Review: Truth Will Out (Merrychurch Mysteries #1) by K.C. Wells

A pleasant start to a cozy mystery series.

3.75 out of 5 stars

E-book. 1st edition. 204 pages. Published October 30th 2018 by Dreamspinner Press

Blurb:

Jonathon de Mountford’s visit to Merrychurch village to stay with his uncle Dominic gets off to a bad start when Dominic fails to appear at the railway station. But when Jonathon finds him dead in his study, apparently as the result of a fall, everything changes. For one thing, Jonathon is the next in line to inherit the manor house. For another, he’s not so sure it was an accident, and with the help of Mike Tattersall, the owner of the village pub, Jonathon sets out to prove his theory—if he can concentrate long enough without getting distracted by the handsome Mike.

They discover an increasingly long list of people who had reason to want Dominic dead. And when events take an unexpected turn, the amateur sleuths are left bewildered. It doesn’t help that the police inspector brought in to solve the case is the last person Mike wants to see, especially when they are told to keep their noses out of police business.

In Jonathon’s case, that’s like a red rag to a bull….

Likes:

  • Solid mystery.
  • Good start to the series.
  • Cute romance.
  • Satisfying ending.
  • Cozy mystery with a gay couple.
  • Mike was an amputee.

Dislikes:

  • Didn’t really hook me.
  • Mike didn’t give off police officer vibe.
  • Wasn’t sure of the time period or country at first.

I think this was a solid cozy mystery. It hit all the usual benchmarks I expect from cozy mysteries, including a sweet romance with fade-to-black bedroom scenes. The mystery was well executed and there was a satisfying ending.

Unfortunately, I was never really hooked. Not in a way that made me feel like I just had to keep reading. I think, for all that this book hit all the right notes, it was a little basic. Mike and Jonathon were nice guys, and I’ll definitely read the rest of the series, but there isn’t anything super unique or interesting about them.

I did like that Mike was an amputee. It wasn’t brought up often, and didn’t really affect his life much. But it added a little bit of diversity into what was basically a placid middle-class English village of white people. I don’t mean that as a critique, but I am definitely aware that American cozies tend to have more diversity among the side characters.

Mike was introduced early and it was always obvious that he was going to be the romantic interest. He didn’t give off policeman vibes, despite having been a Detective Inspector before taking over the pub. He and Jonathon got along well, and their relationship developed in a very natural way. I don’t mind the lack of smut, because that’s in keeping with cozy mysteries.

I was a little confused about when and where this book was taking place at first. The village of Merrychurch does hint at England, but that was all the blurb mentioned. I was happy to see that my questions were answered within the first few paragraphs. It’s a modern setting and is indeed set in England.

I am always happy to see cozy mysteries with gay main characters, especially since there are relatively few of them. I’m excited for the next two books. Even though I wasn’t super invested in this book, it was a pleasant read.

Review: Fire and Ink (Kitten and Witch #2) by K.L. Noone

The best of the three.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Kindle Edition. 49 pages. Published November 28th 2018 by Less Than Three Press, LLC

Blurb:

Three months ago David Stanton rescued a runaway kitten in the rain. Now he’s got a scandalous feline shapeshifter living in his house, helping with his white-witch business, and making him smile. David is falling in love fast, but there’s still the problem of Colin’s past—and the secrets he’s obviously keeping…

Likes:

  • Story is from David’s point of view.
  • We get to see the first time the men say ‘I love you’.
  • Heroics.
  • Sweet and cute.
  • Glad to see a continuation of David and Colin’s story.
  • Good flow.

Dislikes:

  • Still too short.
  • Lack of communication.
  • The tension made me wonder about the bigger picture.

I definitely liked this story best out of all three. Part of that is because it’s focused on an established couple, so there’s less time spent setting things up and more time spent on the relationship. I’m also just happy that David and Colin got a continuation. They deserved it.

Unlike the previous story, this one is from David’s point of view. I liked that. It was different from the last book, and it added to the minor tension. Considering that the people Colin has stayed with in the past have been rich and powerful, it was inevitable that David would worry if he was enough.

