Yanni's Story by N.R. Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**CONTENT WARNING** This book contains a protagonist (and side-characters) that is recovering from sexual assault and physical battery from a significant other.

Firstly, apparently my library-borrowed audiobook was an abridged copy, and three hours was missing. A lot of issues stemmed from this, as in those hours, new characters were introduced and apparently big character development and plot events happened that I never got to read, which made me confused for most of the second half of the book. I'll have to let my library know that their copy isn't very good.

That aside, my feelings about this book can be divided into two categories: 1. Yanni's growth, recovery, and simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming story, and 2. The ick factor.

I found Yanni's journey to reclaiming his power beautiful and heart wrenching, and everything it should be. It was very slow, but absolutely necessary for his growth. I got a little choked up several times, particularly when it came to Peter's instinct to help him, and in Yanni's lovely interactions with the Landons.

That, however, is pretty much where my good feelings about this book end. The relationship between Peter and Yanni was ok, but whenever the "Daddy" and "Boy" endearments/roles were brought into it, I cringed. I don't think that there's anything wrong with this kind of romance, but I hear my kids call my husband daddy all the time, and in my brain, the sexy stuff just wasn't working. Maybe I can re-visit it when my kids are way older and don't use that word anymore. For the time being, though, this book just isn't for me.

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Finders Keepers by N.R. Walker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. Griffin and Dane were charming and loveable, and Wicket was crazy cute. The romance built nicely, and the book's conclusion was satisfying.

This is a low-angst, low-conflict book, which is genuinely refreshing after reading a lot of heavy books. It was light and fluffy, with a fun, comedic element in the form of Griffin's landlady.

I seriously loved it. Will read again, and would recommend it for those of you who need something light, sexy, and happy.

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Strawberry Shortcake Murder by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The story could really be decent if the writing had been more in-the-moment. There are far too many moments in which some sort of action/investigating is starting, and the author stops the anticipation half-way through only to conclude it with a "had" section (ie. a section that is playing catch-up, like "it turned out that she'd found nothing of importance", etc.).

As with the first book, I really couldn't stand the obsession with people's weight. It really sours the book--and my opinion of the protagonist--when all she can do is internally remark on people's weight, how their clothes fit, and their eating habits.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a decent cozy mystery. I didn't find it particularly gripping, though. I was able to put it down for days at a time, without the burning need to keep reading or have the mystery solved. A little more suspense or intrigue would have been nice.

One thing that consistently bothered me (and I'm worried about seeing in the rest of the series) is the indirect fat shaming. Every time that there was an opportunity to bring up weight, size, "chins", or "ample" anything, it was there. And entirely unnecessary.

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Hot Head by Damon Suede
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I definitely enjoyed this one. Damon Suede has a way with words that is almost hypnotic. These two seemed like a great pairing. I honestly wish that Suede had more books on the market for me to gobble up, because I want to read more.

The only part of the book that I'm a bit hung up on is Dante's reasonings (revealed at the end) behind his desire to do the porn, and a few other things about the porn that I won't put here. Ultimately, this aspect of the book bothered me a bit. Otherwise, I adored it.

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Mainly by Moonlight by Josh Lanyon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was maybe two or three chapters from finishing, but I just couldn't. I stuck with it for so long, but in the end, I'd had enough.

This has to be one of the most frustrating Josh Lanyon books that I've ever read. There were so many great magical aspects to this story, that I wanted to love it, but it was the relationship between the heroes that ruined it for me.

First, how in the world could these two guys fall in insta-love, buy a house, renovate the house (with one room complete already), and be planning a wedding for two days in the future, after ONLY TWO WEEKS OF KNOWING EACH OTHER? It takes longer to purchase the house and do the paperwork! Even with the reader's expectations of reality suspended for the sake of this magical world, the whole thing is outrageous. And the more it was brought up, the more frustrated I became. Honestly, the time that they had known each other seemed to have no real bearing on the story, at all. Lanyon could have easily changed this to two years, and the story would not only remain the same, but it would make more sense.

Then, there is the relationship, itself. Once Cosmo found out that John was under a spell, his plans to go through with the wedding should have been terminated. He said, himself, that it might take months for the spell to wear off, and it was only two days 'till his wedding. This was morally wrong; he was trapping John into the marriage, forcing him to do something that was beyond his ability to deny. Cosmo should have at least postponed the wedding to a later date to make sure that John could actually be in love with him for real.

Another confusing misstep was the sex. I didn't read the end (which is where I understand the only sex scene is), but there's a scene in the middle when John tries to sleep with Cosmo, and Cosmo rejects him. This wasn't explained well enough, because it seemed to me that Cosmo just didn't want to have penetrative sex, which would leave plenty of other options, but instead, they just stopped. It wasn't at all that I was looking for more sex in the book (I know that Lanyon doesn't like to put too much into her books), but the way that scene sits now just doesn't make sense. It would be better if it wasn't there, at all.

Ultimately, this book was very disappointing. I was really looking forward to the magic (and I enjoyed the first bit--until the love spell was revealed, and Cosmo decided to keep going with things) and instead was given a morally bankrupt protagonist and an unbelievable plot.

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The Husband Gambit by L.A. Witt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have so many feelings about this book. Too many to really list them all, but ultimately, it boils down to this.

