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suzyq436's review against another edition
2.0
I went into this blind so unfortunately I did not realise that this is a mafia romance with a sub/Dom relationship. If I had known, I would have never picked this up as those are two tropes that I just don't enjoy in my romance.
Besides the genre of romance, I did not enjoy the way it was written. I found the plot to be sporadic and nonsensical. The story was not explained very well and the golden thread was poorly executed.
Besides the genre of romance, I did not enjoy the way it was written. I found the plot to be sporadic and nonsensical. The story was not explained very well and the golden thread was poorly executed.
pinkminnie's review
5.0
He's a brute is worth 5 Stars.
The author involves many romance generes together but it is very cohesive. She articulated the character and their emotions almost perfectly and I could step into the main character shoes easily.
If you want a semi-quick read and like a Brute male main character. This book is for you (and me hahaha)
The author involves many romance generes together but it is very cohesive. She articulated the character and their emotions almost perfectly and I could step into the main character shoes easily.
If you want a semi-quick read and like a Brute male main character. This book is for you (and me hahaha)
whatshawnareads's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Stars
There’s a lot going on in this one. You’ve got a fiery red headed Scottish MIT bioengineering student and an Irish-Italian pro soccer player who is also in the mafia. It has a little bit of sports, a little science, and a little mafia without being overwhelmingly one or the other. Honestly, this is my first mafia romance and that aspect confused me a bit, but I was still able to enjoy the book.
I loved that the characters in this book are well rounded. So many times you can describe a character in 1-2 words and you just can’t do that with Zed and Nairne. They each have so many different pieces of their personality and backgrounds that make up who they are. I especially love that there was a certain aspect of Nairne that wasn’t revealed right away. It’s part of her without being the main focus and I think if she had only been defined by that one trait that I wouldn’t have enjoyed the story as much.
This book didn’t grab my attention right away and I didn’t have a problem putting it down for other things, but by the end I was rooting for Zed and Nairne. Their chemistry is hot!
He’s a Brute is available on KU right now and the two other books in the trilogy will release this summer
Thanks to Chloe Liese for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review!
There’s a lot going on in this one. You’ve got a fiery red headed Scottish MIT bioengineering student and an Irish-Italian pro soccer player who is also in the mafia. It has a little bit of sports, a little science, and a little mafia without being overwhelmingly one or the other. Honestly, this is my first mafia romance and that aspect confused me a bit, but I was still able to enjoy the book.
I loved that the characters in this book are well rounded. So many times you can describe a character in 1-2 words and you just can’t do that with Zed and Nairne. They each have so many different pieces of their personality and backgrounds that make up who they are. I especially love that there was a certain aspect of Nairne that wasn’t revealed right away. It’s part of her without being the main focus and I think if she had only been defined by that one trait that I wouldn’t have enjoyed the story as much.
This book didn’t grab my attention right away and I didn’t have a problem putting it down for other things, but by the end I was rooting for Zed and Nairne. Their chemistry is hot!
He’s a Brute is available on KU right now and the two other books in the trilogy will release this summer
Thanks to Chloe Liese for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review!
myrthekorf's review
dark
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
virgo_reader's review against another edition
3.0
I love Chloe Liese and am working my way through her backlog. This story was well written, though I didn't realize until around 90% that this wasn't a standalone.
The way she builds up characters and personal relationships feels so natural.
The way she builds up characters and personal relationships feels so natural.
the_sassy_bookworm's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this one, but I didn't love it. First, it is basically 50 Shades of Grey (including the older woman mentor who taught him all about sex...yay) and with mafia, sports, and a more intelligent and disabled heroine. Which was fine, there are a lot of books fashioned after that series. Some of them are even better than 50 Shades (not a hard feat, I know). And this wasn't a bad book by any means. I quite liked both Zed and Nairne and it had some great secondary characters. I wasn't a fan of Nella and had I known her "mentoring" was of the sexual variety I would have passed on accepting an ARC for this one. I am not a fan of this type of OW being a fixture in my books any more. So yea, I enjoyed it. Enough to check out book two?? At this point that is yet to be determined.
guirnalda's review
dark
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
cherki_amina's review
2.0
It took me maybe 5 days to finish this book 😭
It pains me to say this about one of my favourite author’s books but this book was awful. The writing was so bad, the storyline so cringy, the characters were not well built ……
I am happy that when i started reading Chloe Liese’s books i started with the Bergman’s brothers, because that series is phenomenal and every book she wrote after that series is incredible so if you start with this series please know this is her debut novel and her other books are waaaaay better and worth checking.
It pains me to say this about one of my favourite author’s books but this book was awful. The writing was so bad, the storyline so cringy, the characters were not well built ……
I am happy that when i started reading Chloe Liese’s books i started with the Bergman’s brothers, because that series is phenomenal and every book she wrote after that series is incredible so if you start with this series please know this is her debut novel and her other books are waaaaay better and worth checking.
thepolybrary's review
4.0
~*Check out all my reviews over on The Bent Bookworm!*~
He’s a Brute was Chloe Liese’s debut novel, and wow did it pack a punch! I did admittedly read these books out of order (read [b:She's a Spitfire|45175530|She's a Spitfire (Tough Love, #2)|Chloe Liese|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1555693535l/45175530._SY75_.jpg|69885565], which is Tough Love #2, first), and while technically that’s fine I would definitely recommend starting with the first book. This is a three book series involving the same couple. I enjoyed the first two books so much that I bought hard copies of all three, even though I had eARCs of the first two!
