It's more of a close 2.5 Star Read.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Isaiah was born in Africa, but soon moved with his mother to the United States. Now he is on his way back. He tried to stop a friend from making a big mistake and was caught with her gun in his hand. He should spend two months there, working at his father's hospital. Henry, who works for his father, picks him up at the airport. While they drive they are stopped by armed mercenaries and kidnapped. During their time as prisoners they have to face many terrible things and struggle for survival.

I enjoy the character growth we got to see and how Isaiah turned from a moody boy to a Hero, from somebody who thought that helping people only got yourself in trouble, to somebody who actively wanted to help people.

Their relationship starts with a hate-love relationship in which Isaiah calls Henry Hank to make him angry. He also resents all those do-gooders who are like his father, but slowly he starts to care more about Henry and soon develops a bit of a crush.

I liked that Isaiah was a Typ-1-Diabetic and that it w
as described realistically as where the problems that happened when he couldn't access his Insulin.

There where some scenes that just didn't make sense (like Isaiah forgetting that he had just been abducted and locked up in a dark damp cellar and instead swooning over how ~pretty~ Henry is.) Some of the paragraphs were choppy and it threw me out of the reading flow at times. Also Henry's mysterious past was the "gay homeless boy starting prostitution to survive" which I've read in so many stories already, that it is neither a mystery nor particularly interesting. And while i'm sure that it's the story of many homeless gay boys, it also doesn't help that most of the time that plot is written by women, and not ownvoices.

There was an (unnecessary) rape scene (and no exploration of what trauma that must have been, especially considering Henry's past), the death of the only black women of importance (the book was set in Africa and there's not a single important black character who survives/exists, which just feels... lazy) [the only other black character is an evil kidnapper] and some racist remarks from Isaiah (at least those where challenged in the book).

I think the setting was interesting, but that the story could have been better. I also never really felt connected to the characters, so the book just fell flat for me.

Why I read it: A m/m romance set in Africa? Yes, I'll check it out!

Do I recommend it: If you're looking for a fast-paced m/m romance with crime story aspects, this could be the book for you. Just look out for the trigger warnings.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jaq meets Hannah at a friend’s wedding. They are immediately drawn to each other and after a hot hook up they keep meeting. But it’s just sex right? After all everybody tells Jaq that Hannah is trouble and not good in relationships. She not only has to figure their complicated situation out, but also support her students and motivate them throughout the school year. And on top of that all there’s a killer on the loose, who just killed a dragking.

The story starts with a bang (haha you get what I mean? ;)) but seems to drag out after a while. I enjoyed the overall plot, but I would have loved some more focus on Jaq and Hannah’s relationship. I did however like the exploration of her student’s lives and that not all of them were straight either.

Jaq Cummings is a high school teacher, a butch lesbian, one of two out teacher at school, she also leads the GSA and a catholic, who goes to church with her father. She’s also well known for breaking up with her girlfriends to avoid any kind of hurt that might happen to her.

Hannah NoLastNameGiven is a lawyer who just moved to La Vista after a messy divorce. She is femme, doesn’t like animals or children and she loves ass play. She also can’t convince her ex to sell the house they own together.

Sadly Hannah is not very developed. We get to know more about some of Jaq’s students than we do about the second main character. She is also always called crazy in relationships, but except for the fact that she just lived through a nasty breakup there is no evidence of it. (She also cheated, which is obviously wrong, but this honestly doesn’t deserve all those “unable to have a healthy relationship” comments… hmmm) All in all I would have wished for a bit more explanation of her to figure out what makes her tick, more about her every-day-life except the sexy stuff and work and weddings.

The sex scenes are well written. I loved that the femme women was the one who took the initiative and it was seriously great to read. There are a bunch of explicit sex scenes, so be warned. There’s also a lot of flirting, which was nice to read too.

There are also many amazing secondary characters and we get to see their stories and struggles. I especially loved Jaq’s relationship with her Dad, it was wonderful to read. I also absolutely love Merin and I’d love to hear more of her in future books in this series (which I will definitely continue! I love La Vista a lot!)

All in all the story was really nice to read and this was a wonderful diverse book.

However there are some moments where a character says something bi- (accidental, character apologizes) or transphobic (called out by Jaq), which kind of threw me off, so be warned.


Why I read it: A Butch Lesbian struggling with her relationship (and she’s catholic? Nice!) and while figuring that out also supports her LGBT Students? That premise immediately fascinated me and I’m glad I enjoyed it.

