I had trouble getting into the last book of the Witch & Wizard series. I was kind of ready to be done with this series when I started reading this book. The main characters had kind of lost their luster for me, especially Wisty because she was immature at times and not self aware. I think she grew as a character by the end of the novel, but it took too long for my taste. It was interesting to see Whit and Wisty's relationship and the struggles they went through as a family caused by the circumstances they were in. I think it really showed that things like war and conflict can separate family because of differences in point of view, but that love is still what precedes any separation caused by conflict. I was happy with this book by the end, but I would give the Witch & Wizard series as a whole 3 stars out of 5 because I think it could have ended two or three books earlier. In a way, it may have overstayed its welcome as a series.

Read my full review at: http://nerdreads2013.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-lost-by-james-patterson-witch.html 

The male and female leads in the story were interesting and the ending was believable and made sense for the characters. The story is told from both the perspectives of Angie and Jace. Angie is an American living in Australia whose visa is about to expire. Her best shot at getting it renewed is to get married to an Australian local. Jace is her landlord and a professional comic book artist. Jace and Angie are clearly attracted to each other, but Jace is socially awkward and doesn't openly express his feelings to Angie, and Angie doesn't seriously consider Jace as a love interest because she thinks he is indifferent. When Angie and Jace start spending more one-on-one time together he ends up helping her try to find a marriage partner. I appreciated that we got a glimpse into Angie's backstory and the reasons she moved in the first place. It helped give context to her insecurities and how her past influences her personality. We also get a backstory for Jace that does the same and explores his own insecurities about his autism and the aspects of his personality and life that are affected by this. 

There is a focus on family relations as well. Jace has a large family and has always felt like the odd one out, but his family is warm and loving. By the end of the story, Jace becomes more accepting of himself and also in a way more accepting of how his family expresses their love for him. As Jace and Angie become closer, she is also welcomed by his family. 

The romance between Jace and Angie occurs with a sort of time limit, but the problems they run into are realistic and handled well. Jace and Angie both become frustrated with each other because of the differences, but they learn to communicate about their insecurities and are able to overcome these issues. Overall, I liked the themes explored. It's not my favorite romance, but it was interesting to read.

I appreciated reading about a male lead who was an ex-felon and gave some insight into the struggles ex-felons have after leaving prison. It was also nice seeing the contrast between Graham's experience and that of his friend Griff. Graham is lucky enough to have inherited enough money to keep himself afloat even without a job. Griff on the other hand has a wife and children he has to take care of and has trouble finding a job that earns him enough money to not be financially stressed. There is also important commentary pertaining to The friendship between them was also refreshing to read about. I always appreciate great male friendships in my books.

I also liked the chemistry between Mackenzie and Graham. Despite this, he came off kind of stalkerish in the beginning. I think this could have been remedied if we got more backstory about his relationship with Mackenzie before the events in the book. The discussions between Mackenzie and Graham give some context to their previous relationship, but I would have appreciated more flashbacks so that we could get a better picture of what their relationship was like before Graham's arrest. Although, it is clear that Mackenzie does not feel threatened by Graham's presence and he respects her boundaries

Overall, I enjoyed seeing Graham begin a new life and use the money his parents left him responsibly. He had great character development throughout the story and so did Mackenzie through her relationship with him. Their romance felt a bit fast-paced at the beginning, but I think that goes back to not providing enough backstory about their past. We were told a lot of things about their past, but I believe more should have been shown instead to give the development of the relationship more impact.  Despite the shortcomings, I think the story has great likable characters with a lot of depth and is definitely worth a read if you enjoy stories that have characters with a lot of nuances.

I was incredibly surprised at the character growth in this book from Blake of all people. However, I also find it strange that he spent so many years hoping that Allie would choose to become romantically involved with him. I think sticking around her for that many years is just strange, but whatever I guess. On another note, he has matured enough that he is able to put his personal feelings about Tony aside enough to make decisions that are helpful to Allie. The fact that Allie and Tony reunite because of Blake is something I wouldn't have believed based on the first book. Blake has come so far in the years since then and I'm really proud actually. He outgrew his frat boy phase and found fulfillment in his life outside of his privilege in life. Tony and him have also found common ground through their journeys to their personal self-fulfillment. He still doesn't like Tony by any means due to their still withstanding rivalry there. Although, after the life-threatening events in this story, I'd say they are as close to being friends as they'll ever get. (I can't say more because spoilers). 

