peristome's reviews
111 reviews

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.

A DNF at 7% may seem harsh tosome, but this book knew just how to piss me off in that short amount of time. The book is set in Conneticut, which is a one-party consent state. What does that mean, and why does that matter? Well, it means that you only need the consent of one person in a conversation to record it, and this person can be you. It matters because, in the trial, some evidence is excluded because Pip didn't have permission from others to record conversations. She shouldn't need that!!

I know it seems petty, but there are so many other books in the world that if one of them pisses me off for whatever reason, I just need to move onto the next one. I enjoyed the first book for what it was, but I don't think I'll be continuing the series.

Edit on 6/14/2024: I have recently learned that this book was originally written to be set in England and this was mysteriously changed for the American editions of the book. I honestly thought we had moved passed this. Why do publishers do this? It's so stupid.

It does, however, make a lot of little choices in the story make sense, though. In England, you have to have two-party consent to record a conversation, while this is not necessarily true in the US. The author or "translation" team could have done a better job and picked a state with laws that match England's, but I'm more willing to give this a pass now. 

An Unrivaled Off Season by Ashlyn Kane, Morgan James

lighthearted fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I feel like a 3.5 is very apt for this novella. I can't quite give it a 4 because I feel like the story progression was choppy and the ending was extremely abrupt. It also didn't have a lot of sex in it, which was one of my favorite parts of Unrivaled. However, there was a lot of stuff I truly enjoyed. Grady and Max were entertaining as always. I also loved the whole plotline of both of them wanting to propose. Very cute. I would definitely recommend reading this if you've already read Unrivaled. You shouldn't read this as a standalone though. 

Alien Alpha's Little Omega by Leo Thorne
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.

If you like instant attraction and aliens, don't let my DNF discourage you from trying this out. It's not horribly written. However, things were moving too fast for me, especially considering the human male lead starts out the book saying he's not gay. I just feel like the book should be triple the length considering the story the author wants to tell. 

The Amazing Alpha Tau Boyfriend Project by Lisa Henry, Sarah Honey

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I had a really fun time with this book. It's not something I think I'll return to, but I don't regret reading it. In fact, I wish it was a little longer so we could spend a little more time with Archer and Eli as a couple (and maybe get more spice than a couple blowjobs). Having more scenes with them as a couple would up the re-readability for sure.

Eli and Archer were absolutely adorable. And the authors really know their stuff because their chemistry was off the charts. I also felt like the progression of their relationship was very well-paced, so that's another point in the authors' favor.

However, there is one crime the authors committed that I cannot overlook. Eli and Archer are both Swifties, but they don't even bring up "The Archer" once, even though that is literally my boy's name? Jail. Right away. 

Seriously though, this is a sweet little book. It's perfect for a palate cleansing read if you need something light with low stakes. If you can look past the frat bro-ness, that is. And there's no homophobia to be found, thank god.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

As an American, it took me a while to adjust to how British this is. I have read other British authors before (like Neil Gaiman) and I've never struggled as much as I did with this book. However, I was able to quickly adjust, and I didn't knock any points off for it either. But if you're not British and struggle sometimes reading different dialects of English, this might be one you want to avoid or at least take your time with. 

The characters in this book are so fun. The main "gang" of Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim, and Joyce are all incredibly interesting and fun. I even enjoyed Chris and Donna, although I usually don't like police characters. I especially like that Donna and Chris were just friends and

Donna introduced him to her mom. I am very happy at how age-appropriate that was! I do have to say that Donna was borderline sociopathic about her ex, Carl. She says she didn't love him, but she stalks him online and literally uprooted her life because they broke up. THAT'S CRAZY. Get it together Donna!

Bogdan was my favorite character by far, though. I love him and I want him to be happy always.

To be honest, I couldn't tell you much that's wrong with this book. Maybe I should give it 5 stars, but I just didn't enjoy this one on the same level as other books I've rated 5 stars. There were a lot of characters and POV switches that were hard to follow at times, and I am also not quite satisfied from the reveal at the end.

Why would Penny hold onto that file? It doesn't make sense, especially if it's a secret that she held onto until the very end. It feels like she wouldn't want a copy of that one.

I also don't feel like there's any way the gang should have caught onto

Bogdan

either. It's not explained like the other revelations they have. It just happens, which is disappointing given the level of care devoted to the mystery throughout the rest of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I definitely want to continue the series. I will leave you with my favorite quote from the book, which comes near the end:

I like it when men cry.

The Long Game by Elena Armas

lighthearted slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

1.0

1/31/2024 update: The longer I sit with this book, the more I think I hated every aspect of it. It's not longer 1.5 stars, but 1 star.

I struggled with how to rate this for a long time. 1 star seems harsh, but 2 stars seems generous. Usually when I rate something 2 stars, I at least enjoyed some aspect of the story... but here, it was hard to enjoy anything. The Long Game sure felt long, and that's with me heavily skimming and even skipping some parts of the book (mostly the smut, which was not good). So, 1.5 stars feels appropriate. I have three major gripes about this book, which I will outline below.

