Get it Right – Skye Kilaen

Nov 29, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

4.5 stars. This is my first work by Kilaen and I really enjoyed it. The writing is fantastic and I enjoyed meeting all of the characters. I was sad when this one was over – for all the right reasons.

This is a friends/colleagues to lovers story with an added element of power dynamics due to them having previously known each in a prison environment, where Finn was an inmate and Vivi a nurse. There’s a prologue where we need them both in the prison infirmary but the main part of the narrative takes place once Finn is released. I like both of the MCs but I especially loved Finn.

Nearly all of the mentionable characters in the book are queer, in diverse ways and it was great to have a narrative about queer people living their lives – looking for work, running businesses, having relationships, normal family tensions etc. There are some queer related difficulties mentioned and some other difficulties such as trauma from an accident that are also encountered in the storyline, but none are used for drama, all just for expression of ordinary people doing ordinary things.

Judging by the teaser of the second book in the series about one of Vivi’s sisters, we’re going to get more from this world and I sincerely hope we’re going to get the next part of Finn and Vivi’s story. The ending of this is a good place to leave the story, especially if it was always intended to be a novella – but there’s so much more story to tell and I hope one day Kilaen wants to tell it.

I would happily recommend this to any queer romance lovers.

I received an e-ARC directly from the author in exchange for an honest review.

One For The Road – Sienna Waters

Nov 25, 2020Nov 25, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I really enjoyed this one and am happy to say I feel like Waters is back on form with this story.

Leo runs the local bar in a small town. She lives her life stuck in the past – serving only beer and a few spirits, just making do to make rent on the bar. On the surface she’s a loveable grump, with a heart of gold.

We meet Sammie after she’s run away from everything she knows, purchased a luxury RV and decided to park it in Leo’s lot. She’s drawn to Leo in a way she’s never experienced before, doesn’t know what she wants from life and just wants to earn enough so she can move on again.

Both main characters had plenty about that them I could identify with and I liked their chemistry. There’s an age gap that feels workable – both of them have experiences that make them quite compatible. The secondary characters were also really great. I liked Sara, who has a lot of wisdom for someone so young, but who was able to connect with both Sammie and Leo. I also liked Leo’s friends and the way they forced her to confront her feelings.

I liked all of the different elements that Waters was able to combine into one narrative, including discovering sexuality, becoming an adult, dealing with exes, grief, closure and a heavy dose of finding oneself, without it all feeling too overburdening or rushed. Even the inevitable angst moment felt like it could happen in real life and that these MCs could have made those choices.

I liked the ending and the communication between the two, especially the recognition of why they work together. I’d recommend this to age gap and romance fans in general.

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

Northern Vows – Lise Gold

Nov 25, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I’m a big fan of Lise Gold and this one didn’t disappoint. This book brings together all of the featured characters from the Compass series for the wedding of Hannah and Kristine.

I loved that Gold chose to close this series by taking us back to the beginning – to Norway – where Northern Lights is set. The wedding setting is great in reintroducing us to all of the friends. I loved Hannah and Kristine’s story in the first two books of the series so getting to read the next part of their journey was great.

I liked that Gold didn’t feel the need to provide grand sweeping changes for all of the characters in the book. Two of the couples experience big changes in their lives to give them HEAs, but others stay in their stable lives, happy together, which makes the other changes work better in my opinion. It was great to return to Madison and Ally and how Madison’s relationship with Theo as her step-son has progressed. Kate and Felicia have always made me laugh with their headstrong ways and I loved the humour they provided to this story.

Some of the secondary characters get some closure, old friends making up, brothers changing, so it isn’t all about the romance. To me one of the things I love most about Gold is how she writes about the little things, and the fact that she manages to write about a group of friends staying at a resort for a week and it not be repetitive is fantastic. There is a little bit of a new romance included in the storyline for Daisy, which is sweet, mirroring some of the original book and closes the loop somewhat on this series.

I wouldn’t recommend reading this out of order. You could – it’s still a great story by itself, but you’d miss the richness that knowing these characters already provides to the narrative. Therefore I’d highly recommend starting this series if you haven’t already – Northern Lights is set at Christmas – so it’s the perfect time!

Because You Can – Leigh Landry

Nov 24, 2020Nov 25, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

A solid 3.5 star book with an interesting premise I hadn’t personally encountered before.

Molly has discovered her boyfriend is cheating on her and wants to dump him but then she discovers who he is also seeing – Jo – the lead singer of a country band and finds herself unable to do so. Instead she ends up striking up a revenge pact with Jo.

I liked that both characters could instantly see that the situation was neither of their faults – there was no blaming the other woman, which had been how I was expecting it to happen. The pact to get revenge gives them a reason to get to know each other even though they’re from different worlds and it works, so I applaud Landry for this. It was good that this pact brought them together, but didn’t take up more space than necessary in the narrative itself.

I liked both Jo and Molly as characters. Molly is comfortable in her bisexuality and Jo is coming to an understanding as to her sexuality. The reluctance on Jo’s part to be with Molly was frustrating at first, but somewhat understandable due to her profession. The tension this created in the will they won’t they back and forth provided lots of good opportunities for getting to know both characters. I liked that her friends and bandmates supported her with her journey. Both Jo and Molly’s best friends are good characters who help move the story along and I liked that there was a little bit of a sub storyline there too.

Spending time at the animal rescue was fun and the introduction of Bananas the cat was enjoyable too.

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

Finding a Keeper (Sports Series #4) – Nicole Pyland

Nov 23, 2020Nov 23, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

It’s probably fair to say that soccer was my first love, so it’s perfectly possible that my five star rating partially relates to the fact that this a book full of all the feelings I experienced about sport and life at a certain period of my life. The club team I support gets a lot of mentions and I was also crazy enough to be a goalkeeper, so the way Pyland explained goalkeeping also made me very happy. However, it’s also because Pyland has again created a wonderful book, full of interesting characters in a different environment to any she has written before.

Marley is a junior. She’s the starting goalkeeper coming into the season where she’ll start to get noticed by scouts from the NWSL. Sloan joins the team as a striker, she’s lived in England for the past six years, playing in an English developmental league and is trying to settle in as a freshman after having experienced a more adult life in England. Marley’s gay – Sloan isn’t. They become fast friends. Marley suffers an injury and finds herself out for the season. As Sloan is a new face to the squad she’s drafted in to support in Marley’s absence and turns out to be good.

When I read other reviews that mentioned the age of the main characters I was slightly worried how I would feel about this book – but these feelings and emotions discussed fit so perfectly with college aged characters that any reluctance I had dissipated very quickly. I also really enjoyed the fact that Pyland didn’t rush this narrative. The book mainly takes place over the period of two years (barring the epilogue of course) so it could technically be described as a slow burn – but the friendship the two share and the move into a relationship for the two of them just works so well that I was never frustrated with them like I often am with slow burn romances.

The narrative covers difficult topics especially grief and loss in different ways. Religion and parental acceptance also plays a big part and I liked how Pyland introduced a slightly different narrative than one I often read and the parents in this storyline ended up surprising me. I also loved Emily and Alison – their roommates/friends and their secondary relationship in the storyline. I enjoyed how their relationship and characters brought out things in Marley and Sloan.

This is another book from Pyland with great characters, emotional depth and an interesting narrative. I’m sad this is the last of the sports series – but am happy to have spent time with some really great characters along the way.