C. J. Bishop

3.5 stars for the whole bundle

I might have spoken too soon earlier when I said there is no improvement. Looking back, that is not true. Abel was a shock to my system. Neither the content, nor the style is usually what I read, but once I got over the initial shock I quite liked it. That said, Book 1 is a bit too much, I think the author might have wanted to test the waters with that one, see how far she can go. Well, she took it a bit too far, in my opinion. Same with Caleb. Angel, Gabe and show more Max was better. It's still very OTT, but that's just the author's style, she has a flare for the dramatic. She destroyed these characters, and then build them back up. This series is very addictive.

These books can't be read as standalones in my opinion, because the storyline is continuous. Every book has a main couple and mostly concentrates on them, but their friends also have their POV's and their stories to tell. For example: Gabe and Cole's relationship started in Book 1, even though their book is only the fourth. Or Max and his love interest... well their story started waaay before the first book, theirs is a second chance romance. So I suggest you start with Abel, even though it's not the best writing-wise.

The writing reminds me of Brazilian telenovelas. What I mean by that? Let's say, in one scene Gabe and Cole are fooling around in bed, just coming down from the high, and start talking about how Dane seemed off lately, like something's bothering him. On cue, we jump to Dane to see what he's doing at the moment. He's moping, cuz he thinks Angel doesn't want him. Brühühü.. And so we jump to Angel who's at his apartment being raped. So imagine something like this. It might be annoying at first, but after I got used to it, I liked it.

These boys are all broken and hurt, there's so much heartache. They all want to protect the one they love. So they sacrifice themselves (Gabe, you idiot!).

The stories are raw and edgy. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with them. I loved all the feels I mentioned above, but on the other hand I didn't like the insta-love. And I felt frustrated all the time, when they didn't talk to each other. There wasn't miscommunication, cuz they didn't communicate with each other at all, not with words anyway. They might have, with their bodies. There's a ton of sex, sometimes unnecessary sex. Everyone's doing it with everyone for a fair number of reasons, there was casual; friendly; fun sex; hurt sex; rage sex; I-don't-want-to-live-anymore sex; make-the-hurt-go-away sex; sex for money; sex for a favor; and sex just because. I have favorite pairings and not necessarily between the MC's. What I'm trying to say here is that these boys/men at the Phoenix Club are like a big family, they love each other as one, and would do anything for each other, even have sex with each other, if that's what they wanted/needed.

So I only reviewed Abel (see it down below), I mostly had the same problems with the rest, but there is some improvement. If I have to rate them individually: Gabe and Max 4 stars (but I think at this point I’m not thinking rationally, I love those men), the rest is 3.

---------

ABEL

Please note: this review contains some spoilers.

This book was so wrong on so many levels. Gawd!

I liked Abel genuinely, but 80% of this book he was crying, with good reason, but still.

Devlin and Abel barely knew each other, but already falling in love. Maybe they exchanged names and that’s it. That was too fast. I did feel the heartache though, but I would’ve liked if they got to know each other better before all the shit happened. Devlin’s reaction to the devastating truth was perfect. Sad of course, but perfect.

They called Abel „the boy” which frustrated the hell out of me. Not the term specifically, cause he is a boy, but it was used a lot, so that’s more a writing issue than anything. It was used repetitively.

The most disturbing were the sex scenes, because Abel had sex in this book with at least 5 men and they didn’t use condoms, didn’t even suggest it. I mean they acted like condoms didn’t even exist. And why it bothers me is that they just found out that Abel’s sister has HIV (she’s 16, never had sex, she got it from a dirty needle while rummaging through the garbage for some food when they were living on the street). So, in possession of that information I would’ve thought that Abel would protest, but it didn’t even occur to him to ask, it’s not that he forgot, it’s just that it seemed that in this world condoms didn’t exist. There was a scene when Abel sucked off a random guy in the club, and then Devlin stormed in all alpha-like and stuck his tongue down Abel’s throat. Ew!

