justinlife's Reviews (916)

The last of the series, this book lands nicely. 

We see the couple from book two a couple years into their secret relationship and the trials and tribulations of only having limited time with each other while growing as people. We see how their secret affects them in different ways. It's a really good ending. 

Again, these two don't stop being spicy. No one in her series has as much sex as these two. Good for them. 

This one was one my favorites from the series. 

Here we get a character who was a jerk in one of the earlier books find themselves a different path. I'm all about an author showing what accountability and forgiveness can look like. I like it when characters can recognize their bad behavior and grow to be better. 

This was a lot fun. 

This one was also cute. Not "whoa blow me away" but neat. I appreciated that she gave us a character with severe anxiety trying to make it work. We get a different flavor of relationships with this one and it's fine. Cute.

This was cute. A late in life bi awakening with a younger man? Sure why not. 

Reid always creates a comforting story and gives her characters depth. Overall I liked it though. 

The series as a whole gets five stars. 6 books that are engaging, different but slightly connected and have the low stakes fun that I'm looking for. Now my entire recommendations are going to be Hockey m/m romance.

As a beginning book, the first always has some heavy lifting and it sets the tone for the series. It's a lot of fun and shows spaces for the world to open. Kip and Scott are a cute couple trying to balance feelings with publicity, wealth and independence, loneliness and hope.

Reid does a great job here and allows the characters their moments. It's cute and fun and full of hope.

This book was ok.  This review reflects more on me than the book. 

It was a lot and it took a lot to get through. I don't think I understood all of it. I feel like it was trying to be a Cloud Atlas-esque book set in India but I wasn't able to pick up the through lines as easily. This is more on me b/c the book is chock-full of references and my understanding of India is from an American perspective. I blame myself that deficiency. 

Deb's writing is nice and it evocative of the worlds he was creating. I don't think I was able to connect though. Tis a shame. 

This book was fine. It had moments that were really interesting, but as a complete work, it was just ok. 

Edmondson is one of the pioneers of the psychological safety movements particularly how it affects work environments. This book leans heavily on anecdotes showing the differences between the businesses that practice psychological safety and those that don't. The tools needed to create a psychological safe working environment aren't really laid out until later in the book. 

For those unfamiliar, this book will provide an introduction to the concept and its importance. I do think most leaders don't understand how they can create spaces where their teams can feel safe even if the business as a whole doesn't and could benefit from reading this. 

If you have previously read articles and discussed it, then it might be good to skip it. It's nice, but also felt like cotton candy. Like, it didn't add much to what I already knew. 

As a side note, it's rude that this book wasn't available in paperback and the hardcover is $32. Like come on! Thank goddess for the library. 

This was a fun jaunt about a young woman leaving her small town and pursuing her creative endeavors in NYC. Along the way, she joins a rental situation where she becomes friends with likt 5-7 people. 

It's very much wish fulfillment and the dream that everyone has when they move to a big city. It felt very unrealistic, but this is a comic and I want to indulge in the fantasy. 

The second book in this series was a lot of fun as well. 

Here, Hart gives us Alex's brother Jason, who is the coach of the football team finding himself smitten with the new English teacher, Emerson, who is trying mask his neurodivergence. 

Hart shares at the beginning that she too is neurodivergent so it was fun to read a character written by someone who might have similar experiences. It made for some fun reading. 

While I enjoyed this book, I did find myself skipping longer paragraphs. It felt like she was building lore in areas where I wanted it to move. We do get more of Jason's family and his brothers which was a lot of fun. I enjoy when the side characters come together and we can see a completed family.