Unfortunately, David didn’t want to talk about his feelings directly with Colin because he was afraid. Which, while understandable, was a little cliché. And it took the shadow of a disaster for things to be cleared up. Also cliché, but more acceptable when used in such a short story.

I enjoyed David’s heroics, and the minor tension this story had. It made the sweet parts even sweeter by comparison. Especially seeing the two men finally admit that they love each other. It was a great way to close the chapter on David and Colin.

With this story, I have finally gotten used to the short format. For being only 49 pages, it packed a punch. I don’t think I’ll ever love such short stories, and I do still feel like this story and Port in a Storm could have been combined and expanded into a novella or novel, but I’m happy with how things turned out.

Review: Port in a Storm (Kitten and Witch #1) by K.L. Noone

A short, sweet story about a kitten shifter and a kind witch.

4 out of 5 stars

Kindle Edition. 43 pages. Published December 18th 2017 by Less Than Three Press, LLC

Blurb:

Colin is not having the best time lately, being a runaway shifter with a less than stellar reputation, hiding beneath a car in the pouring rain hoping to evade the angry warlock looking for him.

David’s had a long day; being the local white witch and healer is a worthwhile occupation, but it’s rarely an easy one. When he spies a stray kitten under his car, he figures he’ll be able to rescue at least one living thing that night… 

Likes:

  • Both David and Colin are likeable.
  • Feels like a more complete story than The Arch-Mage’s Firebird.
  • The way Colin sees magic as colors.
  • The idea of a graphomancer.

Dislikes:

  • Flowery language.
  • Run-on sentences.
  • Story was enhanced because I read The Arch-Mage’s Firebird first.

Having read The Arch-Mage’s Firebird before this story puts me in a strange position. Port in the Storm was written several years before The Arch-Mage’s Firebird and is, as far as I can tell, the first story set in this universe. But I can’t ignore the fact that I came into this story knowing certain things about the world. And I can’t help but think that that knowledge made this story feel much more understandable.

I do think all the pertinent information was provided in this story. Colin’s situation does end up being well explained. However, since I already knew a little about Colin, and about how magical creatures operate in this society, I was ahead of the curve.

Perhaps that’s why I felt that this story was much more complete than The Arch-Mage’s Firebird. Then again, there weren’t as many flashback scenes this time around. The details of Colin’s life before the story began were sprinkled here and there instead of being plopped whole in the middle of the story. Because of that, this story has a nice flow.

There is also much less of the flowery language that bothered me so much in The Arch-Mage’s Firebird. It’s still there, in sentences like, “The moment extended, tremulous and newborn and poised amid all sorts of possibilities.” But not too much.

Both Colin and David were easy to like. David was so kind and gentle. And Colin, for all that he was a party boy, just wanted someone to love him, not just his magic. This story definitely had a soft, cozy feel to it.

I especially enjoyed that Colin saw David’s magic as colors. “Primrose and sunset-gold billowed optimistically through the other colors.” There was just enough talk about the magic to fill out the world, without overtaking the story. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term ‘graphomancer’ before, but it was a neat idea.

Like with The Arch-Mage’s Firebird, I think this story could have easily been spun out into a full-fledged novella. Strictly speaking, it didn’t need to be, but I again can’t help but wonder why it wasn’t. There’s enough material.

I’m looking forward to reading the second story, which is a continuation of David and Colin’s relationship. Hopefully, I’ll like that one just as much.

Series Review: Future Series by Kate Hawthorne and E.M. Denning

I can’t actually rate this series, seeing as how I DNF-ed the last two books.

Series rating: Not Recommended

Books in order:

Likes:

  • Low angst.
  • Romance started fast.
  • No open homophobia.
  • Hot smut, and lots of it.

Dislikes:

  • Not much tension.
  • I didn’t finish the last two books.

For the first time since I’ve started doing series reviews, I didn’t feel like it was fair to give an actual number rating. Mostly because I didn’t finish two out of the three books. So, simply put, I don’t recommend this series.

