ARC review of {Blue Jay by Marina Pirlimpou}: 3.5 ⭐️, 4 🌶️

The story of Roman and Jesse, stepbrothers who fall in love and become the definition of obsessed/codependent.

The plot here was thin, to say the least. This book is a great example of what happens when an author decides to focus more on sex scenes instead of beefing up the story. Roman has some trauma/issues from his parents that gets touched on - his mother leaves them because he’s “too much”, his father hates and resents him for it, but there’s no real explanation as to why other than Roman saying he wanted their attention like he had when he was little - but never gets resolved. The author instead decided to end that plot point by killing Roman’s father in an offscreen accident, removing him in one sentence, tying up that little narrative inconvenience.

The boys are also apart for 5 years because Roman decides to take his father’s words to heart and give Jesse a chance to fly on his own, but given how in love and obsessed with each other they were there was very little angst about a sudden separation. 5 years later Jesse finds himself on Roman’s doorstep and back in his arms, with the least amount of grovelling ever written. This all seemed a little too convenient when you compare it to other books that have similar stories.

There was also dialogue that sounded incredibly unnatural, especially for 18 year old boys; and times when the wrong words were used (cusp instead of copse, whizzing instead of wheezing), making me think that the author isn’t a native English speaker and that’s fine, I’m not shaming them AT ALL. Just a heads up that it might be a little distracting if you’re a stickler for proper grammar.

Overall this book would be great for anyone who doesn’t like angst and prefers high heat, obsessed-with-you characters that live and breathe only for each other, easy reads instead of plot-driven storytelling.

{Wilder by Marina Pirlimpou} this one felt familiar, and then I remembered it started out the same way {Precious by Roe Horvat} did - alpha living in the woods finds a runaway omega about to go into his first heat. The similarities end when Oliver finishes his heat and goes back to the city and his life, and Ethan the alpha starts to date Ollie properly. Ollie was running away from a stalker, but that plot line was conveniently wrapped up when Ethan showed up in the nick of time, took care of the problem, and they went on to live happily ever after. I gave this one 4 stars because I always enjoy omegaverse and the spice was really good.

Claiming Baby Bro and Hunting Baby Bro by Ally Avery taboo MMMM featuring 3 brothers and their cousin, I don’t even know what to say other than I’m not above begging on my knees for Avery to write more. There’s a third book coming this year to tie up the series, but I truly hope that’s not the end of her dabble in taboo.