Books

Book 839: Playing the Palace – Paul Rudnick

Book cover of "Playing the Palace" with Amazon Affiliate linkTwo in a row that I really wanted to like more than I did. After devouring Red, White & Royal Blue last year and reading various other royal MM Romance novels here and there of course I was going to seek this one out when I heard about it.

The story wasn’t bad, it was well written and would adapt to a movie easily, but where I really struggled was the characters and their voices. I’m not surprised to see it on a list with books like Jay’s Gay Agenda and Yes, Daddy, others which I felt were written more to be adapted for screens than as books themselves. (And full disclosure this did not stop me from adding The Sky Blues to my hold list at the library which is on the same list :-D)

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Books

Book 835: Legendborn (Legendborn Cycle #1) – Tracy Deonn

Book cover of "Legendborn" with Amazon Affiliate linkI was on hold at the library for months to get this one! I vaguely remember it being released, but didn’t realize it’s connection to UNC Chapel Hill (my undergrad) until I saw the cover and Deonn in one of the alumni newsletters and then of course immediately had to read it, but was stifled by the long hold times :’-(

I wasn’t only drawn to it because of the UNC connection, but also because of the modern retelling of Arthurian legends. I knew this was going to be a fascinating take on them with a Black protagonist, southern history, secret societies, and the first public university in the country, how couldn’t it be!

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Book 828: Bennet, Pride Before the Fall (Love, Austen #3) – Anyta Sunday

Book cover of "Bennet, Pride before the Fall" with Amazon Affiliate linkOf course, the second I received the email for this one from Gay Romance Reviews I filled out the form for a review copy 😀 No questions asked. And this was on top of already having some hesitations with Darcy being the dad of Henry from the Northanger Abbey retelling Cameron Wants to be a Hero.

As the Love, Austen series moves along I feel like Sunday is getting further and further away from the source material. This is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to an Austen retelling, but I’ve definitely noted people being less enthusiastic in their reviews.

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Books

Book 825: Say Yes to a Mess – Elle Brownlee

Cover art of "Say Yes to a Mess" with Amazon Affiliate linkI ended up grabbing this one after spending a bit of time looking for Two for Trust. I was really hoping to find it at the library so I could read it a year later and see if it held up as the OMG SQUEEEEEE I remember. When I couldn’t find it, I figured I may as well try another one by Brownlee since I enjoyed most of hers I’ve read.

This is Wiley’s story. He had to move back to his hometown when his grandmother got ill and he never left and all of a sudden his childhood best friend, Kit, and his reality tv show with his brother, Holt, are returning to town to film a special episode. Well Holt decides to pretend Wiley is his fiancé and it’s their wedding episode the brothers are there to film.

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Book 813: Cameron Wants to be a Hero (Love, Austen #2) – Anyta Sunday

Book cover of "Cameron Wants to Be a Hero" with Amazon Affiliate linkI was always going to read these. From the second I found out about them from Gay Romance Reviews or when I randomly stumbled across them at some future date.*  With a description like, “It’s Northanger Abbey, complete with a neo-gothic mansion and charming misunderstandings. But contemporary. And gay.”, hell yes I was going to read them.

Both this and Emerett Has Never Been in Love, were adorable retellings of Austen’s works. I’m a little concerned Sunday will abandon the project before she gets to Mansfield Park (even though I SWEAR we met the characters) or Persuasion, like it seems most do (stupid Marvel and Austen Project).

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