The first book was nice. Not the best thing I’ve ever read, but it made me excited about going on to the next book. And then I was completely disappointed to not click with either of the other to books.

My disinterest in the second book came squarely from the lack of tension and conflict. The book was mostly about sex, or the lack of it. It simply wasn’t enough to keep my attention.

The third book turned me off almost from the first page. Luis was not a character I could root for or care about. And I’ve learned from years of reading romance that if I don’t care about one of the men, I won’t enjoy the romance.

To be fair to this series, I think a lot of the problems I had with the books were specific to me. Someone who doesn’t have the same pet peeves as I do wouldn’t have disliked Luis so intensely. That being said, the fact that I dropped two books in a row makes me hesitant to read anything from either of these authors again.

Review: The Arch-Mage’s Firebird by K.L. Noone

A good story idea, but way too short.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Kindle Edition. 41 pages. Published February 1st 2020 by JMS Books LLC

Blurb:

Thomas East was meant to be the youngest Arch-Mage in history, a magical genius and a solver of problems. But he hadn’t expected quite so many problems — not to mention the endless meetings, bureaucracy, and political negotiations. So he’s currently hiding in a sleepy California seaside town, working in an ice cream parlor and avoiding everyone he’s let down … until a firebird in need of rescue crashes into his shop.

Nicholas Incandesco has far too many problems. He’s a firebird, a shapeshifter, and a power source, and a lot of magicians could use someone with his gifts. He’s also technically a murder suspect with two magical bounty hunters on his trail. He just wants someplace safe to land, and the attractive witch behind the ice cream counter might offer a sweet refuge.

This encounter might be exactly what both Nicholas and Tom need to find themselves … and rescue each other. 

Likes:

  • Started off right when the action begins.
  • The story was good.
  • Tom wanted to help the familiars and magical creatures.
  • Both Tom and Nicholas seemed nice.
  • Tom was sympathetic.
  • The romance was fast but sweet.
  • Included a playlist.

Dislikes:

  • Way too short for my tastes.
  • Lots of backstory.
  • Hard to form a deep bond with either character.
  • The prose is a bit too flowery for my tastes. Lots of long sentences and semi-colons.

I’ll admit to being sucked in by the blurb and not checking the page length. My mistake. I could tell right away from how the story opened that this was going to be short. I expected a novella, but at only 43 pages, it’s not even that. A short story that’s on the long side, maybe.

I love a good novella, but this story is simply too short for my tastes. It focused basically on two scenes – in the ice cream parlor and in Tom’s apartment. Aside from that, there was a lot of backstory. That’s the downside of starting a story in the middle of action. You then have to explain how everyone ended up there.

From the backstory, I got a good feeling about both Tom and Nicholas. It was a little sad that I was judging them for their past actions rather than for the present ones, but I did approve of how Tom had fought to get magical creatures and familiars more rights in the magical society. I also sympathized with how Tom’s idealistic ideas of changing the world for the better came crashing down in the face of bureaucracy and greed.

The story was an interesting one, and a lot was packed into the few short pages. It definitely left me wanting more. I think there’s enough possibility here to have turned the story into a full-fledged novel, or even a good-sized novella, and I can’t help but wonder why it wasn’t. It was too short for me to form a deep attachment to either man, and left me wanting to watch the relationship actually develop. All that was on the page was the first blush of romance.

Then again, the flowery language, while fine in such a short story, would have gotten overwhelming in something longer. It wasn’t bad, just not suited to my tastes. I like simplicity, not overly long sentences, lots of semi-colons, and abundant similes. I’ve read fiction written by poets before, and that’s what this story reminded me of. I don’t think I could have read an entire novel filled with sentences like, “Companionable sunbeams, plump and indolent, traveled across the end of the bed. Met sheet-hills of white froth and plopped down, content.”

I did like that the author included a playlist of songs she listened to when writing. That was new to me.

