rest of the time, not so much. And now that Caspian's shown me glimpses of the man behind the billionaire I know it's him I want. Not his wealth, not his status. Him. Except that might be the one thing he doesn't have the power to give me.

Comment: In 2016 I've read my first book by this author. I liked it a lot and have all intentions of keeping on reading his work but as any reader will know, TBR lists don't go and get read by themselves... anyway, recently I got this title, in a different series/world than the one of the other book I've read and I was very curious because I wanted to see if the other book was not just a fluke, but the proof this author was one I'd love to be a fan of. However, I'm now debating some things after having read this one.

This story focuses on Arden St Ives and how he, a student at Oxford, is introduced while working the phones in a volunteer event to call people who used to study there in order for them to do a beneficial donation to the university or something like it.

In one of his phone calls - after many "no" and several hang ups - he starts to have a more personal conversation instead of the usual polite words volunteers are expected to exchange with a potential patron. 

After an awkward meeting in person soon after the phone call, Arden realizes the man he was so sincere with happens to be Caspian Hart, an important billionaire. While things seem to heat up between them the more they spend time together, will their differences end up being too much for them to hold on to one another?

Reading the blurb of the book, I expected something in the lines of a "different class" relationship, a type of trope I tend to enjoy in romances. Also, Arden seemed to describe himself as someone not good enough in life and I started to imagine interesting scenarios where that would change with the help of true love. Yes, I'm still a hopeless romantic!

However, I should have guessed things might not be that amazing for me when I realized the story would be only told from Arden's POV and that, apparently, this book is thought to be a version of another famous book out there...

After looking at some reviews on goodreads some details became rather obvious that this was very similar to Fifty Shades of Grey (FSoG), a book I have not read but that is not that hard to have an idea of, considering the fame it got and the fanfic/adaptations/debates around it. I think one doesn't have to read it to be aware of the plot (or lack thereof) or some main ideas.

What I don't know is if this story by Alexis Hall was meant to be a gay version, thus showing of the possibilities if well written by a talented author or if this was parody, in which case I didn't find it so, or if there was a real intent in writing a fictional story about these characters, but if so I didn't like it.

Even putting aside that, the plot actually didn't seem to be that interesting. When they first met, it was nice to see the differences between them but as the time went by, and having only one of their POVs, things got very repetitive, very boring pretty quick. I struggled to find interest in Arden's problems in being focused or in deciding if accepting Caspian's help was the sign of him being an easy lay or taking the chances while he could enjoy being with Caspian. Towards the end, something happens to build up the angst and climax but to be honest, I skimmed some pages (and all the sex) which made me feel a little bad but the story just didn't feel engrossing for me.

The characters weren't someone I liked spending time with. Their actions often felt silly and I can only imagine if that was on purpose for it to be more alike FSoG.

Arden is the narrator but it's difficult to keep up with him. He has a cute side, that's true, but more often I found him to bee too distracting from everything else and his "voice" was often everywhere, I struggled to be able to care about him and about his lack of confidence in some aspects of his life. What I thought would endear him to me wasn't the focus and I started to lose interest.

As for Caspian, who knows, there's an obvious lack of voice in him, and not only because he isn't the narrator nor do we have access to his thoughts. He's too silent, too distant, too mysterious. I can't understand why Arden likes him. So, basically: too much Arden to the point of him being distracting and not enough Caspian.

I felt like this was wasted talent on Alexis Hall side. He is talented, brilliant and that can be seen in the other book I've read but this time, it was a no for me. If I can find positives here, it has to be his ability to write. Sadly, the story felt boring overall and at the end there are things I can't even understand why were included. The end had some interesting details but it was not enough to save this for me. I was eager to finish and I won't read the follow up and don't feel I'll miss much. 

I think I'll go back to other titles by the author to try to find something I'll like again.

So far, my ideas regarding the DNF concept have been solid. I finish all books I read but I'm seriously reconsidering this. I think from next year on, I'll revise this because some books are really a chore, they aren't fun to spend time with and the TBR list is never ending in my case. It's not an easy decision even if for many it is. But books where the story and characters and the "feel" aren't there, it can be quite depressing to just go page after page to be able to say "I finished". This book would have definitely be one of those so I can't say I feel validated to have done so.

Grade: 3/10

TA Pratt - Blood Engines

Meet Marla Mason-smart, saucy, slightly wicked witch of the East Coast....
Sorcerer Marla Mason, small-time guardian of the city of Felport, has a big problem. A rival is preparing a powerful spell that could end Marla's life-and, even worse, wreck her city. Marla's only chance of survival is to boost her powers with the Cornerstone, a magical artifact hidden somewhere in San Francisco. But when she arrives there, Marla finds that the quest isn't going to be quite as cut-and-dried as she expected...and that some of the people she needs to talk to are dead. It seems that San Francisco's top sorcerers are having troubles of their own-a mysterious assailant has the city's magical community in a panic, and the local talent is being (gruesomely) picked off one by one.
With her partner-in-crime, Rondeau, Marla is soon racing against time through San Francisco's alien streets, dodging poisonous frogs, murderous hummingbirds, cannibals, and a nasty vibe from the local witchery, who suspect that Marla herself may be behind the recent murders. And if Marla doesn't figure out who is killing the city's finest in time, she'll be in danger of becoming a magical statistic herself...

Comment: This book is one of the several ebooks I had had in the pile the longest. Well before I even got an e-reader, when I read .pdf files in my computer, I got several ebooks in the genres I liked the most at the time, PNR and UF. But some were a bit forgotten, then I'd get to other things first and time passed by. I'm trying to read them though, just to not have wasted the effort it took to get them. However, perhaps because they no longer strike my fancy or perhaps because I wouldn't enjoy them no matter the time I were to pick to read them, some have been quite a let down.

