{"id":18411,"date":"2021-10-27T19:32:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T23:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=18411"},"modified":"2024-03-09T10:13:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T15:13:01","slug":"open-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18411","title":{"rendered":"Open Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open Hearts<\/a><\/em> (2020) K. Evan Coles (Stealing Hearts)<\/p>\n

\"Open<\/a>Jae-seong Bak love his job as a Nurse Anesthetist, but the swing shifts are starting to get to him as he gets older. For now, he’s back in Boston, where he grew up, and getting ready for his brother’s upcoming wedding.<\/p>\n

What he didn’t expect was to be attracted to the bride’s brother–who has a successful (and exanding) food truck business with his best friend.<\/p>\n

But Emmett had an ugly break-up with his boyfriend, and neither Emmett nor Jae-seong want to add any drama to the upcoming wedding, so they decide to keep things on the DL.<\/p>\n

There were so many things about this story that I loved–first and foremost of which is that Jae-seong actually TOLD Emmett what he was feeling. There was no Big Misunderstanding here, just two people who didn’t seem to be in the head space for what they wanted from a relationship.<\/p>\n

Which I thought was fantastic. <\/p>\n

And I loved how self-aware Jae-seong was about his faults.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reserved a room in the hotel for the weekend of the wedding, you know. So I\u2019d be on time for the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGet out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true.\u201d He grinned when Zac tipped his head back and laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cJae, you can walk to the hotel from your apartment!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a half hour, sure. But with my luck, I\u2019d oversleep and end up hauling ass across town in my tux.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I even thought the sub plot with Emmett’s mother was interesting and decently done.<\/p>\n

My problem is that the book–especially the sex scenes–felt distinctly female–written by a woman for a woman’s gaze. This isn’t to say it was bad per se, just that it felt very feminine, with a lot of emphasis on how fit and handsome both characters were, and lots of lovingly detailed descriptions of Emmett’s body. <\/p>\n

I don’t think I would have paid much attention if there hadn’t been a lot<\/em> of sex scenes (and we all know how I feel about sex scenes: boring) and there was a lot more softness to the descriptions than one would expect when the two characters are described as being incredibly fit.<\/p>\n

So, I think I would have enjoyed the book more without the boinking scenes, which kept making me want to check and verify that the author was female.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Wicked Fingers Press<\/p>\n

Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open Hearts (2020) K. Evan Coles (Stealing Hearts) Jae-seong Bak love his job as a Nurse Anesthetist, but the swing shifts are starting to get to him as he gets older. For now, he’s back in Boston, where he grew up, and getting ready for his brother’s upcoming wedding. What he didn’t expect was to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[292,148,26,56],"tags":[50,544],"class_list":["post-18411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ebook","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-boinking","tag-mm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-4MX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21859,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21859","url_meta":{"origin":18411,"position":0},"title":"Candy Hearts","author":"Michelle","date":"April 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Candy Hearts (2020) Erin McLellan (So Over the Holidays) Because I wanted all the positivity and self-acceptance of this story. Benji was over it. Over the dating scene. Over unsatisfying sex. Over the romantic-industrial complex called Valentine\u2019s Day. Well, actually, he wasn\u2019t over it at all, but he was trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Candy Hearts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Candy-Hearts.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14332,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14332","url_meta":{"origin":18411,"position":1},"title":"Arctic Heat","author":"Michelle","date":"May 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Arctic Heat (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) Owen took \u201cmarried to the job\u201d to mean \u201ccloseted as hell\u201d I\u2019ll be waiting. The period made Quill\u2019s text seem even more ominous in response to Owen\u2019s message about his arrival time. \u201cYou\u2019re pissed at me, but you\u2019re giving me food?\u201d Quill struggled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Arctic Heat","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Arctic-Heat.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13959,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13959","url_meta":{"origin":18411,"position":2},"title":"Candy Hearts","author":"Michelle","date":"February 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Candy Hearts (2000) Erin McLellan (So Over the Holidays) If you're read this blog for more than a handful of months, you know that casual sex doesn't work for my in stories. It's a me thing, and I'm ok with that. But I've been struggling, and needed something that was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Candy Hearts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Candy-Hearts.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13969,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13969","url_meta":{"origin":18411,"position":3},"title":"The Hockey Player\u2019s Snow Day","author":"Michelle","date":"February 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Hockey Player\u2019s Snow Day (2021) Jeff Adams (Hockey Hearts) Nick is heading to his friends' place for a short vacation during the All-Star Weekend. But failing to pay attention to the weather leaves his stranded alongside the road, trudging to the nearest sign of humanity. Shawn loves his home\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "eBook"","block_context":{"text":"eBook","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/ebook"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Hockey Players Snow Day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The-Hockey-Players-Snow-Day.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14313,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14313","url_meta":{"origin":18411,"position":4},"title":"Arctic Wild","author":"Michelle","date":"May 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Arctic Wild (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) Toby also had a personal bias against trophy hunting that he didn\u2019t want to explain. It was fine for the clients, but he\u2019d been raised to value subsistence hunting. \u201cMy mom\u2019s a lawyer too.\u201d Amelia sighed as if this was a fate worse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Arctic Wild","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Arctic-Wild.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14311,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14311","url_meta":{"origin":18411,"position":5},"title":"Arctic Sun","author":"Michelle","date":"May 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Arctic Sun (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) \u201cFood sounds good,\u201d River lied. The alarm on his phone earlier had said it was time to eat, so he would. It\u2019s partly control\u2014 I don\u2019t like not having charge of what happens\u2014 but it\u2019s also wrapped up in my body image stuff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Arctic Sun","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Frozen-Hearts.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}