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imme_van_gorp's Reviews (778)
Unfortunately, I really did not like this one. I had pretty high expectations of it going in, but I was ultimately very disappointed. Not only did I think the plot was extremely uneventful, repetitive and boring, I also struggled to feel emotionally connected to any of it.
The romance was especially lacklustre to me. Vaugh and Oryn’s relationship lacked any form of foundation and I was not quite sure why Vaugn fell in love with Oryn. It was quite random.
Their connection was honestly shaky at best and I often found myself being confused regarding their feelings for each other. Their relationship simply did not feel romantic to me… Vaugh seemed to care about Oryn, sure, but not like a partner. He mostly just seemed to be worried about Oryn’s well-being and about wanting him to function better in the world. Vaughn honestly felt more like a caretaker. Like a nurse or something? Not sure how to explain it better than that. But I definitely did not feel the romantic love.
Speaking of, I understand that since Oryn had Dissociative Identity Disorder, Vaugn needed to love him as a whole, and he needed to connect with all Oryn’s many alters. But I still feel like that bond could have been built without any romantic connections to the other alters. I mean, Vaughn’s relationship with Cohen (one of Oryn’s alters) really did not sit right with me. Not only did he form a sexual relationship with Cohen outside of Oryn, he eventually also admitted to loving them both equally. It irked me. It almost felt like cheating to me. I know it was all encouraged by Oryn, but I personally hated it.
The romance was especially lacklustre to me. Vaugh and Oryn’s relationship lacked any form of foundation and I was not quite sure why Vaugn fell in love with Oryn. It was quite random.
Their connection was honestly shaky at best and I often found myself being confused regarding their feelings for each other. Their relationship simply did not feel romantic to me… Vaugh seemed to care about Oryn, sure, but not like a partner. He mostly just seemed to be worried about Oryn’s well-being and about wanting him to function better in the world. Vaughn honestly felt more like a caretaker. Like a nurse or something? Not sure how to explain it better than that. But I definitely did not feel the romantic love.
Speaking of, I understand that since Oryn had Dissociative Identity Disorder, Vaugn needed to love him as a whole, and he needed to connect with all Oryn’s many alters. But I still feel like that bond could have been built without any romantic connections to the other alters. I mean, Vaughn’s relationship with Cohen (one of Oryn’s alters) really did not sit right with me. Not only did he form a sexual relationship with Cohen outside of Oryn, he eventually also admitted to loving them both equally. It irked me. It almost felt like cheating to me. I know it was all encouraged by Oryn, but I personally hated it.
This was, once again, really sweet. The relationship between Frankie and Shawn had BDSM elements with a Dom/Sub dynamic, but the story never lost its softness.
I liked how gentle and adoring Shawn was towards Frankie and that he never wanted his boy to ‘serve’ him or anything like that. However, Frankie did want to please Shawn all the time, so these two kind of went around trying to spoil each other with acts of kindness.
This was an insta-love story and it unfortunately lacked much depth or development within the relationship. The whole thing was pretty straightforward with only the well-known ‘misunderstanding’ in the third act.
Nonetheless, these two really were very cute together and the book had a very warm overall feeling.
I also couldn’t stop smiling at Frankie’s interactions with Ollie because they were just so adorable.
I liked how gentle and adoring Shawn was towards Frankie and that he never wanted his boy to ‘serve’ him or anything like that. However, Frankie did want to please Shawn all the time, so these two kind of went around trying to spoil each other with acts of kindness.
This was an insta-love story and it unfortunately lacked much depth or development within the relationship. The whole thing was pretty straightforward with only the well-known ‘misunderstanding’ in the third act.
Nonetheless, these two really were very cute together and the book had a very warm overall feeling.
I also couldn’t stop smiling at Frankie’s interactions with Ollie because they were just so adorable.
Oh no! I’m so disappointed with this one. It was actually super boring and it missed any of the charm of the previous two books. I didn’t even really find this cute or sweet; I just found it... boring.