In this book by author TA Pratt - this being my first attempt on reading something by him - we have Marla Mason as a protagonist. Marla is a witch and she is on a mission to find a way to defeat a rival before she casts a spell to overtake the city Marla is the sort of manager of. In order to achieve her goal, Marla travels with her companion Randeau to find a cornerstone, a magical artifact that will allow her to battle her enemy. The problem is that the stone is hidden and those who could help her find it end up dead within hours of meeting Marla. Will she be able to solve her problems before she looses "her" city for good?

This is an UF story with many of the elements one can find in the genre. It was interesting to recognize several of the expected details like the powerful main character, a funny sidekick, a quest that isn't easily solved but of course the heroine/protagonist gets there quicker than most, some red herrings along the way, some disappointments before the end where gloriously things are solved. This story isn't heavy on romantic elements which I sort of missed but perhaps it's explained for being a first book in a series or because the author is a man, I can't say.

However, despite the winning elements that usually sustain a plot like the one here, the specifications and original details weren't something that won me over and to be honest I was quite eager to just have the book finished.

I think my biggest issue was with the characters themselves. And if one can't enjoy spending time reading about the characters then it's difficult to have a better liking to what's on the page. 

This doesn't mean the writing wasn't intriguing but the personality of the characters and the world building weren't appealing enough for me to, for instance, want to keep reading about Marla.

Marla is the main character, she is clever and witty, powerful and kick-ass but I didn't like her. I think the little clues about her personality, about her past and her motivations didn't endear her to me at all. I felt her character was mostly dubious regarding morals and the concepts of right and wrong and I couldn't feel I had a grip on her true feelings. It was all about her task, her need to win over something even if for that she had to go over some people. Although this wasn't the case of a sanguine attitude all the time, several information about her past choices, her way of acting just made me think she was not likable and I didn't really want to invest in understanding her, even if she becomes "better" in following books.

For me, one of the best things about any book is the dichotomy between the plot and the character's decisions throughout. So, in this book we have a plot with many harsh situations, with a little too raw scenes and sometimes secondary characters (mainly the enemies) and not always common or stable occurrences that could show us the character's quieter sides. Unlike other UF series, where we can also have complex plots but in between more domestic os sweet descriptions of the character's lives/dreams/ideals or things alike these lines, in here we didn't. Why should I care about Marla? Why should I accept what she's doing is the best course of action? I just didn't care enough to be bothered and because several scenes were unappealing, I just wanted to get over with it.

After Marla's adventures combined with some scenes that include a lot of different things, I can grant the story that (like the cannibal character), and also after the introduction of too many details to fully remember, the book is ending and what we have been sort of promised from the start - Marla finding the stone to defeat another witch - actually ends in a very unexpected way but by no means, an amazing one. In reality, it's very anti climatic and I thought to myself why I bothered.

I'm debating more and more my personal rule of finishing all books I read. It seems (usually) older readers are right: with time and age one has less patience for unappealing things.

I did finish this book but since I didn't enjoy the way the characters were portrayed nor how they behaved in general, I won't continue this series.

But it's a cute cover and some little details were original.

Grade: 3/10

TBR Challenge: Katy Evans - Manwhore

This is the story I've been waiting for all my life, and its name is Malcolm Kyle Preston Logan Saint. Don’t be fooled by that last name though. There’s nothing holy about the man except the hell his parties raise. The hottest entrepreneur Chicago has ever known, he’s a man’s man with too much money to spend and too many women vying for his attention.
Mysterious. Privileged. Legendary. His entire life he’s been surrounded by the press as they dig for tidbits to see if his fairytale life is for real or all mirrors and social media lies. Since he hit the scene, his secrets have been his and his alone to keep. And that’s where I come in.
Assigned to investigate Saint and reveal his elusive personality, I’m determined to make him the story that will change my career.
But I never imagined he would change my life. Bit by bit, I start to wonder if I'm the one discovering him...or if he's uncovering me.

Comment: Time does fly! 

It's time for another TBR Challenge read and this month the theme is Contemporary, which is vague enough - or broad enough - to be one of the easiest themes where one can pick a book. Since I like to follow my monthly lists, I chose a book from my list and that's why I ended up with Katy Evans' story. However, I was definitely not impressed. My own fault, though.

This is the first book I've read by this author.

In this story we meet Rachel, a young woman who works for the magazine Edge, but due to several factors, the magazine is not doing well, so basically Rachel is given an assignment to be able to write such a piece that everyone would want to buy it and the best theme to grab public's attention is Malcolm Saint, this alpha rich guy who everyone is interested in but that still manages to keep his privacy despite his man whore ways and behavior.

Rachel sees Malcolm as a job but since the first encounter when Rachel seems to captivate Malcolm despite not being in her best (her POV), there is a strange connection between them. As they get to know one another better, the relationships also gets more profound. But Rachel still sees Malcolm as a job, right? What will happen when he finds out the truth?

 

I got this book because of its premise: a girl in not so great financial means in life has a way to be in contact with a richer, more influential guy and despite the odds, they might discover enough common things to be together. I tend to  like this trope and I always love when authors create interesting ways to make it happen while keeping it realistic.

I obviously hoped for that here but while reading, I couldn't help to notice that there was at least one detail or one element in each chapter that I'd change or prefer to see different.

Since I won't bore you to death with such an in depth analyses, I'll just leave a list of stuff I found made the story less appealing to me:

- The characters' personality would be described in certain ways which would lead me to assume they would stay that way or a big event would cause them to change but not always. 

The heroine wasn't shy but she wasn't an extrovert either. She loved her job. She wanted to care of her mother who sacrificed a lot for her. She wanted to be useful. She wanted to be successful enough to help her mother too. She went to her first interview with the hero in overalls and with paint in her clothes. 

All these things made e think she was a down to earth woman, that she was smart but caring, that she was aware of who she was, both professionally and emotionally.

However, her behavior towards the hero was always a lie in her eyes for she was using him. Of course she would fall in love but considering the dialogues they had, I can't understand why they would ever be in sync over anything (hint: their dialogues weren't clever/witty/existent at times).

