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emouna's review
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
cabc's review
1.0
DNF 32%
The characters are decent, but the plot is tired and very slow. I just couldn’t get past the fact that both are SO obvious in their attraction to the each other, yet they act totally clueless. And Charlie’s caveman acts are just too over the top. I was cringing at most of the book and just had to stop.
The characters are decent, but the plot is tired and very slow. I just couldn’t get past the fact that both are SO obvious in their attraction to the each other, yet they act totally clueless. And Charlie’s caveman acts are just too over the top. I was cringing at most of the book and just had to stop.
isalaur's review
4.0
4.5 Stars...I really enjoyed this book and I am so glad I found this author. I read Rule Breaker first and enjoyed it so much I decided to start at the beginning of her catalog. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the characters were developed even though the whole “in love with my best friend/lack of communication” trope is familiar territory. The whole Noa storyline was a bit bizarre and doesn’t wind up well...feels like pieces were missing. Also felt like I was missing something I should have known already in Sid’s story, especially all the vague references to Leah.
Looking forward to getting the stories on the other band members. Strongly recommend.
Looking forward to getting the stories on the other band members. Strongly recommend.
georgiewhoissarahdrew's review
2.0
Lily Morton's m/m books ([b:Deal Maker|38203922|Deal Maker|Lily Morton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516907388s/38203922.jpg|58581823] and [b:Rule Breaker|36189488|Rule Breaker|Lily Morton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504668132s/36189488.jpg|57330979]) were, on the whole, smart sassy reads. This is not.
Charlie secretly loves Mabel. Mabel (secretly) loves Charlie. All that stands between them and the HEA is... is.... Well, actually, the problem with the friends-to-lovers trope is always "um, if they both secretly love each other, why the blazes didn't they get together before?"
And if there isn't a convincing answer to that, all is confusion and schemozzle.
The trope's traditional approach is generally that the party of the first part didn't want to screw up a beautiful friendship with the party of the second part, simply because the party of the first part happened to think the party of the second part was the party of the first part's missing part. This has always seemed such a weak position, as if neither party felt themselves capable of extending a tiny tendril of tenderness to test the temperature without wrecking the whole bang-shoot. It really doesn't say much for the MCs' emotional intelligence.
The H here is not one for tiny tendrils, it has to be said, or any measurable EI. He has two settings - off and get-it-on: one minute firmly friend-zoning the h, the next exploring her tonsils and any other apertures he can reach while grinding the h against a kitchen cabinet (more tentacles than tendrils), then - woops - it's back to friends again. So tiring, not least because there is really no intrinsic or extrinsic reason why he and "Mabes" (just, no) shouldn't have been together from the start.
The h incidentally doesn't have tentacles; she doesn't have much of a spine either, as she never calls Mr Hot'n'Cold on his appalling behaviour. Nor is she bright enough to decode her "best friend's" burning yearning even though he makes out with her frantically every time a kitchen cabinet hoves in view. But she does possess a varied summer wardrobe, all of which accentuates her slim waist.
To be fair, Lily Morton's wrting is perfectly fluent, and there's the odd one-liner that's amusing: the H's elderly housekeeper who "always insisted that she spent a wild night in the 1960’s with Mick Jagger which goes a long way to explaining why he’s aged so badly."
But unless anyone out there knows better, I'm not going to bother following up the two sequels to this.
[And even after I've read the damn thing, I still don't know why the cover should show Cate Blanchett as a zombie.]
Charlie secretly loves Mabel. Mabel (secretly) loves Charlie. All that stands between them and the HEA is... is.... Well, actually, the problem with the friends-to-lovers trope is always "um, if they both secretly love each other, why the blazes didn't they get together before?"
And if there isn't a convincing answer to that, all is confusion and schemozzle.
The trope's traditional approach is generally that the party of the first part didn't want to screw up a beautiful friendship with the party of the second part, simply because the party of the first part happened to think the party of the second part was the party of the first part's missing part. This has always seemed such a weak position, as if neither party felt themselves capable of extending a tiny tendril of tenderness to test the temperature without wrecking the whole bang-shoot. It really doesn't say much for the MCs' emotional intelligence.
The H here is not one for tiny tendrils, it has to be said, or any measurable EI. He has two settings - off and get-it-on: one minute firmly friend-zoning the h, the next exploring her tonsils and any other apertures he can reach while grinding the h against a kitchen cabinet (more tentacles than tendrils), then - woops - it's back to friends again. So tiring, not least because there is really no intrinsic or extrinsic reason why he and "Mabes" (just, no) shouldn't have been together from the start.
The h incidentally doesn't have tentacles; she doesn't have much of a spine either, as she never calls Mr Hot'n'Cold on his appalling behaviour. Nor is she bright enough to decode her "best friend's" burning yearning even though he makes out with her frantically every time a kitchen cabinet hoves in view. But she does possess a varied summer wardrobe, all of which accentuates her slim waist.
To be fair, Lily Morton's wrting is perfectly fluent, and there's the odd one-liner that's amusing: the H's elderly housekeeper who "always insisted that she spent a wild night in the 1960’s with Mick Jagger which goes a long way to explaining why he’s aged so badly."
But unless anyone out there knows better, I'm not going to bother following up the two sequels to this.
[And even after I've read the damn thing, I still don't know why the cover should show Cate Blanchett as a zombie.]
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