kayetaz's reviews
366 reviews

Off Balance by Rebecca Rathe

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emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5
Format: ebook

“The rush of blood from my head to my groin makes me feel off balance, but Dom supports my weight as he brings me to rapture.”

One of my favorite things about Rebecca’s books is her talent of flipping stereotypes on their heads and writing completely out of the box. I always know I’m about to read something unique that I haven’t seen a hundred times before.

Cam and Dom were absolutely wonderful together. I loved the hurt/comfort aspects of this book so much. But I also just adored the way they fit into each other’s worlds so easily and gave the other the unconditional love and support they needed.

I don’t think I’ve hated a character more than I hated Emile. Cam deserves all the best things in life, and I’m so happy he’s getting them with Dom. Cheating is never okay, but in this book it 10000% is.

The spice of course was spicing because it’s Rebecca Rathe. Again, I love how stereotypes are completely discarded and Dom and Cam do what feels right to them rather than what’s the norm. Their chemistry was scorching hot.

Also shout out to Dwayne for being a great brother and stepfather. I just enjoyed him as a side character so much and how he supported both of our main characters.

Okay, give me the next book now!

*I received a free advanced copy of this book from the author and this is my voluntary, honest review.
Forbidden Puckboy by Eden Finley, Saxon James

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

2 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5/5
Format: audiobook
Narration: 🎤🎤🎤/5

Going from the perfection of Bromantic Puckboy to this was certainly a choice. I’m not really certain Knox and Easton needed a whole novel, especially when nearly half of it was updates about the other Queer Collective members, and setting up the next Puckboys book. This truly could’ve been an optional novella about what the original members were up to and a little blip about this new couple.

“Forbidden” in the title was also a choice when the forbidden aspects of the relationship were addressed before they even began dating. Brother’s best friend but make the stakes literally nothing. I was just bored, I don’t know. And if I actually enjoy seeing Ezra and Oskar over the main couple, there’s an issue.  

I will say I am super interested in Connor and Parker. We should’ve gotten their book after Bromantic and scrapped this one.
The Fishermen by C.P. Harris

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.
on hold
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

3 ⭐️
Spice: 0/5 🌶️
Format: audiobook
Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

Cute, but ultimately unremarkable and forgettable.

I think my biggest issue was that the author seemed to want to pack in as many tropes as humanly possible, which added nothing to the characterization and just made their already strained forming relationship have a super shaky foundation.

Charlie was very sweet but I felt nothing from him. He was super bland. And Dev was overly complex. It just wasn’t the best match up for me.

I did love the premise of this book. Gay Bachelor, but falling in love with a producer instead of one of the women. But the reasons Charlie went on the show never sat right with me, and I think if he was truly there to find love and found it in an unexpected place, that would’ve been cute. However he just would up coming off disingenuous.

I appreciated the attempts at mental health and neurodivergent and demisexual representations, but again, there was just way too much being pushed into the narrative that it was messy.

I’m going to stop picking up books based solely on the cute covers. They never end well for me.
Presidential Chaos by Saxon James

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

4.8 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Format: audiobook
Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

This was a fun series, and this was definitely my favorite of the three so far. The first two books really hyped up this couple and I think it was worth the wait.

Charles and Zeke were great characters, and both super sweet. Their inner thoughts about each other were adorable. And then Zeke just turning out to be this super soft lover who was obsessed with Charles was everything.

Can we talk about Charles being a closeted freak too? I love an exhibitionist kink, especially when it comes from a super strait-laced and rigid character. The spice was just especially spicing in this book.

I just wish we got more about when they started hooking up. I know Charles propositioned Zeke, but how? Why? He was always a bumbling mess around Zeke and trying to hide his feelings, so how did it even happen? And I guess I just wanted more of when they were finally together too. They were hiding away for 95% of the book and then their big “reveal” just felt kind of unsatisfying.

MORE BABY MILES THOUGH, my sweetest boy. Him getting all flustered when a guy asked him to formal and saying he didn’t swing that way. Aw, sweetie. That’s adorable.

I lowkey am not at all interested in the fourth book of this series but I’m sure I’ll read it.
Kiss, Kill, Thrill Me, Daddy by Lance Lansdale

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 76%.
The Happy List by Briar Prescott

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

3.2 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️.5/5
Format: audiobook
Narration: 🎤🎤/5

This started out cute and promising, but then just kinda lost me around the 50% mark.

First of all, I did enjoy the premise of this book. Friends to lovers isn’t one of my top tropes but I liked the idea of the happy list along with the forced proximity and the queer awakening/mmc realizing their feelings weren’t actually platonic.

And I really liked Gray and Kai’s friendship and banter, but I feel like as soon as they got together it all disappeared and then they didn’t know how to be around each other anymore. And then the book just kinda dragged from there and felt unnecessarily long.

And, sorry, but the fake Boston accent from the one narrator actually made me irrationally angry at all times.

