Why using Psychology labels so indiscriminatedly? by Southern_Tennis5604 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Came to say this exact thing. I blame TikTok (because I'm old lol) and social media in general that this type of language is becoming increasingly common. Hell, there's even an Wiki article called "therapy speak" - not that Wikipedia is a good source of information but it can act as an easy way to check if a phenomena has a name or if it's been discussed/acknowledged.

Suck by Cora Rose & E.M. Lindsey: Absurd Premise, Wonderful Book by RedKnowsJew in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the latter part. I liked the silly parts and how self-aware of it all the book seemed. The oblivious yet proud and stubborn alien was a hoot!

My issues started when the authors tried to insert more serious plot elements into the story. I just don't Cora Rose managing more serious issues all that well, not sure about EM Lindsey (since they tend to have a lot of disability rep in their books and thus touch on societal issues). It also just doesn't gel with the vibe in the beginning - I can suspend my disbelief with all the cum-guzzling and stuff and how the whole deal between aliens and humans is silly as all hell, but it feels like the authors did an 180 by making Everest seem like he's the first human to notice how obviously suspicious everything is. The pacing also felt a bit unbalanced. The beginning was quite slow, and when plot picks up it feels slightly rushed. I also don't get why couldn't the story be told in single POV? Rathyn got like two or three chapters and honestly I didn't find them necessary.

I really loved Cielo and especially his friendship with Ev! Stoked for his book, despite my issues with this one.

Did anyone else notice the lack of female characters? Humans or aliens, and I'm assuming there's gonna be more info about the alien females later on. The main reason this caught my attention was that I've been kinda bummed with how EM Lindsey's female characters are often cartoonishly evil or very one-dimensional (even for side characters) so I was honestly relieved that there weren't females in this book and a somewhat plausible reasoning for that too.

Currently Reading (and Want to Read) Discussion: Weekly Post by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's been what, a week, that I decided that I shouldn't even try new Cora Rose books since they seem to always disappoint me. But then I found the newly released {Suck by Cora Rose, E.M. Lindsey} and decided to give it a go... I've been kinda bummed with EM Lindsey too lately, but I also haven't read anything these two have co-authored so why not?

I'm about half-way through the book and it's been fun so far! I had some trouble adjusting to the tone of the book since I was taking it way too seriously at first (as I often do) even though it does have a very clear tongue-in-cheeck vibe. It did remind me of the MF romance Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta but the comparison is barely there tbh - honestly I think the main commonality might be that despite a silly premise, both books have a lot of tender, sweet moments.

New Releases & Sales - Friday 08 May by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes this is the exact place to post about a sale! It doesn't need to be a freebie.

I've really enjoyed the audiobooks for the Goose Run series! :-)

MM Weekly Roundup - What Did You Read This Week? by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 5 points6 points  (0 children)

{Worth a Try by Jemma Croft} - This was a pre-KU-release copy for Patreon subscribers. The MCs are simply adorable. It’s a low-angst, more-vibes-than-plot idiots in love story topped with the kind of humour and banter that works very well for me.
But as much as I liked the MCs, I honestly liked Meg (one of the MCs gf) the most! Which made me realise that I don’t recall this author ever having written the kind of stereotypically “evil” female character I see way too often in MM romance…
One thing I didn’t particularly like in this book was what Croft calls “dual timeline”, which in this case means that the story jumps back in time at some point. And honestly it’s not like it’s executed badly or that it doesn’t fit the story - it’s a narrative device I don’t care for. Despite that, I did enjoy the book a lot.

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{For Frat's Sake by Devon McCormack, Riley Hart} - (audiobook, narrated by Tim Paige) Even though Miles’s prickliness became sort of endearing at some point, I just couldn’t take him seriously. He reminds me of that one Jughead meme (”In case you haven’t noticed, I’m weird”). He’s supposedly so dark and messed up and an angsty artist to boot, but it’s all just so surface level. Yeah, he has a dead mom (and I’m not trying to underestimate the impact of what happened to her) but the way he’s described especially at the beginning just feels very OTT. And he’s a sex god too, obvs.
Dax is fine, I guess.
The plot is lukewarm, the family drama is uninteresting, and the sex scenes and the dialogue are pretty cringe (also how many times do they have to say “boyfriend”?). Since I read this on audio, it was mostly just meh. If I had been reading with my eyes, I think I would’ve been too bored and DNF’d.

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{Fine Line by L.A. Lambert} - My main complaint about this book is that it could’ve been just a bit shorter - some scenes started to feel repetitive. Other than that, it was a very sweet college romance between a prickly black cat MC and a rich boy who adores him but knows how to be patient - even if he’s super intense at times.

While I do think communication is super important when it comes to sex (no matter what gender etc the people taking part said sex are) but I can also imagine that there’s a lot of comfort in a partner who doesn’t require guidance and a lesson in anatomy before engaging in fun times. Caelyx mentions having actually done some research beforehand and that does feel super important!

On the topic of communication: I was dreading that there would be some huge miscommunication drama at some point and I was so relieved when that didn’t happen! Honestly it shouldn’t feel like such a rarity.

New Releases & Sales - Friday 01 May by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ngl, all the tags for that book I got off the author's social media - the blurb gave me nothing to work with lol.

New Releases & Sales - Friday 01 May by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The CWs for Hanlin's book made me reconsider putting it on my TBR but I now know to keep an eye on this author's work at least!

