Pride and Joy – M.L. Rice

Aug 14, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I don’t quite know how to describe a book that is both incredibly depressing and a page-turner. I felt so sad reading this but I couldn’t stop reading, despite the domino effect of each event playing out on the page.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a great book – I’ll even want to read it again, but the attempted rape, homophobia, conversion therapy and life-changing accident are hard hitting so make sure you’re in the right place to read this before you start.

The book is split into parts – spanning approximately 10 years of the main characters life, starting with senior year in high school. Bryce’s realisation that she’s gay came a little quickly for my liking but her comfort level with the realisation is a welcome change of pace. I really enjoyed the friendship group that features around Bryce, especially as they’re another great example of chosen family.

This is a quick read, which despite it’s heavy storyline has lots of redeeming features and is well worth the time to read.

Sparks Like Ours (Seven Shores #3) – Melissa Brayden

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

It was really nice to go back to reading something light-hearted and pretty fun for a change of pace. I enjoyed this one more than the second instalment in the series, even though this is pretty predictable in it’s direction. I enjoyed catching up with the Seven Shores characters and thought this did a good job of covering the other characters lives as well as the MCs.

I’ve always enjoyed Gia’s character throughout the series – so it was nice to get her part of the story. Whilst I felt the direction of the book was predictable – it was at least interesting that the love story takes place between two major rivals. You don’t need to know or understand surfing to read this – there is barely any surfing terminology and any surfing scenes are brief – it concentrates far more on the characters. Elle’s journey is also written really well.

All in all this is a nice edition to the series, with the usual minor angst in places.

Sylver and Gold – Michelle Larkin

Aug 6, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

This was my first Michelle Larkin book and I wasn’t disappointed. I’d read a number of positive reviews for this book before I started and I have to say I agree with them all wholeheartedly – I loved reading this. I’m not normally one for anything to do with the paranormal in the books I read, but I found this to be a really good way of adding this element to a cop story in order to make it different.

I probably shouldn’t have made the decision to read this in the dark late at night – it is a bit creepy at times, but the thing that pleasantly surprised me was that although the book has lots of murder and other dark moments shared between the main characters, I was always left with a positive light feeling whilst reading.

I loved the interactions between Sylver and Gold, Mug the dog had real personality and I enjoyed the secondary characters. I thought the spirits were well written and meaningful and were used really effectively to continue the story moving forwards. I thought Sylver’s interactions with the spirits might get boring and repetitive but this wasn’t the case.

This one is definitely heading to my read again pile.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Infinite Loop – Meghan O’Brien

Jul 23, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve had this on my TBR stack for a while and now I’ve finished I’m not sure why I let it sit there so long. I LOVED this book. Both characters are great, their back stories have genuine depth and there is no breakup angst in this book at all, which made it refreshing and unusual.

The book is really well balanced, covering life tragedies – both current and past – with both insight and empathy. Mel and Regan fall in love with each other – opening up a new world neither had previously considered.

Regan is a geek, who has some of the typical introvert tendencies you’d probably associate with a character of this type and I really appreciated how O’Brien doesn’t turn this into a “fault”, instead using this trait to provide some really nice, as well as comedic moments in the story. Mel is a cop with a buried sensitive side. For me seeing her become aware of this and open herself up to a chosen family of both Regan and her work partner was my favourite part of the book.

I’m definitely going to want to read this one again and I’d recommend it to any wlw romance fan.

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.