The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings by Lily Morton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The writing wasn't perfect, but I absolutely loved this book. There are times, honestly, when the little tense errors or issues with telling, rather than showing just are a non-issue because the story is so engrossing and the characters are so lovable. This was one of those cases. The 'mystery' aspect wasn't all that mysterious, because I knew pretty quickly what was happening, but I loved Lily Morton's way of telling the story, of adding in suspense and action, and interweaving the slow-burn romance. It was delightful.

Favourite scene (and one that choked me up) was when Levi was dancing in his kitchen.

As for the narration in the audiobook, it was amazing. Joel Leslie is my absolute favourite narrator. He does accents so very well, and moves seamlessly between accents when characters are talking. I swear, he's a wizard of voices. Love, love, LOVE him.

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Throwing Hearts by N.R. Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This started out promising, with the romance building between our heroes, but it went south about half way through. The whole abstaining from sex thing would have been fine if they had a reason that made sense. Both heroes regretted the decision and thought about it often. If they'd discussed the reasons behind the choice, there wouldn't have been a problem.

I found that this book was just too short. Now, I have nothing against this particular length of story, but there were significant scene-setting, description, and character developments missing from the writing that would have nicely filled-out the word count.

The ending was entirely unsatisfactory. Everything felt rushed, as though the author just couldn't wait to be done with writing. Also, (to avoid spoilers...) there's a scene that is just so unnatural and cheesy that really bothered me. There were plenty of ways that the author could have written that scene WITHOUT going full-cheese, and instead, playing it cool and letting things play out naturally.

Overall, I'm not totally sold on this one, but I did like the idea of it. Good effort.

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Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. In fact, I'm struggling to leave the book world behind and start reading another book. I'll definitely read this one again.

The characters were well-rounded, and the plot was gripping and flowed nicely. I love that the heroes didn't feel the need to change each other or improve themselves just for the other person. They accept and love each other for who they are, and I found that very refreshing.

Love, love, loved it!

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Broken by Nicola Haken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The trigger warnings for this book are 100% warranted.

Woof, this book was hard to get through. So many heavy emotions, so much difficult content. It was, however, well-written, and the topic well-handled.

The narration by Joel Leslie is spectacular. So emotional, and his abilities with accents is superb.

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Crooked Tree Ranch by R.J. Scott
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I had difficulty with this novel from the start. The author waited far too long to introduce the heroes to each other (I'd noted that this was more than a quarter of the book wasted), and most of the information added there had no real significance to the story, and could have been summed up later in a sentence or two (ie. the fact that Jay was recently fired from his job -- you never see his friends again, so their part in the story is pointless -- and the long, drawn out explanation of the reason that the ranch needed to hire someone was repeated enough throughout the book that it wasn't needed at the beginning).

The plot felt very thin, there wasn't enough romance between our heroes (the story felt almost like it wasn't about the two men, but instead about their two families, and I didn't pick this book up because I wanted to read an adult coming-of-age) and there was far too much telling, and not enough showing. It's as though this author is so used to writing short stories, that when they tried to write a novel, they just filled the extra word count in with unnecessary extras.

One main thing that irritated me was that Nate has sex on-page with someone else during the narrative. I am especially upset that it happens 1/3 of the way into the book, when the romance should have already begun. This infuriated me. I was tempted to put the book down right then and there.

The writing just didn't feel quite "there" for me. I felt like the sex was rushed and hardly any detail was given. There isn't enough emotion in the narrative, not enough use of the senses. I got scents here and there, but that's about it. Everything was glossed-over, as though the author was giving us a summary of the novel, rather than actually putting us into it.

This is definitely not for me. I don't think I'll pick up another novel from this author, but I'm sure that their way of writing will appeal to others, so give it a shot.

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Rule Breaker by Lily Morton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was very close to a full "win" for me. I loved the humour and the way the author showed Gabe's feelings for Dylan in his glances, etc. without us having to be in Gabe's head.

What I had difficulty with, was the amount of angst and the how long it went on for. I also didn't like Gabe's philandering through the beginning.

Overall, though, this was an enjoyable read. I will read it again, and have already bought the next books in the series.

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The Station by Keira Andrews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I honestly could have loved this book. There's just two things that held me back. It took me a little while to figure them both out, but once I did, they continued to gnaw at me.

1. This novel is written almost entirely in a storytelling narrative. There was very little showing, and almost all telling. It felt detached, and distanced me from our hero, when the intent should be the opposite.

2. It is written exclusively from Colin's POV. This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem (there are a lot of successful 1 pov novels out there), but with the clashing of Colin and Patrick's characters, it feels almost essential that the reader get into Patrick's head to find out what's going on. He says that he's been sleeping with other people--is that a lie, or is he actually a scumbag? What does he actually feel for Colin? Why does he push Colin away so much? Why won't he kiss Colin in the beginning of their intimacies? What about Colin makes Patrick think that he's untrustworthy, and the same as the guy from his past? Honestly, I could go on and on with the questions that I have about Patrick and his surly, brooding, untrusting, sex-hungry ways. To me, the ending--despite the typical happily every after--was unsuccessful in answering these questions, which made it feel incomplete, and made me question Colin's dedication. Patrick was all over the place, and I just didn't get it.

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In the Wreckage by Hailey Turner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From the view of a SFF novel, this idea was intriguing. I like the idea of splice and metahumans; I was merely surprised that there were so many of them, considering the genetic mutation is so rare.

As for the story's overall plot, I found it a bit scattered. There seemed to be the general notion of our heroes battling against bio terrorists, but in each battle, they take out a different set of "bad guys". There doesn't seem to be one main goal throughout the narrative. I get that they were going on different assignments, but I feel like if they had a "faction" or a specific group of terrorists against which they carried out their battles, it would feel more cohesive.

Our heroes' love story fell rather flat for me. There is hot sex (really long, drawn-out sex), but little else to their relationship. I would have loved to see some more intimate interaction between these two that wasn't of the sexual variety. It made me not quite believe their love. Also, on the note of the sex... I found it oddly distracting that this author kept using the word "thickening" to describe our heroes' "bits" when after a lot of heavy petting and mouth play they should already be thick enough.

I really wish that the scene-setting was better here. I found that while the descriptions as they are, are decent for blocking (knowing where characters are in relation to one another), they are not at all good enough for me to have an adequate image in my mind of what their surroundings look like. Even an added sentence or small paragraph could make all the difference.

Overall, this book was middle-of-the-road for me. There were a few things that I found off-putting, but I like the idea. 2 1/2 * and I'll read the next book in the series, since I've already purchased it.

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The Nursery by Asia Mackay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't find this one as great as the first, but I still enjoyed it. The ending was disappointing (not just the cliffhanger); the "big reveal" was anticlimactic and there was no suspense. I found that it read more like a cozy, rather than something heart-pounding. Additionally, I could see the ending coming from the third chapter, which dulled the anticipation of the reveal quite a lot.

After reading the first novel, there was too much repetition at the beginning of this one; I wish that there'd been more creativity in how the info was retold (perhaps in dialogue, for example).

I also found the relationship stuff for Lex to be a bit depressing. The excuse that she gave for not talking to her husband was awfully weak. Maybe if we'd seen her husband talk about the dangers of another job within her hearing, and his expressing being grateful that his wife doesn't do anything so dangerous? Not sure, but maybe that would have upped the tension a bit.

I'll read the next one if it's ever written, just because I want to find out what happens after the cliffhanger. This one, though, was not the greatest.

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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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