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books, books, books: 2018 jan-feb
I, uh, read a lot of books in the first two months so I figured I should do this early. I stumbled into a good m/m ebook series, so burning through those was quick work.
- Just a Bit Unhealthy (#3) by Alessandra Hazard - Sell me on an unhealthy codependent relationship where it's supposedly platonic but still the most important relationship in both guys' lives: I'm here. Add in pining because on of the guys secretly loves the other one: I'm into it. This is part of her "Straight Guys" series so obviously the other guy is/thinks he's straight. Ah the delicious pining and angst. Plus, set in England where one guy's a football player in Chelsea FC (ugh) and the other his physiotherapist? It's all money. This was probably more emotional pining than physical, given that Gabe's POV was straight. I was a little uncomfortable with his having a girlfriend and kid along the way, but the id wants want the id wants. Bonus points: third person POV instead of the near-ubiquitous first person POV so popular in original m/m publishing.
- Just a Bit Obsessed (#2) by Alessandra Hazard - New trope: guy and his girlfriend add a guy to try a threesome. The two guys get more into it than they expected and can't stop thinking about each other. It is absolutely not great to the girlfriend, but that kind of guilty repression and shameful desperation? Here for that in my fiction, even though it's a shitty excuse irl. I am not reading this series for realism, and what I read I don't endorse. This was on the shorter side, but executed exactly what it promised, and the ending set up the next book.
- Just a Bit Wrong (#4) by Alessandra Hazard - This ended up being my favorite. Prickly and antagonistic leading to can't-help-it sex and then, ugh, feelings. They're the worst. Tristan is my favorite prickly woobie and Zach is just exasperated and they are just inexplicably drawn to each other. Zach has a fiancée but it's an open relationship so it's fine, he thinks, to just get Tristan out of his system. Except how he can't. Segues into delicious emotional h/c near the end of the book and I'm eating this up with a spoon. Also: contains spanking.
- The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner - And sometimes I take breaks from my voracious m/m reading to go to the library and read "real" books. I've been hearing good things about The Queen's Thief series for ages so I thought I'd finally tackle it. Looking back, I think this book is the most YA of the series; definitely the shortest, in any case. But I really liked the first person narrative here because Gen is so grumpy and genuinely dislikeable in some ways, but also relatable and allowed to have real anger and real fear. I saw the twist coming, which apparently the author expected, but it doesn't lessen the impact of the story. I really liked the worldbuilding here, including the mythology. Especially the mythology? It's lovely.
- Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis - A novella but a delightful one featuring an alternate Regency England world with elves and magic, a world where women run the politics but don't mess around with magic. But of course our lovely protagonist is going to do magic. There's a lot of backstory that is hinted at then slowly unraveled, but it never bogs down the present-day story. The protagonist did start off unlikeable for me, but I realized that was much the point, as she grew and changed with the story. (She has a cute romance as well.)
- Just a Bit Confusing (#5) by Alessandra Hazard - Back to business: the premise is two best friends who live in each other's pockets but are definitely not gay. Except of course one has secretly been in love with the other and has been pining for ages. Much like #3, this is all about unhealthy codependency, just starting off as BFFs instead of the physio/athlete relationship. I think this did a better job of showing just how unhealthily codependent they were, highlighting how Jamie could never be happy staying at Ryan's side watching him with girls, but Ryan would never put a girl/relationship over his BFF Jamie but unfortunately doesn't love/want him like that, so theyr'e just caught in a terrible cycle of wanting to be around each other but still hurting each other and building up resentment. The story did this so well I'm not sure I believe the clap-of-thunder happy ending, tbh. In fact, I debate whether I even wanted a happy ending for them, or just angst, separate partners, years apart, and maybe an eventual reconciliation as friends far down the road. But of course HEAs are mandatory. In any case, I was happy to see more Zach/Tristan in the background because they're indisputably my faves.
- Straight Boy (#0.5) by Alessandra Hazard - Short, short story to lead into the series. Prison sex! Glossing over the non-sexy prison bits, obviously. Then he just can't keeping thinking about it and wanting it and the self-denial is pervasive but overcome with strong lust. I'm tickled that this tiny story managed to include a positive portrayal of therapy, props.