Even though this story isn’t listed as part of a series, it’s loosely connected to two other stories, and I plan to read both of those as well. But sadly, they’re equally as short.

Review: Velvet Claw By L.J. Hamlin

A solid ‘okay’ kind of book.

3 out of 5 stars

E-book. 171 pages. Second edition. Published July 1st 2020 (first published September 27th 2016 by Torquere Press LLC)

Blurb:

Researching and finding cures for illnesses is what Dr. Evan Kidd does best. When he’s asked to help determine what’s making the children of Felis Forest sick, he can’t say no. Evan accepts, and even understands, why Rene has to follow him around town. It’s not every day a human is allowed in the “cat people only” town. But being attracted to someone who doesn’t trust him, much less like him, brings back painful reminders of his past.

Rene has plenty of his own baggage and having to shadow a human—who happens to be a doctor—isn’t helping. Evan challenges all Rene’s preconceived notions about humans and about himself. If they can survive all the obstacles while uncovering the truth, they might just discover they aren’t so different after all.

Likes:

  • The Felis concept.
  • Rene and Evan are a good fit.
  • Rene and Evan both have pasts they’ve overcome.
  • The smut.
  • The first chapter felt like a quick news article.

Dislikes:

  • Present tense narration.
  • Writing can be clunky.
  • Medium length.
  • Too much focus on minutiae.
  • The whole subplot about Evan’s ex.
  • Felt like Evan didn’t spend long working on helping the kittens.

I picked up this book because the blurb intrigued me. Realizing that this wasn’t a normal shifter book only made me more interested.

The Felis were an interesting concept. They’re basically shifters that never appear fully human. Even in their humanoid form, they have some fur, tails, and can purr. I know this book was originally published in 2016, but the description of the Felis made me think of the Cats movie. Which honestly made it difficult for me to conjure a sexy mental image of Rene.

I liked that the Felis couldn’t blend in with humans. It led to them creating their own towns, which was why Evan’s visit was such a big deal. I did end up having questions about the Felis in general, and I feel like the author didn’t fully think everything through. There were a number of inconsistencies throughout the story, both regarding the Felis culture and the characters. Little things that didn’t add up.

The Felis were more developed than the basic anime catgirl or nekomimi. Did I need to know that their existence began on Atlantis? No. In fact, there was a focus on minutiae that got annoying. I ended up feeling like the story could have been structured better.

But my biggest problem is the use of the present tense. I got used to it after a while, but I don’t enjoy present tense. It just feels awkward. If I put the book down, I’d have to adjust to the present tense all over again when I picked it back up.

Velvet Claw falls somewhere between a novella and a novel. It’s a bit long for the former and a bit short for the latter. The majority of the story focuses on Rene and Evan’s relationship, which I enjoyed. The men are a good fit. They both have obstacles in their past, and have to overcome them to be together. The smut was hot, and there was a lot of it.

I would have preferred fewer sex scenes and more time spent on the reason Evan was there. For a doctor called in to help save sick children, Evan didn’t do much medical stuff. He interviewed the children’s families and took swabs of things to be sent off to a lab. Seems like it didn’t have to be him doing that.

The whole subplot about Evan’s ex-boyfriend felt tacked on. Yes, it helped Evan and Rene get their happy ending, but it was glaringly contrived. Maybe if it had been sprinkled into the story from the beginning, I would have been more okay with it.

I’m very comfortable giving this book 3 stars. It’s not bad and not great. A solid ‘okay’ kind of book.

Review: Future Ex Enemy (Future Series #3) by Kate Hawthorne and E.M. Denning

I hated Luis from the start.

2 out of 5 stars

DNF 12%

E-book. Kindle Unlimited. 210 pages. Published August 8th 2019

Blurb:

If there’s one thing David Cranston hates, it’s Luis Montgomery.

When he finds out they’ve both been invited to participate in a floral contest that could make or break both of their careers, David dives in, ready to win.
But there’s only one problem, and there’s only one bed.

