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bookschaosnart's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent second story in this series. I really enjoy stories where the struggles that arise in a relationship come more from personalities rather than external struggles. This novel gave me that and it was well done and didn't disparage either person as they worked together and separately to make their relationship work. This story about being in love not being enough to make a relationship work is well written, with great character development and great use of the city to show the characters differences and similarities. Truly a wonderful story even if you can't necessarily identify with a over the top rich person.
lalexvp's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, the first one was good but this one was incredible.
pewterwolf's review against another edition
3.0
Review taken from The Pewter Wolf, which will be going live in early April 2020
***eProof given by publisher, Carina Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction, even though I listened to audiobook via Scribd***
So, as you can see from date, this is a Self-Isolation read. Yes, I audiobooked this while in self-isolation due to Corona (the virus, not the beer). I finished Cassandra Clare’s [b:Chain of Gold|17699853|Chain of Gold (The Last Hours, #1)|Cassandra Clare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571379245l/17699853._SY75_.jpg|19212510] in self-isolation (though, at the time, I was holiday, using last few days of my work’s allocated holiday in 2019 financial year) but when I knew that I was on self-isolation, I knew I wanted to read and audiobook fun stuff. Fun, silly stories. Now more than ever, I wanted to read and audiobook stories that make me happy. They can be fun, silly, dark-as-heck, a reread, I don’t care but I want stories that make me smile and, hopefully, make you go “Oh, this sounds like something I would like.”
Yes, I know that’s very much what the Pewter Wolf is about for past few years, but you know what I mean… 2020 has been a dark year, let’s lighten it up a bit… Wow, that sounds like that mannequin moment from the first series of BBC’s Miranda…
But I had American Fairytale on my NetGalley for a while as I saw this title on NetGalley a year or so and I went “Ooooh!” when I read the blurb.
New York social worker Camilo (Milo to his friends) has always dreamed of his own happily-ever-after. But, he lives in the real world and knows that kind of ending doesn’t exist. Men who are too good to be true, usually are. So, when Milo does something drunk and reckless one night and has an unforgettable hookup with a mysterious stranger at a gala his boss had to pull out of, he doesn’t think anything about it. Till the mysterious stranger walks into his office that Monday morning and turns out to be Thomas Hughes, the wealthy donor who is backing Milo’s agency’s funding for their next project.
As the two try (and fail) to keep business and pleasure seperate, the two have to figure their issues out: For Milo, it means learning to let someone take care of him for a change and, for Tom, it means that money can’t solve every problem. But can these two get over their issues to get their happily ever after?
So… for self-isolation, this was a nice, fun story, but there’s a bit of weight to it. It’s not perfect, let me make that clear from the get-go, but this was fun.
Where to start? The positive or the negative…?
This was a sweet and very fairy tale-esque romance. It worked for what I needed it to be: a quick romantic story to listen to while self-isolating and playing Animal Crossing. The characters were diverse - Milo is Cuban-Jamaican, his mother is Cubanita, his best friend is Japanese-Jamaican and his other friends are people of colour, and Tom is white-passing Latinx and his friends are people of colour (and all Milo’s and Thomas’s friends are fabulous!I loved them so much!) . We have LGBT+ rep (it’s a gay romance, of course there is, but with secondary characters as well) and this book has weight as it touches on mental health, domestic abuse and the long, painful road of healing a victim of domestic abuse goes through after they’ve left the relationship.
The romance is sweet as it’s very much lust then love at first sight, and due to this story having dual POV, we see both sides of the romance and glimpse into each other’s lives before the other finds out. With Milo, it’s his mother’ depression and coming to terms with her past and with Thomas, it’s his young daughter, his ex and his friends.
As this is a romance novel, there is conflict within the romance, and it wasn’t what I was expecting. It comes down to money and trust. Due to situations in his and his mother’s past, Milo has to do everything himself and don’t feel like he can rely on other people and Thomas, wanting to help, throws money at the problem, even though Milo has said no.
So, why the negative? Well, it’s more that fact that, when in the story, you get sweep away with it and, at the current moment, this is very much needed. And yet, writing this write-up up, I see little problems.
We have an age group (Thomas is a “daddy” - 40ish - while Milo is in his mid/late 20s) and yet, some situations feel very out of place for their ages. Thomas, who grew up with nothing, should know better that money can’t solve everything, no matter how well meaning it is, and Milo doesn’t practice what he preaches: that asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness.
Plus, Thomas’s history. I’ve read one or two reviews asking what was the point of Thomas’s ex and his young toddler daughter. I get why: it shows Thomas had a life before Milo and I like this, but I kinda wish more was done with them. Now I think about it, if Thomas’s ex and daughter were edited out of the story, would we have noticed?
