I might not be the audience for this, as I’m not really into kink and BDSM. So it’s hard to say how much of that contributes to the fact that I liked this but I didn’t love it.

It took me a while to connect with the characters, and half way through, when I finally started to … that was where I sort of plateaued through the rest of the book. Idk I guess I wanted more … non-sexual date or date-adjacent bonding time. Instead, all the time Q, A and C spend together is either a. sexual or b. dealing with the threatening texts.

Admittedly, even though I said I didn’t care for kink/bdsm, the sex was sweet and caring and had some really adorable parts.

I did like this group of friends, and while I definitely see how reading the first book might have given me a better picture of all the friends and their interpersonal dynamics, I didn’t feel left out or lost as to who was who and why and how, etc.

All in all, idk maybe I’ll continue this series. I’m kind of intrigued by the first book. I don’t know. I guess we will see.

CWs:

Spoiler

homophobia and references to queer slurs (though they’re not explicitly written out), misgendering and transphobia, harassment, polyamory-phobia

Thanks to Gay Romance Reviews for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was really adorable and sweet. That is, if you like stories about adorable dingdongs who constantly draw the (hilariously) wrong conclusions and can’t see what’s right in front of their faces, for example, that their next door neighbor/cop/fake boyfriend is hopelessly in love with them. And sure, there’s a little of the wrong conclusion-drawing at the end that builds to the climax, of which I’m not such a fan. But the rest of it is so good, it’s totally worth it.

If you enjoy stories about romantically competent people who recognize who recognize when double entendres are spilling from their lips and would absolutely under no circumstances be convinced to crawl into a doghouse wearing a dog collar, this is not the book for you.

Which is to say of course that I had a smashingly good time with this.

Thanks Gay Romance Reviews for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this. It really, super works as a novella, for starters. It’s well paced and the characters are good, which is really saying something for how short this is. The writing is fantastic and does a beautiful job at setting the tone of this without making it ridiculous or overdone. Mostly, this is creepy and bizarre and somehow also romantic? sexy? and it all really works.

Thanks to Gay Romance Reviews for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

CWs:

Spoiler

abuse by a parent, gore, on page murder, references to rape and death by suffocation (but in different parts of the book)