- Despite the similarities to Fifty Shades of Grey - which I haven't read, but reviews on GR and the video of "love me like you do", the song by Ellie Goulding, have generously given me enough to base my opinion on - Rachel isn't also only a sweet young woman in coveralls and Malcolm isn't simply a tortured alpha but they both embark on a relationship constantly spent in situations I don't think actually added a lot, since most time they are in places owned/managed by Malcolm so for poor, almost dazzled Rachel that shouldn't be easy to process or they are in clubs, where Rachel would have negative thoughts about other women having different takes in life.

I just can't see why putting interacting in these situations was credible and interesting or why would this lead them to become a couple or understand each other.

- Rachel is the narrator so of course that limits things a lot, but Malcolm doesn't share much most of the time. Rachel is also a reporter but despite taking countless notes, I can't imagine a journalist with only one assignment - which, from a reality POV, how silly can it be, unless you are a paparazzi bent on exploiting someone but then people would notice your behavior - to devote so much of her time in doing...well, nothing. In the first 3 interviews Rachel has with Malcolm, before they start spending more time together, she barely speaks in the time he gives her, so dumbstruck by his appearance she is. I don't think fans of professional-porn would endure this one.

Ok, I could go on, but to summarize, I found there wasn't enough consistency in the main character's behavior and attitudes. I didn't find them as engaging as I'd expect and I also can't seem to foresee any huge improvements overall.

Although this is an easy story to read, I found that the complexity I expected wasn't there and the writing itself was rather childish at times. Just an impression obviously colored by my fixing on the negative aspects, but there you go.

So, thinking of this, I was ready to call it quits with this world because it wasn't very interesting for me but I was proven right even more when I got to the end of the story.

There is no HEA.

Actually, there is no end to this story. In the last page, while Rachel is about to enter Malcolm's office for a certain issue, I'm told the story continues in the next book. I was not aware this would be one of those books divided into three. But even so, this one should still have an end. A conclusion of sorts. I imagine, "what if the author wasn't able to finish the series/all parts?" This would mean the story would never be finished! I felt very annoyed.

One less star/grade for that alone.

All things considered, I don't know if I'm just past my endurance of new adult stories which read more like YAs anyway, or if this story would never be a good one for me but...yes, not a good choice. But again, based on the premise, based on the average on GR, based on some friends' reviews, I assumed this would be better. How sad when a premise falls totally flat for you.

Still, taste is relative...

Grade: 3/10

Caitlin Kittredge - Street Magic

Her name is Pete Caldecott. She was just sixteen when she met Jack Winter, a gorgeous, larger-than-life mage who thrilled her with his witchcraft. Then a spirit Jack summoned killed him before Pete's eyes—or so she thought. Now a detective, Pete is investigating the case of a young girl kidnapped from the streets of London. A tipster's chilling prediction has led police directly to the child…but when Pete meets the informant, she's shocked to learn he is none other than Jack. Strung out on heroin, Jack a shadow of his former self. But he's able to tell Pete exactly where Bridget's kidnappers are hiding: in the supernatural shadow-world of the fey. Even though she's spent years disavowing the supernatural, Pete follows Jack into the invisible fey underworld, where she hopes to discover the truth about what happened to Bridget—and what happened to Jack on that dark day so long ago…

Comment: This title is one of the longest standing ebooks I've had in my ebook pile. I got it, along many others (I won't confess how many), years ago, most of them the first installments of PNR and UF series. I had this strategy that if I could accumulate as many as I could, even if one day I couldn't buy anymore, I would still have plenty to occupy me. Besides, I reasoned with myself, only getting the first book was a good compromise, if I didn't like it, I wouldn't need to get the rest of the series.

Before getting into my real comment about this book (which I didn't enjoy much), I must say some things about the PNR genre and my interest in it.

I "discovered" the genre back in 2009, my starting point was the BDB and I've read a lot since that, always trying to find a new series to be captivated by. I know I wouldn't find the same tropes and ideas as well portrayed in every new series or with any author but I hoped. 

But things, as taste and preferences, change and I think I've changed a bit in how I see things so some PNR stories no longer seem as fascinating... I can't decide if this is only me and my own perspective or if the books have gone to a path or a style that I just don't enjoy as much. 

However, when it comes to books written or published in past years, is it my current taste that has changed that much and stops me from appreciating them now? Or are some books simply not as good? Interesting things that make me think...

So, back to the book, this is a stroy about magic and magic users and beings. A detective, who has seen her share of magic, now finds out an anonymous person who gave an information about a case she is working on happens to be the man she really liked years ago and who she had seen die.

Pete Caldecott is practical and realistic but meeting Jack Winter again makes her existence change completely. Will she be able to stay focused on her work while getting herself even more into London's magical world?

What I just wrote is pretty much what I got from this book. I found the story very confusing, there were situations not always clear to me and some characters that didn't made much sense or that didn't seem to be very necessary. 

I just couldn't find the energy to be interested or engaged enough to want to read. I've paused the reading many times and probably must confess I wasn't as focused as the book deserved but it just felt so boring.

The story was sort of disjointed, meaning, there was a police investigation and that was, I suppose, the focus of everything but there were too many distractions, or the characters would care about investigating, or they would think about the magic, or their past and I struggled to follow any connections that would make everything linked well enough.

I also found some scenes not to be obviously important and if I couldn't understand why they mattered, I felt this resulted in my biggest difficulty to engage with the story. I just felt I didn't have reasons to care about the plot or the characters.

Some readers have mentioned the lack of knowledge the author has about english speaking in England vs the one spoken in the USA (her home country). To be honest I wasn't that concerned about this but I can see why some people might find it distracting.

As for the characters...apparently Pete and Jack were great friends when she was a teenager and he already past 21. The first scene is of when Jack dies (there's magic and demons involved if I remember well) and there's this notion Pete looked up to him and he liked her company. I found this to be slightly disturbing considering she was a minor and he was her older sister's ex or something.

