Search
Search results
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2352 KP) rated Buttercream Betrayal in Books
Sep 16, 2022
Murder Goes to the Dogs
In an attempt to train her woefully misbehaving dogs, Emory Martinez has signed them up for a dog obedience class run by Shawn Parker. The class has gotten rave reviews online, but Emory finds that it has done little for her two dogs, as evidenced by their misbehavior at the graduation potluck. It’s also at this potluck that Emory begins to hear gripes and grumblings not only about Shawn but his mother, Eloise, who is President of the condo association where most of Emory’s fellow students live. A few hours later, Emory stumbles over the dead body of Eloise in the condo’s community center. With the rumors that Emory has heard, can she sort out who killed Eloise?
I enjoy this series, so it was wonderful to see what Emory and the rest of the cast is up to. Once again, they were a delight to spend time with. The suspects could have been a little stronger, but they worked for their role in the story. The pacing of the plot could have been a little better as well, but it did keep me engaged as I was reading. I also enjoy the Southern California setting of the stories. The book uses its September setting to introduce lots of apple themed treats, and the recipes at the end made me drool. By necessity, this book spoils some past events, so if you want to read them unspoiled, I recommend you go back to the beginning. As a fan of the series, that would be my recommendation anyway. Fans will be anxious to dive into this book, and they’ll be well rewarded.
I enjoy this series, so it was wonderful to see what Emory and the rest of the cast is up to. Once again, they were a delight to spend time with. The suspects could have been a little stronger, but they worked for their role in the story. The pacing of the plot could have been a little better as well, but it did keep me engaged as I was reading. I also enjoy the Southern California setting of the stories. The book uses its September setting to introduce lots of apple themed treats, and the recipes at the end made me drool. By necessity, this book spoils some past events, so if you want to read them unspoiled, I recommend you go back to the beginning. As a fan of the series, that would be my recommendation anyway. Fans will be anxious to dive into this book, and they’ll be well rewarded.
Merissa (12922 KP) rated Calvin (Almstead Island: Newcomer's Club #2) in Books
Jan 30, 2025
CALVIN is the second book in the Almstead Island: Newcomer's Club and you don't need to have read book one (Will and Beckett) but I recommend you do, just because it's a wonderful story.
And this one is too! Don't get me wrong, Calvin comes into Micah's life on a wrecking ball, steamrollering over him in pretty much every way. Luckily for Calvin, that is exactly what Micah needs, although he does push back in small ways, which was great to see.
Will and Beckett are also in this book, with Will helping a clueless Calvin, and Beckett being a friend to Micah when he desperately needs one. One thing I will say, is I loved Beckett's response to Micah's problem!!! Muah *chef's kiss*
Calvin and Micah work in pretty much every way imaginable. Yes, they made mistakes and didn't communicate 100% but who does? They both had good reasons for behaving the way they did. Jamie is Calvin's best friend and I know he was looking out for him, but he was a bit of a d!ck too!!
Another fantastic story that had me gripped from the very (horrible - because of everything Micah has been through) beginning, right through to the HEA that completely satisfied. I know it is Emil and Anders next, but I'm hoping for Jamie and Noah to have a story too, whether together or separately, I don't care!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jan 29, 2025
And this one is too! Don't get me wrong, Calvin comes into Micah's life on a wrecking ball, steamrollering over him in pretty much every way. Luckily for Calvin, that is exactly what Micah needs, although he does push back in small ways, which was great to see.
Will and Beckett are also in this book, with Will helping a clueless Calvin, and Beckett being a friend to Micah when he desperately needs one. One thing I will say, is I loved Beckett's response to Micah's problem!!! Muah *chef's kiss*
Calvin and Micah work in pretty much every way imaginable. Yes, they made mistakes and didn't communicate 100% but who does? They both had good reasons for behaving the way they did. Jamie is Calvin's best friend and I know he was looking out for him, but he was a bit of a d!ck too!!
