Ami's Hoard

Did not live up to my expectation. To think that I waited to reading Alexandra's book (I have the ARC) because I wanted to read Gage and Brady's story first *sad face*

To me this novella wasted so much potentials for emotional connection. I mean, we have Gage who is dealing with the fact that his biological Mom (the addict) who left him when Gage was only fourteen years old ends up with Alzheimer -- and he's conflicted because of it. Gage wanted to confront her but also told her about his sexuality. Then there's Brady, who still suffers from PTSD and survivor's guilt over his time in Afghanistan. It's a recipe for a good hurt/comfort story, right. Especially with the premise that I had by reading their initial encounters in book #1.

Alas, suddenly Brady threw cautions to the wind, because what? To have mind-blowing sex? Sex is good, huh? Well, I hate it when romance is sacrificed to fill up some sex scenes quota, most especially in M/M romance. Throw in more man-to-man actions, that's what most M/M readers want! Yeah, well, it's not what this reader wants, thank you very much. I want something more substantial than that! I didn't think that Gage and Brady got the same heartfelt 'treatment' like the previous couple.

On top of that, the writing felt stilted, every sequence disjointed -- unlike the prequel novella and the first book. I felt detached from the characters, and it let me down because I've been wanting their story so much. It feels like it's being written by a different author altogether.

I guess I am completely aligned with my friend's Didi, right here. We even discussed it via chat and our disappointment was totally the same.

What a bummer :(