AysReviews

Only You (Coming of Age #3)  by Leta Blake  5 Stars The first two books in this series came out in 2016. They engrossed me utterly. How delighted I was, to learn that the final book was being released! The series is described as a "coming of age" story, not a romance. There are major relationship plots throughout the three books, but the story is about Peter's life as a whole, with his family, with his school, with his studies, his social life and so on.  This book starts immediately after the end of book 2. I had to quickly go back to book 2 to reread (for the third time) the last chunk of the book to understand what was going on. (While doing so I felt the strong need to reread the first two books again. I still plan to so soon). Only You is just as splendid and engrossing as the first two books. The joins are seamless, which is amazing given that this last book was written many years (7?) after the first two.  This is the story of Peter's first year at university,...

The Prodigal Prince's Fake Fiancé by Thursday Euclid and Clancy Nacht My rating: 2 of 5 stars ...I only kept skimming my way through this because it was free, and I kept waiting to enjoy it?  The authors depict the reality and vulnerability of being a trans guy very well I thought.  I didn't really enjoy this book because it didn't feel like the MCs were enjoying themselves. I was well shown, as a reader, that they were falling in love/were in love with each other, and enjoyed being together, but they were never happy about it. I REALLY did not like all the lying and deception. It's a fake fiancé book, which I knew, but I thought maybe being a couple of very rich people might make up for it. It didn't. There I was, flicking away at 50% of the book (getting that far took me a couple of days) ..."I'm so not enjoying this..." flick flick flick... Spoiler: One MC didn't tell the other anything about his family until 60% into the book. There was so much...

Perfectly Mismatched by Sarah Havan My rating: 3 of 5 stars The content warnings for this one include sexual assault and prolonged ("natural") childbirth scenes. Pay attention to these warnings. The alpha in this one was pretty awful, as they so often are in this series.  Broadly speaking, the world-building of the entire series has been pretty good.  Again, the pregnancy and relationship development progress in parallel. There is an added plot element, the sexual assaults and aftermath. The characters are well depicted.  As through the whole series, the omegas are all slim and sensitive, and the alphas are all large and pretty awful. This book includes an awful shouty family (who are amoung the good guys, not the vilains). In this series the characters are all very pro "natural birth" by which they mean childbirth without pain killers and the minimum of medical intervention. The childbirth workers such as the doula, nurses, midwives and doctors are all cheerfully n...

An Omega Kind of Love (Pine Wood Falls #3)  by Sarah_Havan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I liked this one better than the previous two, because I liked the two omegas. The Alphas tend to be a bit awful.  This book depicts the burgeoning relationship, the pregnancy and then the birth.  Havan notes "intense sex scenes" in the trigger warning at the beginning, but not the giving ("natural") birth scene at the end. You know, lots of prolonged screaming in agony. This series is a bit different from many mpreg series because it details the process of the pregnancy. Read 7 April 2023

An Extra Alpha (Pine Wood Falls #2) by Sarah Havan My rating: 3 of 5 stars We learn more about Pine Wood Falls. The books in this series start with lots of sex, detail the pregnancy and then the birth. The characters all seem very into "natural birth" and having lots and lots of children.  It's all very 1950s. The characters are quite likable.

Expecting (Pine Wood Falls #1) By Sarah Havan My rating: 3 of 5 stars Mpreg story with much focus on the pregnancy.  The MC falls pregnant although he's a man to both MCs' surprise. Through the eyes of the MCs we learn what is actually going on in this world.  There are quite a few typos and strange uses of English. I wish these authors had more read-through checks done. read 5 April 2023

How To Love Thine Enemy (How At The Moon #6) By Eli Easton  This is book 6 in a wonderful series. The previous book was published a few years ago. We revisit the groups we met in the previous book in Alaska. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone again. I think of these as "the dog books" as the dog-shifter characters are so wonderfully doggy without being simplistic or infantile.  The two (delightful) main characters met each other when they were young but not since, due to external factors. Their romance was lovely. Said external factors then intervene. I appreciated the setting in Alaska and the issues communities are dealing with up there. If you enjoyed the earlier books in this series, this will be a treat. Thank you long-suffering GRR for providing me with an advanced review copy of this most enjoyable book.

Rookie Mistake Anna Zabo My rating: 4 of 5 stars I tried this one again after finishing Book 2. Read the content warnings. The MCs are a bit odd. The 3 long-term friends - long-term (male) nhl players - interact like overly codependent mothers and daughters asking about each others' feelings all the time, while looking deeply into each others' eyes. It's all a bit melodramatic, angsty and overwrought. If you can get past that, and can get sucked in, it's all right. Just don't expect any of them to be guys or behave like guys and you'll be fine.

Molly Boys (London Underside, #1  By Vawn Cassidy My rating: 2 of 5 stars Didn’t like the writing or care about the characters.

Arthropoda Xenia Melzer My rating: 4 of 5 stars Mystery/Police Procedural/relationship arc Some poor editing, including poor English, including a few words that don’t exist. But I enjoyed the hell out of it anyway and am on to the next one. With proper beta reading, editing and proofing, this could have been an amazing book.