Although in this book they don't become a couple, it seems that is the path the future books will take but I won't read more and find out.

There were also other situations about them, personally, I wasn't a fan of, but the overall feel of the story, being unattractive to me, has colored things I didn't really care about the details I'd find even more annoying had I been able to focus.

Now I wonder if I had read this when I was still loving the vibe of anything PNR, would I have liked it more? The what ifs of life.

I can say this story wasn't something I liked much, the magic content wasn't intriguing enough to make me want to spend time in this "world". 

A positive aspect I can think of though, the chapters were short.

Grade: 3/10

Lavinia Lewis - Luke's Surprise

When werewolf Luke Morgan runs a simple errand with his brother Kelan, the last thing he expects to find at their neighbour’s ranch is his soul mate. The incredibly sexy ranch foreman Mark Malone is every gay man’s fantasy. The only problem? Neither Luke nor Mark is gay.
Unable to deny the attraction they feel for one another, they decide to try and make things work between them. The relationship at first seems all they could hope for but trouble in the guise of Ethan Walker, a werewolf who has his sights set on Luke, threatens to destroy their newfound happiness and the future they have planned together.
When Ethan’s threats turn to physical violence, will they still think the mating bond and blossoming love between them is worth risking their lives for?

Comment: I've had this book in the pile to read for some years but at some point, it just got out of my mind. Last month I remembered it and added it to my December list so here it is. Sometimes, we regret not reading something right away, so good it ends up being, but then there are times we just realize it was not worth the wait and, to me, this book turned out to be one of these cases.

In this book we have the story of Luke Morgan, a young man who happens to be part of a wolf shifter community and his older brother Kelan is the alpha. The brothers have another sibling who lives away but they can manage to deal with the work in their ranch and the neighbors seem to like them and their work.

The story begins, basically, with Luke finding out his mate and he is shocked to realize it's a man and not a woman, since he is not gay.

Mark Malone was about to start a job as foreman in a ranch when the neighbors come by and he realizes his mate is approaching. He is as surprised as Luke because he isn't gay either but after a slight mishap, they decide to give it a go. Others don't find this as fun and the guys can't seem to have an easy time. But will they be happy together?

I still remember that when I first started reading m/m stories, because many were released by specific publishers, the work could be very good and innovative or it could follow a type and trend that wasn't appealing to everyone. Nothing ever is, but if one buys a book from a certain publisher, some expectations exist, mostly because we know what kind of work a certain publisher provides.

Then there are the authors. Some we tend to like, others not so much and so on. This is the first book I tried by mrs Lewis but along with the publisher, I had good hopes for the story. However, as the pages kept going, I got more and more disappointed. 

I realized this book was "inserted" if one can use this word, in the type of M/M books I don't appreciate much, the ones where the plots are simple but underdone and where the characters don't seem as complex as they could.

I think the story wasn't done well. The two guys meet for the first time, realize they are mates but they don't seem to have any kind of visible awkwardness or issues besides a very basic initial "maybe we should just forget this" idea that soon is changed and they go straight to be in so much lust they are immediately perfect to one another.

Besides the fact it's not believable two strangers, no matter how strong the mating bond can be, wouldn't just do something just because, where is the getting to know each other, where are the personality layers that would make these two guys try for something they never had contemplated?

The relationship is too perfect, too easy, there's no sexual tension based on conflicted emotions and the situations surrounding them aren't intriguing enough - or portrayed well by the author - to make this an unforgettable plot.

The elements of the story have several points that will certainly be addressed in the future (the other brother, the pack's members, the community) but although a glimpse here and there would have been great, I don't think having it all at the same time alluded to was a good move. The story feels populated but there are too many things left in the open and this makes for a confusing plot, with elements to explain and under developed.

I think that the word I'd use to describe this story is "superficial". Even having interesting details, and even loving shifter stories like I do, this one is weak, has boring situations/parts and why I should care about the characters isn't there, the characterization felt very weak.

The world created by the author just doesn't seem interesting or engrossing. I confess I don't feel bad about not reading more in the series.

Grade: 3/10

Two short stories and a question

Tyler Newsome is heading home to the Lazy N, tired of the rodeo and tired of always being his charismatic twin's shadow. It's time he gets a life of his own and maybe the man he's always dreamed of, too. Ren Alston's always been attracted to Tyler, but never made a move because of his own mental and emotional baggage. But after years spent taming his demons and gaining control in every aspect of his life, Ren sees the younger man's return as a sign of good things to come. But first, they have to deal with Tyler's twin, past indiscretions and Ren's brothers. Will these cowboys manage to build a strong foundation of trust and love? Or will their problems be too much for them?

 Ian Dennison loves his job, but when he's invited to the Mardi Gras ball thrown by his law firm, it's not for company loyalty that he goes. It's for Stephen Caulfield, his boss and the man for whom he's been longing since his first day.
Amidst the costumed revelry and fine champagne, the sparks fly between the men. Ian begins to think perhaps there is hope for them, despite the rules against company fraternization. That is, until a drunken senior partner lets slip the secret Ian never knew Stephen was keeping...his wife.
Is there more to the story than Ian suspects, or is the mask Stephen wears really who he is? 

Comment: These two ebooks I had since I started becoming interested in m/m are short ones and I decided to read them now precisely so I can join the comment of both in one.

I don't have much to say, only that my current tastes nowadays are no longer reflected in the way these stories are presented. I now prefer things better structured, mostly focused in the r4elationships and character development than sex and the novelty of a relationship.

What the two ebooks had in common was how short they were and for me, the development the authors wrote didn't feel enough, it wasn't as captivating as it could, I guess, and at the end I feel I didn't really care about what happened.

