kayetaz's reviews
447 reviews

Dangerous Breed by Onley James

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️
spice: 🌶️🌶🌶🌶/5
format: ebook

memphis and preacher completely stole my heart and this book was such a fun ride, with a really thought-out and engaging plot, amazing chemistry, magma-level spice and rounded out nicely with the found family we have from both this series and elite protection.

preacher was one of my favorite side characters from book one, so i just knew i’d love him here, but i didn’t realize the depth in which i would fall for him and his sweet spot for broken boys who need care and love. the way he took to knox with no questions asked, and then fell head over heels for memphis the second he laid his eyes on him. i was here. for it.

i really did enjoy the plot of this book. it was well executed and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time anxious for what was going to happen next.

the sweet moments between preacher and memphis, paired with the dirty and depraved things they did to each other behind closed doors just absolutely did it for me and i just adored them as a couple.

i’m writing this review after finishing the whole series, and while i thought going into this that book 3 would be my favorite, i actually loved this one the most. not to say that cy and nicky, and javi and bowie weren’t wonderful couples with great books, but something about the mmc’s here just checked every imaginary box i could ever want. this is up there with my mulvaney boys for sure.

cannot wait to finish up all of onley’s books. they truly never miss for me.

Off Base by Annabeth Albert

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

3 ⭐️

spice: 🌶️🌶/5

format: audiobook

narration: 🎤🎤🎤

this was cute and pretty low-angst.

a closeted seal and a overtly gay “frenemy” becoming roommates brings on lots of fun forced proximity deliciousness.

zack was a grouch, pike was a sweet little spitfire, and harmless flirting turned into romps in the sheets behind closed doors. and also a ton of hiding. 

ultimately, i don’t really remember a ton of this book at all, just that it was cute and relatively low-angst. the plot was just meh.

Crossing Arizona by Bree Wiley

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶🌶/5

Format: ebook

”and then we had hannah, and she became our reason to breathe. everything she is, everything she’s becoming, i owe to my best friend. he… he raised her like a father. he is her father.”

okay, i swear i don’t remember finding delaware being this painful, because this story was actually brutal on my heart.

matty and xed are childhood best friends that have been each other’s ride or die since fourth grade. matty has been xed's safe space his entire life, with matty sneaking xed in every single night to escape his abusive aunt. i’m talking one-bed trope for literal decades. their closeness lasts up through college, where they start to see the lines of friendship beginning to blur. the only persistent issue in their lives is val—matty’s on again/off again girlfriend. and things take a real nosedive when val winds up pregnant.

”out of everything that’s happened between us, hannah is the best thing matty and i ever created together.”

prepare for tons of angst and mutual pining.

i think for a lot of the book i was kind of upset with matty, but i eventually did really start to understand his perspective. xed is just my sweet little sad boy and my chest constantly ached for him.

“i used to belong here. he used to make sure i belonged. now, i’m invisible. unwelcome.”

i loved the little family we got with matty, xed, and hannah. the way those boys loved that little girl just pulled on my heartstrings the whole time. we also got all of the amazing characters from book one back, up to even more shenanigans this time around. i loved seeing huck and tay again, and christian and salem, and even logan. but of course my favorite of all is uncle devon. bree, please give me his book soon. i need my ducati daddy so bad.

i really enjoyed the addiction and mental health representation in this book. bree’s stories are always very heavily focused on accountability and getting professional help. xed and matty worked super hard on themselves so they could finally reach their hard-fought hea, and it was beautiful.

i can’t wait to see what bree has in store for us next with this series, and also any future endeavors. she just never misses, i fear.

”’matty, our friendship, it’s… this state we’re in isn’t healthy.’

his head tilts to the side. ‘utah?’”

*i received a free, advanced copy of this book from the author and this is my voluntary, honest review.

Endangered Species by Onley James

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4.2 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶🌶🌶/5

Format: ebook

i honestly have no idea why it took me so long to get to this series. if i had known onley james wrote a stepbrothers book, i would’ve run to read it much sooner. also i really loved webster from elite protection, so i’m glad we got to see his story.

so we have nicky (webster) getting framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and getting thrown into prison alongside his stepbrother, cy, who was also framed 20 years previous. this gives forced proximity in the most delicious of ways. and now they’re both fully grown adults and not the boys they were when they last saw each other.

this was sweet, super hot, and just overall a very fun ride. so many hurt/comfort and “touch him and die” aspects. i adored the way they loved and cared for each other. and i gotta say, i’m kinda obsessed with books that have prison settings for some weird reason.

as usual, the found family aspects in onley's books are top-tier. even inside the prison, cy and nicky had so many people looking out for them, and i cannot wait to get to preacher and javier’s stories.

Off The Rim by Rebecca Rathe

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶🌶🌶/5

Format: ebook

another fabulous installment of this amazing series from rebecca.

this book follows ashton and marcus, who come from sort of feuding families, giving their mutual pining some forbidden aspects.

the structure of the story is sort of coming of age, because we follow the boys through several stages of their lives and the way they keep running into each other, until we get to the present and find them on the outs again.

i really loved and rooted for both characters. ashton was born and raised with a gold spoon, and really the only thing in life he’d ever been denied was marcus. marcus was raised in a working-class family that was filled with a lot of love. their pull to one another never really makes sense to anyone else, but they can only fight it for so long.

i really loved the background plot of this book, and how ash and marcus worked together to piece the small bits they each got from their families to figure out where the bad blood came from. it gave fun mystery/crime vibes that i really enjoyed. the spice, as usual, was super hot.

this was medium-angst with lots of pining and groveling and obsession. i devoured this in a day and could’ve easily read a dozen more chapters of them. i think they’ve stolen second place after my babies noah and lane, who remain my number ones.

