**spoiler alert** I'm giving this book 1.5 - 2 stars because I respect the author for writing about a subject that is still rarely written about. I've**spoiler alert** I'm giving this book 1.5 - 2 stars because I respect the author for writing about a subject that is still rarely written about. I've read a few incest stories, plus a lot of incest slash, and the premise doesn't squick me in the least - I want that to be clear before I start my review. The reason this book doesn't rate highly with me has nothing to do with the subject matter and I'm not in any way trying to bash the author. I am merely giving my opinion.
This book revolves around three pairs of brothers - three separate stories except the last includes all nine characters. I honestly thought the first story would be the one I had the most trouble with, but it ended up being the one I liked that best, despite the repetition of the phrase "little brown pucker" and the weak dialogue. This was the only one of the three that I was able to feel a little bit of emotion from. Rusty and Rocky were good characters, good brothers and in the end a good couple, and out of the three sets, they're the ones I felt ended up revealing the most about themselves. And even though I was a little astounded that they didn't have any "incest guilty feelings", their story at least kept my attention.
The 2nd story was about Paco and Juan and they were just okay for me, nothing amazing or really that interesting, but okay. There was less dialogue in this one, a little more showing than just telling but their story was dull to me. I have to say that even though incest doesn't disturb me, the fact that both brothers were shown carefully studying their father's naked body as he had sex with a woman, disturbed me a little. This occurred on two separate occasions when their father took them to a brothel to "make them into men" and went on to take turns having sex with the woman.
The 3rd story introduced the Italians, Aldo and Giorgio, but they never really got a story of their own because they were too busy meeting the other brothers, whether in handjob situations or hijacking ones. I never felt any chemistry at all from them and when they both died I hardly noticed.
I found this story was very confusing and didn't hold my interest, maybe there were just too many elements being incorporated, or the fact the characters just sort of came and went in weird flitty stages. The sexual assault that occurred on Rusty when he was hijacked didn't help my disinterest - one of the hijackers, Paco, gave him oral then had sex with him. The word rape was never mentioned and even when a deputy sheriff showed up to save him, Rusty was just fine with letting him ogle him until more help arrived. It was only mentioned in passing again when Rusty told Rocky matter-of-factly what had happened referring to it as "playtime" with the hijacker - so maybe I over-reacted to what I considered an assault.
Overall, I think I needed a lot more emotion and character insight, and perhaps these would have been better read as expanded stand-alones.
Merged review:
I'm giving this book 1.5 - 2 stars because I respect the author for writing about a subject that is still rarely written about. I've read a few incest stories, plus a lot of incest slash, and the premise doesn't squick me in the least - I want that to be clear before I start my review. The reason this book doesn't rate highly with me has nothing to do with the subject matter and I'm not in any way trying to bash the author. I am merely giving my opinion.
This book revolves around three pairs of brothers - three separate stories except the last includes all nine characters. I honestly thought the first story would be the one I had the most trouble with, but it ended up being the one I liked that best, despite the repetition of the phrase "little brown pucker" and the weak dialogue. This was the only one of the three that I was able to feel a little bit of emotion from. Rusty and Rocky were good characters, good brothers and in the end a good couple, and out of the three sets, they're the ones I felt ended up revealing the most about themselves. And even though I was a little astounded that they didn't have any "incest guilty feelings", their story at least kept my attention.
The 2nd story was about Paco and Juan and they were just okay for me, nothing amazing or really that interesting, but okay. There was less dialogue in this one, a little more showing than just telling but their story was dull to me. I have to say that even though incest doesn't disturb me, the fact that both brothers were shown carefully studying their father's naked body as he had sex with a woman, disturbed me a little. This occurred on two separate occasions when their father took them to a brothel to "make them into men" and went on to take turns having sex with the woman.
The 3rd story introduced the Italians, Aldo and Giorgio, but they never really got a story of their own because they were too busy meeting the other brothers, whether in handjob situations or hijacking ones. I never felt any chemistry at all from them and when they both died I hardly noticed.
I found this story was very confusing and didn't hold my interest, maybe there were just too many elements being incorporated, or the fact the characters just sort of came and went in weird flitty stages. The sexual assault that occurred on Rusty when he was hijacked didn't help my disinterest - one of the hijackers, Paco, gave him oral then had sex with him. The word rape was never mentioned and even when a deputy sheriff showed up to save him, Rusty was just fine with letting him ogle him until more help arrived. It was only mentioned in passing again when Rusty told Rocky matter-of-factly what had happened referring to it as "playtime" with the hijacker - so maybe I over-reacted to what I considered an assault.
Overall, I think I needed a lot more emotion and character insight, and perhaps these would have been better read as expanded stand-alones....more
I'm missed books from the MacLeod/Valentine boys and this new book is awesome. Rockstars, competitions, catty bitches, drama, hot sex, and a whole lotI'm missed books from the MacLeod/Valentine boys and this new book is awesome. Rockstars, competitions, catty bitches, drama, hot sex, and a whole lot of love. Reno told me it was a little more romantic than they usually write and he was right, but I loved it. Logan and Nick were both strong but vulnerable characters and the whole competition idea was brilliant. I fell for both the boys and the secondary characters were very well-written, including a very strong female presence (Hey, Amber!) Great book and it gave me a healthy dose of my rockstar addiction. :)...more
Loading...
