garbage_mcsmutly's reviews
1551 reviews

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

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fast-paced

3.0

This was so short that it was barely anything? The spice was decent I suppose, although it glossed over some of the hotter moments. Also the Christmas element was kind of minimal.

Anyways I'm a fan of Tessa, don't judge her by this one if it's your first of hers.
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Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

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emotional fast-paced

3.75

Honestly this sped by so fast. It was cute. Pretty run of the mill miscommunication trope/angst that gets resolved during a snowstorm. 

🌶️ 2/5 one scene at the end
Trick Shot by Kayla Grosse

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

This book is barely plot just vibes and I'm here for it. 

🌶️ 5/5 basically most of the book is one long 3 person sex scene with light kink 
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The Naked Fisherman by Jewel E. Ann

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Okay I'm going to skip rating this book because it's book 1 of 2 and the story is unfinished right now. It's not quite a cliffhanger but everything is still up in the air. So, warning to readers, the HEA is not in this book.
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The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese

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emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

This was a cute book! A little obvious/formulaic but in a way that was still interesting. And it's a romance novella set at Christmastime so like... Yeah, there's a formula.

🎧 I liked the female narrator, this was all FMC POV except the epilogue. And I was pleasantly surprised at the male narrator of the epilogue (MMC's POV).

🌶️ 3.75/5 some explicit stuff but only in one chunk of the book. Plenty of sexual tension scenes though.

🏳️‍🌈✊ No real racial or cultural diversity but the FMC is on the autism spectrum and MMC deals with a chronic illness (diabetes).
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Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood

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emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

This was a fun short listen. It followed the Ali Hazelwood plot formula (
hot guy acts crappy around girl, girl thinks she hates him, actually he's obsessed with her, misunderstanding eventually gets resolved
) but was still entertaining. There was a lot of talk about real video games peppered in, since both MCs design games, so that's there for people who are in to gaming.

🎧 Single POV (FMC). Female narrator. I liked her.

🌶️ 4/5 Three explicit encounters, which felt like a good amount considering this is a short book.
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My December Darling by Lauren Asher

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slow-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

This was.... Fine? Nothing special. It was really short but still felt like it took forever to finish.

🌶️ 3/5 only one explicit scene, which was admittedly hot
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This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was a great fantasy story. There were two romance plot lines within, and while they are important, I feel this is more a fantasy/grief/second chances book than a straight up romance.

🎧 All three narrators were great! 

🌶️ 2/5 There are a couple sex scenes but they're not particularly steamy/explicit.
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Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey

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funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This was cute and funny and sweet. MMC's been carrying a torch for her, FMC's breaking down after catching her bf cheating, they end up spending a few days together to fix this ring situation, and she falls for him. There are some false starts and misunderstandings along the way, of course.

🎧 Only one narrator (female) but told from both POVs. It was sometimes a little hard to tell whose POV it was, if you spaced for a sec or took a pause mid section, as the narrator's MMC internal dialogue wasn't super distinguishable from the FMC's. And sometimes it was hard to tell what was said also versus just thought.

🌶️ 2/5 It was kind of a bummer that the only spice was the FMC catching her cheating bf, which is described in pretty graphic detail. It would've been nice to have some action between the MCs instead of/in addition to that.
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Can I Tell You Something? by Holly June Smith

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Okay this book was seriously my catnip and I loved every moment of it. Christmas in the French alps. British FMC, American MMC. He's a dirty voice actor and there are excerpts of his filthy audios in the book. Oh and it's duet narration. And it's only 5 hours long. I mean seriously. A perfect holiday audiobook. 

🌶️ 5/5 The excerpts from his audios were hot, and the sex scenes were hot, and there was a fair amount of both crammed into just 5 hours.

🏳️‍🌈✊ There was definitely a lack of diversity in the book. Given it was only five hours, there weren't a lot of characters in the story, and both MCs seemed to be white. The book did have an overall feminist/sex-positive/pro-SW outlook, which I appreciated.
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