TinaNoir's Updates en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:58:58 -0700 60 TinaNoir's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9367711766 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:58:58 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir wants to read 'The Love Haters']]> /review/show/7529449121 The Love Haters by Katherine Center TinaNoir wants to read The Love Haters by Katherine Center
]]> Review7487773300 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:47:12 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir added 'After the Storm']]> /review/show/7487773300 After the Storm by Christina Berry TinaNoir gave 4 stars to After the Storm (Lost in Austin, #3) by Christina Berry
bookshelves: 2025-reads, interracial-romance, romance-contemporary
I did not read the preceding books in this series, but this book does a good job of giving us the background of characters in the earlier books and also Greg and Ari's doomed marriage.

Having not read the previous books and this book being almost solely from Greg's pov, I respect the fact that his POV makes me a little biased against Ari and how the whole 'open marriage' thing was a big disaster. It feels authentic that he may not be the most reliable of narrators and gives himself a too much of a pass on the way things panned out. I am not mad at it.

I am glad that his race to the bottom, in this book was largely off screen and we only get the aftermath and his healing.

Beyond all that, I did have some reservations about a book taking place during and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina with one of the main characters having lived it and us having to relive it and they rebuild. But I give the author kudos, she made the setting work and did not make it too fraught or depressing. I liked that she made it about community and resilience and friendship and found family. Not just about the loss and devastation.

The romance was well done. Greg was really battered. I found it refreshing that we get a hero whose trauma doesn't stem from childhood abuse or war or but rather simple grief over the loss of love and realizing that some of what he is grieving over may have been an illusion all along.

Additionally, I think it was the right call to make Violet so self aware and frank. What you see is what you got. Greg appreciated that about her and as a reader I really liked her 'grown folks' way of acting. She never prevaricated , she said what she meant and in turn the communication between her and Greg was a high point of the book.

The supporting characters were great and gave a lot of color and flavor to the story.

I enjoyed this quite a bit! ]]> Comment289735396 Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:36:19 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir commented on "Adult Historical Mystery Romance - Louisiana, New Orleans 1700s? Girl sneaks into governor's mansion to steal grandfather's gambling IOUs, mistaken for prostitute, pregnant, marries look-alike cousin of baby's father. Goes to his home. Read ~1990s?" in What's the Name of That Book???]]> /topic/show/23043001-adult-historical-mystery-romance---louisiana-new-orleans-1700s-girl-sn TinaNoir made a comment in the What's the Name of That Book??? group:

Shirlee Busbee was one who wrote a lot of her books in the 80s and 90s and set them in Lousiana. I am thinking this sounds a lot like Deceive Not My Heart ]]> ReadStatus9331508582 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 13:17:20 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir wants to read 'Shadows of Winter']]> /review/show/7504233073 Shadows of Winter by Lindsay Buroker TinaNoir wants to read Shadows of Winter by Lindsay Buroker
]]> Comment289700318 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 13:13:56 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir commented on Kyana's review of Only for the Week]]> /review/show/5708873204 Kyana's review of Only for the Week
by Natasha Bishop

I do think this age group talks like this while in-group. The problem for me was that they seemed cranked up to 1000 all the time. And everything was about P***y or D**k. They never seemed to breathe or stop. Like, damn, can't y'all bust on someone's kicks or have funny, random conversations that don't involve sex? ]]> Rating849265688 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 13:02:24 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir liked a review]]> /
TinaNoir liked Kyana Weekes's review of Only for the Week:
Only for the Week by Natasha Bishop
"DNF @ 35% because there ain’t no way we actually speak like that irl

The concept was amazing; destination wedding, the portrayal of young black love, messy relationships with loved ones and friendship throughout your twenties to 30s I adored.

On the flipside what made me DNF this book was the presence of over exaggerated and stereotypical dialogue making the book overall just cringey. "
]]> ReadStatus9325660279 Fri, 18 Apr 2025 21:40:19 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir wants to read 'This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me']]> /review/show/7500203741 This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews TinaNoir wants to read This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
]]> Review6635337149 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 12:14:55 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir added 'An Almost Perfect Summer']]> /review/show/6635337149 An Almost Perfect Summer by Jill Mansell TinaNoir gave 4 stars to An Almost Perfect Summer (Kindle Edition) by Jill Mansell
bookshelves: 2025-reads, audiobook, romance-contemporary
]]> ReadStatus9307721185 Mon, 14 Apr 2025 07:20:21 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir wants to read 'After the Storm']]> /review/show/7487773300 After the Storm by Christina Berry TinaNoir wants to read After the Storm by Christina Berry
]]> Review7485077044 Sun, 13 Apr 2025 07:58:57 -0700 <![CDATA[TinaNoir added 'Downfall']]> /review/show/7485077044 Downfall by Evelyn Sola TinaNoir gave 3 stars to Downfall (Sutton, #1) by Evelyn Sola
bookshelves: 2025-reads, romance-contemporary, interracial-romance
My reaction to this book is 100% down the line indicative of my relationship with most of this author's books.

1. They start badly. By that I mean, I generally do not like the either or both the FMC or MMC characters at the beginning. They typically annoy me. This is usually because the author immediately puts them at cross purposes for, imo, dumb reasons. Or if the reason is valid, their actions tend to be ridiculous or immature or both. This is the case in this book where Max, the hero, first meets Summer, the heroine, and because he falls into insta-lust but doesn't want to, he acts with all the maturity of a 6 year old pulling a girl's pig-tails to get her attention.

2. But It gets better. Usually about the time they decide to stop acting dumb and whatever situation that has been set up to make them enemies has mercifully been ejected to allow them to become lovers. This is usually where the book picks up and this one was no different.

I will say Summer and Max's relationship when it hits this point still wasn't as great as I would have liked. It felt like it took forever to get to this point. This was a long book -- which I appreciate a lot. And I don't need them to get together right away. But slogging through 17 chapters of their juvenile stupidity was working on my last nerve. I was thisclose to DNF'ing because they made me tired. But like I said, I have a relationship with this author's books that make me glad I finished them. So I kept on, mostly skimming, tbh.

Also, It was mostly sex. And Max's insta lust fell over into cave man insta love and they fucked liked rabbits. They had no chill and it didn't matter where.

And even then, Max still worked my nerves. He was just ridiculous. Whenever any attractive man was in her vicinity he had to act like a jealous asshole. Even when it was a professional work event. I wish instead of so many sex scenes the story had taken time to resolve what felt like some trust issues when it came to him.

3. The side characters/family are excellent. In all the books I've read by this author the supporting characters and family are uniformly fantastic. They add so much to the book that half of my enjoyment comes from them. This one was top tier in that regard. I loved Max's relationship with his brother. I loved how the author developed their cousin Caleb over the course of the book. Max's integration into Summer' family was really fun to watch as was his interactions with her younger sister. And then there is Delaney.

Delaney is Summer's BFF who has a sub-plot that is obviously setting up for the next book.. I became incredibly invested in Delaney in the course of the story and of course I will read the next book because I am dying to see the fall out of what happened with her.

4. She sticks the landing. I always come away from the book liking the characters by the end. I become incredibly forgiving of the hateration I have for the start of the story.

So yeah as much as I disliked Summer and especially Max at the start of this book and flirted with DNF'ing, I decided to stick because I was fairly comfortable I knew the MO. If this had been the first book I'd read by this author I may not have.

I gave it three stars because the very strong second half more than made up for the dismal start. But I couldn't give it more because of the dismal start.

But yeah... I am off to read the next one because I need to know what happens with Delaney and David needs his own HEA. ]]>