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ladydewinter 's review for:
Yakuza Pride
by H.J. Brues
To be fair, I could have rated this book 5 stars. Among its kind, it's fairly good, but I'm subtracting two stars for two reasons: one, the pacing of the romance felt rushed and wrong to me, and two the author used the phrase "glob of pre-cum" not once, but twice. It's even worse because the rest of the book shows she could have done better.
But let me elaborate.
For an m/m romance, this was well done and well written. An American artist meet a Yakuza and they fall in love, and obviously the American ends up being trapped in a game that's being played against the Yakuza. So far so good - I have to say, the latter part of the book, the one that dealth with the plot against the Yakuza, was much better than the first, where the two of them are still getting to know each other. My main complaint here is that it just moves way too fast. I always say: the best thing about reading romance novels is that feeling of anticipation. Of course they're going to end up together anyway, but personally I feel it's best to drag out the first kiss/sex as much as possible. There are exceptions, of course, but in this case I just think it might have been better to wait a little longer.
Another problem I had where the characters' motivations and, more importantly, their reactions towards each other. They go through so many important, life changing moments in the first hundred pages that I lost count. Ken realizes his life is forever changed, then they look into each others' eyes and realizes there is no turning back, then they fuck and when Shigure's cock is inside him they realize there is, wait for it, no turning back... the thing is, it's just overdone, and it's even more frustrating because the rest of the book kept giving eh me the impression the author could have better.
The same goes for the use of unfortunate phrasing like the globs mentioned above and, really, could we just ban the use use of "orbs" instead of "eye" altogether? I really feel the world of (m/m) romance would be the better for it.
The sex scenes were alright, but not particularly hot. They suffered from being too descriptive in an odd way; the globs being an example. Somehow, a phrase like "leaking cock" feels sexier to me than reading about globs, and overall the word "shaft" makes me roll my eyes (again, there are exeptions, and I think the problem I have is when it's overused - I think "cock" is a perfectly fine word to use when writing sex scenes, and really, why bother talking around it? It's funny, though - in this case, I found the scenes too descriptive, but there's a fanfiction writer I love whose sex scenes always feel very mechanical, but at the same time they're *scorching*. The main difference is that she doesn't try to prettify it or use overly flowery language. When writing sex scenes, I think, the key point is not to be too distracting, and at the same time not to forget the emotions of the characters having it. But enough of this - at least in this case, the sex wasn't too bad, it just didn't do anything for me either.
Overall, then, this is a good book to pass the time. I could quibble about the inflationary use of Japanese phrases without a glossary - I mean, I understood all of it *now*, but if I'd read it a year ago it'd pissed me off. But that's something that often happens when writing about a different culture, I guess. It was entertaining, but a bit disappointing because a lot of it is so good that it makes the bad parts stand out more.
But let me elaborate.
For an m/m romance, this was well done and well written. An American artist meet a Yakuza and they fall in love, and obviously the American ends up being trapped in a game that's being played against the Yakuza. So far so good - I have to say, the latter part of the book, the one that dealth with the plot against the Yakuza, was much better than the first, where the two of them are still getting to know each other. My main complaint here is that it just moves way too fast. I always say: the best thing about reading romance novels is that feeling of anticipation. Of course they're going to end up together anyway, but personally I feel it's best to drag out the first kiss/sex as much as possible. There are exceptions, of course, but in this case I just think it might have been better to wait a little longer.
Another problem I had where the characters' motivations and, more importantly, their reactions towards each other. They go through so many important, life changing moments in the first hundred pages that I lost count. Ken realizes his life is forever changed, then they look into each others' eyes and realizes there is no turning back, then they fuck and when Shigure's cock is inside him they realize there is, wait for it, no turning back... the thing is, it's just overdone, and it's even more frustrating because the rest of the book kept giving eh me the impression the author could have better.
The same goes for the use of unfortunate phrasing like the globs mentioned above and, really, could we just ban the use use of "orbs" instead of "eye" altogether? I really feel the world of (m/m) romance would be the better for it.
The sex scenes were alright, but not particularly hot. They suffered from being too descriptive in an odd way; the globs being an example. Somehow, a phrase like "leaking cock" feels sexier to me than reading about globs, and overall the word "shaft" makes me roll my eyes (again, there are exeptions, and I think the problem I have is when it's overused - I think "cock" is a perfectly fine word to use when writing sex scenes, and really, why bother talking around it? It's funny, though - in this case, I found the scenes too descriptive, but there's a fanfiction writer I love whose sex scenes always feel very mechanical, but at the same time they're *scorching*. The main difference is that she doesn't try to prettify it or use overly flowery language. When writing sex scenes, I think, the key point is not to be too distracting, and at the same time not to forget the emotions of the characters having it. But enough of this - at least in this case, the sex wasn't too bad, it just didn't do anything for me either.
Overall, then, this is a good book to pass the time. I could quibble about the inflationary use of Japanese phrases without a glossary - I mean, I understood all of it *now*, but if I'd read it a year ago it'd pissed me off. But that's something that often happens when writing about a different culture, I guess. It was entertaining, but a bit disappointing because a lot of it is so good that it makes the bad parts stand out more.