Books

Book 721: Forgive and Forget – Charlie Cochet

Cover art for "Forgive and Forget" with Amazon Affiliate linkThis was a weird novel. I checked it out because of the cutie on the cover and the whole baking thing (there’s apparently a newer, hotter cover on Cochet’s website). It ended up being an amnesia spy thriller romantic comedy serendipitous mash-up that mostly worked.

Joe owns a pie bakery in NYC and has a traumatic past and when he finds “Tom” knocked out in his garden with no memory, he takes him in and trusts that he’s not a crazy person who is going to kill him in  his sleep and the story goes from there.

Continue reading “Book 721: Forgive and Forget – Charlie Cochet”

Books

Book 720: Camp – L.C. Rosen

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.

Continue reading “Book 720: Camp – L.C. Rosen”

Books

Book 712: Action (Murmur Inc. #2) – Quinn Anderson

Cover art of "Action" with amazon affiliate linkThis woman knows how to write a MM romance, or at least the sex scenes. I wasn’t so sure after reading Hotline which suffered from over description and somewhat stilted (non-sex) dialogue, but between that first book and this one Anderson vastly improved in my opinion.

Action takes us back to Murmur, Inc., but instead of the phone sex operators, we’re now on the porn side of the business. The bad ass sassy Collette is still in charge and still demanding the most/best from her employees. We have Pete, an adorkable power bottom in the porn star closet who meets Kyle, a daring rising porn star, and when they meet on set fireworks ensue.

Continue reading “Book 712: Action (Murmur Inc. #2) – Quinn Anderson”

Books

Book 711: Sticks & Scones (Check, Please! #2) – Ngozi Ukazu

Book cover of "Sticks & Scones" with Amazon Affiliate linkI’m so sad this is over. I waited a full year for it, and it was wonderful, but I’m still sad. I re-read each of the two books twice this time to really soak them in and make sure I looked at the artwork and appreciated the dialogue.

I’ll be frank and say that I’m not sure I enjoyed this as much as the first one. I don’t think it was anyone thing and I don’t think that should detract anyone else from reading it, but for me it didn’t have the perfection or the je ne sais quoi (that’s a nod to Jack ;-D) the first book did. There are spoilers after the jump, so don’t read ahead unless you want to know where #Hockey ended.

Continue reading “Book 711: Sticks & Scones (Check, Please! #2) – Ngozi Ukazu”

Books

Book 710: #Hockey (Check, Please! #1) – Ngozi Ukazu

Book cover of "#Hockey!" with Amazon Affiliate link.After reading this last January, I knew I would revisit it. And thanks to a gift card for Christmas to Barnes and Noble, where I don’t usually shop, I ordered a copy of this and the follow up Sticks & Scones. This was all before coronavirus, and I had Sticks & Scones shipped to my office, where I hadn’t been able to get to it for almost a month after it was delivered 🙁

But when I got it, you know I had to re-read this one. And I loved it as mush as my first read. This time around I spent more time luxuriating in the artwork since I’d read the story previously and didn’t need to focus so much on who’s who and it was worth it.

Continue reading “Book 710: #Hockey (Check, Please! #1) – Ngozi Ukazu”