The relationship between Blake and Zach was very superficial and I couldn’t really see a true connection between them. Whereas the previous two books felt like a love story mixed in with kink, this one felt more like a kink story where the two people involved somehow convinced themselves they were also in love. I just wasn’t feeling it.
The kink in this book was that of puppy play, and I have to admit that I skimmed most of the scenes that featured them ‘playing’ since I was already so unimpressed with the couple, I simply couldn’t be bothered to try to get into their kink here. So I really can’t say anything on this part of the book, considering I honestly don’t know what happened there exactly.
I really do love every cameo that features Ollie, though; he is just absolutely adorable, and I’m loving his relationship with Holden more and more. These two are definitely my favourite couple in the series and they genuinely seem to fit together perfectly. Seeing Ollie be his cute self while Holden fusses over him and melts over every adorable thing he does were definitely the highlights of this book.
Unfortunately there just wasn’t much about Blake or Zach’s own relationship to keep me entertained or interested.
The relationship between Blake and Zach was very superficial and I couldn’t really see a true connection between them. Whereas the previous two books felt like a love story mixed in with kink, this one felt more like a kink story where the two people involved somehow convinced themselves they were also in love. I just wasn’t feeling it.
The kink in this book was that of puppy play, and I have to admit that I skimmed most of the scenes that featured them ‘playing’ since I was already so unimpressed with the couple, I simply couldn’t be bothered to try to get into their kink here. So I really can’t say anything on this part of the book, considering I honestly don’t know what happened there exactly.
I really do love every cameo that features Ollie, though; he is just absolutely adorable, and I’m loving his relationship with Holden more and more. These two are definitely my favourite couple in the series and they genuinely seem to fit together perfectly. Seeing Ollie be his cute self while Holden fusses over him and melts over every adorable thing he does were definitely the highlights of this book.
Unfortunately there just wasn’t much about Blake or Zach’s own relationship to keep me entertained or interested.
Oh my god, why!? Why did this need to be such a disappointment? Again! It’s really starting to become a running theme with this author, and I’m getting kind of sick of it. No matter how much I loved “Sem” and “Emery”, I think I will be parting ways with this author from now on. She’s just lost her spark for me.
Whereas her characters used to be endearing and funny, now they’re just annoying and ridiculous. Whereas the romance used to be all-consuming and devoted, now it’s just silly and frustrating. Her latest books just feel empty and I don’t like much about them.
The worst part is that I was genuinely so excited for this book. Finn and Landon seemed like the perfect pairing to write a book about, and I could not wait to see it all play out! Unfortunately, it played out like the biggest disappointment imaginable and all potential was completely lost.
I knew this would have the best friends-to-lovers trope with a heavy dose of pining and unrequited love; I was sooo ready for that! I mean, I love that dynamic!
So colour me surprised when Finn, who’s supposed to be pining for Landon and doting on him hand and foot, has the personality of a cold dead fish. If I didn’t already know he was in love with Landon, I would have never guessed it from the way he acted. He literally did nothing but exist with a stoic face, pretending like every time Landon touched him was the biggest hardship imaginable. Dude honestly did not do anything remotely interesting and he never showed an ounce of emotion or personality!
The only thing Finn did passionately was continuously text with this other guy, Archer, even though he knew how much it was bothering Landon and he knew that it was driving a wedge between them. I mean, call me crazy, but if the man that I have been in love with for EIGHT WHOLE YEARS is finally giving me the time of day, you will not see me texting another man 24/7. Like, why? I understand he was supposedly talking about Landon the entire time, but it was still freaking stupid.
Finn just sucked as a love interest. Plain and simple. And that honestly came as a shock to me because based on the previous book I thought he would be amazing…
And honestly, do not even get me started on Landon, because this man drove me absolutely mad! He had such a terribly infuriating personality and I wanted to smack him repeatedly. He did nothing but whine and be stupid. Literally, that’s all he did. Nothing else. Just whine. Be stupid. Whine. Be stupid. Repeat that over and over again and you have this book.
