A life of books . . .
When this popped up on the Gay Romance Reviews site I requested a copy since I’d been watching Hall’s social media and book releases for some time.* I figured why not give him a go and see what I thought.
Unfortunately, for me, this was a miss. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t poorly written or anything and honestly, it probably had better copy-editing than most of the self-published books I’ve read or received via GRR. It just didn’t work, but more on that later.
I’m punching myself for not reading this book earlier AND for goofing off (aka knitting and Minecrafting) while reading it instead of blazing through it as it deserved. I’ve been sitting on this since November of LAST YEAR when someone in marketing at the publisher reached out with it.* I forced myself to wait until late March/early April to read it because I had a feeling I would really enjoy it and that barely covers my enthusiasm for it.
The premise was fascinating to me even if I was a bit wary of the Boston setting (I have bad experience with books being set where I live/have lived), but international art theft by college students, critiques on colonialism, BIPOC author, and characters, discussion of diaspora, ummm obviously I was going to say yes to it. I found out while reading the acknowledgments, that this has already been optioned by Netflix and I cannot tell you how much I’m ready for that!
Continue reading “Book 929: Portrait of a Thief – Grace D. Li”
Nope. Unfortunately, that’s the bulk of my response if you want to skip the overall review. When this landed in my inbox I said yes and had such high expectations because the cover looks well done and the premise was a great idea.* Unfortunately, the execution was lackluster at best.
Lucky Match is the tale of Lucky McGuire, a cocky student who started a dating service near his college campus, and Hayes Brantley, his recently divorced professor who’s decided to lean into his bisexuality and date a man.
Continue reading “Book 923: Lucky Match (Hearts for Hire #1) – Raquel Riley”
I am NOT happy with this book. I purchased this back in July 2015 and assumed, like many others on Goodreads, that this was a modern retelling of Jane Austen.
Like everyone else who read it with this assumption, this can be blamed on us not reading the blurb—nowhere does it say that it’s a retelling. HOWEVER, to take such an iconic title from such an iconic work of fiction and repurpose it without even mentioning Austen or her works in what you’re writing is either incredibly naïve/ridiculous or incredibly underhanded and manipulative.
Continue reading “Book 918: Prejudice Meets Pride (Meet Your Match #1) – Rachael Anderson”
This was a perfectly lovely, low-angst Chrismukkah fake boyfriend MM Holiday Romance.
I grabbed this because of the above. Who doesn’t love a fake boyfriend story or a holiday romance? I mean come on, it’s the perfect time of the year and weather to snuggle up by a fire and read a one-sitting romance with minimal angst and an adorable happy for now ending.
Continue reading “Book 884: The Holiday Hoax – Skylar M. Cates”