<b>Plot:</b>  2/5
<b>Spice:</b> 5/5 
<b>Characters:</b> 3/5 

<b>Overall reco:</b> 
I've read quite a few <b>'erotica'</b> novellas and I have to say, the story for this was one of the best I've read so far. I was actually interested in the story and what was going on, and shit. I'm going to read the next book, because I kind of want to know more, I'm interested. It didn't felt like it took itself to seriously and the open door was so good. So good. 
It's hard to review these books because they are so subjective. Like I might enjoy the craziness to the kinks (and it was.. kinky) but not everyone might. Shit the idea of doing those things with a stuffie might not be fun for someone. If thats the case, don't yuk the yum and move on. If you think thats kind of hot then I can't recommend this enough.

 

Plot: 3/5
Spice: 3/5 (Open door, descriptive, minor kinks)
Characters: 4/5

Overall reco: There is something about Sarina Bowen that hits just right. I had read the first of this series months ago and enjoyed it. A nice balance of stressful moments and happiness. There is often a balance that is with these books that not ever author gets right. Lately I've read a lot of books that don't have that balance, they lean to heavy on the angst and the heartbreak and not enough on the good moments. Sarina is one of those authors that knows how to walk that line so well.
I really enjoyed the MMC's, they both felt complex and the story didn't feel like it was dominated one side against the other. Their problems felt realistic and not just stupid. There was miscommunication, and while it could have been easily resolved with some conversation, the reasons why they weren't talking made sense. Frustrating but the good kind. Overall I really enjoyed this book, as I always seem to do with Sarina. Not something that will blow me out of the water but good enough that I feel good reading it.
Sarina is one of those authors that just feels like a nice big hug. 

 

Plot: 3/5
Spice: 3/5 (Open Door, Edging)
Characters: 3/5

Overall reco: Underwhelming . I don't know why but I just wasn't feeling these two. Leading into this I was interested in Jasper, the quiet enigma and normally that would translate well into his book but this time I was just.. bored. He has all the markings of a character I should like. Sloane as well. This is the type of story I should have gobbled up and enjoyed, especially with that scene out in the cabin. But really, these two just kept pissing me off.
I was skating the line on DNFing the book because they just kept pissing me off. I wish I could say that it redeemed itself in the end but the ending felt rather anti-climactic. I think possible because I spent a good portion of the book being so fucking annoyed at both of these characters.

Like they finally get together and then spend a good while pissed off. or rather Sloane spends a good while pissed off and it just feels so fucking pointless. like what the fuck? You just almost lost Beau and were super upset and stressed and shown how short life can be and you are just going to fight? over fucking what.

This is the first book by Elsie Silver that I spent more time raging at than enjoying. Is it because I'm reading it on the back of one of my favorite authors? Not sure. But I agree with another review that said that they enjoyed the blurp more than the book. I saw lots of people online saying the text messages made them mad, that they loved this sticking it to the man that happens that felt rather lack luster, that this was 'the best' of the bunch and I'm.. not there. So far Willa and Cade are my favorite of this series. Kinda looking forward to Winter's book but these books kind of finish in a 'meh' way. 

 Plot: 4/5
Spice: 5/5 (I don't think the door existed, Cozy but highly descriptive with kinks)
Characters: 4/5

Overall reco: I read A Pack for Winter before this and didn't realize that it was 2 different authors until a bit into it. I did enjoy this, it was a lovely cozy book that was very low stakes and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't nearly as slow a burn as the 2nd book of the series, which is fine. There was tension about things and I'd love to have explored a little more or the boys backstories but really, this was the Olive show and I enjoyed the ride. It was well written and enjoyable, but I read it on the heels of another book that blew me away and while this provided that comfort I was seeking, it paled a bit behind that monster that had torn me up. 

 

Plot: 4/5
Spice: 2/5 (Open door, bot crazy descriptive)
Characters: 5/5

Overall reco: This was 6 Stars, easily. I thought Wolfsong was going to be my book of the month. Tal Bauer has this ability to make everything seem like poetry. I wasn't reading a book, I was reading a love letter. To Canada, to Hockey, To this sweet little Canadian-French speaking sweetheart. I love Bryce. Love him. I think I like this more than You & Me.
I loved every step of this novel. Every step. I cannot explain how much I love Bryce. It is impossible. I kicked my feet every time he spoke or had a thought. I broke down with him, I soared with him. I loved this book so much.

