A review by booksafety
Exasperating by Onley James

5.0

Book safety, tropes and tags down below.

I wasn’t really keen on reading this book because of Calder being such a massive manwhore (everyone else’s words, lol), but thankfully it wasn’t a huge part of the book other than a couple of mentions, and I ended up really loving it. He was really sweet with Robby. When it was mentioned, it was more funny than anything else, which helped a bunch.

«‘You fucked his wife…and his son.’ Yep. There it was. What could he say? ‘Not at the same time?’»


Oh, Robby. Sweet, slightly dramatic Robby who cries a lot. I didn’t know what to expect after his meltdown in the previous book, but I love him, lol. He has had a really rough time, and doesn’t feel like anyone notices or loves him. Definitely one of my favorite kinds of MC. Characters like Robby can definitely become annoying, but I think Onley James is really good at straddling the line. It helps that both Robby himself and Calder acknowledges that he’s quite emotional and dramatic. To be fair, he has good reasons for being both of those things, in my opinion. I am really enjoying this series.

I also love that drunk-Robby gets tattooed or pierced. A lot. He even has a smiley-piercing, which is the cutest ever. This innocent, virgin, Hollywood-star twink has a bunch of tats and piercings that go against everything he does or says while sober, lol.

I laughed out loud every time someone commented on Robby’s dog, Casanova. I’m gonna post a bunch of quotes below, because it’s too funny. And I mean all the quotes.

«It took him forever to find it, lurking like some mutant sewer rat just behind the toilet.»

«Calder stopped at the conference room door where Robby sat snuggling his demonic looking dog.»

«Casanova had made himself at home on the back of Calder’s sofa, his eyes somehow watching both sides of the room at the same time […].»

«‘I gotta ask. Where did you get that dog?’ The boy glanced over at Casanova and smiled the first genuine smile Calder had seen in a while. ‘The Glendale Humane Society.’ ‘Did you lose a bet?’»

«Linc jammed his finger down on a button. ‘Get the client in here, please,’ he growled into the intercom before releasing the button. After a moment, he jabbed it down again. ‘Keep the dog out there. It gives me the creeps.’»


Book safety
Spoiler
Cheating: No
OM drama: No
Third-act breakup: No
POV: 3rd person, dual
Strict top/bottom or vers: Strict roles


TW/CW
Spoiler
Child abuse, child marriage, explicit sexual content, murder, blood, gunshot wound, mentions of human trafficking, death of family member


Tropes & tags
Spoiler
Age gap, virgin MC, Hollywood actor, demonic dog, bodyguard, forced proximity, religion, cult (and i mean drinking-all-the-koolaid-capital-c-cult), violence