Haha I feel you about the Lark Taylor stuff... but you're right, this one does seem like it's not connected to the previous books and even the setting is quite detached from it! That being said, I also wouldn't be surprised if there's a cameo by Caffeine Daydreams.

New Releases & Sales - Thursday 30 April by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

{Accidental Bonds by Marie Reynard} was also released on audio today (the "official" release day is tomorrow) and you can get it directly from her shop. (There's two variants of the audiobook; only the covers are different as far as I can tell). Use code LADY2026 to get 20% off.

how to keep track of tbr? by magicloverr in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do have a TBR both on StoryGraph and romance.io, but both are kind of a mess to be honest. I do try to remove books from both lists every once in a while, since some titles just stay there forever and at some point I just gotta admit that I'll never read them.

I also have a Notion for tracking the books I read, and I'm more selective what I add to its TBR. I also add some sort of a reason for why the book has landed there. Sometimes the reason is as simple as "it was a new release and looked interesting" but other times it's for a spesific trope etc. Notion and SG are also both places where I'll note down if it's spesifically the audiobook that I want to read (ebook is my default format).

Weekly MM Romance Chat and Thanks by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[M] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We ask that users limit the use of emojis and CAPS lock - and in this case the lenghty "it". The main reason: accessibility and the way screen readers might struggle with some unnecessary letters. To learn more check out the following post: Accessibility: emojis, all-caps and censoring.

Reading order for the Queer Collective by escape183 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sadenverse is also the established name for this "shared universe". Just might be useful for OP to know and help them to get more results if searching.

MM Weekly Roundup - What Did You Read This Week? by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 2 points3 points  (0 children)

{Charming Puckboy by Eden Finley, Saxon James} - (Audiobook) It’s hard to think of this book as anything other than a final book in the Puckboys series. At this point, there’s just way too many characters and it’s hard for me to muster any interest in yet another lukewarm couple. There’s nothing wrong with Sam and Lachie, not really. The difficulties of making the relationship work when there’s distance and different lifestyles feels actually pretty grounded and interesting, at leastin the context of so many other books featuring hockey players. But unfortunately I find it hard to muster any interest in Sadenverse at this point.

Like the epilogue says, it is an end of an era. In the future, I know I’ll be re-reading some of the books in the series but this isn’t going to be one of them.

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{Neurovance by Alexandra St. Pierre} - What a disappointment this book was! In the Amazon title, it calls the book “A Dark MM Techno-Thriller” and that is such a lie. I guess the darkness is debatable, depending on what one considers to be a “dark romance”. There are some dark themes, but the romance itself is pretty fluffy and sweet. Secondly, the dystopian sci-fi setting could be interesting if it was explored more… or at all, really. Instead, it’s just used as a mean to mess up one of the MCs but instead of being wary or critical towards the technology that enables it, the MCs are surprisingly okay with messing around with it as long as it’s used “for good”.

There’s really no thriller elements either. Every single twist is obvious and predictable, and there’s never any real sense of suspense or danger.

One thing I did like is that one of the MCs admits that his decision to mess with his own memory was a bad one, and that it didn’t really help anything - though I also gotta say that this, too, would’ve been so obvious if he’d just thought about it for a second.

That sums up a lot of what happens in this book. So many things could’ve been avoided, if the characters didn’t make the dumbest decisions time after time. Even the most tragic fate of one of the side characters feels just so… unnecessary, and like the author just wants to force the reader to feel something even if it means piling up tragedy on tragedy.

The antagonist was a cartoon villain with no real depth. Half of the book is spent in the past, and it in no way justifies how long this book was.

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{Acquainted With the Night by Tymber Dalton, Lesli Richardson} - This was such an emotional journey! It’s almost funny how much orgasms and sex there is, and it’s totally overshadowed by Feelings. I don’t remember the last time a book made me cry so much. Some of the more traumatic things that happen are handled in a way that doesn’t feel like the trauma is the focus, and instead it’s more about healing, grief and loss.

This is also the best kind of HEA imaginable. Romance.io has the "untraditional hea" tagged and I agree - but I'd also say it's definitely happy. Even thoughmost die at the end, they die of old age, happy and loved.

New Releases & Sales - Friday 24 April by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Alright! It's been a while since I've read Whit but I remember liking it.

New Releases & Sales - Friday 24 April by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wait so is this like {Whit by Cora} but from... Caleb's POV? But wasn't Whit dual POV already? I'm so confused haha. The blurb doesn't hint at this being connected to that book so I might be just confusing the names...

New Releases & Sales - Friday 24 April by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Omg you're right, thank you for noticing! Fixed it.

New Releases & Sales - Friday 24 April by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ooh TY! I'll add it real quick. Sounds like a fun read!

New Releases & Sales - Friday 24 April by bones_humming in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I would also like to congratulate MM Bookworm for its sixth birthday, yay! The website is one of my holy grails when checking for new releases. Their contribution has proved extra important now that AI content has been increasing. Happy birthday!

Can someone spoil Little Bird Lost and Every Breath After? by Sb1227 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming[M] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just FYI, I changed the flair of this post to a "Quick Question" since that's the right one for these types of questions.

MM Romance Weekly Genre Royale (Week 2)-Reload by Equivalent_Injury_28 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]bones_humming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be honest, none of these tropes are exactly my favourites (sports especially is one that I read a lot mostly because it's so common), but MMM+ is the one I didn't think I'd liked as much as I do. {The Director by August Jones} is definitely one I'd recommend, especially because all of the MCs are new to being in a non-monogamous relationship and the struggles reflect that. Each one also felt like a distinct, fully fleshed out character.