Avery FordBesprekingen

This book was a train wreck. The writing was choppy and the characters were dull. I found Reagan Ann to be a pain in the ass that the author trotted out when the Freddie and Luke got despairingly stupid. There were some sub-plots that should have been left out as the went nowhere. Run away from this one quickly.

I found this book to be just okay. I was expecting more after reading about Ben and Chase. The insta-love and insta-forgiveness was too much for me.

Robbie should have shot Ms. Ford for writing such an awful book.

This was a sweet piece of fluff. Nothing unexpected happened but it made me feel good. The epilogue Was totally unnecessary though.

DBN @ 104,7 / 350

I really didn't care for this one. The plot lines were poorly written and piecemeal, and would be abandoned abruptly. Secondary characters would be introduced, then neglected. Important conversations either didn't happen or happened off-page. Homophobia was inconsistent... I thought for a while maybe this was supposed to be in an alternate universe where Georgia didn't have homophobic people, but then a character at the end went all ranty about it, so that wasn't the case either.

Hale's cousin Michael is missing. He is determined that something is wrong, and he wants to find Michael. Austin is Michael's former friend who lives across the hall. Hale has had a crush on Austin since high school. Hale convinces Austin that he needs help to find Michael, and by some amazing miracle, Austin agrees to help him. The story takes place over a couple of days where Hale is looking for Michael. Austin and Hale end up getting together and eventually get their HEA.

What I loved
--Hale. He was so adorable. He was himself, and he didn't care what anyone else thought of him. He cares greatly about his family, even when he gets pushed aside. I loved his heart and energy. I wanted to smush him.
--Austin. The poor guy had so much trauma. I loved that he was trying to work through it and acknowledged the need for help. It's hard to see what everyone else sees when you are in the pits of depression, and it was clear he was trying even when he really couldn't. He was a total gem, and I was so glad to see him open up to Hale and find love. He deserved it.
--The story itself had an interesting premise. There was a mystery to be solved, and I liked how it didn't go completely the expected route.
--I liked that there wasn't a lot of angst. It was a relatively relaxing book despite the mystery angle. I liked how things weren't dragged out.

What I didn't love
--The story takes place over only a couple of days. Everything moved WAY too fast. I mentioned above that I liked there wasn't a lot of angst and this is true-the mystery was solved quick so there wasn't a lot of angst to go along with it, but then so did the relationship between Austin and Hale. It felt very rushed to me. If it was going to go so fast, I needed a little more depth for me to connect fully with the characters to make it believable.
--Austin goes from "nope-not gay-no way in hell" to "let's go for it and lets move in while we are at it". OK, maybe it wasn't quite like that, but it felt fast like that and came pretty damn close. Austin acknowledges that there is something about Hale that makes him feel again, and that is LOVELY, but there was really no character development along with it that I, as a reader, could really connect with. How did he really deal with his feelings of being gay? Hale is worried about how Austin would react in public when he is out; Austin says not to worry. So it is all fine and dropped, but I wanted to see Austin react in public. I wanted to see him deal with it. I wanted more depth.
--I didn't find any connections to the other books, with the exception of being in the same town. I wanted to see the other characters! There was a paramedic. Was it Chip? No clue. There was a mystery with cops. It would've been cool to pull Axel or Fox in somehow, even if it was the cop answering the call talking with them when it came in. Maybe in helping Austin deal with being out and with Hale, we could've seen them at the bar where the other guys were hanging out. Anything to pull other characters in. This was the one thing I loved most about the other books, and I missed it here.

I'm voluntarily reviewing a free advance reader copy I received from the author.

Reed is a famous designer who started receiving weird stalkerish threats. Logan, who is out of the military and dealing with some PTSD, is hired as his bodyguard. They have a connection between them, but Logan tries to keep his distance to remain professional. The stalker was a bit obvious after a bit, and was a little weird why did he pick then to start sending letters, and why did he go that route? Was there a past history of Reed turning him down that we do know? Regardless, I'm glad they were able to work things out, though, and get their HEA.