Take a photo of a barcode or cover
rainbowbrarian's Reviews (1.85k)
I am a huge fan of brain candy gay romance novels. Never gonna be ashamed of that, they’re delightful, predictable, comforting, and lots of them are free on Kindle Unlimited. And Cherry Picked by May Archer is all of those things.
Hawk Sunday has had a crush on Jack Wyatt since the first day he met him when Hawk was 17 years old. Jack is the height of tall, dark, and handsome, just like every Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice novels, movies, and retellings that Hawk loves. Hawk Webb has always been the outlier, the bookworm in the family of outdoorsy lumberjack apple growers that makes up the rest of his family.
In Jack Wyatt he finds someone who finally sees him and pays attention to him. Actually listens when Hawk goes on about the latest Pride and Prejudice adaptation he’s read. The only problem is that Hawk wants to be more than friends with Jack and he can’t figure out how to make Jack see him as more than just the little brother of his best friend. This summer Hawk is determined to change all that by asking Jack if he’ll be the one to take Hawk’s virginity.
Problem, when Hawk asks him that on a hike together, they nearly fall off the mountain together and Jack seems horrified by the idea. And then, to make matters worse, Jack refuses “to do the deflowering himself, but also, erm... blocking any other potential plant-lovers from getting all up in my garden.” This story is set against the backdrop of a huge resort company trying to build an alpine resort on the mountain that Hawk loves. Hawk needs to protect his home but can’t seem to understand why no one else seems to care. Can he convince Jack that’s he’s desirable AND preserve the mountain at the same time?
The city of New York is coming to life. All great cities have a soul, but some of them become embodied in a human avatar who guards the city from the extra worldly forces that lurk in the shadows trying to kill cities before they have the chance to awaken. Somehow, as NYC begins to awaken she ends up with FIVE souls. One for each of the boroughs, but they have to find each other first and come together to save the city and time is running out.
The City We Became by NK Jemisin is a love letter to New York City. And even me, who has never been there, can enjoy it. The characters were AWESOME. Fantastically diverse and really well realized too. From Indigenous Bronca the ass kicking independant queer artist running an artists collective and trying to fend off threats from extremely gross misogynistic racist bigots to Queens, embodied as Padmini is an immigrant Tamil mathematician, to Manny, a newcomer to Manhattan who feels an incredible pull towards the first Avatar. And that’s just scratching the surface! I loved getting to see the city through each of their eyes and seeing them come into their own as avatars of the city to fight off the lovecraftian monsters. There’s queer love in lots of forms underpinning the entire story and I loved that. I’m not doing it justice with my effusive gushing, but it was excellent. I couldn’t put it down, I was racing to find out what was going to happen!
The City We Became by NK Jemisin is a love letter to New York City. And even me, who has never been there, can enjoy it. The characters were AWESOME. Fantastically diverse and really well realized too. From Indigenous Bronca the ass kicking independant queer artist running an artists collective and trying to fend off threats from extremely gross misogynistic racist bigots to Queens, embodied as Padmini is an immigrant Tamil mathematician, to Manny, a newcomer to Manhattan who feels an incredible pull towards the first Avatar. And that’s just scratching the surface! I loved getting to see the city through each of their eyes and seeing them come into their own as avatars of the city to fight off the lovecraftian monsters. There’s queer love in lots of forms underpinning the entire story and I loved that. I’m not doing it justice with my effusive gushing, but it was excellent. I couldn’t put it down, I was racing to find out what was going to happen!
