Saturday, January 14, 2017

Selfie (Bluewater Bay #13) [Connor & Noah] by Amy Lane

~ sigh ~ I can't do this. I simply can't. I've read many reviews of this book, especially since they were either A-Mazing or bashing the hell out of the author and frankly, all I felt while reading this book is CONFUSED. It was SO depressing, we only got Connor's POV who was tormented about his lover's death, a lover he couldn't acknowledge since they were both in the closet. Connor's thoughts were just ALL OVER THE PLACE. At times I was simply lost, I didn't know what he was talking about, or understood his strange humor. Noah was a GOD SEND but I wish I got to hear HIM instead of the broken guy who wasn't even sure who he is anymore. This was NOT what I was expecting. I expected it to be heart breaking in the worst yet best kind of a way. I mean, it's the one thing repeated in all those raving reviews. The other reviews? the ones saying Amy was being disrespectful to POC I didn't see AT ALL in the 51% I DID read. Noah was portrayed beautifully, I liked his character and appreciated how sweet and caring he was toward Connor, how gentle and understanding. He was almost perfect.  


I really don't know what to say about this book. I gave it my best shot but I wasn't interested in Connor from the start and in the middle mark, where I stopped, I was just tired of him being so damn miserable. He was in a new place, acting in a great series he is truly excited about, after a year of mourning Vinnie, he has this sweet guy he is actually into, but he is SO DAMN TORMENTED he was lost without a slight way to be found. He was caught in an endless discussion with his dead boyfriend, and his agent was in a way drowning with him too, though she did her best to help. I actually REALLY loved her. She was so human. There was something so endearing about the way she finally became Connor's friend and not just his agent. It was THERE, but only now could both act upon it and feel the closeness. 

That's the thing really, I liked the supporting characters (especially Jillian the agent), I loved Noah's character and the beautiful impact he had on Connor, but I just didn't like Connor.. or I couldn't connect with him for some unknown reason. It's either he was TOO broken, or it was the way he thought that I simply couldn't follow. I really don't know what my "deal" is. I LOVE Amy's writing, I enjoyed SO MANY of her books, what's up with this one? Especially with all the raving reviews of how heart breakingly beautiful this one was which is usually my "thing" you know? Who doesn't love a "good broken character?" (Zsadist from the BDB... just saying...). ~sign~ now I'M miserable. 

Rating: 

DNF 51%
E-Book
Edition
340
pages
Read on:
13-14 Jan 2017
   

 
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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