Another fantastic story that had me gripped from the very (horrible - because of everything Micah has been through) beginning, right through to the HEA that completely satisfied. I know it is Emil and Anders next, but I'm hoping for Jamie and Noah to have a story too, whether together or separately, I don't care!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jan 29, 2025
Mandy and G.D. Burkhead (26 KP) rated Hottest Blood: The Ultimate in Erotic Horror in Books
May 20, 2018
Shelf Life – Hottest Blood: The Ultimate in Erotic Horror is Neither of Those Things
(I’m gonna go ahead and throw a disclaimer on up here: You are about to read something that deals with purportedly “erotic” subject matter. If you don’t like the sound of that word, you might wanna go elsewhere. If it’s actually-erotic things that offend you, though, you’ll be fine.)
I like short story compilations because you get a variety of content that’s just as easy to breeze through if you have the time as it is to get to a stopping point and put down if you don’t. I like horror fiction because it usually involves the super-natural, which interests me, and intense emotional responses, which are almost always a good thing in writing. And I like eroticism because I am a warm-blooded human being with a pulse. However, on the whole, I do not like Hottest Blood.
I wanted to, I did. Look at that cover. It’s equal amounts scary and sexy, both in completely safe, PG-13-at-most kind of ways. Unfortunately, Softcore Succubus here is both the scariest and the sexiest thing about this book
Bluntly analogized, you know that feeling you get when you come across something on the internet that disturbs and/or disgusts you, and then you learn that there’s a dedicated group of people that gets off on it? Most of the stories in this book are that feeling captured in words.
Case in point, the story “Damaged Goods” by Elizabeth Massie, which as far as I can tell is about a couple of physically abused, emotionally damaged, developmentally stunted kids somewhere around their early teens who live with a religious fringe cult being led out to a field to have sex with each other while a nameless U.S. President watches and masturbates before both kids are drowned in a river by their preacher/pimp caretaker.
Or there’s “Mr. Right” by Chris Lacher, which tells the story of a college student named Russ who has a secret fetish for the deformed women in the freak show at a nearby carnival – a fascination which leads to him getting held down and forcibly raped by a group of unwashed subhuman mutants, which the detailed descriptions make sure you understand are completely revolting to all five senses. The story ends with him being dumped out behind the fairgrounds while a small, legless girl happily informs him that this is how all carnival workers reproduce, and he can look forward to seeing his own mutant rape-spawn in the show next year.
Or there’s “Abuse” by Matthew Costello, which simply shows us how the arrest of a Peewee Herman surrogate goes down in an adult movie theater before ending with another man jerking off with the cold, dry, severed hand in his pocket as he contemplates getting a new one to replace it.
The tone of these three are pretty much par for the course for the rest of the book: thoroughly disturbing, and sex is involved, but the disturbing feeling stems from revulsion rather than fear, and the sex bits are so far on the other end of the spectrum from erotic that it feels like the authors are trying to punish their readers for even expecting to be aroused in any way.
Of course, I said myself earlier that intense emotional responses are “almost always a good thing in writing.” By that merit alone, this book technically succeeds; in fact, if it had billed itself as shock fiction instead of erotic horror, I’d begrudgingly give it a medal in its class. The “aw, what the hell?!” moments are not as artistically executed as, say, a Chuck Palahniuk read, and they tend not to have as much depth to them, but strictly in terms of making you wish that you could unread words, they get the job done.
But that isn’t the job that Hottest Blood was hired to do, and that’s not what it put on its resume. It said it was going to “heat the blood and chill the mind,” and promised that “terror never felt this sexy!” It would have been more appropriate to say that “sex never felt this terrible.”
All of that said, if you abandon any hope of seeing anything resembling erotica or horror (scary horror, anyway), there are a few stories in here that are decent reads – mostly because they try to say something with their subject matter rather than use it to see how thoroughly they can ruin the idea of sex for the reader. To give a few quick nods of approval:
Nancy Holder’s “I Hear the Mermaids Singing,” which opens the anthology, is a dark and modern re-imagining of “The Little Mermaid” that brutally points up the drawbacks to throwing away your whole life and family in order to pursue someone that you know nothing about outside of a few fleeting glimpses and lustful inner fantasies.
J.L. Comeau’s “Black Cars” is the narrative of a high-class chauffeur as he tells his passenger an increasingly mysterious story about a couple of his regular customers, culminating in a creepy twist payoff that, in retrospect, actually makes it count as a legitimate horror story, and a decently gripping one at that.
