Little J

straight-shaped romance

Revisado: 07-13-23

Dull and heavily relies on heteronormative tropes. I mean, unrelentingly. We're essentially told that Lukas and John are meant to be because Lukas likes Girl Work and John likes Man Work. Naturally, the perfect balance! 🙄 Ugh, it's hard to listen to at points, especially toward the end. However, there are bright spots. John, the older man, is comfortable with his newly discovered queerness and extremely playful and confident. It's so refreshing and nice to see. As for his dirty talk? Straight out of 80's pizza delivery porn. Wrecks the mood, but, hey, at least he's having fun. Lukas, the younger man, is just sort of there and the most notable thing we're shown about his character is that he slept with & dated a lot of older men to cope with his attraction to John. Bit of an obsession. ☠️

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

So much chemistry and tension

Revisado: 06-27-23

The Australian setting is realized so well. Vibrant, hot, dry, and full of things that'll kill you. Hell, even the voyage to Australia has a well-crafted boat setting, muggy and tense. It brings the story to life. The MCs are strong, distinct characters. The romance is believable (and sexy), and the characters are lovable. Seemed there should've been more mention of what they lost, not just what they gained. It's like the book was apprehensive to show even brief angst despite characters and situations designed for at least a bit of it. The conclusion left some serious matters from the climatic action scene unresolved (not related to the romance). A few small things felt imbued with significance like they were a clue for a future scene, but they don't come back up in any important way. Why don't we ever circle back to the ring & the letters to family...?

It's awfully infuriating that everyone seems so convinced Colin is too much of a well-born gentleman to be suffering among the other prisoners, but Patrick is too low-born to be afforded the same empathy even after lovable characters get to know him. It's realistic, just upsetting. Patrick deserved to be a lot angrier.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Gripping & full of tension

Revisado: 06-12-23

Smooth, engaging story with a lot of mystery still simmering about who people really are and where this magic came from. I couldn't put it down. I'm desperate to know more about the men in Dom's life, Alexander and Hollywood. The tension he has with both his love interests is incredible. I can't tell who's the right man for him or if I want this to be a ménage à trois (I don't actually think that's where this is going). Just know it's not cheesy love triangle nonsense. Both are full characters with a purpose who are genuinely appealing and have a fair shot. I definitely get the sense that Alexander is "end game" or whatever, but Hollywood is so vulnerable with Dom that I'm invested.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

SPECTACULAR! Fun, creative & full of love.

Revisado: 04-16-23

The narrator's performance is incredible! Really brings even more life to an already energitic story.

While it wears the well-loved cloak of a standard romcom, inside are several delightful queer subversions stacked on top of each other. Peggy and Orfeo, our romantic leads, are both nonbinary and their experiences with how people see them vs who they really are is the central conflict of the book. All dealt with love and humor. It's so sweet, smart, and silly in the best ways and at the right moments.

I got teary-eyed multiple times during the most mundane scenes simply from sheer joy and surprise to have this book at all. Most people have their pick of romcoms, but it's not something nonbinary people get as often. To have a queer author as talented as Alexis Hall put his time and effort into a story like this, and have it be so well-written and fun and thoughtful... I'm a little embarrassed how raw and happy this book made me.

In classic Alexis Hall fashion, the themes at the core of the story (accepting oneself, shaping your life how you need, subverting expectations, etc.) are smart and challenging, and he handles them with unapologetic playful, joyous antics. And lots of his usual playful language. I love his writing style.

And although it's Peggy and Orfeo's story, it also stars their extended queer found family. They all come together to support each other and play a significant, lovely role. Every character has their own depth, no one feels 2-dimensional. And they learn so much from each other.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Sweet and better than the cover suggests.

Revisado: 04-09-23

An homage to old Westerns and the stage plays of the American west with a sweet queer love story at the heart. Robby (disguised as Rowena) must pretend to be a mail order bride amidst a charming, quirky family in order to hide from outlaws. The town sherrif, Trace, is a member of that family and just happens to be heartachingly handsome, protective, and strong. He never thought men like him could have love, but he finds it. The story never fully makes me believe that the outlaws actually have a reason to travel all the way from New York out to Santa Fe just to hunt one man, and Robby's hasty decision to leave everything he worked for in NY behind is never fully believable either. I had to work to suspend my disbelief. But the characters are likeable, and the silliness of the story is enjoyable if you accept it for what it is. The ending is extremely, deeply satisfying.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

incredible, beautiful story. heart-wrenching end.

Revisado: 04-08-23

The end devastated me. It's rare that a romance with a sad ending is something I recommend, but it's worth it. They get their HEA, but the story ends beyond that. It ends at the most final place of a person's story is able to end.

The story is fast-paced, and I wish we had more of them together in Scotland living their hard-won HEA. Still, this is the story of how they come together and wrangle that HEA, and it's beautiful.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

among the best fae romances I've ever read

Revisado: 04-07-23

The narrators do an incredible job. Normally I dislike having 2 narrators because they do things too differently, but they're in sync the entire time and align on all the voices.

The story itself is enjoyable and solid. It has a slightly unique, refreshing take on fae. Rather than multiple of the same type, each type of fae seems to be just a single fae. This story stars Syren (the only siren?), the last fae in the human realm, and the newly crowned human king Audric as they prepare for the fae to infiltrate the human realm once more. They fall in love as they prepare for the inevitable battle, hoping to lock the fae away in the fae realm again. Syren is no fighter and has been alone for centuries, and Audric doesn't know how to be king but has promised to protect Syren if he helps humanity. A magic sword forces them to be together at all times.