And yet, it did what it said on the tin. We had a romance, a couple that we knew would get together and wanted to get together. We understood why they did what they did and, at the same time, wanted to bang their heads together. And we had some X-rated scenes that made me glad I didn’t listen or read this at work, and some sweet moments.
This was a nice read, perfect for self-isolation, distracting self from the news or on a beach in the height of summer.
***eProof given by publisher, Carina Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction, even though I listened to audiobook via Scribd***
So, as you can see from date, this is a Self-Isolation read. Yes, I audiobooked this while in self-isolation due to Corona (the virus, not the beer). I finished Cassandra Clare’s [b:Chain of Gold|17699853|Chain of Gold (The Last Hours, #1)|Cassandra Clare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571379245l/17699853._SY75_.jpg|19212510] in self-isolation (though, at the time, I was holiday, using last few days of my work’s allocated holiday in 2019 financial year) but when I knew that I was on self-isolation, I knew I wanted to read and audiobook fun stuff. Fun, silly stories. Now more than ever, I wanted to read and audiobook stories that make me happy. They can be fun, silly, dark-as-heck, a reread, I don’t care but I want stories that make me smile and, hopefully, make you go “Oh, this sounds like something I would like.”
Yes, I know that’s very much what the Pewter Wolf is about for past few years, but you know what I mean… 2020 has been a dark year, let’s lighten it up a bit… Wow, that sounds like that mannequin moment from the first series of BBC’s Miranda…
But I had American Fairytale on my NetGalley for a while as I saw this title on NetGalley a year or so and I went “Ooooh!” when I read the blurb.
New York social worker Camilo (Milo to his friends) has always dreamed of his own happily-ever-after. But, he lives in the real world and knows that kind of ending doesn’t exist. Men who are too good to be true, usually are. So, when Milo does something drunk and reckless one night and has an unforgettable hookup with a mysterious stranger at a gala his boss had to pull out of, he doesn’t think anything about it. Till the mysterious stranger walks into his office that Monday morning and turns out to be Thomas Hughes, the wealthy donor who is backing Milo’s agency’s funding for their next project.
As the two try (and fail) to keep business and pleasure seperate, the two have to figure their issues out: For Milo, it means learning to let someone take care of him for a change and, for Tom, it means that money can’t solve every problem. But can these two get over their issues to get their happily ever after?
So… for self-isolation, this was a nice, fun story, but there’s a bit of weight to it. It’s not perfect, let me make that clear from the get-go, but this was fun.
Where to start? The positive or the negative…?
This was a sweet and very fairy tale-esque romance. It worked for what I needed it to be: a quick romantic story to listen to while self-isolating and playing Animal Crossing. The characters were diverse - Milo is Cuban-Jamaican, his mother is Cubanita, his best friend is Japanese-Jamaican and his other friends are people of colour, and Tom is white-passing Latinx and his friends are people of colour (and all Milo’s and Thomas’s friends are fabulous!I loved them so much!) . We have LGBT+ rep (it’s a gay romance, of course there is, but with secondary characters as well) and this book has weight as it touches on mental health, domestic abuse and the long, painful road of healing a victim of domestic abuse goes through after they’ve left the relationship.
The romance is sweet as it’s very much lust then love at first sight, and due to this story having dual POV, we see both sides of the romance and glimpse into each other’s lives before the other finds out. With Milo, it’s his mother’ depression and coming to terms with her past and with Thomas, it’s his young daughter, his ex and his friends.
As this is a romance novel, there is conflict within the romance, and it wasn’t what I was expecting. It comes down to money and trust. Due to situations in his and his mother’s past, Milo has to do everything himself and don’t feel like he can rely on other people and Thomas, wanting to help, throws money at the problem, even though Milo has said no.
So, why the negative? Well, it’s more that fact that, when in the story, you get sweep away with it and, at the current moment, this is very much needed. And yet, writing this write-up up, I see little problems.
We have an age group (Thomas is a “daddy” - 40ish - while Milo is in his mid/late 20s) and yet, some situations feel very out of place for their ages. Thomas, who grew up with nothing, should know better that money can’t solve everything, no matter how well meaning it is, and Milo doesn’t practice what he preaches: that asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness.
Plus, Thomas’s history. I’ve read one or two reviews asking what was the point of Thomas’s ex and his young toddler daughter. I get why: it shows Thomas had a life before Milo and I like this, but I kinda wish more was done with them. Now I think about it, if Thomas’s ex and daughter were edited out of the story, would we have noticed?
And yet, it did what it said on the tin. We had a romance, a couple that we knew would get together and wanted to get together. We understood why they did what they did and, at the same time, wanted to bang their heads together. And we had some X-rated scenes that made me glad I didn’t listen or read this at work, and some sweet moments.
This was a nice read, perfect for self-isolation, distracting self from the news or on a beach in the height of summer.
lezreadalot's review against another edition
3.0
"He wants to want you, not need you."
