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bitchie's review against another edition
3.0
Enemies to lovers! I love a good enemies to lovers story, especially when there is so much history between the two, in this case, going back to first grade. Cody and Sam grew up together, with Cody's mom kind of picking up for Sam's mom after she died. It's Cody's mom, Rosie, that brings Sam back to the town he ran from five years ago, after a horrific beating, only to find out he's a day too late, and she's gone.
A clause in Rosie's will throws our boys together for eight days. I think Rosie knew something they didn't! It forced them both to finally sit down and talk about things, and admit their real feelings and fears.
I really loved the first half of this story, I thought it was funny and a bit sad, but it kinda dropped off for me after Sam and Cody got together. Not that they weren't hot or didn't fit, I just thought it got too sweet, for my taste anyway. If you like your guys super sweet and lovey dovey to each other, than this is likely the book for you!
I only saw a couple of minor editing mistakes, particularly, a "taught sac", but otherwise, I found this to be a fairly well edited book, especially for a self pub.
I'll most likely be tuning in to read the next book in the series when it's out, I have my suspicions on who it'll be.
A clause in Rosie's will throws our boys together for eight days. I think Rosie knew something they didn't! It forced them both to finally sit down and talk about things, and admit their real feelings and fears.
I really loved the first half of this story, I thought it was funny and a bit sad, but it kinda dropped off for me after Sam and Cody got together. Not that they weren't hot or didn't fit, I just thought it got too sweet, for my taste anyway. If you like your guys super sweet and lovey dovey to each other, than this is likely the book for you!
I only saw a couple of minor editing mistakes, particularly, a "taught sac", but otherwise, I found this to be a fairly well edited book, especially for a self pub.
I'll most likely be tuning in to read the next book in the series when it's out, I have my suspicions on who it'll be.
liza5326's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes I like a little bit of fluff. And this was perfect! It hit all the right spots with me and I couldn't put it down. Enemies-to-lovers, hot sex, just enough angst to get the tears going and make it interesting, a great cast of characters. This was my first book by CE Kilgore and it won't be my last. A few editing errors, but nothing that took me too far out of the story.
jessmg's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-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? It's complicated
3.5
As short as this book is, it has the biggest emotion impact, the pacing is great with a kind of a plot twist...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
welkinvault's review against another edition
ugly situation, dubious consent, and all the dynamics are a bit off
suze_1624's review against another edition
4.0
I did enjoy this story - second chances, returning back to the place you run away from as soon as you can. 3.5*
I liked Sam and Cody, Sam all bitchy and prickly which is understandable after his experiences. Cody all nervous and excited. Sam learning to accept Cody as he is now.
Some parts of the book made feel like I was reading a commentary and some musical references, inconsistency with the terms of the will and odd incorrect words did leap out at me.
But overall I did like it. Leaping from enemies to friends to lovers in a few days can be farfetched but I generally don't mind it in a story
I liked Sam and Cody, Sam all bitchy and prickly which is understandable after his experiences. Cody all nervous and excited. Sam learning to accept Cody as he is now.
Some parts of the book made feel like I was reading a commentary and some musical references, inconsistency with the terms of the will and odd incorrect words did leap out at me.
But overall I did like it. Leaping from enemies to friends to lovers in a few days can be farfetched but I generally don't mind it in a story
Spoiler
but Sam forgiving Clint in 2 minutes did seem very odd.whitneydr's review against another edition
3.0
Had a strong start, but I couldn't really see Sam or anyone really easily forgiving a person that gay-bashed them. And everything was tied up too neatly. Also, are we supposed to find Julia's abuse funny? The first time got me to chuckle but she was hitting her fiancé in every scene and I really wanted to save him from her.
carpedentum's review against another edition
2.0
This book is entertaining enough if you want some easy reading with a fairly predictable plot and a guaranteed HEA. I liked it well enough but it's not something I think I'll ever revisit or bother continuing with the series. The plot with the two former school enemies being forced to live together because of a last will and testament felt constructed, just like the resolving of their issues, the way the protagonist gets his job and the set up for the next book. The story lacks a natural flow and it feels like energy has been put into the wrong things. I don't dislike the story at all, I just don't really care about it either. It's a complete comfort read if you can ignore how constructed the plot feels.
apostrophen's review
1.0
This popped up as a freebie, and I like second-chance romances, and I'd not read this author before, so I gave it a shot. I honestly wish I hadn't, and only finished it to make sure I got the full picture. I'm not sure where to take this review, but I do know where to start: if you are a queer person who has ever been assaulted, or a survivor of parental abuse, do not read this book.
I ended up so angry after reading this book, still days later, that I wrote a blog post, "I Shouldn't Have to Tell You Queer Bashers Aren't Hot" about the topic.
