Author: anna a

A 40+ liberal trying to navigate today's world. Love books, dramas, and music.

The Boy on the Bridge

Pairing: M/F

Orientation: straight

Identity: Cisgender

Warning: dubious consent, bullying, child abuse

The Boy on the Bridge is Sam Mariano’s newest young adult contemporary bully romance and at just around 700 pages it’s also her longest.  I’m not a huge fan of long books; I tend to think that somewhere along the halfway mark they start to feel stale and lag.  This book, however, didn’t feel long.  I was invested in the story and the characters no matter how often I thought the main heroine was an idiot, but more on that in a bit.  Sam Mariano has written one of my favorite antiheroes in Mateo Morelli so the characters have to be exceptional for me to even like them.  The main hero, Hunter Maxwell, was extremely likeable and came off as less assholey than Carter Mahoney from Untouchable. Riley Bishop, the heroine, was just a tad too self-righteous and hypocritical, but I didn’t hate her, and for this story she was the person that Hunter needed.

Many, many years ago when I was taking a creative writing course the phrase “show don’t tell” became engraved in my psyche, and that’s exactly what Mariano did in Part One of this book.  Too often we get half-assed explanations as to why the hero holds a grudge and must destroy the heroine’s life, but in this book we get to see why Hunter is hell bent on making Riley’s life miserable.  Are his reasons just and make sense?  Not to an adult reader, but a 14 year old kid whose whole life was upended and drastically changed seemingly overnight because of Riley.  Yes.  And this is one of the main things that does differentiate this story from every other bully romance out there.  We weren’t just thrown into the present and given a lame excuse as to the hero’s behavior.  We were shown exactly why Hunter acts the way that he does, why he was angry when he was 14 and why 4 years later he still hasn’t been able to fully let go of his anger.

I liked most of the characters in this book.  I liked Riley and Hunter together as a couple, except when Riley whined about not being able to be with him because of certain actions right before she tumbled into bed with him.  I liked Riley’s mom, Michelle and her boyfriend Ray.  Not gonna lie, I kinda want to read more about Ray.  An older man with tattoos sign me up for that one.  Hunter’s mom can go eat a bag of dicks though.  My favorite character hands down is Ryden? Sherlock.  I need his story or a whole series, a la Morelli, about him.  But, like not him in high school, but an older more devious Sherlock. Yeah that would be great.

For as long as the book was, the story flowed really well.  I didn’t read it all in one sitting, but I never felt that it dragged.  There wasn’t a whole lot of plot.  It was the epitome of a relationship drama.  There was very little going on outside of Hunter and Riley building their relationship, and all the drama revolved around that.  I ain’t mad at it because if I wanted to read a complicated book that I needed to take notes on I would read high fantasy or sci-fi not a high school bully romance.  It’s not a story we haven’t read before, but few of them are, however, it was more well written than most in this genre which I truly appreciate.  I only wish that Riley had more of a backbone and actually showed it instead of just telling us about it.

But, please right older, more devious, evil, possibly bisexual Sherock’s story. (In my head Sherlock is most definitely bisexual who becomes an evil, crimal mastermind, and falls in love with the cop that is investigating his case.  I’d name him Brandon Moriarty.)

The book was requested and I was provided a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Black Girl, Call Home

Black Girl, Call Home a book of poems by Jasmine Mans is a personal journey through race, feminism, and sexuality.  Jasmine Mans is a Black American poet whose debut book of poetry Chalk Outlines of Snow Angels was first published in 2012. In her latest collection of poems, Mans explores the relationship between her sexuality and race and how they were shaped by her relationship with her mother and the importance of home.  You see that from the first poem in the collection “I Ain’t Gon’ Be Bald-Headed No More” where it touches about the importance of hair especially when it relates to Black females and how her mother was going to make her pretty by styling her hair, to the last poem “Brown Marks” which equates female stretch marks to a map home.

