ARC, Books

Book 728: Where the Boys Are – Christopher Murphy

I took quite a few days before writing this review because I wanted to be thoughtful in my critique and honest in what did and didn’t work.

It’s always a little bit harder to write a response to a novel when it’s the author who reaches out to you to review their work.* I know how much of themselves authors put into their books and to then put it out in the world, I mean come on that’s more nerve than I’ll probably ever muster, so kudos to all of you out there brave enough to do it.

I’m going to start with what didn’t work, and then end on a high with the things that I really enjoyed about this work. So, stick with me because there were DEFINITELY some highlights!

Continue reading “Book 728: Where the Boys Are – Christopher Murphy”

Books

Book 725: Squared Away (Out of Uniform #5) – Annabeth Albert

You didn’t really think I was going to go more than five books without reading an Annabeth Albert book, did you? Okay noob. (I’ve got jokes.) I actually got this from the library (digitally of course) before I started the last two books, but since those were both ARCs with early July publish dates I wanted to make sure I got to them first and this was my reward for finishing them.

This is the fifth installment in Albert’s Out of Uniform series and features Isaiah (Ike) who made his first cameos in At Attention (as a potential distracting love interest) and On Point (as a contentious one-night stand) and Mark/”Wizard”, yet another super-hot navy seal with all sorts of hang ups.

Continue reading “Book 725: Squared Away (Out of Uniform #5) – Annabeth Albert”

ARC, Books

Book 718: The Deviant’s War – Eric Cervini

Every couple of years there’s a new kid on the block when it comes to the be-all-end all of LGBT nonfiction books. And every couple of year’s I’m sorely disappointed—I’m not sure if it has to do with the hype machine around the books, if it’s what they decide to focus on, or if it’s the author’s themselves (almost always cisgender white gay men).

When this book started to make waves in the LGBT book blogging community, I took notice. And then when I found out Cervini was giving a talk via the Boston Public Library, I requested a copy of the book via NetGalley to see why there was so much hype.*

Continue reading “Book 718: The Deviant’s War – Eric Cervini”

ARC, Books

Book 686: Enter the Aardvark – Jessica Anthony

This was a weird ass novel. I should’ve known it by the title when I requested it from NetGalley, but it was even weirder than I expected.* I’m sure I requested it because the blurb mentioned the modern protagonist was in deep denial about his sexuality, but that’s all I remember the rest was a weird wonderful surprise as I read it.

This is another dual narrative novel, authors really love those lately, with one portion taking place in modern America and the other taking place in the late 19th century England, and what ties the two together is a preserved Aardvark that arrives/is created at the most inconvenient time.

Continue reading “Book 686: Enter the Aardvark – Jessica Anthony”

ARC, Books

Book 678: Blowout – Rachel Maddow

My jaw legit hurt after I was reading this because my mouth kept hanging open at the sheer audacity of the companies, politicians, and countries in this book. Seriously though, let’s just say that, this is one of those books that if I used only emoji’s to review books would just be this gif of Nick from Big Mouth‘s Head blowing up in amazement.

I stumbled across this book after seeing a review in the Washington Post (months after the book and review were published) and I reached out to the publisher for a review copy and they kindly sent one.* What I wasn’t expecting was for this thing to be like a spy/thriller novel. It. Was. Insanity. Just when you think something more ridiculous can’t possibly be done, Maddow gives her smirk and says, “but wait….there’s more.”

Continue reading “Book 678: Blowout – Rachel Maddow”