There's so much off with this book. We'll start with the blurb, which makes it sound like Sam just had a rough time in high school—y'know, like a lot of queer kids face, bullying and name-calling and being made to feel awful, for example, which is absolutely bad enough—and is heading back to visit a friend. Instead, we learn that Samwas nearly beaten to death (multiple broken bones, including part of his skull), and his father was an abusive alcoholic who kicked him to the curb . He's only heading home because the woman who all but replaced the role of mother in his life when his own mother died is very ill, and despite her son Cody having done awful things to him (including throwing him into a garbage can at one point), he wants to see her.
So. Guess who the love interest is? Yep. Cody. Because of course he was gay all along and tormented Sam because boys, am I right?. And Sam can't seem to look at Cody without thinking, "Woah, he's really hot, despite shoving me into a garbage can." But hey, Cody has since kinda-sorta come out, and all of Sam's friends think he's pretty swell, so... who cares about garbage cans, right? It's just a little bit of constant soul-crushing, life-ruining childhood, and he looks really hot in cowboy boots.
Then there's his abusive, alcoholic father, who kicks Sam to the curb. Guess who gets a big ol' forgiveness by the end of the book? , but suffice it to say, the inclusion of dear-ol'-Dad admitting he joined AA, shouldn't have beat his kid or kicked him out or thrown bottles at him is like some sort of E-Z-Clean for the soul and Sam decides forgiveness is the only path to being okay with himself. Oh, and a mutual friend forces his father on Sam, because Sam won't go to him.
This is a recurring theme, by the way: everyone in this fucking town feels perfectly free to expose Sam to his prior traumas in the name of making sure Sam understands "this place isn't so bad these days, okay?"
Uh, no? Not at all? To hell with the dad. I will never understand why writers decide reuniting an abused child with an abusive parent is a happy ending. Hell, if we had a character who left a cat or dog outside to suffer without food or shelter and it ran away and was later recovered and the original owner declared they realized now they shouldn't abandon animals, I can't imagine a single person I know would suggest they should be given that pet back. Why is this so hard? It is so spectacularly dismissive of the lived reality of so many queer people I cannot begin to tell you. And as one of those people? It's not only painful, it's exhausting. I've talked before about how incredibly awful this plot-line is in books with queer characters, so I'm not going to say it all again: it's here if you want to read it.
Then there's the bashings. That's right, plural, because the novella doubles down, but I'll get to that in a second. First, let's talk Sam's history, which has left him with trauma. He had multiple bones broken, including part of his skull, and has even fainted a few times over the last five years since thanks to said trauma.
As someone who has bled on a sidewalk, I cannot tell you how infuriating it was to watch Sam's friends be surprised he hadn't "gotten over it" (more than once, they question him on this, like somehow five years after being nearly beaten to death is beyond the statue of limitations for a recovery period, or that recovery is inevitable). Worse? Sam himself starts to berate himself as a coward for leaving town, for letting it chase him away. Are you shitting me? You do not stick around when people try to beat you to death. Especially when you're kicked out by your parents. You go, you find somewhere safe, and you never look back. Or at least, you do if you're an actual, living, breathing queer person. But not Sam, by the end of the book, Sam is even considering that "tolerance goes both ways" and he should be more patient with the people who want to cleanse his soul.
Queer people do not have to tolerate the intolerant. It is not bigotry to oppose a bigot. For crying out loud, this is basic stuff. If someone calls queer people sinful, you don't have to listen to their freaking beliefs. That's not a free-speech moment or a rational debate, that's someone deciding you are less than human because you are queer. That's just wrong.
You don't have to forgive people who break your skull.
Then, of course, the reveal:The guy who nearly beat Sam to death is, of course, himself gay, and when he gets out of prison he'll be heading back to town and staying with Cody and oh, hey, that's the "hero" and plot of book two . Again, as someone who has survived an assault like this, I'd like to take a moment to discuss how many fellow survivors I've met and how many of those survived at the hands of someone who later came out as a gay person and turned their life around; respectfully: dozens, and none.
Why is this a trope in romantic fiction about gay men? It makes zero sense, it certainly isn't respectful of queer men. This man nearly beat another man to death. He is not a hero. That is not sexy. And when he shows up in book two, he'll be paired with Sam's best friend from college who—of course—in this book is a track athlete training to be a phys-ed teacher who is beaten so badly he will likely never walk without a cane again, because one near-death bashing in a novella isn't enough, we need two, and we need the storyline next time to be about a survivor of a hate crime hooking up with a person who went to jail guilty of the same damn hate crime.
