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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
Lucy Lennox's new series revolves around a town in Colorado. A former ski town, Aster Valley used to give Aspen a run for its money. Years ago, it earned a bad rep when a former Olympian got injured on its snowy slopes, losing all his gold medal hopes. The ski park closed down and people lost jobs. Since then, it stood vacant but remained a habitable, quirky small town.
Right As Raine is the story of a football player and his assistant who may or may not have feelings for each other for years. We have Raine trying to recuperate from a football injury and Mikey trying to use the time to plan out the cooking book he's trying to write. He's worked as Raine's assistant/chef/handler for five years, and in all those years, he's learned to hide his feelings for his boss. I love me some football romance, especially if it involves a sexy jock and his sassy assistant. But a romance between them can't be in the cards because Raine's coach is Mikey's dad who would blow his lid if he finds out his son is in a relationship with Raine. He might even lose his job as the highest paid wide receiver for his team. So Raine also put a tight rein on his feelings towards Mikey.
Mikey came from a family of man's man sports jocks. But for some reason, genes skipped him and decided to give his parents a gay chef for a son. He has grand dreams. He wants to open his own restaurant with him at the helm, but while he's saving money, he works as a revolving gofer for his dad's players. His relationship with his father hasn't been the best. By the end of the book, readers will not be able to discern whether or not he resents having an effeminate son in Mikey. I really felt bad for him because it seems like his parents, while we see signs that they love him, pretty much ignored all his accomplishments just because he's not in professional sports of any kind.
I loved Aster Valley. I can already tell I will enjoy this series. It features a community of LGBTQIA folks who has each other's backs and generally welcoming to newcomers. This introduction to a new series by Lucy Lennox is not to be missed if you enjoy romance, humour, stories about life, and diversity in general.
Right As Raine is the story of a football player and his assistant who may or may not have feelings for each other for years. We have Raine trying to recuperate from a football injury and Mikey trying to use the time to plan out the cooking book he's trying to write. He's worked as Raine's assistant/chef/handler for five years, and in all those years, he's learned to hide his feelings for his boss. I love me some football romance, especially if it involves a sexy jock and his sassy assistant. But a romance between them can't be in the cards because Raine's coach is Mikey's dad who would blow his lid if he finds out his son is in a relationship with Raine. He might even lose his job as the highest paid wide receiver for his team. So Raine also put a tight rein on his feelings towards Mikey.
Mikey came from a family of man's man sports jocks. But for some reason, genes skipped him and decided to give his parents a gay chef for a son. He has grand dreams. He wants to open his own restaurant with him at the helm, but while he's saving money, he works as a revolving gofer for his dad's players. His relationship with his father hasn't been the best. By the end of the book, readers will not be able to discern whether or not he resents having an effeminate son in Mikey. I really felt bad for him because it seems like his parents, while we see signs that they love him, pretty much ignored all his accomplishments just because he's not in professional sports of any kind.
I loved Aster Valley. I can already tell I will enjoy this series. It features a community of LGBTQIA folks who has each other's backs and generally welcoming to newcomers. This introduction to a new series by Lucy Lennox is not to be missed if you enjoy romance, humour, stories about life, and diversity in general.
Tiller is a football player; Mikey is his personal assistant/chef/the son of his coach. After five years of knowing one another, things finally come to a head when Tiller is injured and they go to stay in Aster Valley, a small, unusually queer town in Colorado.
So I wasn't really feeling this one for most of the time I was reading it because it read very much like MLW (complete with typical stereotypes that we see in the genre). The only unusual point is that the "big alpha male" is already out before the story ever begins.
What really got to me was the completely weak/virtually nonexistent conclusion/epilogue. So Mikey and Tiller have trouble with the former's father and how poorly his family treats him and.. that's it. They just accept it, I guess? And then the epilogue is from the perspective of a secondary character who hardly appears during the book, basically serving more as a prologue for the second in the series than as an epilogue for this one? Ugh. Pass.
So I wasn't really feeling this one for most of the time I was reading it because it read very much like MLW (complete with typical stereotypes that we see in the genre). The only unusual point is that the "big alpha male" is already out before the story ever begins.
