Review: Between Worlds Two

Title: Between Worlds Two (The Occupation Saga Book 2)

Amazon.com: Between Worlds Two (The Occupation Saga Book 2) eBook: Williams, J.L.: Kindle Store

Author: J.L. Williams 

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:

I really enjoyed book 1 of this series, and book 2 is also good. I have some quibbles with the story and some character actions but they are quibbles.  

The author writes and posts this on Reddit and Patreon as he goes.  I think this method allows some anomalies to sneak in that a good pass with a story/content editor would catch.

Even with my quibbles, I'll be reading it as he posts it because it is a lot of fun.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Microbrewer Alchemist: Book 1

Title: Microbrewer Alchemist: Book 1 

Amazon.com: Microbrewer Alchemist: Book 1 eBook: Svenson, Jon: Kindle Store

Author: Jon Svenson  

Rating: 4.25/5

Comments:

This book is, in my opinion, incorrectly categorized as a children's book on Amazon.  I absolutely would not let children read it.   Drug use, alcohol, marital infidelity, and violence are not what I consider "kid friendly" but maybe that's just me.

Now, for an adult, it's a pretty good story.  If you are a fan of brewing and beer, even more so as he goes into a lot of brewing detail.

It's slice of life, so if you don't want to hear about what they have for dinner, or driving to work, it will probably drive you nuts.  Honestly I think people who like Schinhofen books would like it, although there's no explicit bedroom times.

I'll be curious to see what book 2 brings as the end of book 1 had some big bombs.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: War God for Hire Book 2

Title: War God for Hire- Adventurer: A Reincarnation, Cultivation Adventure

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094ZC881G/
 

Author: David Burke

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:

This is a pretty strong sequel to book 1.  Admittedly I was in the mood for a book where I could somewhat check out when I read it, but I enjoyed the ride.

This book gave a good bit more meat to the main story and you find out that some things were not as they first appeared, so there's some growth for the protagonist.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Courts and Cabals 3

Title: Courts and Cabals 3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096MPR1TZ/

Author: G.S. D'Moore

Rating: 3.9/5

Comments:

Well first off, I think this was a better book than book 2  The narrative flow seemed better despite the jumping around.  

Story-wise there are some plot points that seem to be directly in response to some of the more vocal subgroups of the genre, which are fine, but it seemed incongruous as it changed some basic assumptions from book 1.

There is some decent character growth for the protagonist, and we get some new characters.

All in all, a serviceable sequel and an improvement over book 2.  There are some very definite time bombs in the story arc and it will be interesting to see what happens when they start going off.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: The First Course

Title: The First Course: Book One of The Omegas Series

https://www.amazon.com/First-Course-Omegas-SuperHarem-Adventure-ebook/dp/B082Z4JXF9/

Author: Ashus Evinco

Rating: 4.2/5

Comments:

Honestly with the blurb I didn't expect a lot from this story, it was just too odd of a premise, but it was recommended by Cebelius, so I thought I would check it out.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the story flow was good, the characters were varied, and there was good development through the story.  At one point I was starting to wonder if I was delving into another "story" where it was just a loose collection of ideas connecting a string of sex scenes, but that turned out to not be the case.

A pretty solid first book, I will watch for book 2.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit (frequent)

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Review: Luck's Voice 3

Title:Breaking the Bank (Luck's Voice Book 3)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096X82K1X/

Author:Daniel Schinhofen

Rating:4/5

Comments: 

 Slice of life, Weird West, and Schinhofen, I think fans of the mix will like this installment a lot.    Amazon currently has a 5 star rating with 334 reviews.  I think this one had fewer "Wow" moments than the first two, which is why I brought it down a little.  

I think DJ must have had a conundrum as he was writing it, which is when to end it.  The ending snuck up on me and I was surprised to find myself there.  We were on the cusp of important events!   I'm sure he wanted to keep going, but was coming up against his size target, and perhaps a little wariness about ending on a cliffhanger based on previous experiences.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Heretic Peacekeeper

Title: The Heretic Peacekeeper: Chinese Cultivation Fantasy in a Cyberpunk Future China (The Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08TLV5N3W

Author: Jeremy Bai

Rating:4/5

Comments: This setting has some interesting twists, and is still a little mysterious even at the end of the first book, which honestly is good because it leaves more to be discovered later plus it means that the author didn't beat us over the head with infodumps in book 1.

Overall, pretty decent book.  There's not a lot of cultivation in it, but the story introduces the why of that, and it sets up more in book 2.  The cultivation system seems pretty unique too.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Descend Book 1 Audio book

Title: Descend Book 1: First Steps

Author: David Burke

Voice actors: Daniel Wisniewski, Rebecca Woods

Rating: Story:  2.5/5

            Performance 4.5/5

Comments:

Ok the story is borderline terrible.  There's almost no dramatic tension, and the plot is heavy on what a horny adolescent would think would be awesome. 30 to 1 female to male ratio; check.  Aphrodisiacs  liberally applied; check.  Magic enhanced body; check.  Magic sex powers, check.

No guy over the age of about 25 would think it would be awesome to be stuck full time with 30+ women.  

Then there's the dialogue from the James T. Kirk school of talking.  It takes stilted and awkward to new heights.  It's so over the top I genuinely laughed.

On the upside, Daniel and Rebecca take that sow's ear and do everything they can to make it a silk purse.  Best of all, Rebecca delivered her signature "warm southern belle" accent at least once in the 10 hours, so that made it worth it.

If I had been reading I have no doubt this would have been a DNF - avoid, but I took a chance based on the voice actors (they did TAP by Cebelius), and broke-even.

To be fair, if you just wanted a LitRPG book with sexy times, and no thought required, this would probably work.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: El Finito 1

Title:  El Finito Book 1: Welcome to the Stacks

Author: M.E. Thorne

Rating:2.9/5

Comments:

On a 3 rating I question whether finishing the book was a wise decision, in this case there is no doubt in my mind that finishing the book was a poor decision.  This book premise was kind of a cool idea, but it quickly became apparent that it was window dressing for frequent sexy times.  If this doesn't get put in the erotica dungeon I will be amazed.  If that's what you're looking for, well 5/5 for you.  By the end it had gotten to the point of being almost parody as the protagonist explicitly gains the magic dick of procreation.  

Bedroom Activities: Explicit, Frequent

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Review: He who Fights Monsters 2

Title: He Who Fights with Monsters 2:  A LitRPG Adventure

Author: Shirtaloon

Rating: 4.3/5

Comments:

This one was an improvement over book 1.  The threads that were so separate and unrelated in book 1 have been pulled together and things proceed at a brisk pace.

It's nice to start to see hints of how things all got started, what the greater conflict is.

All in all a fun story, and I'm glad to see it's continuing.

Bedroom Activities: FTB - minimal

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Review: Enemy of my Enemy

Title:  Enemy of my Enemy (Brannigan's Blackhearts book 8)

Author: Peter Nealen

Rating: 4/5

Comments:

This being book 8, you can safely assume that I read the previous 7, and enjoyed them.  Book 8 doesn't really break any new narrative ground, although there's some team shuffling.  The POV jumps around, but theses are not character driven stories, so it's not that important, or unexpected.  I read these when I need a change of pace from my usual fare.  If you like a story where the good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad, and there is a lot of face wrecking, explosions, and guns, well you could do worse than a Peter Nealen book.

Bedroom Activities: None

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