Tuesday, August 9, 2016

There's Something About Ari (Bluewater Bay #2) [Buck & Ari] By L.B. Gregg

This novella was absolutely beautiful! I enjoyed every minute of it! This is my first (and won't be the last!) from L.B. Gregg, honestly it's been a while since I've read a book by an author I don't know, I just somehow got stuck on reading full book lists of my favorites and so I'm happy I've read this one and got acquainted with someone new to "hunt" ;) This story was solely told from Buck's POV which was perfect. Yeah getting both POVs is always nice but I think the full impact of their relationship and emotions was done beautifully through Buck's eyes and mostly his mind since he is a man of few words (unlike Ari..)


Ari and Buck have been best friends most of their lives, but they both had their reasons to fall a little away from each other near the ending of school years, then when Buck's mother died (his father being long dead), he was stuck taking care of his kid brother and Ari simply disappeared leaving Buck all along in the world (except for his brother..). Buck has been secretly in love with Ari, but he simply couldn't tell Ari, who was dating every girl in school. He didn't want to lose him and yet he couldn't be in his presence without wanting him SO badly. Then when he disappeared Buck was crushed. Yeah Ari had his problems but he was everything to Buck and so when he returns 5 years later as a part of "Wolf's Landing" the new show being filmed in the small and sleepy town of Bluewater Bay, Buck refuses to be wooed. He is angry, he is confused, he is hurt and he simply cannot trust Ari. 

Ari had his reasons for leaving, once you hear them you'll get why them finding their way to each other now is the best deal for a HEA. I loved being in Buck's head, hearing about his life, what he accomplished all by himself, and even though he just works in a coffee shop I had HUGE respect for him especially concerning his brother but also I think he made life "work" for him even though it's obvious he isn't really happy. Or rather he could be happier.. Ari went through a lot in life, while he and Buck were friends but also after. He had his journey to go through before he was ready to return to Buck. But now that he is HERE he will NOT let Buck slip away from him. I loved the way he got Buck, he knew how to "handle" him, his silence, even when he was really rude, Ari knew who he was up against so he just kept on going, he had a target to lure and he did that expertly. 

GORGEOUS short novella. It could totally be read as a stand alone. Two characters from the previous installment are mentioned briefly - Anna and Levi, but there isn't even a reference to their story line so you can just pick this one out and enjoy it. 
Though it was short I was pleased with the way it played and also how it ended. I got what I signed up for!

READ IT! 


Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 104 pages, 8 August 2016 / On GoodReads
 
 
ABOUT THIS SERIES
 
Welcome to Bluewater Bay! This quiet little logging town on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula has been stagnating for decades, on the verge of ghost town status. Until a television crew moves in to film Wolf’s Landing, a soon-to-be cult hit based on the wildly successful shifter novels penned by local author Hunter Easton. 
 
Wolf’s Landing’s success spawns everything from merchandise to movie talks, and Bluewater Bay explodes into a mecca for fans and tourists alike. The locals still aren’t quite sure what to make of all this—the town is rejuvenated, but at what cost? And the Hollywood-based production crew is out of their element in this small, mossy seaside locale. Needless to say, sparks fly.

This collaborative story world is brought by collective authors, each contemporary novel stands alone, but all are built around the town and the people of Bluewater Bay and the Wolf’s Landing media empire.
 
This series was a way of me getting to know a few unknown to me authors as well as enjoy some authors I've already knew I loved. Generally speaking you can pick any book in this series and read it as a standalone, just know that most of the side characters mentioned have their own book. It means that at times there are quite a lot of "name dropping". It could be fun if you're highly connected to the previous books or annoying when you're not. This is why it's hard for me to give this series an overall review as some books I absolutely LOVED and others I didn't which made the ride quite "bumpy". 

That's part of the reason I decided to put this series aside after the 17th installment (with 5 unread books by "hit or miss" authors). I would have stopped a bit earlier truth being told but I DID want to give a chance to authors I already know I enjoyed, but in the end I felt a bit uncomfortable continuing to support this series - or rather its publisher - considering it's recent revealed "shade". 
  
Books:
 
1. Starstruck By L.A. Witt [Levi Pritchard & Carter Samuels] (Published 3 November 2014) ★★★★
2. There's Something About Ari By L.B. Gregg [Buck Ellis & Ari Valentine] (Published 8 November 2014) ★★★★
3. Hell on Wheels By Z.A. Maxfield [Nash Holly & Spencer Kepler-Constantine] (Published 29 November 2014) ★★★★
4. Lone Wolf By Aleksandr Voinov & L.A. Witt [Hunter Easton & Kevin Hussain] (Published 20 December 2014) ★★ (DNF 25%)
5. The Burnt Toast B&B By Heidi Belleau & Rachel Haimowitz [Ginsberg Sloan & Derrick Richards] (Published 11 January 2015) ★★★½
6. Lights, Camera, Cupid (Bluewater Bay #6) Valentine's Anthology (Published 7 February 2015) ★★★★
    [ Just Another Day [Levi Pritchard & Carter Samuels] by L.A. Witt  ★★★ ]
    [ Nascha By Amy Lane  ★★★★★ ]

    [ No Easy Way [Cary Teijan & Dylan James] By S.E. Jakes  ★½ ]
    [ Helping Hand [Lucas Wilder & Gabriel Savage] by Anne Tenino  ★★★★★ ]
    [ I'll Be There [Nash Holly & Spencer Kepler] By Z.A. Maxfield  ★★ ]
 
7. Wedding Favors By Anne Tenino [Lucas Wilder & Gabriel Savage] (Published 11 April 2015) ★★★★
8. The Deep of the Sound By Amy Lane [Cal McCorkle & Avery Kennedy] (Published 13 June 2015)  ★★★★
9. When to Hold Them By G.B. Gordon [Doran Callaghan & Xavier Wagner] (Published 15 August 2015)  ★★ (DNF 49%)
10. Rain Shadow By L.A. Witt [Jeremy Rose & Scott Fletcher]  (Published 17 October 2015) ★★★
11. Stuck Landing By Lauren Gallagher [Anna Maxwell & Natalya Izmaylova] (Published 12 December 2015) ★★ (DNF 38%)
12. How the Cookie Crumbles By Jaime Samms [Frederic Jackson & Blaire Caruthers] (Published 13 February 2016) ★★★¾
 
13. Selfie By Amy Lane [Connor Montgomery & Noah Dakers] (Published 16 April 2016) ★★ (DNF 51%)
14. All the Wrong Places By Ann Gallagher [Brennan Cross & Zafir Hamady] (Published 12 June 2016) ★★★½
15. Bluewater Blues By G. B. Gordon [Jack Daley & Mark Keao] (Published 15 October 2016)
16. No Small Parts By Ally Blue [Nat Horn & Rafael Cortez] (Published 19 December 2016) 
17. For A Good Time, Call... By Anne Tenino & E.J. Russell [Nate Albano & Seth Larson] (Published 8 April 2017) ½ (DNF 67%)

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