What really got to me was the completely weak/virtually nonexistent conclusion/epilogue. So Mikey and Tiller have trouble with the former's father and how poorly his family treats him and.. that's it. They just accept it, I guess? And then the epilogue is from the perspective of a secondary character who hardly appears during the book, basically serving more as a prologue for the second in the series than as an epilogue for this one? Ugh. Pass.
4.5 stars!
What a strong start to a new series by Lucy Lennox. After the prequel we got, I was only too excited to get Mikey and Tiller's story.
And overall, it did not disappoint. I was sucked in from the beginning, these two had great chemistry, and their love was believable and interesting.
We get two prologues in this, that shows us when these two first meet. Tiller is the first out gay guy in the NFL - so kind of like a fictional version of that guy, Michael Sam, who was drafted into the NFL and who was out when he was - except Tiller has become something close to a superstar, and this really starts 5 years after they meet, with Tiller well into his NFL career and even a superbowl win under his belt.
Mikey has been Tiller's personal cook/assistant for the past five years, and for a long time they've been able to keep away from each other, meanwhile they falling for each other more and more. When Tiller gets seriously hurt during a game that will require him to be out for at least 4 weeks, he and Mikey go to Aster Valley to just get away from everything.
And it's there, where they get to be away from everything and everyone - specifically Mikey's father, TIller's coach, who is an absolute asshole - that things move beyond their quasi-friendship/employer/employee relationship and into something more.
And yes, I did .5 stars off of this for that fade to black scene! I'm sorry but that frustrated me beyond belief.
Because like, listen...if a book is clearly not meant to be an adult romance with the sexytimes - so like, it's young adult, or if it was like...a romance story but you can just tell sexytimes isn't going to happen on page, like maybe it's a romance/action thriller or romance/mystery, what have you, and it's leaning more towards the other genre instead of the romance, I'm fine with the no on page sex thing. I get it, and I go in expecting not on page sex.
But with these adult romance books, well...we all expect the sex, right? Especially with authors like Lennox who doesn't usually skimp out on these things. And even though we didn't get any anal sex until 87% - YEP. And it wasn't even that detailed, mind you - we did get other sexytimes things, like blowjobs and so on, so it's not like this is a book shying away from showing any sexy times.
So put all those factors together, and then on top of ALL that I said above, there's all this build up and anticipation for them to have anal sex. Also especially because neither of them have had anal sex before! So their first time having that will be with each other. And even if not, it's still their first time together. So it's supposed to be special and a big thing and all that.
So all that then leads to 70% where...it fucking fades to black just as Tiller just gets inside Mikey for the first time. I WAS LIKE - WHAT?! Because come on. All that build up, all that anticipation, and....nothing? Why? It was just so out of place, out of character, for the author, and to just not get to see this monumentally important moment between the two MC's.
It just...skips to the next day and that's it. It was jarring and surprising and frustrating. So yeah, I had to give this .5 stars off for that. It just threw me, and yeah, upset me a bit.
Now, does that take away from the rest of this to round down or anything? No. The rest of this is still wonderful and I loved it and couldn't get enough of it.
But that doesn't change that for me, a small portion of this book was spent with me going "wait what the fuck? Where the sex???" lol. And just feeling majorly disappointed and frustrated. So yeah, .5 stars off it is.
But with that, it overall doesn't detract too much from the rest of the story, which was well paced, I thought, and had great chemistry between the two MC's, and an interesting story, with interesting side characters, and also an interesting epilogue to introduce us to the new couple for the next book - although it didn't bother me much, it still niggles at me that it was an epilogue more about the next couple than Mikey and Tiller. Like we get a preview to the next book after the book is over, that's usually is how it's done, we don't really need that in the epilogue of a story meant for another couple, ya know? - but anyway, Sam and Truman certainly intrigue me, nonetheless.
So overall, a good story, a good kicking off point for this new series, and I was so happy everything was able to work out for Mikey and Tiller, who deserved it. It seemed like things wouldn't work out for a bit, but of course it did :D.
So overall, two big thumbs up from me, and I highly recommend. And ya know, maybe you guys won't be as bothered by the fade to black as I was haha. Still, can't wait for the next one <3
What a strong start to a new series by Lucy Lennox. After the prequel we got, I was only too excited to get Mikey and Tiller's story.
And overall, it did not disappoint. I was sucked in from the beginning, these two had great chemistry, and their love was believable and interesting.
