Review: Making It

Making It by Christine d'Abo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've loved Christine d'Abo's Ringside Romance series from the beginning, but this one is my absolute favorite. Eli has been mentioned in the previous Ringside novels, but this is the first time we actually see him on screen, and I think he's my favorite of the men of Ringside.

Devan and Eli are both great characters, interesting and well-developed, and their story unfolds in a natural and engaging tale. Neither character ever seems to fall into cliche; they are unique individuals with strengths and weaknesses, virtues and vices, and d'Abo is careful that neither character is portrayed as a saint or villain in the tale. Speaking of villains, this story has a great antagonist in Eli's overbearing manager Stephan, who wants a successful top-match fighter in his stable no matter what the personal cost to Eli might be. I was pleased to see a great supporting cast of characters here; the other men of Ringside and their partners are more present in this story than in the others, and Devan's best friend is often a frank female voice in an otherwise testosterone heavy story.

The book features great pacing; I was never bored or bogged down with unnecessary details, nor did I ever feel that the author was rushing toward the end. The story is hot and sweet, fun and real in its romantic progression, and while you can count on the happily ever after, d'Abo does make her characters and her readers work for it. This relationship is one fight that Eli desperately needs to win, but his usual approach isn't going to work for victory out of the ring.

I'd recommend all of the Ringside novels, but this one does stand out. Reading them in order is probably helpful, but I don't think it's necessary. Each of the novels works as a stand-alone story, even this one which does include the previous characters more. The backstories aren't so important to this story as to make the plot difficult to understand, so you could start here and still enjoy the men of Ringside. It will probably make you want to read the rest.

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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Review: The Other Five Percent

The Other Five Percent by Quinn Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Logan Vanderveer is hard to like, even for himself, I think. He's a driven workaholic with a clear vision of what he expects from his future, and nothing, not even those few weeks of experimenting in college is going to derail that plan. Yeah, he tells people that he's "95% straight," but really, Logan is so far in the closet that he should have found Narnia by now. But, when he unexpectedly re-ecounters Ellis Floyd, the star in those other 5% experiments, Logan may find that he isn't quite as straight as he wanted to believe.

Quinn Anderson weaves a realistic coming out romance here; even if Logan isn't particularly likable at first, he's definitely relatable. The story builds slowly, with Logan's sexual identify crisis encompassing much of the story's start. Indeed, I wish Anderson had given Ellis and his thoughts more screen time here; his artistic flair and chaotic self-possession would given the story some needed balance. Actually, I wish other supporting characters, including Logan's hilarious sisters, had been given more action and dialogue to help balance the time we spend in Logan's head.

But, the story builds to a sweet and hot climax, offering a satisfactory resolution to this tale of delayed happily ever after. Logan even become a much more personable and interesting character as he lets go of his very black/white, gay/straight vision of the world to accept that people are more than percentages..

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