Sutherland and Labbe's story is about Ian, a man whose boss finally seems to give indications he would be receptive to a relationship, something he feels wrong about because of their professional connection at the company. The biggest problem comes when Ian realizes his boss is actually married. Ian gets very disappointed but they eventually talk, the boss says he will get a divorce since his marriage is one of convenience and supposedly, they will be happy but I just didn't feel much empathy towards them both and the plights of their relationship didn't make me feel that interested. Then, at the end Ian has a sort of epiphany and I totally didn't buy that, so... interesting ideas but it's really hard to find short stories that deliver from beginning to end.

Grade: 5/10

TA Chase was an author I used to follow but with time her books started to feel very similar to me, even if the contexts changed. Perhaps it was also just my impression but I started to get the feeling they became more and more superficial, even when dealing with heavier subjects or situations so I lost interest. In this book we have a young cowboy returning home after working with his twin brother for a long time but their relationship wasn't good anymore. At his father's ranch he found his acceptance of his sexual orientation and even Ren, the guy he always had a crush on. The two guys can now make a go at it, there's a lot of conversation about horses and breeds and cowboy activities and a lot of sex and even personal tastes I don't find interesting in the slightest so I was quite happy to finish it.

Grade: 3/10

At the end of things, it's a bit sad these didn't work for me after being in the pile for so long...

But I feel glad I have two less out of the pile.

 

Sometimes, I wonder: is it just a matter of personal taste, meaning the books just no longer speak to us or can it also be the random possibility of a determined book just not being appealing to us at all and, for instance, I wouldn't have enjoyed them even if I had read them days after getting them?

What do you think works for you the most?

Janet Elizabeth Henderson - Goody Two Shoes

Josh McInnes’ biological clock is ticking and he wants to get married—now. After 20 years singing soppy love songs, he knows that there is no such thing as romantic love. There’s only hormones and lust. At thirty-five, he’s tired of his playboy lifestyle. He wants a wife who isn’t interested in fame, money, or romance. A sensible wife, who values commitment. He wants a partnership, a friendship, and none of the craziness that goes with falling in love. As far as he can see, there’s only one way to get exactly what he wants—he needs an arranged marriage.
Caroline Patterson terrifies men. With her no-nonsense attitude, and ice queen demeanour, she’s in control of everything—and everyone—around her. Her sensible shoes and grey skirt suits act like a force field, repelling male attention. At thirty-one, she can’t remember the last time she went on a date and is beginning to think she’ll never have a family of her own. When an American stranger approaches Caroline with a marriage proposal that resembles a business contract, she quickly accepts. She doesn’t expect romance. But she does expect to control each and every detail of their lives together. Because as life has taught her—if you aren’t in control, bad things happen.
…and you get romance Invertary style!
 Josh and Caroline learn the hard way that falling in love isn’t something you can avoid. And it definitely isn’t something you can control. Their well laid plans are about to degenerate into chaos, as they fall in love the Invertary way.

Comment: I got interested in this book because it promised the idea of a story featuring two very different people, from different backgrounds and they would not only fall in love but also learn to be each others half while looking at their relationship as a business deal. I immediately imagined how fun and romantic this relationship could develop. I wasn't counting on how silly everything would be too.

In this book, my first by this author, we have Josh McInnes, a famous singer, hoping to find a bride since he doesn't believe in love and he thinks the women around him wouldn't be a good choice, he makes his manager find him one. Then comes Scotland and a castle he will want to use and also Caroline Patterson, a librarian and the person who will help with the castle's renovation plans. Or is it restoration?

Caroline is a sensitive but decisive e woman, she has no desire to give in to emotions so simply to gain powers over what can happen to the castle, she says yes to Josh when he proposes. Things should be very simple but nothing is simple about love and fighting it...

This had all the appeal of an opposites attract sort of plot and I was looking for to be dazzled by the romance, the interactions between them as they fell in love but the reality is, to my POV, this was not what the book actually delivered. I found the story to be so silly and unrealistic that I can't really say it was a serious story.

Perhaps I'm not the best target-audience for a comedy book and if that was the aim here, I guess I just didn't see the fun it it. If the book wasn't meant to be funny then it didn't have enough seriousness to make me appreciate all the quirkiness of the characters and the situations presented. Besides the fact a marriage of convenience in contemporary times being hard to manages, except if well thought and structured, putting that notion aside, the reality is that, for me, the relationship between Josh and Caroline just wasn't strong enough nor realistic to make me interested in them and in their challenges. This felt like a silly comedy and don't let me talk about the secondary characters.

The story basically starts with two strangers meeting and deciding on a marriage of convenience but obviously, this being a romance, we get the idea they are attracted and they see in each other something stronger even if they don't initially think of that. Is this believable? I can suspend disbelief enough in several cases but this is a contemporary, following the usual rules of contemporary romance, I just can't seem to "buy" how the development happened nor that the evolution of this relationship is anything more than unlikely.

The surroundings, the secondary characters, everything feels like it's an add on, meant to be quirky funny, special but to me it was so out of context that I can't see any reason for some things to have been included (like Josh's stalker, for instance).  

The characters themselves were pretty superficial and I feel there was no real complexity to their personalities. What would make Caroline and Josh feel more realistic, like their pasts, their connections, all that is mentioned but not useful in any believable way to make them progress as characters. Just not well done enough for me.

The end is a happy one of course but sincerely I was more ready to finish the story than to hope for any real positive situations so I wasn't very focused on it. I think this was not a book for me, I've seen many readers liking it and saying why but...well, one less in the list for me.

