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kindleandbook's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite of the three books. Loved it! Loved the entire series. Narration by Sean Crisden was great!
cadiva's review against another edition
5.0
My favourite of the three. I'm a sucker for military men and hurting ones in needed of finding the right person to comfort them is my kryptonite.
I also loved that the other MC in this story is someone living with ADHD, and the sympathetic and brutally truthful way Annabeth Albert deals with both these men's disabilities makes this book a little more real but no less a romantic journey.
Sex is also dealt with with an honesty that throws the spotlight on how a profound life changing incident can make someone lose all sense of who they are and how they used to be. For Navy SEAL Ryan, it means not only facing months of rehab, but also having to find how to be a sexually active gay man again.
With some beautifully crafted scenes and a little bit of Josiah's innate inability to cut through the bull and just say what he's thinking, their relationship slowly grows and changes from Ryan feeling like he can't desert the younger man who he helped out when they got stuck with a cancelled flight into a friendship which is both soothing and stimulating.
It's difficult to pin just what made this book so good for me, there isn't a lot of steam in it, although there are a couple of very hot sessions, but there is a real sense of a relationship slowly blossoming from a chance encounter into a partnership of equals and the lodestone on which each man is able to lean on the other.
Plus it had ridiculously cute Labrador puppy Gracie, two wonderfully sympathetic mothers and the same madcap setting and secondary characters as the first two.
Will we get Pike and Zack next perhaps?
I also loved that the other MC in this story is someone living with ADHD, and the sympathetic and brutally truthful way Annabeth Albert deals with both these men's disabilities makes this book a little more real but no less a romantic journey.
Sex is also dealt with with an honesty that throws the spotlight on how a profound life changing incident can make someone lose all sense of who they are and how they used to be. For Navy SEAL Ryan, it means not only facing months of rehab, but also having to find how to be a sexually active gay man again.
With some beautifully crafted scenes and a little bit of Josiah's innate inability to cut through the bull and just say what he's thinking, their relationship slowly grows and changes from Ryan feeling like he can't desert the younger man who he helped out when they got stuck with a cancelled flight into a friendship which is both soothing and stimulating.
It's difficult to pin just what made this book so good for me, there isn't a lot of steam in it, although there are a couple of very hot sessions, but there is a real sense of a relationship slowly blossoming from a chance encounter into a partnership of equals and the lodestone on which each man is able to lean on the other.
Plus it had ridiculously cute Labrador puppy Gracie, two wonderfully sympathetic mothers and the same madcap setting and secondary characters as the first two.
Will we get Pike and Zack next perhaps?
qace90's review against another edition
5.0
Slow burn romance but plenty of sexual heat
I really enjoyed this volume of the #Gaymers series. Josiah is still kinda learning how to be an adult and be independent, as well as working with his ADHD. Ryan is a grumpy guy adapting to recent disability from military service injures resulting in double leg amputation. I liked a lot of the interactions between the main characters and how they seemed to generally balance one another out. There is some serious angst near the end, but it does get resolved and end up with a happy ending. I do feel like the last chapter felt rushed, like it was trying to cram an epilogue in without officially being an epilogue.
Overall a good story with lots of emotion and interesting characters.
Content warnings:
✨On page sex - manual, masturbation for an audience, frottage, anal, mild dominance play during sex scenes
✨Aromisia - “just friends” used 2+ times
✨Dead father - brought up in passing - discussed more explicitly (father died of lymphoma)
✨Casual ableism - use of cr*zy, etc
✨Overt ableism - wondering if MC can swim, being told he’ll scare children, asking able-bodied MC what disabled MC would like to order when out at a restaurant, infantilism and dubious if disabled MC could still be sexual - challenged in text
✨Kinda dubious-ish consent in sense that frottage begins while half asleep and not previously negotiated
✨Mentions of military combat situations and discussion of a situation resulting in deaths and MC’s injuries
✨Some weird “can’t claim to be a virgin because of sex toy collection” statement....
✨Instance where MC’s ADHD is brushed off like he’s exaggerating how it affects his life
✨Internalized feelings of being unworthy and Too Much
✨MC who overworks his body in rehab
✨Subtle transmisia/transmisogyny - challenged in text
✨Hospitalization, surgery, physical therapy, mention of therapy (for mental health)
Rep: gay white amputee MC, gay white MC w adhd, amputee side character w speech issues
Aside: I’m suddenly extra excited for Annabeth Albert’s Out of Uniform series because TIE INS!!! Yes please, gimme~
I really enjoyed this volume of the #Gaymers series. Josiah is still kinda learning how to be an adult and be independent, as well as working with his ADHD. Ryan is a grumpy guy adapting to recent disability from military service injures resulting in double leg amputation. I liked a lot of the interactions between the main characters and how they seemed to generally balance one another out. There is some serious angst near the end, but it does get resolved and end up with a happy ending. I do feel like the last chapter felt rushed, like it was trying to cram an epilogue in without officially being an epilogue.
Overall a good story with lots of emotion and interesting characters.
Content warnings:
✨On page sex - manual, masturbation for an audience, frottage, anal, mild dominance play during sex scenes
✨Aromisia - “just friends” used 2+ times
✨Dead father - brought up in passing - discussed more explicitly (father died of lymphoma)
✨Casual ableism - use of cr*zy, etc
✨Overt ableism - wondering if MC can swim, being told he’ll scare children, asking able-bodied MC what disabled MC would like to order when out at a restaurant, infantilism and dubious if disabled MC could still be sexual - challenged in text
✨Kinda dubious-ish consent in sense that frottage begins while half asleep and not previously negotiated
✨Mentions of military combat situations and discussion of a situation resulting in deaths and MC’s injuries
✨Some weird “can’t claim to be a virgin because of sex toy collection” statement....
