unusablebooklore's reviews
322 reviews

Adversaries to Lovers
Queer awakening and exploration 

Jacobs and Beck are the sole participants in the most unfortunately named competition, all to become their hockey team's captain.

Jacobs has 100% decided he was straight and has deeply repressed his attraction to bros. 
While Beck seems to just go with what feels good and doesn't think too deeply about that fact that he's suddenly very into touching, kissing and tasting his teammate...that he hates. 

Ultimately a game of "gay chicken" back fires in the best way.

As all the Sadenverse books are, this was a fully enjoyable read with good characters that you fall for. 

It's not mentioned if it’s a #MiddleLifeRomance, but I think/feel like it is. 

 

All 3 of the Grizzly Rim books were wonderful, I'm so glad I picked them up during #StuffMyKindle. This is the last of the grizzly rim books, while they all have some deep emotions this is easily the most intense of them.

 

There is no mpreg which is hugely enjoyable. LOVED that there was no stress about little critters.

#MiddleLifeRomance (kinda age gap - 27/39) 

Hockey 

Small town 

Wolf shifters 

 

Not exactly insta-love but, definitely a fate based drive toward each other. These guys are drawn to each other in a more epic way than just sniffing each other. 

I love that this series has no mpreg.

Small town 

Alaska 

Bird shifters 
#MiddleLifeRomance

I love the deviation from the norm where shifters changing humans is concerned. I also LOVED that there is no mpreg in this book. I was so happy to find a book where there is shifting without a ridged alpha hierarchy. 

 

Genuinely adored the setup and characters. Middle length this book gives the characters depth and complexity. This was my first Mia hunt book. It won't be my last as I intend to finish this series and will likely grab all of her contemporary books. 

Bisexual Rep 

Nerd/Jock 
First time

Brothers best friend 

Sadenverse 

 

Cute. MM hockey books seem to be the only New Adult books I don’t want to give up in the first chapter. 

I picked this up because I was looking for more Sadenverse, they are all light and fun reads and I needed a brain off read to enjoy. 
This book didn't disappoint. 

I love a nerd/jock read and as is a theme in the Sadenverse sports books the jock in this book took the lead as he was the one ultra comfortable with his seggsuality. 

Anon messaging 

Boss/Employee 
Dating in secret

🥵🥵🥵 emails 

 

Narration is SO good 

 

Both Hannah and Trent are so committed to exploring the all the fun scenarios they had emailed back and forth to each other, they don’t seen to realise they have fallen into a situationship. 

 

The beginnings their arrangement feels a bit bodice rippery, Trent (in my opinion) oversteps finding Hannah and the consent is a little murky. But over all it's a very fun fast ride. 

 

Ally (Sister) - Has MS - realistic depiction. Really wished she had been love interest for Luke's book but sadly will did not happen.

ND Rep - Maxine has ADHD 
Adversaries to Lovers
Slight mystery
They force their proximity 
SPICE 

 

As a jeopardy addict this book hit EVERY mark for me. It scratched my nerdy itch, it was filled with perfect relationship development and LOADS of spice. 🍑 fingering in a stairwell while Teddy eats 🐱… goodness - be still my heart! 

 

I adored this and was thrilled that KU had the audio available as I’ve been on an audio kick. 

 

The narration was excellent - I just wish Teddy's accent had been a little different. But that's a me issue. 

Reread: First read in 2022 
Sadenverse
Fake dating 
Queer awakening
 
I needed gym reads, these jocks seemed like a good choice. I'm going to reread all of the Fake Boyfriends books this way.
 
Just as I remembered this book was a complete treat to read. Damon and Maddox are wonderful. 
Maddox is SO okay with falling for Damon and Damon is pissed at himself for falling for the straight guy. This book literally ticks so many of my boxes and was like a cozy hug from a friend. 

The only things of note are firstly that it is new adult. I would LOVE if these guys had been a half decade older. Second, Maddox’s bio mom’s MS (this is totally personal to me); I’m so tired of reading about side characters with MS who are “dying” or “making the most of the time they have left”. Less than 15% people with MS have intense disease onset and people die with MS not from MS (I have a small car sized chip on my shoulder). While I appreciate the disability/chronic illness visibility, I just wish it had been less dramatic. 

Narration was perfect - Alexander Cendese and Iggy Toma are a dream team.

My biggest issue is that it was a little too quick for me to really give it 5 stars, there just wasn't enough build up. 

This is set in space. 
2 bros go on a camping trip on a planet that has recently had a relatively secret viral outbreak. 
The only way they can hold out for help is to become much closer than they ever have been. 

Super quick, essentially one scene with a little before and after to set up the story and the HEA. 

The whole thing takes a bit of focus when you’re reading, this was not a book I could multitask while listening to. The story is good and kept me interested the whole time. 

At about 50% the stories of the 3 girls who became pregnant on prom night and their kids really converge. The first half of the book takes place in 2007 and the second half bounces between 2007 and 2024. At this point I also seemed to figure out who was who and it made listening to it a little easier. I listened to the last 40% in effectively one sitting. 

Whole book was intense. Really explores the question of nature vs nurture, as well as deals with some very important topics like SA, consent, and reproductive rights. I appreciate the authors notes at the end touching on when the book was written, how things had changed from the time it was written to publish, as well as resources available. considering this target audience for this book is teens, I feel like it’s essential information. 

I wish I had books like this when I was younger and I will be suggesting this book to ALL of the younger people in my life. 

The narration was good, with a decent pace. My biggest hurdle was that I had a difficult time keeping the voice for each character straight in my head. This is likely a me problem as I seldom listen to books with more than 2 people in the cast.