Gordon Jones

I love T.J. Klune!

Revisado: 01-14-23

But this was weird. Well, brilliant imho...but weird.
Not exactly what I was aiming for emotionally at the moment.

T.J. Klune is one of my go-to's for hope, romance, HEAs, and goodness in people.
That's all in here. There is a very touching and true (dare I say "pure") romance that I really loved (mega slowburn, though). I also liked the age-gap and how that was handled.

HOWEVER, there was a kind of existential angst that didn't let go of me until the very end. I thought it was incredibly well-done how the suspense of trying to understand what was going on, once it gets you, doesn't let up until, really, very very late in the story. But you need all the stuff that comes before so it really ties in well. Great world building as well (literally).

About the narration: The narration was important for me; I can't say for sure, but I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much had I been reading it. I really liked the narrator's voice for some characters, a bit less for others, but no criticism there.

It's kind of hard for me to bottom-line this; I've got some mixed feelings.
There's some really important issues in this, and it's a great story. Hit me on many levels.
I'm very glad I read it, no regrets whatsoever, but I can't "favorite" this.

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A beautiful love story!!

Revisado: 01-07-23

OMG

Wow

I just totally binge-listened to this...couldn't stop.
N.R. Walker and Joel Leslie are a match made in heaven!!

I read(listened to) Evolved about 2 years ago, and I don't know why I didn't write a review - I think it hit me in a big way, and I was left speechless. Figured I'd get around to it when I sorted out my feelings and never did. I've been saving that one, though, for a re-read (which I think will be coming up soon!). Joel Leslie narrated that one too. He was perfect for the story. I dunno... I guess part of me wondered if it was just a fluke, a one-off.

I got this book recently and couldn't wait to hear him read it. And as I said above - just WOW!

I haven't lived the life of either of the two main characters, but I do have things in common with both of them. I found them so engaging, believable, lovable. The story was moving, even very moving in parts. I even saved a favorite audio snippet at one part using the "+clip" feature in the Audible app; I've never done that before. I was busy doing something else as I listened, and I was surprised at one point when I realized I had tears rolling down my cheeks (happy ones, not sad ones) without me even realizing it. I'm glad no one else was there to see me - LOL!

There's a secret in the story that has to come out at some point, you're sure of it, but I wasn't expecting it to come out quite the way it did. It was perfect!

It's a beautiful story, about how things could be, a real love story (my definition). Totally loved it!

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I think my "plot-dar" is busted....

Revisado: 01-22-21

I didn’t see any of this happening. So far in this series, I never seem to know where we’re going until we get there. It’s quite exciting! I’m frankly surprised though that I’m surprised, if that makes sense 😊 I’m afraid to say much else because I don’t want to give anything away. Every time I start thinking that I know where we’re heading, there’s a sudden swerve, and we’re on a completely different track. In one instance, I had a funny feeling that something bad might happen to one character, and it did, but not in the way that I thought AT ALL. I won’t say anymore, but if you’re like me, just plan to be surprised 😊

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Fascinating mental connection!

Revisado: 01-18-21

This story just kept pulling me in further… there’s a kind of constant tension, and then there’s a breakthrough, and I kept asking myself, "Just where is this going to go?" It’s an extraordinary backdrop, the technology which creates the connection between the two main characters. Their ongoing discovery of each other is fascinating, and then there’s the interactions between them and those around them. The obstacles they face come to a head at one point to such an extent that I began to have doubts about my favorite Goodreads reviewer: “He couldn’t have led me into a book that ends like this, could he?” 😊 No, he didn’t ! My faith in his reviews happily restored, I still wouldn’t call it an HEA, though…more of a HFN. In fact, I was so spellbound by the story, I had to jump into the second book before I could get my thoughts in order enough to write about the first one.

I think what hit me most was the link between Brady and Cam. How cool would it be to have a connection like that!! The story evolves to help show both the pros and cons of such a situation, especially between these two! The development of their physical relationship felt believable, real. A fascinating read!