Sometimes I dislike stories that revolve around royalty, but this story does a good job at making it tolerable, primarily because Audric was never meant to be king and had something like 50 people ahead of him in line for the throne. He was raised a common knight (which he recognizes as a privilege since knighthoods are bought). This makes him a much more ordinary man who cares for the people in authentic ways. He's progressive-minded and uses his new power to give common people access to opportunities previously only available to the wealthy. He's tender, surprisingly clever, and loyal.

The romance between Syren and Audric is tentative at first and then kicks off full steam ahead at a natural point (and very steamy it was!). Their confessions of love come later in the book but still somehow felt early since they'd only known each other for a brief time. I wanted more time with them. But since this is a standalone and not a series, I made peace with the pacing. The conclusion is deeply, deeply satisfying. I love that damn magic sword.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

outdated relic of cringe

Revisado: 03-29-23

Maybe the deliberate silliness would work better as a webtoon, but as a book, the tryhard humor and awful dialogue overwhelm the story far too much. It's unfunny, painful even. River, the lead, never shuts up (literally!!), rattling off every outdated pop culture reference and dead meme imaginable, just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Nothing does. The jokes are stuck in the 2000's and don't even stop to give breathing room to major scenes, tender moments, or serious developments. He actually says "le sigh" and "me likey" which haven't been funny or relevant in over a decade. Just embarrassing. Ancient jokes like that are every single paragraph (not an exaggeration). River also continuously acts as though every popular scifi movie or show is real, like he's a child. His constant child-like beliefs and mannerisms make me queasy. His child-like characterization is unsettling on top of the uncomfortable sexual jokes he makes every other page, including to total strangers, in front of his uncle and people's parents, starting a job, etc. These are supposed to be funny, obviously, but they're as forced as all the humor and nearing creepy sexual harassment level. Anything enjoyable about this story is drowned out by the incessant, inhuman, awful, forced, cartoonishly stereotypical so-called "geek" humor. As a geek, I'm offended. There's soooo much repetition, too. For example, Kai's tentacles writhe inside him every time he has a thought or emotion--dear god, find another way to reference his alien-ness! Develop his character beyond "tentacle man"! All that time spent in this book, and Kai is as two-dimensional as he is at the start. The story is ridiculously slow considering River speaks a mile a minute. Miserable experience, not even the phenomenal narration could save this graveyard of cringe.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Incredible.

Revisado: 03-17-23

Fascinating characters, fascinating world. Extremely strong voice and style that really sets this book apart. It deserves far, far, far more attention than it gets. The audiobook is one of the best I've ever listened to.

This book feels like an introduction to a vast world, just dipping our toes in, and by the end, there's so much still to learn about the world, the characters, their hopes, and the overarching story that I felt almost heartbroken to say goodbye so early. Been a long time since a book left me that emotionally wrecked to see it end.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Narrator pauses every few words, near unlistenable

Revisado: 03-10-23

Wish I could rate 5 stars for the story, but the narration is unlistenable! The narrator pauses every few words mid-sentence, creating disjointed fragments that don't make sense. I listened to the whole audiobook with the hope I'd get used to it. I never did, even when sped up to 1.5x speed to try to ignore the pauses--it doesn't work because the rhythm of speech is unnatural. Way too many stops and starts! Odd thing is, the narrator does a notably impressive job with a few short bits of dialogue, but these are random outliers only lightly sprinkled throughout the story. It infuriated me because it revealed a certain skill that's not being used correctly. 100% of the time, the narration is a painful stilted mess that completely destroys the flow of the story and emotional impact of every scene.



The story that KJ Charles wrote is fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed that. (I had a better time reading it than listening to the audiobook for obvious reasons.) The story is 5 stars, with an incredibly likeable couple at the center: London and Kent, otherwise known as Sir Gareth and Joss. The way they meet is so sweet that I don't want to spoil it. Gareth is a nervous sort with abandonment issues (understandably), and Joss is a charming, overworked leader of a smuggling gang. They both just need someone on their side, and they become that for each other. I love how they are with each other, whether it's fighting or fcking. They set each other free, as corny as that sounds. Gareth set free from insecurity and fear, Joss set free from obligation and worry. Also, I love that Gareth, a skinny gentle type, is several inches taller than his bulky smuggler boyfriend Joss. Just a cute image.


The mystery plot is rather predictable and uninspired, and every bad guy is one-note and obvious from the start. Yet I enjoyed the story all the same. The journey is what makes the story stand out. The way the smuggler gangs struggle to keep their tense peace, all the complicated family issues, the culture clash of Marshmen and outmarsh folk, etc. The story takes place in the Marsh, and that alone is wildly fascinating. KJ Charles's impressive historical knowledge and research shine through. The Marsh is far more than set dressing. It's alive with bugs and mist and people and culture. Even the political turmoil of the time is subtly present as a building pressure under the surface. As we follow a lively tale of smugglers, family, and love, our lovely leads deal with the pain of expectations, disappointing family, bad fathers, selfish men, and being an outsider. And they kiss a lot. It's a good time.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 9 personas