How can you not love this adorable little (he's not little) man?:

 

 

Plot: 3/5
Spice: 2/5 (few open door scenes, some more descriptive than others)
Characters: 3/5

Overall reco: This was enjoyable but I kind of struggled through this. The characters spend a LOT of time rehashing events in their heads. Like sometimes I felt like I was in an anime filler episode where they were rehashing everything that happened and how they felt about it. Which.. fine. But it felt like it happened so often. I started skimming these pages, especially as it go later. Like when

Devon gets arrested and

Maddox comes home and no one is around we spend most if not all of that chapter in his head rehashing the events of the last few weeks AGAIN. Him going over and one about how weird it was that he wanted to fight AND fuck Devon. He'd had this conversation in his head several times at this point and I was over it.
The boys felt like they were 16 and not 25. Nate and Xavi felt closer to 21-23. I don't know if the intention was to make it seem like these guys were young because of their circumstances but their actions and behavior just felt way younger.
When I got into this book I was expecting to feel more frustration. These books, youth in situations of poverty where the world is unfair and working hard against them to the point of extreme despair, tend to get me extra hard. They are almost always going to be a good hurt book. And maybe this was and I ruined it by skimming, but it never seemed to really dig in. I expected hard choices and fallout around

Nate and Devon being arrested

but that all worked out far, far to well. I'm sure it'll come back in the second book but I'm not sure I care enough to read that one.
Overall the book felt far too short and far to long? Things that I expected to be issues were not, there was a lot of mental recapping. Enjoyable but I'm not going to read the follow ups. 

 Rating: 3.5 (rounded to 4 for GR) : Thank you to the Author for the ARC.

Plot: 3/5
Spice: 3/5 (Numerous open door scenes)
Characters: 4/5

Overall reco: It was like most MM hockey reads. Enjoyable, and mostly digestible. There were some sticking points along the way that disrupted the book. This didn't feel like an independent series from the other series that author has out, it feels like a continuation of that series. There are references to events of those books and while the author seems to give run downs in the middle of the book of parts of those stories, it tended to feel like I was again jumping into the middle of a series where I should have read all the prior books. I did end up finding myself skimming or reading an not absorbing the book and having to reread a lot. In the end, it was enjoyable. I've ready worse. I would recommend going and reading all the other books this author has out before starting this series though...

(rants)
Jamal King? Right.

What the fuck was this character. He keeps getting called out by the author and noticed by the characters but then we get no fucking closure around him or really anything more than he's a weird fucking dude(author seemed hell bend on making his behavior standoffish/weird)? Like.. what the fuck? Also, what the fuck happened to Richardson? He was out with a calf injury and then we never hear from him again? Did I skip past him being traded? They get really into the misconduct shit in the contracts towards the end but we don't hear them thinking about that with Richardson?

My biggest standing out/complaint about the book is the amount of backstory we got on other characters. After a pervious ARC where I jumped into the 4th book in a series, I've been careful to check. This was listed as the first in a series and while the author had other works I didn't think it would be a problem. Right well, it felt like one. There was a lot of "this is X who is the lover of Y and they had all this drama last year with Z event" And it'll be paragraphs about that event or who they are and not always relevant. I expected it in the beginning of the book, prior to the 20% but it was happening all the way up to the 60% line. There is a prequel novel for their other series and those 2 are featured heavily and references are often made to other events that either get glossed over (when it feels like we should get more) or given too much (when I don't give a fuck). 

and I think I also kept confusing Von and Boe? or maybe I wasn't? We head a lot about Von in this book from Lars and I was like.. right.. who? fuck

 
Finally, one that bugged me and actually kept fucking up my reading was maybe not the authors fault? The first few words of every chapter are capitalized, unfortunately this author likes to start chapters with people talking. So, it often comes across as a person shouting half a sentence. For example: "DUDE, STOP WORRYING ABOUT me." sounds a lot different in my head than "Dude, stop worrying about me." It took a while into the book before I noticed it and going back it clouded my impression of the scenes. It might have been my kindle font choice but I'm looking at it now in another app and its the same.. it's a dumb thing to hang my had on but fuck it