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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
3.5 stars. I must admit the sports part was not for me, but the ensuing romance was cute. I can always count on Jay to turn out a lovely story.
Hot, extremely low conflict gay romance. This is my 4th ish Jay Northcote romance and it follows the same format of every one I’ve read. Two guys (blokes, to use the proper Britishism) become NSA fuck buddies, have a lot of sex and develop feelings for each other.
Unlike the Northcote NA I’ve read, there’s no making toasted cheese or playing video games. Instead the heroes exercise together and banter. And have a lot of sex. What conflict there is comes from Matt not wanting to come out as bi and Aidan (it’s told from his POV only) not wanting a committed relationship.
Aidan and Matt aren’t exclusive for most of the book and Aidan sleeps (off page) with his regular sex-buddy after he starts sleeping with Matt - which I thought was realistic.
As a bi woman, I thought the bi rep was good. Aidan initially says a pretty bi phobic thing to Matt but apologizes and learns from it.
Unlike the Northcote NA I’ve read, there’s no making toasted cheese or playing video games. Instead the heroes exercise together and banter. And have a lot of sex. What conflict there is comes from Matt not wanting to come out as bi and Aidan (it’s told from his POV only) not wanting a committed relationship.
Aidan and Matt aren’t exclusive for most of the book and Aidan sleeps (off page) with his regular sex-buddy after he starts sleeping with Matt - which I thought was realistic.
As a bi woman, I thought the bi rep was good. Aidan initially says a pretty bi phobic thing to Matt but apologizes and learns from it.
The more Jay Northcote books I read, the more I like her writing!
A good, cleanly written if rather muddy book! I like the style and the dialogue is nicely British for me.
It is about training for an endurance event so there is quite a bit about running and weights, but all nicely set against the dance that Matt and Aiden are doing around their feelings and each other.
Both are having to learn to let go of long held ieas about themselves.
A good, cleanly written if rather muddy book! I like the style and the dialogue is nicely British for me.
It is about training for an endurance event so there is quite a bit about running and weights, but all nicely set against the dance that Matt and Aiden are doing around their feelings and each other.
Both are having to learn to let go of long held ieas about themselves.
emotional
funny
medium-paced
This book started a little slow and a little boring, but once it picked up I really enjoyed it. It was a nice, predictable, cute read. I would recommend it.
Cait’s Rating & Review System:
Basics
a. Main Characters (1-5 x2) - Matt ~ 3 , Aiden ~ 4
b. Side Characters (1-5) — 3
c. Plot (1-5) - 3
d. Writing * (1-5) - 5
e. Angst (None - Can’t Read Again) - Light, mainly fluffyish book.
f. HEA or HFN? HFN, I would say
g.Would I recommend? - Yes
Overall Basics Score - 18/25
Sexy Time
g. Level of Smut ** (G-X-Rated) — X
h. Quality of Smut *** (A+ - E) - B
i. Did it Make Me Sweat ;) ? ****(1-5) — 3
Overall Sexy Time Score - 12/15
Cait’s Score for Nothing Ventured : 30/40, 75%
IF YOU SEE THIS, PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR FEEDBACK ON MY NEW RATING AND REVIEW SYSTEM. IS THERE ANYTHING I SHOULD ADD, CHANGE OR REMOVE TO IMPROVE IT? PLEASE AND THANK YOU, LOVELY READERS.
**Level of Smut is referring to how to tame vs explicit it is, which is why I went with this rating system. THIS IS NOT A RATING ON HOW MUCH I LIKED THE SMUT. Kissing and/or making out does not count as smut. Also, when I say ‘sex scene’, if someone has an orgasm, I’m considering it a sex scene; no matter how they get there. G (Score of 1) - No smut PG (2) - 1 sex scene books PG- 13 (3) - 2 sex scene books
R (4)- Your standard 3 sex scene book. These generally aren’t as long of sex scenes or as descriptive.
X-Rated (5) - all the good stuff is in here, baby, and a hell of a lot of it. This would also mean that the story is extremely descriptive, as well.
