Day: June 20, 2015

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Of Monsters and Men (A Forever Home #2) by Caitlin Ricci

Dreamspinner Press, LLC

Blurb:

Seth’s life looks idyllic on the surface. He has a great job at the pet rescue with a fantastic boss, who happens to be a werewolf. He is getting his degree at the local university and has a best friend who understands that the most intimate thing for Seth is a kiss. But when it comes to relationships, Seth’s perfect life is a jumbled mess. No guy stays around because eventually, they always want more than Seth, who is asexual, is able to give. Seth wants love and a relationship, but not the sex that everyone puts so much value on.
Seth tries for something more with the man he has a crush on, but when that ends Seth feels like he’s back to square one. So when his boss’s brother, Jeremy, pushes his way into Seth’s life, insisting that he won’t press for more than Seth is comfortable sharing, Seth is wary. All of Seth’s experience says it won’t last long. But Jeremy is one werewolf who is used to getting his way, and might just be patient enough to wait for Seth to see he means what he says. 

  

Review:

I liked really liked Seth’s character from the first book so when I saw this sequel, I immediately went for it without reading the blurb because I really wanted to know more about sex character. As I’m reading the book I realized that Seth was asexual. When I realized that I will admit that my enthusiasm for reading the story tapered quite a bit.  I am not a fan of books with sexual MCs but I decided to give it a chance since I liked the first book so much. 

First let me start off by saying that the writing wasn’t bad at all.  I just found Seth to be kind of irritating, confusing and kind of unlikeable. Seth had a crush on Peter but ran when Peter kisses him and starts touching him. When he finally calmed down, he tells Peter that he’s asexual. Okay, now that the asexual thing is out, Seth then became upset when Peter became slightly sexual with him on their second encounter and said something he didn’t like. It wasn’t an offensive or crude sexual comment or anything like that but Seth completely overreacted to it and used it to 86 the man. Seth’s reactions, or overreactions to virtually everything irritated me to no end. He’s hypersensitive, quick tempered, sulks like a little boy and stews before he finally decides to talk about whatever it is that is bothering him. Then there is his aversion to nudity which is completely bizarre considering the make out cuddle sessions he has with Marius’s brother.

This brings us to Jeremy. Marius’s older brother, self and Seth proclaimed asshole. I liked Jeremy. I felt that his hard and gruff exterior hid a soft and caring interior. The thing with Jeremy, I felt came from out of nowhere. Yes, Seth thought that Jeremy was kinda cute but that’s about it as he didn’t really know Jeremy all that well, at least that’s what it appeared to me. So these two get together and have these cuddle, kissing and make out sessions.  And that’s it. That. Is. All.

I tried to like this book. I wanted to like this book, I truly did but I just couldn’t get into it. I wanted to try to gain a better understanding of how relationships with someone who identified as asexual worked. This is the second book that I’ve read which featured an asexual MC and I must say that this is not my cup of tea, hot or cold.  It’s not so much the lack of sex in the book that I found disappointing, I could’ve worked with that. It was just that the storyline was not strong enough to support, carry or compensate for the lack of of it and there wasn’t anything else in its place to make up for it. I’m sorry, but it is what it is. 

Rating: ❤️❤️

Buy Links: 

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press, LLC 

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Toy With Me (Sexy Secrets Shorts) by Annabelle Jacobs

Availble from Amazon

toy with meBlurb

Aaron is hiding something in his drawers—but that’s not his only secret.

When he moves in with his new housemates, Aaron intends to tell them about his sexuality from the outset. But a large pink item of a personal nature, given as a joke, scuppers his plans and he misses his chance.

Fellow housemate Rob is out and proud. He guesses Aaron is gay, and when he finds Aaron’s other secret concealed in his sock drawer, he takes it upon himself to help Aaron out with a little sexual experimentation.

 

This is a quick bite of the beginning of a love story.

Aaron is trying his best to be “out and proud” but he’s not quite that brave. Rob comes along and with the help of some toys helps him to explore his sexuality and his bravery.
There isn’t enough here to call it a story with a HEA, but definitely HFN with a lot of hope.

Both Aaron and Rob are very sweet and the writing is excellent.

4.5 of 5 hearts

4.5

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Holding Out for a Fairytale Audiobook by AJ Thomas Narrated by Jeff Gelder

Dreamspinner Presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6591

HoldingOutforaFairyTaleAUDMEDBlurb

When his vicious cousin Alejandro makes a violent late-night visit, San Diego homicide detective Ray Delgado gets a brutal reminder of why he left his family behind. Alejandro wants Ray to find his sister, Sophia, who disappeared from the UC San Diego campus, before the FBI digs too deep into his business.

Special Agent Elliot Belkamp spent his entire life jumping from one place to another, but his new assignment assisting a FBI task force offers him a chance to settle down. When Elliot catches a missing person’s case as his first assignment, the last person he expects to find poking around the victim’s dorm room is Ray, a one-time hookup he’s more inclined to punch in the face than kiss hello. After discovering Sophia’s disappearance is linked to a massive computer-based theft that has two powerful crime families ready to declare war, Elliot focuses on his investigation and tries to ignore Ray. As the search for Sophia turns dangerous, Elliot and Ray discover that tackling organized crime might be easier than resisting the urge to tackle each other.

Review

From the blurb you see that both men are in a similar line of work. They hooked up once, but it didn’t take. Ray is a player and not interested in permanence – yet?

Most of the story revolves around a dizzying array of crime investigations ranging from a missing person to murder to crime families. This is really the meat of the story. There is some sexual tension, a bit of fulfillment, some “why am I so attracted to you when you’re so wrong for me” and at the end some “absolution”.

I never really bonded with either MC, though I did find the fight scene to be particularly hot. (Elliot taking a Judo class while Ray watched and wanted.)

I didn’t read book one, though I think this is a good stand-alone.

When I read the blurb I was thinking it was going to be a hot and heavy enemies to lovers – and it is – but the mystery/crime absolutely takes precedence.

Audio

Jeff Gelder is hit or miss for me. In this case he didn’t do the story any favors. Sometimes, the way his voice lilts at the end can be distracting. Like everything is kind of a question. He didn’t do a lot with the voices or the emotion, so it didn’t add too much to my overall impression of the story. I’d have loved some sexy accents and growly sex scenes, but it was pretty tame.

Overall, if you are interested in crime novels with a romance sub-plot this is your book. I think if you liked book one you’d find this as good.

The writing was good, the editing fine, just not my type of romance.

For both, 3 of 5 hearts.

Love the cover though!

3

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