Tag Archives: M/M

Blood & Thunder

Book Review of Blood & Thunder (THIRDS #2), by Charlie Cochet

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Blood & ThunderAfter reading Charlie Cochet‘s Hell & High Water, I bought a copy of the sequel, Blood & Thunder.

Description from Goodreads:
When a series of bombs go off in a Therian youth center, injuring members of THIRDS Team Destructive Delta, and causing a rift between agents Dexter J. Daley and Sloane Brodie, peace seems unattainable. Especially when a new and frightening group, the Order of Adrasteia, appears to always be a step ahead. With panic and intolerance spreading and streets becoming littered with the Order’s propaganda, hostility between Humans and Therians grows daily. Dex and Sloane, along with the rest of the team, are determined to take down the Order and restore peace, not to mention settle a personal score. But the deeper the team investigates the bombings, the more they believe there’s a more sinister motive than a desire to shed blood and spread chaos.

Discovering the frightful truth behind the Order’s intent forces Sloane to confront secrets from a past he thought he’d left behind for good, a past that could not only destroy him and his career, but also the reputation of the organization that made him all he is today. Now more than ever, Dex and Sloane need each other, and, along with trust, the strength of their bond will mean the difference between justice and all-out war.

Review:
I liked this better than book one, probably because I was more prepared and knew what I was in for. It better fit my expectations, but it’s still not topping my favourites list.

It’s fairly well written. I kind of thoughts names were occasionally used a little too often to be natural, but didn’t think this was a pervasive issue. It just cropped up now and again. So, I basically have no real complaints about the writing. I don’t remember any big copy edit problems. So, I don’t really have any issue with that either.

It’s just that the whole thing brings out the ‘meh’ in me. Nothing strikes me as deplorable, but nothing makes me fall in love either. The closest the book comes to really piquing my ongoing interest is Ash and Cael’s possible relationship. Dex & Slone: I’m kinda done.

I feel as if the whole thing is like a high school class clown, who’s funny, but obviously trying so hard to be funny that you kinda laugh at him as much as with him and it’s just a little sad. Dex’s antics are over the top, everyone loves him (and really, who’s loved by everyone), he’s too good at his job, too loyal, too funny, too clever, etc. He’s too much.

Sloane, sexy as he is, grated on my nerves. He’s so in his head and so overly dramatic that I basically stopped caring about him. Plus, I thought poor Ash got ignored. I mean, going back to the facility was as bad for him as Sloane, but he gets no screen time for it.

Then there is the percentage of gays in the THIRDS. Now, don’t get me wrong, I read mm romance because I love them and I’m thrilled to know Calvin & Hobbs are working their thing out, Ash & Cael might finally get together, Letty is happy with her long-term girlfriend (or is it Rosa, those women are so secondary, cliché and interchangeable I can’t be sure at this point), Hudson is still pining over Hobb’s brother (and Vice versa), Taylor would love a go at Dex, etc. There appears to be one straight woman in the whole book…well and Maddox. And while individually each is hot in its own way, unless there is some reason for it, it starts to get redundant after a while.

<Don’t read this paragraph if you’re squeamish about sex talk.>If I am really honest, I also happened to think the sex in this one is redundant too. It is just all same-same. I know it seems to be a popular trend these days to cum in the mouth (at least in books, I don’t know about RL), I’m not really bothered by the act itself, but over and over to the exclusion of almost everything else? No thank you, especially when the tone trying to be set is making love as opposed to just fucking. More meh.

I also thought that the ending was anticlimactic. There was all this build-up and then just wham, we’re done. Yes, I get that this was supposed to be indicative of how much of a surprise it was to the leader of the Organisation too, but I felt cheated. Speaking of cheated, am I the only one who would have liked a little shifting in their shifter book? I wanted to see some big cat badass action, but it was not to be.

Anyhow, for a middle of the road, fun but not stellar read this one will do. I’d be happy to read more of Cochet’s reading, but she’s not on auto-buy yet.

from the ashes

Book Review of Daisy Harris’ From the Ashes

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From the Ashes

I picked up Daisy Harris‘ novel, From the Ashes from the Amazon free list. At the times of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
When an accident burns down Jesse’s apartment, he’s left broke and homeless, with a giant dog and a college schedule he can’t afford to maintain. And no family who’s willing to take him in.

Lucky for him, a sexy fireman offers him a place to stay. The drawback? The fireman’s big Latino family lives next door, and they don’t know their son is gay.

Tomas’s parents made their way in America with hard work and by accepting help when it was offered, so he won’t let Jesse drop out of school just so he can afford a place to live. Besides, Jesse’s the perfect roommate—funny, sweet and breathtakingly cute. He climbs into Tomas’s bed and tugs at his heart. Until Jesse starts pushing for more.

Their passion enflames their bodies but threatens to crush Tomas’s family. Tomas is willing to fight for Jesse, but after losing everything, Jesse isn’t sure he can bear to risk his one remaining possession—his heart.

