Nothing is working for me here: - the rock star lifestyle couldn't be more stereotypical and off-putting - no connection to the MCs - the way they act is immature and not believable - the side characters have only one purpose in this story, to tell the MCs how they feel about each other - Andrew's character is extremely annoying, and pointless
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 Stars. Rounding up for now. 🎄🎄🎄/5 Christmas Magic
I haven’t been nearly as big a fan of this series as I am of Finley’s, “Fake Boyfriend,” one or the one she co-writes with Saxon James. I’ve liked them well enough but not loved them. And I know I’ve said this before but it feels like there’s something missing in them for me. However, I clearly like them enough to keep reading. Anyway. Moving on...
After all that rambling, I’m here to say that I liked this one the best of all in this series so far! I’m a sucker for long term pining and unrealized heart eyes so this pulled me in immediately. Poor Thorne, yearning for Seb for so long. And sweet, oblivious Seb. Who knows how long the two would have continued that song and dance if it wasn’t for a particular 🍋. 🤣
This was pretty delightful. The relationship did develop fast. But it didn’t feel too rushed when you took into consideration how long the feelings had been simmering on the back burner before the novella started. Christmas book magic at work perhaps? Or my mood in general at the moment? Who knows. I won’t analyze it any further. 🤷🏻♀️
**I snagged this through the Prolific Works Winter Wonderland Giveaway. All books available until January 10th.**
Quite nice, short and entertaining, but without depth. well, I didn't expect that either.
“What do you want?” “Honestly, this.” I tighten my arms around him. “Don’t get me wrong, the sex is amazing, and I want more, but I enjoy holding you just as much.” His lips brush against mine, and his beard tickles my skin. “I’ve never had that before,” he admits softly. “I can give you more than sex. You’re worth more than that, Seb.”
That was a lot of fun. Sebastian has been a very present secondary character in Eden's current series and it made me happy to get his story.
I also really liked Lemon aka Andrew, the twink who Seb picks up to try and prove he could be in a serious relationship! and I was glad Eden didn't make him into an arse.
Thorne and Seb were hot and the added dramatic ending might have been a tad wtf-ish, but it didn't spoil any of the enjoyment I had reading this one.
These two were sweet and sexy together. It takes a bit from them to get together as Thorne is the band's manager and doesn't want to ruin things for the band, and also he wants a serious relationship with Seb and doesn't think he wants anything serious, ever. So for years he's held back.
Seb doesn't realize his feelings until about halfway through this short novella, but once he does, it doesn't take him long to be ready for more with Thorne - and he has been wanting something serious before he realizes his feelings, so it wasn't like he was just reading for serious out of nowhere.
When nudes of Seb are leaked, Thorne does his job, but also he's there for Seb when he needs him and stays the night with him - no funny business though - and something shifts then, for Seb. Thorne already knows his feelings, but it's taken a bit for Seb to catch - especially because he think Thorne is straight, because Thorne hasn't told the band he's bisexual.
But when Seb, still greatly affected by the nudes leak - that happened without his consent, and the picture was taken without his consent as well - brings a stripper with him on the band's holiday trip for a cabin in Montana, Thorne can't exactly hold in his jealous. And Andrew, the stripper, is a sweetheart and he realizes basically right away how Thorne feels about him and that Seb loves him back, and actually helps to get them together. (I hope Andrew becomes a LI or gets his own book in a spin off series or something. I liked him a lot.)
Overall, a cute holiday fic, and these two had great chemistry and I loved them together. Two thumbs up from me!
2.5 Yes, there's Eden Finley somewhere in that story and also she's not, at least not like I know her from her other books where she listend also to her support characters. Here they are merely support than characters, paving the way for Thorne and Sebastian while Thorne is bound in his martyr-bullshit and Seb suddenly takes a 180 from his usual behavior. As sweet as those two are together I hardly can believe them.
Well then.. I must say that this was definitely a bit anticlimactic. This novella started out really freaking great, but sadly went relentlessly downhill in one quick moment.
I'm a sucker for pining, and that is 100% what Thorne was doing when it came to Seb. I also really liked that Seb was entirely oblivious to this, and didn't yet reciprocate these feelings. He had quite simply never considered Thorne as an option before, because he thought Thorne was straight. And instead of being totally in love with a straight guy, he just thought they could be good friends and care for each other. I liked that, it felt believable and sweet. Unfortunately, this whole concept is ruined when Seb immediately jumps to the conclusion that he is in fact completely in love with Thorne and has been for all this time. It would have been so much better if his feelings could have grown over time, letting the tension rise between them, etc etc. But noooo, that wasn't meant to be. Seb jumped in head over heels, and it was disappointing to say the least.
