Chris

Disappointedly unprofessional behavior

Revisado: 06-21-22

I have enjoyed several other of Josh Lanyon's books so I was thrilled to get 5 stories with only one credit. Unfortunately I was deeply disappointed in this series. Another reviewer has already commented on the thin plotlines of these stories so I won't say any more than agree with that. What I found so unexpected was the blatant unprofessional behavior exhibited by the two main characters. I thought that it was limited to Taylor's (constant) whining in reference to his relationship insecurities (I mean really, jealous about a high school girlfriend???!!!), however Will then proved to be equally so in the last one. They argue in front of others during the course of their professional duties, have sex in a hotel room while transporting a suspect who is asleep in the next bed, they don't call for backup on numerous occasions, etc.

I will mention one other thing that is admittedly not unique to these stories. That is the fact that most all of the M/M books that I have encountered treat the relationship as in line with the traditional heterosexual paradigm, that being two guys being totally monogamously committed to each other with all the jealous tension when a possible third is introduced into the story. I had higher hopes when the David character was introduced that it could evolve into an occasional third. Will and Taylor could still be committed to each other, but David would seem to me to be able to develop into a nice friend to occasionally join them in play. Please note that I am not suggesting this as a titillating kink for the reader, I am suggesting it as a more accurate portrayal of many M/M (mature) relationships where neither party exhibits childish jealous insecurities.

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Less enjoyable than the earlier ones

Revisado: 06-04-20

This is somewhat a follow on to my review of the previous book in this series (see "Surprisingly Enjoyable"). As I indicated there, I am generally not a fan of the MPreg genre, but found the SciFi aspect interesting enough to check it out. I was eagerly awaiting this latest entry into the saga, hoping for the best but dreading that it might go south. I found this latest entry a little disappointing in that it spent way too much time on the "internals" of the various characters at the expense of the story. In my opinion, the story is paramount, the "feelings" of the characters give it depth, but only to a limited extent, one should not dwell on them obsessively.

I found Carter's whining to be very grating and tiresome after a while and the internal dialogs of most of the other characters very homogenous (i.e., they all were expressing the same doubts, fears, insecurities, misunderstandings). I often found myself having to concentrate on which one was currently "speaking". Mr. Leslie's voice differentiation helped, but I still kept questioning who was the speaker too many times. The sub-plot with the General made no sense to me and was never foreshadowed to the listener, so it had all the appearance of coming out of the blue. The old Scout's relationship insecurities were more that of a younger person and not a seasoned veteran, he was blind to too many things.

This is probably going to be the last book in this series that I will get as what I feared in my earlier review came to pass (see that review for details). It is somewhat a spoiler so I will not outline it here. Thankfully it took place only in the last 20 minutes of this book though. All I will say about that is that I am disappointed that Ms. Glass took that turn as I think that she could have gone quite far and made the series even more interesting by not going there. I will give her credit though for making it at least plausible within the framework of the universe she created, if still a little hard to swallow.

As a final note, to Ms. Glass. Please keep the overall story at the forefront. You need to explore more of the Bugs nature as what you have reveled so far shows them as smart enough to get all their tech and dominate races, but way too dumb to have survived this long. You are hinting at something potentially larger, but I may be reading too much into that last 20 mins. Basically, get the STORY moving. ;-)

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Surprisingly Enjoyable

Revisado: 06-13-19

To explain the title a little, after having listened to several MPreg M/M stories, I have pretty much determined that I am not a fan of the genre. As a reviewer on another book has observed, they tend to be M/F romance stories with the female gender (but not attitudes and "frailties") swapped to a (feminine) male. However, this series, being placed on a SciFi theme, intrigued me enough to chance it (I like SciFi ;-) , and I am glad that I did. I also liked that the "story" had some meat to it (no pun intended) in that there actually was one separate from the "romance" part of it.

Another saving grace for it was that the MPreg part, although strongly hinted at, did not manifest itself (at least so far). I am really hoping that, if this series continues, it never does as while I can suspend disbelief on a couple of fronts (e.g., Space, ETs, tech, etc.), I would find it extremely difficult to believe that all parties are biologically compatible. So please Ms. Glass, do not go there. The *expectation* that it might be possible is fine for Seil and his people to have, but if you somehow make it biologically possible for a human male to give birth on that world, you will loose a fan.

This now brings me to the one, sort of, negative comment that I have, that being the narration. My first introduction to Mr. Leslie was a story that involved a man learning that he was accidentally switched at birth and the family that he was raised with was, well unloving, is about as kind a summary that I can make. In such a story, a narrator who's voice contained a slight tremor, as though he might break down a cry at any moment, was appropriate, if a little tiring and annoying after several hours. However after listening to several other books narrated by him, I have come to the conclusion that this is an ingrained quality of his voice, and one that I unfortunately really do not care for. While I will not dismiss a book read by him solely on that basis, I will think twice about purchasing one that he narrates. So I was tempted to pass this one over, but the storyline intrigued me. That being said, I have to admit that he did a fairly good job here, either that or I am now becoming more numb to those qualities that annoyed me earlier ;-) So, Mr. Leslie, I really do like the timber of your voice and I think, in general, you do a good job at different character voices but, if you could loose that trembling, almost going to cry, aspect you would have a solid fan.

