September's Reads

September's Reads: 19 Books

2014 Reading Challenge: 114/150

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DBML: Starling by Racheline Maltese

My rating: 4.5 stars

[I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review]

Sometimes there are books I have a lot of expectations about but ultimately fail them, other times instead there are books that surprise me in the most positive way..."Starling" definitely belong to the second category!

I really liked this story: it felt -while set in a world known for its half-truths and lies and obviously very distant to my own- so realistic and down to heart. As it was pointed out by another reviewer, more than a love-story "Starling" is a life-story.

Both Paul and Alex have their flaws and their secrets and both have a difficult time sharing their past with each other. They are quite different in some ways and not so much in others, and obviously that turns to be both a good and a bad thing at once. In many occasions they are afraid of saying or reveal too much and too soon and so they make mistakes and make each other suffer. All of this but also (maybe mostly) those moments when they're apart and find comfort in someone else while still not letting go of each other, make this two fictional characters so very real to me and make reading their story such a bittersweet experience.

In the very beginning both Paul and Alex voices were quite impersonal and as a reader I felt detached to them; but now, thinking about it, I feel like it makes sense and fits the story and its realism quite well: after all that's exactly the way it feels meeting someone for the first time!

The only criticism I feel to do is the following: I'd have liked to find out more about Paul's and Alex's past (bad) experiences since they were mentioned and implied more than once..I hope to have the chance in book 2

At last, I'd like to thank again the authors for the opportunity to read this book for free and I hope they appreciate my honest review.

DBML: Drunk in Love by Aria Grace

My rating: 2.5 stars

[I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review]

This is the sequel to More Than Friends (now free on Amazon) which should be read before this one to understand how Ryan and Zack relationship started.

While More than Friends was a cute but very short gay-for-you story, this book gives us the chance to know a little more the two main characters - Ryan and Zack - and find out how their relationship came along in almost a year together.

The first thing I noticed, having read this right after book 1, is that Ryan in the first 2 or 3 chapters seemed almost like another person: very confident in his new sexuality and quite eager to take the next step in his relationship with Zack. While it wasn't a bad thing in itself (after all they were together for 8 months already) it still seemed to me a little out of character for a guy that was convinced to be hetero just a few months ago.

It started to be more believable and more like the Ryan I knew from book 1, for example, when he was worried about telling his parents about Zack and when he felt insecure and jealous about Steve presence in Zack's life.

Aaaaaand that -the thing with Steve- is a sore point for me.

I'd read the blurb of the story so I knew there was a threesome at some point but I didn't like how it played out. If Ryan was the jealous type (and that's the impression I've got from the books) how come he was fine with sharing Zack with his ex? The same ex to whom he felt so insecure about just a few hours earlier?

I understand that mostly it was an expedient to break them up and stir things up a little but I would have preferred if the author had chosen a different route to it.

In the end Drunk in Love was an okay read for me.

Mostly I liked it but the things I pointed out earlier prevented me from fully enjoying the story. Anyhow I'd like to thank the author for the chance to read her book for free and I hope she appreciate my honest review.

DBML A Free for Review Program

Just find out this event organised by the 'M/M Romance' Group on Goodreads....how could I not participate?!?

Hello to all our fabulous M/M Authors and Readers. 
Have you ever sat around staring at your computer growling at the random acronyms people toss all around Goodreads, having no clue what people were talking about? Well we're going to clear one of them up for you right now. That pesky R4R you might have seen bouncing around, well that’s “Read For Review”, and for our lovely name-crazy group we’re adding another one— DBML for “Don’t Buy My Love: A Free for Review Program”. So what is it you might ask… well, let us tell you!
Essentially it’s a contract between our amazing authors and, oh so fabulous, readers. It goes like this…
Twice a week, one of our authors who has decided to join in our program, will offer up one of their books for the masses. They’ll set a limit to the number of books we can offer and provide the ebook in various formats for our readers. Then the thread with their book will open up and any member of the group can sign up to receive their free copy and read the book, up to that maximum number we can give out. There’s just one other little requirement, you must post an honest and meaningful review of the book in exchange for receiving it. You’ll have a limited window of time (a maximum of three weeks from when the thread opens) within which to read the book and post your review. This is just to keep it fair for everyone involved. 
For the Readers: Curious about your side yet? Once the book is posted, it’s your turn. 
Reviewers receive an ebook of the author's offered book for free. The crux of the agreement is that you have now committed to write and post an honest review of the book on Goodreads and retail sites where possible.
More details are offered in the DBML What Is It? Thread, the Q&A, and the Rules for Reviewersthreads.
So what’s our purpose in posting all of this? Well, to generate your interest, of course! This was Shelby’s pet project, and she worked very closely with our Goodreads friend, Melanie to get this off the ground in 2013. Melanie was replaced by Barb in early 2014, and we’re so very happy to be able to continue to offer you this program which has proven to be very popular. 
Twice each week, approximately one week before the release of a book, we’ll post a “Coming Soon” announcement in this thread and over in the DBML What Is It? Thread. So be sure to choose notifications for this thread so that you’ll always know which new book we are listing. And, to help you out, we’ll post another notice once the book’s thread is open for reviewer signups. 
Enjoy your reading! 
Shelby and Barb 

If you're also on Goodreads and like to read M/M novels why not try it?

Assumption by Aurora Rose Reynolds

My rating: 1 star

Contrary to the opinion of many reviewers I was very disappointed by this book!

My issues:
First of all the way the story is told (mostly from Autumn's pov) seemed to me a little robotic..I don't know, it lacked fluidity and left me quite detached from the characters and to what happened to them

A lot (and I mean A LOT) it's left unsaid and not in the good/suspenseful way, it felt more like the author chose to not losing the time to explain herself, her character's life and their motivation in favor of adding a lot of random events to keep the drama-level high.
It didn't work for me! At all!

As it was pointed out in some other reviews, this book lacked a lot of depth; it was like reading a recap of a story more than the real story itself.
As I said, disappointing!

Even Kenton's alpha-male attitude, probably as a consequence of the previous issues since usually I like it, irritated me.
It seemed forced and his behavior toward Autumn was for me more on the 'assholery' side than the sexy one. I'm not a fan of him.

August's Reads

August's Reads: 5 Books

2014 Reading Challenge: 95/150

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Rating "Hot Alpha Seals" stories:
The Kiss of a Seal - 1 star
Hot Bayou Seal - 3 stars
Seal's Obsession - 2 stars
Unbreakable Seal - 2 stars
Seal's Promise - 1.5 star