My first thought after chapter one was that Chris is too earnest, too eager, an open book. And how much I loved the idea of that for Joq.
Seeing Joq inMy first thought after chapter one was that Chris is too earnest, too eager, an open book. And how much I loved the idea of that for Joq.
Seeing Joq internally crash out whenever Chris got unrelenting business calls was sad, though. Chris would be prioritizing their conversations over business and Joq would be having war flashbacks about the past when George would be shady about picking calls because it was Finn....and what that ended up meaning.
Asking your boyfriend for some time to allow you get over your side piece is ballsy. Did not think our Georgie had it in him.
George fucking Joq while Asking your boyfriend for some time to allow you get over your side piece is ballsy. Did not think our Georgie had it in him.
George fucking Joq while thinking solely of Finn reminded me of that time in Devious Maids when Evelyn asked Adrian if he'd fucked her with another woman's erection.
Naughty Georgie. The worst part was that he wasn't even imagining Finn in sexual situations. Just Finn being Finn. Only imagining a kiss at the end.
Evan's personality is as vibrant as a tomato that's been stuck between burger buns for two days so I don't understand why Harry and Roman are into himEvan's personality is as vibrant as a tomato that's been stuck between burger buns for two days so I don't understand why Harry and Roman are into him.
Also, this was the sneakiest way to get me to read an MMM. I really need to start looking at the tags on fics.
Because let me tell you the scream I let out when Harry was having confusing Roman-infested orgasms? LOUD AF.
Like there was just no way. He couldn't stand Roman because Evan seemed to prefer him.
This was a clusterfuck. But in a good way. The showing wasn't matching the telling. Both Harry and Roman thought Evan was more into the other.
And I can't even get into how unbelievable mousey Evan finding the balls to tell these two that he wanted to date them both was. There's no way. The Evan I saw? Wild. Always the quiet ones, huh.
Harry and Roman separately losing their minds to jealousy? That I could believe. Always imagining the other fucking Evan? Yep. The imagination always devolving into horny breathless behavior?
Immediately jail.
To be fair, it really wasn't shocking that it ended up that way. Though I still don't know what they see in Evan. That guy wouldn't be able to choose between an apple and an orange. Never met a decision he wanted to make.
And the time Roman kissed Harry and Evan thought that meant they'd decided to choose each other instead of him and all he had to say was 'okay'?
Evan is an insult to doormats everywhere.
Kinda sorta wish they'd chosen to move forward withOUT him lol.
But also.
This sounds like a logistical nightmare honestly. What if one gets traded? What if TWO get traded to different teams? Then what?
Anyway. Three (dick)heads are better than one so I'd hope they can figure it out.
Took WAY too long to get through this one because I'd legitimately have to fight tears at every Mike Brouwer x Liam cameo. Bittersweet reading their day to day romance knowing Mike's about to die. Officially retraumatized.
The overall worst thing about this though? How on earth did Roman blow a one YEAR lead? By all accounts Evan was panting after him the entire rookie year. And he only got his head out of his ass after Evan started fucking Harry.
Pregnancy scares. Multiple children. Marriage to people that are not the love of their lives. This one was a clusterfuck(not derogatory).
On one hand, Pregnancy scares. Multiple children. Marriage to people that are not the love of their lives. This one was a clusterfuck(not derogatory).
On one hand, I get it. I do. Because there was so much anger when we left these two that it wasn't feasible they'd get back together immediately. But we left them at 24/25. And this one spans till they're 34/35.
So a decade, give or take. And they still can't figure shit out. Avoiding, as always. To be fair, maybe they thought they'd moved on. I wanted to tag this 'fated mates' for the sheer inability these two have to stay out of each other's lives.
Also, I think making the first half of this Georgie's POV was a miss for me. I don't like him. I don't want to be in his head and seeing things from his perspective changed nothing for me in regard to his lying cheating ways.
I didn't like this one as much as the first for obvious reasons. They're not even in each other's lives for the first half and while that changes in the second half, they're not together or even working towards it by the end.
I wouldn't even say they're friends by the end of this, though they're working towards it.
Well. Working towards being friends while the wife works on saving her marriage ...more
If you're ever in the mood for feeling like your heart's been blended, I highly recommend this one.
No joke—this one's a stark depiction of what infideIf you're ever in the mood for feeling like your heart's been blended, I highly recommend this one.
No joke—this one's a stark depiction of what infidelity can do to someone.
The first half is told concurrently between the past and the present.