✨Instance where MC’s ADHD is brushed off like he’s exaggerating how it affects his life
✨Internalized feelings of being unworthy and Too Much
✨MC who overworks his body in rehab
✨Subtle transmisia/transmisogyny - challenged in text
✨Hospitalization, surgery, physical therapy, mention of therapy (for mental health)
Rep: gay white amputee MC, gay white MC w adhd, amputee side character w speech issues
Aside: I’m suddenly extra excited for Annabeth Albert’s Out of Uniform series because TIE INS!!! Yes please, gimme~
courtneyclaire's review against another edition
4.0
Very cute. Very HEA worthy. I gave it a 3.5 in my head but rounded up just for the cute factor.
I read Pike and Zach’s story before reading this one (unplanned) and I definitely think Ryan and Josiah could be my favourite paring from Ms. Albert.
I read Pike and Zach’s story before reading this one (unplanned) and I definitely think Ryan and Josiah could be my favourite paring from Ms. Albert.
verloren918's review against another edition
4.0
Probably my favorite in the series, mostly because I'm a huge sucker for fiction that incorporates documentation- letters, emails, etc. I'm sure there's a word for it, I just don't know what it is. My only real issue was that it felt like it ended very abruptly, though maybe that's just me.
bakarena's review against another edition
4.0
Can't believe I even had a thought of skipping that one. It's been great.
Love Sean Crisden.
Love Sean Crisden.
susanscribs's review against another edition
4.0
When we first meet Josiah in Beta Test, the second book in Annabeth Albert's "Gaymers" series, he was portrayed as hyperactive, immature and moderately annoying. I knew he was sequel bait but thought it would take quite a bit of skill to turn him into hero material. Fortunately Albert proves in Connection Error that she is more than up to the task. Josiah has ADHD, which he manages with medication, but even on meds he is still disorganized and impulsive. He is also smart, enthusiastic and caring, coming across sometimes like a giant puppy dog. When he meets Ryan, a Navy SEAL and double amputee, Josiah doesn't always say the politically correct or polite thing, but he doesn't assume that Ryan is helpless to take care of himself either.
The slow burn relationship between the two MCs is lovely to watch, as Ryan's fears about his sexual ability as an amputee are pretty much demolished by Josiah's eagerness to try anything that will make Ryan happy. But there are other obstacles to their relationship, and Albert shows both men moving past major challenges in their own lives before they can be a team together.
Josiah had me at hello with his good-natured energy; he may be my favorite Albert MC to date. I'm not a big fan of military heroes but Ryan gradually won me over as well with his quiet determination and his heartfelt need to be a part of a team. I also appreciated the fact that there was no angst about the MC's homosexuality in this story - they were both out and felt supported by their family and friends - so the drama was purely related to their relationship dynamics, not their sexual preferences.
Connection Error may be my favorite book so far in the "Gaymers" series. I don't know how many more potential Space Villager employees Annabeth Albert plans to write about, but between this and the "Portland Heat" series, she has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary m/m romance authors.
ARC received from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
The slow burn relationship between the two MCs is lovely to watch, as Ryan's fears about his sexual ability as an amputee are pretty much demolished by Josiah's eagerness to try anything that will make Ryan happy. But there are other obstacles to their relationship, and Albert shows both men moving past major challenges in their own lives before they can be a team together.
Josiah had me at hello with his good-natured energy; he may be my favorite Albert MC to date. I'm not a big fan of military heroes but Ryan gradually won me over as well with his quiet determination and his heartfelt need to be a part of a team. I also appreciated the fact that there was no angst about the MC's homosexuality in this story - they were both out and felt supported by their family and friends - so the drama was purely related to their relationship dynamics, not their sexual preferences.
Connection Error may be my favorite book so far in the "Gaymers" series. I don't know how many more potential Space Villager employees Annabeth Albert plans to write about, but between this and the "Portland Heat" series, she has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary m/m romance authors.
ARC received from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
steelheads's review against another edition
2.0
I feel like the author tiptoed on the outskirts of some really great plot points and ideas. If only she had explored those ideas, this would have been a much more interesting read.
terriaminute's review against another edition
5.0
A perfect title. Mistakes are made, meanings are misconstrued (or completely misread) and everything's character-driven. It ends neatly, at a cusp, another well done aspect I see abused too often in romances. I have a friend who is ADHD, in some ways worse than Josiah, so his character rang true for me in ways that felt important. The anger Ryan has is common and his struggle through it felt genuine. But the aspect that shows this writer's talent was in their ways of thinking. I laughed out loud at some of the differences in phrasing thoughts because they were perfect. As the author does, so do I thank everyone who helped her give us this story. Well done!
sorrybutnoway's review against another edition
4.0
It was kind of weird but I also definitely wasn’t the right audience for the book. The ADHD rep was amazing!! I wish more books would feature ADHD characters but I will never read (accidentally) porn just for ADHD rep
- i also hated the military background and how the military and literally murdering other people was glorified
- the author also sometimes used slurs
- i also hated the military background and how the military and literally murdering other people was glorified
- the author also sometimes used slurs