Pretty cute! Fairytale-esque romance... except not, because Milo was super uncomfortable with and not receptive of a lot of the typical millionaire romantic gestures that often pop up on novels, and I was completely here for it. Someone who has a lot of money and is willing to use it on you (especially to help out in frustrating financial situations) seems great on paper, but I completely understood Milo's frustration with Tom's over the top behaviour. Being domineering in monetary ways is not hot, and doing over the top things without asking isn't either. Especially when Milo expressed time and time again that he wasn't comfortable with it. So I was glad to see that being the lesson that Tom had to learn, even though I don't think the way the book handled it in the end was... idk, complete? I still don't know what he learnt the error of his ways, and the epilogue kinda made it seem like he'd just worn Milo down a bit.
Still, this was really fun and hot. I loved the characters and their chemistry. The writing wasn't amazing, but it was good. Listened to the audiobook as read by Sean Crisden, and my thoughts on him remain the same: great, but oh man I don't like his voices for women and kids lol.
Pretty cute! Fairytale-esque romance... except not, because Milo was super uncomfortable with and not receptive of a lot of the typical millionaire romantic gestures that often pop up on novels, and I was completely here for it. Someone who has a lot of money and is willing to use it on you (especially to help out in frustrating financial situations) seems great on paper, but I completely understood Milo's frustration with Tom's over the top behaviour. Being domineering in monetary ways is not hot, and doing over the top things without asking isn't either. Especially when Milo expressed time and time again that he wasn't comfortable with it. So I was glad to see that being the lesson that Tom had to learn, even though I don't think the way the book handled it in the end was... idk, complete? I still don't know what he learnt the error of his ways, and the epilogue kinda made it seem like he'd just worn Milo down a bit.
Still, this was really fun and hot. I loved the characters and their chemistry. The writing wasn't amazing, but it was good. Listened to the audiobook as read by Sean Crisden, and my thoughts on him remain the same: great, but oh man I don't like his voices for women and kids lol.
lifeand100books's review against another edition
5.0
This series just gets better and better. Totally head over heels with these characters.
ckausch's review against another edition
3.0
This was really cute. I liked book #1 better, s I rated this 3 stars instead of 4. Ivm definitely going to keep reading this series!
cambech14's review against another edition
2.0
There wasn’t really a climax of the book - at least nothing truly shocking. I feel like I knew where the book was headed after the first page. The book started off way too intense and then kind of fizzled.
I think the author could’ve done something with the mom’s depression or with the ex husband.. they were mentioned enough to think that they were going to be plot lines, but then nothing?
Also, the argument about money was annoying. Like Camilo obviously needed the help and everyone was saying that Camilo will figure it out because he always has.. but that was BEFORE he got into a relationship and now he has another person to think about. So tbh I think Camilo was in the wrong for disregarding Toms attempt to help.
Then when Tom drove his mom to Florida and he wasn’t mad about that?? I think that’s what he should’ve been mad about because that was very personal and wouldn’t Camilo have wanted to be with his mom??
I think the author could’ve done something with the mom’s depression or with the ex husband.. they were mentioned enough to think that they were going to be plot lines, but then nothing?
Also, the argument about money was annoying. Like Camilo obviously needed the help and everyone was saying that Camilo will figure it out because he always has.. but that was BEFORE he got into a relationship and now he has another person to think about. So tbh I think Camilo was in the wrong for disregarding Toms attempt to help.
Then when Tom drove his mom to Florida and he wasn’t mad about that?? I think that’s what he should’ve been mad about because that was very personal and wouldn’t Camilo have wanted to be with his mom??
brandece1's review against another edition
5.0
After reading the first book in this series I was so excited to get to the rest of the books. I knew that I would love them, but I didn't think that I would love any couple more that Nesto and Jude, but then I read this book and I love Tom and Milo even more. Going into this book I knew that it was going to be spicy, but I was not expecting it right out the gate. American Fairytale is full of so many great troupes (single dad, workplace, billionaire (not my favorite but Tom is a billionaire)), and so much diversity and I loved everything about it. I love not only Tom's relationship with his daughter, but also the growing relationship between her and Milo. I lov e that we got to see both hero's friend group and family. After reading this book I knew that I would be reading the other two right away.
inmyhumbleopinion's review against another edition
5.0
I LOVE THIS STORY! This story starts out with a dirty talking one-time event and then morphs into a sweet love story. This couple is just adorable without being too cute. I loved that the characters were older and knew what they wanted. I loved Camilo Santiago Briggs and respected the way he stood up for himself. I really liked that Thomas Hughes was aware of the advantages white privilege gave him even though he felt like he was passing. This story covers a lot of ground but the heart of it is the love story between Tom & Milo. Highly recommend.