Also, just to be clear, the premise of this book was utterly insane and did not make any sense whatsoever. Supposedly Finn wants nothing more than to be with Landon, but he does everything in his power for that not to happen. He never made any kind of effort to win Landon over and he never attempted to make Landon see him in a romantic light. If anything, it seemed like he was working hard to achieve the exact opposite. He was working against himself so hard, sometimes I couldn’t even be sure if he really did want to be with Landon or if maybe he changed his mind. It was just too crazy to think that he would act this way if he did want him.
And you know, maybe it could have all been more understandable inside Finn’s head, but we don’t get to know that because we only get his POV during the chapters when they were young! Everything in the present is narrated by Landon, and I’m certain this dragged the book down further. We definitely needed to know what Finn was thinking in the present because it just wasn’t working this way.
Oh, and the worst part about it all might be that this relationship was entirely build on sex. They didn’t have a genuine connection and there was absolutely no chemistry between them. They didn’t do anything together other than touch and hump each other; no depth to be found anywhere. I’d be surprised if they had a heartfelt conversation even once.
But anyway, not only was everything lacking in the emotional or romantic department, this book was also super boring. It was repetitive like you can’t even imagine, and I was over it after only a few chapters. Nothing interesting happens; it’s constantly the same thing.
I mean, okay, that’s not entirely true; something does happen at the very end... but honestly, I wish it hadn’t. Because holy hell that situation was such nonsense, I can’t even. I’m not going to “spoil” it but just know that it was utterly ridiculous, over-the-top and resolved way too fast for something so randomly enormous. It was just such… bullshit. I’m sorry but it was. And honestly, so was this whole book. No offense, but I’m just so disappointed; I’m almost a bit mad that a couple that had so much easy potential was still ruined so spectacularly. What a waste.
I know this has been a rather harsh review, and I apologize if I offended anyone, but for some reason I simply couldn’t find the will to sugar-coat it. Maybe the huge disappointment I’m feeling is making me feel more intensely about the whole thing or something. I don’t know.
Whereas her characters used to be endearing and funny, now they’re just annoying and ridiculous. Whereas the romance used to be all-consuming and devoted, now it’s just silly and frustrating. Her latest books just feel empty and I don’t like much about them.
The worst part is that I was genuinely so excited for this book. Finn and Landon seemed like the perfect pairing to write a book about, and I could not wait to see it all play out! Unfortunately, it played out like the biggest disappointment imaginable and all potential was completely lost.
I knew this would have the best friends-to-lovers trope with a heavy dose of pining and unrequited love; I was sooo ready for that! I mean, I love that dynamic!
So colour me surprised when Finn, who’s supposed to be pining for Landon and doting on him hand and foot, has the personality of a cold dead fish. If I didn’t already know he was in love with Landon, I would have never guessed it from the way he acted. He literally did nothing but exist with a stoic face, pretending like every time Landon touched him was the biggest hardship imaginable. Dude honestly did not do anything remotely interesting and he never showed an ounce of emotion or personality!
The only thing Finn did passionately was continuously text with this other guy, Archer, even though he knew how much it was bothering Landon and he knew that it was driving a wedge between them. I mean, call me crazy, but if the man that I have been in love with for EIGHT WHOLE YEARS is finally giving me the time of day, you will not see me texting another man 24/7. Like, why? I understand he was supposedly talking about Landon the entire time, but it was still freaking stupid.
Finn just sucked as a love interest. Plain and simple. And that honestly came as a shock to me because based on the previous book I thought he would be amazing…
And honestly, do not even get me started on Landon, because this man drove me absolutely mad! He had such a terribly infuriating personality and I wanted to smack him repeatedly. He did nothing but whine and be stupid. Literally, that’s all he did. Nothing else. Just whine. Be stupid. Whine. Be stupid. Repeat that over and over again and you have this book.
