stephanie_inman's Reviews (228)

I am a huge fan of Cora Brent and her Gentry Boys series. I started my GR over this year, so my reads do not reflect how many times I have read each of the books in this series, but suffice it to say, many of the books have been read numerous times.

Fall is the only book I think I have only read once prior to this time.

I remember when I first read the original three books, Draw, Risk, and Game, and met Declan Gentry. I was so excited for him to get a book. But, unfortunately, this is my least favorite book in the Gentry, Gentry Generations, or even the Ruins of Emblem Series, thus far.

It still isn't a bad book. There just isn't much content. And I'm not crazy about our heroine, Jenny.
The book provides a crossover between Ms. Brents Gentry Boys series and her MC Club series. This book is directly related to Promise Me. I love the concept of merging the two worlds. I just felt that Jenny falls really flat.

I'm also not really a big fan of books where we have a man who has slept his way across the country, having sex with anyone that walks, and the nearly virginal young girl. And it's one of my absolute biggest pet peeves when the girl isn't a virgin, but she had sex ONE time and it's one of these things: traumatic; not good because she didn't wait for the H; not good because she wasn't in love with the person she had sex with; or she did it once but swore off men afterwards, for some arbitrary reason, or even a good reason. Basically, I hate it when we have female characters who only can enjoy sex when they are with the Hero. Occasionally it works, but more often than not, it doesn't.

In this case, Jenny was inexperienced, and only had sex once. She gave her virginity to a friend, not someone she loved, but because her life was going to be out of her control soon, she wanted to have control over this one thing. I actually thought this made a lot of sense. Then something very traumatic happened. This is where I would have liked to have seen it play out differently. Because Jenny is so young, and has never really been on her own, and is so inexperienced, I really didn't like her with the much more experienced Declan.

I thought, as a couple, they didn't make sense. And, even worse, I thought they were boring.

We do find out some about Declan's past. Which also left me feeling Jenny was wrong for him. He keeps comparing her to his Aunt Maggie, his cousin's (Cord, Creed, and Chase's mom). He also keeps remembering how much he loved Maggie. How when he was young Maggie was so beautiful. It's clear he had some strong emotions, bordering on a weird crush on Maggie, and it was weird the way he compared Jenny to Maggie.

Other than that, we got to see our Gentry Boys and their ladies. I've seen a lot of reviews that complained about the fact that Declan and Jenny's story wasn't fleshed out enough because we really got more of the triplet's backstory than we did Declan's, and I admit, those reviewers are certainly onto something. I just don't think I minded as much because this book, and this couple wasn't really for me. I found that the only parts that kept my interest were the parts with Cord, Sayler, Creed, Truly (my fucking QUEEN) Chase, and Stephanie and the glimpse into their past that we get, via Declan's memories.

I still recommend this book, for that reason alone. And it does set up the next two books (and one novella). One of which, Edge, I'm going to go ahead and spoil my review by saying it is among my absolute favorite books by any romance author out there. It's that good.

I didn't do a review of this book the first time I read it, but I remembered it being super short and an easy read, so I decided to re-read it. Honestly, I kind of had to re-read it before leaving a review, because I couldn't remember much about it. And that's the problem.

It's forgettable. Even with a character who is a billionaire (or near it), owns his own town (why was this necessary?) and is the president of the local MC. Dude had a lot going on.

The story itself isn't bad. If you like insta love, and over-the-top, possessive, alpha males, this might be right up your alley. The plot also seems secondary to the insta love between Boomer and Crystal. We get way more scenes of them steaming up the sheets than we do of actual story. But, again, this might be what you're looking for; an easy read with little to no angst.

Boomer is happily living his life as the president of the Steele Riders (Boomer's actual name is Garrett Steele). He has a brother and a younger sister. It's through his sister, Morgan, that he meets Crystal. His attraction to Crystal is immediate. He, as so many in these types of books do, "claims" her. There is some drama, but both of the characters are all-in, when it comes to the relationship. The drama comes from enemies of both Crystal and Boomer. One problem I have is that I read this (for the second time) pretty recently, and I honestly can’t remember the details of the couple’s “enemies”.

The plot just doesn’t leave an impression.

I liked the character of Crystal. She was fierce, loyal and she knew how to fight. I would have loved to see her resist Boomer a bit longer. I didn't think it fit with the rest of her character, for her to just fall in love with him so quickly.

I'm going to go ahead and give my virgin warning now. I've read this entire series. Every heroine in this series is a virgin. Five books, I think? And, yep, all five of them "untouched" "innocent" "only mine" and all of the other cliche bullshit you hear in this genre. The only plus side is that the men, while not virgins, at least don't fall into the "manwhore" trope. Boomer says it's been a while since he's been with a woman. They have a MC, but they don't engage in the typical "club whores" (seriously, can that word just die?) and Boomer keeps sex out of his clubhouse.

I also didn't like Boomer's obsession with getting Crystal pregnant from the first time they had sex. Like, you barely know her. And the whole "I need to put my kid in you" bs just reeks of misogyny. (Another spoiler: this theme also continues throughout the series)

So, basically, I'm torn on this book. It wasn't great. But the fact that the man isn't the typical sex-with-everyone-until-he-meets-the-heroine, gives it a bit of a bonus. And the female character was likable. It's low angst, which I appreciate. I just wish there were more plot.

I feel like my three star review is definitely the minority of the reviews here. It seem most people are rating this one higher. I think it’s one of those cases where it’s best to consider the fact that much of my review is based on my personal likes and dislikes, and, while there are some criticisms of the actual book, definitely take into account personal tastes.