- Just a Bit Ruthless (#6) by Alessandra Hazard - Oh man, on its face this was the most like Viewfinder: older Russian crime boss kidnaps a twinky young thing for nefarious purposes, then gets it on with him and gets obsessed with him and they develop feelings. Except the book is shorter than the Finder series so it doesn't drag on as agonizingly slow as I would like; the crime and the build of their unhealthy (and possibly Stockholm Syndromed) fixation on each other wasn't as believable as I'd prefer. I feel like the author veering into Russians was a mistake; the plot became more than the relationship, and therefore more than she could handle because there needed to be more worldbuilding for a realistic crime lord. Plus, awkward dealings with homophobic Russian attitudes. This was probably one of the weakest of the series. Luke was not my fave, the sudden sister was weird, Vlad was unbelievable in his role as head of security/betrayer, Roman was...fine. (Asami is sexier.)
- The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner - I loved this book so much. It took on a different note from "The Thief" and really set the tone for the remainder of the series. The politics are so good! The relationships are so good! I honestly had no idea how they convinced me, after a beginning like that, to genuinely end up rooting for Gen and Attolia. I didn't think she could be made sympathetic, but it was done, and well. And Gen continues to be painfully real with his pain and fear and fury, but also a courageous, fantastical genius who merits being a YA fantasy lead.
- Just a Bit Wicked (#7) by Alessandra Hazard - Still with the Russians...but a little more similar to the antagonistic but we can't help ourselves vibe from #4, which I liked. Again, I think the author is better off avoiding Russians and plots beyond romance, but at least the desperate sex was hot. It was a sweet ending.
- Just a Bit Shameless (#8) by Alessandra Hazard - She dropped the Russian stuff but turned into spy stuff! Which was still underdeveloped as a backdrop, but there was undercover lovers on a cruise, so I forgave a lot. Age gap, experience gap, and in the end this felt a lot closer to the Asami/Takaba dynamic of my heart. Got into weird "hacking" territory and crossed over with the Russians near the end, but overall a return to the iddy goodness that speaks to me. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
- Just a Bit Twisted (#1) by Alessandra Hazard - I finally reluctantly went back to read the first book in the series, which did not initially appeal to me because it was professor/student. And I still spent the entire book moaning about all the ethical and legal boundaries being crossed. Plus, the professor was a jerk abusing his power with really very few redeeming qualities? So this was probably my least favorite, all in all. It made an attempt into kidfic with the MC having two younger sisters to raise, but didn't give them much screentime so it didn't quite hit domestic fic either.
- Sutphin Boulevard (Five Boroughs #1) by Santino Hassell - Ahhh, a new series and a new author. Even though it was first person POV, the writing was tight and the voices great and I came out of this really, really fond. Plus, some POC! In a way that felt natural and integrated their lives/culture as part of their story but not in a noticeable checklist way. Best friends to lovers, detouring through life complications including work, family, and a stint with alcoholism... But the sex is scorching, the friendship always felt strong and real, as did the other relationships (both sexual and non). MCs allowed to have other relationships! Astounding. The heavy stuff was heavy and I wish we'd had more denouement, but it felt like an earned happy ending and I really liked the characters.
- Sunset Park (Five Boroughs #2) by Santino Hassell - Sequel, starring the younger brother of the previous MC and his cross-class, cross-culture friendship (and more) with this yuppie white gay boy from Connecticut. The clashes are real here but don't stem only from their Diversity; rather, the biggest clashes come from their own insecurities: Raymond fearing he's not financially well off enough to be considered a good catch and David insecure in Raymond's bisexuality and afraid of being kept in someone else's closet. They both do shitty things and say stupid things and hurt each other, but it's obvious through the whole book they care about each other as friends and as more, and they really are interested in each other despite all the respective baggage. Again, really hot sex. I will say, near the end, I could not get on David's side regarding his ex; they were both shitty to each other but they should've resolved that by staying the hell out of each other's lives going forward, rather than trying to be friends. But the ex is the MC of the next book in the series so he had to be set up as still around and not totally evil. Whatever, irl, you'd both be best served walking out of each other's lives and allowing a clean break to focus on your other (healthier) relationships.
- Illegal Contact (The Barons #1) by Santino Hassell - And now the sports series, with two fake NFL teams and a whole host of unbelievable circumstances necessary for plot. I'm not sure I ever came around to like Noah, our MC, who is an idealistic millennial SJW...but I will say he and Gavin both changed for the better after getting to know each other and learning to be a little more open-minded. The whole plot of this thing was weird, honestly, but I read it mostly to see where it was going. Apparently it went to a place where not only Noah ended up with a hot NFL star but so did his gorgeous female BFF. And then Gavin comes out in a Vice piece. And the bombshell at the end has the star QB come out on Twitter in support. Okay. Okay.
- Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett - A reread, because I don't think I appreciated the book as much the first time, too take aback by the twist. Going in knowing what to expect, and also older and wiser, I had a better appreciation of the story: the humor on the page but also the unsaid backstories of where a lot of these soldiers were coming from. It made me sad in a lot of ways, because a lot of the issues touched upon are still issues present in our real world (and not so easily or humorously addressed). But it's such a good book and an excellent Discworld standalone.
- Mature Content by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell (Cyberlove #4) - Oh man, I thought I'd give this a shot but it's about rival YouTube stars and all the book ended up doing was frustrating me. It wasn't even the culture thing feeling alien; I can buy into unfamiliar settings. It's more that the narrative decided one character was Right, and also the woobie, and the other one was wrong about every decision he made (including ones that could have been considered justified or reasonable) and was the designated screw-up who had to apologize and crawl back for forgiveness. No thanks. Nooo thanks. Both characters also made a lot of stupid, stupid decisions, though of course only one got called out and held accountable/suffered consequences. And the so-called hot and kinky sex was really just slightly rough sex involving fishnets. Please.
- The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner - Back to better books! I didn't know if I could love it more than "The Queen of Attolia" but I think I did. It hits my love of competent characters being ridiculously competent -- but, better, disguised as incomptent while slowly revealed that they knew what they were doing the whole time. Delicious. Costis is such an upstanding guy; it was nice to have a different POV but still see Gen shine. And it was definitely interesting because the reader knew things Costis didn't, so we got to see the unveiling for him, but there still managed to be surprises for us in exactly how Gen was pulling the strings.
- Strong Signal by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell (Cyberlove #1) - I thought I'd give a different book in the series a shot, featuring an online gamer paid to stream on Twitch, and an army dude who starts off in Iraq. But they connect online, have hot sexytimes via Skype, then meet in person and try to figure out how to be together IRL given their respective issues. Baggage everywhere! Once again, one party was decidedly in the wrong and had to change, except in this case I think it was reasonable. But everything sort of happens too fast, imo. I liked it better than "Mature Content" but I realized the co-writing made it hard to like the book/series. The writing varied too much between the authors and made both characters unlikeable and inconsistent. Alas.
- The Duke in Denial by Alexandra Ainsworth - Regency m/m. Overall sweet, but not even in the realm of believable. The duke in question is so naive as to have never encountered the concept of same-sex desire. This is the denial/pining trope played out to a degree that isn't even enjoyable because I just laugh at how ludicrous it is. Also, all the language sounds off, all the etiquette and propietary restrictions that I find it interesting for stories written in this time period to have to navigate -- nonexistence. One of those fun premises that fell down on execution and made me sad. I finished it merely to finish it but did not find anyone particularly memorable or likeable. Also the mystery/plot I nearly forgot about was equally ridiculous; the villain is cartoonishly evil.
- The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig - A standalone Christmas story amid a longer series I haven't read, but it did stand fine alone! The rec was on the hero being foppish and not Alpha Male, and he was delightfully into his clothes and fumbling about and sweet. I liked Arabella, was a bit surprised by the appearance of her BFF Jane Austen, and liked Turnip and the overall story. A nice cross-class romance, Christmas feel, and a perfectly adequate mystery. (Look, this ain't a mystery genre novel, let's just say that.)
- Down by Contact (The Barons #2) by Santino Hassell - I liked this better than the first! Two rival NFL players (and it was nice that a story about fucking football players actually featured POC for once: one Puerto Rican and one light-skinned black/Creole). They started off in the backstory as friends who became enemies who slowly became friends again after being forced to work together; all good stuff, plus the bonus of something akin to gay chicken. My only qualm is, again, everything happening too fast and not enough emotional angst, honestly. Plus it featured some of the characters of the previous book, which is a common tactic, but it works better when I liked those characters...
- The Carnalli Complex by Pas Shen - Originally published on AFF, still free online if you can find it. Straight up brothercest porn. All the Goodreads reviews for this are hilarious. It's terrible iddy stuff that is incredibly, ludicrously unbelievable, and yet entertaining if you're down for some combo of four (five?) brothers sleeping together, primarily all fixated on the youngest brother like catnip runs in his veins. And then a curveball with the mafia, whatever. It's fine, guys. It's just ridiculous smut.
- When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare - Tessa Dare's stuff is very silly and light-hearted and sometimes it works for me and sometimes it's too twee. It worked for me here, on a silly premise, but overall I liked it and found it sweet. (I like "The Duchess Deal" better, I think.) I wish she hadn't written out the Scottish accent, but I guess highlighting that part is really important to this conceit. Interesting mini-twist at the end regarding Maddy and her life dreams/pursuit of what she really wanted. (An aside: all baby/family cravings strike me as so foreign, so I guess that's certainly a sign for me.)
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