Review: Cute and promising.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 17, 2014
I've been thinking on this review for a few days now and I'm still trying to sort out my feelings about this story."I survived Seattle" is a cute debut M/M book from J.K. Hogan. Though the MC suffers from an anxiety disorder and there are some serious issues at play, the book is what I would consider a light, fun read. I found Justice (did NOT like the name, I kept saying "Justin" by accident in my head) to be a very likable MC. He was pretty adorable, all foot-in-mouth and sort of lovably spastic. I instantly gravitated to him and enjoyed the chemistry he has with Nic.However, a few things about this story didn't quite work for me. I thought the relationship was a little too insta-lovey for my tastes. The feelings were there very quickly between Nic and Justice and I look for a more slow-build romance. For example, (view spoiler).I also had some issues with the language. I guess some people use words like "adorbs" and "adorkable" but I don't know any of them in real life and it read kind of... junior(?) to me. In addition, I have a pet peeve about eye descriptions (I know, what?). I don't like it when eyes are described over and over again, like calling Nic's eyes, "tidal pool", "crystal blue", and "Caribbean blue gaze" and on and on. That is just a personal pet peeve of mine, and even though it is random, it nags at me.My last issue is with the character of Rich. I felt like I understood him much more by the end of the story, but I didn't like the way he was portrayed as almost a caricature of a "douche bag"."Rich sank down on the bar stool next to him, smelling of cheap cigarettes under a thick layer of Emporio Armani. He shrugged a padded shoulder and flicked his hand at the bartender."I know that Rich's character was created to be someone we weren't supposed to really like, but I wish the author had written him in a way that wasn't so over-the-top. Basically, I would have liked something a bit more subtle and less in-your-face.My complaints about this book are each pretty minor but when I added them all up in my head, they made this book a solid "like" instead of "really like". It was still an enjoyable read, despite my little issues, and I think most readers would eat this book up. I also think the author set up nicely for the next couple books in the series and I'm really interested to see where she takes this cast of characters.**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**