Asta Idonea

I was given Fire Up My Heart through the Goodreads Don’t Buy My Love program. This story is about Fane, a London bartender, and Jo-E, a discarded Bot that Fane finds in a dumpster. The povs are through the eyes of Fane, Jo-E and Samuel, Jo-E’s original owner.



The blurb does a good job of explaining the premise of this story so I won’t go into a long rehas. This plot is set far in the future. Fane works at a gay bar that’s rundown. He also lives in a poorer part of London and lives paycheck to paycheck. When he finds Jo-E in a dumpster he thinks his luck has changed and takes the bot home where he fixes a blown wire in the disabled Bot. From there, Jo-E awakens and starts to discover all sorts of things about himself. Little does Fane and Jo-E know that Samuel had been experimenting on Jo-E before he was thrown away.

There’s a lot of monologue in this story. I understand why the author did it, because Jo-E’s discoveries about his developing feelings are internal and the only way we can understand is through his thoughts. Fane also changes as he interacts with Jo-E, growing conflicted with his feelings for the Bot. The author gave distinctive voices to all the characters. Jo-E was naïve, innocent, and yet at the same time a robot who could figure out problems in record time. The author did a great job with some of Jo-E’s comments. Samuel’s voice was arrogant and mean and came across quite clearly.

There isn’t much action because this book is mostly about Jo-E’s awakening and Fane’s confusion of his own emotions. The author created a world or rather time that pulled me in immediately. It was vivid without going overboard on description. The only part of the story that bothered me was the extensive monologue that sometimes came across as telling because there was so much of it. I enjoyed Fire Up My Heart, and recommend it to others as something different from your regular romance. I give this book a solid 4 Stars.

… (meer)

This was a solid read, but I had trouble for the first 35% or so figuring out what the plot of the book would be and almost put it down. In the end, I stayed because of the humor.
Saul, a demon, and Tom, his human mark, meet when Saul decides to convince Tom to sell his soul in exchange for a night with Saul. Saul's POV is funny - he's a selfish, arrogant, demon, after all. Tom's is less so. He's a lonely comics artist and doesn't seem to have any reason to say no when Saul proposes the bargain. I was annoyed that Tom didn't care enough about his life to say no, but I also acknowledge that the book wouldn't have proceeded if Tom had walked away.
So Tom says yes and they have a lot of sex. The book has a lot of sex, in fact. The two of them are supposedly madly in love, but I really just saw them banging a lot. (This part of my review will probably sell a bunch of you on the book.) So now they've had The Sex and Saul starts having those dreaded Feelings for Tom. He burns the contract, since it hasn't been filed yet.
The rest of the book consists of them living on the run, getting caught, figuring out a way to be together. It's at around that 35% mark that we meet two new narrators, an angel and another demon, who've been sent to capture Tom and protect Tom's soul, respectively. I very much enjoyed reading their POVs, as I found our MCs to be a bit repetitive after a while.
If you like angel/demon stories, the show Supernatural, or ever wished your PNR with biblical references was gay, here ya go. I, for one, really liked that it was just obvious that God was on board with the relationship because they were so madly in love. Not even addressed, just natural and taken as a given by everyone in the book.… (meer)

Cream of the crop - A Man Who Measures up. The only 5 star read in this collection.

What’s Up Pussycat? Less a romance, more a story of a man overcoming grief.
Over the Rainbow - While I enjoyed the story I couldn't understand the insistence that Dorian play Dorothy when they had female teachers! It would have made more sense if it had been an all male staff.
Broadway Devils - Funny and I enjoyed it but I needed more connection moments between the final pairing since the MC spends most of the story fucking someone else off page.
Angel in the Wings - Again, the bane of the short story strikes, I needed just a few more connecting moments shown before they got together. Even if it was misinterpreted looks from the stage.
Enjoy the Show by Lisa A Adams. I knew what was happening pretty much from the outset but I didn't care. Sometimes its great to know where you're going and just enjoy the journey to get there :)
The One That I want by RJ Jones - I could understand Paul's reasons for acting as he did, but Jason's actions weren't so clear and actually annoyed me a bit. I mean who turns his phone off for the whole week when he's been told his lover is going out of town and will phone because he doesn't want to be disappoint when he doesn't call #theboysgotissues
A Man Who Measures up by Cecil Wilde. - Easily my favourite story of the bunch. Damaged hero. Lace panties. Rocky Horror. What is not to love? Well written too. Loved it. All the stars.… (meer)