Search

Search only in certain items:

Nothing Special
Nothing Special
Jay Northcote | 2019 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Nothing Special by Jay Northcote
Nothing Special is a sweet and heart-warming story about two men who seem opposite at first glance. Noah is pale, Sol is tanned. Noah is an indoors guy most of the time, Sol is outdoors. The list goes on, but what that doesn't show is just how much these guys mean to each other.

Noah has a hard time believing it, but Sol does his best to show just how much he thinks of Noah. I loved how their first date just continued! Although we have two main characters, the emphasis is on Noah, and his feelings of inadequacy, not helped by a certain waiter.

This story IS sweet. It is also hot at times, and not just to the heatwave London experiences during the story. The pacing is smooth, the characters are interesting, and the descriptions are perfect. A brilliant story for me to read in the garden, as I wilt under a heatwave myself.

Noah is Something Special, but it takes Sol for him to believe it. Everyone is special in their own way. They just need to find the person who makes them shine, instead of trying to tamper them down. Absolutely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Because of Him (Fortunate, #1)
Because of Him (Fortunate, #1)
Jessica Roe | 2014 | Contemporary, Romance
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was drawn into this pretty much from the first page. Blair is a bit of a contradiction in the fact she looks like trouble but is actually really nice, if a little naughty and playful at times. It starts with her stealing a parking space from someone in a diner parking lot and buys two pieces of pie, one for herself, one as an apology for the guy whose space she took. They argue/chat for a while and you can see they have an instant connection/attraction which ends up leading to a steamy make out session in the guys car. They part ways and Blair continues on to her dads house but it turns out that the guy she made out with lives across the road from her new home with his gran.

I really liked this. I wasn't sure what to expect with it being a-new-to-me-author but God, is it good! I was so emotionally invested in these two.

I cried like a baby towards the end with the Jemma incident. How could everyone turn on her like that? She'd not been any trouble, she'd never shown any interest in drugs and they're all ready to throw her out and wash their hands of her apart from Granny Yo. And then Granny Yo... *sniffles*

I'm glad these two got their HEA and I'm interested to see what happens in the rest of the series.
  
40x40

Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Camino Winds in Books

Aug 20, 2020  
Camino Winds
Camino Winds
John Grisham | 2020 | History & Politics, Mystery, Thriller
7
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a typical Grisham quick read. It builds on the first book, but focuses mainly on Bruce. We see little of Mercer, a main character in book one, which was unfortunate. But Bruce is a blustery star, who can easily dominate both in his life and a novel. He has a huge group of friends, literary and "normal" alike. One is Nelson Kerr, a former lawyer with a big firm in San Francisco. He ratted out a client, a defense contractor who was illegally selling high-tech military stuff to the "bad guys." Nelson settled his case and fled to the island after a divorce. He's been working on another book and we learn quickly that his work may have gotten him killed.

It's easy to feel the storm and its tension through Grisham's picturesque writing. Leo hits quickly and the devastation that follows is bad. The post-hurricane feeling on a nearly abandoned Camino Island seems oddly aligned to the pandemic--at least when I read this in May--or it's easy to read that sense into everything I read.

Still, despite the hurricane and the murder and other various killings, this is actually a fun read. Grisham gives us an engaging mystery, and I love his "good versus evil" formula. It always works so well for him and this is one of his breezier presentations. While there isn't much depth, it's a fast read with interesting characters and a snappy mystery. 3.5 stars.