Do I recommend it: Yup, it’s a nice book with a lovely butch character, hot sex scenes, wonderful side characters and a nice lesbian relationship.

All stories are about a private detective investigating a crime. All stories feature a diverse cast. All stories are incredible interesting reads.


A Bar called Once

Diversity: black bisexual Woman, lesbian Woman, f/f couple

Ryssa is a private detective and has noticed that girls at her bar have gone missing after talking to a certain man. One day while she is watching him again her ex suddenly stands in the bar. The man is her husband. Ryssa is scared for Lana’s safety and decides to tell her about her hunch. Reluctantly Lana agrees to help Ryssa observe her husband.

Lana has left Ryssa after she was shot by a witness that Ryssa slept with and soon married John, an accountant. But her husband’s behaviour is highly suspicious and soon Lana isn’t sure who the man is she married.

The story focuses very much on the case, but there is also some romance. Lana and Ryssa have good chemistry, but their shared past makes it at once easy to work together, but also more awkward.

The ending has a nice twist and the story is definitely interesting to read. 3.5/5 Stars



Black Suede, Red Velvet

Diversity: Japanese gay men, m/m couple

The owner of Black Suede, an exclusive Japanese Club, Fujimoto is suspected of Drug Trafficking and James Tachibana is hired to go undercover and investigate that. To reach his goal he’ll have to find a way to get closer to Fujimoto. That way may be trough Kana, Fujimoto’s favourite escort. James has not expected to find himself drawn to Kana.

Kana soon figures out that James finds him good-looking and heavily flirts with him. There are some incredible hot flirting scenes in this short story,

James knew that this would be a dangerous investigation, but after he has finally established a connection to Fujimoto it soon gets way more dangerous.

The story has some nice twists and turns and the ending is truly wonderful. 4/5 Stars



Cold, Bitter, Dark

Diversity: latina trans woman, m/f couple

Deacon wants to help his crush and partner Mishelle save a kidnapped woman. This however puts both of them in danger and Deacon still hasn’t told her how he truly feels about her.

Deacon and Mishelle met when he helped her get the money and the papers to legally change her name. Deacon used to be a police officer but lost his job when he refused to act corrupt for a captain. After that they soon became good friends and Deacon lived in her garage.

Mishelle works as a prostitute, does social work and is a CI for the local police. Her life is not safe and she knows it. When her friend is kidnapped she gets really dangerous. (Honestly she was scary and I love it!)

The ending is very nice and I think I found my new OTP <3 4.5/5 Stars



Mr. X and the blackmailed Female

Diversity: lesbian women, f/f couple

Mr X is a well-known private detective in the 19th century. Nobody has ever seen his face, as everybody who wants to hire him must arrange the deal through his assistant, Miss Stetson Goody. As it turns out she is actually Mr X and plans to keep her identity secret, but when Lady Ashton comes to her in need of help, it gets more complicated.

Jewel Ashton is blackmailed by pictures that somebody took while she was kissing another woman. This is terrible for her as she doesn’t have enough money to pay the black mailer and if it would come out her father’s political career would be destroyed. Stetson Goody is amazed. Never has she met another woman who loves woman just like she does.

Having grown up in the theatre community Stetson knows her way around make-up, costuming and acting. She loves her double life, as it offers her a chance to live a different life than women in her time where able to live.

They embark on a dangerous journey to find the blackmailer and save Lady Ashton’s honour.

I really liked Stetson’s unmasking at the end. 4/5 Stars #ownvoices



Orpheus Rising

Diversity: Asian gay man, m/m couple

Manu is a private detective. He has heard about a human trafficking ring under the Club Hell’s Kitchen. Even though he knows that it is dangerous, he decides to investigate this himself. Through sheer luck he survives that night and manages to free a few woman, but afterwards the real trouble begins. He decides to track down the man behind all this himself, even if it puts his life and his relationship with Eric at risk.

Manu is a very ambitious private detective, who wants to save some people. Even though he knows he can’t change the world he can change some people’s lives and that’s better than nothing.

Eric loves him and thanks to him being a paramedic, he can always stitch up Manu’s wounds.

The story has an open ending, but I liked Eric and Manu’s relationship, it was super sweet! 3/5 Stars



Sweetbrier

Diversity: Disabled (missing limb, PTSD) indian gay man, m/m couple

Set during the 2nd World War Rahul realizes that there is something iffy going on in his town. The police tries to cover up a murder and soon afterwards a woman from Sweetbrier House kills herself. Said woman has been reported to be scared for her life before. Rahul has to untangle that mess without any police support. And then there’s also interesting Mark, a resident of Sweetbrier House. Nothing is as it seems.