Georgie gets traded to Robbie's team and it's clear from the flashbacks that these two used to be inseparable (as friends and boyfriends) until Georgie cheated on Robbie and they split up.
I could tell why Robbie was angry and blindsided by both the past and present because reading about these two in the past? It doesn't make sense that Georgie would have done that. He was as gone for Robbie as the reverse, more maybe, and I hoped there's been some miscommunication somewhere.
Welp. There. Was. Not.
So. George's a cheater(for reasons that I then hoped would be forgivable, maybe? -spoiler alert? They weren't)
And Robbie's the poor baby who now has to face his ex whom he last saw after he walked in on him shortly after a hookup with someone that wasn't him three years ago.
Given Robbie's emotional situation in the present, it's clear he never really dealt with the heartbreak, just sort of shoved it down because he is WRECKED.
So here he is, in a locker room where he can't avoid his ex(they play on the same line), he can't talk to his close friends on the team(because the rest of the team is already giving Georgie a wide berth since nobody wants to piss him off as he's usually so easy going that the team figures if he has something against Georgie, Georgie HAS to have done something terrible. Which... Fair)
And he's not dealing. At all. He gets angrier and angrier, and more hurt, and eventually depressed.
Doesn't help that the fucking cheater is in his ear all the time, saying he's sorry a thousand times, talking about how Robbie's the love of his life. And how he understands why Robbie's so angry at him.
Andddddddd then they start fucking. Hate fucking, sure, but it's tearing them both up.
I don't know if it's better for the person who cheated on you to go on to live happily ever after with that person, or for them to have fucked you over for nothing in the end.
Because the latter's what happened here and let me tell you it is difficult to read.
Robbie HATES Georgie. For cheating on him. For ruining their friendship. For showing up on his team. For taking on the martyr role and just sucking it up whenever Robbie needs a punching bag. But most of all he hates Georgie for the simple fact that Robbie is still so, SO in love with him.
And after each fuck(sometimes before, some during ...more
I always admire how MCs have the restraint not to blurb shit when the other has some sort of amnesia. The doctors would simply have to hate me becauseI always admire how MCs have the restraint not to blurb shit when the other has some sort of amnesia. The doctors would simply have to hate me because I'd sing like a canary. You forgot shit? Let me catch you up.
No idea what Jack did to the gods in a previous life but yeeish. He's been a victim of circumstances as far as anything to do with Sean was concerned for a decade. And the hits just kept coming.
Their memories, though. At first I was so frustrated with Jack for not just telling Sean, because Sean begged and begged. But reading through the memories? All that little shit? Yeah, there's some stuff you can't explain. Stuff you can only feel.
I started to understand when he kept telling himself he couldn't tell Sean the truth about them because if he did and Sean didn't believe him, it would break him.
It legit got to a point where I was sadder than Jack about the absence of Sean's memories. Because it was breaking him regardless and he had to hold himself together for Sean, who btw is no fucking walk in the park. And he had no one to lean on because nobody else knew about them.
It didn't help matters that they'd had a D/s dynamic before Sean's accident, so without him there in the Dom capacity, Jack was flailing.
This one's sadder than the others because it's not just messy relationship drama. It felt like Jack fighting for his life and he's not even the one that got his body broken.
When the memories returned?
When Jack burst into tears I was right there with him. I'm not even going to lie, that man wouldn't have made it if Sean hadn't remembered.
“Whatever you want.” “‘Cos we always do what I want?” Sean smiled up at him. “I always want what you want,” Jack said simply.
Like...??? Tell me that's a man who'd have made it.
And I was just so happy that he got his dom back, man. Watching his heart break again and again daily was really ruining the vibe.
Fucking CARRUTHERS finds love? Before me? CARRUTHERS?! The one everyone else in the league finds annoying? Nah. I need to lock in.
I should unread thisFucking CARRUTHERS finds love? Before me? CARRUTHERS?! The one everyone else in the league finds annoying? Nah. I need to lock in.
I should unread this. Just on principle.
Also, beaming is most definitely a 'this author thing' because one in each pairing of MCs does it in every book, but I still giggle and kick my feet each time(it's so adorable —why can't you control your face around him OMG?) .
This one had a very down bad MC.
'And he would like to think that he could handle being Derek’s best friend, and having sex with him, and being cool with everything, but he thinks it might kill him, actually, even if he’d say yes, because he always says yes.'
Yep. Always said yes. Even if for most of the book, Carruthers was giving 'only gay when drunk' vibes.