AUDIOVERSION: I liked the narrator’s voice. The inflections and emotions in his voice could have been a bit better in a few places, in my opinion. In particular, I found Cam’s voice kind of flat, although perhaps that was intentional.

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Humans redeem themselves

Revisado: 01-07-21

I have to say, I liked this one the least of the three books so far, but still it was a great continuation of the story. It picks up with the plot twist from the end of the second book and expands on it. Here, we start getting into space a bit, but only kind of. And MANY more humans, and this time, they do things VERY differently. They do some really good things in this one, and don’t behave like morons (most of the time 😊).

Liam has some emotional difficulties in this one. One could respond to me with, “when does he NOT?”, but that’s not how I see him. In fact, I can relate to him quite a bit throughout these books, although I did kinda want to smack him once or twice in this one.

AUDIOBOOK VERSION: Excellent narration continues just as in the previous books in the series. LOVE IT!

Not a whole lot else for me to say about this one, especially since I’m chomping at the bit to get to the next book!

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AH THOSE HUMANS!

Revisado: 01-06-21

AH THOSE HUMANS! Getting aliens wrong every time!

This was good! And such a simple story – basically, just a walk between villages, if you strip everything else away. And yet it paints a much more complete picture of a whole lot of things, some of which I didn’t even realize were missing from the first book. But more than that, I’m panting for more. I’m forcing myself to write this before I allow myself to even <i>open</i> the third book so I don’t get all ahead of myself like I did with the first book.

There’s a lot about the budding relationship building in this book, but again, this is <b>not</b> a relationship like I’ve ever really … well, I can’t say “imagined”, because yes, I think I <i>have</i> imagined such a relationship before, maybe even dreamed of, but that was long ago. It’s certainly nothing I’ve ever <i>encountered</i> in the “real world”, let’s put it that way. Protection, security, commitment, bonding, companionship, true partnership, entrepreneurship (yeah, I know, right?), and yet it’s all kinda weird because one of them’s not human, which has all these really creative and clever differences compared with relationships between two humans.

And speaking of humans! Yep, they’re in here too, marching with their big feet and getting it all wrong. The end surprised me but I LOVED it. You could possibly stop after the first book and say, “Nice story”, but don’t! At the end of the second one, there’s <i>no way</i> you’re going to miss out on the next one. I can’t wait!

AUDIOBOOK VERSION: Again I have to say, as I did with the first book, really good narration! Audiobook versus “silent” book, which is better, is a debate that will endure to the end of mankind, with staunch supporters on both sides. But sometimes, and these books are an example, the narration really adds to the experience.

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What an extraordinary relationship!

Revisado: 01-06-21

This is not a Sub/Dom relationship in any way, although it uses some of the trappings or external signs that would normally be part of domination. It’s a completely alien view of society and of different people’s roles in that society, and yet I find it truly comforting to look at things through those eyes.

There is courtship (even if we don’t know it at the time), a crucial turning point and then a time of healing past trauma and learning to trust, all with a linguistic and cultural background that is completely original.

The linguistic detail is very interesting and well-described. I made a pretty catastrophic mistake in Turkish once trying to get to know someone, making sentences “on the fly” with only a dictionary, that put an immediate and irreversible end to our interaction (which haunts me to this day), so I can definitely relate to the linguistic challenges so clearly described in this book. The cultural detail too is definitely thought-provoking.

We are left with a number of questions and some blanks not filled-in with respect to language, culture and The Relationship, but they’re dealt with later (I only know that because I <b>devoured</b> the second book before I even had a chance to review the first one). There are some surprise “bonus books” at the end which do a really good job of filling in <i>some</i> blanks in a way that I quite enjoyed.

