Kay SimoneCritiques

Yeah...okay so I'm totally fine with the pairing of Beau and Wolfram, but my issue was that this book could have been like 300 pages shorter.½

Being a NASA geek for, well... NASA was established July 29, 1958, a year and a month after I was born. So, as soon as I knew it existed. I skimmed nearly every technical part of this story. I could have written them. :) But they're important enough for a reader new to what human spaceflight means, what it requires, and how dangerous it is, to gain appreciation for these characters.

There is just enough detail to make it feel real to someone like me, and I suspect not so much that someone new to spaceflight and ground control procedures would feel pressured or lost.

The romance is sweet and the hurdles are just as annoying as they're supposed to be. But the sweet points, that is where this author shines. The ways in which Curt and Patrick learn that they understand each other are so much a part of why I am a space geek that she had me in tears more than once. Just perfect.

The Hustler is the story of high schooler Daniel, who with a fake ID, gets into a bar and challenges a tattooed man to a pool game. This story is not a romance even though it's listed as such. It's about a hook-up in a bar, no romance in it.



Heads up! This book has a cliffhanger ending! To find out what happens to the two characters, at the end, the author suggests the readers read the following book and offers a short sample to download. I’d rather someone tell me how it ends. I consider this 'story' to be a sample download of the beginning of a book, rather than a complete story by itself.

Within three pages, I was skim reading this story. The monologue had an odd telling to it like someone detailing info into a diary. The wording and arrangement of sentences was strange and gave me the impression English was the author’s second language. There’s an instance of head hopping that had me thinking we were in a secondary character’s head when we weren’t. It also seemed like the tenses were getting confused.

This story isn’t deep. The events that happen, pretty much are a lead up to the blowjob and the cliffhanger ending. It’s a fast read, but I wouldn’t read it again.

I can only give it 2 Stars because the writing was odd and because of the cliffhanger ending.

way better than expected and somehow wonderful

Can you develop true feelings for someone if you've only ever heard their voice? And can those feelings become the basis for a meaningful relationship? Those are the questions Curtis and Patrick find themselves needing to answer when Patrick takes over communicating from mission control while Curtis is finishing up his final space mission from NASA. But with the wrenches that are thrown into everything when Curtis returns back to earth, the early answers you might have given to those questions might just need to be revised...

I hadn’t even heard of this book or author about a week ago. I was browsing through the Romance package on audible when I found the audiobook and found the premise fascinating enough to try. And this has been such an incredible surprise.

First thing that gets to me is just the sheer amount of research that must have taken for the author to write this book. I obviously can’t be sure that all of the details of space travel, life in a shuttle or even the procedures at NASA mission control are all accurate, but it’s written in a way that makes it believable. The terminology used all across the book can be confusing at the beginning but we quickly get used to it and then it’s an easy ride. The writing also has a lot of whimsical quality to it, with many discussions about the utter beauty of being in space and how humanity is but a small part of the huge universe, and the importance of space exploration. It was all very profound and leaves the reader also to do a lot of soul searching and it was a one of a kind reading experience for me. The pacing is actually slow in parts, especially when not much is happening either in the shuttle or on earth, but there are many lovely conversations. I didn’t particularly understand the need to have each chapter interspersed with old interviews, but they did give an insight to the main character before the beginning of the story. The book is also wonderfully diverse which was a pleasure to see. The audiobook narration is great, and I really appreciate the narrator for bringing slightly different nuances for every single character.

Both Curtis and Patrick are amazing characters - two people who have overcome tremendous hardships in their lives to achieve their ultimate dream of space travel. Curtis is a celebrity astronaut who may have been cocky and arrogant before, but is much more subdued this time around. While his initial introduction to Patrick doesn’t go well, their constant communication is inevitable and they quickly come to love their conversations. Patrick’s dream of going to space was thwarted due to his disability, but his sheer determination to be a good support for the astronauts, both as a spacecraft communicator and an engineer, is amazing. He maybe a bit shy and introverted, but he also understands his team very well, especially Curt. I really enjoyed the dynamics between everyone in the team, and it definitely felt like they would be friends for life.

The development of their friendship which slowly turns into love without Curt ever having laid eyes on Patrick, is beautifully written and I couldn’t help but fall in love with their story. Maybe the story takes place in less than a month, but it never feels like instalove, it just feels completely right and perfect. They connect on a very deeper level and just like the characters, we end up waiting for that moment when they finally get to meet. And what a moment that was.... the sheer joy that they feel on looking at each other is absolute perfection and will remain one of my all time favorite romantic scenes.

If you are looking for some sugary sweet romance that’ll probably give you toothache, you should definitely read this one. It’s a very low angst, low steam, age gap love story that’s full of feels and will leave you with a smile on your face. And it has one of the most unique settings that I’ve ever encountered in a contemporary romance, so I think everyone should give this book a try.

PWP with a tentative possible HFN.

Beware this free read stops at 68% and the remainder of the book is promo for other books.

PWP with a tentative possible HFN.

Beware this free read stops at 68% and the remainder of the book is promo for other books.

While the title might suggest otherwise, this is not just a simple M/M version of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast. It's based on the fairytale, but it's more than that, especially when you get to the end of the book. But you'll have to actually read the book if you want to find out what I mean *grin*

I enjoyed the book, even loved certain parts of it, but there were times when I felt it dragged on too long. Personally I could have done without all the sex scenes. I found myself skimming these towards the end, which isn't really a good thing (and that's why it's only a four star read rather than a five star one). The story was well told and the characters, all of them, were interesting and pulled you into their stories. It just seemed very long, even more so with, what I found to be, unnecessary sex scenes which dragged me down in the latter half of the book. However, that's just my opinion, and I really do recommend you read this book!

The thing that actually brought this title to my attention was the space aspect. I'm a sucker for sci-fi. I also love NASA. So, I marked the title as to-read. I listened to this title and honestly, I think that made it even better! I adored the back and forth conversations between CAPCOM and the crew. Simone did a beautiful job balancing the current story with suspense and utilizing the background info to glide the story forward. A well-written title for sure.

3.5*
Story: 8
First MC: 8
Second MC: 8
Secondary characters: 7
Mystery: 3
Sexual tension: 5
Humor: 6
Hotness: 4
Product placement: 5
Ridiculousness: 6
Annoying: 3
Audio: 9 (10h 45min)
To re-read: 4

Enjoyable read. Expect I hate such endings, loath them...agh
and yeah they meet at 72% mark.

too long. just too long and nothing new