A lot of reviews said this was a 50 Shades-esque novel. I’ve never read 50 Shades, so I can’t say either way. There is dominant/submissive kinky sex between Zed and Nairne, but it is completely consensual. Zed is rough around the edges, arrogant, and emotionally closed off, but he makes sure Nairne is 100% okay with whatever he does before he does it. There’s a contract and everything.
Things I Liked
- Consent! Consent! Consent! For this type of kink to sit well with me consent has to figure in immediately, not as an afterthought, and it totally did. Made the steamy scenes even hotter. And they were HOT. Phew!
- Zed! I like alpha males, what can I say. Muscles and confidence. Mmmhm yes please. Besides being a pro soccer player, he’s also in the ruling levels of the Italian Mafia. Realistic? No. But romances around pro sports players AREN’T realistic, in my opinion, because they are so rare. So it didn’t bother me.
- NAIRNE. I love Nairne so so much. She’s turned on by Zed’s dominance but she doesn’t let him push her around outside of the bedroom and I am HERE for it. My girl!! Also, she is such a strong person. As a star football (soccer) player herself, she suffered a traumatic injury that left her in a wheelchair. While this understandably caused her a great deal of mental and emotional anguish, she doesn’t let it completely consume her. She struggles – who wouldn’t – but she keeps fighting.
- The relationship between Nairne and her best friend, Elodie! They have each other’s backs, no matter what. I loved them together so much. It was good to see a book with positive female friendships.
Things I Didn’t Like
There was a LOT going on in this book. I think it was because the author is introducing all of this crap that Nairne and Zed have to go through in the series of three books, but it was just like…whoa, Nellie, slow down!!
Zed’s older, female mentor/lover. Yick. I know things like that happen, because bad people do bad things…which would have been fine, but I didn’t feel like it was dealt with well. Zed never really did deal with it, and I feel like he needs to because that’s really messed up. Maybe in the later books? I hope so.
The whole thing with Nairne’s father was a little too wrapped-up-in-a-bow. It felt completely out of place and unnecessary and unlikely. I was glad it occurred at the end of the book instead of the beginning because I’m honestly not sure I would have finished it!
4/5 stars overall.
I love Zed and Nairne and if you enjoy romance with lots of steamy sex, a little danger, and a lot of banter, this one is for you!
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He’s a Brute was Chloe Liese’s debut novel, and wow did it pack a punch! I did admittedly read these books out of order (read [b:She's a Spitfire|45175530|She's a Spitfire (Tough Love, #2)|Chloe Liese|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1555693535l/45175530._SY75_.jpg|69885565], which is Tough Love #2, first), and while technically that’s fine I would definitely recommend starting with the first book. This is a three book series involving the same couple. I enjoyed the first two books so much that I bought hard copies of all three, even though I had eARCs of the first two!
A lot of reviews said this was a 50 Shades-esque novel. I’ve never read 50 Shades, so I can’t say either way. There is dominant/submissive kinky sex between Zed and Nairne, but it is completely consensual. Zed is rough around the edges, arrogant, and emotionally closed off, but he makes sure Nairne is 100% okay with whatever he does before he does it. There’s a contract and everything.
Things I Liked
- Consent! Consent! Consent! For this type of kink to sit well with me consent has to figure in immediately, not as an afterthought, and it totally did. Made the steamy scenes even hotter. And they were HOT. Phew!
- Zed! I like alpha males, what can I say. Muscles and confidence. Mmmhm yes please. Besides being a pro soccer player, he’s also in the ruling levels of the Italian Mafia. Realistic? No. But romances around pro sports players AREN’T realistic, in my opinion, because they are so rare. So it didn’t bother me.
- NAIRNE. I love Nairne so so much. She’s turned on by Zed’s dominance but she doesn’t let him push her around outside of the bedroom and I am HERE for it. My girl!! Also, she is such a strong person. As a star football (soccer) player herself, she suffered a traumatic injury that left her in a wheelchair. While this understandably caused her a great deal of mental and emotional anguish, she doesn’t let it completely consume her. She struggles – who wouldn’t – but she keeps fighting.
- The relationship between Nairne and her best friend, Elodie! They have each other’s backs, no matter what. I loved them together so much. It was good to see a book with positive female friendships.
Things I Didn’t Like
There was a LOT going on in this book. I think it was because the author is introducing all of this crap that Nairne and Zed have to go through in the series of three books, but it was just like…whoa, Nellie, slow down!!
Zed’s older, female mentor/lover. Yick. I know things like that happen, because bad people do bad things…which would have been fine, but I didn’t feel like it was dealt with well. Zed never really did deal with it, and I feel like he needs to because that’s really messed up. Maybe in the later books? I hope so.
The whole thing with Nairne’s father was a little too wrapped-up-in-a-bow. It felt completely out of place and unnecessary and unlikely. I was glad it occurred at the end of the book instead of the beginning because I’m honestly not sure I would have finished it!
4/5 stars overall.
I love Zed and Nairne and if you enjoy romance with lots of steamy sex, a little danger, and a lot of banter, this one is for you!
Blog | Twitter | Bloglovin | Instagram |