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A review by midra_vrayis
Life Lessons by Kaje Harper
2.0
*2 STARS*
I had high expectations from this book coz it came highly recommended by someone. A few of my Goodreads friends couldn't stop waxing poetry about this author. But naaah... This book was not for me. To make my ranting easier, I will divide the entire review into two headings - one about the couple and the other about the mystery unfolding.
About the characters
Tony - openly gay schoolteacher
Mac - closeted gay detective
- Honestly, I can't put my finger on what exactly I didn't like about this book. Just that I remained detached from the characters from page 1 and continued to do so till the end. Which made the sex scenes seem like they were just going through the motions. Yes, they were saying all the right words but it didn't make me feel it. 'It was hot' seemed to be a recurring sentence as if the author had to make you read the sentence for you to believe the scene was actually hot. This is not done.
- Also Tony was too forward dare I say. His brand of flirting was not sitting well with me. Plus he kinda felt like a doormat to me, accepting Mac's back and forth. Mac would give in to the supposedly intense sexual tension between them and then after doing the deed become cold. Yes, near the end it changed but when it happened in the beginning, in my opinion, Tony gave it too easily. This did not feel right when they didn't know each other properly.
- Another thing was the fact that it was all insta. I can understand when the attraction is insta kind but the feeling of safety, and contentment, that does not come within a matter of hours. Tony is all about Mac being big and muscly and then going all mushy for him.
- Here brings me to another thing that I kinda blanked on. Their age difference is not exactly specified but it seems it is quite a lot enough to Mac call Tony a 'kid' in his mind, especially when they meet and it continues till around 60% of the novel. It led to a kind of unpleasant feeling while reading sex scenes.
- Even Marty dying did not rattle me. Usually, a death in such a situation, when a side character is one of the closest friends of the MMC dies, I feel bad. But here I was ambivalent about it all. In fact, Tony did not seem to actually mourn his so-called best friend. Ofc, every person's coping mechanism from grief is different but Tony... I dunno what exactly to say, initially, it was sex to take his mind off Marty dying which turned supposedly hot and then it was all just sex.
I had high expectations from this book coz it came highly recommended by someone. A few of my Goodreads friends couldn't stop waxing poetry about this author. But naaah... This book was not for me. To make my ranting easier, I will divide the entire review into two headings - one about the couple and the other about the mystery unfolding.
About the characters
Tony - openly gay schoolteacher
Mac - closeted gay detective
- Honestly, I can't put my finger on what exactly I didn't like about this book. Just that I remained detached from the characters from page 1 and continued to do so till the end. Which made the sex scenes seem like they were just going through the motions. Yes, they were saying all the right words but it didn't make me feel it. 'It was hot' seemed to be a recurring sentence as if the author had to make you read the sentence for you to believe the scene was actually hot. This is not done.
- Also Tony was too forward dare I say. His brand of flirting was not sitting well with me. Plus he kinda felt like a doormat to me, accepting Mac's back and forth. Mac would give in to the supposedly intense sexual tension between them and then after doing the deed become cold. Yes, near the end it changed but when it happened in the beginning, in my opinion, Tony gave it too easily. This did not feel right when they didn't know each other properly.
- Another thing was the fact that it was all insta. I can understand when the attraction is insta kind but the feeling of safety, and contentment, that does not come within a matter of hours. Tony is all about Mac being big and muscly and then going all mushy for him.
- Here brings me to another thing that I kinda blanked on. Their age difference is not exactly specified but it seems it is quite a lot enough to Mac call Tony a 'kid' in his mind, especially when they meet and it continues till around 60% of the novel. It led to a kind of unpleasant feeling while reading sex scenes.
- Even Marty dying did not rattle me. Usually, a death in such a situation, when a side character is one of the closest friends of the MMC dies, I feel bad. But here I was ambivalent about it all. In fact, Tony did not seem to actually mourn his so-called best friend. Ofc, every person's coping mechanism from grief is different but Tony... I dunno what exactly to say, initially, it was sex to take his mind off Marty dying which turned supposedly hot and then it was all just sex.