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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Felix and the Prince by Lucy Lennox
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the second Lucy Lennox book that I've read, and my feelings about this one are almost identical to the other. This author knows how to write dialogue, plot, and characters in such a way that their story pulls you in, but all of the novel's other aspects are weak, which ultimately ruins the overall experience of the book.

Scene-setting and descriptions are lacking, which is a big disappointment. I found myself focusing less on what was happening in the story, and more on attempting to picture what was occurring and where they were in relation to everything around them. It was all so vague that I never quite knew where the characters were positioned and what the space looked like. I firmly believe that this author needs a new editor, because there were far too many occurrences of "I could hear", "I could feel", and "I could see", etc.

I don't know if I'll read another book by this author.

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Fake Out by Eden Finley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This one really disappointed me. Based on the blurb, I was excited to read it, but it fell decidedly short.

The characters read as very young (younger than their early twenties) and awfully immature. The dialogue was youthful and quick, which would have made for good banter if it were written more maturely and with more dialogue tags. Honestly, there were times in which I had no idea who was talking, and I found it very frustrating.

There were a lot of repetitive cyclical thought processes that became boring after a while. Also, I really didn't like the obvious discrimination against vegetarians, women, and Canada in this book.

Overall, not my favourite. Won't read it again, and I won't recommend it.

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Winter by Josh Lanyon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let me start out by saying that this one barely scratches the surface of what could possibly be considered an M/M romance. The main focus with this one is the paranormal mystery. Also **TRIGGER WARNING** One of our heroes is depressed and dealing with attempted suicide and thoughts of trying again.

This one does not have an HEA for our heroes, as one has suffered a recent heartbreaking loss, and is clearly suffering, but a friendship is forming, and we can see how this bond might morph into more in future book(s)--if and when we get to see them.

The mystery is really where the story was fun for me. It's something so bizarre, and yet so straight-forward, but entirely entertaining. I found it delightful.

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The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one is definitely not a favourite, and the bar is usually set pretty low for Josh Lanyon books. With JL, I know that the romance will be basically non-existent and the sex will be disappointing, but this one had one hero that was a homophobic jerk for the first 2/3, not enough character development, and a convoluted mystery.

I have to admit, I loved Perry; his character felt well-rounded and well thought-out. Nick, on the other hand, was uptight, rude--and not just in his behaviours, but in his thoughts, as well--and as the reader, we never really get to know much about him, despite being in his head for a good portion of the book. As a result, his character was flat and not really likeable.

Additionally, I couldn't see what Perry liked in Nick, aside from the fact that he used to be a SEAL and was apparently good-looking. Their relationship was totally unbelievable.

The mystery, while convoluted, was what kept me reading. I got confused with all of the names and different characters, especially when they all felt so similar to one another, but I enjoyed it, regardless.

Overall, this book was simultaneously disappointing and entertaining. 1* for romance, 3* for the mystery.

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On Point by Annabeth Albert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book really disappointed me. The plot was so promising, and the bit in the jungle was so exciting. I just...didn't like much of the rest. There were some redeeming qualities to each character, and the sex scenes were decent (except for the flashback scenes, which I despised), but other than that, I couldn't wrap my head around the motivation behind what went on here--for Ben, in particular.

In addition to the characterization and motivation being way off for me, there was something about this writing that I just didn't like. There wasn't enough description, especially outside of the jungle, there were a lot of scenes that felt rushed or totally unnecessary, there wasn't enough of a sizzling moment when their relationship began, everything was just a bit bland, and when our heroes reconcile after the inevitable fallout, there wasn't enough raw emotion. Honestly, this book just left me feeling very blah, when it had such potential.

At this point, I'll probably give this author another try, and read a different one of her books, because there were some very specific things about this book that I didn't like that might be unique to this title. Here's to hoping. As it is, this is not a book that I would recommend.

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Spencer Cohen, Book Three by N.R. Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'll start off by saying that I love Spencer and Andrew. The conclusion to their story was satisfying and happy, the amount of tears I shed notwithstanding.

That all being said, I still have a proverbial bee in my bonnet about the fact that this trilogy is one story divided into three books. And I really would have liked there to be more scene-setting overall in this "series". I felt that while the story was nice and I was often swept up in the goings-on, I struggled to have a clear picture in my mind of anything around them.

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