Jay na Thalang is a demanding, driven genius. He doesn’t know how to stop or even slow down. The instant he lays eyes on Maria Lopez, he knows that she is a sexy distraction he can’t afford. He’s done his best to keep her at arm’s length, and he’s succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

Maria has always been cautious. Now that her once-tiny, apocalypse-centered blog is hitting the mainstream, she’s even more careful about preserving her online anonymity. She hasn’t sent so much as a picture to the commenter she’s interacted with for eighteen months—not even after emails, hour-long chats, and a friendship that is slowly turning into more. Maybe one day, they’ll meet and see what happens.

But unbeknownst to them both, Jay is Maria’s commenter. They’ve already met. They already hate each other. And two determined enemies are about to discover that they’ve been secretly falling in love…

Review

I adore the complexity of the characters, the Shop Around the Corner Theme, the nerd joy, and the shoes.

I don't tend to love enemies to lovers tales and because of the level of animosity between the hero and the heroine at first this element is here. Also, the plot takes a long time getting them together and then they are apart a lot still so I was not happy with the level of couple time, falling in love, and romance I got here.

I loved the first book in this series and snapped Maria's story up as soon as it came out. I wish for a softer look at the cast of characters for the series but enjoyed going deeper into this world.

There has been a great deal of thoughtful discussion on this book and the balance between the leads being themselves and the intersections of their various identities. I felt what was here was good but I wanted more. I wanted the relationship to move beyond where it rested so that the characters could reckon with more of their own intersection. Couples, especially couples as relatively young as there two, spend a great deal of time sharing who they are and who they are becoming and the most vulnerable parts of themselves past and present and future. We get some of that but I am greedy and think the book would have been more richer if this tenderness would have been explored.

This was a cute graphic novel. Lots of randomness and improbability. The hero is very ordinary, but he gets into the most extraordinary scrapes. At the heart, he's a guy in love with his girlfriend and wanting to make a good life for the both of them. He seems to look to hip hop artists for his life philosophy, which is quite interesting in itself. You aren't quite sure the whole time what is reality and what is dream/imagination. I suppose that's what makes it fun. The artwork is all black and white, but beautiful in its simplicity.

A random grab from my library graphic novel shelves, and a delightful find. I love to read books with Asian leads, and this is one I'd recommend if you want something different and off the beaten path.

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.

All Keira Kenney wants is her happy ending. Too bad she can never make it through a first date. Is a nice man who’s into fitness and comics, with an extensive knowledge of everything science-fiction too much to ask for? Apparently, since Keira can’t seem to find a partner who can simply tolerate her interests. Perhaps it’s time for her to give up. She has her job at Melrose Fitness, a new season of her favorite space drama added to streaming, and hundreds of thousands of words worth of fan fiction all to keep her mind busy. Her heart will have to wait.

Pyrotechnics expert, Daniel Song isn’t looking for anything. He spends his days doing what he loves, and his nights and weekends participating in the kinky activities his body craves. Single life as a sexual switch suits him perfectly, giving him the freedom to indulge in the types of erotic adventures some people only dream of.

When a good friend asks Daniel if his co-worker, Keira can join him at a local sci-fi convention, neither of them expect any sort of fireworks to spark. After all, Keira’s turned off by kink and Daniel can’t live without with it. So naturally they both agree that an official first date would be a great idea. With this new relationship fresh between them, Daniel shares what he can of himself without scaring Keira off, hiding his shock and growing infatuation as she rises to every sexual occasion with her silly, geek-girl personality. It’s only a matter of time before they both have to face the truth; what he wants is the furthest thing from what she needs. But in the meantime, pushing each other’s sexual limits seems like a good plan. It’s like not either of them is looking for love.

Review

This romance is my favorite of the series. I love Kiera and I love Daniel. They are human and fall in love with each other in lovely real ways. They also mess up in lovely real ways.

I am not always a fan of BDSM but this book is great for me because who the characters are blend into their play. Very sexy and very loving.

I think we get the great, if fast, development of their relationship. I wish, again with this series, to see how they ended up negotiating their lives fully blended.

This was a sweet hot read about acceptance and being loved.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I read this. I liked the artwork style. It's pretty minimalist which was nice after some of the other books/comics/manga I read last month.

I wasn't a huge fan of the "cameos," and I think I might have liked them better if I were a New Yorker and/or got more of the references (just a guess). All of the characters have unshaded skin (so they're all white... literally the color of the paper pages). This led me to accidentally read at least one character as the wrong race. I thought he was Asian, but I'm pretty sure he was meant to be black.

I don't know. I didn't really love the story or characters, but I didn't dislike them either. I'm going to read the sequel and see how I feel about the books and characters after that. As of now I'm just feeling pretty eh.

Cheng Liu is a hot shot young Chinese professional. He’s tall, polished, assertive, sexy, ambitious, good looking and used to speaking up and getting what he wants. So when he sees beautiful and equally poised, but shy and reserved African-American professional Angela Hawkins, he knows that opposites definitely attract in this case. He simply must go introduce himself to her and maybe even seduce her in the process…

Two young adult workaholic professionals share one steamy, pleasurable night together in Hong Kong. Yet can their short, passionate one night affair turn into a lifetime of love, happiness and companionship? Can their AMBW (Asian Man Black Woman), lemon and chocolate swirl decadence, creamy, sultry, rich, sweet, tangy and indulgent romance survive a seemingly betrayed promise?

Review

This wasn't a terrible read by any means. It was simply flat and failed to shine. The plot is a very well traveled one. One night stand. Lost number. Reunited. Child.

It is set again an more international background though the ages of the characters are a bit too young for the kind of success they had. The heroine is engaged when the hero happens to find her.

The interracial piece has promise with an Asian hero and an African American heroine which is why I picked up the book but while it is thought about it doesn't really impact the characters or the plot in any real way.

The main issue is all the telling vs showing that goes on.

I will check out another book by this writer to see if things are improving, however.