Cat’s Stats MMC/FMC- Nathan and Isabella Genre- contemporary romance Length- about 70 pages Heat- they do all the things and engage in lactation play.Cat’s Stats MMC/FMC- Nathan and Isabella Genre- contemporary romance Length- about 70 pages Heat- they do all the things and engage in lactation play. It fizzles rather than sizzles. Series? Y Safety? Y Triggers- Sex, implied violence, stalker Tropes- Opposites Attract, Rags to Riches, Instalove Mewsings Why I disliked this book- it was the least convincing Instalove I have ever read. I just don’t see it. With a novelette or novella, the author really has to sell the Instalove. The sex scenes were just not particularly hot as they were disjointed and more about control than lovin’. And they kept having the same conversation: FMC- You’re so rich and fancy, I don’t belong in your world. MMC- Yes you do. You are my world. [repeat] Honestly, if it wasn’t so short I’d have DNF’d. I normally like this author’s work, but this one wasn’t up to the usual standard.
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**spoiler alert** My thoughts- Mila: I’m tired of being kidnapped! Me: Then we’re even, ‘cause I’m tired of reading about you being kidnapped.
At the thi**spoiler alert** My thoughts- Mila: I’m tired of being kidnapped! Me: Then we’re even, ‘cause I’m tired of reading about you being kidnapped.
At the third kidnapping in the book- Mila: Help! I’m being kidnapped! Me: Okay. Grab some milk while you’re out.
Here’s the breakdown: MMC/FMC- Damien and Mila Genre- Mafia Romance (Bratva) Length- 158 pages plus previews Heat- 1/5. They don’t do the main thing until the very end. Series? Y Safety? N. He and another woman, but before he gets together with the heroine. Triggers- Kidnapping, more kidnapping, still kidnapping, abduction. And violence. Tropes: Kidnapping, Kidnapping, Kidnapping, Kidnapping. (She’s kidnapped a total of seven times in the trilogy.) I think that this author needs to find a new plot device. I felt like it was Groundhog’s Day.
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Cat’s Stats MMC/FMC-Finn and Kelly Genre- Sports Romance (hockey) Length- novelette Heat- 4/5 Series? Y Safety? Y Triggers- explicit erotic content Tropes-Cat’s Stats MMC/FMC-Finn and Kelly Genre- Sports Romance (hockey) Length- novelette Heat- 4/5 Series? Y Safety? Y Triggers- explicit erotic content Tropes- Surprise Pregnancy, Secret Pregnancy, Neighbors, Friends to Lovers, Fanservice Sweatpants Mewsings What I liked- tbh, this one was not a favorite. It was a fast read and well paced. The hero and heroine seemed to have a solid relationship even though they didn’t have a solid grip on reality. What I didn’t- The hero and heroine are extremely unrealistic. He is a student on the hockey team and very busy. She has a role in an Off-Broadway show. They each live in a studio apartment. How are they going to have time to raise a baby? Where will they put it? Which one of them will have to sacrifice their dreams? I also didn’t like that none of the major questions in this book (and not just about the pregnancy) are not answered. The book seemed to be an excuse to write a zexytime scene. The pregnancy plot was not truly dealt with. There is not supposed to be a lot to a novelette, but this story had less than that.
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The Breakdown: MMC/FMC- Mike and Sarah Genre- Contemporary Romance Heat-1/5 The book was listed as erotica, but it’s not. Safety? Y Triggers- none Tropes-The Breakdown: MMC/FMC- Mike and Sarah Genre- Contemporary Romance Heat-1/5 The book was listed as erotica, but it’s not. Safety? Y Triggers- none Tropes- Surprise Pregnancy, Best Friend’s Brother, Keeping Up Sobriety, Friends to Lovers. Thoughts- I hate to say it, but reading this book was like walking through oatmeal. Pacing was s l o w, story was bland. The zexytime fizzled rather than sizzled even though the book was classified as erotica. The story just couldn’t keep my interest.
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This book was more of a preview than a prequel. It teases a relationship between a stepfather and stepdaughter. While reading, I couldn’t relate to thThis book was more of a preview than a prequel. It teases a relationship between a stepfather and stepdaughter. While reading, I couldn’t relate to the characters and found them pathetic rather than interesting. The purpose of a prequel is to set up the world of a story or series. The best ones actually are a story in their own right. That is not the case with this prequel. The other job of a prequel is to make the reader want to read the rest of the series. In that aspect, this book also failed. It didn’t sufficiently pique my interest because it has nothing to distinguish it from every other stepfather romance, except the fact that the story is incomplete.
