Book 11: An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles

This book is everything for me that the first book in this series wasn't, oh my goodness. Justin Lazarus is a supernatural medium, a man who makes his living by tricking rich people and telling them what they want to hear, and Nathaniel Roy is a journalist out to expose Justin's entire trade. They both find themselves in the middle of a far more complicated and dangerous story than that, and somehow they go from enemies to lovers in the process. Justin is a character type that KJ Charles writes better than just about anyone, and the balance between him and Nathaniel is perfect and satisfying. I understood better what the first book in the series was setting up after reading this one, and it made me like some of those characters better as well. My one critique of this book is simply that I thought it could have been longer; there's a section in which Justin and Nathaniel have to flee London together for a while, and I would have loved for that to have gone even further in depth than it did. The third book in the series comes out this fall, and I cannot wait to read it.

Grade: A 

Book 10: On Point by Annabeth Albert

Oh god, this book had so much potential, and it did not live up to any of it, woof. The setup is something out of my contemporary romance novel dreams: Ben and Maddox have been best friends since SEAL training, and a decade later they're SEAL teammates and also roommates whose friendship is complicated by a threesome they have with a twink from a gay club. But before they can talk about their feelings, they go on a rescue mission that goes bad and both of them are severely injured.

Now, so far this setup is fantastic! At this point we could have amnesia, or one of them confessing his love and then thinking the other one didn't hear him/didn't remember because of the live-threatening injuries, or one of them could almost die because he sacrificed himself to save the other one, or all kinds of things! And instead, they get back to the States after going through this horribly traumatic event, and then they decide to fake date each other? Only they're really dating, they're just...not calling it that? But also going to Ben's dad's wedding together. None of it makes sense, and it has nothing to do with the first half of the book, and all of their emotional issues and how they respond to them don't feel like how real people act at all. But beyond that, they don't feel like decade-long friends to me. Ben is shocked to discover that Maddox wants to leave the Navy and open a bakery. Maddox also has a totally fucked up family situation that is a major plot point while he's in the hospital after almost dying and is then completely dropped after that. This book feels like two novellas stapled together, with no emotional consistency or logic to it. I've liked a bunch of other books by this author, but this one did not work for me at all.

Grade: C

Book 9: Save the Date by Annabeth Albert and Wendy Qualls

So many tropes that I love in one book! Quiet bookish scientist Randall's in town for his sister's wedding, and they go out to a gay bar as part of her bachelorette party. While there, he meets a hot stranger and decides it's time to actually hook up with a guy and stop being so shy! What are the odds that this stranger is also in town for the same wedding and is Randall's future brother-in-law's childhood best friend?

I love the setup of an inexperienced guy discovering sex and love unexpectedly, I love the conflict of them being thrown together during the insanity of a family wedding, and I just really loved the chemistry that they had together. Randall and Hunter work together so well, and they had just the right level of backstory angst and miscommunication mishaps. The whole thing worked for me, start to finish.

Grade: A 

Book 8: At Attention by Annabeth Albert

This is the sort of book that had me at hello. It's a story about Apollo, a single dad who needs a babysitter for his twins. Dylan, his best friend's younger brother, would be perfect for the job...except that Dylan is all grown up and hot and Apollo still isn't over the loss of his husband. Can he find love again??? I just don't know!

Part of what makes this book work so well is that Dylan is exactly the right level of aggressive. He's the younger dude who has to push Apollo out of his emotional shell, and there's nothing creepy or inappropriate about how Apollo treats him. The book probably lasts about three or four chapters longer than I felt was totally necessary, but I liked the characters and the world enough that I didn't mind, and I really enjoyed their happily ever after.

Grade: B

Book 7: An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles

Sometimes you read a book by an author you love and the only thing you can really say about it is that it's not the book for you. I am obviously a huge fan of this author, and I don't regret reading this book in large part because it's the first book of a trilogy and I absolutely adored the second book in this series, but the setup of the story just really didn't work for me. In part that's because the book starts well after the main couple in the story has already become friends, and while I can often enjoy a friends-to-romance story, in this particular story there was just no there there. The pacing of the reveals about Clem, one of the main characters who's got a bunch of family secrets that are relevant to the entire trilogy, felt really off to me, and I never quite felt the way I thought I was supposed to about his romance with Rowley, a taxidermist with a heart of gold. It just wasn't for me.

Grade: C

Book 6: The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian

Okay so this book is basically everything I want in a m/m historical romance. We have a rogue with secrets who has a heart of gold, a mad scientist who's a recluse and has his OWN secrets, a gothic backstory that actually makes sense and comes to a satisfying resolution, both external conflict that matters and emotional conflict that can only be solved by both characters communicating and growing and they actually do that, and all of the supporting characters are great and charming and don't just feel like plot devices. Essentially, if the idea of a Beauty and the Beast story in which the Beauty is a con artist who gets a job as the secretary for the mad scientist Beast (who is essentially like Belle's father) appeals to you, go read this book immediately. I read it four months ago and loved it and now I'm going to read it again in preparation for this author's next book, which is due out soon.

Grade: A