And “Safe at Home” by Steve and Melanie Tem, while decidedly and disturbingly unsexy, at least has good reason to be; it’s a short character study of a young woman who’d been molested as a child, and the lasting and complex psychological damage resulting thereof that prevents her from having any normal social life or relationships, even with someone whom she legitimately likes, someone who knows what’s happened and sincerely cares for her.
So for the handful of intriguing stories that don’t make you quit (or wish you had) mid-read out of revolted disappointment, I can’t completely condemn Hottest Blood. If you want to test your own threshold for repulsion but are understandably hesitant to use online image searches to this end, I heartily recommend it.
If you are legitimately turned on by the idea of a man eating a woman alive and then gestating her alien spawn inside his own bloated body until his head detaches and crawls away (“How Deep the Taste of Love,” John Shirley), I suppose I still heartily recommend it, though I do so from a safe distance.
If you want to read one of the few stories involved that aren’t horrible, I heartily recommend trying to find them on their own somewhere else first.
But if you want “the ultimate in erotic horror,” stay the hell away. Softcore Succubus is a trap.
I like short story compilations because you get a variety of content that’s just as easy to breeze through if you have the time as it is to get to a stopping point and put down if you don’t. I like horror fiction because it usually involves the super-natural, which interests me, and intense emotional responses, which are almost always a good thing in writing. And I like eroticism because I am a warm-blooded human being with a pulse. However, on the whole, I do not like Hottest Blood.
I wanted to, I did. Look at that cover. It’s equal amounts scary and sexy, both in completely safe, PG-13-at-most kind of ways. Unfortunately, Softcore Succubus here is both the scariest and the sexiest thing about this book
Bluntly analogized, you know that feeling you get when you come across something on the internet that disturbs and/or disgusts you, and then you learn that there’s a dedicated group of people that gets off on it? Most of the stories in this book are that feeling captured in words.
Case in point, the story “Damaged Goods” by Elizabeth Massie, which as far as I can tell is about a couple of physically abused, emotionally damaged, developmentally stunted kids somewhere around their early teens who live with a religious fringe cult being led out to a field to have sex with each other while a nameless U.S. President watches and masturbates before both kids are drowned in a river by their preacher/pimp caretaker.
Or there’s “Mr. Right” by Chris Lacher, which tells the story of a college student named Russ who has a secret fetish for the deformed women in the freak show at a nearby carnival – a fascination which leads to him getting held down and forcibly raped by a group of unwashed subhuman mutants, which the detailed descriptions make sure you understand are completely revolting to all five senses. The story ends with him being dumped out behind the fairgrounds while a small, legless girl happily informs him that this is how all carnival workers reproduce, and he can look forward to seeing his own mutant rape-spawn in the show next year.
Or there’s “Abuse” by Matthew Costello, which simply shows us how the arrest of a Peewee Herman surrogate goes down in an adult movie theater before ending with another man jerking off with the cold, dry, severed hand in his pocket as he contemplates getting a new one to replace it.
The tone of these three are pretty much par for the course for the rest of the book: thoroughly disturbing, and sex is involved, but the disturbing feeling stems from revulsion rather than fear, and the sex bits are so far on the other end of the spectrum from erotic that it feels like the authors are trying to punish their readers for even expecting to be aroused in any way.
Of course, I said myself earlier that intense emotional responses are “almost always a good thing in writing.” By that merit alone, this book technically succeeds; in fact, if it had billed itself as shock fiction instead of erotic horror, I’d begrudgingly give it a medal in its class. The “aw, what the hell?!” moments are not as artistically executed as, say, a Chuck Palahniuk read, and they tend not to have as much depth to them, but strictly in terms of making you wish that you could unread words, they get the job done.
But that isn’t the job that Hottest Blood was hired to do, and that’s not what it put on its resume. It said it was going to “heat the blood and chill the mind,” and promised that “terror never felt this sexy!” It would have been more appropriate to say that “sex never felt this terrible.”
All of that said, if you abandon any hope of seeing anything resembling erotica or horror (scary horror, anyway), there are a few stories in here that are decent reads – mostly because they try to say something with their subject matter rather than use it to see how thoroughly they can ruin the idea of sex for the reader. To give a few quick nods of approval:
Nancy Holder’s “I Hear the Mermaids Singing,” which opens the anthology, is a dark and modern re-imagining of “The Little Mermaid” that brutally points up the drawbacks to throwing away your whole life and family in order to pursue someone that you know nothing about outside of a few fleeting glimpses and lustful inner fantasies.