Poetry is my first love, but I usually disdain most modern poetry.  I grew up reading Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman.  And have always wondered what happens to a dream deferred.  Modern poetry does nothing for me, but I can recognize when something is profound and well written.  I have very little in common with Jasmine Mans other than both of us being born female and neither of us identifying as straight, but there were poems in this volume that spoke to me in ways that very few modern poems do.  Her mother could have been my mother braiding my hair for the first day of school so that, in my mind, I could look pretty.  

Her poems also touch on famous Black celebrities: Jay-Z, Kanye, Serena Williams, and Whitney Houston.  There is also a tribute to Michelle Obama and how very important Barack Obama’s presidency was and not only because he was the first African-American president, but because his presidency shone a light on his family and it gave little black girls everywhere someone to look up to.  Someone who looked like them was in the White House and maybe someday it could be them.  

My favorite poems, probably because I can relate to them more, are “Dear Ex-Lover” and “Invite Me.”  The first is a letter written to an ex detailing how she’ll get over her ex by marrying a  man and having a daughter.  And the line “If she ever falls in love with a woman; I’ll love bravery down her spine,” is still taking up space in my mind.  It’s a beautiful poem about raising our daughters to be braver than we ever hoped to be when it comes down to holding on to love.  “Invite Me” is about holding on to the person we love until we become one.

So, no this isn’t my favorite book of poetry that I own, but I will revisit some of these poems.

**A digital copy was provided free of charge from NetGalley in return of a review

Roommate

Pairing:  M/M

Orientation: gay

Identity: Cisgender

Warning: homophobic slurs

Published: January 12, 2021

306 pages

Wanted: One roommate to share a 3-bedroom house, split the rent, and ideally not be the guy I can’t stop thinking about.  

Seeking: a room to rent in town. I’m tidy, have no pets, and I will feed you homemade bread. I should probably add: Gay AF, and has no filter. It’s no wonder my new landlord is so wary of me. 

Roommate by Sarina Bowen is a gay romance novel about an out and down on his luck baker and a closeted farmboy who is not only questioning his sexuality but also his identity within his family structure.  Roderick Waites left the small Vermont town when I was eighteen because his parents couldn’t accept the fact that he was gay.  Eight years later, after a bad break-up, he is back to try to put his life together in the last place he called home.  He is a baker by trade and finds employment at a local coffee shop called the Busy Bean and it is here that he encounters Kiernan Shipley.  Kiernan remembers Roderick from high school although they weren’t friends or even in the same grade, but Roderick knows one of the secrets that Kiernan is keeping from his family and friends.

For me, Sarina Bowen is one of those authors who I wanna like more than I actually do.  Most of her books, or at least the ones I read, are pretty standard as far as contemporary romance goes.  They are light and fluffy with little to no angst and all issues and problems are resolved within a few pages, and those that cannot be resolved are stuffed underneath the floorboards never to be heard of again.  Most if not all the Sarina Bowen books I’ve read have been male male romances.  And although I do believe that a straight cisfemale can write a gay romance novel and do justice to not only the genre but to the community, I don’t ever feel like Bowen does so.  

The main characters in Roommate were really rather boring.  Individually, there really wasn’t anything about them that caught my attention.  Sure, Kiernan is from a big family and blah, blah, blah, but been there done that, and Roderick comes back home after a bad breakup and is temporarily homeless, but again yawn.  Roderick’s former relationship was barely touched upon, just like his relationship with his parents.  These things would have helped round out his character more, but instead were just side notes, and don’t even get me started on that third act that was resolved in a paragraph.  And then when they were together, again just boring.  That might have to do with the fact that we saw very little interaction with them as a couple when other people were around. 

I’m pretty sure Bowen was going for a sweet and charming love story, but instead this read as trite and overused.  And the fact that Bowen just ignored all of Kiernan’s reasons for not coming out to his family was infuriating.  There are very legitimate reasons why someone who isn’t straight doesn’t broadcast their sexuality far and wide, and the fact that Roderick goes from one breath saying I’m not going to make you come out to the next going but if you wanna be with me you have to is fucking ridiculous and made me despise his character. 