REMEMBER: 100% of all rebecca’s preorders this year are going to organizations that support and defend human rights in the US!

*i received a free, advanced copy of this book from the author and this is my voluntary, honest review.

Come What May by A.M. Arthur

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4.4 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Format: audiobook
Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

This is a new to me author and I didn’t know what to expect, but I really enjoyed Jonas and Tate’s story. They were very sweet together and while the themes could be dark and angsty, the relationship itself stayed light and adorable.

I liked the character development for Jonas. The way he acted and his inner monologues in the beginning of the story weren’t great but the longer he lived with his aunt and uncle, and the longer he interacted with Tate shifted his world view a lot.

I really just had a good time with this couple, and the audiobook was done super well. I’m excited for the rest of the series.

Midnight Promises by Addison Beck

challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

2.2 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Format: ebook

I really can’t tell if this is a me problem, because I usually love Addison Beck’s books and the first book of this series was so good, but I really just did not vibe with this story at all.

Firstly, I really didn’t care for either character. I thought I would like Matteo based on the first book, but I don’t know, he really didn’t give me the vibes of how I thought a priest would act. Maybe it’s because I went through 8 years of Catholic school and many more years on top of that going to church, and I was even an altar server for 3 years. But what I expected of Matteo wasn’t the character we saw. This didn’t really feel like a forbidden romance because Matteo just caved so quickly, and even before that he was very overly sexual. Theo just was kind of there. I really didn’t have any thoughts about him at all.

The pacing in the beginning moved too quickly and then seemed to stall out later on. I got a little bored of them just sleeping together but nothing else was really happening other than them having the same push and pull moments and the same conversation over and over again.

I understand why they had time apart, but I really just didn’t care for it. After all the time they struggled through the first 3/4ths of the book, I really just was over it by the time the third act hit. Clara getting her own chapter also rubbed me the wrong way.

I don’t know, I just didn’t really like this. I cared more about the little glimpses we got of Noah and Jarred, and even the sneak peak for book 3 than I cared about this story. I hate saying that but that’s just how I feel. It could totally be a me thing.

Still excited for French 75 and the third installment of this series.

Learning Curve by N.R. Walker

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4.2 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶🌶🌶/5

Format: audiobook

Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

I devoured this so quickly-Cobey and Vincent were just so cute together.

One of my favorite storylines for college romances is a tutoring plot, especially if it's paired with a jock/nerd trope. I don't know what it is about them, but they just do it for me every single time.

Cobey and Vincent are roommates. Cobey is a football player and Vincent is immediately wary of him based on past experiences. But from the very beginning, Cobey is friendly and sweet towards Vincent, and it doesn't take long for them to form a little friendship in which Cobey becomes a safe space for Vincent that he's never had before. He finds himself confiding in Cobey about things he's never told anyone else, like that he's gay, and that he's a virgin...

An adorable little deal is struck between them where Vincent teaches Cobey math and Cobey teaches Vincent how to lose his v-card, but it becomes clear right away that there's only one person he wants Vincent to lose it to, and that is himself.

Cute fluffy goodness. This is very low-angst and medium-heat. But poor Vincent broke my heart with his background story. Like he never received a birthday present before? Ruined. Me.

I think of all the FU books I've read so far, this is my favorite. I can't believe this is only my second N.R. Walker book. I need to read more ASAP.

Time to Shine by Rachel Reid

adventurous challenging funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶🌶🌶/5

Format: audiobook

Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

Holy effing cute! I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this book, but I was not expecting to love this as much as I did.

Casey was literal sunshine personified and I adored him from the very beginning. He immediately latched onto backup goalie Landon from the very second he was brought up from the farm team to fill in. Landon took a bit of time for his characterization to really start to pan out, but once it did I fell in love with him just as easily. He wasn't exactly a grumpy character-just very reserved and a little socially awkward.

Casey has this adorable fear of being alone, and uses Landon's temporary displacement to convince him to move in and keep him company. The forced proximity allows them to form a friendship that eventually turns into adorable mutual crushes on each of their parts. This was relatively lighthearted and just a super fluffy read. There were some sad themes and a bit of hurt/comfort, but mostly this was just a very sweet story between two non-toxic characters.

What I really enjoyed most were the demi representation, the virgin MC trope, and also the fact that this was a couple that really sat and discussed their sexual preferences and figured out what would work for them together. I've seen so many MM books bring up the fact that a large majority of gay couples don't engage in penetrative/anal sex, but this was the first book I've read that actually had that as part of the dynamic. I also really liked the ways in which they worked around that to still have a very steamy and fulfilling sex life.

The narration for this was also really well done, and I totally recommend going that route if you enjoy audiobooks.

Rachel Reid just seems to kill it every time and I cannot wait to read more of her books!

Whiskey & Sin by Emily Rath

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Format: audiobook

Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

I honestly had no expectations going into this but I was floored with how much I wound up loving this story and these characters.

I’m still relatively new-ish into omegaverse, and this story had the most world-building of any books I’ve read in the genre thus far, but I loved it. I felt fully immersed in the world and I just loved the whole background about the different designations and the politics surrounding unbonded omegas. Everything Silas went through was sad and devastating but also just a really interesting plot line.

I loved the hurt/comfort aspects and the scent bonding. I also really enjoyed Bear’s background and how packs worked in this world. But Bear and Silas together were just perfect, both the sweet and spicy moments they shared.

There’s a lot of action and moving pieces all throughout the book and there was never a dull moment. I just really had such a fun time reading this.

Also this audiobook was amazing. Highly recommend to feel even more connected to the characters!