A review by kj468
Ice Angels by Ryan Taylor, Joshua Harwood

3.0

Like the other I just read in this series, I enjoyed the listen but wasn't blown away by it. Short and quick but not plotless. Kind of like kraft mac and cheese -- very cheesy but also easy and palatable. Everything works out perfectly.

Tropes/tags: established relationship, coming out, found family, low angst, HEA

Some comments:
  • Lots of supportive friends and strangers! Only a tiny bit of on-page homophobia which is quickly and effectively shut down.
  • When one of the MCs comes out, he makes a really big deal about apologizing for staying in the closet so long and for not coming out sooner, saying he hasn’t lied but he’s sorry for “the years of avoidance and lack of candor. I hope you won’t hold it against me”. I lowkey hated this speech because it really feeds into the idea that people (esp celebrities) owe an explanation of their queerness to others (including fans). This is kind of pushed back on by a "think-piece" article later in the book, but I think the same positive think-piece article could have made it's point without the MC heavily apologizing for being inauthentic and hiding or whatever.
  • The audiobook is only 4 hours and I paid $11 for it. I mean, bad on my for not checking the book length, but that was definitely more than I would have paid if I'd realized it was only 4 hours.
  • The authors make a kind of odd choice to have the MCs solve the "when and how do we come out to the world" problem off page and then keep the reader in suspense about the solution as the MCs go about setting up their plan. I suspect the length of the book has something to do with that decision, and ultimately it was fine, but I would have liked to see them talk and come to their decision, especially after them talking about how they needed to talk so much.
  • I had a hard time keeping track of many of the side characters. Some I knew from the previous book, but others were new and I kind of felt like I kept getting introduced to new friends without knowing who they were or what their purpose was other than to show the MCs support.
  • The spice is very cheesy at times -- like what I think of when I think of cheesy smutty books -- and the narrator's inflection definitely contributes to this. Having only listened to the audio, it's kind of hard to determine how much of this is due to the writing vs. the narrator.
  • Such a small point but I'm so fucking confused by their initials on the bracelets they give each other. One of them is "TDC" (which I assume is Todd Cleeves), but the other is AKS and I can't for the life of me figure out how that gets to Drew Simon???? Totally could have missed something, especially since I listened on audio, but how does Drew to get A or K???