Tag Archives: lgbtq

Haru to aiden banner

Review: Haru to Aiden, by Alexia X.

1 Reply

Last night I read Haru to Aiden. I see that since I picked the book up in December of 2019, it’s gotten a new cover (several, it seems) and the author, Alexia X., is now going by Alexia Praks. However, I’m going to stick with the cover I have because that means I read an X-authored book for my yearly Author Alphabet Challenge. I would normally call this cheating, except that I honestly didn’t know about the name change until I went to download the cover to write this post. So, I legit thought this was an X-book when I decided to read it. I’m running with it.

Eighteen-year-old Haru Ono has been in love with his stepbrother Aiden Davis since he was in middle school. Trying to keep his feelings under wraps is annoyingly hard when they’re living under the same roof in such close proximity, more so since Aiden is so caring and selflessly showers him with kindness.

Haru knows that family is important to Aiden, who has been shouldering the burden of raising five younger siblings, and it’s best Haru never reveals his feelings to Aiden. Then again, an eighteen-year-old boy with raging hormones can only bottle up so much until everything starts to burst.

I think this book will have a very select and limited audience, but that audience will likely love it. I found myself not hating it, but not loving it either. There was a time I was very into Yaoi (and if you don’t know what that is, probably don’t blindly pick up this book) but maybe I’ve outgrown it. I think being an existing fan of the manga style/genre is probably a prerequisite to enjoying this light novel, which is essentially a Yaoi manga in literary format. And here starts my issue.

I don’t think it works as well as a novel as a visual media. I just don’t. So, there’s that. I also thought the whole thing read like it was written by a 15-year-old fujoshi, especially the sex scenes, which were exceptionally cringy. It was surprisingly well-edited. Not perfect, but not the hot mess you’d expect if Alexia X. really was a 15-year-old otaku.

I did appreciate Haru and Aiden’s struggles, though the plot progression has been lifted from a million other similarly themed manga. Plus, the support of all the other brothers and friends was lovely. I did have to wonder how the two kept it a secret from each other when so many other people seemed to know. All in all, I’m not regretful to have read it (especially since it means I can mark an X-authored book of my yearly author alphabet challenge) but I’m not in any rush to read any more of the series either.

It’s also worth noting, in case anyone uses this as a gateway to further Yaoi that, while this book is very careful to ensure we know Haru is 18 (the Western age of consent), many of the manga written originally for non-western audiences don’t make this consideration. So, the whole genre could be considered super problematic by American standards. Just know that going in, so you’re not shocked.

Lore and Lust

Book Review: Lore and Lust, by Karla Nikole

1 Reply

I purchased a paperback copy of Lore & Lust directly from the author, Karla Nikole, after seeing an Instagram post about having some for sale.

            
The slow burn vampire romance you didn’t know you needed…

Haruka Hirano is alive, but not quite living. Surviving but not thriving. As an elite purebred vampire in the twenty-first century, he is broken. Content in his subpar existence.

He is done with life. But life is not finished with him.

When he receives a formal request to oversee an antiquated vampire ritual at Hertsmonceux Castle, Haruka grudgingly leaves his home to meet another purebred. The vampire is not what he expects. Truly, he is unlike any vampire Haruka has ever encountered: cautious, innocent and with the warmth and gravitational pull of the sun.

Lore and Lust is an exploration of cultures, contemporary society and romance. It puts a whimsical spin on traditional vampire lore, while also creating a vivid new world where love is love. No questions asked.

I’m not sure how to rate this one. It’s a perfectly fine book. If I had to choose one adjective, I’d say it’s nice. It’s a nice book about nice people (vampires) getting together to form a nice, supportive relationship amongst their nice families/friends. The only thing missing is the inclusion of nice little babies.

And there is nothing wrong with any of that. It is a lovely, squishy, feel-good, slow-burn romance that was actually great as an election night distraction. The problem with all that nice, squishy, feel-goodness though, is that it leaves little room for tension, which combined with the third person present tense writing leaves the reader feeling distant and slightly bored. But more importantly, it isn’t what that absolutely stunning, but honestly dark and brooding cover led me to expect. In fact, I don’t feel it represents the tone of the book at all, as much as I love it. And I do; I bought the book on the strength of my love for it alone. So, how do you rate a book that’s perfectly lovely, but misrepresents itself? I don’t know. Right down the middle, I guess.