Strike one: The premise of this book is so stupid that I can't take anything seriously. You're telling me

a video of a women flinging off the head of a mascot in anger

is really a gigantic PR nightmare that could ruin a big time soccer club? Give me a fucking break. Matthew was right in the beginning—her dad was

being a little bitch and overreacting

. It's completely unrealistic that 1) the video would've become a big deal in the first place, given that the Miami Flames are, apparently,

the worst and the most unpopular team in the MLS

, 2) that a dumb meme video of that nature would stay in the cultural zeitgeist long enough to spawn physical merch and for advertising to center around it—also, big tangent here, but

it would literally be illegal for companies to just use her face like that! It's her likeness; even if someone is a meme, you cannot use their face for advertising like that without permission! This annoyed me so bad, maybe more than anything else in the book

, and 3) that a video like that couldn't be turned around for good publicity. Like, lean into it, call her the Phoenix Slayer or something, do some funny videos on TikTok and get some engagement. Why would you send her away like she's a bastard child (more on this later) for a slightly embarrassing video? Weird AF behavior.

Strike two: None of these characters are fleshed out. They do not feel like real people. They are charicatures with two dimensions at best. The reason that Cameron and Adalyn start off as "enemies" is dumb as hell, but what is even dumber is how quickly it takes them to become absolutely obsessed with each other (and not in a good or healthy way).

The constant darling and love shit from Cameron really gave me the ick, especially because he started it before they even liked each other and it's established that Adalyn doesn't like terms of endearment like that, yet he does it anyway.

The switch from them not being able to stand each other to literally saying I love you is like three days. Chill the fuck out y'all! And their respective friends (Liam and Matthew) literally do nothing but provide the next plot point. Matthew in particular is bad about this, and on top of it all, he's really bad at his job of being a plot dumper.

Every time Matthew and Adalyn talk, he always has something "really important" to tell her that just... never gets said. Like, don't you think telling Adalyn that her dad is selling the Miami Flames is more important than freaking out about ~Cameron Caldani~ to his face? Do you not care about your friend? And then you send her that news in an email afterwards instead of on the call? BE SO FUCKING FOR REAL RIGHT NOW.

And don't even get me started on the girls. I cannot stand the "wise beyond their years" child trope, and it was used extremely heavily here, especially with María. No child is saying all that about romantic love. She is nine, she doesn't even know what that is!

Strike three: The third act conflict sucks. I hate that they have to exist in the first place, but this was truly a stinker. A fresh cow patty on top of a pile of manure.

Cameron literally knew this rumor for a literal day and Adalyn reacts like he doesn't believe she can take care of herself or trust her? Okay girl. You're definitely sane. And the half-sister twist? God, just fucking kill me now. It's a bad twist because there's nothing the reader could have done to predict it. And how would her father possibly have expected her to "put that together"?

I don't know, the plot of this book was all at once boring and frustrating and required the kind of suspension of disbelief that makes my teeth ache from grinding them so much.

Finally, this is more like a foul than a strike (yes, I'm using baseball terms and I don't care), but there's quite a lot of editing errors in this book. This is a traditionally published book instead of an indie or self-published one (I can usually overlook editing errors in those more), so I expect more. For example, early on Pierogi is referred to as a boy cat, but then later in the book, is referrenced as a girl alongside Willow. I don't know if Pierogi was originaly meant to be a boy or what, but this kind of thing should have definitely been caught in the editing process.

Wow. Looking back, I ranted so much. Sorry about that. TL;DR: I think the premise of the book sucks, I don't like any of the characters, and this is a horrible execution of the enemies-to-lovers trope. If you have liked this author's previous work, you might like this and I don't want to discourage you from trying to read this book. But if not, you can skip this and have the peace of mind that you're not missing much.

P.S. I wasn't sure where to fit this in, but the audiobook for this is so bad. I genuinely cringed several times while listening to it, and eventually had to switch off it all together so I could get through the book. The English accent the female narrator did for Cameron gave me literal hives. They already hired a male narrator—just have him read the lines! It's not that hard! Anyway, I highly recommend stearing clear of it. 

His Professor's Pet: MM First Time Straight to Gay Age Gap by M.M. Cummings

5.0

I honestly didn't expect to give this 5 stars, but I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't. I wish it was longer, of course, but that's just me being selfish. This is super hot.

The Alien's Kidnapped Omega by Sienna Sway

funny lighthearted

3.5

I enjoyed this book, to my immense surprise. I was impressed with the amount of worldbuilding the author was able to do given the book is so short, and none of it felt like I was being lectured. However, this book relied a little too heavily on the miscommunication trope for me (even though there was a good reason, it's one of my most hated tropes—sorry not sorry). It also grated on me how much the nassa would not listen to Alex. Still, Alex and Saar were so sweet. And I'm definiktely interested in continuing the series. 

Bro and the Beast 4 by L.C. Davis

funny lighthearted

2.5

 https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f47c12e4-b0fa-4086-a195-30dd4aef9737 

Bro and the Beast 3 by L.C. Davis

funny lighthearted

2.5

 https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f47c12e4-b0fa-4086-a195-30dd4aef9737