Breaking Free (Maddie & Kara #2) – D.R. Coghlan

Jul 11, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

This book has me in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to reviewing. I liked the characters, I enjoyed the writing, it’s a good follow-up from the first book and I would genuinely like the third possible part to finish the story of Maddie and Kara, yet I can’t list this amongst my 4/5 star reviews.

At times I found myself skimming/speed reading pages, wanting to get to the end and the reconciliation I knew would happen, finding all the ignoring each other in a long distance relationship frustrating. However, I can imagine that this is very realistic for some people in this type of situation. Another reason I’m finding it difficult to review – I believe most elements of the book are realistic – difficult families, bad friendships etc. Perhaps I was just looking for something to get lost in and the realism couldn’t take me away from day to day life enough.

The twist in the book is good, and was a good way of starting to encourage those on Maddie’s side to start seeing her differently. I was happy to guess the twist before it happened, but only just, so I didn’t spend the whole book wondering why Maddie couldn’t see it.

Kara’s storyline was good and I think showed a journey some people go on when they fall for someone and see themselves changing from the person they thought they were.

If you like realism in your lesbian romance books you should enjoy this one and even if you don’t there’s a lot to like here, just prepare to be a little frustrated along the way.

A More Perfect Union – Carsen Taite

Jul 9, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

This book was well on its way to being a five star review – romance, espionage, intrigue…and then it ended. After being so invested in both characters I needed more from the ending. I’d love a second book and the ending provides lots of scope for that book to be written, but even so, I just needed more.

This was my first Taite book and I have to say I was very impressed with both the storyline and the quality of the writing – I’ll definitely be making sure to work my way through her extensive back catalogue.

Both Zoey and Rook are interesting, insightful characters and I liked how their duty to their respective jobs was explored, including the inevitable impacts. I’d have liked some more of them together in a romantic situation (and more sex) and would happily have read a longer book to have more of this aspect.

Hearts Like Hers (Seven Shores #2) – Melissa Brayden

Jul 5, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I loved the first book in this series and I really enjoyed this one – it just didn’t quite live up to my hopes. Despite this it was still a great book that I would happily recommend to anybody else.

The friendship group in this series really make this set of books for me, the reactions and writing of Hayden, Gia and Izzy are well written, funny and enjoyable. I like Autumn, but felt disconnected from her. I much preferred Kate and the brooding, slightly damaged characterisation.

I liked the storyline, and it was interesting to have some of the plot lines such as adoption and pregnancy come into play in unexpected ways and is why I’d still give the book 4 stars.

I’m looking forward to finding the time to read the third instalment and hearing more about this group of characters, including if the HEA sticks.

Slammed – Lola Keeley

Jul 5, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

When you’re catching up on all of the books that have come out in the last couple of years whilst you’ve had a reading break, it’s easy to stay on a roll of great books and this is most definitely one of them.

A fantastic lesbian sports romance, full of complicated (in all the best ways) and enjoyable characters.
The tennis in the book doesn’t play second fiddle to the romance and you can tell the author genuinely loves and watches tennis. The terminology and action scenes are spot on. The lesser storyline threaded through the book has merit and is an enjoyable factor.

I loved the romance between the MCs, the hesitance at first, followed by the passion and the impact on their lives. The angst mainly comes from influences outside their relationship, which I always enjoy in a book, life isn’t always easy so a well thought out journey like this one helps make the book.

If you love sports and romance, read this book. Even if you don’t love sports, read it anyway, you’ll still enjoy it.

Trust – April Canniff

Jul 5, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been lucky to be on a roll with good books recently and this one definitely continued the trend. I couldn’t put this book down. I loved the balance between the intrigue and the romance. I’m a fan of military romances and cop romances separately, so combining the two was always likely to lead to a good thing for me.

Knowing this was the author’s debut I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing.
The book is set up really well by a great opening, leading to a slow burn that’s pretty satisfying. There’s lot of detail on the missions, which I didn’t mind at all as it served to show the MCs struggle between mission and personal life.

I loved both MCs and the balance between the toughness required for the job and the gentleness underneath for both of them. The best friends provide important insights and are well integrated. The wider team needed some more development but I can understand why this might have been overlooked as the rest of the team are male.

I debated back and forth with myself over the rating on this one, but have settled for five stars as I think it has a lot of aspects that were better than some of the other four stars I’ve handed out recently.

The book ends with an opening for a sequel and I hope we’ll be getting one!