J.L. Comeau’s “Black Cars” is the narrative of a high-class chauffeur as he tells his passenger an increasingly mysterious story about a couple of his regular customers, culminating in a creepy twist payoff that, in retrospect, actually makes it count as a legitimate horror story, and a decently gripping one at that.
And “Safe at Home” by Steve and Melanie Tem, while decidedly and disturbingly unsexy, at least has good reason to be; it’s a short character study of a young woman who’d been molested as a child, and the lasting and complex psychological damage resulting thereof that prevents her from having any normal social life or relationships, even with someone whom she legitimately likes, someone who knows what’s happened and sincerely cares for her.
So for the handful of intriguing stories that don’t make you quit (or wish you had) mid-read out of revolted disappointment, I can’t completely condemn Hottest Blood. If you want to test your own threshold for repulsion but are understandably hesitant to use online image searches to this end, I heartily recommend it.
If you are legitimately turned on by the idea of a man eating a woman alive and then gestating her alien spawn inside his own bloated body until his head detaches and crawls away (“How Deep the Taste of Love,” John Shirley), I suppose I still heartily recommend it, though I do so from a safe distance.
If you want to read one of the few stories involved that aren’t horrible, I heartily recommend trying to find them on their own somewhere else first.
But if you want “the ultimate in erotic horror,” stay the hell away. Softcore Succubus is a trap.
Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated My Cousin Rachel (2017) in Movies
Nov 12, 2017 (Updated Nov 12, 2017)
Gothic Victorian suspense surrounding the mysterious Rachel
This film is no doubt atmospheric and evocative, rather than old fashioned Victorian horror, all about the widow of recently deceased cousin who died under mysterious circumstances.
Sam Claflin plays the vengeful nephew, who plots to find out the truth about Rachel, believing that she murdered his guardian. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms.
Daphne Du Maurier was an excellent writer of course and many of her novels have been transferred to both the big and small screen to much acclaim. As it is, this is a film of intrigue and intent that is not quite what it at first seems. The outcome is not mind-blowing and you don't have to be Hercule Poirot to follow the plot or work things out. However, the 'did she didn't she murder' question is left rather open-ended and down to the interpretation/thoughts of the viewer. While it is not in the same league as Rebecca, the director makes a decent effort in creating an uneasy ambience.
It is a fascinating film which delves (in a shallow way) into the workings of the human mind and its psychological ways and how suspicion can play havoc in relationships.
Sam Claflin plays the vengeful nephew, who plots to find out the truth about Rachel, believing that she murdered his guardian. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms.
Daphne Du Maurier was an excellent writer of course and many of her novels have been transferred to both the big and small screen to much acclaim. As it is, this is a film of intrigue and intent that is not quite what it at first seems. The outcome is not mind-blowing and you don't have to be Hercule Poirot to follow the plot or work things out. However, the 'did she didn't she murder' question is left rather open-ended and down to the interpretation/thoughts of the viewer. While it is not in the same league as Rebecca, the director makes a decent effort in creating an uneasy ambience.
It is a fascinating film which delves (in a shallow way) into the workings of the human mind and its psychological ways and how suspicion can play havoc in relationships.
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Fyre Fraud (2019) in Movies
Feb 13, 2019
I won't lie I just wanted to watch a bunch a rich assholes lose their shit.....
I remember following the fyre festive mess when the event was actually happening like most people and I heard that this one was a bit better than the Netflix one (which I haven't watched yet but I do plan on doing so.)
I had never heard of any of these people or even the fyre festival until twitter literally blew up with the mess of the actual event, so I really had no clue what I was in for when I kept hearing about the two specials. And I have to be honest that I was surprised how interesting it actually was and I still can't for the life of me figure out why people kept giving the main guy who was running the scam money. I did like that they actually interviewed the guy not sure if they were trying to make you pity him or really get a first-hand impression on how big of a scum bag he was.
The main thing I wanted to see was footage from the actual festival so I was pretty disappointed that they didn't show as much as I would have like but all in all it is a good doc and I recommend it.
