This was such a unique and wonderful short story! I never expected to be emotional about a fern, but Jeremy Ray has a phenomenal way of pulling you into his stories, no matter if the main character is a person or a house plant… 

The story follows the fern George, who is bought against his will by Brenda and moved to her house and family. Brenda has no clue how to take proper care of a plant, and puts George through a lot at first. But she learns along the way, and slowly their trust and respect for each other grows into love. Until tragedy strikes…

I really didn’t know what to expect going into this story, but I ended up completely loving it and the unique story telling from a plant’s point of view. Seeing it all from the eyes of a plant, it really put focus on important parts of human interactions and love. I loved the way human intuition was explained as plants sending us messages, and especially how George used this power to try and save his owner Brenda.

This story is not like anything I’ve ever read before, but it’s a beautiful, emotional and wholesome little story that I truly recommend to anyone!

Thank you to the author Jeremy Ray for the gifted ebook copy! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
​5 stars

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The House Plant is available on Amazon via the author, please go to Jeremy Ray Stories for the link!

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Jeremy Ray

When I read the blurb for An Unexpected Kind of Love I was immediately intrigued and thought it sounded like a gay Notting Hill. But sadly it was a bit of a letdown. I really wanted to love this book, but there were just too many things that were off, both with the characters and the plot. The characters were either non-likable or too bland, and the plot just didn’t make sense, nor did the romance part. It was just impossible to understand why the two main characters would ever be attracted to each other.

The story follows bookstore owner Aubrey Barnes, who is struggling to keep his business going, when a film company throws his quiet, ordinary Soho street into chaos. Not to mention bringing the hot American actor Blake Sinclair into his life…
I loved the bookstore setting, all pop culture references and how devoted Aubrey was to his books, and I really appreciated the representation both in terms of sexuality and disability. With all this, and on top of that the perfect romcom Soho setting, there was so much potential to this story! If only the main character had been a little more likable and the romance more believable…

I usually love quirky and broody characters, but Aubrey was just too grumpy and whiny, always complaining about everything. He also felt very judgmental and unpleasant with everyone. Like how he scoffed customers buying books for their covers, or the way he treated his friend Gemma like an inconvenience, when all she did was be there for him and help him out with all his petty troubles.

Blake in the other hand was almost too likable. He didn’t have a single flaw and didn’t feel like a real person. I loved the way he tried to get Aubrey’s attention by moving books in the store, and the cute Notting Hill references, but other than that it felt like we never really got to know Blake beneath his looks and charm.

But the main problem was that the romance felt completely rushed and unbelievable. Especially a thing that happened at the beginning of the book that was completely unexpected and made instalove feel slow in comparison… The romance definitely would have needed a little (a lot!) more build up to make me root for it, especially as it never made sense why the characters would even be attracted to each other in the first place. All along the book, it was never clear what actually made them realise that they had deeper feelings than just the physical attraction for each other. There was much more focus on Aubrey feeling misery for various reasons, than on him falling in love with Blake. And what Blake could ever see in grumpy Aubrey is beyond me. It was also so weird that Blake was completely fine with being seen with Aubrey in the beginning, but then it was a major deal that their photo was in the tabloid since he wasn’t out. Until that moment, there had been no mention about whether Blake was out or if he was even gay or bi or whatever, which made it all just feel like a manufactured plot drama.

So, I’m very sorry to say that, even though this book had so much potential and so many ingredients that I love, it sadly wasn’t for me.

Rating:
​2 stars

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Hayden Stone

Break the Fall tells an important story about survival, solidarity, support and mental health in the shadows of a sexual assault scandal within the US gymnastics team. But unfortunately, the characters were a bit underdeveloped and the unnecessary instalove romance made this book less gripping and powerful than I’d hoped for.

The story follows the young gymnast Audrey Lee who’s made it to the United States’ gymnastics team and is on her way to the Tokyo Olympics, when the horrifying news comes that one of Audrey’s teammates has accused the coach of sexual assault. Audrey is desperate to advocate for her teammate who has been hurt by the one person they trusted the most, but not all the gymnasts are as supportive and the various responses from the team and social media is ripping the team apart.

