Tag: Friendship

ARC, Books

Book 756: Strawberry Kisses – Charlie Novak

Geoff W

Book cover of "Strawberry Kisses" with Amazon Affiliate linkGive me a fake boyfriend romance any day of the week, gay, straight, bisexual, anything really, and I’m in. I don’t know why I like them so much, I just do. So, when I saw this come through from Gay Romance Reviews and I needed a filler between two nonfiction books, I requested a copy.*

I won’t lie and tell you it got off to a great start, there was a typo on page one [“Deseeding twenty passion fruit and another ten pomegranates was a pain the ass and had taken a ton of time.” (Chapter One)] and I wasn’t sure about Novak’s voice, but it definitely got better so I’m glad I kept reading.

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Books

Book 752: Rough Terrain (Out of Uniform #7) – Annabeth Albert

Geoff W

Book cover of "Rough Terrain" with amazon affiliate linkI knew I was going to love Annabeth Albert’s Out of Uniform series when I read Save the Date her military crossover with Wendy Qualls Heart of the South series and boy was I right!

I’m not going to spend this entire post waxing poetic about the series, but suffice to say the entire series was wonderfully written with great characters and engaging storylines. And this was a wonderful finale to the primary stories.

I’m sad that I’m finished, but only a little bit sad as I know I have SIX short stories that feature these characters to read at some distant point in the future.

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Books

Book 751: Tight Quarters (Out of Uniform #6) – Annabeth Albert

Geoff W

Book cover of "Tight Quarters" with amazon affiliate linkI think this might be my least favorite from Albert’s Out of Uniform series. Maybe it’s because the others were so great, but this one just didn’t do it for me.

It’s not bad, it was just sort of middle-of-the road steamy MM romance for me. It could be that I didn’t really identify with either Bacon/Del (the Navy SEAL of this book) or Spencer (the silver fox journalist—hello Anderson Cooper stand in), but it just fell a little flat for me even though I rated it pretty high because it was still a great story with super-hot sex scenes.

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Books

Book 740: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (To All the Boys #1) – Jenny Han

Geoff W

Book cover of "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" with Amazon Affiliate linkWe watched this adaptation on Netflix when it was first released and when I noticed the second in the trilogy was released I realized I wanted to go back and read the source. And really, there weren’t that many differences which was refreshing.

The move rarely strays from the book and I enjoyed the opportunity to revisit with Lara Jean and her dramatic junior year of high school. The book, more so than the movie, better captured the emotions of the three young women growing up without a mother at what is obviously a momentous time in their lives. And I really enjoyed the extended family information and few interactions.

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Books

Book 720: Camp – L.C. Rosen

Geoff W

Cover art for "Camp" with Amazon Affiliate linkSo, this is apparently the LGBTQ+ young adult book darling of summer 2020, or at least that’s what it feels like. I’ve seen it on so many lists, numerous bloggers/instagrammers I follow have already read it and sung its praises, and I know it’s already been optioned for a film.

Honestly, though I don’t get it. It was good but it wasn’t that good, even if it is all about fighting toxic masculinity. It reminded me a lot of the early 2000s teen RomComs, specifically She’s All That and Never Been Kissed. AND there are so many other books that have similar strains of finding your happily ever after by pretending to be someone you’re not and everyone overcoming the shock factor to just say omg yes, we’re in love. My response is of course rather vague so as not to spoil too much of anything if you decide you want to read it.

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