Grade: 3/10

Chris Owen - An Agreement Among Gentlemen

Edward Munrow has had a change in circumstances. Going from being a gentleman of few means to being a wealthy land owner in less than a day is difficult enough to imagine, but being blackmailed into a marriage he doesn't want by a Duke is just too much.
Ned agrees to the marriage to keep his name out of the scandal sheets, and soon enough he is meeting Lady Jane, a member of the Duke's family, and her son, Henri, the Viscount Langton. Langton is a delightful surprise for Ned, a young man just coming into his own, ripe for the sorts of debauchery Ned is best at.
The problem is that Langton brings out all of Ned's protective instincts, and that, along with a warning that the Duke will ruin him if he so much as lays a hand on the young man has him keeping his hands to himself. Until Henri won't let Ned protect him from himself, that is. Add one of Ned's old lovers to the mix and the combination is unbeatable.
This Victorian romp has it all, from family intrigue to marriages of convenience and naughty fun between the sheets. Take it to bed with you today.

Comment: I started reading m/m books in 2008 and 2009 was probably the year I invested the most in the genre, being it a novelty and such. I did go through many freebies and deals which allowed me to read several stories, some better than others. Chris Owen is an author I wouldn't consider a favorite but for a while one or two things by the author were special to me, so I tended to imagine this an author whose work I'd follow. Nowadays, things seem different to me.

This book tells us the story of Edward Munrow, a man whose titled friend left him his estate and also all the challenges that go with it in terms of maintaining and running the land. Ned, as he is know to close friends knows it's only a matter of time until someone approaches him with marriage proposals or deals and in fact, a sick duke does precisely that by blackmailing Edward, since he knows his sexual preferences and says he would spread that gossip until Ned is ruined.

One of the conditions to ensure Ned's acceptance of the plan is to have his nephew living in the estate for a while, Henri, the son of the first marriage of the woman Ned is supposed to marry. Ned accepts but he vows to seduce the duke's nephew and then say so to the duke. What he didn't count on was being himself seduced and falling in love...

As I've said, a book like this would have been amazing years ago, when the genre itself was new to me. Today, after many attempts I kind of know what my preferred style is and this is no longer it. This can be quite the situation because I still have some older titles in the pile and now I dread reading some of them...maybe the writing style is still something I appreciate but I fear not.

The style that I found impressive almost ten years ago no longer appeals much to me. The writing style isn't to my preferences nowadays and the content being too focused on sex scenes and inferred emotional content instead of seeing it happen in a logical but romantic way doesn't strike me as appealing as it used to be, especially because I prefer books heavy on the romance side, even in this m/m genre.

This book actually features a menage relationship which can be tricky as it never seems as there is balance. One element always seems to come after, to be an add on... in this book, because sex was the instigation point to the relationship, it just feels like the three of them were a handy mix. I never had the idea I was knowing the characters well and that I should be happy they were together. My expectations might be unfair considering what I knew of the author's work and the erotica label but...each book is unique and I hoped for different elements.

The main character, Ned, disappointed me. His attitude, the ease in which he participated in sexual situations didn't make me eager to see him reaching happiness and keeping it. In historical books, having solid m/m relationships within the strictness of society rules isn't easy but others have done so, and to me, this one failed in that. Is it a sexy book...? Yes, but the emotional side of things, imagining the emotional response these characters were having... it's just not the sort of attitude and behavior I like to read about. I just feel sad that after reading the book what is left is the notion of lots of little actions the characters carry on with, whether disguised as love or simply being called lust, only come out as being silly and sexual and that is the only reason they exist at all. It's just too repetitive and not interesting enough for me these days. I admit I skipped the sex scenes and some scenes where characters would be talking about or planning sex.

The other elements of the menage, Henri and Truitt, weren't memorable enough for me but it did annoy me Truitt seemed the third wheel and that Henri is a sex addict beneath his innocent act.

All in all, a disappointment. We can't always like everything, and I didn't find this as annoying years ago but now... I want the structure, I want the emotion, the romance and I want the characters to behave as good people. In this book I simply didn't have that notion.

Grade: 3/10

Jill Sanders - Finding Pride

Megan Kimble has finally freed herself from years of abuse at the hands of her ex. Now she can finally start a new life and figure out just who she really is. When her brother Matt dies suddenly, she takes a big risk and moves cross country to live in his house and take over his new business. This could be the chance she’s needed. There’s only one problem now. She can’t seem to escape the irresistible charm of her departed brother’s best friend.
Todd Jordan just lost his best friend and business partner. Watching Matt’s sister move into town, his attraction to her is instant. Can he prove to her that all men are not the same, and resist his own desires as she learns to trust again? Overcoming the odds is just part of their journey. The two must first survive a fateful visit from Megan’s ex to have any chance at happiness. 

Comment: I no longer remember why I got interested in this book and why I got it. I think it was free for a while somewhere and that was it. Going by the blurb (even with free books, if it's not your taste, why bother?), this would be the first of a new series set in a small town, so I guess I was looking for to fall in love with all the little details we usually read about in this type of stories. Sadly, it wasn't enough for me to want to keep reading.

This is the first story in the Pride series, featuring a small town and some of its inhabitants.

Megan has just arrived in town for her brother's funeral. She is very sad not only because of his passing but also because she feels she didn't return soon enough to be with him while they could spend time together. Now Megan finds out about his business - which he left her - and the people who saw her brother as a friend and she is going to sort of walk in his shoes. But Megan has a past she is not proud of and can she trust people again? Especially Todd, her brother's best friend?

While starting this novel, I confess I had hopes for something along the lines of Robyn Carr's Virgin River series, not that I wanted a copy of that, but I hoped for the same type of setting, themes explored, heroines down on their luck for the most part but who would become successful and proud of themselves, you know, the sort of thing one usually wants out of small town's stories.

However, the more I read, the less impressed I was. This is not a big book, but out of all the ones I've read this month, it has to be one of those who took the longest to finish.

There isn't one huge issue that ruined my reading, it was more a matter of several little aspects which I simply didn't love.