This is the second book in the Love Hurts series. We met Sara and Travis in book one (thank you for that. I am a HUGE fan of already knowing both characters before we get to that interconnected, second book) Sara is Nick's sister, and Travis is one of Nick's best friends. Sara is a single mom to the very cute, very funny Kyle. I love all of the interactions between Kyle and the adults in this books. Writing kids in a book can be tricky. Kyle was a realistic eight year old.

I did feel this book was a bit too similar to the first in the fact that, in the first, Paige and Nick end up getting to know each other so well because Nick breaks his arm. In this book, it's Travis who severely springs his ankle. While Sara doesn't play nurse to him quite in the same way, she starts off their friendship by going and checking on him, and running some of his errands for him (Kyle's idea, because he is putting off doing homework, and has a bit of a hero worship thing for Travis)

Sara has had bad luck with men in her past (we really only hear about Kyle's dad a bit). Travis is shy, and doesn't know how to talk to women. But, because Sara is Nick's sister, and therefore not someone Travis sees as available, even though it's clear he is attracted to her, he has no trouble talking to her. Sara finds out about Travis' issues and decides to help him by going on a few "fake" dates with him.

I found this book to move even slower than the first, which was really slow. And, I don't really understand books that have profanity, talk a little about sex, use innuendo, but then have completely fade to black sex scenes. Like, um, no, all of that build up and then we get "the sex was great"? I just find it odd. The flow was weird.

We also had the part of the story with Sara trying to forgive her father, and include him in Kyle's life. We learned in the first book that Sara and Nick's dad has dementia, and is in a nursing home. Nick has been taking care of everything, because Sara has been unable to forgive her dad for the years of abuse she suffered at his hands. I guess the author is trying to teach forgiveness, but Sara was beaten by her dad for nothing more than reminding him of her mom (who Sara looks like) and we are supposed to root for her to just forgive him and be in his life? No. I think she could have forgiven him, but been like, he doesn't need to see me or my child for me to have that forgiveness. Forgiving and forgetting do not have to go together. It's also shown that their dad still has some bad days, so why subject a child to that?

I did like that Paige's Nana is still around causing trouble. I missed Nick, who is by far the best character thus far in this series. (Sara comes in a close second)

There's one book left in the series. While I haven't loved the series thus far, I have it on my Kindle already, so I probably will read it, but I doubt I blow through it. I think it will be one of those that I read a few pages at a time (thus eventually finishing the series) while I am also reading something that I'm actually enjoying much more.

I will fully admit, I don’t know why I love this book as much as I do. Is it over-the-top, ridiculous insta-love? Absolutely. But, it’s also sort of sweet, hawt, and I actually just LIKE the characters.

Addison and Tanner are funny, stubborn, quirky and perfect for one another.

It’s the second book in a two book series. You don’t need to read the first one to follow along here, but I’d recommend it. Just because it’s a cute story as well. I don’t like it as much as I do this one, but it’s still worth a read.

Oh, and this one probably got at least a half star bump from me because the dude is not sleeping with everything that moves!

We have dual virgins here!

I’m usually not much for books where the female MC is a virgin, but I will forgive this one because we have the romance genre unicorn: a male virgin (even a male character who doesn’t sleep around is close to unicorn status)

This is a super short read, but packs enough in it to give you a true HEA. There’s some light angst, but it blows over incredibly quickly. I almost hate to even call it angst.

I haven’t always had luck with C.M. Steele’s work, but I’m happy to report that this is absolutely one of my favorite short reads, by any author.

Finally! We get to Ollie. If you've read this series then you know that it has been a long road, full of heartbreak for our H, Oliver. Ollie is Cole's (from Book 1, Caulky) brother. He has been married three times, making him often the target of the other's (Cole, Stone and Ev) jokes. He tries to let the jokes roll off of his back, but it's clear to see that they are bothering him. While he took it all in stride at first, now it’s getting old and making him feel bad.

Ollie just wants to find the love of his life and settle down. He's the man who is always looking for a relationship. It's only gotten harder for Ollie, now that he sees how happy his friends and his brother are in their relationships. Watching Cole be in love is especially hard. Cole is his brother, and he's happy for him, but Cole is a man who never wished for a serious relationship, yet still managed to end up in a happy, stable relationship with a great guy.

And now Cole is getting married. He's marrying his boyfriend, Ren, who is Daniel's best friend. I love that we have known both Ollie and Daniel since the first book. I will always give extra points to any series where that happens!

We have a throwback to a previous book, a hot hookup and a rejection.

A few months later, the guys are in Vegas for Cole and Ren's bachelor party. One drunken night and Ollie finds himself married to Daniel. While Ollie freaks out, as does Daniel, the real problem is that Ollie's brother and Ollie's friends are back to making fun of him. They even wager on how long Ollie and Daniel will stay married. Not wanting to see Ollie have to take any more from them, Daniel declares that the marriage is real. The bet was for seven months, so all Daniel and Ollie have to do is pretend to be a happily married couple for eight months, and they win the bet.

It is so heartwarming to see the way that Daniel stands up for Ollie. Not just with the bet, but at other times as well. While Ollie's friends all think Ollie is fine with all of their teasing and their antics, Daniel sees through it. I love it every single time Daniel calls them out for being assholes to Ollie.

I loved this story. Ollie is sweet and sexy. Daniel is funny and snarky (and also sexy). Unlike other authors who write M/M, K.M. Neuhold writes about men who aren't all masculine, built and some idealized version of a "hot, gay man". She doesn't fetishize gay men. It's incredibly refreshing. Daniel is shorter than Ollie. He's thin, and lithe. He's well dressed, and uses a ton of beauty products. He's not a manual labor worker. It seems like most authors write their M/M romance for only straight women who want to read about "manly" men (ugh. I know. I hated using that phrase as much as you probably hated reading it).

While Ollie tries not to fall in love, Daniel doesn't believe in love. Watching these two come together is so much fun.

I absolutely adore this book.