And here we go again. These books didn’t work for me, but may work for you!
❄️Cowboy, It’s Cold Outside by Maisey Yates — I didn’t realize that this was book twelve in a interconnected series, so I felt a little like I was thrown into a story with a bunch of people I was already supposed to know. While it’s a standalone, I still felt like I should have known all the side characters. Once I’d been listening for over an hour and recognized that I had little interest in what was happening and didn’t even remember what had passed, I decided this wasn’t the book for me.
❄️My Favorite Holidate by Lauren Blakely — There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with this one, it just wasn’t grabbing me. There were just enough plot holes that didn’t make sense to me; why was Fable at her Boss’ Thanksgiving dinner? She started fake dating Wilder three days after breaking up with her boyfriend and was totally okay with it, no emotional damage? Why didn’t her sister notice that the (ex)boyfriend RSVP’d a plus one with someone else? Enough inconsistencies that I lost interest and moved on.
❄️Axe and Grind by Taylor Hutton — I had high hopes for this one; I really thought it was gonna totally be my jam. But once there was a medical error that took me out of the story, I realized some of the other red flags I had ignored. The “too many tropes” vibe: Scottish (with a ridiculously overt accent) motorcycle riding tech bro that is creating an AI girlfriend but also hunts bad guys on the side. Sorry, I wish it wasn’t so, but it was too much for me.
❄️Conform by Ariel Sutton — I think this one suffered from the current political climate in the USA and how I cannot dissociate from it. Frankly, I’m not really wanting to read another story about women being treated like property with no rights. And if Emeline had been a stronger character, I might have been able to continue on. While I can understand she’s been conditioned to be this submissive, useless woman, I can’t get past how she literally will believe anyone. Although, you can say this is exactly what solitary does to you; affects your judgment so badly you are willing to trust anyone who shows you a smidge of kindness. A case study about torture, if you will. And again…I don’t want that right now, so thus I DNF.
❄️Rears & Vices by EM Caro — I hungrily downloaded this one after it was shared in a chat. Historical, gay, poly pirates? Say less. But…it’s on this list so you can guess. The historical accuracy of the ships and law felt very well researched. In fact, it felt almost too technical at times, and that may have contributed to the fact that I never grew an attachment to any of the characters. Everard is the nucleus of this poly relationship (as D’Arcy and Vitaliy don’t seem to interact ever) but he has the emotional intelligence of a walnut, and him being our only point-of-view made it so I lost all interest to continue. Sad day.
❄️Steel & Spellfire by Laure E. Weymouth — While the narrators were great, I was turned off in the first chapter when Pandora explicitly claims that she is “not like other girls.” I felt my soul fold into itself at that moment, and despite continuing on, I never regained the excitement I had before. Alas, another one bites the dust.