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I’m on the fence about this one. The MMC is not particularly likable and the FMC is still unformed. I can totally understand why the MMC doesn’t like I’m on the fence about this one. The MMC is not particularly likable and the FMC is still unformed. I can totally understand why the MMC doesn’t like his father or the father’s girlfriend, but he is seriously crude and offensive to the FMC, and frankly, it goes beyond bullying and is especially inappropriate because she is a minor. I don’t believe that the author meant it to be inappropriate in quite that way (or at least I hope not) but the FMC is essentially still a child. However, I think story established the background of the next book. And it does set forth the interpersonal dynamics between the characters. I also think that it will pique many readers’ interest in reading the full book. These are the purposes of a preview, and this book is more preview than prequel. So in these regards, this book is a success.
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I normally enjoy this author, but this book was not my favorite. In general, I don’t like contraceptive tampering; that happened in the previous book.I normally enjoy this author, but this book was not my favorite. In general, I don’t like contraceptive tampering; that happened in the previous book. In this book, the heroine discovers she’s expecting and is concerned that she will have no say in the raising of her child. This is not an unfounded concern, considering the controlling behavior exhibited by her reverse harem. In this book, they track her down and infantilize her while they proceed to stamp their ownership on her. They vow to be honest, but they say straight up front that they are going to withhold information from her for her own good and so as not to upset her. The second half of the book is a little better. They share a little more information. They give her more autonomy. But the fact that autonomy is their gift is troubling. One thing I will say for the men is they are honestly not in it for the money. They feel love for her, enough that they are absolutely fine with sharing her and with not knowing which one of them is the father. And in the extended epilogues, they are all content, even if it smacks of a little Kumbaya around the campfire. I think Killian’s name is a bit on the nose, but he is the most distinctive of the three brothers, and the most entertaining. What he does to her is Over The Top, but at least he’s honest, unlike Silas who is the one who gave her the fake contraception and leads her to believe it’s real. Maverick is a little too concerned with everyone else and with business, and Silas doesn’t have much personality beyond his willingness to be duplicitous until the end of the book (and even then, it gets a little lost). In the last book they treated her very poorly; in this book they do try to do better. Here’s the breakdown: MMC/MMC/MMC/FMC- Maverick, Killian, Silas, and Mila Genre- Reverse Harem Mafia Romance (Organized Crime) Heat- ...more
Okay it's been ten days. Also, my cousin Becky has read it, so time for me to comment on GO SET A WATCHMAN. (We're **spoiler alert** Go Set a Watchman
Okay it's been ten days. Also, my cousin Becky has read it, so time for me to comment on GO SET A WATCHMAN. (We're gonna need a bigger post...) To start,
I. Hated. This. Book.
Now, I don't generally like to waste the energy I have on hatred. But the person who talked the (blind, mostly deaf, and possibly not in her right mind) author into publishing this should be dragged outside by the hair and shot in the head. Granted, very few books could ever live up to the incredibly high standard set by her previous work TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. (A book that for decades the author felt represented what she had to say.) But WATCHMAN is not the book to end on. Perhaps I would feel differently had the author not used the same characters from MOCKINGBIRD. Here's a rundown with spoilers: Well, spoilers and snark.
Once I picked the book off the floor from where I had thrown it, I realized that the the important thing was to Thank God that I didn't throw it at the wall as it could have left a mark. Here are some of the basic ways that this book kicked over my sandcastle:
1) Remember Jem? He's dead. 2) Dill has grown up and gone off to travel. I don't know which of the two is more fortunate. 3) Atticus is a member of the Klan. Yes, that Klan. Now, okay, maybe at some point, the KKK was a social network for southern white guys. I hope not, but being I'm not a southern white guy in a pre-civil rights small town, I'm willing to admit that I have a little bit of a HUGE FREAKING PREJUDICE against the Klan. 4) Turns out, Atticus didn't defend Tom (black man falsely accused of rape in the first book) because he felt it was right from a humanitarian or civil rights viewpoint, but because he wanted to win. WTH? 5) Scout is a grown up now (and I rather like her), but the main issue in this book is that her emotional growth isn't complete because she still worships Atticus and considers him the bar by which her conscience is set. 6) Atticus and Henry (Scout's childhood friend of whom I recall nothing and who is now Scout's love interest) attend meetings which are racist at best. The purpose of the meetings seems to be figuring ways to keep the local black people down. 7) Apparently, black people of Maycomb, Alabama have started to buy automobiles and to drive for the specific purpose of "asserting" themeselves. 8) Atticus listens to white supremacist speakers at the meetings because it is the speakers' Right to speak. (Okay, I can see that one. I don't know why anyone would listen, but yeah, people have the right to speak.) 9) Atticus offers to be the defense attorney to one of Calpurnia's grandsons in order to keep "them" from bringing in the NAACP. 10) Atticus apparently believes that blacks are "backward...illiterate...dirty...shiftless..." 11) The book posits that the NAACP and the Supreme Court are major violators of states' rights, less interference being a belief for both Atticus and Scout (although Scout does not share her father's white supremacist views) 12) The book claims that Scout is the bigot. I kid you not. Because she won't bend when she confronts Atticus about his white-supremacist attitudes. 13) The problem is supposedly with Scout, because she idolizes her father. And in order for her to be a real grownup, she has to realize that each person has his own conscience (the Watchman of the title) and that her hero has the proverbial feet of clay. 14) Scout is colorblind. This is not considered a necessarily good thing because she lives in a small town in the South. 15) Scout can get away with being colorblind because she isn't "Trash". Henry doesn't have that luxury. Perhaps if the book had been a bit more about the class system of southern hierarchy (instead of Poor Scout has to grow up"), I might have found it easier to connect with. 16) Jem may indeed be the lucky one, because he's been long dead before this got published.