David and Luis are forced together and tension isn’t the only thing running hot between the two of them. David realizes he wants to come out on top…in more ways than one.

A drunken night and a hungover morning leave both men regretting actions that found them a little bit too close. Unfortunately, they keep getting closer, and closer, until the lines between hate and desire blur into something far more complicated than either of them bargained for.

Back home, Luis and David struggle to make sense of their feelings, and Luis has to face some hard truths. He thought he hated David and his roses and his baby’s breath and his lemon verbena lotion, but he was so wrong.

Because if there’s one thing Luis Montgomery loves, it’s David Cranston. 

Likes:

  • Tangential to the Kingston brothers without feeling forced.

Dislikes:

  • Literally everything about Luis.
  • David was presented as someone bland and boring.
  • More formatting issues.

DNF 12%

Because I DNF-ed the previous book, Future Gay Boyfriend, I knew that the best way to give this book a fair shot was to read something else as a palate cleanser of sorts. After a few days and a nonfiction book, I felt good as I cracked open Future Ex Enemy. And experienced an instant and almost visceral hatred of Luis.

To be fair to the authors, my hatred of Luis is entirely my own. He embodies so many of my pet peeves that it’s unreal. I’m a millennial, so I don’t hate on millennials, but Luis is like a condensed version of all the things people hate millennials for. And it’s not just because he showed up late to his interview because he tried and failed to satisfactorily tie his bowtie. (But I mean, come on. If you can’t tie a bowtie, don’t wear one. It’s that simple.)

No, what made me hate Luis was that he was just a random employee at Kingston Party Rentals and one day he decided to rearrange a bride’s wedding centerpieces without her permission because he thought they were dated. WTF?? I don’t care that it turned out well in the end. You don’t touch other people’s stuff without permission. And at that point, Luis was not interested in flower arrangement. He was just a random guy who thought he knew better than anyone else.

This backstory is probably meant to make Luis seem like he has a natural talent for design. To me, he seemed like an entitled asshole. But I was still willing to give him a shot. And then he walks into his interview with David like he’s hot shit, when he still had literally no experience in flower arrangement. He didn’t even want to work at Designs by David, but “A job in a place like this wasn’t his ideal first gig, but he needed to start somewhere, and this place was hiring.”

This is why people want to punch millennials in the face. Luis has no training, formal or otherwise, only picked up the idea to work with flowers recently, and has an ego the size of Texas. Sure, he knows a little about flower symbolism. The story doesn’t say how he picked that info up. If it had hinted at him actually doing some research, maybe reading a book, I wouldn’t be so mad. But as he’s presented, I hated Luis.

Then there’s David, “overall, a pretty standard looking guy.” Not exactly an exciting start. But at least I didn’t hate him. If anything, I liked David. Middle aged, worried about his business, and he also hated Luis.

I might have continued to read a bit more of the book just for David, if the spark between the two men hadn’t felt so fake. There was absolutely no spark or even sign of interest between the men during their first meeting. Which made the line “If David Cranston was younger, or even less disagreeable, Luis would have had half a mind to pin the man against the wall and fuck the contrariness right out of him” seem even more out of place. I literally said, “What?!” when I read that line. It comes out of nowhere. A blatant, heavy-handed attempt by the authors to generate a spark when it’s not coming naturally.

I don’t even remember the last time I gave up on a book so quickly. I actually felt a little bad that I didn’t get farther. But I could just tell that I wasn’t going to enjoy the story.

Review: Future Gay Boyfriend (Future Series #2) by Kate Hawthorne and E.M. Denning

DNF 61%. The romance never hooked me.

DNF 61%

2.5 out of 5 stars

E-book. Kindle Unlimited. 236 pages. Published April 11th 2019

Blurb:

Ryan Kingston is having a terrible year. His twin brother and his best friend just got engaged, leaving him feeling adrift and out of place. Prepared to ring in the New Year drunk and without a date at the annual Mallory Vineyard party, Ryan is blindsided by desire when he shares an unexpected kiss with the last person he expected…another man.