First, the writing itself. This author - a new one for me - seems to know what to write but not how to best do it in an engaging way. I hate to say it but it was boring to me. It didn't look as if the characters were actually being developed, the narrative was not vibrant and I fear it had a bit of telling vs showing syndrome as well. I never felt I was seeing the characters come to live. They existed, they did things but there was no real development.  For instance, Megan has had a bad marriage in her past and she is falling in love with Todd, but we are told that, we are shown images of them together but there isn't really a step from thinking about one status and going to another. It's weird. Besides, I found a bit annoying how this couple met and not too long after was already in love and they even say "I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you", which is quite the cliché idea but it can work; here it wasn't the case, it just felt silly.

Another situation I found too boring was the romance. They meet, she is afraid of him with good reason - I think she was never in the best emotional position to fall in love or, maybe the author didn't explore this the best way - and he always seemed a stranger somehow, so why they were supposed to fall in love except it was handy for the plot, I don't know.

I was never convinced their relationship was strong or stable. There wasn't enough emotional development nor even silly scenes with them in a way that would tell me they were thoughtful of the other, except for sexual attraction and later on sex itself.

The plot was also a bit weak. The situation with Megan's ex is pointless. I liked how Megan tried to become a stronger person, how she helped others, how she sort of started to get included in the community... but that was it. Even the small town feel I expected could act a supporting role in all this didn't exist. There is mentioning of characters here and there, and they do this, thy do that... most characters are too superficial. The ones we are led to care about, most of the secondary ones I mean (like Todd's siblings and three or four other characters), were still too one dimensional. I can see why they will become protagonists but the writing just doesn't seem appealing to try it.

I think I'll stop here. Some of the next stories seem very interesting but assuming the writing is the same I know I'll just end up annoyed...or bored. I think this would work out for someone that is now beginning a reading journey. But after having read so much already,t his feels too bland. And with so much more to be read still, maybe someone else can enjoy this better than I could.

Grade: 3/10

Maddy Barone - Sleeping With the Wolf

Rising country music star Carla boards a plane in the year 2014. But it crashes in the future, fifty years after Armageddon has destroyed technology and plagues have reduced the female population to a precious few. She finds herself offered as prize in a Bride Fight, where only the strongest and fiercest men are allowed to compete to win a wife. Alpha werewolf Taye knows Carla is his mate. He wins the Bride Fight and takes her to his den, ready to give her everything, even his heart. Will Carla ever be ready to give him anything?

Comment: I like shifter stories, especially if they are about wolves. So, I added this book to my list in hopes of it being the next best series featuring wolf shifters and their community but it certainly wasn't as pleasant as I imagined...

This books presents us Carla, the heroine and main focus of this novel, after the plane crash that sent her 50 years into the future. Carla is a young woman, she was about to become a country singer star and now she is facing men fighting to be the winner of her person in marriage. How this can be possible she has no idea but it seems the future is now a place where there aren't many women and all men want the chance to have a partner/mate.

One of the men, also a wolf, wins the Bride Fight that will "give" Carla to him and they set off to his house. Can Carla find happiness?

Yes, I'm very aware the premise of this book is a little bit weird and far fetched but there are many series/books out there in several genres that can be quite great in presenting something like this as a start and the development is well done. It wasn't the case here and in order not to turn this into a post about only bad issues (I found very little to appreciate), I'll simply enumerate my issues in topics.

But I'll start by saying that the good things were the concept, I was actually interested in reading about wolves, a pack and a world where women are seen as sort of treasures and how their presence could change a family or a pack.

I was also very interested in having a good world building and interesting scenarios to see developing in further books.

Apparently, I was too expectant because this felt like a story the author thought of, focused on the details necessary and the rest was just put there with no real complexity nor credible development (even considering the sci fi scenario).

Ok, some issues:

1) I didn't like the story simply because there is no solid explanation about anything. Why has the world suffered an apocalypse? Why did it affect mostly women and not men? Why, inf so, are some women spared and others not?

2) Why are there Wolves? Did they exist before or after the apocalipse?

3) Some cities seem to work out well enough, despite the erasing of most commodities and energy and stuff we would consider vital to a contemporary world. Why didn't people simply organize themselves again?

4) Everything changed in 50 years. Is this really time enough for things to change so radically in terms of world's population and technology and social situations but not in people's ages? Can wolves really just show up because of whatever happened and act and live as they've been there for longer?

5) In terms of people and pack structure, where does so many wolves come from?? Weren't women just a few? And if not much time went by to renovate a generation....

I also thought the romance wasn't good. It was not romantic and the couple never seemed to be as in syn as we are told. The constant "no, I don't know you" to "you're so hot and I want to have sex with you" from the heroine were very annoying.

This story has many ideas, yes. But the way this is written seems very superficial and I think it didn't pinpoint the important/necessary situations to turn the story - and eventually the series - into something complex and well structured in general.

Because I didn't like the story much nor the writing style, I think I won't read any more books by this author.

Grade: 3/10

Beverly Adam - The Spinster and the Earl

She was known as The Spinster of Brightwood Manor, and that suited Lady Beatrice O’Brien just fine.
She was happy being a spinster; happy running her father’s estates while amassing a fortune of her own; happy tending to the needs of her community; and most of all, she was happy not having a man around to tell her what to do.
But when Beatrice accidentally shoots her new neighbor, the Earl of Drennan, her life turns upside-down. Suddenly, this very arrogant gentleman, who also happens to be charming and attractive, makes himself at home at Brightwood Manor, and proceeds to court her!
Beatrice knows one thing for certain. Marriage will complicate her life. But falling in love? That’s an entirely different matter.

Comment: I got to be aware of this book some months ago, I can't precise exactly when and I don't really remember why I decided it would be a good idea to read it. The fact it had the premise the main couple would go through a enemies to lovers kind of trope probably had something to do with it but after all this time I no longer know. Anyway, it was in the pile and this month I added it to my reading list.

This is the story of feisty Lady Beatrice, she's an only child and the current lady of Brightwood Manor, she's used to deal with everything her own way and she is quite determined and confident in her abilities. Lady Beatrice is considered a spinster but she doesn't mind because she is used to do things her own way.