Even though the abuse naturally is a major part for the story, the book doesn’t focus on the actual abuse, but its aftermath. I really appreciated how it raised awareness about mental health and the harm in not being believed and supported by others when sharing your darkest secret. It also had such an important message about standing together against injustice and not letting the girls be victimized but showing them as strong and capable Olympians even though the trauma they’d been through. But sadly, this book could have been so much better executed. The romance part fell flat for me and almost turned this important story into something close to a cheesy romance. This instalove part was completely unnecessary for the story, and there was almost no build-up or chemistry between Audrey and Leo to make you root for them as a couple. I also felt that the gymnastics parts with all the detailed descriptions of the routines were too drawn out and repetitive. (But that might be because I know almost nothing about gymnastics. If you do, you might find these parts more enjoyable.)

All in all, it was a decent read that told an important story of abuse and manipulation that helps destigmatize mental health conversations in sports. I just wish that the characters had been more fleshed out and that a bigger part of the story had been spent on their character development, so that we could have felt how they were affected by this major trauma rather than being told about it.

Rating:
​3 stars

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Jennifer Iacopelli

This Beauty and the Beast retelling is the third book in Ashley Poston’s Once Upon a Con series, but it can very well be read as a standalone. It was a cute, funny and lighthearted read, and with amazing supporting characters, but it lacked a bit of the necessary chemistry between the main characters.

Rosie Thorne is the daughter of the town librarian, who is grieving the loss of her mother. Vance Reigns is a Hollywood bad boy, who gets sent off to a small town to hide after one tabloid scandal too much. When Rosie accidently runs into Vance’s hiding place, searching for a dog, they end up destroying a rare and expensive book and instantly hating each other. What neither of them realizes is that they have meet before. The jerk that Rosie can’t stand, is actually the masked boy she’s been dreaming about ever since the magical night they spent together at the ExcelsiCon ball a few months earlier.
​
I loved the geekiness, that the story centered around a library and all the wonderful pop culture references. I also absolutely adored Rosie’s dad, the sweet and queer “Space Dad”. He is one of my favorite fictional dad ever, and I would have loved for him to get a bigger part of the story, especially at the end and the blossoming romance that we never knew where it went. Rosie’s friends were also such amazing supporting characters, and with great representation. I loved how the friendship circle came together to support and encourage her non-binary friend going for Homecoming Overlord.

Unfortunately though, the romance and the main characters weren’t as amazing as the supporting ones, and I didn’t really feel the chemistry between them. Rosie was fleshed out enough and a likeable character, but Vance felt more like a shallow stereotype.

But all in all, it was a fun and enjoyable read and a more than decent Beauty and the Beast retelling.

Rating:
​3 stars

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Ashley Poston

This is the third book in the Riptide series, but it also connects this series to the Food Truck Warriors series in an amazing way. I really love the way Beth Bolden keeps giving us glimpses of the characters from her previous books and how she’s created her own universe by weaving her stories and characters together without making the story plot less understandable if you’d jump straight into this one as your first read. I’m especially happy that my favorite Food Truck Warrior couple Chase and Tate played quite an important role in this book. They have a special place in my heart since Hit the Brakes was my first Beth Bolden book and completely blew me away!

This time, we get to follow Spencer Evans, who was the first player out of the closet to be drafted into the NFL nine years ago, and Alec Mitchell, who was the first gay sports agent. The two men couldn’t be more different though. Where Alex has given his life and his career to making queer athletes’ dreams come true, all Spencer wanted to do was to play football and be accepted as any other player. Unfortunately, the team he was playing for was the worst and most homophobic one in the series and soon Spencer began to conceal all the parts that made him different, pushing himself back into the closet again, and also sadly being quite the jerk himself to the queer community. Regardless of their differences though, there’d always been such a sizzling hot attraction between Spencer and Alec, which they both spent nine years denying. Until Spencer got severely injured and decided to reevaluate his whole life and the choices he’d made.

I immediately rooted for both Spencer and Alec and the wonderful chemistry between them. Alec was just such a sweetheart. And I really loved the character growth Spencer went through and how he was brave enough to admit his faults and to push himself out of his comfort zone to learn to be himself. If you’ve spent nine years suppressing who you are, it’s quite a journey to finally find out who you truly are beneath it all. I appreciated how this story showed a different side of ‘acceptance’ and that it didn’t shy away from Spencer’s flaws and issues with internal homophobia.

Compared to the other books I’ve read by Beth Bolden, this one was perhaps a bit slower and not quite as addictive story plot wise. It even felt a bit uneventful and repetitive at times. I also have to say that I’m not a big fan of the cover. The Food Truck Warriors series had such gorgeous covers that matched the warmhearted vibe, but this cover gives the expression of a much more explicit story. (To be honest, if I hadn’t received an ARC, the cover would probably have stopped me from picking this book up.) 