We get two prologues in this, that shows us when these two first meet. Tiller is the first out gay guy in the NFL - so kind of like a fictional version of that guy, Michael Sam, who was drafted into the NFL and who was out when he was - except Tiller has become something close to a superstar, and this really starts 5 years after they meet, with Tiller well into his NFL career and even a superbowl win under his belt.
Mikey has been Tiller's personal cook/assistant for the past five years, and for a long time they've been able to keep away from each other, meanwhile they falling for each other more and more. When Tiller gets seriously hurt during a game that will require him to be out for at least 4 weeks, he and Mikey go to Aster Valley to just get away from everything.
And it's there, where they get to be away from everything and everyone - specifically Mikey's father, TIller's coach, who is an absolute asshole - that things move beyond their quasi-friendship/employer/employee relationship and into something more.
And yes, I did .5 stars off of this for that fade to black scene! I'm sorry but that frustrated me beyond belief.
Because like, listen...if a book is clearly not meant to be an adult romance with the sexytimes - so like, it's young adult, or if it was like...a romance story but you can just tell sexytimes isn't going to happen on page, like maybe it's a romance/action thriller or romance/mystery, what have you, and it's leaning more towards the other genre instead of the romance, I'm fine with the no on page sex thing. I get it, and I go in expecting not on page sex.
But with these adult romance books, well...we all expect the sex, right? Especially with authors like Lennox who doesn't usually skimp out on these things. And even though we didn't get any anal sex until 87% - YEP. And it wasn't even that detailed, mind you - we did get other sexytimes things, like blowjobs and so on, so it's not like this is a book shying away from showing any sexy times.
So put all those factors together, and then on top of ALL that I said above, there's all this build up and anticipation for them to have anal sex. Also especially because neither of them have had anal sex before! So their first time having that will be with each other. And even if not, it's still their first time together. So it's supposed to be special and a big thing and all that.
So all that then leads to 70% where...it fucking fades to black just as Tiller just gets inside Mikey for the first time. I WAS LIKE - WHAT?! Because come on. All that build up, all that anticipation, and....nothing? Why? It was just so out of place, out of character, for the author, and to just not get to see this monumentally important moment between the two MC's.
It just...skips to the next day and that's it. It was jarring and surprising and frustrating. So yeah, I had to give this .5 stars off for that. It just threw me, and yeah, upset me a bit.
Now, does that take away from the rest of this to round down or anything? No. The rest of this is still wonderful and I loved it and couldn't get enough of it.
But that doesn't change that for me, a small portion of this book was spent with me going "wait what the fuck? Where the sex???" lol. And just feeling majorly disappointed and frustrated. So yeah, .5 stars off it is.
But with that, it overall doesn't detract too much from the rest of the story, which was well paced, I thought, and had great chemistry between the two MC's, and an interesting story, with interesting side characters, and also an interesting epilogue to introduce us to the new couple for the next book - although it didn't bother me much, it still niggles at me that it was an epilogue more about the next couple than Mikey and Tiller. Like we get a preview to the next book after the book is over, that's usually is how it's done, we don't really need that in the epilogue of a story meant for another couple, ya know? - but anyway, Sam and Truman certainly intrigue me, nonetheless.
So overall, a good story, a good kicking off point for this new series, and I was so happy everything was able to work out for Mikey and Tiller, who deserved it. It seemed like things wouldn't work out for a bit, but of course it did :D.
So overall, two big thumbs up from me, and I highly recommend. And ya know, maybe you guys won't be as bothered by the fade to black as I was haha. Still, can't wait for the next one <3
I really enjoy Lucy Lennox's work, so I figured I could see my way through a book about football. It was surprisingly easy, though I still think it's a stupid sport and I couldn't be bothered to care about it. ANYWAY. I felt so bad for Mikey--so much about his family was painfully familiar to me. Tiller, of course, was a sweetheart. And I'm head over heels for the folks in Aster Valley already.
re-read: not my fave of the Aster Valley books but a great intro to the series nonetheless.
re-read: not my fave of the Aster Valley books but a great intro to the series nonetheless.