When I read a book, I want to escape reality and live in some good romance for a little while. Unfortunately, The Husband Gambit was full of politics--from the arguments of left vs right to rich vs poor, this book was packed. Jesse's homophobic family was horrible; so horrible, in fact, that I found them not quite believable. I get the dad and possibly even the mom characters, but how could his siblings be such static, one-dimensional characters that are only puppets for their father? They were completely unrealistic. That, and the constant punch-to-the-face hammering-the-point-home about Jesse's family completely overshadowed everything else in the book.

The politics and homophobic family in particular, but everything, really, was overly repetitive in the redundant, rambling internal dialogue of Jesse and Hayden. This made for a very slow-moving book, that at times had me wanting to skip ahead to something more interesting.

The worst of it all was the romance. Honestly, I could have dealt with the politics and pacing if there was a slow burning simmer of sexual tension building to keep me interested, but the glacial pace that this author took made me find it difficult to see any chemistry between our heroes at all. Sure, their friendship seemed genuine, due to their easy conversation and affable nature, but I didn't believe that they were falling in love. The sex, itself, was disappointing, because there was no build-up. It seemed to me like they did it out of a sense of convenience--we're both here in this room, both conveniently "hot" guys and horny, let's do it! *Ugh!* So frustrating when something that should read as so climactic ends up being such a dud. Also, why couldn't our author come up with any other descriptive words to describe these two, other than "hot"? After their first meeting, I genuinely forgot what they looked like, and found everything difficult to imagine. "Hot" simply isn't a good enough descriptor.

This is the first book that I've read by L.A. Witt, so I don't know if this is the way this author writes, or if these issues are unique to this title, so I'll probably give them another chance. The plot had so much potential, and I was really looking forward to reading this, but it just didn't work for me.

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Killing It by Asia Mackay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I adored this book! Honestly, my only complaint would be the pacing. In-between the action scenes (which, thankfully, there were quite a few of), there was a lot of internal dialogue, reminiscing, and some pointless bits of information that really didn't need to be put in. The extra, fiddly tangents dragged the story a bit, but ultimately, I really enjoyed it! I would definitely recommend this book.

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The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have many feelings about this book, and even some notes about specific scenes that particularly bothered me, but I'm honestly just too tired to get into it. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed the plot, but I do not like this author's way of writing. I've tried reading her books before, and while she has a decent sense of humour, and her descriptions can be lovely, I don't like the omniscient POV (I prefer tight third in HR novels), among other things.

Honestly, I look forward to when this comes out on Netflix, because I think that I'll like the way it's portrayed far better on film than how it's written. Not sure if I'll read the others in the series, despite having already bought the next one.

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Nothing Special by A.E. Via
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

**Spoiler Alert**

I'm sorry, I have to rant. I really don't like leaving bad reviews, but this book genuinely upset me.

I'll start with the plot. The story idea was common enough, but this book failed to deliver. There was no intrigue, no suspense, and no mystery. What little action that there was was such a short blip in the book that it was barely noticeable. Additionally, the story concluded about half way through the book, but the narrative continued on for no reason other than to drag the readers through a nonsensical changing of all of the characters' personalities. I'll get into that more later.

There are constant inconsistencies and typing errors throughout. This book *really* needed more editors.

Why, and how, do all of the characters' problems get wrapped up so tidily? There's a problem? Ooh! A character just remembered that they have a handy dandy solution right here. Please. A little realism would have been appreciated, at least to keep up the illusion that the story could be plausible. I really would have liked for the characters to have to *think* about a solution, and perhaps show some of their amazing detective skills that all of the side characters raved about.

On that note, where was the police work? Seemed to me that the heroes got everything handed to them (interviews, appointments, etc.) without the heroes even having to ask. I hate to say it, but more research was required in order to write this book. The author knew the terminology, but everything else felt wrong. Like cheesy TV.

Things with Godfrey's family wrapped-up too neatly, as well. It was literally unbelievable how quickly he could just put aside what had happened to him, particularly after years of hatred from his mom and brother, and after their last encounter.

The romance. There is no build-up, no natural progression to God and Day's romantic relationship. We as readers are merely expected to understand that their years of partnership had apparently bonded them in love, yet we don't get to see any evidence of this until they proclaim their love and start using pet names. It's very abrupt, and entirely unbelievable.

In the second half of the book, once the plot had actually run its course, the main (and side) characters all take a 180 in their personalities. It comes out of nowhere, with no explanation. Our heroes went from loving, devoted, and highly possessive men, to willingly sharing each other in a foursome. Now, even if this wasn't a plot ploy (partner swapping) that I completely despise in romance novels, it made absolutely no sense in this book. Not only were our heroes possessively in love, but they had actively hated the two men they ended up having sex with until the offer was put out for the orgy. Ronowski went from being a homophobic ass that relentlessly verbally assaulted Day, to a willing party in the sex, and the last we'd seen Johnson, he had been pursuing Day, not the doe-eyed lover that joined them in the sack. None of this made sense.

It made me cold and angry. I finished this book several days ago, but had to allow my outrage to subside before I wrote the review, though I fear that some of it may have come through, anyway.

This book was definitely not for me, and I will not read another of this author's books.

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