Allie and Tony finally have to deal with rebuilding trust and I wish we got more time with them together in the end. However, I was overall satisfied with the ending. Tony's past came back to really haunt him, but he was able to deal with the consequences and aftermath of that. Allie was able to resolve her feelings pertaining to her complicated relationship with her father. We are also shown a hopeful ending for Blake and I'd actually pay for a book about Blake's love life, honestly. He's such an interesting character by the end and I appreciate that he was written with so much nuance. 

I can't believe Blake is such a great father figure. I appreciated the positive depiction of a non-traditional family dynamic. Fatherhood suits Blake as much as Tony who is the actual father. I also wish we got a few more moments with Tony cuddling with his kid, honestly. But hey, I got most of the things I wanted, so minimal complaints.

The last book I read by Lexy Timms was a disappointment for me, so I'm happy this was a hit. I think I'll probably give some more of her books a try after this. 

This installment had more pining and angst in the story. It has been 5 years since Tony and Allie last saw each other. Tony has now become a renowned choreographer and is hired to save a failing production. There, he is surprised by the presence of Blake and Allie who are part of the staff for the production. Allie unfortunately continues dealing with other people having a heavy influence in her life. This obviously trickles down to her relationship with Tony which becomes a point of frustration. There are overhead politics at play here beyond the relationship between Allie and Tony and things get very complicated. It makes for an interesting plot as it gives some insight into the corruption within the entertainment industry. It also makes you think about how much money makes a difference within that industry.

On another note, I was happy to see that Allie has been able to find support in a friend through everything she went through with her father. We don't see a lot of this character but the few moments they were around they were very charming. I'm hoping to see more of this character in the next book. There aren't a lot of depictions of platonic male/female relationships in media in general, so I'm always thankful for those. 

This book does end in a frustrating cliffhanger, and both Allie and Tony had moments where I wanted to strangle each of them. Despite that, there is a significant amount of character growth in the end (especially on Allie's end). I'm looking forward to seeing more character growth on Tony's end as well in the next book.

I was pretty concerned about the unprotected sex scene between Allie and Tony. I have a feeling she might end up pregnant, but I'll have to read the next book to see.

I appreciate romances that are about repairing already existing relationships. I think a lot of them are more realistic about the kinds of problems people have with communication and maturity in long-term relationships. This story focuses on an interracial couple who separated 10 years before and are reunited. A lot of their original separation stemmed from came from a mix of miscommunication and lack of preparation for marriage at that time. Tia and Andrew are complex characters and we get to see how much they have grown as people in the 10 years they have not seen each other. By the time they meet again, it is clear that there was never a lack of love in their relationship, simply internal problems that they each had to work through individually. Since the characters both knew each other already, there was an added sense of intimacy in their relationship. They know things about each other that only people that have grown up together would know. They are emotionally supportive of each other and that is probably the most compelling part of the relationship. There is good character progression and a decent subplot. 

I appreciated the contrast between Andrew's acceptance of Tia and Clayton's reservations about it. It is noted that Andrew went out of his way to start learning Chinese in the past for Tia. That definitely shows that he is interested in getting along with his in-laws and is a sign of how much he cares about her. Tia's parents also show a great appreciation for Andrew despite not necessarily thinking that he is the best choice for Tia. Clayton's parents on the other hand made offhandedly racist and dismissive comments and Clayton always seemed to be playing damage control. Tia is a Chinese immigrant and Clayton never really created an environment for her to feel accepted in that identity. There are many reasons why Andrew was a better match for Tia and it's explored well within the plot.

Overall, I think some readers may find some of the miscommunication in the story annoying, but I personally didn't mind it because it felt realistic to me. The sex scenes are reasonably well written and the main characters are very likable. I am looking forward to more books by this author because this was very wholesome and enjoyable.