Sigh. I loved Tiller and Mikey. I knew this was going to be good because Hello! it's Lucy Lennox! She really scored a touchdown on this one! Haha, see what I did there? I love books with athletes and this doesn't disappoint. Tiller is an out and proud football player and Mikey is the coach's son, and also happens to be Tiller's PA and personal chef. This is a classic story of overcoming the odds and proving that love is more important than anything. I really loved the way Lucy combined humor and sexiness to make this story a great one. The banter between Mikey and Tiller was one of my favorite things about this book. I really enjoyed reading more about Astor Valley, which we get a taste of in Winter Waites, and getting a closer look at its residents. I really liked the way Lucy set us up for the next book in the series and I can't wait for more!
3.5
I liked their story but what I didn't like was not knowing at the end. It ended on a HFN and we didn't get to see any of the blowback or after effects of them being in a relationship. The epilogue was the POV of the next love interest but he didn't even tell us what happened in the main characters lives after they got together. Instead it just seemed like the first chapter of the next book.
Overall it was good but i felt like it ended abruptly and had no follow through.
I liked their story but what I didn't like was not knowing at the end. It ended on a HFN and we didn't get to see any of the blowback or after effects of them being in a relationship. The epilogue was the POV of the next love interest but he didn't even tell us what happened in the main characters lives after they got together. Instead it just seemed like the first chapter of the next book.
Overall it was good but i felt like it ended abruptly and had no follow through.
3.25 stars. The romance between Tiller and Mikey was very cute and it was obvious they fit together really well and had actually been in a relationship for years without realizing it. Sadly the second half of the book was completely overshadowed by Mikey's father and his hateful behaviour, so much that the story verged into soap opera and I started to lose interest.
It was nice to see Winter and Gentry and Aster Valley again and I look forward to reading more about its inhabitants, although I'm a bit weary after reading about the accident and Truman (and his history) in the epilogue, since those plotlines too have a high risk of veering off into the melodramatic. We'll see.
It was nice to see Winter and Gentry and Aster Valley again and I look forward to reading more about its inhabitants, although I'm a bit weary after reading about the accident and Truman (and his history) in the epilogue, since those plotlines too have a high risk of veering off into the melodramatic. We'll see.
I really enjoyed the start of this new series by Lucy Lennox. I adored by Raine and Mikey. I liked how in this sports romance that Raine as an aspiring NFL player already made the choice to be out and proud and he continued being out as a professional in the NFL. However, even though he wasn't in the closet, the man lived and breathed football so there were never any public photos of him going on nonexistent dates. By a weird turn of events, Mikey, Raines football coach's youngest son ends up moving in with Raine as his professional chef. What was supposed to be a temporary thing turns into 5 years of working under Raine as his chef and PA. In all that time the two have become friends and Raine is heavily depended on Mikey. What neither of them have done is each other, no matter how much they each secretly want to.
It made me happy that when shit hit the proverbial fan Raine didn't go the typical route seen in books and try to hide Mikey for the sake of his career. Nope. Once he realized how good things could be with Mikey as his the man was all in. He wasn't letting anything get in the way of him being with the man he loved, even his asshole of a coach. By the end of this book I truly hated Coach. Every new tid bit we learn about him and how he has treated Mikey for being different from his brothers made me want to punch the man. He was a piece of work.
The town of Aster Valley where Mikey and Raine vacation is absolutely adorable and I wish I could visit. I loved all the little side characters we meet there, especially Truman. I am so happy his book is next. I'm also Pim's son who works at the family diner gets his own book after he's grown up a bit. He was just too cute. I look forward to more books in this series.
It made me happy that when shit hit the proverbial fan Raine didn't go the typical route seen in books and try to hide Mikey for the sake of his career. Nope. Once he realized how good things could be with Mikey as his the man was all in. He wasn't letting anything get in the way of him being with the man he loved, even his asshole of a coach. By the end of this book I truly hated Coach. Every new tid bit we learn about him and how he has treated Mikey for being different from his brothers made me want to punch the man. He was a piece of work.
The town of Aster Valley where Mikey and Raine vacation is absolutely adorable and I wish I could visit. I loved all the little side characters we meet there, especially Truman. I am so happy his book is next. I'm also Pim's son who works at the family diner gets his own book after he's grown up a bit. He was just too cute. I look forward to more books in this series.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Goornoighted m/m romance. American football player and his personal chef. Multimillionaire. I put it down at the 3rd act breakup cause it was so frustrating. Didn't want to pick it back up but thankfully resolved in a chapter or two.