unusablebooklore's reviews
322 reviews

Raising Wayne by M.Z. Arthur

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Single Dad 
Coincidental connection 
 
Super sweet short read. Zim and Clive are uniquely connected before meeting and find that connection runs far deeper once they meet in person. 
 
I get the impression this is likely a #MiddleLifeRomance but ages aren’t discussed, so I can’t be sure. 

Just a super nice easy read, with some heat, and cute dudes. 
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Joint Penetration by Katherine McIntyre

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lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

Found family 
Queer awakening
Friends to Lovers
 
Ollie’s wife leaves him and he instantly jumps into bed with his bestie. I’m not complaining about the story, it’s funny, just like all the books in this series have been. But like the others there are tiny holes and rough spots that start to get to me. Continuity errors, weird timeline stuff (who’s able to have divorce papers ready for signing in days…), cars in places they shouldn't be. I’ve liked this series it’s fun, I just wish it was a little more polished.

I was pretty excited for this book. I was eager to brain read it. However, it was a little bit of a let down for me. Other people will love this. but for me it just didn't work. 

Also point of note: Ollie smells of metal and patchouli. I worked in metal fabrication shop  for a few years when I was younger. The smell of greasy or welded metal is not all that hot to me…(as so come to think of it - after the whole book I’m still a little confused about what Ollie actually does for a job…) 

Note of interest: All the beta readers appeared to be ladies, for an MM book 🤦‍♀️ 
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Sasquatch, Baby! by Bethany Browning

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dark emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I picked this up thinking “yay, monster romance”. Boy was I wrong (at least one other review I’ve seen made the same mistake). 
 
This is some DARK humour. It was fantastic. 
 
Oomph, the MC Tabitha is apathetically suicidal. She’s tossed a stick of dynamite into her life, hates her user friends and has moved into a cabin in the woods with crates of wine and cartons of cigarettes to ride out her end of days. 
 
This is a love story in a round about way. Not the monster romance I was thinking it was going to be. There are monster/MC relations, but nothing we’re privy to. 
 
This book had the same absurd vibes of a Douglas Coupland novel. I LOVED it. It was shortish and sensational in my opinion. 
 
TW: death, body parts, so much alcohol/ism, suicidal ideation, graphic descriptions of body horror that were both horrifying and hilarious. 
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The Fireman and the Flirt by A.J. Truman

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Single Dads Club book 4

#MiddleLifeRomance 
Brothers Bestie 
Adequate texting levels 
 
As usual A.J. Has written a book I adored. Who can possibly say no to middle aged mens naked hijinks, hurt/comfort, and the thrill of reading about two people falling in love. 
These two fellas run around acting like a bunch of teenagers, it's exactly what I want for two dudes in their 40s falling into something they weren't expecting. 

As usual A.J. has meshed some pretty heavy topics with a light hearted touch that makes them easy to read and adds depth to an otherwise just funny story. This whole series has been fantastic. 
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For Keeps by K.C. Everly

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emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Great story 
Poly 
Bi rep 
Queer awakening
Adversaries to Reluctant Besties to Bangin 
 
I one million percent have never been as horned up as these three. This book almost makes me feel sorry for my partner, until I realised that these people literally must shower multiple times a day or walk around smelling of genitals. 
 
I’ve grabbed a quote: One character has gone in search of another… “That’s her scent on you. Tell me you didn’t have her before you hunted me down to punish me for your rules. I dare you.” 
 
Ultimately this MMF book was so intensely intimate. You could go so far as to say the relationship dynamics were more MFM until about 60%. However, there was a perpetual undertone of attraction and pining between Jake and Beau. The Author notes at the beginning that the POV isn’t exactly equal, this makes sense as these boys have some baggage to unpack. 
 
This book was about 40x spicier than I would normally have expected with this much story and it all fit so well. It makes sense the book is +500 pages. It doesn’t feel like a long book; the pace was great, the level of angst was sizzling but never overwhelming, not once did I wonder if I was as nearing the end. 

