Review of Rest Ashored by BJ Irons & Will Freshwater

Rest Ashored by B.J. Irons

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


In this new standalone MM Romance by Will Freshwater & B.J. Irons, the plot loosely follows a You’ve Got Mail enemies to lovers plot.

Identity Crisis

The language and descriptions used in this book made it, for me, very hard to read. The author has a beautiful way with words, but the problem was that the flowery language and detailed exposition about actions and scenery were out of place with the sort of novel this was pitched to be by the description. Bryce did not talk like a person who lived in this century and the story hard to believe. No one says they’re ‘vexed’ these days, especially not in a contemporary mm romance.

Either write a contemporary romance with funny and believable dialogue and modern setting OR write a historic fiction with flowery prose. Both cannot be done in the same book. It was almost like the author couldn’t choose what sort of novel they wanted to write.

You’ve Got Mail

The plot following the You’ve Got Mail story is presented in a fun way, and there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good enemies to lovers story. But in this case, neither character was portrayed in a very realistic manner. Dev was emotionally stunted in a way that was not compelling and Bryce could be a complete twat. Sometimes, that’s what a character needs to be before they have a redemption arc. However, to really drive that change home, Bryce needed to go a bit further in his redemption arc in my opinion.

This mm romance novel was disappointing. I really wanted to like it more than I did.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Read more mm romance book reviews that I have written.



View all my reviews