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A review by bottomofthebookshelf
Mystify Me by Free Fire Fiction
4.0
*Thank you to FreeFireFiction for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4
“Head for the lighthouse, Jackson. It will be painful; your joints will hurt, and you will feel too tired to continue swimming. But as... bloody cheesy as that metaphor may be—it is always there. You don’t have to drown.”
This was an intriguing read! With songs listed to go with each scene, this truly is a cinematic experience!The story follows characters Jack and Ben after their lives collide and they become roommates in New York City. This frenemies to lovers story kept me turning the pages with it’s compelling character relationships and storyline. I thought this would just be a fluffy romance book, but it was so much more than that.
The number one thing I loved about this book was the depth behind the characters, especially Jackson and Cal. Their stories were so well thought out and I just wanted to find out more and more about their past as the pieces came together. Every character has their own struggles and it was handled in a pretty realistic way. I was just rooting for everyone to heal and find happiness throughout this book. Some scenes were a bit too spicy for my personal taste, but I get why some people look for that in an adult romance story.
As much as I loved the story, I did have some issues with the writing. The book starts with each chapter being separate perspectives, but then suddenly each paragraph is a different perspective. I found the story difficult to navigate at some times because of this, especially when most characters in this book are male so there’s a lot of “he” being thrown around. This even happened with minor characters that were only in the book for a small amount of scenes. There was also some questionable terminology that made me uncomfortable, for example calling addicts junkies and multiple uses of the word r*tarded throughout the book. I also found the pacing to be a bit off, and I felt like the story could have been condensed a bit. It just felt like a longer read that was necessary for the plot. Also, I thought the epilogue was unnecessary to me and I didn’t understand why it introduced 4 new characters instead of giving us an update on Jack and Ben.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a well thought out queer romance book. Just be aware of some darker themes such as sexual/physical abuse and drug use/addiction.
Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4
“Head for the lighthouse, Jackson. It will be painful; your joints will hurt, and you will feel too tired to continue swimming. But as... bloody cheesy as that metaphor may be—it is always there. You don’t have to drown.”
This was an intriguing read! With songs listed to go with each scene, this truly is a cinematic experience!The story follows characters Jack and Ben after their lives collide and they become roommates in New York City. This frenemies to lovers story kept me turning the pages with it’s compelling character relationships and storyline. I thought this would just be a fluffy romance book, but it was so much more than that.
The number one thing I loved about this book was the depth behind the characters, especially Jackson and Cal. Their stories were so well thought out and I just wanted to find out more and more about their past as the pieces came together. Every character has their own struggles and it was handled in a pretty realistic way. I was just rooting for everyone to heal and find happiness throughout this book. Some scenes were a bit too spicy for my personal taste, but I get why some people look for that in an adult romance story.
As much as I loved the story, I did have some issues with the writing. The book starts with each chapter being separate perspectives, but then suddenly each paragraph is a different perspective. I found the story difficult to navigate at some times because of this, especially when most characters in this book are male so there’s a lot of “he” being thrown around. This even happened with minor characters that were only in the book for a small amount of scenes. There was also some questionable terminology that made me uncomfortable, for example calling addicts junkies and multiple uses of the word r*tarded throughout the book. I also found the pacing to be a bit off, and I felt like the story could have been condensed a bit. It just felt like a longer read that was necessary for the plot. Also, I thought the epilogue was unnecessary to me and I didn’t understand why it introduced 4 new characters instead of giving us an update on Jack and Ben.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a well thought out queer romance book. Just be aware of some darker themes such as sexual/physical abuse and drug use/addiction.