February TBR

My January TBR had 24 titles in it for February I’ve lowered it to 14 books.  One thing I do know about myself which I proved in January is that I’m very much a mood reader.  There are books that I have in my TBR for years because I want to read them, but for one reason or another I haven’t been in the mood to do so.  This month’s TBR consists of books were pushed from last month because I didn’t get to them and a couple new titles.

Sliding Forward from January:

Black Girl, Call Home a collection of poems by Jasmine Mans that is expected to be published on March 9.  I’m about halfway through this collection and so far I’m loving the poetry.  I received an e-ARC from NetGalley.

Heartsong and Brothersong by T.J. Klune books three and four of the Green Creek series.  I loved the first two books of this series and have been meaning to read these since book four was published.

Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles by Cora Reilly I read the first three books last year and hopefully I’ll finish the series in February. Thankfully, all the titles are part of Kindle Unlimited.

Bound by Temptation

Bound by Vengeance

Bound by Love

Bound by the Past

Bound in Blood Anthology

And finally for books pushed forward from January, I want to start my re-read of the Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn by reading The Duke and I.

New titles to this TBR are:

The Vines by Shelley Nolden which is scheduled to be released March 23. “Across a century and against seemingly insurmountable odds, a woman with an astonishing immune system and an equally dramatic determination to survive is held against her will on an abandoned island off of New York City.” – from Shelley Nolden’s website.  I received an e-ARC copy from NetGalley.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune; I’ve never been disappointed in their writing and I can’t wait to read this title.  And I love the cover.

Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin; a dark, historical pirate romance. Yes, please.

Return of the Hunters and City of Secrets by Sonya Bateman books four and five of the Deathspeaker Codex; I started this series either at the end of 2019 or early 2020 and have been meaning to catch up and since all the titles are currently part of Kindle Unlimited it seemed like a good time to get back into it.

I’m not promising that I’ll read all of these titles, something else might catch my attention and I’ll have to forgo a couple of these titles, but we’ll see what happens at the end of the month.

January Wrap-up

January 2021, which felt an awful lot like December 2020 part two, is finally over, and it’s time to look at what I was actually able to read throughout the month. I had a very ambitious 24 titles in my January TBR and I didn’t read 24 books in January; I watched more television than I usually do. So out of those 24 books I read 12 and then 5 books that were not on the list. That makes a total of 17 books read for the month. Not bad. So what exactly did I read?

I completed the Morelli Family series by Sam Mariano:
Resisting Mateo book 5
Coming Home book 6
Last Words book 7
Entrapment book 8
Old Flame book 9
I enjoyed the series as a whole; there were some books that were way better than others but as a whole it was extremely entertaining. I’ll be posting a full review of the series in the next couple of weeks.

I also caught up to Giana Darling’s The Fallen Series:
Good Gone Bad book 3
After the Fall book 4
Inked in Lies book 5
Dead Man Walking book 6
So far this series is keeping my interest; there were some character decisions that pissed me off but overall it was a solid series and entertaining read.

From my initial January TBR I also read Land of Big Numbers a collection of short stories about the Chinese experience written by Te-Ping Chen; Roommate the new Sarina Bowen M/M romance which as expected was luke-warm, I’m in the middle of trying to organize my thoughts for a full review of this title; and Bad Habits by Neve Wilder and Onley James another M/M romance which was my favorite read of the month more because of the premise of the book rather than the romance.

Aside from those books on my initial TBR I also read five additional titles:

Bully King by Andi Jaxon part of Kindle Unlimited (KU) a M/M bully romance which veered way too much into religion and guilt associated with being gay and religious for my tastes.
Behind Closed Doors (KU) by Anna Stone a lesbian romance novel which started off strong but then lost steam and kinda fell apart toward the end.
Wicked Saint (KU) by Veronica Eden which wasn’t anything special and could be confused for any number of the hundred of bully straight romances that seem to multiply overnight. This is the first book of the Sinners and Saints series and I was so unimpressed that I’m not gonna be reading the rest.
A Notorious Vow (KU) by Joanna Shupe a historical romance novel set in New York with a deaf hero. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from Ms. Shupe.
Stripped Love (KU) by Baylin Crow an M/M romance between a stripper and a college student. I prefer Baylin Crow’s sports romances. This was just an okay book. This is book one of Guys Next Door series I haven’t decided whether or not all read more from this series; I’m gonna take it on an individual basis.

