Category Archives: books/book review

Wake Up Call

Book Review of Wake Up Call (Porthkennack), by J.L. Merrow

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I received a copy of J. L. Merrow‘s Wake up Call through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
South London mechanic Devan Thompson has gone to Porthkennack to track down someone he’s been waiting all his life to know. But Dev’s distracted from his quest by Kyle, a broodingly handsome local of only a few months, who’s already got a reputation as an alcoholic because of his strange behaviour—including a habit of collapsing in the street.

Kyle Anthony fled to Porthkennack to escape from the ruins of his life. Still raging against his diagnosis of narcolepsy—a condition that’s cost him his job as a barrister, his lover, and all chance of normality—the last thing he wants is another relationship that’s doomed to fail. But Dev’s easy-going acceptance and adaptability, not to mention his good looks, have Kyle breaking all his self-imposed rules.

When disaster strikes Dev’s adored little sister, Kyle steps up to the plate, and Dev sees a side of his lover he wasn’t prepared for: competent, professional—and way out of Dev’s league. With one man determined that they don’t have a future, and the other fearing it, life after Porthkennack is starting to look bleak for both of them.

Review:
I thought this was cute, but I won’t say I was blown away by it. I’ve read Merrow’s work before and quite enjoyed it (Muscling Through is one of my all time favorite MM novels), so I figure this is just one of those books I liked less than the others. It happens.

While I liked the writing and I enjoyed Dev’s regional dialect, I just thought nothing in the book stood out as special. Sure, the author included some heavy topics—chronic illness, adoption, rape, ‘the system,’ economic disparity, race, etc.—after a while they started to feel little more than plot mechanisms than anything deeply explored or fitting seamlessly into a natural story.

All in all, not a bad book. Again, I did think it was cute. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read it. But it doesn’t stand out either.

Finders Keepers

Book Review of Finders Keepers, by J. J. DiBenedetto

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J. J. DiBenedetto sent me an audible copy of his novel Finders Keepers.

Description from Goodreads:
It should have been a simple job. All archaeology student Jane Barnaby had to do was pick up a box her professor needed and deliver it to him at his dig site, along with his new car. Yes, his office was in Oxfordshire, and his dig site was in Spain, a trip of 1,400 miles across three countries and two bodies of water. Still, it should have been simple. 

And it was, until Jane discovered she picked up the wrong box by mistake. Not the one with boring pottery samples, but instead the one with priceless ancient Egyptian artifacts. The one that a team of international art thieves is after. 

Now she’s chasing – and being chased by – the thieves. And she’s picked up a pair of passengers who claim they can help her outwit them, get her professor’s pottery back and return the artifacts to their rightful owner. If only she could figure out which one of them is working with the thieves and which one she can trust in this high-stakes game of finders keepers.

Review:
This was utterly ridiculous. I won’t go so far as to call it bad, but it was just completely unfathomable. I found none of Jane’s reactions believable. Further, I didn’t believe international art thieves with a 6 million dollar/pound score would be so easily defeated or so plainly unthreatening. Jane never once seemed to really consider that they might be violent. And they weren’t, which made them mere cartoon characters. While the author explained why Jane took the actions she took, I couldn’t believe for a moment that a woman in her early twenties would do the things she did and have such amazing results.

Further, I was constantly annoyed by the references to Jane’s traitorous body and her willingness to trust a man she knew to be lying to her based on how attractive he was. Again, it was beyond belief. Plus, the love triangle fake-out was just annoying.

And there were just so many small things like this. Like her causing a traffic accident while traveling at high speed. This would have been unfailingly deadly in real life, but the reader is supposed to believe she hasn’t really hurt anyone.

Maybe a younger reader would have enjoyed the book more than I did. The writing is fine, as is the narration (by Cait Frizzell), but I spent a lot of time listening to the story and rolling my eyes, like “yeah right.”

At Attention

Review of At Attention, by Annabeth Albert

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I received a copy at Annabeth Albert‘s At Attention through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Lieutenant Apollo Floros can ace tactical training missions, but being a single dad to his twin daughters is more than he can handle. He needs live-in help, and he’s lucky a friend’s younger brother needs a place to stay. He’s surprised to see Dylan all grown up with a college degree…and a college athlete’s body. Apollo’s widowed heart may still be broken, but Dylan has his blood heating up. 

It’s been eight years since the teenage Dylan followed Apollo around like a lovesick puppy, and it’s time he showed Lieutenant Hard-to-Please that he’s all man now—an adult who’s fully capable of choosing responsibility over lust. He can handle Apollo’s muscular sex appeal, but Apollo the caring father? Dylan can’t afford to fall for that guy. He’s determined to hold out for someone who’s able to love him back, not someone who only sees him as a kid brother. 

Apollo is shocked by the intensity of his attraction to Dylan. Maybe some no-strings summer fun will bring this former SEAL back to life. But the combination of scorching desire and warm affection is more than he’d expected, and the emotion between them scares him senseless. No fling lasts forever, and Apollo will need to decide what’s more important—his past or his future—if he wants to keep Dylan in his life.

Review.
Meh, I keep trying to love contemporary romances and I just find myself bored by them. In this particular case, I found the story predictable and trite. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Apollo and Dylan but I didn’t love them.

I also liked the twins, but I don’t think they were accurate representations of small children. Not once did they throw a tantrum or be anything other than docile and adorable. Similarly, the two men’s perfect parenting just felt saccharine and unbelievable. We’re all failing at the parent thing by comparison and how am I supposed to relate to that? Honestly, this is my main complaint in most instances in which toddlers are included in romance.

The sex was hot, but there were no surprises (in the sex or the plot). The writing was mostly fine, but there was too much exposition at the end. As if, once the author decided it was time for the happily every after, she had to explain everything. The ending was sweet, but also completely pat. Does every m/m book have to end with a ****? So, all in all, it wasn’t bad, but I didn’t love it either.