I can't imagine this storyline would ever, ever hold up in a heterosexual romance: a woman is nearly beaten to death by a man who can't control his feelings for her, and the next book is about him finding love with another woman who has survived nearly being beaten to death by a different man? No chance.
But it's okay—not just okay, but romantic—because... why? Because it's gay men? There is so very much wrong with that I don't even know how to begin.
Skip this book.
I ended up so angry after reading this book, still days later, that I wrote a blog post, "I Shouldn't Have to Tell You Queer Bashers Aren't Hot" about the topic.
There's so much off with this book. We'll start with the blurb, which makes it sound like Sam just had a rough time in high school—y'know, like a lot of queer kids face, bullying and name-calling and being made to feel awful, for example, which is absolutely bad enough—and is heading back to visit a friend. Instead, we learn that Sam
So. Guess who the love interest is? Yep. Cody. Because of course he was gay all along and tormented Sam because boys, am I right?. And Sam can't seem to look at Cody without thinking, "Woah, he's really hot, despite shoving me into a garbage can." But hey, Cody has since kinda-sorta come out, and all of Sam's friends think he's pretty swell, so... who cares about garbage cans, right? It's just a little bit of constant soul-crushing, life-ruining childhood, and he looks really hot in cowboy boots.
Then there's his abusive, alcoholic father, who kicks Sam to the curb. Guess who gets a big ol' forgiveness by the end of the book? , but suffice it to say, the inclusion of dear-ol'-Dad admitting he joined AA, shouldn't have beat his kid or kicked him out or thrown bottles at him is like some sort of E-Z-Clean for the soul and Sam decides forgiveness is the only path to being okay with himself. Oh, and a mutual friend forces his father on Sam, because Sam won't go to him.
This is a recurring theme, by the way: everyone in this fucking town feels perfectly free to expose Sam to his prior traumas in the name of making sure Sam understands "this place isn't so bad these days, okay?"
Uh, no? Not at all? To hell with the dad. I will never understand why writers decide reuniting an abused child with an abusive parent is a happy ending. Hell, if we had a character who left a cat or dog outside to suffer without food or shelter and it ran away and was later recovered and the original owner declared they realized now they shouldn't abandon animals, I can't imagine a single person I know would suggest they should be given that pet back. Why is this so hard? It is so spectacularly dismissive of the lived reality of so many queer people I cannot begin to tell you. And as one of those people? It's not only painful, it's exhausting. I've talked before about how incredibly awful this plot-line is in books with queer characters, so I'm not going to say it all again: it's here if you want to read it.
Then there's the bashings. That's right, plural, because the novella doubles down, but I'll get to that in a second. First, let's talk Sam's history, which has left him with trauma. He had multiple bones broken, including part of his skull, and has even fainted a few times over the last five years since thanks to said trauma.
As someone who has bled on a sidewalk, I cannot tell you how infuriating it was to watch Sam's friends be surprised he hadn't "gotten over it" (more than once, they question him on this, like somehow five years after being nearly beaten to death is beyond the statue of limitations for a recovery period, or that recovery is inevitable). Worse? Sam himself starts to berate himself as a coward for leaving town, for letting it chase him away. Are you shitting me? You do not stick around when people try to beat you to death. Especially when you're kicked out by your parents. You go, you find somewhere safe, and you never look back. Or at least, you do if you're an actual, living, breathing queer person. But not Sam, by the end of the book, Sam is even considering that "tolerance goes both ways" and he should be more patient with the people who want to cleanse his soul.
Queer people do not have to tolerate the intolerant. It is not bigotry to oppose a bigot. For crying out loud, this is basic stuff. If someone calls queer people sinful, you don't have to listen to their freaking beliefs. That's not a free-speech moment or a rational debate, that's someone deciding you are less than human because you are queer. That's just wrong.
You don't have to forgive people who break your skull.
Then, of course, the reveal:
Why is this a trope in romantic fiction about gay men? It makes zero sense, it certainly isn't respectful of queer men. This man nearly beat another man to death. He is not a hero. That is not sexy. And when he shows up in book two, he'll be paired with Sam's best friend from college who—of course—in this book is a track athlete training to be a phys-ed teacher who is beaten so badly he will likely never walk without a cane again, because one near-death bashing in a novella isn't enough, we need two, and we need the storyline next time to be about a survivor of a hate crime hooking up with a person who went to jail guilty of the same damn hate crime.
I can't imagine this storyline would ever, ever hold up in a heterosexual romance: a woman is nearly beaten to death by a man who can't control his feelings for her, and the next book is about him finding love with another woman who has survived nearly being beaten to death by a different man? No chance.
But it's okay—not just okay, but romantic—because... why? Because it's gay men? There is so very much wrong with that I don't even know how to begin.
Skip this book.
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