I did DNF two books in January which were Not my Romeo by Ilsa Madden-Mills, I didn’t like either main character I stopped reading about halfway through when neither character became likeable to me, and The Chase by Elle Kennedy. I’m not sure if I should even call this a DNF since I only read one chapter and wanted to stab my eyes at how annoying I found the main female lead’s voice in my head.

Land of Big Numbers

Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen is a collection of short stories that are told by or about Chinese people.  Although, most of the stories do take place in China there are an odd couple that are set outside of China with Chinese characters.  The stories do not seem to be interconnected and for the most part can be read as individual stories.  They are beautifully written with compelling characters and beautiful imagery.  The majority of the stories are bound in reality although a couple dabbling into magical realism.  

The stories are short enough to be read in one sitting which makes them much more enjoyable because it becomes almost like reading a snippet of someone’s life.  And that’s what these stories feel like, a glimpse into a life we know little about and we are given this one tiny window to look in before it is shut again.  To expect these to be traditional stories with a plot and conclusion is to be disappointed. But, the stories are satisfying in what they do offer a snippet into fantastically ordinary people and the decisions they make that veer them off the course that had been set for them.

More than anything, these stories read like they should be an English class assignment.  With enough beautifully written prose and sufficient questions of what ifs to make an interesting class discussion.  What if the twins in the first story hadn’t been twins.  If they had been born as individual births would they have made the same decisions and ended in the same places?  If the old man had been accepted into the communist party early on would he still have the same desire to make things out of discarded pieces of people’s lives? 

This is the kind of book I revisit when I need something quick and beautiful to read because no matter how incomplete some of these stories feel there is no denying that they are beautiful.

An e-ARC of this book was provided free of charge by NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

DNF Guilt

Last week sometime I DNF’d (did not finish) a book, the first of 2021.  What book doesn’t really matter, but it got me to thinking of the whys of not finishing a book.  I stopped finishing books I wasn’t into way back in college, but back then most of those books not finished were for classes and I did pretty well without finishing Joyce’s Ulysses and Herman’s Moby Dick. It’s only been in the last few months that I’ve decided that there’s way too many books out there that I want to read to waste my time on a book that just wasn’t for me.  In 2020 I DNF’d only five books, I only know this because I went back to look at my reading journal, but I don’t think I missed out on anything not finishing them. However, that doesn’t stop me from having DNF guilt.

Whenever I stop reading a book, for any reason, I have this overwhelming sense of guilt that just presses down on me.  I go into an almost period or mourning where I cannot pick up another book.  Last week, I DNF’d a book and then didn’t read anything for two days.  In my head my thoughts swirled around why does another book deserve to be read when I didn’t give this one a fair shot at it’s complete life.  Yes, that’s completely insane but nonetheless those were the thoughts that swirled around my brain and every time I tried to read something else, I would put it down after a sentence or two.  I couldn’t read. And then, like all mourning periods, it came to an end and I picked up a book again.

But during that short bout of guild induced mourning I got to thinking as to the why do I, at least not finish a book.  It comes down to two main reasons: the quality of writing and the characters.  Every other sin I can forgive.  No plot, if the writing is good and the characters compelling, not a problem.  I don’t have any triggers.  So a book full of senseless violence and gratuitous sex, yes please.  I will read the darkest of the dark and gleefully eat my beef jerky as I read about a serial killer skinning their victims alive to just their flesh as art, stretched across a canvas a la Cassandra from Doctor Who.  But crappy writing, which usually is just lazy writing, and dull or sanctimonious main characters are sins that cannot be forgiven.