Also, just to be clear, the premise of this book was utterly insane and did not make any sense whatsoever. Supposedly Finn wants nothing more than to be with Landon, but he does everything in his power for that not to happen. He never made any kind of effort to win Landon over and he never attempted to make Landon see him in a romantic light. If anything, it seemed like he was working hard to achieve the exact opposite. He was working against himself so hard, sometimes I couldn’t even be sure if he really did want to be with Landon or if maybe he changed his mind. It was just too crazy to think that he would act this way if he did want him.
And you know, maybe it could have all been more understandable inside Finn’s head, but we don’t get to know that because we only get his POV during the chapters when they were young! Everything in the present is narrated by Landon, and I’m certain this dragged the book down further. We definitely needed to know what Finn was thinking in the present because it just wasn’t working this way.
Oh, and the worst part about it all might be that this relationship was entirely build on sex. They didn’t have a genuine connection and there was absolutely no chemistry between them. They didn’t do anything together other than touch and hump each other; no depth to be found anywhere. I’d be surprised if they had a heartfelt conversation even once.
But anyway, not only was everything lacking in the emotional or romantic department, this book was also super boring. It was repetitive like you can’t even imagine, and I was over it after only a few chapters. Nothing interesting happens; it’s constantly the same thing.
I mean, okay, that’s not entirely true; something does happen at the very end... but honestly, I wish it hadn’t. Because holy hell that situation was such nonsense, I can’t even. I’m not going to “spoil” it but just know that it was utterly ridiculous, over-the-top and resolved way too fast for something so randomly enormous. It was just such… bullshit. I’m sorry but it was. And honestly, so was this whole book. No offense, but I’m just so disappointed; I’m almost a bit mad that a couple that had so much easy potential was still ruined so spectacularly. What a waste.
I know this has been a rather harsh review, and I apologize if I offended anyone, but for some reason I simply couldn’t find the will to sugar-coat it. Maybe the huge disappointment I’m feeling is making me feel more intensely about the whole thing or something. I don’t know.
Urgh. This was definitely waaaaay too smutty for me. It was basically porn without plot, and that is not something I enjoy. I actually found this incredibly boring.
It’s a taboo story, which has the potential to be super intense, emotional or even romantic, but here it was none of that. It fell completely flat. Jessie and James had zero chemistry together and I couldn’t for the life of me find a true connection between them.
Even before they started a romantic relationship, their interactions were just awkward. They didn’t have anything to say to each other, they didn’t truly seem to know each other all that well, and overall they had kind of an uncomfortable vibe going on. Although they argued the opposite, they seemed like they weren’t close at all.
And then when they did randomly become “romantic” after an unexpected blowjob, it felt like it was all about the sex. I definitely wasn’t feeling it.
I also have to be honest and admit that I skimmed the hell out of this book, so maybe I missed a scene or two that showed them with a little more depth, but I doubt it.
It’s a taboo story, which has the potential to be super intense, emotional or even romantic, but here it was none of that. It fell completely flat. Jessie and James had zero chemistry together and I couldn’t for the life of me find a true connection between them.
Even before they started a romantic relationship, their interactions were just awkward. They didn’t have anything to say to each other, they didn’t truly seem to know each other all that well, and overall they had kind of an uncomfortable vibe going on. Although they argued the opposite, they seemed like they weren’t close at all.
And then when they did randomly become “romantic” after an unexpected blowjob, it felt like it was all about the sex. I definitely wasn’t feeling it.
I also have to be honest and admit that I skimmed the hell out of this book, so maybe I missed a scene or two that showed them with a little more depth, but I doubt it.
This was surprisingly fun to read. Normally, books like this tend to be boring, bland and overly formal. Not this one. It’s written in a casual style that’s engaging and easy to follow along with while still being extremely informative and helpful.
