Without Reservations (With or Without #1) in Queereaders

Jan 09, 2008 Nancy rated it really liked it

Shelves: gay, e-books, shifters, erotic-romance, kindle-lendable

I really enjoyed Without Reservations. It was fun, fast-paced and highly addictive. Keaton and Chay were a very appealing and likeable couple who were easy to fall in love with. The sex scenes were frequent, but very tender and erotic. Unfortunately, the plot was a little flimsy and the story rather lightweight. There was a little bit of mystery and family drama that could have been better developed. Keaton and Chay are both werewolves, yet they seemed mostly human throughout the story. I would ...more

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Jan 30, 2008 LD Durham rated it liked it

Shelves: m-m-romance

First, the cover is gorgeous. I adore the cover to this book. The models are perfect and the wolves are an excellent touch.
The story, though, needed to be tightened up in the worse way. Information was reiterated several times. There was also a lot of tell and a bit lean on the show. And a lot of “As you know…” type dialog. Very simple things were spelled out when there was just no reason to. Perhaps for the casual reader who read a chapter a night, this repetitiveness would be diluted and even First, the cover is gorgeous. I adore the cover to this book. The models are perfect and the wolves are an excellent touch.
The story, though, needed to be tightened up in the worse way. Information was reiterated several times. There was also a lot of tell and a bit lean on the show. And a lot of “As you know…” type dialog. Very simple things were spelled out when there was just no reason to. Perhaps for the casual reader who read a chapter a night, this repetitiveness would be diluted and even needed. But for the reader who reads it straight through, it is tedious. If most of this excess had been cut away, the story would have been much tighter and smoother.

As for the character of Keaton, I liked him a lot. I adored the character; he is right up my alley as far as characters go. But... [h]e was just a bit too perfect.

Chay, in my opinion, was okay. He was your typical nice Boy-Next-Door type. With Keaton’s harder and feistier personality, the combination balanced them out perfectly. They meshed very well. Their interactions were good and very believable. I enjoyed them together; they fit. My only hang-up with these two stems, again, from the excess of repeated information. They found each other sexy. They thought of each other as the other half of themselves. They thought the other was hot. They both thought the other was perfect, cute, sexy, smart, etc. This sentiment was repeated over and over again until I just got tired of reading it.

The positive of this book is that the story is actually very good. I was interested enough in it to keep reading through the repetitions and reiterations to find out more. I genuinely liked the characters and wanted to see them happy. I was excited at the danger and mystery. It was fun. Details were rendered well, making scenes and people very clear in my mental eye. Langley used everyday-type scenarios to really sink this story in reality. The climatic point of the book, though, was read with a small edge of irritation on my part due to, in my opinion, a completely superfluous change of location to find the mystery wolf who was obviously in the same place they were to begin with.

I think this story is perfect as something to shove in your bag and carry with you as you go to the post office, doctor’s appointments, and other places where you can open the book and immediately be back where you left off without any confusion. It’s light and tender and sweet with just a bit of mystery. This isn’t a blood-rushing, exciting read, but it is a sweet book with love and softness. If you like fluffy stories, and ones in which you get to immerse yourself in the loving, happy relationship and the cute romantic parts, this is for you. Chay and Keaton are a couple who make you smile and sigh happily.

Read the entire two-person review at Top & Bottom Book Review ...more

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Jan 11, 2010 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reread, 2011, paranormal, gay, 2009, romance, ebook, done

Very good m/m paranormal werewolf romance about a straight vet (and werewolf) who realizes that the injured male wolf brought in to his office is actually a werewolf... and his mate.

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Aug 12, 2009 Tara Lynn rated it liked it

Shelves: lgbt-selections, booklist-for-2009

I stumbled on this author as I was voting on some LBGT book lists earlier this month. I was not even remotely surprised to find that not only are her books hard to buy, unless you're buying them through used booksellers, or directly through the publisher, but on a search through Barnes and Noble, this series is flagged as having "material that may be offensive to some readers."

I'm insulted on the author's behalf. I've read insipid romance novels that have entire chapters devoted to minute descr I stumbled on this author as I was voting on some LBGT book lists earlier this month. I was not even remotely surprised to find that not only are her books hard to buy, unless you're buying them through used booksellers, or directly through the publisher, but on a search through Barnes and Noble, this series is flagged as having "material that may be offensive to some readers."

