Books

Book 1,041: Would You Like to Be a Family? – koyama

Apparently, there are three stories in this one short collection, and I only remember one, so that doesn’t bode well. The biggest struggle for me was the style. I’m not the biggest fan of the super stretched out/tall bodies and super angular faces. I think it just makes them all look creepy.

The story itself was actually very cute (or least the one I remember) Takemura is a shy loner who had a bad bullying experience in high school, so he keeps to himself, but his coworker Natsui is outgoing and has tried to engage him before. They meet one evening in the grocery store and Takemura finds out Natsui has a kid and can’t get out of a dinner invite.

Before you know it, they’re all hanging out all the time. There’s even an awkward moment where Takemura has to go pick up the kid (cannot remember their names) and it goes well even though Takemura is SOO nervous. In the end the kid is the one that’s like hey you need to move in here, we’re always happier when you’re here. I’m 99% sure the book was sex free and that anything that did or didn’t happen was 100% off page and it was kind of refreshing knowing how edgy manga/yaoi/BL can get.

Recommendation: It’s a cute read. I’m a little concerned I have ZERO recollection of the other stories, but the entire book was pretty short, so they must’ve been even shorter. Illustration style wasn’t my jam, but I could see where others like it as there are quite a few in this style.

Books

Book 1,014: Find Me Worthy (Safe Harbor #3) – Annabeth Albert

Of the three books in Annabeth Albert’s Safe Harbor trilogy, this one was by far my favorite. I won’t say it’s unfortunate that you need to read the other two to get to this one, because they’re still well written books, but you do have to read the two of them to truly appreciate this book due to the underlying murder mystery that ties them together.

Find Me Worthy is the story of Sam, the slightly younger (I imagine slightly nerdy) do-gooder that idolized Monroe (from Bring Me Home), Holden (from Make Me Stay), and Worth, the other protagonist of this novel who fled as soon as he could after his mother disappeared and buried himself in first an MBA and then a high-stakes finance job that’s come crashing down around him.

Continue reading “Book 1,014: Find Me Worthy (Safe Harbor #3) – Annabeth Albert”

Books

Book 1,013: Make Me Stay (Safe Harbor #2) – Annabeth Albert

If there is a theme to Albert’s Safe Harbor series it is a little bit too much. Don’t get me wrong, they are not bad books, each one just has one or two too many elements for me. They’re still very well written character driven stories, there’s just too much going on for my personal tastes.

I’m not sure if this falls under the hurt/comfort or maybe (hurt/comfort)2, but it is somewhere in that category. Both main characters have trauma they start to overcome in this novel. Then you throw in the murder mystery and the kinky sex, it’s a lot.

Continue reading “Book 1,013: Make Me Stay (Safe Harbor #2) – Annabeth Albert”

Books

Book 1,012: Bring Me Home (Safe Harbor #1) – Annabeth Albert

This is probably the novel I should’ve picked up to end my dry streak. Annabeth Albert has almost always given me a great read with wonderful character driven plotlines. Even on the few occasions that I wasn’t enamored, I was still impressed with the characters (especially the minor) and the humor. This book was no different.

It isn’t my favorite book by Albert, but it is a wonderful read opening a whole new friend group that she’ll explore in her Safe Harbor series. This is the story of Monroe, an ex-Navy investigator who’s come back to a small town in Oregon because his aunt left him a house. A childhood friend’s grown kid, Knox, needs somewhere to stay for the summer and of course it’s the guy who caught his eye at the club recently in Portland. The high jinks come fast and furious from there, as do the big emotions and the relatively low stakes drama Albert is best at.

Continue reading “Book 1,012: Bring Me Home (Safe Harbor #1) – Annabeth Albert”

ARC, Books

Book 926: Khabaar – Madhushree Ghosh

When the publicist reached out to me about this one, I wasn’t sure I had the capacity, but it was five months before it was published so I figured I’d make time!*

That sort of happened. Khabaar was on my TBR pile nonstop from February onward but between all the knitting I was doing and getting distracted by EVERY MM romance novel possible, I kept putting it off to my detriment.

Continue reading “Book 926: Khabaar – Madhushree Ghosh”