With his darkest years hopefully behind him, Darian Fulton is finally ready to step out of the shadows and embrace his true self. Armed with pink lip gloss and a snazzy silk tie, he is determined to keep his New Year’s resolution and find his own slice of happiness; one that shows up in the form of Ryan Kingston, an alluring and apparently not-so-straight-after-all man.

Darian sets his sights on making Ryan his future gay boyfriend after a simple kiss, which quickly turns into two, then three, then more. Ryan and Darian find themselves more involved with each other than they’d ever planned. But Darian worries that Ryan is going to change his mind about being with a man—and after a surprising job offer, Ryan is worried about losing Darian for the temptations of a big city career.

Between impromptu shopping trips, midnight ice cream runs, and a long list of firsts, Ryan and Darian are faced with the choice of conquering their fears together or missing out on all of their dreams. 

Likes:

  • Darian is a cancer survivor.
  • Ryan was interested in being verse.
  • The way their families didn’t make a big deal out of their relationship.

Dislikes:

  • Never hooked me.
  • Slow character development.
  • Too much sex.
  • Sex happened too fast in the story.
  • There wasn’t enough time given to introduce the reader to the characters.
  • Formatting issues.
  • Nothing about their lives was shown.
  • Darian and Ryan felt incomplete.

DNF 61%

I had problems with this book right from the start. I don’t immediately like main characters when I start reading something new. I have to get to know and like them. Even Ryan, who appeared in the previous book, needed to be introduced as a main character and not just Rhett’s twin brother.

Unfortunately, the book starts off with insta-lust. I didn’t get the chance to connect with Ryan and Darian before they started having sex. Which meant that I didn’t care about the sex. As much as I love smut in my romance books, it doesn’t pack a punch if I’m not invested in the relationship.

But I kept reading, because the book can’t all be about sex, right?

It wasn’t until chapter five – more than 20% into the book, that serious character development and relationship building started to happen. And even that was lackluster. Ryan and Darian are both directionless. Ryan’s life isn’t terrible but isn’t great. Darian has finally beaten cancer and now has to decide what he wants to do with his life. Kurt Vonnegut famously advised writers that “Characters must want something, even if it’s just a glass of water.” Neither Ryan nor Darian had something they wanted. It made them feel incomplete.

The lack of goals meant that both men had boring lives, and so not much of their lives was shown. It also meant the story lacked a subplot. Sure, eventually Darian’s desire to go to college comes up, but it happens after the 50% mark.

The entire first half of the book was focused solely on the relationship. Which would have been fine if there was some tension there. But there wasn’t. Ryan, who had always been straight, adjusts to his newfound sexuality in the blink of an eye, which isn’t a huge surprise. His twin and best friend are both gay, so Ryan is obviously fine with gay men. But I’m not a big fan of ‘gay for you’ stories, and this definitely is one. Ryan had literally never been attracted to another man before.

Since neither man has a problem with the budding romance, they had a lot of sex. Too much sex. So much that it became ridiculous. Everything Darian did got Ryan hard. I got so tired of reading about Ryan needing to adjust his boner. Sex is not substance. It didn’t matter that they were both trying to work out the intricacies of anal sex. A romance isn’t built on sex alone, and there wasn’t enough time spent developing the relationship to get me invested.

The only reason I got as far as I did in the book was because I skimmed. A lot. I never got invested, and gave up because it wasn’t worth my time to finish reading.

I am especially disappointed that Darian wasn’t more fleshed out. He was the more interesting of the two men. As a cancer survivor, he had a unique view on life. It was mentioned a number of times that he was finally wearing the kinds of feminine clothes he’d always wanted to wear, but that wasn’t delved into. And for a guy who just got over cancer, his family was noticeably absent. And I hated that Kristen, who’d been portrayed as a bitch in the first book, was Darian’s BFF. I know people act differently depending on who they are around, but she was still a bitch to Ryan, and her character just felt inconsistent.

I did appreciate that Ryan was verse. He didn’t immediately assume he would top, which is noteworthy, especially since Darian was so feminine.

