Books

Book 268: A Burnable Book – Bruce Holsinger

Whoa, talk about a fascinating novel. It opens with a murder and builds from there! I finished the book in just over three days (with severely limited time) and it is most definitely a page turner with realistic characters and enough actual history thrown in to make you wonder how much is real and what isn’t.

I heard about this book from Books on the Nightstand and I HAD to read it. Not only did the story sound fascinating, but I mean come on it’s about Geoffrey Chaucer. He was the first person, out of my family, that I can remember who had the same name and more importantly, the same spelling, as ME!

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Book 265: It’s All Geek to Me – J. L. Merrow

Merrow, J. L. - It's All Geek To MeWhat a quick fun read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and if Merrow were to expand this story into a longer novel, or even a series of short stories, I would definitely check it out. I received a copy of It’s All Geek to Me from the publisher, Riptide Publishing and received nothing in return for my honest opinion.

From the adorkable premise of the comic book store to the “aww” worthy ending, I couldn’t help but smile through this quick novella. I of course loved the two main characters, the gorgeously described Welshman Rhys and the adorably emotionally fragile protagonist Jez. Merrow did a great job building the tension between the Rhys and Jez and adding in a (not completely) unexpected turn. I wasn’t quite sure what the hidden secret was but I was so worried it was going to be something completely different and the actual reason was so adorable and their reactions were so adorable that I couldn’t help but smile.

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Book 257: Hunger Gays – Nathan Alexander

I’m not sure what I expected with this book, but it wasn’t what I got. When I requested a copy of this book from the publisher I expected a fun parody of The Hunger Games, but ultimately it wasn’t. This is my honest opinion and I received nothing in return.

Let’s start with the good. There is a lot of potential in this writer, the ideas and the story adaptation are there, it’s the translation to the page that needs work. The story is a basic copy of The Hunger Games but it’s solely men entered into the tournament and rather than just killing for survival there has to be some sort of erotic act as well. I think the best thing about this novel, by far, is the name of the government drag queen: Lady Mary Posa.

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Book 240: After the Fall (Tucker Springs #6) – L. A. Witt

Now this is how you write a romance novel! There was one line that captured this for me, “A first kiss was usually a one-way ticket to a one-night stand or an awkward exit, but this one . . . I didn’t know where anything was going now.”

I was worried about where the Tucker Springs series was going, but L. A. Witt single-handedly brought the series back to a great, if predictable (it is romance after all), place and pace. I was so impressed with this addition to the series that I’m convinced I should probably look into whether Witt has written any other MM romances and it left me hoping she will contribute more to the series! I received a copy of After the Fall from the publisher in return for my honest opinion of the novel. I received no compensation.

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Book 232: Good Boy (Theta Alpha Gamma #4) – Anne Tenino

To be completely honest this book was a waste of time for me. It had so much potential going into it, but I didn’t realize how short it was. I will say that if I had paid for a copy of this book, or waited for a long time on a hold list I would have been that much more disappointed than I was. However, I received a copy of Good Boy from the publisher and received no compensation for my honest opinion of the work.

What bothered me about this book was that it seemed to be a hold over until the next book in the series could be released. And this wouldn’t have bothered me anywhere near as much, but the story brings up quite a few things that I assume are answered in a later story in the series, but why bring them up now in 77 pages, why not write a longer book? I would rather have waited much longer and had this book fully fleshed out, rather than be subjected to the short-story/novella form of this book in its current format.

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