Glad it wasn't that, though.
The most ridiculous bit is these two coming out very extravagantly in the locker room and nobody paying attention because they've always been like this lol. Love when people seem to already be together as far as everyone (except them) is concerned.
'Two days later Dan and Lapointe get caught at City Hall red-handed'
I don't think there's a feasible way to write an exhaustive review for a 1,993 paged book. So I'll just say this—if there were 1,993 more pages of THII don't think there's a feasible way to write an exhaustive review for a 1,993 paged book. So I'll just say this—if there were 1,993 more pages of THIS story? I'd start on them TODAY.
First things first. My deepest apologies to Ilya Rozanov because I legitimately didn't think it could ever be done but....here we are. I've found a new golden standard for hockey romance.
I'm sorry in advance for any hockey romance I read after this. Nothing that came before compares, and I'd be incredibly surprised if any that comes after can.
Baby gets what baby wants. Basically the synopsis for this book. And Jared complaining that he doesn't want Bryce to just DO things to make Jared happy, but making Jared happy IS what Bryce wants. So...more
I think one of my favorite things about this author is that they're not afraid of writing hockey MCs who burn with jealousy at the other MC's career wI think one of my favorite things about this author is that they're not afraid of writing hockey MCs who burn with jealousy at the other MC's career wins. Especially when they're on different teams...more
This poor baby walked in on this guy having sex with another man, BURST into tears, and this guy's immediate reLeo loving Will is a form of self-harm.
This poor baby walked in on this guy having sex with another man, BURST into tears, and this guy's immediate reaction was to say, “I told you,”.
Nah. Immediately jail.
"See, I want to give you what you want. You know? I want you to be happy because I—I care about you so much. But I can’t really because giving you what makes you happy makes me so… so fucking miserable.”
Sadly, the fact is that Will never lied to Leo. I really wanted to tag this under cheating but it wouldn't have been accurate. They weren't together, he never claimed to have stopped sleeping with other people (actually went out of his way to insist that he would still see other men) but somehow, with only Leo's POV, I started to hope. So, naturally, when his heart got crushed, I felt bad for him.
What I detested about Will, though, was his inability/refusal to leave Leo be. Fine, you're not interested in a relationship, or monogamy. Leo learnt that lesson in a way no one should ever have to. And begged you to leave him be so he can in turn leave you be. Fair's fair, right?
Apparently not. Suddenly, Will was the one who couldn't stop reaching out. Calling again and again, using Leo as emotional support for his family drama. Which..... I get it, they were friends. But Leo asked to dead the situationship, and it felt unfair given the circumstances for Will to keep pushing.
He really wanted to have his cake and eat it. If you need people to respect your boundaries in spite of how it hurts them, it's only fair to respect theirs in spite of how it hurts you.
That said....
These two are also deeply unserious people. Because how do you ask someone to SHOW YOU how he fucked someone else (and not in an 'I want all the details so I can get the hurt over with and hate you forever with ease' but in a 'LET'S HAVE SEX RIGHT NOW THE PRECISE WAY YOU HAD SEX WITH HIM' way)
Unbelievable scenes.
What I really hated about their entire deal was how Leo started out as this starry-eyed romantic and by the end he was this disillusioned pragmatist.
'I wanted to tell him that if he needed to still sleep with other people, I was willing to talk about it if it meant we could… I dunno, have something more.'
Baby.
BABY. No.
And Will just got to keep being a selfish dick.
He made everything about him after the incident. Boo hoo, you left me after you walked in on me fucking someone else. Like.....no kidding! What else could he have done?!
“It was just sex. It was nothing. You were my best friend. You were my best fucking friend and I’d told you the truth and you just left me. No more hanging out, no more talking or texts. No more… anything. That one moment meant more to you than every fucking thing we’d shared. That sex meant more to you than it ever could have to me. Because then you were just gone.”
I BEG YOUR MOTHERFUCKING PARDON?!
That sex meant more to you than it ever could have to me.
This man RIGHT HERE, officer!
This may be the worst thing I've ever seen ...more
Plane crash? Tropical island survival? Separation of 5 years from husband back home who thinks he's dead? Rescue just in time to find him 3 weeks awayPlane crash? Tropical island survival? Separation of 5 years from husband back home who thinks he's dead? Rescue just in time to find him 3 weeks away from marrying again? Exquisite. No notes.
For me, the standout here was how the author was able to make me feel such gut-wrenching grief on Sam's behalf for a man I knew wasn't dead.