This is the second book in this series. I'm not 100% sure if I'll go back and read the first. This book was entirely stand alone. It teases at the relationship from book one, as they are side characters in this book, but there is no essential cross over. 
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His Moody Mountain Man: Instalove Small Town MM Romance by Shiloh Smith

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Retired seggs worker 
MCs 25/+40 
 
Cute, quick, insta love. Snapshot of Milo and Shane meeting, instantly moving in together (there are reasons) and some 40 year old devirgining (I am fully aware this isn’t a real word…) 
 
It was exactly what I was looking for between longer novels. 

There is a second book that from what I understand is not connected but in a series by this author. I'll likely pick it up at some point. 
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Special Delivery by Arnold Miles

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.0

Queer awakening 
New friends to lovers 
Super seggs positive 
Single POV 
 
I’m not averse to heavily a seggsy book and this hit that mark. 
 
It was overall very good just felt a bit drawn out. I get it shows Matt exploring his feelings and seggsuality, but I kinda feel as though we only see his seggsual exploration because the book is in Tom’s single POV. 
 
I personally wish this had been from a dual POV. It would have allowed for Tom’s ultra seggs positivity, but would have given us more depth to Matt. 
 
—— 
 
I’ve listed to some of those spicy audio books that edge on immersive experiences. This falls on the edge of that. The narration is VERY animated. 
 
Also side note for the audio. Why Tom not narrated as Scottish as he’s from Glasgow? Even if a Glaswegian accent would have been too much, a more mild Scottish accent would have been nice. 
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Pole Position by Rebecca J. Caffery

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

MCs 25/33 
Team mates/adversary to lovers 
Secret relationship 
Bisexual rep 
Medium Salsa level spice 
 
TLDR: If you’re a big F1 fan this may not be the book for you. If you know nothing about the sport you’ll like it. 
—— 
 
I’m a F1 fan…I know a ridiculous amount about the sport and this book wasn’t written for someone like me. 
 
I wish this was a hockey romance situation where things are different enough, names are changed to protect the innocent yada yada yada. But instead there’s name dropping in this book, so it’s meant to be our current existence, but so many inaccuracies and tiny give aways that highlight that the author may not know as much about the sport as they think they do. It feels like the author saw the hubhub surrounding F1 at the moment and said…”I can work with that”. 
 
So much sport content... I don’t really care about qualifying I watch real F1 for that. I wan’t to know about the dudes falling in love. 
 
Around 75% it starts to pick up. Maybe because it focuses more on the characters rather than racing? 
 
CW: Parkinson’s, death of a parent, homophobia 
 
—— 
 
**Harsher critiques** 
 
3% and there is a foundation story line with disability rep that doesn’t track with the very first Google result…🤦‍♀️ 
 
Also dude is a 4 time F1 world champion but his sister is the full time carer for their mum…hire someone to do the job so your sister can enjoy not working working while spending time with her mum. Plus the author has suggested that his mum was/is a famous pop star. Let’s not pretend money is an obstacle for these people. 
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Falling for the Giant by J. A. Gul

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adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Size difference 🤭 
 
I had such high hopes for this…there were 3 reviews on GR. 2 good one DNFed at 30%.
 
This book came out of the gate HOT - 20% - Human biology has magically adapted, both to accommodate a giants 🍆 but also our human MC has literally become an 🍆 sleeve. Straight tube from one end to the other… 
 
Initially I thought (and tagged) this book as spicy only. Was I ever wrong. This book is so sweet, and felt more fable like. I know there are other books set in this world, I’ll be adding them to my TBR. 
 
The person who DNFed on Goodreads made comments about there being lots of “fluids”. I don’t think this is so much more than I recall with a Finley Fenn book…just a little different. 
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Hot for the Bad Boys by Lexi Jay

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

MFM - not MMF like the blurb says
Librarian 
Step-siblings 
Seggs work 
Public hanky-panky 
No ⚔️ 
 
CW: Cheating as part of the plot 

While I'm usually up for a fun, quick and filthy novella with my morning coffee. This one just missed the mark with me. It was all three of those things it just felt super rushed, there were things that happened or were said that didn't 100% fit and left me with itchy brain. 

I think other people will find it really fun.
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