Carrie > Recent Status Updates

This one has a lot of tropes: road trip, only one bed, fake relationship, second chance, and friends to lovers. I'll add I'm struggling because of one trope I really don't enjoy, and that "manipulative friends or family." In this case it's his parents. I don't enjoy abusive families as a conflict source. I'll see how it goes.

I'm bored and find I'm not picking this up to read often. Dustin borders on too good to be true and Charlie is a bit of a stereotype. Frankly, I'm bored and skimming at the moment.

I'm halfway through and it feels like the story isn't going anywhere. I'm getting antsy. I'm actually enjoying the baseball parts, but the character interactions to this point are a bit repetitive imo. Not sure what is going to fill the next 6 hours of the audiobook. Hoping I'll get more caught up in the story.

Incredible writing and narrating But way too much pining for my tastes.

Struggling with the narration on this. Weird pauses between words and staccato delivery. Accents are great, though.

Mis Trentham's pushiness boarders on inappropriate. The story is decent, the narration very good, but I'm bored. I think this might have been a better novella or at least a much shorter book since we are getting repetitive scenes now. (Icarus's nightmares and aftermath.)

Closing in on 50% and still not loving it. Clay is becoming a more sympathetic character, but I still dislike everyone else in the book. The writing is objectively good, but the subject matter isn't clicking with me so far. Narration is good. Bumped the speed up to 1.5 just to get through it.

About a fifth of the way in and haven't found one character to care about. Thom is a social climbing asshat and Clay is a poser. I'm giving it a little longer to make me care if anyone here gets an HEA.

Listening to the audiobook narrated by Alex Wyndham.

This feels more like a psychological thriller than a suspense novel, and the relationship arc really takes a back seat here. 2/3rds of the way through and there is only the past relationship with some present day angst, but not actual relationship being developed.

So far it's a nice story. but what's with the cover? I don't remember either character having a beard, much less a hipster beard. And Duncan is famously known for his staid suits, not his muscle shirts.

The writing is amazing. I'm not 100% sure I can handle the huge emotions here, but I can honestly say sentence after sentence in this book is a masterpiece.

Wendy the Super Librarian's TBR Challenge July 2022: Vintage

The relationship resets to 0. I'm really irritated at this point. This isn't romantic suspense, it's suspense with a hint of romance, mostly Jason thinking about Sam's brush off over and over and over...

I really hate the mom in this series, but honestly, what I hate as much is grown men acting like guilty teenagers afraid of their mom finding out what they are doing. I'm tired of mom's in romance novels being written as manipulative and gaslighting, especially when it's often written as "humorous." The trend is honestly putting me off many contemporary romance books, m/f and m/m.

Definitely warming up to the characters.

Struggling to connect with this one. Eggy and his friend Fifty read more like arrested adolescents than men. Clem is more interesting, but I'm not fond of characters that get pushed around by the people in their lives.

Less funny so far, more stressful. Still good, though.

WTF! Absolutely loving this book until the MOM shows up in the bedroom and instead of leaving stays! God!! I cannot tell you how much I hate it when authors make light of parents who cross personal boundaries and play it off as funny or normal. I cannot wrap my head around how, in any universe, it would be ok for parents of adult children to let themselves into their kids apartments and then into their bedrooms!

WTF! Absolutely loving this book until the MOM shows up in the bedroom and instead of leaving stays! God!! I cannot tell you how much I hate it when authors make light of parents who cross personal boundaries and play it off as funny or normal. I cannot wrap my head around how, in any universe, it would be ok for parents of adult children to let themselves into their kids apartments and then into their bedrooms!

This is a tough slog. Great suspense story, but the romance isn't enjoyable for me. People emotionally hurting people isn't my thing.

I'm switching to ebook because John Solo's narrative style doesn't work for me. He over emphasizes some words and delivers emotional content in a slightly staccato way that I find distracting.

Around 45% in the suspense plot finally started. It's been more fun since we aren't concentrating on the rather problematic relationship dynamic between the leads. (Jerk male, enabling female, insta-lust)

I'm 40% in and so far the only thing that has happened is Keith the SEAL has been an a-hole, Trina has been a doormat and they have insta-lust...lots of insta-lust. GAH! He calls her "Doll face" (are we back in a 1050 movie??), but all she can see is that he's "so hot." He manipulates her, she stands her ground when he apologizes, then she literally runs after him to apologize!! WHY?? She apparently needs to grovel.

I'm struggling a bit with this one. Not a fan of embarrassment for humor, and so far most of the supporting cast (people working on the reality show) are just awful people. Our neuro atypical hero has been verbally, emotionally abused and even allowed to be physically hurt. So far I haven't been laughing.

This is a bit of a slog. Super angsty and pretty much a downer. No one in this book is happy. I can't believe I've got another 50% to go. I hope it lightens up a bit.

This one isn't engaging me yet. I'll give it a little more time but so far I'm bored.

Putting aside for now. Convoluted and angsty and not what I'm in the mood for.

I really need a cheat sheet to keep track of all the characters. I feel like I must have forgotten some vital information from book one. **Scratches head over Salina/Alex estrangement**

Review to come.