"Dear Henry, I want you to know that I tried—" in reference to being unable to move on from your husband's death even though when he was still alive, you'd promised him you'd find a way to be happy again in the event he died before you. I wanted to wail.
Him struggling to let go of that small glimmer of hope that maybe Henry was still alive, even two years after the plane crash, it killed me.
Meanwhile on the deserted island, Henry struggling with himself because much as he didn't want Sam to die pining for him, he also couldn't stomach the idea of Sam moving on and finding happiness with someone else, especially since he'd been the one that asked him to make that promise.
Goodness, the emotions in this book! I used to pray for times like this.
And then Sam fell in love again.
'It felt incredibly good, finally, fully keeping that promise he’d made to his dead husband so many years before.'
Yikes.
The reunion scene with Sam, Sam's fiancé and Sam's husband?
There's enough fucking in this book to publish 5 separate medium-heat romance novels.
At a point(like 20% in) I wanted them to just LAY DOWN THE DICKS There's enough fucking in this book to publish 5 separate medium-heat romance novels.
At a point(like 20% in) I wanted them to just LAY DOWN THE DICKS AND TALK.
Like, please, please, lay down your tools and get to a round table.
From the blurb, I went into this ready to defend Jason to the death. But reading it, I feel like he's the drama. He made up this whole decision for Mik and fucked them both over for EIGHTEEN years.
But these two sad fucks got around each other for the first time in decades and got straight to fucking.
'I don't know what to say. Part of me wants to assure him that nothing happened. With my wife. Who I'm cheating on. With him.'
Mmm. Yes. The kind of cheating I'm here for.
“If I could stay inside you, I would,” Jason says.
We KNOW. I'm sure Mik's hole was a shade darker than burgundy by this point.
“I want to wake up inside you for the rest of my life, Mik Sanders.”
Let's all say a prayer for Mik, because Jason means that shit.
Lol this reminds me of that Westlife song, Flying without Wings, where for the LONGEST time I thought the lyrics were 'Well, for me, it's waking up INSIDE you'.
I used to side eye people having it played on regular parties like OMG these people are so horny, and then years later I figured, oh.....OH. It's waking up BESIDE you.
My bad y'all.
I would review the plot but.....what plot? The sex is good, though.
I maintain my thoughts that Jax Calder's book is a better execution of this EXACT situation....more
"I’m here because you’ve broken my heart, Iain." "Why do you have to ruin everything with this—this ridiculous, childish devotion!"
Said out loud. In f"I’m here because you’ve broken my heart, Iain." "Why do you have to ruin everything with this—this ridiculous, childish devotion!"
Said out loud. In front of God and man. AFTER like a fourth brush off in as many years. It's the delusion for me. I looooooove a down bad MC. Yikes. Secondhand embarrassment never felt so good.
The word friend was one Iain used like a battering ram to wallop Jamie on the head over and over again. No wonder he reacts violently to it now.
I loved this one as well. Now I must listen to the other books in the Enlightenment series.
Though I'm worried in advance because the author seems really great at setting up the angst and the heartbreak but the grovels are a bit too brief for me.
Years (YEARS!) of torment and then once they move on, one love declaration is enough to bring them down to their knees.
I just want a longer grovel. Fight back a little, damn.
And these two deserved an epilogue. I had a medical need to see Iain love Jamie the way he deserved after all these years of walking away. It wasn't enough that Iain always came back. Jamie deserved his moment. He really deserved the effort.
A real yearner, our Andy. Can't see the forest for the trees, but hey. When it comes to yearning??? No one has him beat.
This is one of those books wheA real yearner, our Andy. Can't see the forest for the trees, but hey. When it comes to yearning??? No one has him beat.
This is one of those books where the decision to go single POV was absolutely the right call.
Because honestly there were so many moments when I thought.....there's something about this that's not quite adding up. I loved the twist.
I loved that there's no third act breakup. We had enough pain in the first half, didn't need it in the second. See how you DON'T need to break up a couple to cause angst in the final chapters?
'It’s not just the fact that I love him that’s always been my problem. It’s not even the fact that I lust after him like a man who is possessed. It’s the fact that above everything, I like him. I like him more than anyone else.'
Andy is so far GONE for this guy, it's comical. The time he convinced himself that enough time had passed and he was at least ninety percent over West, then spent a few hours in his company and left knowing he wasn't even fifty percent over him? I CACKLED.
The irony in this book, though.