I had never heard of any of these people or even the fyre festival until twitter literally blew up with the mess of the actual event, so I really had no clue what I was in for when I kept hearing about the two specials. And I have to be honest that I was surprised how interesting it actually was and I still can't for the life of me figure out why people kept giving the main guy who was running the scam money. I did like that they actually interviewed the guy not sure if they were trying to make you pity him or really get a first-hand impression on how big of a scum bag he was.
The main thing I wanted to see was footage from the actual festival so I was pretty disappointed that they didn't show as much as I would have like but all in all it is a good doc and I recommend it.
RəX Regent (349 KP) rated Horse Feathers (1932) in Movies
Feb 18, 2019
“I married your mother because I wanted children. Imagine my disappointment when you arrived.”
The penultimate Marx Brothers film as their time with Paramount was drawing to a close, Horse Feathers was possible one the their most anarchic entries. The paper thin plot revolving around building a football team at the failing fictional Huxley University, in which Groucho’s, Quincy Adams Wagstaff has become headmaster, is nothing more than a platform for ludicrous comedy.
This gives rise to one of the most even handed ensemble pieces which I have personally seen within The Marx Brothers franchise, with all three main brothers taking a more equal part in the comedy. I normally find that Groucho steals the show, but here, it was hard to decide. Of course Zeppo had little to do as per usual, an issue which would eventually lead to him leaving the screen ensemble.
Laughs a plenty as they had moved further away from their Vaudeville musical comedy roots, focusing more of straight gags, which were as hilarious and as memorable as ever! There were of course the usual songs and musical interludes but this did seem more accessible for a modern audience as the primary focus was on the group and their crazy antics.
A great comedy from the dawn of talkies and these lot knew exactly what to say.
This gives rise to one of the most even handed ensemble pieces which I have personally seen within The Marx Brothers franchise, with all three main brothers taking a more equal part in the comedy. I normally find that Groucho steals the show, but here, it was hard to decide. Of course Zeppo had little to do as per usual, an issue which would eventually lead to him leaving the screen ensemble.
Laughs a plenty as they had moved further away from their Vaudeville musical comedy roots, focusing more of straight gags, which were as hilarious and as memorable as ever! There were of course the usual songs and musical interludes but this did seem more accessible for a modern audience as the primary focus was on the group and their crazy antics.
A great comedy from the dawn of talkies and these lot knew exactly what to say.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2352 KP) rated A Baker Street Wedding in Books
Jun 10, 2019
Laura and Reggie Honeymoon with Danger
Barrister Reggie Heath and actress Laura Rankin have finally tied the knot. When the paparazzi crash their wedding, they make a hasty exit and change their honeymoon destination. Laura find them the one rental in a quiet village on a remote part of the British coast. Only after they land does Reggie find out about Laura’s past in the village, but he doesn’t realize she has another reason for visiting now. Something is going on in what appears to be a quiet village. Will they figure things out before it is too late?
Those familiar with this series know about the fun premise, the letters that people send to Sherlock Holmes get Reggie involved in mysteries. That’s true here again, although how that comes together I will leave for you to discover. I did feel the beginning was a little slow. Yes, it was set up, but it still could have moved faster. I was certainly enjoying it, but about half way through it kicked into high gear and then I was really hooked. Only a few characters return from earlier books in the series, one of whom I wasn’t excited to see again, but the new characters definitely help pick up the slack and made me care about the outcome. Fans of the series will be happy with this latest entry.
Those familiar with this series know about the fun premise, the letters that people send to Sherlock Holmes get Reggie involved in mysteries. That’s true here again, although how that comes together I will leave for you to discover. I did feel the beginning was a little slow. Yes, it was set up, but it still could have moved faster. I was certainly enjoying it, but about half way through it kicked into high gear and then I was really hooked. Only a few characters return from earlier books in the series, one of whom I wasn’t excited to see again, but the new characters definitely help pick up the slack and made me care about the outcome. Fans of the series will be happy with this latest entry.
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Joy (2015) in Movies
Jan 16, 2018
Decent
Joy never fully grabbed me and I wanted it to. Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) is a genius in her own right, but the bad breaks and trials of life have prevented her from rising to become anything more than a struggling matriarch trying to keep her entire family from killing each other. After coming up with a brilliant idea she decides to throw her all at it to make her dreams come true.
