Reviews

Hummingbird Heartbreak by Max Walker

piperclover's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

2.75

I really dislike how this book treats drug addiction and drugs in general.

Brandon is a past cocaine addict so he freaks out when someone in a club offers him cocaine. He then spends chapters apologizing. For what??? He shouldn't apologize for not wanting to be around or be offered illegal substances, esp the very substance he was addicted to. Furthermore, Dusty finds out that Brandon caused his mother's broken wrist years ago (not directly hurting her) by being high during the peak of his addiction and thats why he got kicked out. His reaction to this is absurd. He ghosts Brandon and refuses to listen to him because he decided Brandon lied because Dusty himself assumed Brandon was kicked out for being gay.  Earlier in the book, he literally says that Brandon is not required to explain his whole traumatic backstory and he'll wait until Brandon is ready to trust him with that information and then the minute Brandon tries to explain, Dusty shuts it down and says he lied and therefore he can't be trusted. 

But I can't actually tell you how long he ignores Brandon for because the timeline makes no sense. There is no timeline, this author does not understand how time works. Apparently weeks and weeks go by in the middle of this book but all we get is a brief mention of the months that have passed where things happened off page. Brandon literally gets a job at dusty's parents animal sanctuary and it's completely off page until the moment it's useful to the plot when Dusty's mom uses the info to make Dusty stop ignoring Brandon.

The more I type, the more I realize I didn't enjoy this much. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Drug abuse

eliezrah's review

4.0

I love nerd & jock books, and this was no different. It was refreshing to see that there was more to this book than the typical nerd jock. Brandon learned a lot about himself and grew a lot as well as helped Dusty learn to be more confident. It was a good book and their relationship was so sweet. I'm looking forward to the next book.

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily gave my honest review.

runbibirun's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hmmm_ireadthatsomewhere's review

3.0

Brandon and Dusty

valerieullmerauthor's review

3.0

While I love opposites attract and new adult romances, this one fell a bit short for me. When you meet Dusty, I was immediately pulled. He seemed like a sweet, yet shy guy who was navigating college life while Brandon, who is an out and popular rugby player, is confident and personable. I enjoyed the story, the circumstances that brought them to become roommates, Dusty's cat, and the intriguing backstory of both of the characters. But it was the latter part of the book, the last third, where the Dusty you've come to know, who was patient and listened to Brandon, suddenly became a different person. The conflict was thin, at best, and it served more to take away from Dusty's character than it added to it.

sklarkat's review

hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It was… fine. I wanted to like it, but some major continuity issues (timing of a formative event, age and progress through college of main characters at the time they met each other) were really distracting for me. I also found the spicy bits weirdly uncompelling. There was one oral sex scene in particular that read like an MF oral sex scene with key terms searched and replaced. The author set up some really interesting opportunities to explore complex issues and then… didn’t explore them. There was a great setup with an emotional support animal character and it just felt squandered for the rest of the book. The only reason I didn’t DNF is that a later book in the series has a high rating from someone I trust. That said, as the author grows in skill, I think this would be a great one to give a solid rewrite, and I’d happily reread it after that. 

mynameisprerna's review against another edition

4.0

Perspective: first

Tense: past

POV: dual 

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 4: Brown Girl Spicy (Multiple descriptive and detailed open door scenes; smut is prominent but it does not overtake plot)

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 (Great, calling it good doesn’t feel adequate. I really liked it and had a very good time reading it.)

Review: 
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about a college age romance by Max Walker, but it was fine as long as I kind of mentally glossed over how young they were supposed to be. There were a few surprising twists I really didn’t expect, which kept the story interesting without being too far over the top. 

Source: Library (Libby)

sandidev's review

5.0

Fantastic start to a new series

This is the start of a new series by Max Walker. I loved Dusty and Brandon, they are great characters and great together.

The side characters are really good too. I can’t wait for Benji’s book!

ememel's review

2.5

Meh

robazizo's review

2.0

Not my thing. Brandon was lovely, but Dusty got on my nerves with his wishy washy behaviour and how he acted at the end was ridiculous. If I were Brandon I would have walked away early on. The way Brandon's family treated his problems was incomprehensible, putting everything on him and taking no kind of responsibility for the wellbeing of their (underage!) child. The writing also felt off somehow.