daniellesalwaysreading's review
1.0
Terrible story, boring characters, no plot, and worst of all, no sex. How can you write a book with that title and not have any sex? An absolute waste of everyone's time.
ruthie_wk's review
2.0
One star for being hilarious and one star just for the sake.
This book wasn’t thaaaat bad, but it definitely was messy. There were so many issues running rampant, and apart from Miller, nothing really got resolved. The romance part was just as messy as the rest of it, since these two were supposed to be taking it slow, then not, then somehow Baz had to be thrown into the mix with a little appearance that actually meant nothing, and then we have the revelation of a closeted relationship...etc
I’m just happy I got a few laughs and snickers as I read this book, otherwise I’d have torn my hair out in frustration.
This book wasn’t thaaaat bad, but it definitely was messy. There were so many issues running rampant, and apart from Miller, nothing really got resolved. The romance part was just as messy as the rest of it, since these two were supposed to be taking it slow, then not, then somehow Baz had to be thrown into the mix with a little appearance that actually meant nothing, and then we have the revelation of a closeted relationship...etc
I’m just happy I got a few laughs and snickers as I read this book, otherwise I’d have torn my hair out in frustration.
rissa53's review
3.0
Ben and Dale were good together but sometimes it felt like they really didn't like each other! :(
I do like the people in the village though!
I do like the people in the village though!
swamphag's review
3.0
Originally posted over at JLR: https://justlovereviews.com/2017/10/15/the-firemans-pole-sue-brown/
3.5 stars
I don’t really know how I feel about this book. The romance was ok, the MCs were ok, the plot was interesting, but things went too fast for me. There was kind of too much going on with minimal development. I think the reason why I gave this book a lower rating is that it had so much potential that was completely wasted because of the short length. Give it more development and this book would have been five stars for me. Totally unfair given that this is a Dreamspun Desires book, but that’s how I feel.
The problem is that I have read books with more ridiculous and unbelievable plots that had more chemistry between the two MCs. The chemistry was significantly lacking in this book and it made it hard to look away from some other issues I had with it. The biggest issue was that the romance was mainly derived from announcing feelings without us really seeing it. I want to see their chemistry, not have them tell me they like each other. It falls flat for me when that’s the case and it was frustrating because I really liked the idea of them together. They would work really well together as a fighting-to-loving type thing if it wasn’t so rushed.
I feel that the romance started too quickly and then fell victim to not enough development. The romance starting quickly would be fine, but Ben was really aggressively mean to Dale the first times they talked. I don’t understand how Dale would have gone head over heels for someone who treated him like that (especially after a bad breakup). Ben got sweeter later in the book but that was after Dale was all into him. Also, it bothered me that Dale announced that he wanted to wait to have sex because he was feeling vulnerable after his breakup, but then he jumped right into bed with Ben.
On the other side, Ben meets Dale, is mean to him, and then suddenly decides Dale is worth breaking up with his girlfriend (beard) and coming out. Ben was adamant about not coming out too quickly but then was all over Dale in public. The village wasn’t homophobic or judgmental so I understand why he felt comfortable doing this, but his words did not match his actions. This book had a serious case of “I wouldn’t before but he’s just so special.” Yuck.
Onto what I liked about the book… The writing was well done and I thought there were a lot of interesting characters in it. I actually enjoyed Ben and Dale as characters, but I think the sudden romance made them kind of boring. They actually became more interesting when they were around the other interesting characters from the village, but they were boring together. I could really see how this romance would work but it needed more development. Could I write the words “more development” more in this review???
Sadly, the mystery with the fire stole the show. I liked how it got resolved and that it wasn’t too serious (I mean arson is always serious but no one got killed). It gave the characters more reasons to interact and brought Dale into contact with more of the villagers.
Overall, I think this book would have done better not as a Dreamspun Desires but as a full-length book. There were some interesting plot points that got glazed over and I think the romance should have been more of a slow burn. However, if you can suspend your disbelief better than I could or not get frustrated at the short length, then I think you would enjoy this book a lot more. Especially since the Fireman/stuffy Royalty thing was really hot and the mystery was engaging.
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
3.5 stars
I don’t really know how I feel about this book. The romance was ok, the MCs were ok, the plot was interesting, but things went too fast for me. There was kind of too much going on with minimal development. I think the reason why I gave this book a lower rating is that it had so much potential that was completely wasted because of the short length. Give it more development and this book would have been five stars for me. Totally unfair given that this is a Dreamspun Desires book, but that’s how I feel.
The problem is that I have read books with more ridiculous and unbelievable plots that had more chemistry between the two MCs. The chemistry was significantly lacking in this book and it made it hard to look away from some other issues I had with it. The biggest issue was that the romance was mainly derived from announcing feelings without us really seeing it. I want to see their chemistry, not have them tell me they like each other. It falls flat for me when that’s the case and it was frustrating because I really liked the idea of them together. They would work really well together as a fighting-to-loving type thing if it wasn’t so rushed.
I feel that the romance started too quickly and then fell victim to not enough development. The romance starting quickly would be fine, but Ben was really aggressively mean to Dale the first times they talked. I don’t understand how Dale would have gone head over heels for someone who treated him like that (especially after a bad breakup). Ben got sweeter later in the book but that was after Dale was all into him. Also, it bothered me that Dale announced that he wanted to wait to have sex because he was feeling vulnerable after his breakup, but then he jumped right into bed with Ben.
On the other side, Ben meets Dale, is mean to him, and then suddenly decides Dale is worth breaking up with his girlfriend (beard) and coming out. Ben was adamant about not coming out too quickly but then was all over Dale in public. The village wasn’t homophobic or judgmental so I understand why he felt comfortable doing this, but his words did not match his actions. This book had a serious case of “I wouldn’t before but he’s just so special.” Yuck.
Onto what I liked about the book… The writing was well done and I thought there were a lot of interesting characters in it. I actually enjoyed Ben and Dale as characters, but I think the sudden romance made them kind of boring. They actually became more interesting when they were around the other interesting characters from the village, but they were boring together. I could really see how this romance would work but it needed more development. Could I write the words “more development” more in this review???
Sadly, the mystery with the fire stole the show. I liked how it got resolved and that it wasn’t too serious (I mean arson is always serious but no one got killed). It gave the characters more reasons to interact and brought Dale into contact with more of the villagers.
Overall, I think this book would have done better not as a Dreamspun Desires but as a full-length book. There were some interesting plot points that got glazed over and I think the romance should have been more of a slow burn. However, if you can suspend your disbelief better than I could or not get frustrated at the short length, then I think you would enjoy this book a lot more. Especially since the Fireman/stuffy Royalty thing was really hot and the mystery was engaging.
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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