On paper, it sounds like just the movie I would fall in love with. However, it gets off to a very slow start due to some chronological jumbling. While I was still able to follow along just fine, I found my interest waning.
The payoff at the ending didn't do much to satisfy the bad taste in my mouth. I was frustrated for Joy throughout the film all the while rooting for her success. In the end, it just wasn't quite what I was hoping it would be.
I did think the film was aided by some very strong acting performances. Whether you loved them or hated them, everyone played their roles extremely well. There were also a handful of surprises over the course of the film that managed to keep me engaged.
Would I watch this again? Sure. Do I need to? Meh. I give Joy a 76.
On paper, it sounds like just the movie I would fall in love with. However, it gets off to a very slow start due to some chronological jumbling. While I was still able to follow along just fine, I found my interest waning.
The payoff at the ending didn't do much to satisfy the bad taste in my mouth. I was frustrated for Joy throughout the film all the while rooting for her success. In the end, it just wasn't quite what I was hoping it would be.
I did think the film was aided by some very strong acting performances. Whether you loved them or hated them, everyone played their roles extremely well. There were also a handful of surprises over the course of the film that managed to keep me engaged.
Would I watch this again? Sure. Do I need to? Meh. I give Joy a 76.
ArecRain (8 KP) rated The Castle of Llyr (The Chronicles of Prydain #3) in Books
Jan 18, 2018
One of the more interesting novels of the series because it did not have to deal with Arawn directly yet still progressed the storyline in that sense. Despite Eilonway being my second to last favorite character due to her annoying chatter, I still loved reading about her story and history. Alexander actually made me feel pity for both Eilonway and Archen while wanting for Taran to desperately come to terms with his feelings.
Rhun was a light-hearted addition to the cast. he was a temporary character that made me feel constantly frustrated and yet, sympathetic. The only true nuisance to the story was Glew, who must be excused by mean of insanity. I am disappointed, however, that we never find out what happens to the self-centered, simple-minded creature. I also believe that Llyan was a great addiction to the party. I love animal characters and she is just to adorable to resist. A harp loving cat? Yes, adorable.
All in all, it tends to be my favorite novel of the series because, while it still progress the plotline dealing with Arawn (even if indirectly), it gives you much greater insight to the world, Taran's growing maturity and feelings for his female companion, and Eilonway's history, even if it is destroyed. It's a nice refresher with the dramatic and action filled first two novels.
Rhun was a light-hearted addition to the cast. he was a temporary character that made me feel constantly frustrated and yet, sympathetic. The only true nuisance to the story was Glew, who must be excused by mean of insanity. I am disappointed, however, that we never find out what happens to the self-centered, simple-minded creature. I also believe that Llyan was a great addiction to the party. I love animal characters and she is just to adorable to resist. A harp loving cat? Yes, adorable.
All in all, it tends to be my favorite novel of the series because, while it still progress the plotline dealing with Arawn (even if indirectly), it gives you much greater insight to the world, Taran's growing maturity and feelings for his female companion, and Eilonway's history, even if it is destroyed. It's a nice refresher with the dramatic and action filled first two novels.
Gail (4 KP) rated An Exaltation of Larks (Venery, #1) in Books
Jun 4, 2018
What a confusingly beautiful story. The beginning was my favorite. How the Author wrote these characters into life. The characters where given more than just another story. They were given true life. No life is perfect we have ups and downs. We just learn to navigate it better. I wasn’t a fan of how everything went down. But it was beautiful in it’s tragedy. Alex and Val have been destined for each other from the first time they didn’t let language be a problem. I loved reading their story and how they found each other after years of pushed aside affection. You add in Jav and things get really hot. I wasn’t expecting the ending but I am glad it ended the way it did. I would’ve had a hard time accepting their relationship when Jav didn’t want Val too just Alex. I see them as a packaged deal and Jav and Alex broke it. Val was amazing like I couldn’t cope with the thought of someone else loving my man. But she was so understanding and brave to try and make everyone happy. I think if they crossed that line anymore relationships would’ve been lost. Not saying it wouldn’t work just that someone would’ve been hurt and it would be Val. Love is a powerful and painful thing.