Review:
I’m fairly torn about what I thought of this book. I really liked the characters. Tomas is pretty much everything a person could want in a lover. Yes, he has a few issues of his own, but any man who is so willing to put himself out there for the man he loves is alright in my book. And while Jesse comes across as young and naive, I also respected that he was hell bound and determined to stay independent. There were a lot of really sweet scenes. The whole, ‘you don’t have to be perfect’ thing made me sigh. There were also some cheesy ones, but nothings perfect.

But as much as I liked these aspects of the book, I also found it a little dull. There was very little angst. The two characters met, had an instant attraction, were forced by circumstances to choose to live together, and seamlessly fall in love. It was all just a little too easy.

But I also have this vague uneasy feeling about Tomas’ issue. I don’t want give too much of a spoiler, but Tomas has a problem respecting men he has sex with and what that means as a gay man. While I understand this wasn’t actually meant to be judgemental, rather a challenge for Tomas to overcome, it still made my skin crawl a little. Plus, he seemed to get over it fairly quickly in the end, all things considered.

The writing and editing were both fine and I’d be more than willing to pick up another of Harris’ books.

Hainted

Book Review of Hainted, by Jordan L. Hawk

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HaintedI borrowed a copy of Hainted, by Jordan L. Hawk. (Thanks, S.)

Description from Goodreads:
The Good Guy: Haint-working runs in Dan Miller’s blood. Not everyone can help the restless dead cross over, especially when the haunting threatens the Living. But the death of his parents six years ago forced Dan to give it up in exchange for raising his brother and sister, all the while struggling to keep their rural NC farm afloat.

So when the flamboyantly goth Leif Helsvin shows up on Dan’s doorstep looking for help with an evil necromancer named Runar, Dan’s first instinct is to turn him down. With two teenagers to look after, he’s already got all the trouble he can handle. Besides, the sexy Leif is too much of a temptation, and Dan is firmly in the closet.

The Bad Boy: Pierced, tattooed Leif never has sex with the same guy twice. It keeps things simple, especially since his oath to stop Runar has him constantly drifting from one town to the next.

But this time, it looks like Leif is going to need help, in the form of the very down-to-earth Dan. Since Nice Guys are off the menu, Leif just has to keep his hands to himself for as long as it will take to stop Runar’s latest scheme. But as Leif finds himself drawn deeper into Dan’s life, he quickly realizes he’s not just in danger of breaking the rules, but breaking his heart as well

Review:
I don’t usually use star ratings on the blog. But I think it will help me explain my indecision on this one. If I were to star this book, I would be stuck between a 3 and a 4. It’s not quite a 4, but it’s better than a lot of books I’ve given 3s to. I think my seesaw-opinion comes from it being a fine book, but grating on my personal nerves.

It is well written and well edited; no complaints on that front. I’ll definitely be looking for more of Hawk’s writing, but Dan and Lief just annoyed the living daylights out of me almost every-time one of them opened their mouth.

I did appreciate the twist on the characters, on who’s the strong one and who needs the healing. Well, they both need healing, but the bad-boy character isn’t usually the one written as fey-like and fragile and it gave the book a bit of something different. And I did like both characters. I also thought the side characters were very well done. Taryn was awesome, Bea was stable and dependable, Virgil gave everything a little friction, even Corey and Marlene added a little something to the mix.

However, the book is repetitive. We’re told the same information multiple times, very close together. I think if Dan blamed himself for not saving his mother one more time I might have tossed my kindle over the back of the couch. (This also made his sudden repressed memory and the strength he garnered from it at the end unbelievably convenient.) Similarly, Lief’s constant ‘if he knew the truth’ mantra grew old pretty quickly.

I was also absolutely sickened by the sex=love and instant endearment laden relationship—you know, the way the characters instantly start calling each-other baby and sweetheart and saying things like ‘I’ll love you forever.’ Especially since Dan simultaneously held onto the ‘he’s leaving next week.’ It was pretty clear that had fallen off the table. Plus, if I’m honest, Lief’s ex-prozzie, ‘I’m into toys and plugs and everything else’ attitude didn’t really fit the tone of the rest of the book.

Then there was the fact that I was confused about the haints. They’re supposed to be ghosts, but lets be real, they’re zombies. And I didn’t set out to read a zombie book. This wasn’t help by the fact that I found the action scenes fairly mild and almost always brief.

The whole set up also felt a little wobbly because Runar seemed to discover what he came to Ransom Gap for after he came to Ransom Gap. I can’t really explain this without a spoiler, but once he arrived he discovered something he wanted to find and went about searching it out as Dan and Lief tried to stop him (that’s the non-romance part of the plot). So, what brought him there in the first place?

So, in the end, it was a fine book. It really was. I didn’t even dislike it. I liked a lot of it. But there were just so many small annoyances that they started to reach a bit of a critical mass by the end.