I'm insulted on the author's behalf. I've read insipid romance novels that have entire chapters devoted to minute descriptions of hetero sex, but a quick search on these reveals that Barnes and Noble apparently finds these books "offensive."

I've been reading anything I could get my hands on since I was old enough to read Dr. Suess by myself. In the case of my sneaky attempts to read certain things, (King's Cujo, for example,) by flashlight under the covers when I was too young to really understand some of the subtext, perhaps this wasn't a great idea.

In others, as I grew from the awkward adolescent stage into a hopeful young adulthood, I began to read more descriminately. I found that the romance novels I had read in my very early teens had done very little to further my understanding of sex, which in truth, was why most of my friends and I were reading them in the first place. Often these stories had plots that were horribly researched, wildly inaccurate, and as I discovered later, wholly sexist.

These stories, written by women for an audience of women, demeaned their own heroines, often used the sex act as punishment, and overwhelmingly laid the case for the experienced male throwing his weight around. Having inherited (in a manner of speaking) my mother's cartons of books saved from her own youth, I devoured Woodiwiss, Coulter, and Henley.

It wasn't until I reached adulthood that I realized that almost all of these stories feature rape, and the apparent later acceptance of that rape by the "heroine."

I've been reading LGBT literature for all audiences since I was old enough to accept certain things about my own life, and take a stand in educating myself about them. I have never found demeaning sex, willing or unwilling rape, or cruel (but always accepted) punishments in any of the LGBT literature I've ever read.

I don't think that I might go so far as to say that there isn't any literature out there that might contain any of the acts I've described above, but I haven't found it yet.

Comments or thoughts would be appreciated. I'm wondering what everyone else thinks. ...more

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Jul 29, 2010 Amy rated it it was ok

Shelves: lgbtq, 2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have another of her books on my shelf waiting to be read...but I am not sure I am going to after reading this one. The writing was boring. I normally hate the idea of shoving a Thesaurus at people, but I think this author could benefit from it.

I couldn't bond with the characters. We never got a good glimpse inside their heads. They went into long explanations that didn't need to be told out loud, used for author convenience. Heck, this book would be 1/3 shorter if the author didn't explain thi ...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Jennifer Wardrip rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-personally-by-moi

Absolutely loved it - great start to the series!

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Jan 03, 2010 Suuanda rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, lgbt

So bad I couldn't finish... very disappointing.
...more

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Aug 27, 2008 Blackbook rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2008, erotica

m/m werewolf erotica - maybe 3.5 stars. Didn't blow my skirt up. ...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Erotic Horizon rated it it was amazing

Without Reservations by J. L. Langley (2007)

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Jul 18, 2008 Daisiemae rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-to-i-will-never-part-with, books-read-in-2008, e-book, werewolf-shapeshifter, male-male-romance-erotica

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Sep 23, 2008 Bryl Tyne rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorite, erotic, glbt

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Oct 17, 2008 Collette rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebook-erotica-mm

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Jan 18, 2009 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

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Jan 29, 2009 Joseph-Daniel Peter Paul Abondius marked it as to-read

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Mar 07, 2009 Cameron marked it as to-read

Shelves: queer

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Oct 24, 2009 Luna Solaris marked it as to-read

Shelves: on-hold

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Dec 03, 2009 Keitorin marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: wishlist, m-m, werewolves, romance, shapeshifters, supernatural-paranormal

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Feb 04, 2010 Cat rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-books, m-m

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Mar 24, 2010 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, gay-pg, gay, gay-erotica, romance, z-read-in-2010, gay-shifters, gay-paranormal

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Sep 16, 2010 Jani rated it really liked it

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Nov 28, 2010 Michael E rated it liked it

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Jul 26, 2011 R marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-epub, m-m, paranormal

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Jun 29, 2012 Cat rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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Jun 05, 2013 Rick marked it as to-read

Shelves: dark-fantasy, lgbtq-fiction, werewolves-shapeshifters, a-wish-list

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Sep 25, 2013 Kelly (Maybedog) rated it really liked it

Shelves: what-modern-fantasy, what-male-protagonist, how-ebook, where-grr-mine, what-lgbtqia, what-shifters, how-series, what-mm-read, what-instalove, what-mm

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