Why do you DNF a book?  Does a book have to commit multiple sins in order to get the ax?  Life is too short to read bad books

2021 Reading Goals and January TBR

Now that 2020, the year that sucked donkey balls, is finally, officially over we can all look forward to a better, healthier, and less orange turdy 2021.  My reading goal for 2021 is to read at least one hundred books.  I’m pretty sure that’s very possible; I had read almost sixty before I stopped giving a good fuck about anything last year in June.  So, 100 in 2021 is more than doable.  I also want to venture more out of my comfort genre of romance.  This year I want to read more horror, thriller, fantasy and sci-fi, as well as a non-fiction book or two.  I’ve read the preface of Obama’s Promised Land and now I can say that at least I’m trying.  I’m going to try, TRY to actually complete a couple of challenges this year.  The three I’m looking to complete are 2021 PopSugar Reading Challenge, The 52 Book Club Challenge, and Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.

This month I have twenty-four books in my TBR and I’m rather hopeful that I will get to all of them.  I want to either finish or catch up to the series I had started last year and for one reason or another I have stopped.  I am the absolute worst when it comes to actually sticking to a TBR since I tend to read whatever catches my fancy at that moment, but looking at the books on my list I’m pretty sure I can stick to it, mostly.

Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen – “Gripping and compassionate, Land of Big Numbers traces the journeys of the diverse and legion Chinese people, their history, their government, and how all of that has tumbled—messily, violently, but still beautifully—into the present.” I was lucky enough to get an E-ARC from NetGalley for this one.  It’s set to be released on February 2.

Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans is a book of poems dealing with race, feminism, and queer identity.  Poetry is my first love and I am really looking forward to this volume.  I was lucky enough to get an E-ARC from NetGalley.  It is set to be released on March 9.

Roommate by Sarina Bowen is an M/M romance about second chances and a room to rent.  This is set to be released on January 12; I already have it on pre-order.

I want to catch up on the Giana Darling Fallen MC Series; I had read the first two books early in 2020 and then never got around to book 3 since then there have been two more books released.  Good thing that all of these books are part of Kindle Unlimited.

Good Gone Bad romance between the daughter of the MC president and a police officer.  Harleigh Rose was one of my favorite background characters of the first two books so I’m looking forward to her finding happiness with her cop. 

After the Fall this is a continuation of the couple from book 1, King and Cress, the student and the teacher.  I really loved them as a couple so I can’t wait to read more of their story.

Inked in Lies and Dead Man Walking I have not even read the blurbs on these two books.  All I know is that Inked in Lies is Nova’s story and Dead Man Walking is about Priest; both characters are introduced in prior books and are members of the Fallen MC.

Another series I stopped reading was the Green Creek Series by TJ Klune, I was waiting for the series to be completed before I continued with it.  I read the first two books in the series back to back and loved them.  I can’t wait to get back to Green Creek.

Heartsong and Brothersong the first is the story of Kelly and is mate Robbie while the Brothersong is about Carter and his mate Gavin

Not My Romeo by Ilsa Madden-Mills which is a sports romance and a straight one at that I’m not sure why this is on my TBR but it’s on my Kindle and I remember wanting to read it.  It is available through Kindle Unlimited(KU).

Bad Habits (Wages of Sin Book 1) by Neve Wilder and Onley James is an M/M romance about a hacker and a contract killer. Available in KU.

The Chase (Briar U Book 1) by Elle Kennedy is a romance about opposites attract set in the fictional Briar University.  I like Elle Kennedy’s writing and when this popped up as free in Kindle I had to pick it up. And it would totally fulfill one of the prompts for the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. Set in a school.

I started reading Sam Mariano’s Morelli Family Series about 5 days ago and in that time I have read the first 4 books.  I’m going to continue the series and hope to finish it before the end of the month.  Be forewarned this series is a dark romance, bad things happen.  The main characters do bad things; no character in these books can be called heroes.  This series is rife with trigger warnings so be forewarned.  They are all found in Kindle Unlimited.  The books I still need to read are: 

Resisting Mateo Book 5 – There’s no blurb for this one but it must be read after the first four in order for it to make sense.