I love Rahul and that he is a disabled veteran, who still suffers from his time at war. His first marriage failed soon after he came back, as he didn’t sleep with his wife. Since then he has been single, until Mark comes along.

An interesting story set during war, with spies, traitors, murder and romance with an open, yet satisfying end. 4/5 Stars

Review crossposted to my blog here

Nolan is a mexican boy living in America. He has not lived a normal life since he was a young boy and lost part of his leg in an accident caused by his first seizure. Every time Nolan closes his eyes now, even when he blinks, he is transported into Amara's world.

Amara is a mute slave girl only able to communicate trough sign language. Since her child hood she's been on the run. After a rebellion and the murder of most of the royal family Amara was picked as the princess' healer as the princess is cursed. Every time she bleeds, even a single drop, the curse is activated, ready to kill her. Amara needs to hurt herself every time to pull the curse towards her. If she messes up even a single thing Jorn, her master, punishes her cruelly. When she becomes aware of Nolan's existence she is terrified and angry. But nothing is as it seems and when everything becomes even more dangerous they have to work together.

Nolan is a fascinating character and his disability is portrayed incredible thoughtful. We can see that he struggled with school and that his family struggles with being able to afford the medication for him. His struggle is not glossed over and instead shown in great detail. He has a nice relationship with his sister Pat.

Amara's suffering is also portrayed well and with the change of View you manage to empathize well with each character. I loved that her's and Cilla's relationship issues were discussed, as there is quite a power imbalance between them two. Their romance was incredible sweet, but did not overtake the plot. (There is also no love triangle! Yeah!!!)

The world building is wonderfully done and you can see that Duyvis put a lot of thought into it. Duyvis invented a lot for Amara's world, with different and distinct magic, appearance, livelihood and customs for every country. This book also features an incredible diverse cast of characters, a disabled mexican-american boy and a bisexual mute dark-skinned girl as main characters, as well as interesting side characters like Maart and Cilla.

There are a lot of plot twists and the story kept me guessing until the end. Sadly there are still a few questions left in the end of the plot, which is quite annoying. (For example: How can people travel between these two worlds? Why is there not more explanation about that topic?)

P.S.: "letting her lungs expell air she hadn't realized they'd been holding" is just a more fanzy way of saying "she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding"...

Except for that I enjoyed the story a lot, especially how effortlessly yet realistic the diversity was built into the story.

Why I read it: I saw a recommendation for this book on bisexual-books.tumblr.com ages ago and decided to finally read it after it has been on my TBR for /ages/ and I did not regret it!

Do I recommend it: Yes, I do. It's a lovely diverse fantasy novel and despite the questions left, the world building is nice and I enjoyed it a lot.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Genna's life is pretty normal. She works a boring job with boss she hates, has a girlfriend who works all the time and teaches dyslexic people to read. Oh and her father left her family when she was a baby. When she catches her girlfriend cheating on her she feels guilty. After all she knows she has feelings for another woman...

Abi is most of all one thing: a mother. She loves her daughter Rosie, who has Down Syndrome, but because she can spell her name and tie her shoe laces she has to go to a normal school. It's terrible for her there, as some of the teachers are horrible people. But she also harbors feelings for her best friend and nothing about that is easy. To make means end she works as a telephone sex worker. It's not her favorite job, but it pays the bills and she enjoys the girls-only hotline.

But then Genna wins the lottery and suddenly she is rich. That means she should be happy right? But a disastrous relationship, ungrateful family members and her unrequited feelings for her best friend make it all a bit too much to handle. Money can't buy happiness after all. Or?

This book was written from two points of view and at first it takes a bit of getting used to it, but they where well written and so it was okay. It also helps to get to really know the characters and understand their fears and hopes.

I loves Genna as a character, she just felt very real with her fears and anxieties, self-esteem issues and her unrequited crush. Abi is also well written and it was easy to understand why Genna was so fascinated and attracted to her.

I especially adored Rosie, she is an adorable kid and she is just precious. The other secondary characters where also pretty well fleshed out.

I was however a bit sad that there was no mention of bisexuality, especially in the scenes where Abi was questioning her sexuality, it kind of seemed as if there's only straight and lesbian as options which was a bit disappointing. The only time bisexuality is mentioned is in a way that feels a bit icky. "I wish to God that she was gay... or bisexual. Hell, I'd settle for curious as long as she experimented with me." It makes it seem as if bisexual woman are just experimenting with their attraction to woman...

