kayetaz's reviews
447 reviews

One Lovely Lie by Addison Beck

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Format: ebook

This was a very cute childhood friends turned lovers story between Daniel and Magnus.

I really liked the unrequited love aspects of this book, and how a cute little seven minutes in heaven game kind of brings them together. While Magnus doesn’t originally return Daniel’s feelings, he comes to find out later on he maybe might have sorta been in love with him the whole times.

This was just super sweet. I really ate up the first like 75% of this. The conflict parts of the story with their families really needs a certain level of suspending reality because they were a bit over the top. I also wish we got just a bit more of them before the book came to the end, because things didn’t get resolved until pretty much the last chapter.

But overall I really enjoyed the main and side characters here, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

Dusk Secrets by Addison Beck

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

4.7 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Format: ebook

Oh man, did I eat this up.

I love me a reverse age gap and this totally slayed in every single way. I loved that Noah was the more dominant in the relationship. I loved how he pursued Jarred. The chemistry and the spice were so hot. This just checked so many boxes for me.

I think the religious aspects were done really well, for both Noah and Jarred. Noah’s inner monologue really hit close to home for me as someone who grew up Catholic and wound up leaving the Church. This paragraph in particular:

”It was a life of suppressing who I really was. It was always being told to be quiet, be invisible, be forgettable. It was being consistently told that my mere existence was an inconvenience and the least I could do was make myself as small as possible to make up for that.”

I also really liked that just because Noah lost his faith, he never expected Jarred to. He never asked him to choose between him or God. He actually was adamant that he didn’t do that.

I just really enjoyed them as a couple. Noah was very emotionally mature to the point that the age gap really didn’t matter. He was Jarred’s equal in every way.

The spice was insane. All I will say is this is worth reading just for that alone. They were insatiable and depraved and kinky.

My only issue was the third act. I hated the things that Jarred said to Noah, and I hated that I saw it coming from the beginning. I also kind of feel like the groveling was not nearly enough. Plus the ending just seemed a bit rushed.

I am really excited for Father Matteo’s book to come out.

Rogue by Eden Finley

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.25

2.4 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5/5

Format: audiobook

Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

This was just so long and served nothing. The first chapter was interesting and then it went completely stale immediately. I mentally checked out constantly while listening and, gun to my head, I could not even give you a brief synopsis of the plot.

I think Trav and Dylan could’ve been really cute, and there were aspects of their dynamic I really liked, but overall I was just bored. The banter was way too much and super cringey. Way too many side characters in and out of scenes. It was just too much and not enough at the same time.

Their Ball Boy by Addison Beck

lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.5

2.6 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

Format: ebook

I originally DNF’d this, then decided to give it another go. I regret that.

The relationship dynamics just didn’t work for me at all. The way they started out, the fact that Dalton and Juandi couldn’t even stand each other half the time, and then literally everything about Bryson. I just was not having a fun time with them. I didn’t buy the enemies to lovers trope. Or the daddy kink. Or like anything about them being together.

The secondhand embarrassment from the locker room scene. Oof. That was a rough time for me.

And then the plot? If there even was one? Just the way that their individual conflicts seemed to resolve themselves with no effort at all. And in such silly ways. I just giggled with the ridiculousness of it.

I’ve loved everything else I’ve ever read by Addison Beck. I just was not the target audience for this one at all.

Unbreak Me by Jesse H Reign

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-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

6 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Format: ebook

I don’t think any other book has ever made me sob the way this one did.

This is a romance that is just so pure and good, which is nearly impossible to come by. But Davey and Jonathan were just so perfect for each other, and were so sweet together.

I was a bit hesitant with the writing style of this. Basically it’s written as David’s journal while he spends a few months with a distant family friend in South Africa after a mental health crisis. Everything is in his POV, and there were a few times that entries were very short or completely uneventful—but I wound up really loving the way the story unfolded.

I’ve seen a lot of people say the beginning of this story is boring because things progress very slowly between David and Jonathan, but I actually really liked learning about South Africa and the culture and people, and just Jonathan’s life in general. Jesse H. Reign is truly an artist, and she makes beautiful murals out of words. I could see the landscape in my mind and I loved every second of it.