Now, I'll take a moment and say that apparently I need to grow up as well, because I loved the Atticus of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, book and movie. And making Atticus an apparently long-term white supremacist certainly did kick over my sand castle. My friend Mike had shown me a very good article about WATCHMAN; it reminded the reader that the Atticus Finch who was a beloved character in MOCKINGBIRD has grown to have a life of his own with the book, movie, and studies that resulted. And that WATCHMAN was the unfinished first draft of MOCKINGBIRD,therefore, not the final version of the Atticus Finch that so many of us have known and loved. Reminding myself of this, between deep breaths, kept me from throwing the book at the window. I will say that an important lesson in life is Sallyism #1: Some people are just assholes. And I suppose that Scout learns this by the end of the book. Yes, we need to learn as we grow that our parents are separate people from ourselves. Yes, our parents have their own personalities and beliefs. This is apparently the lesson meant by WATCHMAN. But many of our beliefs and moral values as human beings are taught to us by these parents. Apparently, Scout missed a major memo somewhere. Ultimately, I could not put myself in a head space where I understand this book or where the bigots are coming from. I also can't begin to believe that racism is even remotely okay. I was born in the '70s, not in the post WWII era, nor before the '60s early civil rights movement. I was also born above the Mason-Dixon Line. Until now, however, I never specifically thanked God and Baby Jesus that I was born in the time and place that I was. And as open-minded that I generally am, I still cannot put myself in a place where belonging to the Klan or other hate group is okay. Yes, I have a big, freaking prejudice against the KKK and I am totally okay with that. I feel it is a shame that this book contributes to the literary legacy of Harper Lee. I really feel that somebody was looking to cash in; hey, I'm one of many, many people who bought it just because it had her name on it. I also didn't want to be ageist and begin with the belief that just because she is in her '80s, she is necessarily losing her damn mind; now I know that if she thought that publishing this first draft was a good idea then she has already lost her damn mind. Sooo.... Thoughts? Am I totally off the wall here, in your opinion? Have you read it?...more
Choice is an important part of the d/s relationship. It’s supposed to be safe, sane, and consensual. Mikhail puts her under the control of another (MaChoice is an important part of the d/s relationship. It’s supposed to be safe, sane, and consensual. Mikhail puts her under the control of another (Mary) without giving her choice. He also emotionally blackmails Sofiya into submitting to him by using her sisters as hostages. This is all done without Sofiya’s informed consent. Also, part of a dom’s job is to give emotional care to their sub. This is not happening here. The relationship between Mikhail and Sofiya reads like a story written by someone who has read about d/s relationships a couple of times. Consent is key. The relationship between Mikhail and Sofiya is not based on consent.
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The first thing I noticed were some minor errors. The tense switched back and forth a couple of times, Luca was named as Carmine’s son, but in the nexThe first thing I noticed were some minor errors. The tense switched back and forth a couple of times, Luca was named as Carmine’s son, but in the next sentence said he was as ruthless as his uncle (who had yet to be mentioned). Then there was a sex scene with a disgusting man. Ick factor. And a really badly botched murder attempt led to the hero suddenly deciding that he had met his match. Apparently he was intrigued because the heroine had the moxie to learn a lot of things about the mafia. I don’t know. What I do know is I don’t care for the storyline and I didn’t think that this book was well written. It read like Mafia Romance Fan Fiction. Not for me.