At first the story progressed rapidly, but I felt a bit bored during the Will They - Won't They (tell each other they have feelings for them?) as it felt a bit dragged out. But it has many funny scenes, the romance is nicely done and the sex is hot.

All in all it was a very good romance story and I enjoyed it a lot.

Why I read it: Lesbian Romance, hello?!?

Do I recommend it: Yes, definitely. If you enjoy lesbian rom-com with very funny scenes and an interesting family dynamic then you should definitely read this book.

4.5 Stars

Wayne has been living a pretty normal life in Amanzimtoti. He likes to surf and hang out with his girlfriend and her brother. At the moment he's struggling with his last year of high school, at once anxious for school to be over, but on the other hand terrified of losing touch with his friends. But everything gets messed up when his childhood friend Kyle returns. Eight years ago they kissed each other, but Wayne's father found out and punished his son severely for his "perverted" feelings. Wayne has got over it hasn't he? He is normal, right? But Kyle's return erodes the walls he's built around his life.

I love Travis and Jessica, their friendship and support of Wayne are wonderful to read. Jess is a very patient and loving girlfriend, because while she questions Wayne and worries about him, she also gives him space when he needs it. Travis worries about his best friend too, but he also loves his sister and would do anything to protect her. Their sibling bond was wonderful.

None of those kids has a healthy home environment so they cling into each other a lot. Jessica's and Travis' step mother, a white woman, abuses them for being mixed-race. Their father doesn't care, he only cares about his cute white baby. Wayne's father and brother beat him for having kissed another boy and now monitor everything he does. Jessica and Travis don't know what his family's behavior is about but they worry about Wayne. There are some good grown ups however, I truly love Kyle's Ouma and Mrs Vector <3 They show Wayne the support he desperately needs and does not get from his family.

Wayne lives in South Africa and there is a glossary for the slang words used, which is truly lovely as it felt truly real.

All in all I enjoyed this book, even though it wasn't easy to read. There is a lot of self hatred and self harm and panic attacks and abuse and racism. It's not a happy high school story dealing with a bit of self doubt, it's not a light read, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

The only problem I had with the book is that it starts really slow and it took me nearly half of the book to truly feel a connection to the characters, but after that I was unable to put the book down or pause.

The ending is a bit of a cliff hanger, but it was some good promises for the next book and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Why I read it: A teen boy struggling with his identity set in South Africa?! Nice!

Do I recommend it: Definitely. It is an amazing book and I enjoyed it a lot. Just you know, be careful with the trigger warnings, if child abuse, self harm or homophobia is not something you want to read about you probably shouldn't read this book as it can be quite graphic at times.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Laleh is living a pretty normal life. For a Persian-American Second Generation Immigrant at least. She works as a waitress in her Aunts restaurant, which disappoints her parents who wanted her to go to University. She is also not really interested in any suitors her parents try to find for her.
Hope works as an ER Doctor and she prefers to avoid any attachments. She never checks up on her patients. She doesn't have any long-term relationships. When she lost her mother as a child, she learned that it's better like this.

But when Laleh breaks down with heart problems and Hope resuscitates her, something goes wrong and a strange connection forms between them.

I absolutely loved the characters in this book, especially the side characters where amazing as well. Some characters from other books had cameos in this one as well, which I heard was a tad annoying for some people, but as I haven't read any of Jae's other books it just left me really interested in Jill's and Crash's story because it sounds amazing. But I heard that some characters just appeared for a second, where named and disappeared again, which I can imagine would disrupt my reading flow if I had read her other books before and known these characters. The romance starts out as a reluctant ally ship which slowly turns into a friendship and then into something different again. It was a wonderful description of romance where friendship and companionship played a big part.

The first part of the book deals with figuring out their bond and there are many funny scenes which is absolutely adored. The later part of the book gets a bit darker and deals with coming-out and a bit of family drama. But the book never slips in melodrama and misunderstandings are talked about and resolved (The communication between is wonderfully written, which is definitely part of the interesting idea behind the woman's connection, but it was still wonderful to read a story where problems are recognized and talked about <3)

The authors must have also done loads of research in the medical field and into persian culture and food as it was described in much detail, which made the book feel quite real.

The ending was a bit disappointing because while it solved some problems it definitely felt like a loss for me as reader.
All in all I enjoyed this book a lot and I will definitely check out other books by the author!

Why I read it: a lesbian romance with a woc MC? And some unexplained stuff is going on ala Sense8? Sounds awesome!

Do I recommend it: Yes definitely. It's a nice romance with an amazing and original premise.