Release Tour & Series Recap: Elysium (Reunion #3) by JJ Harper

22 June of 2016 by ButtonsMom2003

Reviewer's Rating: 3

3.0Overall score

It could have been so much better…

Title: Elysium

Series: Reunion Series #3

Author: JJ Harper

Genre: M/M Romance

Release Date: June 16, 2016

With Nico by his side, Ryan says goodbye to his old life and moves away, leaving his job and his hometown behind him.

Ready for a fresh new start together, Ryan and Nico settle down into a slower and easier lifestyle and life becomes as perfect as they could wish for.

When Ryan is unexpectedly reminded of the life he happily walked away from, his world is turned upside down when he gets notice of news that he never expected to hear. Ryan is tormented by what is being asked of him; the very thing he was promised would never be asked of him again.

A man Nico once knew returns, and Nico wishes he’d never caught up with Lyle. His ploy to keep Lyle away from Ryan fails and Lyle tells all about his previous connection to Nico. Ryan takes off, leaving no clues as to where he’s gone and Nico is devastated believing that Ryan has left him.

When Ryan finally returns home; so does his past and he is forced to visit an old friend. But things are not what they seem and Ryan must fight as hard as he can to keep himself safe.

Maybe the perfect life with a happy ever after just isn’t in the cards for Ryan and Nico after all.

Reading this may seriously raise you blood pressure, contains lots of hot scenes of sex between two men and has strong language throughout

This book is intended for 18+ readers.

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

It could have been so much better…

Book 1, Reunion, ends on a cliffhanger. 3 stars
Book 2, Reunited got to a pretty good HFN. 3 stars
Book 3, Elysium is really almost a new story. With a little editing and a bit of rewriting, I think it could actually work pretty good as a standalone. 4 stars.

I’m giving this series an overall rating of 3.5 stars rounded down to 3; I just couldn’t round this one up.

I was assigned Elysium to read and review, however, the previous two books had to be read first. I’ll touch briefly on the first two books and then give my review for Elysium.

If non-stop, hot, EXPLICIT, M/M sex is something you like then you should love this series. Unfortunately, for me it was pretty much just okay until I read the final book – Elysium. I love reading about hot, sexy guys doing what they do together in M/M stories but this one was a bit over-the-top for me. I actually (gasp!) found myself rushing through the sex scenes. Trust me; this is something that almost never happens as I normally love the sexy stuff. The non-stop coarse language was also a bit over-the-top. I’m far from a prude and read a lot of stuff that most would consider smut or porn but this series was just a bit too much.

The first two books are also filled with a lot, and I mean a lot, of angst – especially for characters in their very late twenties (28). When they were 18, and going to their senior prom, Nico and Ryan declared their love to each other and finally came out to their friends and parents. Unfortunately, it didn’t go so well for Nico. His parents disowned him and he was so ashamed that he left town that night without telling anyone, not even Ryan.

Fast forward 10 years and they are reunited when Nico comes back home for their 10-year class reunion. (Warning: the scene where they first meet again is not pretty and contains violence and sexual assault.)

I really love a second chance love story whether it’s M/F, M/M or F/F doesn’t really matter so I was looking forward to reading this trilogy. The story could have really been a fantastic one, the writing’s not bad – but I think the editor dropped the ball. There was way too much repetition where Nico and Ryan each apologized for being apart and things that happened when they weren’t together. And they were constantly going back and forth between almost hating each other and jumping into bed. I get that some of it was truly necessary to the story but, like the sex, I thought it was a bit over-the-top.

Elysium is by far the best book of the three provided the copy I read had not yet been edited and/or proofed. The ARC (advanced review copy) provided to me was full of typos and incorrect and missing words. I wasn’t told that it was an unproofed copy so I’m going to give the writer the benefit of the doubt and believe what I read hadn’t been proofed or edited.

Elysium kept me on the edge of my seat during the last half of the story; the first half was filled with the same kind of back and forth angst contained in the first two books. In the previous two books, it was Nico’s past that came back to haunt the couple and cause problems. In the second half of this book, Ryan’s past is the culprit and it’s also why I found this story so compelling.

Ben is a friend from Ryan’s time in the military and he is briefly mentioned in the first two books. The best part of Elysium is about Ben and Ryan’s past and how it gets resolved. I loved the mystery and intrigue surrounding Ben and Ryan’s past (they were not romantically involved). Some parts were almost heartbreaking and brought me to tears.

I also very much enjoyed the extended epilogue that gives readers a glimpse into Ryan and Nico’s future. I think this author shows a talent for writing romantic suspense and I’d be interested in reading another story similar to the last half of Elysium.

One minor note: I believe that this author is British but the book is set in the U.S. While most everything is written using U.S. terminology a few words kept popping up that might confuse U.S. readers who haven’t read other stories by British authors. For example, the word counterpane popped up a few times. In context, I pretty much understood what it was but I looked it up just in case. Another word used much differently than we normally use it in the U.S. was several variations of the word “sort.” Again, not really hard for me to figure out what the author meant but I’m familiar with the use of this from reading other books set in Great Britain.