Outside of the mismatched tone and cover I only had one real complaint, the lack of significant female characters. There are only three females in the book, all relatively minor side characters. Two of them are grasping and manipulative and the third is dangerously close to being the cliched sassy, Black BFF (and I’d bet the love interest/heroine of a future book). Though Nino‘s Italian, so maybe that stereotype is somewhat ameliorated.

The editing is clean. There’s one point when Hau is sitting on the Tatami but gets up from the couch. But other than that, which might have been a misunderstanding on my part, I didn’t notice anything about the editing. Which is what you want in editing, right? And the mythos around vampires is a fresh one, which isn’t easy in a genre as well-trod as sexy vampires.

All in all, the book wasn’t what I expected, but also pointedly wasn’t bad. I’d certainly read more of Nikole’s writing and of the Lore & Lust series.

Book Review of Haunted and Harrowed, by Irene Preston & Liv Rancourt

Leave a reply

Some time ago I picked up a copy of Haunted, by Irene Preston and Liv Rancourt, from Amazon as a freebie. I honestly meant to read it ages ago, but somehow it ended up buried in the TBR. But when the authors sent me a copy of Harrowed for review, I got the opportunity to read them together.

Description of Haunted:
Noel Chandler had a good reason for leaving the L.A.P.D. for New Orleans, but when he walks into a burned out Garden District mansion, he discovers there are some things he can’t outrun. The spooks can find him anywhere.

As the resident historian for the cable show Haunts and Hoaxes, Professor Adam Morales keeps an open mind about the supernatural. Or that’s what he tells himself, until he meets a man who puts that principle to the test. Noel’s smart, sexy, and has killer cop instincts. One glance from his bedroom eyes has Adam ready to believe anything.

But is Noel haunted, crazy, or just another hoax?

Review:
I enjoyed this. I liked the characters and the setting. Plus, having read the Hours of Night series, it was fun to see what was happening around the events of those books. I did think the ‘romance’ progressed a little too quickly and I didn’t feel the ending was particularly satisfying. It felt like a preamble to something else, which I suppose it is. I’m really glad to have held off and gotten to read this together with the longer book, Harrowed. But the writing is excellent and I can’t wait for more.

Description Harrowed:
There’s nothing scarier than the truth…

Noel’s got issues. Like, he doesn’t know what to call his lover. Are they boyfriends? A fling that got out of control? Something more? Even worse, he may sometimes get waylaid by a random ghost or two.

Or else he’s losing his mind.

Now Adam? He’s stable and solid and warm; the kind of guy Noel never knew he wanted. He’s also the historian on Haunts and Hoaxes, which gives him a professional interest in Noel’s “special talent”.

When the ghosthunting crew turns up something weirder than normal at a Louisiana plantation, Adam convinces Noel to check it out. Instead of finding a haunt, they uncover a mystery. Noel used to be a cop and he grabs the chance to investigate something real. DNA is evidence. No matter what Adam says, the ghosts don’t prove anything.

But the past is done hiding and the spirits are going to have their say. Noel better figure out how to listen, because Adam’s job, their relationship, and even his sanity are at risk.

Review:
As much as I liked Haunted, I liked Harrowed more. Being a full-length novel gives it the heft I appreciate. It also gave me two complicated, flawed heroes trying to make the most of a difficult situation. I’ll admit that I got frustrated with Noel’s unwillingness to face or speak about his experiences, even when he and Adam were explicitly trying to explore them. While I academically understood why he kept his secrets (emotions don’t always make sense), I felt it went on until it started to grate on my patience.

I also very much appreciated the subject matter the book works with. It’s not an easy history and it would have been very easy for the writing to fall into didacticism. Or rather, I suppose the book is an example of didacticism (there’s certainly a lesson in it), but never comes across as too heavily didactic. I actually hate when authors let their sermon overwhelm their story in a fiction book. Preston and Rancourt don’t let that happen and I appreciated it.

All in all, I’ll call it a success.

Giveaway

As an added bonus, the authors happen to be running a giveaway for a $25 Amazon or B&N gift card. It’s running through the end of the month.

a Rafflecopter giveaway