AUDIOBOOK VERSION: The narration was great! All the right emotions in all the right places, in my opinion. I may be reading too much into things, but I got the impression that the narrator <i>enjoyed</i> the story he was reading. I loved this book so much that I bought the Kindle version as well, and I’ve been re-reading quite a bit of it, but I have to say, the narrator’s voice really adds a lot to the story, especially his emotional interpretation of certain parts.

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Sci-fi romance between human and alien

Revisado: 01-01-21

This is the second book of a series, so we have some recurring characters from the first book, but they don’t come in until later, but this book, just like the first, is complete in itself – no need to have read the first book.

I’m not sure if there was really what I would call a plot – it reads kind of like a story of “How I met my husband”, but told in 3rd person with the perspective alternating back and forth between each of the main characters. It has similar emotional themes to the first book: needing to feel protected, safe and loved, just causes and righteous justice.

Unlike the first book, this is really sci-fi – no escaping it. While the first book could have taken place without aliens, this one is all about the interaction between human culture and an alien culture. And I appreciated the author going into some detail about the alien culture. For a short book, one could expect very little development or thought invested in the “what and why” of the aliens and their culture, but the story here goes into that a bit. And there was a point in the story where I thought we were at the end of the story, but then something else happens that needs to be resolved. I liked that I didn’t see that coming.

Dialog is decent, not particularly rich or elaborate, but it works, feels appropriate. Audiobook readers be advised: the narrator’s voice is pleasant, but lacking in emotion and variety. A worthwhile story, nevertheless. I’m interested to see what happens in the third book.

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Light and touching, with an interesting backdrop

Revisado: 01-01-21

Unusual premise…but interesting! Male brothel OWNER finding himself thrust into the role of EMPLOYEE, interwoven with the story of two men coming to realize that dreams for love they thought forever denied them because of their respective positions in society might actually be possible. Sprinkle in some tenderness, some need-to-feel-safe-and-protected, some righteous justice, some sex…ok well, a whole lotta sex actually (superhuman IMHO)…and you’ve got a really cute story. Not long at all, but quite a bit of thought-provoking stuff packed in there.

I have to say, I love that the setting is a sci-fi universe with planets and aliens. But, tbh, apart from an olfactory cue from a particularly nose-sensitive species of alien, this could very easily be transcribed into an ordinary Earth-bound human-only story. Perfectly here-and-now relevance for the themes (and there are several), very um…satisfying, shall we say, intimacy and an HEA. Short and sweet. Great title too! Although for the “spice”, I’d say it’s mostly cinnamon rather than cayenne, compared to some other books out there.

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What a sweet story!!

Revisado: 12-27-20

I really wasn’t expecting to like this, tbh. In fact, although it isn’t long, I was a little worried at its being a fair bit longer than some of the other stories I’ve been reading lately. I thought I was going to find the whole “young love” thing boring or dumb and have a really hard time getting through to the end.

But my first surprise was when I realized I was actually completely identifying with the events in the story: in particular, leaving behind a small town and a love I thought would never be returned to go to university. And the similarities went on from there. Yes, of course, plenty of different details here and there (and way different ending in my case 😊), but still… I wasn’t expecting that.

My second surprise was reading (ok, hearing – audiobook!) words coming from the mouths of these two young characters that expressed things that have taken me many years to learn to be able to say or understand: things about trust, working through conflict, seeing past someone’s words to the (often incongruous) emotions that are generating them. And there’s some really advanced “relationship theory” in there, but never heavy.

The dialog is good, the unspoken dialog realistic, and the “intimate” scenes, although somewhat superhuman in my opinion, are very good. Although there’s a fair amount of “standard sex talk” (if that’s even a “thing”) I didn’t roll my eyes even once 😊. It felt appropriate. Character development was good too, I thought. I very sincerely did want to slap one or two of the characters around at times because they needed to get their head screwed on properly, just like in real life LOL

And lastly, the ending was very satisfying…complete. No pesky loose ends. Last surprise were some important, yet subtly expressed, messages about the importance of us all accepting one another, including within our families, despite our differences. A very enjoyable read!

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