S. Reesa Herberth

Different wounds, different healing speeds, different solutions, great story.

I have a quibble or two about this novel, but enjoyed it so much that even the one serious quibble seems unimportant in the afterglow from that Epilogue.

Ethan the blond soft jock still mourning his boyfriend, meets deeply wounded Nick in a startling way, and that theme continues through the book - they can't help but affect each other, more and more deeply. I absolutely love the way they skirt subjects too deep show more for the bit of time they've known each other. The grieving hurts, the nasty abusive ex hurts, and the help the boys can offer each other is all the sweeter in the face of those hurts. It ends exactly perfectly for a YA. Perfectly.

The one serious quibble? Nick early on is as able as Ethan is with the snappy comebacks, after that long in the terrible institution the horrible ex/stupid parents landed him in? That felt too...easy, just for some fun joking lines. It's the only part of the story that hit me wrong, though. show less

Both Thanson and Kazra were desperate to leave their home planet and they hoped they'd do it together. That didn't happen, and many years later they were reunited on a distant space station where the secret Than brought with him could end up killing everyone on-board.

In Discretion read like an action movie. There were explosions, failing life support systems, dramatic calls for help, political secrets, high-powered organizations, and past lovers reunited. The beginning of the story read a show more bit like a Firefly fanfic with the numbers scrubbed off, but since I very much liked the idea of Companions (Discretionaries in this universe) I was okay with that.

It was a fun, brief read. I'll be looking for more by Reesa Herberth.

(Provided by publisher) show less

"In Discretion" is a thrilling, fast-paced tale of secrets, sabotage, and romance. What I love about the Ylendrian stories is the unique world-building and the complex, interesting characters, and this novella is no exception. The story of Thanson and Kazra grabs you from the very beginning and pulls you through the expanse of an ailing space station at the perfect pace. More aspects of the vast Ylendrian Empire are revealed, most fascinating to me was the rich and complicated role of show more discretionaries like Thanson in Ylendrian society. All told, another fun, fascinating, and clever addition to the Ylendrian pantheon. I can't wait for more tales set in this universe. show less

2 stars. Really good read which had me interested the whole time...until the end.

All of a sudden Ducks can talk! He doesn't talk to Riv in months, Riv gets shot, and then boom! Ducks is back in his life and can talk now so everything is okay! Ducks ignored Riv for months and was maybe thinking of never talking to him again (even after he got his voice back) but that wasn't even touched on in the shortest reunion ever. I wanted Ducks to actually work to get with Riv, but Riv just makes it show more way too easy for him. (and I really liked his character too)

And note; there is no sex in this book. I'm not saying I need to read a sex scene everytime I read a book, (I can name over 10 that actually have too many sex scenes off the top of my head) but you just don't really feel the chemistry between them all that much. Some hot kisses and that's about it.

Very disappointing conclusion after being such a good read. show less