Review || Three Mini Reviews

Title: Five Dates

Author: Amy Jo Cousins

Publisher: M/M Romance Goup @ Goodreads

Published: July 25th 2014

Format: eBook

Genre: M/M Romance

Series: Love Landscapes

Rating: ★★★ (3.5)

Find on: Goodreads

Summary:

Helping his sister Lucy raise her kid has put Devin’s love life on hold. When he loses a bet to her and the penalty is to go out on five dates with men she’s chosen from Guys4Guys.com, he thinks that’s bad enough. Finding out she used a thirteen-year-old picture of him to score a date with a young guy who looks like a rock star? Epically bad.

Jay thought he wanted to fall for an older man. But his last boyfriend left him feeling humiliated and determined to stick to guys his own age. When he realizes he’s been conned into a date with exactly the kind of man he’s sworn to avoid, he’s ready to walk away on the spot. Only Devin’s swift apologies convince Jay to accept dinner to make up for the deception.

Thoughts:

This story was really well written. I loved the premise of the story, and I thought it was pretty well done. It was a fun story, with several amusing scenarios between our two main characters. The thing is though, I felt the attraction between the two characters, no doubt about that but I found it hard to really see the strong feelings there were supposed to be between them. At the end of the story, I felt like something was missing. Something to make it go to the next level, and make me love it.

I liked the fact that the story was shown not only from Devin's perspective, but from Jay's as well. The characterization of Jay was really cool. I was afraid that it was going to be way too stereotypical, but luckily it didn't happen. I would have loved to know a little more about Jay's background though - we did get a tiny bit of information, but a little more would have been awesome. They were both great characters, who had different voices and different personalities.

Title: Punch-Drunk Love

Author: Nico Jaye

Publisher: M/M Romance Goup @ Goodreads

Published: June 12th 2014

Format: eBook

Genre: M/M Romance

Series: Love Landscapes

Rating: ★★★★

Find on: Goodreads

Summary:
Between his biochemistry classes and rigorous kickboxing training, Oliver Reyes has enough on his plate, thank you very much. With his first official match coming up, he doesn't have any time for distractions, even if they come in the handsome and muscular form of the team's captain Derek Vance. However, Oliver's friends encourage him to loosen up a little at the out-of-town kickboxing meet, and a unicorn costume, a mysterious masked stranger, and that Diablo known as tequila soon lead to an unforgettable post-competition night in Vegas.

Once the team returns to San Francisco, can Oliver somehow go back to his no-nonsense daily grind of classes and training? Or will his wild night of make-believe in Sin City result in some real-life--and really attractive--distractions?

Thoughts:

This story was really good (I'm gonna pretty much say this about all three stories). I loved the way it was written and it was delightfully light hearted. There wasn't exactly any angsty feelings in the story, which I feel like there could have been, but I'm glad there wasn't. Another aspect of the story that I really liked was the whole kickboxing part. I enjoy watching kickboxing, so it was pretty awesome to see it in writing. There are a couple of steamy scenes in the story, which I don't really mind, especially when they are well written like these ones.

I feel in love with Oliver just a tiny bit - I thought he was absolutely adorable. He's just such a great character with some great characteristics. He's a sporty geek, who kickbox, loves science, and plays a lot of scrabble with his friends. Talking about his friends, I would love to have seen a little more of them, both Oliver's friends and Derek's for that matter. I also really liked Derek as a character. We don't get to know that much about him, but what we get is pretty great. I really felt a connection between Derek and Oliver, and they were just so sweet - Together and apart.

Also, there were a great amount of cowboy jokes/puns which were just hilarious. In addition to that, we also had unicorn costumes - well one unicorn costume, but that's still amazing.

Title: Game On

Author: Olley White

Publisher: M/M Romance Goup @ Goodreads

Published: June 12th 2014

Format: eBook

Genre: M/M Romance

Series: Love Landscapes

Rating: ★★★★

Find on: Goodreads

Summary:

What happens when all your expectations are blown out of the water? 

Max is finally meeting his his on-line gaming friend. 5t3ff is everything Max wanted in a girl, funny, kind and a good gamer. He's never felt such a connection with anyone and he's hoping that the friendship they have might move to something more. When 5t3ff turns out to be Stefan and not Stephanie, Max has to reassess his feelings. Or does he? Can love just be love, regardless of gender? And can the two boys ignore the labels long enough to find out? 

Thoughts:

I don't normally read gay for you stories, because they often seem really unbelievable to me, but this was so well done. The way the relationship evolved was very realistic and so beautiful. The slow burn romance was so sweet and just incredible. I really am a sucker for a slow burn romance. You could just see how the love between these two came to be. I was ready for this to be such and angst filled story, but that wasn't the case at all. Sure, there were some small moments where the angst sneaked in, but it wasn't overwhelming.

Stefan was an absolute darling. He had such a big heart, and was so much fun to read about. He and his friends were absolute hilarious, and their friendship was out of this world. The same thing with Max - he was very open to everything, and he was such a sweetheart. These two men were different, but then not so different at all. They fit together, and complemented each other.

A small thing that would have made this even better would have been if we got to see a little more of the before. The before they met face to face for the first time. It's talked about a small bit which was great, but to "see" it would just have been even better.