I know this is a romance, but I was not expecting it to be loaded with so much social commentary that I could relate so strongly to. The male lead, Antonio Rivera, is a Latinx aspiring actor who has grown up in a poor gang infested neighborhood. His mother was employed as a housekeeper and spent her years raising her son alone since her abusive husband was jailed years ago. He is attending his first year of college at a prestigious school full of privileged, rich, and majority white students. His tuition is funded by a diversity program at the university. Antonio (who goes by the stage name Tony Rivers) has to deal with discrimination based on his socioeconomic status while dealing with the normal stress of starting college. We spend a lot of time in Antonio's head and he consistently worries about avoiding conflicts that may compromise his academic success. Tony ties his academic success to his ability to be able to not just have a better life for himself, but also for other people in circumstances similar to himself and his mother. He understands the sacrifices people like his mother have to make to "make it" in the U.S. As the child of an immigrant family myself, I was able to strongly relate to these parts of his journey. Tony chooses his stage name as a way of masking his Latinx identity. Since he has a lighter skin tone and his appearance is implied to be reasonably white passing. He is also revealed to have learned to mask his Hispanic accent as well, which added some more depth to his story. This really hits home for me as a Latinx person in the U.S., specifically because in the U.S. Hispanic/Latinx is treated more as a race than an ethnicity. A lot of people don't realize that Hispanic/Latinx people can have overlapping racial identities. In Tony's case, he is white passing enough only in appearance. His accent, his upbringing, and his other experiences set him apart from other white people in his school. To the other white people in his school he is as white as they are while they don't hear his very Latinx name, while they don't hear the Hispanic accent he has probably spent years hiding, or while they don't know what community he grew up in. Even within the story, as other characters learn about these aspects of his identity they treat Tony differently and  their expectations of him change based on their prejudices. I thought the social commentary was brilliant. 

We are quickly introduced to Tony's love interest, Allie, at the beginning of the story. She has grown up with a strong economic background and racial privilege. There are moments in the story that reveal that despite being open to a romantic relationship with Tony, Allie still has prejudices. She has moments where she has to check her privilege. I appreciated that despite her prejudices and those uncomfortable moments, you can tell that she has good intentions. I would say this is a pretty accurate depiction of what it is like for someone to have their world view questioned and then have to deconstruct their internal prejudices. Most people aren't blatant jerks when they have privilege. Often, they are like Allie. I think there is a lot of nuance there that is shown in the story. I'm looking forward to seeing more character growth from Allie in the next installment of this series. She grows a bit in this book, but I can see that there is potential for a lot more character growth. 

In addition, there is an exploration of sexism within the plot. Tony does ballet as a hobby and he is bullied for it on multiple occasions in the story. I found this ironic considering all of the students in the school are studying the arts which are traditionally considered a more feminine discipline. It is clear through incidents in the book that there are  certain art forms are more traditionally accepted for men than others.  Unfortunately, this seems realistic. Certain art forms are less respected than others in society, especially when done by a man. I thought it was some interesting commentary and added a lot of depth to the story.

Overall, I liked this story a lot more than I thought I would and I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.

I haven't had the best of luck with romance books recently, so this was a breath of fresh air. There is representation of neurodivergent characters in this book. They have nuance and the way their neurodivergence affects their perception of themselves and their daily lives is explored in a way that is easy to relate to, I think. Although, I feel like people that are part of those communities are really the ones that need to vouch for accuracy there. Max is a huge jerk, but as the story progresses it's clear that he is more prickly on the outside than he seems. Holly has a lot of patience and sees Max can be sweet through his actions when he tries despite his gruffer exterior. I appreciated that there was commentary made about what being an truly kind person is versus someone who is just nice for appearances. I feel like a lot of people have an idea of what a "nice" person looks like, but actions speak louder than words and charm. Max is a great example of this compared to another character in the book and it was something I could relate to.

 The romance had really good pacing and didn't feel rushed. The main characters had emotional baggage that they had to work through and were eventually able to open up to each other about it. It was heartwarming to see and done very well.  I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author. Hopefully she publishes more soon.

I couldn't get over the highly questionable consent of the sexual activity at the beginning of the book. The writing style is also a bit much for me, so I think this isn't for me.

This volume was longer than usual, so I was wondering what catastrophic thing Kato would do to my poor characters. However, she has done an amazing job expanding this arc and connecting everything back to the main story in this volume. By the end, Rin had all the answers he was looking for and so did I as a reader.  I wish I didn't have to wait so many months between volumes, but I prefer to read my manga in volume format. Besides that, I know it will be worth the wait. As for this volume, it was probably my favorite volume in this arc so far.