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becksgoesbookish's review
4.0
Why was this so entertaining in under 100 pages? Idk. but I loved Sasha so much!
4ny's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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? No
5.0
don_love725's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
kristinab1985's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
3ll3's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
imme_van_gorp's review
4.0
|| 4.0 stars ||
Oh wow, this was absolutely delightful.
This cracked me up more than just a few times; it was genuinely hilarious.
This novella is about Jason and Sacha who have been best friends for a few years now. They hang out all the time and have lot of banter going on between them.
However, as time goes on, Jason starts to notice that he has fallen in love with Sacha, but he doesn't think Sacha will ever feel the same way.
Then, Sacha suddenly asks Jason if he is willing to be the first guy he ever has sex with, and Jason simply does not have the strength to say no to something like that. Nor does he want to.
Obviously this all seems like the most simple premise imaginable. Best friends to lovers? Been there, done that. And trust me, this is not a new spin to the trope, nor does it have a super interesting plotline. No, that's not it.
Instead, what makes this novella stand out from the rest of these type of stories is the genuine friendship portrayed here. The friendship feels so authentic, and has a lot of bickering and banter. Their dynamic was absolutely hilarious and oh so real.
Every time they communicated with each other it sounded like an actual conversation real-life human beings could have. With this I mean that I could imagine actual people speaking to each other like this: it was so genuine and organic. For some reason this type of good writing for dialogue is quite hard to find in books, but [a:Marina Vivancos|17206706|Marina Vivancos|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1599516156p2/17206706.jpg] absolutely nailed it.
Sacha was honestly also one of the best characters ever. He is a big Russian guy who is not afraid to show emotion or affection, but is also super direct and straight-to-the-point. Neither is he afraid to give as good as he gets when it comes to his very sarcastic and unsociable best friend, Jason.
Sacha honestly had me laughing so many times with his broken English and no-bullshit attitude. I literally couldn't help but love the guy. Seriously, I love this dude so much.
Jason was also a very likable character and he has this interesting sexual kink called ‘dacryphilia’. This basically means that he gets turned on by people crying.
And before you immediately click away from this review in disgust: no it is not as weird as it sounds, and the way the story and characters incorporated this kink was really great.
It’s not a vicious or sadistic kink either; Jason doesn’t want to hurt people, he just likes to see people vulnerable and open, and how much more vulnerable can you get than by crying?
Now, to give a good idea of what this novella is like, I figured I would simply put a random scene out of the book down here. It's not the funniest or best scene (that wouldn't be representative), but it does give a really good impression of what this novella is like and how the friendship between these two is, so if you think this looks fun, I'm sure you'll enjoy the entire thing. Anyway, here we go:
By the time he was crawling over Sacha, the man was flushed from laughing, and Jason couldn't help but kiss him again, tasting the smile he's loved for years.
"I knew this was good idea," Sacha said against his lips. "I am genius."
"For once, I couldn't agree with you more. Maybe you're a sexual savant."
"Savant?"
"It's like someone that is very gifted at something."
"Yes, that me."
"I guess I'm a great teacher."
"No, savant is natural gift, not learn."
"You literally didn't know what savant meant a second ago."
"I just know."
"Okay, well, Mr. I-Just-Know, can I eat you out or nah?"
Sacha stared at him for a moment. "Like... ass?"
Jason pressed his lips together to avoid laughing. "Yea. No pressure, I know we've never done that before."
"I shower before I come here."
"Yeah, I know, dude, your hair's still wet."
Sacha touched his hair. "Is not wet, is a little bit damp!"
"Jeez, I didn't know the level of moisture in your hair was such a personal and touchy subject. My deep and sincere apology."
Sacha shoved at his face which, of course, necessitated retaliation. What ensued was surprisingly non-sexy naked wrestling that didn't end up with crushed balls by holy and divine miracle alone.
"Okay, fuck, stop," Jason panted, flopping over Sacha's belly like a tired cat. "We've deviated significantly from the mission."
"Not my fault."
"It absolutely was your... you know what? I can let this go."
"Wow. Did not know that was even possible."
"Finding my Zen place. It's fine."
"He has Zen place. It was built yesterday, very new, never seen before."
"Practicing mindfulness in times of stress."
"He has mind. It was built yesterday, very new, never—"
Another few minutes of naked wrestling ensued.
They collapsed next to each other, already sweaty and flushed. Jason threw an arm over his eyes. "Okay, I think we're done for today."
"With fighting or orgasm?"
"With fighting, obviously. So, I can eat you out?"
But, of course it's not only fun and games between these two, and they definitely do care about each other a whole lot. Even if Sacha finally tells Jason he loves him in the most 'them' way possible:
"Don't act like this was more than sex from your end. From the start, you’ve made it clear this was casual for you."
"You crazy! How? How—what did I do to say, oh, this casual?"
"You.... I mean, you, at the start, you said this was only because you wanted to, you know. Have sex with someone you trusted before going out and finding the love of your life or whatever."
"I never say this."
"Yes, you did."
"No."
"Well, you implied it."
Sacha threw his hands in the air, looking up as if pleading with God. "You are stupidest man. How you function, unbelievable." He looked at Jason. "I'm in love with you. You are best friend, good friend, always think of me, treat me best. And sex best, too. What are you talking about, finding love of life? You are love of life! I'm in love with stupidest man on planet."
All in all, this whole novella was just immensely enjoyable. The humour, the friendship, the writing-style, the chemistry, the characters, the feels, the banter: it was all absolutely amazing!