The reason I still wanted to rate this three stars is because I did really like the beginning, and just because it went downhill after that, doesn't mean it suddenly did not bring me a whole bunch of enjoyment at the start. And, also, the pining. Thorne pining for Seb was my favourite thing, and it pretty much stayed around for the entire novella. I just love pining so much. Sorry not sorry.
I really enjoyed the two main books in this series but the novellas just don’t seem to do it for me, sadly.
This one is about Thorne, who’s Cash Me Outside’s manager and who has been in love with the band’s guitarist (Seb) for year. This is how they get together.
I was enjoying it at first, when it was just Thorne pining and what seemed to be unrequited love. It was nicely described and I could feel how much Thorne was aching. I could feel how much Thorne loves Seb.
What I never felt is Seb’s love. He goes from a manwhore who never wanted to settle down to being in love and only wanting to be with Thorne in about 10 pages. It made no sense to me. I never could believe that Seb really loves Thorne because he starts the book thinking he feels nothing about Thorne and then suddently he magically realizes he loves him and wants to spend his life with him. I just wanted to be able to believe that he actually loved Thorne because Thorne deserves it but I never felt it. This was way too rushed for me.
Also, this was closer to a 3 stars because it was really cute and then I read the epilogue and I had to lower my rating. The epilogue was so over the top and it did nothing for me, it kind of ruined the story for me even.
Honestly, gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you much about any of these characters. But it was a quick, fun read with spice and fluff. Definitely wasn’t super necessary to give these side characters their own story but I enjoyed it anyway.
This book is also easily skippable if you really don’t wanna read it.
(Same review for both books: Locked Heart and Thorned Heart)
✧ ”Quiero que estés a mi lado cuando me vaya a dormir y cuando me despierte. Quiero que seas tú quien me saque de la cama cuando tenga cosas que afrontar o canciones que escribir. Quiero ser tuyo.”
✧ Está es la segunda historia corta sobre la banda Cash me outside, seguimos a Seb (el guitarrista principal) y a Thorne (el mánager de la banda). Thorne ha estado enamorado de Seb desde hace dos años, pero nunca ha actuado en consecuencia; viendo como Seb se la vive de polvo en polvo y no tiene relaciones serias, piensa callarse sus sentimientos. Hasta que, tras un incidente con una fotografía íntima de Seb y unas vacaciones navideñas en las montañas, los hacen enfrentar todos esos sentimientos.
✧ En lo personal no me ha gustado mucho esta segunda historia corta, sentí que Seb tenía muy planteada su personalidad de fuckboy y de buenas a primeras la cambia para querer tener una relación estable con alguien. Entiendo que Thorne lleve más tiempo queriendo en secreto a Seb, pero que de repente me pongan que después de tantos años, en menos de 24 hrs, Seb tenga la gran revelación del año de que esta profundamente enamorado de Thorne… Me pareció muy difícil de creer y no pude conectar con la química que intentaba tener esta pareja.
✧ El tema del chico que Seb lleva con ellos para hacerlo pasar por su pareja y que sea él quien les dé la gran revelación de que Thorne está enamorado de Seb, no me ha parecido muy creíble. Es que me dicen que todos en la banda, que llevan AÑOS junto a Thorne y que son como una familia, nunca se habían dado cuenta de sus sentimientos hacia Seb… Dude, really? Y un random que apenas y llegó hace 5 minutos es quien ve a través de todo y bum! Convenientemente Seb y Thorne son felices para siempre; quizás es porque la historia anterior de Cash y Sherlock me ha encantado, pero esta no lleno mis expectativas y no pude conectar con casi nada.
✧ Lo único por lo que de doy 2 estrellas es porque me ha gustado la escena navideña en donde todos se dan sus regalos y se sientan como una gran familia encontrada a disfrutar de la magia de la navidad. Y porque las muy pequeñas apariciones de Mason me han intrigado muchísimo, tengo muchas ganas de ver cuál es su historia con Eleven; se ve que es de esos hombres que son súper rudos y masculinos por fuera, pero por dentro son como un malvavisco.
Eden Finley is a decent writer, so there's not much here to complain about in terms of technicality... Except maybe for the use of the word "uncomfortableness" which I've been seeing a lot lately and is starting to drive me 'round the bend...