Anyway.
The first thing Andy thought when he laid eyes on West for the first time was, 'ugh'. And given the heartache these two put each other through, that was some pretty accurate foreshadowing on his part.
I love these two so much but they're incredibly stupid about each other and I don't mean that in a good way.
This book is so amazing and I feel alive again. There's something about angst that's just so delicious....more
How do I kindly but firmly tell an author that their romcoms are fine and dandy but angst is ABSOLUTELY their forte? How do I give a book ten stars?
'How do I kindly but firmly tell an author that their romcoms are fine and dandy but angst is ABSOLUTELY their forte? How do I give a book ten stars?
'He’s everything I remember.' 'I wasn’t crazy. He is amazing.'
This book was everything I want in a book and then some. Had me feeling all the angst without falling back on overused tropes.
I love when there are problems that are not a direct consequence of one MC being an Unforgivable Dick™
Why can't we have more of this? THIS is why I read romance. I like wanting them together, in spite of everything. This is one of those books where I don't feel like either MC settled.
“I’ll never recover from this.”, said Davey, that dramatic MF, at least THIRTEEN times this book. He was right, though.
If you think you've met delusional, but you haven't read this book, then you've not met delusional. But also, is it delusion if it works?
And I specifiIf you think you've met delusional, but you haven't read this book, then you've not met delusional. But also, is it delusion if it works?
And I specifically mean Mack. This man is that friend that would change their entire personality, do ANYTHING for their man. And I don't mean that with any positive connotations whatsoever.
That said.
I've never read a book where I genuinely love them equally until this. And I went in thinking I'd hate Davey. They're both at fault. And paradoxically, neither has done anything wrong.
But also, they're both stupid. Their issue isn't stupid. But their approach to it definitely is.
So we have Mack, who issues an ultimatum to his workaholic husband of more than two decades(except he's bluffing). Gag is, this man loves Davey more than life itself.
And then we have Davey. Frustrated by his work that has him away from home more than half the time so he misses his husband and their two little kids all the time, but it's a really good job, and it pays the bills that enable Mack and the kids to lead the life he wants to give them. Gag is, he'd give Mack anything he asks for(except leave his job). And that includes a divorce.
Cue a series of unfortunate events where two people that are still insanely in love with each other have now been divorced for two years, but unable to move on, and unable to reconcile.
These two are like parallel lines. Their reasons are both valid, and I can see both sides, but it just adds to the delicious frustration of how will they fix this?
For Mack, all he sees is that his husband is never around, he has to raise the kids alone, and even when he's home, he says he's too tired to have sex. Naturally he assumes the worst. And it doesn't help when he tries to shock him into a mindset shift by asking for a divorce and instead, he gets immediate acceptance.
Bit of side eye to Davey on that one. Doesn't even ask why. Doesn't suggest an alternative. Just immediate agreement. Had to hurt like a son of a bitch.
Buuuuuuuut,
For Davey, what he sees is that he works himself ragged to provide the best life for the man he loves and their kids, a big house in the suburbs, insurance, medical coverage, college fund and discretionary income. It frees Mack up to be hands on with the kids as they can afford for him to work a part time job. And he tries to spend all his time with the kids when he's around. And he'd give Mack anything, ANYTHING he asks for (minus that one thing ...more
I'm always a little bit convinced that everyone is secretly in love with me so I can't for the life of me understand this degree of obliviousness. HonI'm always a little bit convinced that everyone is secretly in love with me so I can't for the life of me understand this degree of obliviousness. Honestly. It should be criminal. With mandatory jail time. There's just no way.
So stupid that it LITERALLY had to be revealed to him in a dream. A. DREAM. And even then it wasn't quite enough. Still needed intervention from Ruby and Arlo.
Kai bought a house that was wayyy too big for him because Silas had fallen in love with it ...more
I finally found it y'all. The best book with cheating between MCs.
First things first. Fletcher is a hobosexual. He invited himself to live with this I finally found it y'all. The best book with cheating between MCs.
First things first. Fletcher is a hobosexual. He invited himself to live with this man in the smoothest way ever. And poor Roger was just excited to be considered ...more
I have a tendency to word vomit but this is still so new and everyone deserves to (and should—no, must) experience it spoiler-free so I'll holdChrist.
I have a tendency to word vomit but this is still so new and everyone deserves to (and should—no, must) experience it spoiler-free so I'll hold off on an extended review for now.
I'll just post some of my favorite bits from this instead ...more