Just overall a miss for me, unfortunately.
Say It Again by Tessa Hatfield

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
Format: ebook

“Promises all made in earnest, raw with imperfections. All real. All unified by three simple words. ‘Say it again.’”

I don’t usually ever feel the need to justify my ratings, but I feel like this is a book that might call for it. And I’m going to try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

This is a book that made me kind of sit and ponder, and come to a conclusion that I can vehemently disagree with a lot of the actions of a main character and still rate it five stars. Because the emotions that this book pulled out of me, even if some of them were decidedly very negative, don’t allow me to rate this anything lower.

And the thing is, the author did such a great job writing these characters and making them so layered and multi-dimensional that I could understand where both Aaron and Daniel were coming from. 

Firstly, I absolutely adored the comedic aspects of this book. It had me laughing my ass off from the first page to the last. I don’t think I’d necessarily classify this book as a romcom, because it became very angsty and I wasn’t expecting it based on that classification. But I did enjoy all the laughs and humor, and appreciated that there were still a lot of lighthearted moments even in the midst of the rougher times.

I loved both Daniel and Aaron. Daniel was sweet and funny and so unapologetically himself. He had so much heart and I wouldn’t change a single thing about him. Aaron had so much love to give and his sweetness and his caring towards Daniel were everything. I loved his need to take care of Daniel, especially when we learn where it stems from.

Aaron made a lot of mistakes that hurt Daniel, but I also feel like I totally get why he feels the need to bury himself in piles and piles of financial security. And I don’t believe at all he would ever do it maliciously. It just took him a bit of time to rearrange his priorities. We also have to remember the timeline of the book, and that even though Aaron and Daniel move very fast, they’re not actually together very long - about two months if I’m recalling correctly. So I think Aaron taking two months to map out a new life in his head when he wasn’t planning to isn’t that crazy.

If you can’t tell, I feel very deeply for these characters and would go to war for them. I hate some of the things they did and said—that one scene made me physically ill—but I do believe they complement each other well and deserved the HEA they fought hard for.

Again, just because things happened in this book I didn’t agree with, I still think it deserves the rating I gave it. I love when a book is written well enough to make me feel such strong emotions, even if they’re sometimes negative.

I also want to commend this author for writing a book I’ve truly never read before. This plot, these characters, the choices they made… all were new and exciting to me. I never knew what was going to happen next and I loved the way I didn’t ever want to put this book down. I was immersed and addicted.

This is for sure going to be a book I reread many times. I just had so much fun with them.

*I received a free copy of this book from the author and this is my voluntary, honest review.
Class Act by Gianni Holmes

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emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Format: ebook

“I glanced over my shoulder at this man—this married man and my best friend’s dad—slipping his tongue inside my hole and moaning while he did it.”

What I was expecting: forbidden filth, angst, and secret rendezvous. What we got: that, but also such a beautiful and sweet romance with lots of hurt/comfort aspects.

I loved the equal power exchange between the mmc’s, which you don’t always get in an age gap trope. Abe provided a lot of support for Emery, but Emery also became Abe’s safe space in turn. It didn’t feel like Abe was holding all the cards in the relationship just because he was older. Emery was also very independent and grounded. They didn’t necessarily need each other but they complemented one another well.

The spice was nuclear. They did the forbidden trope justice. Their moments hidden away were so hot. And, please, the role-playing. I was obsessed.

The angst was not part of the relationship at all, but the moments where we did get it, it was rough. This book had me sobbing around 80%. I just love these characters so much and their HEA was hard-fought and deserved.

Tell me which Gianni Holmes book to read next!
Stitched Hearts by Morgan Sloan

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Format: ebook

“I thought I’d have to live the rest of my life with a hole in my chest. I had no idea that the day I stitched up your hand would be the day you’d start to stitch my heart back together.”

As someone who really isn’t a huge fan of second chance romance, this book was absolutely everything and more. Roman and Beck are the epitome of “right person, wrong time”. 

I love a good hurt/comfort story but I love even more when it’s realistic. Love can’t fix all things, as we see in this book. Sometimes you can be cared for and adored and made the center of someone’s entire world, and it’s still not enough.

But ten years have passed and is a two-month whirlwind romance a decade ago worth trying to revive?

It’s not even funny how quickly I devoured this book. The push and pull kept me on the edge of my seat and the sweet moments kept my chest full to bursting. The spice was also consistently hot and drool-worthy.

The two mmc’s were such beautifully dynamic characters. Beck with his need to take care of and reassure Roman, and Roman with his sweet but broken soul. But then we also have great side characters in Holden and Riley, and also Beck’s parents. Everyone added so much to the plot.

And a big shout out to the author for letting me scream at her in her DMs while I lost my mind over this book. It is such a wonderful debut novel and I know we can expect great things to come from her.

*I beta read this book, and this review is based off of the draft I received and not the final product.