Quick Reads and Quick Reviews 14

  

• Stay A Little Longer, Jess Bryant
• Chase, Candice Blake
• And Then The Devil Cried, Ellie Fox

I really, really liked how sweet, sexy, and simple this story was. Luke is super deep in the closet with a history of man-whoring.  Trent is newly outed, not by his own choice, and is struggling to find solid ground in a world he doesn't know if he belongs in anymore.   Together they have similar histories, fears, and desires.  They area great match for one another and give one another strength to be true to themselves.  They're also really hot together.  With passion and honesty these two men grow close and even in their short acquaintance, they fall deeply.  Having the epilogue took this from an HFN to an HEA and was a good way to cap things off and have Luke and Trent switch roles a little.  It showed that they both willingly supported one another when they needed it most.  Luke and Trent form a great partnership of love and support and more than a little chemistry.  4.5 stars.

The first 2/3 of this book was pretty good, the last 1/3 was where things diminished in quality a bit for me.  Starting strong with Chase who is an uber confident man that had no idea he was anything other than straight and a younger Justin who is just starting out in his career journey.  They have both led incredibly different lives but have somehow found their way to one another despite the vast differences.  Chase is successful, rich, self-assured, yet somehow still empty.  Justin is adventurous, fun, chill, and yet he is also a bit empty.  Something is missing for each of them and only by involving themselves with one another are they able to find what they never knew they needed.  Justin fills Chase's life with spirit, life, and a different perspective on success and happiness.  Chase gives Justin a sense of grounding, stability, and heart.  There's drama with issues of coming out as well as Justin being suddenly incredibly naive with a "casting couch" situation, but despite that, they overcome what might keep them apart and find great strength and love together.  On the way to the end each of them deal with issues in a rather simple way.  It's not that the issues are simple or that the solutions are either, it's just a general feeling that the story was being rushed to a completion that left things overly simplified and kind of a juvenile writing style that wasn't really there in the beginning.  Overall, the story was good and the MC's were really good for one another.  3 stars.

This was not a happy story.  With the synopsis I was assuming that we would see the things Adam went through and that Rho had to witness.  Instead, this was actually more of a back story book and we'll probably get more of the dark stuff in Episode 2...at least, I hope so.  We get a good understanding of how Rho and Adam came to know one another and how things went so terribly wrong.  What we don't get a good understanding of is the love.  The relationship they have in this story is dark, dysfunctional, and in the past.  There is an intense relationship that Adam calls love but we're seeing that his affections and devotion might be mislabeled.  It doesn't mean that they can't grow a deep love within this darkness that they live in, but it's unlikely that what they feel before Marcus has his way is actual love.  I'm interested to see how dark things get and how they might find light, hope, and healing together over the course of this story.  2.5 stars.