But all in all, this was an adorable and heartwarming story about second chances, the power of love and acceptance, and about being brave enough to risk your whole career for a chance of true love and happiness.

Thank you to Gay Book Promotions for the ARC and blog tour invitation! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Rating:
3.5 stars rounding up to 4

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A lifelong Pacific Northwester, Beth Bolden has just recently moved to North Carolina with her supportive husband. Beth still believes in Keeping Portland Weird, and intends to be just as weird in Raleigh.

Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published twenty-three novels and seven novellas.

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This was such a fast-paced and fun MM romance! I binge-read it in just a few hours, so smitten by the charming story and the adorable characters, not the least the wonderful father-son relation that was utterly heartwarming!

The story starts off with Nathan returning home from a college year abroad, to meet up with his lifelong friend and secret love Lorcan. Only to find out that Lorcan who has never seemed anything but straight, suddenly has developed feelings for another guy, Miles. So good news, Nathan might actually have a chance after all, but bad news, Lorcan wants him to be the wingman and help him get lucky with Miles. When Miles turns out to be a gorgeous, sweet, talented and intriguing musician with more depth than could first could be anticipated, things get even more complicated…
 
Love triangles can be a bit too angsty and over the top sometimes, but here it was very well done and with a lot of humor and sweetness. The minor complaint I have though was the relationship between Nathan and Lorcan. I never really rooted for Lorcan and couldn’t see why Nathan was so in to him, not even as friends and even less as his long time secret crush. Lorcan came across as quite selfish and immature, always counting on Nathan to help him out, but never really doing the same for Nathan. So the love triangle plot was very one-sided for me already from the start as I never even wanted Nathan (nor Miles for that matter) to end up with Lorcan…
 
But where Lorcan was a bit underwhelming, the rest of the cast in this book more than made up for it. Sweet, afraid-of-outdoors, clumsy and kind Nathan, Miles with his sad and gripping background, his amazing family and over-protective, fierce and badass sisters (I pictured them all as a bunch of Gal Gadot Wonderwomen) and Nathan’s dad who was deaf but never missed a thing. The relationship between Nathan and his dad was one of the things I loved most in this book. It was so tender and heartwarming, and so full of respect, love and trust.
 
All in all, this was such an enjoyable, fun and charming story! One of those binge-worthy, happily-ever-after stories that we all need once in a while to brighten up the day!

Thank you to Gay Book Promotions and NineStar Press for the ARC and blog tour invitation for this wonderful book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

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​Author info:
A. Poland

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This was such a cute and adorable sapphic romance about two girls falling in love while recreating classic romcom movie moments, but it was also devastating as well with a mother suffering from early-onset dementia and a lot of family relationship issues. Basically, it had all the feels and everything a great YA book should have, like teenage angst, broken hearts, friendship, love, awkwardness, self-doubt and character growths, as well as a wonderful queer representation.

Saoirse doesn’t in love after a difficult break-up and after her father divorcing her mother, who is suffering from severe dementia and has had to be put into a nursing home. So when meeting Ruby at a party, Saoirse only agrees to date her if they both agree that it’s only a fun summer fling and that it’s not permitted to fall in love. Ruby, who is hopelessly romantic and a sucker for romcom movies therefore comes up with the idea that they should recreate classic movie moments, the falling-in-love-montage, but stop before actually falling in love.

I really liked this sweet idea of recreating classis movie moments (and it made me want to do a romcom-marathon to watch all the movies mentioned in the book…) and how it was executed in a witty and sarcastic way. The chemistry between Saoirse and Ruby was absolutely sizzling. I really adored Saoirse as a main character, and the solid f/f representation. I especially appreciated the way Saoirse was labelled by herself and others as lesbian and how different kinds of sapphic relationships were portraited.

I also really appreciated that there was so much depth, rawness and problematic issues in addition to the sweet and fun parts. It was so real and relatable how Saoirse worried about inheriting her mother’s dementia, her feeling of meaninglessness to plan for a future she might soon forget and her struggle to accept that her father has decided to find happiness elsewhere.

I have some minor objections to the way Saoirse treated her dad though. He wasn’t in an easy position, and Saoirse acted very childish by not accepting that at all. One of my favorite secondary characters was, strangely enough, Saoirse’s new step mom. She was so fun, strong and stood up for Saoirse, even though Saoirse mostly was nothing but bratty in return. I also think Saoirse was unnecessarily mean to Oliver a lot of times. He really grew on my and turned out to be such a sweetheart. I loved his and Saoirse’s witty text-bantering and had hoped for Saoirse to acknowledge (both to Oliver and herself) that Oliver was in fact one of her best friends.