Oh wow, this was absolutely delightful.
This cracked me up more than just a few times; it was genuinely hilarious.
This novella is about Jason and Sacha who have been best friends for a few years now. They hang out all the time and have lot of banter going on between them.
However, as time goes on, Jason starts to notice that he has fallen in love with Sacha, but he doesn't think Sacha will ever feel the same way.
Then, Sacha suddenly asks Jason if he is willing to be the first guy he ever has sex with, and Jason simply does not have the strength to say no to something like that. Nor does he want to.
Obviously this all seems like the most simple premise imaginable. Best friends to lovers? Been there, done that. And trust me, this is not a new spin to the trope, nor does it have a super interesting plotline. No, that's not it.
Instead, what makes this novella stand out from the rest of these type of stories is the genuine friendship portrayed here. The friendship feels so authentic, and has a lot of bickering and banter. Their dynamic was absolutely hilarious and oh so real.
Every time they communicated with each other it sounded like an actual conversation real-life human beings could have. With this I mean that I could imagine actual people speaking to each other like this: it was so genuine and organic. For some reason this type of good writing for dialogue is quite hard to find in books, but [a:Marina Vivancos|17206706|Marina Vivancos|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1599516156p2/17206706.jpg] absolutely nailed it.
Sacha was honestly also one of the best characters ever. He is a big Russian guy who is not afraid to show emotion or affection, but is also super direct and straight-to-the-point. Neither is he afraid to give as good as he gets when it comes to his very sarcastic and unsociable best friend, Jason.
Sacha honestly had me laughing so many times with his broken English and no-bullshit attitude. I literally couldn't help but love the guy. Seriously, I love this dude so much.
Jason was also a very likable character and he has this interesting sexual kink called ‘dacryphilia’. This basically means that he gets turned on by people crying.
And before you immediately click away from this review in disgust: no it is not as weird as it sounds, and the way the story and characters incorporated this kink was really great.
It’s not a vicious or sadistic kink either; Jason doesn’t want to hurt people, he just likes to see people vulnerable and open, and how much more vulnerable can you get than by crying?
Now, to give a good idea of what this novella is like, I figured I would simply put a random scene out of the book down here. It's not the funniest or best scene (that wouldn't be representative), but it does give a really good impression of what this novella is like and how the friendship between these two is, so if you think this looks fun, I'm sure you'll enjoy the entire thing. Anyway, here we go:
By the time he was crawling over Sacha, the man was flushed from laughing, and Jason couldn't help but kiss him again, tasting the smile he's loved for years.
"I knew this was good idea," Sacha said against his lips. "I am genius."
"For once, I couldn't agree with you more. Maybe you're a sexual savant."
"Savant?"
"It's like someone that is very gifted at something."
"Yes, that me."
"I guess I'm a great teacher."
"No, savant is natural gift, not learn."
"You literally didn't know what savant meant a second ago."
"I just know."
"Okay, well, Mr. I-Just-Know, can I eat you out or nah?"
Sacha stared at him for a moment. "Like... ass?"
Jason pressed his lips together to avoid laughing. "Yea. No pressure, I know we've never done that before."
"I shower before I come here."
"Yeah, I know, dude, your hair's still wet."
Sacha touched his hair. "Is not wet, is a little bit damp!"
"Jeez, I didn't know the level of moisture in your hair was such a personal and touchy subject. My deep and sincere apology."
Sacha shoved at his face which, of course, necessitated retaliation. What ensued was surprisingly non-sexy naked wrestling that didn't end up with crushed balls by holy and divine miracle alone.
"Okay, fuck, stop," Jason panted, flopping over Sacha's belly like a tired cat. "We've deviated significantly from the mission."
"Not my fault."
"It absolutely was your... you know what? I can let this go."
"Wow. Did not know that was even possible."
"Finding my Zen place. It's fine."
"He has Zen place. It was built yesterday, very new, never seen before."
"Practicing mindfulness in times of stress."
"He has mind. It was built yesterday, very new, never—"
Another few minutes of naked wrestling ensued.
They collapsed next to each other, already sweaty and flushed. Jason threw an arm over his eyes. "Okay, I think we're done for today."
"With fighting or orgasm?"
"With fighting, obviously. So, I can eat you out?"
But, of course it's not only fun and games between these two, and they definitely do care about each other a whole lot. Even if Sacha finally tells Jason he loves him in the most 'them' way possible:
"Don't act like this was more than sex from your end. From the start, you’ve made it clear this was casual for you."
"You crazy! How? How—what did I do to say, oh, this casual?"
"You.... I mean, you, at the start, you said this was only because you wanted to, you know. Have sex with someone you trusted before going out and finding the love of your life or whatever."
"I never say this."
"Yes, you did."
"No."
"Well, you implied it."
Sacha threw his hands in the air, looking up as if pleading with God. "You are stupidest man. How you function, unbelievable." He looked at Jason. "I'm in love with you. You are best friend, good friend, always think of me, treat me best. And sex best, too. What are you talking about, finding love of life? You are love of life! I'm in love with stupidest man on planet."
All in all, this whole novella was just immensely enjoyable. The humour, the friendship, the writing-style, the chemistry, the characters, the feels, the banter: it was all absolutely amazing!
billy3240's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I've read boring books before but this....
thelasthousewife's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
viiv's review
3.0
a sweet and short read. Sadly I couldn’t really get into it, the ML being Russian being mentioned so frequently drived me nuts and the smut wasn’t really my thing