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Summary- After a one night stand with the hero, the heroine discovers she’s pregnant and believes that the father is her recent ex. She uses the fake Summary- After a one night stand with the hero, the heroine discovers she’s pregnant and believes that the father is her recent ex. She uses the fake dating service hero happens to moonlight with to bring him to meet her helicopter parents and make an awkward pregnancy announcement even more awkward. It occurs to no one for months that a paternity test would be a good idea. Hero plays hockey, heroine is a dog groomer. Mewsings I wanted to like this book, but the only part that I enjoyed reading was the description of the heroine grooming the dogs. It started out with a vaguely promising prologue, and even that was pretty average. The hero was blah and not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Neither was the heroine. The plot device of the dating service was ridiculous and contrived. The rest of the story felt dragged out and was, frankly, boring.
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Bennett and Tori’s story didn’t become their story until after the 20% mark. She doesn’t appear before then and he is busy having sex with other womenBennett and Tori’s story didn’t become their story until after the 20% mark. She doesn’t appear before then and he is busy having sex with other women. He has classic jerk behavior towards the first one; he knows he doesn’t want to see her again and won’t, but he makes plans with her that he’s not going to show up for to prove he isn’t That Guy who ghosts. Well he’s worse than That Guy. I’m all for a reformed man ho-ho-ho, but not for a guy who will be that mean.
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The reason I gave the book two stars instead of one is because it wasn’t actually offensive in any way other than poor writing and editing. I can’t evThe reason I gave the book two stars instead of one is because it wasn’t actually offensive in any way other than poor writing and editing. I can’t even….
Excerpt: “If I knew it would be this way, I’m not sure what I would have done next but our bodies pressing against one another, desperate for so much more, I need a lot more.” (Punctuation hers).
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I deleted the entire review I wrote, because it was basically me saying the same thing over and over. None of these characters are likable people. It’I deleted the entire review I wrote, because it was basically me saying the same thing over and over. None of these characters are likable people. It’s hard to connect with them. Marco and Grazia are well matched due to his lack of sensibility and her lack of sensitivity.
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Cat’s stats MMC/FMC- Priest and Sky Genre- MC Romance Verilite Length- about 100 pages Heat- they do the things and use the P and C words when naming paCat’s stats MMC/FMC- Priest and Sky Genre- MC Romance Verilite Length- about 100 pages Heat- they do the things and use the P and C words when naming parts. Series? ? Safety? YMMV. Heroine is kidnapped with the purpose of trafficking, but is not actually trafficked. Other triggers- the biker’s trifecta (language, violence, zex), kidnapping, more kidnapping Tropes- Age Gap, Damsel in Distress, Damsel Still in Distress, Damsel in More Distress, Damsel in Trouble. Mewsings I wanted to like this book. I enjoy Cassi Hart’s work and I love MC Romance. But this book was just lazy. There were grammatical errors and typos. And the heroine suffers from TSTL syndrome (Too Stupid to Live). She seriously trusts a bunch of strangers with all of her worldly possessions in the middle of a big city. Plus she doesn’t understand how GPS works or how to Uber. Or call a taxi. She gets kidnapped-admittedly not her fault- TWICE. I can’t believe Cassi had to use the same old plot device- TWICE. Then there’s the FMC calling the MMC “Daddy”. *facepalm*. The zexytime scenes are nothing new if you read a Cassi Hart (or an Olivia T. Turner, and at least her heroines don’t start with the Daddy crap). Overall, the writing was just lazy. The up side is that it’s readable, and if the heroine calling the hero “Daddy” turns you on, you’ll love the zexytime.
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This is not a romance novel. It is not even really a prequel, but a teaser, designed to introduce the characters and tempt the reader into reading theThis is not a romance novel. It is not even really a prequel, but a teaser, designed to introduce the characters and tempt the reader into reading the actual full book. The MMC is Dante, whose father is raising him to become the leader of his Mafia family one day, partly by having him beat the everlovin tar out of people who owe the family money. The FMC is Adalina, whose father beat the everlovin tar out of her when she was a child. Now that she’s grown, he orders his guards to beat the everlovin tar out of her. And we see the beatings. Her character is evidently destined to be a defiant punching bag. There is a scene that has on page child abuse. None of this makes me want to read the full novel. Honestly, I don’t think it would work for anyone, unless they really enjoy violent scenes of people being abused. I hope this book is free; there’s almost nothing to it and it would be a waste of money.
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