Anyway, it's a short story with a lot of shenanigans going on, which leaves very little room for development and chemistry. It all seems rather abrupt. Plus, the entire thing relies on some pretty heavily overused romance tropes and clichés. For me personally, I always have a really hard time with the unrequited love stories where one person is continually hurt while watching the object of their affection bang everything on two legs. It depresses the hell out of me. I guess I'm glad Thorne and Seb got their HEA, but knowing all the unnecessary pain that came beforehand tarnishes it a bit for me.
this hurts me a little bit ngl I can always count of an EF to give me a boost when I need one, but this one was just too short to really go anywhere and it's so sad to me.
I've been greatly enjoying the main Eleven band members story line, and Cash caught my attention the first time he showed up but I just hate being constrained to less than 150 pages, mostly because I know where EF could take this story with more room to develop it.
I still read this in one sitting, and getting to meet Mason definitely tied it together with the main story line. But not memorable enough on its own.
This story is loosely connected to Eden Finley's Famous series. There are mentions of the characters from that one, but you can read it a standalone. You don't even nead to read Thorned Heart first - I haven't read it yet - even though it would help as that couple is present.
I liked Thorned Heart, Seb and Thorne were good together. It was funny to see Seb's pick up, Andrew, egg Thorne on and trying to make him jealous. Seb couldn't have picked a more perfect person to bring with him on their vacation.
One other thing that stood out for me was the road the author chose to take with Seb's leaked photo. It was refreshing that there was no shaming Seb for it, no lying about it. It was a violation of his privacy and that's how everyone saw it.
Thorned Heart was part of the Winter Wonderland amazing giveaway.
Un friends-to-lovers bien mignon, mais loin d'être crédible ! J'ai passé un moment sympa avec cette nouvelle, les émotions et sentiments de Thorne sont bien rendus, j'ai aimé suivre ses chapitres, et j'étais heureuse pour lui quand ses rêves se sont réalisés. Seulement, la volte face de Seb est trop commode pour être crédible (j'veux dire, le gars, il emmène quand même quand même un stripteaser en vacances avec lui pour se prouver qu'il peut être en couple et avoir une relation sérieuse). Donc oui, on passe un bon moment, mais c'est quand même difficile d'être convaincue par ce couple et par ses chances de durer.
It's Seb's story! If you aren't familiar, we meet Seb in Locked Heart as Cash's best friend. I loved him in Locked Heart and I really really wanted his story. I do love pining and Thorne has been pining over Seb for years. It's the YEARNING!
This novella is a cute and sexy story and I loved the cameo from one of the ex-band members of Eleven.
It's a great accompaniment to the Famous series but can also be read as a standalone. Lemon is an interesting side character and I would totally love to see more of him. (But Eden said NO! *sad noises*)
*Read as a part of the Winter Wonderland Giveaway from Jan 1-10*
Thiiis...wasn’t for me. The writing style is very easy to read and good in general, it just wasn’t my kind of romance story nor my kind of characters. All very neanderthalian (is this a word? It’s a word now.), the feelings came too quickly, the sex scene (which is their first time together, and it’s a very definitive Dom/Sub kind of thing) wasn’t for me, and then at the end of the shortstory they were already engaged and getting married?! No, not my kind of story...
I finished this is less than 2 hours, it was a pretty short story. The only part I didn’t enjoy was the quick “I love you” from one side of the couple who’d only realised his feelings the day before. Aside from that it was enjoyable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I liked this one more than Cash's story. I felt sorry for Andrew, being a tag along and then told to go home. A lot of jealousy in this one. I'm looking forward to Mason's story and at first glance, he's already my favourite Eleven's member. Favourite part was Mason calling Thorne out and the watches.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I am disappointed, this started off so well!! And then it got ridiculous and wayyy too rushed even for a short story. The 🍋 situation first annoyed me but lowkey ended up being the best part, i need a book about that lol. Loved the potential of manager x rock star and the PINING, but this was just not it for me :,)
EDIT: I AM AN IDIOT LEMON HAS A BOOK IN THE MIKE BRAVO SERIES AAAH *happy dance*
I think there's something about the name Sebastian because I LOVE HIM. I wish this was a novel rather than a novella. Sebastian and Thorne are so cute and emotional. I loved this book in the entire series.
PS: Can we please get Greg and Jasper's story too? PPS: Blake is waiting in the line too. Thanks.
4 stars minus one star for the crossover factor. I dislike crossover books because I always feel lost. Here we see one of the ex-band members from the group Eleven which I’m not familiar with. Apparently the group Eleven in featured in Eden Finley’s Famous series. If that hadn’t been included in this novella, my rating would have been higher.
4.8 estrellas. Este libro me encantó, sobre todo la dinamica de los personajes, pero hay algo que lo hizo más entrañable y ese fue Mason (personaje secundario) desde el momento en que dijo: El mundo quería olvidarse de mí, así que los dejé. me había ganado...