Briefs: Collection

This is only a review of the first five stories, that I read ages ago and (thankfully) wrote a little paragraph review for. (Except for ‘It Could Be You' because I remember nothing about the story so it's getting 2 stars because I don't think I much cared for it.) I've decided to go ahead and put this review up now because it has been so long since I put this book down ‘temporarily' and because the remaining two books are billed as ‘Raw and Emotional' and that's soo not something I have any interest in reading. (Besides, they honestly don't sound very good to me.)

Noticed Me Yet?
All kinds of sweet. I do have a few minor complaints, but nothing that ruined my enjoyment of this story. Jacob is looking for a new housemate and he has three guys vying for the space, an ex that won't leave him alone, and a mysterious ‘Mr. X' that's leaving him messages on the school boards and that he's falling in love with. I will admit, Jacob may have said he didn't have a preference, but I sure did and I was so happy to find out that my favorite of the three guys was out mysterious ‘Mr. X'.
**DJ DangerfieldNice enough, and I so like the idea behind it - falling in love with someone you only know as a disc jockey - but the story just feels a little off. I think it's because the main character has a girlfriend at the start of the story and ... I just don't care for that. Especially because she's a good person, and not a villain or anything like that - and the story just made me a little uncomfortable.

Get It
Unrequited love between best friends might be my favorite romance trope and this was just beautiful and heart wrenching. Although, it's also a very forgettable story.
**500 KissesWhile I do like certain aspects of this story - the fact that they kiss a lot before anything else happens tops the list, and I also like the summer camp background and, even the fact that they were childhood best friends was...surprisingly well done - the whole inciting incident was so stupid. I mean here's two adults that - ostensibly hate each other - and they make a bet whether or not a person can fall in love after 500 kisses. Yup, these two ‘adults' made that bet. I mean, the story wouldn't/couldn't have happened otherwise - and had to be filled with a lot of feelings between the two that had never been dealt with. That's quite possibly the silliest basis for a plot - even romance - that I've ever read and it kind of sapped any real enjoyment I'd have gotten from this story.

The Douglas Fir
While I really liked the couple, that's about all I liked from this story. I mean, the red herring was...obvious from the start and, really, too much focus was on him over the endgame couple. Because of that, the romance building felt abrupt. The payoff at the end...well, let's put it this way, I liked the couple more BEFORE they got together than I did after. (I I think if we'd been in the head of the other love interest, the story would have been better, but it also would have drastically changed it.)
***

Average Rating: 3.16 rounded down to 3 stars.