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!

In Her Court – Tamsen Parker

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

This was a really fun, fast-paced, happy read. The book finds Willa and Van pushed together at a camp for adults when Nate (Willa’s brother) breaks his leg and she steps in to help. This is the first time they’ve seen each other adults, after previous teenage feelings.

Both MCs were easy to identify with in some way or another. They were well written, rounded characters, with plenty of geek culture, a bit of sport and no particularly intense relationship angst.
I loved how Willa was written and could identify wholeheartedly with the ‘you play sport so you can’t be smart’ sentiments. There are so many easily relatable aspects to Van as well.

The book isn’t technically a standalone, as it’s part of a series (not all of the books in the series are by the same author), but as far as I’m aware it’s the only one in the series where two women fall for each other. I have no idea if any of the characters are in any of the previous books, but you certainly don’t need to read any of them to enjoy this book.

Parker doesn’t normally write wlw books, but based on this one I’d be willing to give any others she might try in the future a go. All in all if you’re looking for a fun, easy read this is very good option to go with.

Coach M – Q. Kelly

Jun 30, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking about this book a lot since I read it and found I needed to come back and write a review. This contains spoilers about both this book and the first in the series – Coach Z.

I read a biography of Q.Kelly and it said she likes to write in the grey of life – it’s an extremely appropriate way of describing this series of books. None of the characters are horrible, none of them are heroes, they’re just people dealing with hard things and situations.

I was originally attracted to the book because of my love of sports and lesbians crossed with basketball was right up my street. However it was the characters that had me reading both books back to back and still awake trying to finish them at 4am in the morning.

Coach M skips forwards five years from the ending of Coach Z, where we found the burgeoning relationship between Melissa and Andi ending due to alcoholism. Five years later and Andi is returning to coach the Ravens again, in the process coming face to face with Melissa again after no contact since the end of Coach Z.

The basketball descriptions in the book are great, and I loved how it accurately represents that sport is often a way of life for some. I thought Andi was great as a character, but for me it was the depiction of Melissa in Coach M that really spoke to me. Melissa is written as someone coming to terms with lots of things that people in the LGBTQ+ community often experience and then struggle with reconciling when they meet ‘the one’.

I was also really happy that whilst there is a happyish ending to the book, it didn’t break from its style and have an amazing unrealistic HEA. There is happiness and resolution – but everything isn’t tied into a happy bow just because the book ends.

I would love a third part of this series, continuing Melissa and Andi’s life together.

The Wrong Date – Sienna Waters

Jun 28, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

Really enjoyed both the writing and premise of this book. The characters are well written and have real depth to them. Whilst the high school reunion story is a common idea – how we get there with the characters is anything but.

Loved the story so much I sat and read the whole book in one sitting – reading until 2.30 in the morning – so be prepared to make time to enjoy this one.

I really enjoyed the awkwardness of Annie and the confidence of Robin and how their relationship worked together. The HEA seems just right – and I’d really enjoy reading another book about these characters and what happened next.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

The Opposite of You – Sienna Waters

Jun 25, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

Enjoyable read about two MCs that really shouldn’t fall for each other.

I love that the author was confident enough to write characters with flaws. I’m not sure what stops me classing this as a 5 star book – I think it might be my frustration with one of the MCs not seeing what was right under her nose, which of course is the whole point of the story and what makes it an enjoyable read, but nonetheless I think there were too many times I wanted to yell at my Kindle!

I really enjoyed that the HEA didn’t come with marriage or pregnancy and faced a lot of common discussions regarding equal responsibilities in a relationship, normality can be interesting sometimes.

It’s a well written book full of characters with depth, available on KU in the UK, I’d highly recommend.