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scrow1022's review
4.0
Well, I love May-December romances, and I wanted to have Austin Chant's "Coffee Boy" in print, so this was a no-brainer for me. There were no weak stories in the bunch, and I particularly liked the stories by Sam Schooler and Eleanor Kos (this one so much so that I bought and then devoured her "Wine & Song" quintet). I would have liked an introduction or editor's note, though.
nerdinthelibrary's review
3.0
I was excited going into this anthology because I really like age differences in relationships and there's an Austin Chant story. Unfortunately, that Austin Chant story was one of his published novellas I'd already read, but oh well. My thoughts on each individual story are as follows:
After the Dust by Eleanor Kos [2/5]
I don't know if reading the Out of Uniform series has just spoiled all m/m military romance for me, but this was incredibly lackluster. I didn't care about either of the main characters, and therefore didn't care about their romance. This is about a Navy SEAL whose brother has just died and he meets a younger friend of his brother. Pining ensues. I appreciated that the protagonist was explicitly Jewish, but that was pretty much all this story had going for it. Also, and this might just be because of my skimming towards the end, but it felt like that sex scene really came out of nowhere??
Coffee Boy by Austin Chant [4/5]
I've already read and reviewed this.
One Last Leap by Helena Maeve [4/5]
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It's about Philip, the oldest in this collection at 50, who's getting his house renovated and has the hots for his Polish contractor, Ivan. This had a lot of really frustrating tension in the best way possible and the romance was super cute. Yes, it's super unrealistic that they're literally in love at the end but I don't care, it was still adorable. The setting also made it feel like a very quiet story and I'm all for characters drinking tea together.
A Corgi Named Kilowatt by C.C. Bridges [3/5]
This was started out phenomenally, with a great premise (young college TA falls in love with older student) and a cute romance, but then it felt like the author needed to stretch it out to be a full novella. The angst was super unnecessary in my opinion and didn't really make much sense, to be honest. I still really liked the romance throughout but I kept rolling my eyes anytime there would be conflict because, while realistic, it felt really contrived. Maybe part of that is the fact that the author skipped through the months of their happy relationship. Overall, it was still good, but the second half was very meh.
The Memory of You by Erica Barnes [3.5/5]
This is the only f/f story of this entire collection (a truly sad thing). This one is about Maddie, a twenty-five year old who meets Claudia at the movies. They sit together while watching a romcom where Claudia reveals herself to be a massive cynic, and they then don't see each other for months until a chance meeting brings them back together. At first I wasn't really loving this, mostly because I wasn't liking Claudia very much and thought she and Maddie had no chemistry. But as the story went on I started liking it more, and by the end scene I was melting from cuteness.
Runner by Sam Schooler [2.5/5]
I should have loved this one but I just... didn't. It's a werewolf m/m romance with a trans protagonist and an arranged marriage, all things that should work for me, but I didn't really like the writing style. The romance was really slow-burn, which was good at first but got tiresome when by the end they still weren't really together. The entire thing was just really meh for me.
So, my ratings for each individual story together came to 3.3 stars altogether, which is about right. Honestly, I would only recommend reading Coffee Boy, One Last Leap and The Memory of You.
After the Dust by Eleanor Kos [2/5]
I don't know if reading the Out of Uniform series has just spoiled all m/m military romance for me, but this was incredibly lackluster. I didn't care about either of the main characters, and therefore didn't care about their romance. This is about a Navy SEAL whose brother has just died and he meets a younger friend of his brother. Pining ensues. I appreciated that the protagonist was explicitly Jewish, but that was pretty much all this story had going for it. Also, and this might just be because of my skimming towards the end, but it felt like that sex scene really came out of nowhere??
Coffee Boy by Austin Chant [4/5]
I've already read and reviewed this.
One Last Leap by Helena Maeve [4/5]
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It's about Philip, the oldest in this collection at 50, who's getting his house renovated and has the hots for his Polish contractor, Ivan. This had a lot of really frustrating tension in the best way possible and the romance was super cute. Yes, it's super unrealistic that they're literally in love at the end but I don't care, it was still adorable. The setting also made it feel like a very quiet story and I'm all for characters drinking tea together.
A Corgi Named Kilowatt by C.C. Bridges [3/5]
This was started out phenomenally, with a great premise (young college TA falls in love with older student) and a cute romance, but then it felt like the author needed to stretch it out to be a full novella. The angst was super unnecessary in my opinion and didn't really make much sense, to be honest. I still really liked the romance throughout but I kept rolling my eyes anytime there would be conflict because, while realistic, it felt really contrived. Maybe part of that is the fact that the author skipped through the months of their happy relationship. Overall, it was still good, but the second half was very meh.
The Memory of You by Erica Barnes [3.5/5]
This is the only f/f story of this entire collection (a truly sad thing). This one is about Maddie, a twenty-five year old who meets Claudia at the movies. They sit together while watching a romcom where Claudia reveals herself to be a massive cynic, and they then don't see each other for months until a chance meeting brings them back together. At first I wasn't really loving this, mostly because I wasn't liking Claudia very much and thought she and Maddie had no chemistry. But as the story went on I started liking it more, and by the end scene I was melting from cuteness.
Runner by Sam Schooler [2.5/5]
I should have loved this one but I just... didn't. It's a werewolf m/m romance with a trans protagonist and an arranged marriage, all things that should work for me, but I didn't really like the writing style. The romance was really slow-burn, which was good at first but got tiresome when by the end they still weren't really together. The entire thing was just really meh for me.
So, my ratings for each individual story together came to 3.3 stars altogether, which is about right. Honestly, I would only recommend reading Coffee Boy, One Last Leap and The Memory of You.
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