People at the Phoenix club are like a family. Sorry, I know I'm repeating myself, but it's true. They're very close. Gabe and Cole are my favorite. Best friends and fuck buddies to lovers. And at first I was bothered by Cole and Gabe’s behavior towards Abel. They were kissing each other, like... with tongue. And that bothered me, because I'm not usually kissing my friend that way. There’s also a menage sex scene with these three, which is where my problems with protection started.

For some reason everyone rubbed his mouth when nervous. Everyone. What’s with that! Again, writing issue.

Horatio is an interesting character. The first time he fucked Abel, he treated him like a whore. And then the next time, when Abel tells him he’s just a whore, and doesn’t want to be treated any differently by Horatio, the man scolds him, and tells Abel he never wants to hear him say such a thing and he’s not a whore. Well, would you make up your mind then, cause your confusing me, Horatio.

Triggers: rape (off page, though there is a scene that’s bordering on rape, it isn’t really, but that’s on-page. In the next installments though a lot of it is on-page and there's torture too.), murder (off page), sex with multiple individuals, prostitution (sort of), no condoms, HIV.

Alas, these characters have grown on me, so I’m gonna keep going and hoping that the writing, the story, and everything else will improve a bit. I would skip Angel and Caleb, I don’t even know who they are, and I just want to get to Gabe, but it seems the storyline continues through the whole bundle, so I can’t really skip.

(haha, I wrote this just after I finished book 1). ;)

---------

Finishing the bundle, I still feel there are some loose ends and I definitely will read the other books connecting to this series.

Emotionally this series deserves all the stars I could give. If you feel intrigued, by all means, dive right in. As I mentioned I think you should start with Abel. It's a big commitment, but you can read one book at a time, and take brakes if necessary, there is no chance you forget what you read. It's quite memorable. Enjoy!

P.S. As usual, read my notes and highlights, maybe you guys will understand my love and hate for this book better. show less

Abel is a dancer at a male strip club who is injured by an over-zealous creep of a customer and ends up in the ER where he meets Dr. Grant. For Dr. Grant it's lust-at-first-sight and he can't shake his desire to be with Abel no matter how hard he tries. But can he get through Abel's rough exterior that seems to push everyone away. And when Abel's sister gets sick, can he find a way to comfort the young man that doesn't just make things worse.

Content warning off the bat - descriptions and show more depictions of past sexual abuse/rape.

There's something about this story and the characters of Abel and his sister that really drew me in and made me want to like it. I think there's a lot of potential with the characters, but overall this first installment of the series didn't really hook me as much as I think it could have. The insta-love here on Dr. Grant's part is nearly jarring - he sees him once and doesn't just want to get intimate with him, he suddenly wants to mate with him for life? That's a bit too much. And I'm still not sure how I feel about the way things seem to conveniently and unrealistically line up at the end to provide the major twist that comes out. That said, reviews seem to indicate the next couple of books in the series are better than the first, so I'll probably give the second a shot just because I'm hoping for something better for these characters who do have a lot of potential for a great story. show less

I discovered this author with her last series, Abel which was very good. This has a promising start.
What do you do when the right love finds you at the wrong time?

At age 17, Caleb Dean’s world is ripped apart in a matter of minutes, tragedy striking sudden and violent. Now, four years later, Caleb is still trying to undo what he deems to be his fault.

Taking work wherever he can get it, Caleb finds his way to New York and The Phoenix Club. Stunning the crowd with his debut performance, show more Caleb quickly catches the eye of Brock Coulson, an aggressive defense attorney with a secret lust for young male strippers.

With his brother incarcerated from an unjust sentence and the victim of brutality behind those walls, Caleb will do go to any lengths to get his brother out of prison. But his plans to negotiate with Coulson get interrupted when Caleb meets Samuel.

He knows not to get too close, but Samuel is a whirlwind of passion, sweeping him off his feet and refusing to let him go. show less

For a bunch of strippers, Abel and friends are unconvincingly having hearts of gold... They cared for one another without ulterior motives. Cole and Gabe did not seem to have a life of their own, other than to hang around Abel and to indulge him in their wild encounter.

What turned me off was that Abel cried a lot. A little bit too much.