One day, she accidentally shoots a man and she finds out he is her new sort of neighbor and because of his injuries and not cared for house, he stays at her father's house instead, to recover. The two of them come closer together and seem to be attracted to one another but if only their attraction weren't disguised by Lady Beatrice's antagonism and her new neighbor's arrogance and secret plans...

Oh what to say about this novel... I still can't really find a logical manner on how to best describe my impressions about it. It just seemed too boring and unappealing to me.

This is the first book I've tried by the author and I can't really say it was a pleasure nor do I feel inclined to try something else by her. Sometimes things just don't work out for us.

I found the writing too difficult. I understand the intent of the Irish way of speaking, it did add veracity to some scenes and to the characters but being english my second language I struggled. Of course this is not the author's fault but as a rule it does not allow for many people to simply enjoy the story if so often one has to decipher or go through parts that aren't fluid or easy to grasp.

The narrative also seemed boring to me. The elements that would have made this a vibrant read, the magical coins, the feisty heroine, the cat and mouse sort of game the main couple would play until admitting they were in love, all this felt flat to me because it was done in a way I only saw as almost silly. The magical coin would have been interesting if it really played a part but as it is, I feel it was just an appropriation of Irish folklore and not really developed. The relationship that would have amazing felt like a childish game, considering the protagonist's personalities.

I confess I found the POVs from lady Beatrice's father to be rather silly as well. I think overall this story had interesting base elements but the tone of the narrative and some details were a bit too silly and not well explored in the serious way I'd expect from the narrator's "voice".

I didn't like lady Beatrice. I do admire her sense of enterprise, her need to be as independent as she can and her opinions on it but her behavior and her way of treating others seemed childish and not amusing at all. I also don't think someone in her position would ever act like that. Is this meant to be a comedy? Then, some things make more sense but I just didn't get any fun out of reading it.

The hero whose name I can't say from memory was bland. He had secret agendas, interests, but of course the heroine was just too perfect for me and everything else seemed like a game for them both. I wouldn't say their romance was "romantic" nor do I feel their HEA was as destined as we often feel when we finish a good romance.

The inklings about future stories just didn't do anything for me and I found everyone to be very boring and without any little reference that would make me curious. Another thing: many other readers mentioned in their reviews how everyone treated the hero by "your grace", something apparently only dukes would receive? but in this case, an earl was acknowledged this way. Is this an Irish thing? I can't tell but it seemed annoying to me. Also too annoying were plot inconsistencies...

Anyway, certainly the author was dedicated to this and that only proves some effort but I can't feel glad I read it not do I want to try it again with another book in the series.

Grade: 3/10

Mini Comments

The story of the people of Daring Castle. Adrianna was an independent woman, living on her own in New York City.That was until she came home to find two huge barbarians in her home.Taken from not just her home but her world, she was transported to a new world controlled by huge warrior men who thought women should be sex slaves.Left chained to a bed, a shadowed warrior came to her, stealing away her good intentions before disappearing before the first light of day.Could she escape his fiery touch or was she forever Bound by Love?

 Through with running from the past, Joelle Randall has come to the rugged Canadian Rockies determined to face her pain and begin anew. All she needs is a guide to lead her through the untamed mountain wilderness to the site where her parents' plane crashed long ago. But the only guide Joelle can find is Luke Gevaudan, a magnetically attractive loner with the feral grace of a wolf and eyes that glitter with a savage intensity. She has no idea that Luke is the stuff of legends, one of the last survivors of an ancient race of werewolves, a man whose passion she will not be able to resist--no matter how terrible the price.

 

-> Here I am, trying to keep track on the things I read with a new personal feature. Mini reviews are well known everywhere, I prefer to say I comment on books I read, so for me, mini comments they are.

I'm just going to write a few lines about certain books from time to time, whether because they aren't as great as deserving a full comment, or not interesting enough or not as impressive enough (negatively or positively) to make me want to write more.

These books were two of the longest standing ebooks in my ebook pile. For some reason, when I started to be interested in ebooks, before I ever got an e-reader and my only reading device was the PC, these two ended up the pile but I no longer remember why I thought it was a good idea. This is the danger of long and endless piles of books... some just no longer seem to be things one can feel interested in, but then there they are and I'd feel bad by at least not trying them.

Prince of Wolves is the story of Joelle, a woman who wants to go to the mountains somewhere, where she thinks her parent's plane crashed. She just wants to see the place so she can find some closure. She intends to go with a guide but somehow it's not possible. Then she meets Luke, a weird man in the small town where she's staying but her life gets even weirder after trying to stay away from him and looking for to seduce him not long after. 

The story was ok, I guess, but way too boring in the beginning. So many pages spent making things ready for the fact Luke and Joelle had to go together into the mountains that when it finally happens and we get to know why Luke is weird and why Joelle and him are meant to be together, I was too bored and lacking real interest.

The writing isn't too bad but it didn't captivate me enough and to be honest it was really annoying to endure the back and forth type of relationship they had and all the surrounding things. It's one of those books that when I first discovered paranormal might have been good but now, not so much.

Grade: 4/10

Bound By Love starts when Adrianna, a woman in her New York apartment, is kidnapped and taken to a different time and place where women are mostly slaves and she just becomes one herself. With time, however, Adrianna falls in love with her captor but she needs to go through several obstacles before a HEA can happen.

What was I thinking is the question to ask here, this isn't the romance I expected, it's erotica bordering on the pornographic or, at least, fantasy for guys where any woman immediately falls prey to lust. The concept was the good thing about this book, and I imagined a world where things would change, where a heroine could be the first to reveal a better existence for other women, where the purpose was more on the relationships and not the sex, but nope. I skimmed all sex scenes, meaning I didn't read that much but oh, what to say about the character's personality or their behavior... so many things that don't make any sense in what is supposed to be an organized world. The end was ridiculous, totally against any possibility and something I don't think suited the story. There was a reason why this was unread for so long, I guess!

Grade: 3/10