4.5 stars. I'm typing this through the tears so everything looks very blurry right now. That ending..... HolyOhMyGod!
I really enjoyed this. Everything felt very real, from the prison setting to the side characters and even the guards. I love Lem! God how could you not love this man!
I have only one gripe with this story really. When Lem and Anderson get together finally (doesn't happen until about half way through), it feels like there's bits missing. They have their first encounter in the shower (which is going into my top ten images to be put to use later on ;) ). But then the story seems to skip some time (a few weeks, a month?) and they're on the bunk playing a board game stealing glances. I would have liked to see the relationship develop between the uneasy to the completely comfortable. Even if it's just their inner monologue it was needed for the relationship development.
Back to that ending. Oh me oh my! I guess it had to come some time. I'm just so happy that part two is almost here!!!
4.5 hot stars!!
This is one of my favourites for the year! I loved how these two came together. There was no insta-love and the relationship build up was nicely paced. The sex was super hot but there wasn't too much of it. I didn't like Craig and I'm glad Jon showed him the door eventually. Half star mark down for the ending. I would have liked more drama and a bit more of Craig hurting. Apart from that it was a great read!
This one is quite hard to rate.
Its very very funny with quite a lot of laugh out loud moments. My husband was looking at me weirdly a lot of the time. Of course I couldn't tell him what I was laughing at as he just wouldn't get it.
Doug is beyond stupid and I'm pretty sure people like him have been Darwined out of existence by now. But he was extremely refreshing and every now and then came up with something very profound.
I liked that he was the perfect match for Stephen. Stephen hates the world and everyone in it. Never smiles and is basically as arse to everyone. But Doug makes him smile - a little anyway.
This isn't really a romance and all sex is behind closed doors. We get some kissing action but that's it. This is more of a comedy. There is no HEA, its more like a 'happy for today' ending. I don't think the way the story was told it would have supported a HEA, but it ended the right way.
If you need a good laugh and don't mind extreme stupidity with no sex, this is the book for you!
I'll get right down to it.
Is Kyle still a douchebag? Yes
Is Kyle still a selfish asshole? Yes
Did he deserve redemption? IMO no, but it probably depends on how you look at his story. His past is not pretty and you get to learn about it, not greatly but enough to understand him. Does abuse beget abuse? No, but apparently it does here.
Lily - now theres another. She is a selfish creature and I didn't like her at all. It was all about her and she didn't give a shit about anyone else.
They deserved each other.
The whole story was filled with cliches. The only one it didn't cover was virginity. I was quite surprised by this, as every other one was included. Psycho stalker, suicide attempt, estranged family, family tragedy, abusive parents, illegitimate children, kidnapping, pregnancy and of course the predictable ending with a HEA. (cliches not in storyline order) You name it, it was there. I would have really liked to see them all die in a fiery helicopter crash, just to break the cliches, but apparently no one has any storylines of their own anymore. This just seems to be a recycled story from the thousands of others out there at the moment.
I can't believe I wasted a whole day reading this.
I did enjoy the couple of chapters with Emmy and Luke, although it really wasn't necessary for the storyline.
In saying all this the writing style was quite good, I just wish it wasn't a recycled storyline.
Just started, on page 2 and the tears have already fallen. I have a feeling this one is going to kill me (in a good way)
Oh my!! There's a reason Ms Walker is one of my favourite authors. If you liked book 1 then you'll absolutely love book 2. I cried, I laughed, I loved it.
The emotions in this were real and raw. Matt struggled with his guilt then he struggled with his lies as well. I'm trying not to be spoilerish. Poor Kira! I really felt for him. He could feel Matt struggling and the distance it created between them but was powerless to stop it. I wanted to smack Matt upside the head a few times and I just wanted to hug Kira and tell him all Matts secrets.
I loved the ending, I'm a sucker for a good HEA. I would also love a third book. *hint hint!
4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this. Actually I think I liked this one more than Mac and Tony! and thats saying something!
I started out not really liking Kellen at all, then loving him, then hating him again. Mike was a bit of a doormat because his shyness made him so vulnerable and I think Kellen used him a fair bit in the beginning. Come to think about it, he used him for most of the story because he was in total denial about what Mike meant to him. Poor Mike, I really felt for him as his shyness was crippling.
Kellen was a manwhore and user and was always denying his feelings for Mike. Mike, well he annoyed me at times. I really wanted him to grow a pair and tell Kellen what he really wanted. His shyness and awkward tendency to babble made it really hard for him. (I could see why he was a (view spoiler). If this was in a het romance book I would have shut it down from the beginning, marked it as unrealistic and not even bother with the book, but Kaje made it work. That just goes to show her talent as an established author.
It was quite heart wrenching at times to hear about Kellens mum. I've been through the same thing so the writing was really touching and very realistic. The emotions that he went through were so aching my husband was wondering why I was teary so much. I didn't cry and sob, but there was definite tears.
I loved the slow realistic timeframe for a relationship, no instalove here! Great!! I liked Corinne, Mikes overbearing sister and all the other side characters. I would have loved to hear Art and Patricks story, maybe Kaje will give us prequel? (hint hint)
So why not 5 stars? I wanted more, not just for the story to continue as it was long enough, but I wanted to see how they would do when (view spoiler). I also wanted a longer epilogue. It felt more of a HFN then a HEA.
Well done Kaje!
I almost DNF'd this after a couple of chapter because it felt like it was written by an adolescent. It was very stilted and seemed to try to hard. But the writing improved even if the story didn't. I almost DNF'd it again about 70% in because it was quite boring with not much happening. Then the story got a little interesting, only a little so I ended up finishing. I didn't feel the romance between these two, no connection at all. It might have been better if we got some of Macklins POV as well, that may have helped with the romantic connection. Then again maybe not. Didn't like the ending, it seemed like the author couldn't be bothered rounding out the story properly so took the most convenient and quickest road possible. This was my first book by this author and I don't think I'll be getting another.