The spice and romance were perfect. They were simultaneous hot and soft together. Just absolutely wonderful. But the angst and pining in this book was on another level. No one does heartache quite like Jesse does.

This is now competing with Romeo Falling for my top spot of Jesse’s work. I already know this is a future reread for me.

The First and the Last by Jesse H Reign

adventurous 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

3.0

3 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

Format: ebook

I really enjoyed this! No one writes pining quite like Jesse H. Reign, especially when it comes to friends to lovers. The way Sully wanted Jules was so palpable, it was a relief when they finally got together.

I love omegaverse, and I really enjoyed Jesse’s take on it. I loved everything about their time at the cabin, their first shifting, their designations, Jules’s first heat and Sully’s protectiveness over him. It was just sweet and romantic and sexy. I was obsessed.

I just wish we got more background on things that were mentioned. The white wolf lore, Mrs. O’Malley’s background, other packs and what became of Storm, the decline of births, the ban on male-on-male mating, etc. The conflict was resolved so quickly and everything ended so abruptly. I just wish we got a bit more world-building and lore and stuff.

I hope Jesse revisits this world or has another crack at omegaverse. I’d be really interested in reading more!

Also this brings me up-to-date on all of Jesse H. Reign’s books, and now I’m kind of unsure what to do with myself other than wait for her next release.

Requited by Jesse H Reign

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

Format: ebook

“I want them to know our story. I want them to know I’m in the painting with you. That I’m hidden behind you. I want them to know that we worked our shit out. But mostly, mostly, I want them to know that this thing between us was always requited.”

From the blurb, I kinda expected this to have less pining and angst than Unrequited, but I think it actually had way more. Andy’s POV was heartbreaking but West’s POV was absolutely gut-wrenching. A sad Andy hurt me but a sad West killed me.

I’m obsessed with the idea that whether West married Ash or not, he and Andy were always going to be endgame no matter what. But I do really enjoy in this book how they got together much sooner. I also love that their bedroom dynamic shifted a bit in this version… 

I just love these boys so much. They really put me through it, but it’s a pain I’d endure again and again for a beautiful love story like theirs.

This duet is an absolute must-read. If you like a lot of pain with your pleasure, this is for you.

Up in Flames by Eden Finley, Saxon James

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? Yes

1.5

1.5 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5/5

Format: audiobook

Narration: 🎤🎤🎤🎤/5

I truly need to learn to DNF, because I shelved this months ago and I have no idea why I picked it back up.

This was just so OTT that the characters read more like caricatures than people. Remy is the victimest victim. Sanden is the heroest hero. Their background stories and everything else about them were so dramatic and ridiculous. And despite all the therapy and time apart and everything else, they literally learned nothing. No character development in sight.

I don’t want to say I hated this because I don’t really care enough about any of it for that, but if I never think about this book again it’ll be too soon.

Unrequited by Jesse H Reign

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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: 🌶️🌶️.5/5

Format: ebook

Holy pining.

This book hurts. I thought Bent hurt, but this HURTS.

I love Andy and West so much. Their chemistry from the very beginning, even as just friends, was so obvious and palpable. They’re just a couple you’re rooting for from the start. All their little moments together, building and building and finally coming to a head, was everything.

You can just feel Andy’s pain so viscerally. I don’t know how to describe this story other than painful. I have a feeling West’s POV is going to hurt even more.

Honestly, I have no words. Jesse’s writing always breaks me apart and then slowly puts me back together. I truly wouldn’t have it any other way.

Unspoken Vow by Eden Finley

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.2 ⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Format: audiobook

Narration: 🎤🎤🎤/5

These Steele brothers own a piece of my heart.

I don’t know why this duet isn’t more hyped out in the Sadenverse because I truly was not expecting the emotions and angst we got, but I am so here for it. I knew Anders’s story was going to ruin me just from Law’s book, but really getting into his head was way more heartbreaking than I was prepared for. 

The mental health representation was done so well here. I loved how authentically Anders and his anxiety were written, and how he continued to be a very flawed character who made a ton of mistakes even with all the tools and support he was given. I also really appreciated the way the domestic violence was handled in this book.

The character development for both Anders and Brody, as a couple and individually, was also done super well. I loved them together, and I adored all the work they put into being together.