Horse Talk Reviews

Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Expected publication: November 1 2022 Tennal shut his eyes and tried to read the universe. I was really excited to read this standalone sequel to Winters Orbit, and I'm glad to say it measured up! And another beautiful cover. Of course, my review writing energy today is absolute trash, but here's thoughts anyway: I really loved how distinct all the characters were. Not only did Tennal and Surit have complementary and individual personalities, but the secondary characters (and even tertiary/background ones!) had a solid sense of personality. No neglecting character depth in this book! They all expected Tennal to be cooperative. It wasn’t as if he had a choice. A shame that he’d never been cooperative in his life. I enjoyed seeing Surit and Tennal slowly start to trust and work together. They kind of just gradually slipped into it, very naturally, and it was a lovely theme. That's another general thing...

Temporary Partner by Nicky James My rating: 4 of 5 stars Excellent start to this series! Or continuation, if you read the prequel.....which you should! I know it says optional, but I think it made reading this a lot better. It introduces the characters and their dynamics - which are well developed here - and you get the background for the events discussed in this book. Also its fun. Anyway. I really enjoyed this book! I couldn't put it down - such tightly written tension on all fronts!! I'm a total dingdong for crime solving, and this was perfect for me. I had no idea who could be the culprit, and I got to suspect literally everyone ever. Except the MC, that one takes serious chops to pull off. But anyway. Loved the crime mystery!! (this is a strong positive, i love not knowing what's going on and just like to keep pace with the MCs as they solve it. if i can solve the mystery, its a very bad sign) The chemistry between these two was pret...

Taken By My Boyfriend's Ex by Cara Cumberland My rating: 4 of 5 stars Hilariously self aware erotica, love how dumb Magnus is lmao Very entertaining sequel plus some fun kink View all my reviews

Claiming My Boyfriend's Best Friend by Cara Cumberland My rating: 4 of 5 stars Very amusing brief erotica - focuses mostly on the cheating/cuck aspect for a single encounter. Made me laugh how much Kenny is constantly worried about fabric, like his shirt and the couch despite being in the middle or directly after sex View all my reviews

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian My rating: 5 of 5 stars 5 stars If you haven't noticed by now, I am a big Cat Sebastian fan. She just gets me, ok? Especially the Cabot books that she describes as "vibes" and "people crying while wearing sweaters" and "generationally queer" which Tommy calls them in this exact book. Which is exactly right. What I loved most about this book is how much space Daniel and Alex make for each other. The story starts with them already as friends and together in every sense besides fucking so there is immediately domestic slowburn vibes which continue the entire time. Alex is an immigrant, a doctor, and neurodivergent, all of which are treated with care in the writing. Daniel is from a wealthy family but is still a cinnamon roll and a dirtbag who starts a community garden on a city-owned abandoned lot. In a way, the book is a story of these two finding their way both as independ...

Wrong Hunt by J.S. Harker My rating: 4 of 5 stars 3.5 stars On the whole, this was a pretty entertaining read, and I enjoyed it. It had mean family, which I have such a weakness for - saddest boi zack being bullied by his mean family!! how dare and then he finds out they're also terrible and judgey and he finds acceptance and niceness in the alleged enemy (vampire/supernaturals) and has to face the pull between being accepted (maybe) by his mean family and everything he's known, vs being accepted by actually nice people...such the best. That part was actually pretty light - Zack didn't face a whole lot of tension accepting that his family sucked and the supernaturals were nice, especially because his family (especially brother!) were OTT Evils. I don't mind that though. I liked that the romance and plot were well woven together, it never felt like one got in the way of the other. It also never felt choppy. However! My one major gripe...

Heart of the Mummy by J.D. Sampson My rating: 2 of 5 stars • Well, I thought there'd be a lot more haunting and mummy presence than there was • The foot fetish thing was not appreciated - I like to be warned about kinks like this rather than just suddenly foot • hilarious that Tarantino got name dropped tho • There was a lot of time spent on Eli and the history of the studio and it's construction etc, and it took over the book • I didn't feel the romance at all, no connection for me between the characters • There was no real sense of priority in the plot - what matters? Everything is given the same level of attention • Lots of plot lines, no real development: there's an evil family, some Tragic Past(???), um.....man I don't even know. There's a lot of stuff and it is left hanging (presumably this will continue in the series?) • On the whole I could follow the plot line, as it was fairly straightforward...but sometimes, things ...