I also have to point out that this e-book had a lot of formatting issues, especially at the beginning. Paragraphs were indented differently, or not indented at all, in a very noticeable way. I also didn’t like that the book started with a prologue when the story continued without any sort of time break into chapter one.

After reading some reviews from people who actually finished this book, I’m glad I gave up when I did. Apparently things happen in the last few chapters that made people super mad.

I will finish the series, but I’m definitely less excited about the final book now. Hopefully it will be like the first book and not this one.

Review: Future Fake Husband (Future Series #1) by Kate Hawthorne and E.M. Denning

A cute, sweet, smutty story that could have used a little more drama.

3.75 out of 5 stars

Ebook. Kindle Unlimited. 232 pages. Published November 5th 2018

Blurb:

Cole Mallory is on the brink of losing everything.
For the past seven years, Cole has dedicated himself to managing Mallory Vineyard, the winery his family owns. It’s not that he hasn’t had time for a relationship so much as he’s never found anyone he wanted to devote time to beyond the initial getting to know you stage. But that all needs to change—and fast—because if Cole wants to inherit the vineyard, he needs to be married.

Rhett Kingston is about to have a new life dropped into his lap.
What started out as a night of lonely drinking in a local bar ends with Rhett agreeing to “fake marry” his twin brother’s best friend. Rhett will act as the perfect future fake husband for Cole and, in turn, Cole will help Rhett launch the event planning business he’s always dreamed of owning.

Before they know it, their totally fake relationship is tangled up with completely mutual desire. After a destination wedding forces Cole and Rhett into the same bed, sparks fly and fictional feelings escalate and threaten to turn into something very, very real and more than either of them bargained for. 

Likes:

  • Sweet, easy, low angst read.
  • The setup was a cliché but modern and believable.
  • Cole and Rhett knew each other but hadn’t really noticed each other.
  • Hot smut, and lots of it.

Dislikes:

  • Almost too sweet and low angst.
  • The spark between them happened fast.
  • Cole’s family.
  • Wished for more about Rhett’s life.
  • Colt’s sister’s abrupt personality change.

I’m surprised how much I didn’t mind this marriage of convenience story. Yeah, it’s a cliché all by itself, but it felt weirdly modern. Cole’s mom might have been fine with him, an unmarried gay man, taking over the winery, but his grandparents were another matter. It was the fact that the grandparents had the final say that sold it for me. I can totally see older folks picking a hetero couple over a gay man, even one they’re related to.

I also liked that Cole chose Rhett as his future fake boyfriend. It was believable to everyone around them. Plus, they already knew each other. The fact that they’d never looked at each other as potential love interests made sense. Despite their connection through Rhett’s brother, they moved in different social circles.

But once they started being around each other, the spark happened fast. Definitely insta-lust, which I didn’t mind. And the smut! Very hot, and plentiful. Almost too much, at one point. I definitely skimmed a few times. As much as I love smut in my romance, if it’s not moving the plot along, it almost becomes filler, especially if there’s already been a lot.

I just wish there had been a little more tension, both with the romance and with the story in general. There was only one hiccup near the end, and it was sorted out without any effort by Rhett or Cole. The story was sweet, low angst, and east to read. A little more tension here or there would have spiced it up.

Both Cole and Rhett were nice guys. Cole’s family, however, were classist assholes. Which made Cole’s sister’s decision to be nice at the end surprising. It felt completely out of character for her, and while it helped give the story a happy ending, I don’t buy it. I wish Cole had gotten mad at his family. I half expected him to just snap and burn the whole winery to the ground.

I am glad the story didn’t bore me to death with the intricacies of how wine was made – looking at you, An Intoxicating Crush. I do wish that more of Rhett’s life had been explored. Cole’s family and livelihood got the page time. I didn’t even realize that Ryan and Rhett weren’t identical twins at first.

I am looking forward to the next book in the series. The writing was solid and I finished the book quickly. Both authors have other series, so I’ll have to give them a try one day.