The Understatement of the Year By Sarina Bowen

This was the perfect balance that left me incomplete. Usually, I either get stories of characters wide open and out of the closet and others where characters accept that they are gay and try to find ways to get out of said closet. This go, we had an open gay who wasn't ready and one who can't say the word. No. He isn't mute.

Graham is so deep in the closet that you might need a 100ft rope to get him out. His theories were half sad and half hilarious because of the details placed in every day things like the colour of his sheets o.O

I can't imagine anyone putting in the time and logic that Graham used to keep that closet door close but it made for an interesting story to get the views of a self-loathing gay. It also gave the story another mystery because you leave not knowing if it was the traumatic event as a teen or society's views that made him a paranoid alcoholic for the most part of this story.

Then we have Rikker, who should be the paranoid drunk, but instead is the poster boy for 'gay but manly all the same'. He isn't shopping, sipping cosmos and  gossiping. You just don't need glaringly obvious reminders that he's gay. It's who he is. He was funny, scratch that, he was hilarious! He took everything in stride and flipped Big-D's comments when necessary.

I hate spoilers and I hope this isn't one for someone, but you really do wait until the very end for any revealing scenes. Then, I was left with so much unsaid and unresolved that I wonder if I got the complete novel and if perchance, book 4 will answer some of the questions I now have.

M/M romance novels normally carry the hot and angry sex scenes but this is 'The Ivy Years' series, so blow by blow sex scenes were bypassed for a steamy build up and a little cuddling after.

This novel was the most hockey based novel in the series, but I still didn't feel overwhelmed, so that's a plus. Unfortunately, due to Graham's phobia of his sexual orientation and all the time spent on the ice, we hardly spent any personal time with Rikker and Graham as a couple.

Sometimes, the story even dragged because we were stuck in the back and forth that is Graham's mind. Then came the really fast crescendo that began and ended before we could blink. I am now anxious to know what happens next and it's not even me being greedy, it's just that a whole new world now awaits.

Sarina Bowen has never been afraid to tackle major issues and this was no different. There is more to this novel than "coming out" and I think that's why the end left me feeling incomplete. There were also a few more grammatical errors than I am used to from a Sarina Bowen novel but I'll just chalk that up to it being an ARC. A purchased copy should have less grammatical errors. I hope.

Still, it wasn't enough to deter me and my interest was captured and held until the end. There is drama, lessons, fun, friendship, first love and acceptance all wrapped in two Harkness Hockey jackets.

- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22701480-the-understatement-of-the-year

Phenomenal X By Michelle A. Valentine

Yes! It's World Cup time so I have been a little absent. I apologize but I did get to read one book in this time frame and let's just say that it didn't live up to it's title. There was nothing phenomenal about this story or it's odd characters and weak progression. I don't even know what to say about that unnecessary ending.

Firstly, this isn't MMA. That was my first mistake. This is WWE RAW kinda fights, that were terribly scripted, like the novel. The ending was very unimaginative and unrealistic and I never once felt them as a couple. I could see them as friends with benefits though and for someone who is all, "I walk a straight line", Xavier has quite the temper on him, which naturally became his downfall.

In true Michelle Valentine style, the back stories were different and interesting and the ending, even if you don't agree or like it, has you wanting to take a chance on book 2. You just can't help it! It's a gift really.

Xavier had more realistic qualities in the beginning including his moment of weakness. We hate it in stories but let's be honest ladies, guys will screw anything that moves, that they can look on while they screw it and sometimes it's not even a requirement. His back story is a sad but solid one and I actually like the times we went back in his past because it provided a different  take than stories I have read. His relationship with his mother and grandmother differ in ways I didn't expect and the heavy religious theme threw me but was a good direction because it provided a different dimension.

This book spans a total of two weeks with 2 years worth of emotions so naturally you know my eyes were on the roll. I didn't believe half of what they said or claimed and their conversations were quite dull if you ask me. Not much interesting things happened in the present except for Xavier beating the crap out of his co-workers. To be honest, the man needs a sport that 's not as tame. He should try MMA or boxing, the refs there are actual refs too. o.O

Anna's contribution to this story was her majority narration, as well as, her vagina that made her the female counterpart. I didn't see the point of her character otherwise because she has nil spine in the grand scheme of things and what was her purpose again?

I don't hate her character but she did nothing but narrate most of the story and lust after X while rebuking her own self and Jorge, where are you buddy? Also, it took about 95% of this novel for me to know the chick has a sibling o.O

Then again, I keep forgetting it's only been 2 weeks . Silly me.

The sex doesn't happen until 70% in so don't expect that kind of story line and when it does come, I was over their irresponsible behaviour, cheesy sex lines and quite basic sex before the sex itself was over. If I wanted that, I'd do an internet search for basic porn -_-

Some might call this a rant but that's not the case. I felt like this story went no where and dropped in important points when it remembered. I was thoroughly underwhelmed and even though I was glued to the World Cup coverage for the better part of the days I preferred to play Quizup at nights than to finish this story in more than a week.

The story line is weak, the characters themselves are questioning their roles and I am still trying to piece together the point of this all. Hopefully, it will all come together in the next book. I have read better bodies of work from Michelle Valentine so I won't write her off as an author I can jam with but this just wasn't that great of a story.

- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18756982-phenomenal-x