You really can’t find a textbook written much more pleasantly than this one.
This book serves as an introduction to sociolinguistics: It describes how social factors (such as region, style, relationships or communities) and social groups (such as age, gender, class or ethnicity) influence language usage. It details how language differs between people but also how these differences can lead to general language change over time.
I personally found the subject very interesting, so that probably helped a lot with my enjoyment levels as well.
You really can’t find a textbook written much more pleasantly than this one.
This book serves as an introduction to sociolinguistics: It describes how social factors (such as region, style, relationships or communities) and social groups (such as age, gender, class or ethnicity) influence language usage. It details how language differs between people but also how these differences can lead to general language change over time.
I personally found the subject very interesting, so that probably helped a lot with my enjoyment levels as well.
This is a book that attempts to explain why language exists the way it does and why humans are the only species (on Earth) capable of a high-functioning language.
Its explanation comes in the form of a Universal Grammar, which is described as an innate hierarchical linguistic structure, governed by the Laws of Language, functioning through nature’s self-similarity.
Obviously this is quite a mouth full, but the book itself is concise and clear: It describes the relevant theory and also gives scientific examples from previous research.
The book provides logical analogies and conclusions that do not leave much room to do anything but agree with what the author is telling us. Overall, it was quite persuasive, even if a bit drawn out.
Its explanation comes in the form of a Universal Grammar, which is described as an innate hierarchical linguistic structure, governed by the Laws of Language, functioning through nature’s self-similarity.
Obviously this is quite a mouth full, but the book itself is concise and clear: It describes the relevant theory and also gives scientific examples from previous research.
The book provides logical analogies and conclusions that do not leave much room to do anything but agree with what the author is telling us. Overall, it was quite persuasive, even if a bit drawn out.
I’m still not really sure how I feel about these stories. I don’t hate them, but they’re not really doing anything for me either. I don’t feel a connection to the characters or the romance, yet I also don’t feel bored with it or anything. It just feels… mweh.
Also, the whole Ryan situation is still genuinely pissing me off. The way everyone treats him like a Saint makes me want to hurl, and I need him to be taken down a peg or two. Also, why on earth does this Hartley kid stay with him anyway? He can clearly see what an abusive arsehole Ryan is and Hartley doesn’t seem like a pushover. It’s strange.
Anyway, Will and Patrick’s romance seems like it finally got started here as they give in to their sexual tension. But… I don’t know. It wasn’t anything to write home about. Their relationship truly isn’t super meaningful or deep. And I’m starting to doubt that will change. Doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy their interactions, though.
Also, the whole Ryan situation is still genuinely pissing me off. The way everyone treats him like a Saint makes me want to hurl, and I need him to be taken down a peg or two. Also, why on earth does this Hartley kid stay with him anyway? He can clearly see what an abusive arsehole Ryan is and Hartley doesn’t seem like a pushover. It’s strange.
Anyway, Will and Patrick’s romance seems like it finally got started here as they give in to their sexual tension. But… I don’t know. It wasn’t anything to write home about. Their relationship truly isn’t super meaningful or deep. And I’m starting to doubt that will change. Doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy their interactions, though.
This gave me absolutely nothing. It felt stale and was honestly boring.
It’s a best friends-to-lovers romance, but I couldn’t really see any chemistry or connection between them.
The only thing I liked here was that one of the main characters was overweight while still being super confident and desired by many other men. It’s nice to see positive representation like that rather than the miserable stereotypes where ‘bigger’ people are automatically insecure and unattractive.
It’s a best friends-to-lovers romance, but I couldn’t really see any chemistry or connection between them.
The only thing I liked here was that one of the main characters was overweight while still being super confident and desired by many other men. It’s nice to see positive representation like that rather than the miserable stereotypes where ‘bigger’ people are automatically insecure and unattractive.
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