ARC, Books

Book 883: New Year Not You – Edie Montreux

UGH. Two duds in a row and MM Holiday Romances at that! I’m now warry about what I read next and really wish I had an Annabeth Albert or a Roan Parrish lined up, because I need their perfection after these last two!

This one had so much promise when it arrived in my inbox: enemies to lovers, substance abuse overcome with sobriety, redemption and romance, two protagonists who’ve known each other forever and reconnecting as they’re coming into their own as adults, but in the end, it was one massive let down from beginning to end.*

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Book 807: Stupid Love (Five Foxes #1) – S.J. Carter

I’m not 100% sure why I said yes to this when it came through Gay Romance Reviews.* I think it was because of the enemies to lovers storyline/trope, but who knows really? It also could’ve been because of the cover model, he looks vaguely familiar, or it could’ve been the academic setting. Really there’s no telling with me.

This was my first time reading something by Carter and it wasn’t too bad. I’m always hesitant trying a new self-published author. You never really know what you’re going to get when it comes to editing and proofreading. Thankfully, for the most part, there weren’t any issues that stood out for me. A couple of minor errors here and there but not so egregious to make me highlight them and share them so we’ll call it a win.

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Book 758: Better Not Pout – Annabeth Albert

I grabbed this a few months ago when it went on sale and saved it for the holidays. I had every intention of waiting until December, but Thanksgiving happened and Lifetime/Hallmark movies started showing and I wanted more LGBT+ characters (I know there are a few this year but I haven’t had the chance to see them) and I remembered I had this one already so here we are.

The story starts off slower than many of Albert’s other works, but the characters are just as well written and the plot works for what it is. Nick, a beefy retiring military man, is cornered into volunteering with a local charity and meets Teddy, an over the top do-gooder, and fireworks don’t fly right away, but they slowly build until the grand finale.

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Book 698: Arctic Sun (Frozen Hearts #1) – Annabeth Albert

I can’t very well stop my MM romance streak, if the local library decides to repurchase/and or release extra copies of books I place on hold well before I started this streak can I? We’re all in agreement? Good, because there are more to come 😀

In her Frozen Heart series, Annabeth Albert takes us to the wilds of Alaska and it is worth it. She managed to capture the magic and vastness all while turning the heat up on a budding romance with two characters balancing mental health/addiction issues.

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Book 614: Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower #5) – Stephen King

In general, I am LOATHE to enjoy a book as slow as this, let alone a 7(+) book series, but this one is good, really good.

I think the biggest issue I have with this book is how quickly it ended. Some of this is of course due to the Amazon Kindle flaw of telling you have 8-10% left in the book when really you have 1-2% and the other 8-9% of those pages are bonus content. But, the rest of it has to do with this having the first true cliffhanger in the series. [This might not be true as I can’t really remember the endings of the others, just they all blend together.]

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