M. J. Williamz

oh this is not good. certainly it could be worse, so between .5 and 1 star, but there's not a lot to take from this. some of the sex scenes were good, but there was virtually no story; this would have been better written as erotic vignettes, and then i would have known to avoid it. i like more story and character in my books. the characters were all 1 dimensional, except for the "growth" of the main character, which happened so fast it wasn't believable at all. speaking of fast, the relationship we're supposed to be rooting for is all of 2 weeks long so i wouldn't be heartbroken for either of them if it didn't work out. speaking of long term relationships, how about samantha actually being in mourning for her suddenly dead partner with whom she was having a kid? also is there another way to suck/lick a woman's breast besides "greedily"?? also the misogyny and borderline sexual violence. i am not impressed by this.… (meer)

I feel like this could have been a great book, but it wasn't. There seemed to be two tracks that the story went down. Number one, bar bad, and number two, sex, sex, sex (and yes, I can't believe that I'm writing that there was too much sex in a book either, but I thought it was too much. It overwhelmed every other part of the book, and not in a good way).

It's the story of Boone, a sports bar owner, and Grey, who runs a women's shelter. Both had hard childhoods and when Boone's sister-in-law needs Grey's help they find that they're pulled into each others orbits even as Grey has misgivings (constant misgivings actually).

My problems with the novel started with the fact that although some of the writing flowed well, a lot of it was stilted, both the dialogue and descriptions. I also literally talked back to the book at one point, 'Enough with the bar, bar, bar bashing'.

And then there were the sports. I know it's a small thing, but it drove me crazy at the beginning. This is a sports bar owner and supposedly a super sports fan, and yet she keeps referring to some of the teams as 'East Coast' team or 'Midwest Team' instead of their names. I'm a die hard BC and NE Patriots fan, but that doesn't mean that when I'm talking about other teams I don't use their names, like UCLA, or USC, or the Chargers or the Broncos. It just seemed so unrealistic to me, and it entirely pulled me out of the novel every time it was done.

I have to say that it wasn't the worst book I've read, and I wish it had been a different experience for me, but I really didn't like it at all.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.… (meer)

Enjoyable lesbian romance & mystery. From the back cover: "Kyla and Echo seem to have the perfect relationship and the perfect life until someone shoots at Kyla, causing a car crash that leaves her with only fractured memories of her former life. Kyla can't believe her partner Echo is having an affair, but the police believe a love triangle is motive for murder. Detective Pat Silverton, investigating the shooting, is not convinced by her partner Tom Magnell's theory, but she concedes her attraction to the 'other woman' in their suspect's love triangle could be clouding her judgment - sexy, hotheaded Jenny Vasquez could tempt anyone. But would a woman kill to be with her? Or could Jenny be the shooter? The more Kyla learns, the less certain she feels about everything - her partner's love, her own choices, and her safety. Caught between renewed passion for the woman she fell in love with years ago, and the mounting evidence of betrayal, Kyla must decide whether to trust her heart or her mind. The stakes don't get any higher: someone is still trying to killl her, and she has no idea why."… (meer)