*** Quality of Smut is referring to how well the smut is written, according to my tastes. I have certain words and kinks, etc, that I am not a fan of and will automatically drop it down if I see it. That may not be the same case for you. I’ll try to include my reasoning if there’s anything specific. (A+ = 5 - E = 1)
**** Did it Make Me Sweat ;) ? Tbh, did it turn me on? Did I want to read more and more sex scenes (The answer is almost always yes)? This is different from quality because of the simple fact that the smut doesn’t ALWAYS have to be A+ quality to make me sweat… or does it??? I guess we’ll see.
Cait’s Rating & Review System:
Basics
a. Main Characters (1-5 x2) - Matt ~ 3 , Aiden ~ 4
b. Side Characters (1-5) — 3
c. Plot (1-5) - 3
d. Writing * (1-5) - 5
e. Angst (None - Can’t Read Again) -
f. HEA or HFN?
g.Would I recommend? -
Overall Basics Score - 18/25
Sexy Time
g. Level of Smut ** (G-X-Rated) — X
h. Quality of Smut *** (A+ - E) - B
i. Did it Make Me Sweat ;) ? ****(1-5) — 3
Overall Sexy Time Score - 12/15
Cait’s Score for Nothing Ventured : 30/40, 75%
IF YOU SEE THIS, PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR FEEDBACK ON MY NEW RATING AND REVIEW SYSTEM. IS THERE ANYTHING I SHOULD ADD, CHANGE OR REMOVE TO IMPROVE IT? PLEASE AND THANK YOU, LOVELY READERS.
**Level of Smut is referring to how to tame vs explicit it is, which is why I went with this rating system. THIS IS NOT A RATING ON HOW MUCH I LIKED THE SMUT. Kissing and/or making out does not count as smut. Also, when I say ‘sex scene’, if someone has an orgasm, I’m considering it a sex scene; no matter how they get there. G (Score of 1) - No smut PG (2) - 1 sex scene books PG- 13 (3) - 2 sex scene books
R (4)- Your standard 3 sex scene book. These generally aren’t as long of sex scenes or as descriptive.
X-Rated (5) - all the good stuff is in here, baby, and a hell of a lot of it. This would also mean that the story is extremely descriptive, as well.
*** Quality of Smut is referring to how well the smut is written, according to my tastes. I have certain words and kinks, etc, that I am not a fan of and will automatically drop it down if I see it. That may not be the same case for you. I’ll try to include my reasoning if there’s anything specific. (A+ = 5 - E = 1)
**** Did it Make Me Sweat ;) ? Tbh, did it turn me on? Did I want to read more and more sex scenes (The answer is almost always yes)? This is different from quality because of the simple fact that the smut doesn’t ALWAYS have to be A+ quality to make me sweat… or does it??? I guess we’ll see.
Lovely story. I really liked the progression of the relationship, and the fact that they acted like adults and COMMUNICATED, instead of the tired romance device of having conflicts over things that could easily be resolved if the MCs just had a conversation.
Jay has mentioned in tweets since this came out that people have told her that this book made them feel like going out for a run, and I can totally see that.
Jay has mentioned in tweets since this came out that people have told her that this book made them feel like going out for a run, and I can totally see that.
I recently reread Nothing Special, which is a solid 3.5 star rounded up comfort read for me. I caved and rejoined KU with the 1/2 off sale, so I read this and it's okay. As a fat person, I didn't love a tertiary character being described as having 'moobs'--but that's pretty standard in books where the characters are training/getting in shape or doing something physically challenging. (And, honestly, if I dnf'ed every book that had vague fatphobia in it, I'd never finish anything.)
So far this series has been made up of cute, fluffy, low angst reads and I expected more of the same from this one. Wrong. This one has more bite than the others. The opportunity for disaster is there, a huge iceberg of emotions waiting to scupper everything, and when it hit there were tears. Mine, although some from the characters as well, I expect.
I've really enjoyed this series, and in my opinion they just kept getting better. This one was my favourite.
I've really enjoyed this series, and in my opinion they just kept getting better. This one was my favourite.