But all in all, this was an absolutely sweet and charming story, with great representation and character growth. Highly recommended!

Rating:
​4.5 stars rounding up to 5

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Ciara Smyth

This story about two teenagers who cross paths as they have decided to jump from the same bridge at the same time is one of the most beautiful, heart-wrenching, sad and gripping books I’ve ever read. It’s a story that will stay with me forever and that both broke my heart and made me want to live my life to the fullest.

The Bridge is such an important book about mental illness and suicide that everyone should read. But most of all, it’s a beautiful book that will grip you and make you fall in love with the characters and feel their pain and struggle. When writing this book, Bill Konigsberg, drew from his own experiences with depression and attempted suicide, which made this story even more authentic and heartfelt.

The story is told from the different POVs of Aaron and Tillie, who don’t know each other, but who are both struggling with depression, loneliness, the feeling of not being seen or not being good enough. When things happen in both their lives that makes it all just too much, they arrive at the George Washington Bridge at the same time, intending to jump. The story also has alternative options for storyline. I don’t want to go into the specifics too much as it might spoil the reading experience, but just say that this is an absolutely amazing and so important book that I recommend with all my heart!

Please just note the trigger warnings for suicide, bullying and depression, so you don’t read this book unaware of those. As Bill Konigsberg added in the acknowledgement section, it’s hard to know how and if you should talk about suicide with someone who might be depressed, but that the important thing is to raise awareness and to make everyone feel seen and like they matter:

“My hope was to write a book about suicide and depression that was so real you could feel it in your bones, but that also felt hopeful, that left the reader with a sense that there was hope, because to me that's everything. I wanted to do that by telling the same story four ways. So that readers could see the impact of the choices these two teens make on top of the bridge. So often when I’ve been depressed, I’ve had the thought that no one would care if I were dead or alive.”

Overall, this is a story that will bring tears to your eyes and break your heart, but I truly believe that you in the end will be glad that you have read it. It’s definitely a book that anyone will be affected by and start to rethink one’s own life after reading.

Rating:
​5 stars

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Bill Konigsberg

This is one of those rare cases where the first book in a series is great, but the sequel is even better! In this second book in the wonderful, poignant and emotional Runaway Train series, we once again meet troubled teenager Nico as she’s living her dream on tour with the band Grenade Bouquets, but still fighting her demons, grieving the loss of her sister and generally making bad decisions.

In the first book, Runaway Train, Nico was a train wreck waiting to happen and I read the whole book with the heart in my mouth so afraid of the crazy things Nico might end up doing to herself. Here, in this second book, Nico was in a better place and I could enjoy the story in a more relaxed mood. That didn’t mean that Nico stopped making bad decisions, using alcohol and drugs as coping mechanisms or acting out though…
 
Nico is a main character that isn’t the easiest to love, but I really appreciate how Lee Matthew Goldberg never shied away from her flaws and shortcomings, since it’s what made her so unique and authentic. I have to admit that there were some scenes where Nico crossed the line for me and acted just too reckless and selfish for it to be okay, but other than that I was always on her side and totally rooting for her. This was a truly heartbreaking book at times. Even though Nico was in a better place now than in the first book when she was completely lost and broken by pain and grief, she still went through so much this time around too. There were so many ups and downs, so many times the demons got the better of her and she hurt herself and the persons closest to her. I also really appreciated how the harsh realities of the music industry were explored with all its pressure, cynicism and objectification. Being a rock star definitely isn’t as glamorous as one would imagine…
 
This series is such a raw and honest tale about the nineties and a troubled girl’s journey to find herself and heal. It’s both sad and upsetting at times, but also so hopeful and full of the magic of music. Just like in the first book in this series, the writing style had such a wonderful flow and authenticity, and the concept with the chapter titles being the songs on Nico’s mixtape was brilliant in the way each song matched the mood of the chapter.
 
All in all, Grenade Bouquets was a breathtaking rollercoaster ride that was sad and hopeful, heartbreaking and heartwarming, gripping and addictive with relatable and authentic characters, as well as a brilliant love letter to the nineties era!
 
Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours for the ARC and blog tour invitation for this wonderful book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rating:
4.5 magical stars rounding up to 5

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