Coming Home Book 6 – Again no blurb, and not a stand alone.

Last Words Book 7 – Technically the last book of the series.  One could stop here and have read the complete series.

Entrapment Book 8 – A retelling of Book 1 but from the POV of the male lead. Also, includes deleted scenes from the other books.

Old Flame Book 9 – This is the book about Dante Morelli, the underboss of the Morelli criminal family.

After an almost five month hiatus from Cora Reilly’s Born in Blood Mafia chronicles, I’m ready to go back and finish the series.  I had previously read the first three books. These are all found in Kindle Unlimited.

Bound by Temptation – Liliana and Romero’s story.  I started reading this one when I finished book three but for some reason I only got a few pages in before I put it down and then forgot about it.  I’m hoping this time around I’ll be able to finish.

Bound by Vengeance this is about a character named Growl, I have no clue. He wasn’t part of the first three books.

Bound by Love – goes back to the couple in book 1 Aria and Luca.

Bound by the Past – couple from book 2 Valentina and Dante.

Bound by Blood is an anthology revisiting all the previous couples.

If time permits I also plan to read:

Risk Taker (Mixed Messages Book 3) by Lily Morton is an M/M romance. Best friends to lovers trope which I love almost as much as enemies to lover.

And because I’m a sucker for mass media and got totally sucked into Netflix’s Bridgerton series I plan to re-read Julia Quinn’s books that the series is based on starting with The Duke and I.

What are your reading goals for 2021?  Do you make a TBR and stick to it or make one and forget about it until the end of the month?

Ten Things I Hate About the Duke

Pairing: M/F
Orientation: straight
Identity: cisgender
Genre: historical romance

Loretta Chase was one of the first historical romance authors that I ever read. The first time I picked up one of her books I was in high school, and at the time I found it scandalous and so very sexy. Of course, my reading before this consisted mostly of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Dean Koontz, so even a hint of romance was enough to make my sixteen year old heart swoon. Soon, I was devouring all the historical romance I could find from Julie Garwood to Johanna Lindsey from Jude Deveraux to Brenda Joyce and Judith McNaught. But it was Chase that opened the door to reading about Dukes and their Duchesses, Highlanders and their fair maidens, and the Lords and Ladies of the Ton.

When the opportunity arose to read Loretta Chase’s latest historical, Ten Things I Hate About the Duke, I was excited. And then about half way through, I remembered why I stopped reading most historical romance authors. I probably couldn’t list ten things I hated about this book, but I’d be hard pressed to list ten things that I liked.

Ten Things I Hate About the Duke, is the story of Cassandra Pomfrey, an intellectual young woman who doesn’t wish to marry and have her life dictated by a man, and Lucious Duke of Ashmont, a rake who causes scandal and mischief wherever he goes. So pretty much the same characters that appear in 89% of all historical romance novels, and usually I don’t mind these stock characters except they weren’t interesting. There was nothing about either character that was different than any number of other characters in other romance novels. These people for as different and rakish as they purported to be were in fact boring. There was a lot of telling not showing. And if there was a plot outside of just the two of them getting together, I failed to see it.

This was also a slow burn that never really got above tepid. I read a lot of romance novels, and this one just wasn’t steamy or sexy. It was at best lukewarm. When we finally did get to the one and only sex scene all i could think of was that scene in Ten Things I Hate About You and how it read like the romance novel the principal was writing. Which might be what Chase was going for since it’s pretty obvious she took inspiration from the film and you know Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

I probably won’t read another Loretta Chase book, but reading this book reminded me how much I actually enjoy historical romance novels. After twenty years of reading romance, I’ve ventured way outside of what Chase’s audience is, but she was a great gateway to one of the greatest pleasures in my life.

This book was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.