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Somewhat Misleading Title

Revisado: 05-28-19

I was going to write a more detailed review, but then I saw N. Rogers "Lacks Specificity on Dogs" review and they said most of what I wanted to say and more. So please read theirs for more detail. I will add that I did enjoy the book but was really looking for more emphasis on the dogs rather than smelling, specifically human smelling. My only other, somewhat negative comment, was with the narration. I think that Alexandra Horowitz did a fairly good job (I did give 4 stars), however, for being the author, I would have expected a more animated narration. I came out with the feeling that she simply, sometimes robotically, read the text as opposed to "narrating" it, there were several places where she awkwardly paused were I was sure there was no comma. All in all, however, it is a minor complaint.

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Confused at all the strikingly positive reviews

Revisado: 04-09-19

I hesitated at providing a review as it may just be that these types of stories are not for me, but there were enough, more objective, issues and all of the currently existing written reviews were overwhelmingly positive, that I felt another opinion might prove useful to others.

With regard to the stories, to me they were just too simple. Simple in the context of they lacked the more subtle nuances of human interaction, things were just too cut and dried. For example, a fiercely independent main character is introduced in the first book that none-the-less completely surrenders their basic identity the second their "fated mate" enters the picture. I lost all respect and interest for that character once that happened. Again, this could be a standard feature of this genre, but to me it just was more an indication of an unseasoned author.

With regard to the performance, here is where I will be even more critical. The fact is that a good narration can rescue a weak book, but in this case, for me at least, it just dug the grave even deeper. The voice choices were many times questionable (e.g., cross between a parodied stereotypical southern belle/aunt Jamaya) and other times stilted (e.g., many sounded almost robotic, i.e., slow and punctuated).

I have listened to many books here on audible, and a fair portion in this romance category, but I have to say, this is the first one that I seriously considered returning.

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More sappy than substance

Revisado: 12-18-18

If your tastes run more towards the Harlequin Romance style, then you might appreciate this book more than I did. I kept getting the feeling that I was reading a straight romance (i.e., M/F) rather than a gay one as the "heroine's" actions/emotions would be better suited to the opposite gender, in my opinion. It could just be this genre, this was my 3rd(?) Alpha/Omega-type of book and I just don't get the appeal so it will probably be my last. Don't get me wrong, it was a fair story, it was just that, as a Kinsey 6, I found little in it to identify with.

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Somewhat two dimensional

Revisado: 12-17-18

I bought this one (and it's predecessor) more due to the fact that it was on sale. The story had potential, however the writer did not appear too skilled in its presentation. I guessed at the perpetrator early in the listening (but to be fair, not the why or how) due more to the lack of depth in the story. The narration was likewise not up to the standards I have come to expect from Audible. His choice for the voices of several of the characters were... odd, to say the least. Several childish voices and others sounded almost robotic. After listening to two stories in this series, I am unlikely to get any other offerings from this author. I might try one more from the narrator though, from a story of a different author, just to see if it was the source material that had generated this uninspired performance.

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Unbelievable Human Responses

Revisado: 11-19-18

First, I am going to have to agree with a previous reviewer that was surprised at the abrupt ending, after the plot taking sooo long to get rolling, to have it end in that abrupt way was jarring. Also I wanted to give kudos to Trystan James as his performance was up to his typical high standards.

Now as to my main points, let me state up front that although I have been an audible customer for many years and have listened to a great many books, and lately a great many gay romance books, this is my first actual review, which should say something about the disappointment that I felt listening to it. I think that my main beef with it is that there were just too many unbelievable aspects to it. The people were just too perfect, no real character flaws present. Everyone loved one another and basically immediately loved and trusted new people that came on the scene (excluding the main, and sole, protagonist, who only shows up during the last few chapters, and just as abruptly exits).

There were no real plot twists or clever sleuthing taking place here. The story just centered around the two main characters who, unbelievably enough, although supposedly falling madly in love at first sight, never the less spend endless chapters in dancing around that attraction. I constantly felt that enough was enough and keep thinking get on with it already, and by it I mean the plot not any hot sex scenes ;-).

Now at the risk of appearing sexist, I am going to voice an opinion I have been developing after listening to a number of these books, that being, I have found that it is the rare female author that is able to write a convincing male gay novel, or at least one that I find convincing. Many of them here are just too sappy for me and spend inordinate amounts of time on the romance aspects to the detriment of the story. And yes, I am aware that these books are in the Romance section of audible, but does that mean that there should be no other plot?

What I look for first is a good story that contains relatable gay characters (with some hot sex scenes as well, but they should in no way dominate the story ;-). The story here was basically non-existent, and the character interaction was just way too sappy and totally unrelatable. I kept getting the impression that this was originally a romance story featuring a straight couple that the author decided to change the gender of one of the characters and make it a gay romance, oh and while we are at it, let's make the hero an ultra masculine super military guy, who goes all sappy at first sight of the heroine.. This may have worked for Harlequin romances featuring straight couples, but here it just does not work, at least not for me.

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