Review: Citywide by Santino Hassell

“…they were enjoyable and I think a good addition to the series.”
~ Under the Covers

Citywide is a collection of three novellas in the Five Boroughs world. We’ve come to know a big set of characters in this series and it was fun to visit several of them in one book because they didn’t need longer stories. I also really enjoyed the fact that these three stories follow one timeline, so they were perfect to read in order as the events from one bled into the other in terms of an overall plot for the world and set of characters. So I thought that was a really great way of tying the stories into the one anthology and I don’t see that done often enough so I really appreciated the extra thought.

I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t necessarily dying to read stories about any of these characters and maybe I would’ve been ok knowing that these things happened in the background of someone else’s story, if that makes sense? But nevertheless, they were enjoyable and I think a good addition to the series.

REROUTED

We open up with with Chris who is struggling with wanting zero drama in his life and obviously being the third in Jace and Aiden’s relationship once in a while would just bring too much emotional turmoil for him. But then he’s called in to QFinder’s headquarters to fix a computer problem and gets stuck there during a blackout with them until power is restored. I feel like the issues in this relationship revolved a little too much around miscommunication and people being a little sensitive instead of just coming out and speaking frankly about their feelings. So that wasn’t my favorite part of the story. However, I did like the characters and yes this was the hottest of the three stories. So extra points for that!

GRIDLOCKED

This one I had the most difficulty with. And it’s weird because I actually liked the sexual parts of their relationship a lot, but I wasn’t too keen on the actual relationship and characters. Tonya came across as someone who didn’t really like Meredith much and there was a quick turnaround to that without really digging into Meredith much and seeing what makes her tick. So I couldn’t get past the reservations as fast as Tonya seems to have done. I felt like there was a lot of Meredith chasing after Tonya like a puppy and taking some cold and dry treatment if that’s all she could get. Overall, I’m not sure how I can see them working out long term.

DERAILED

This may have been my favorite and the one I breezed through easier and faster. It’s a best friends to lovers and kind of a finally they admitted they want a relationship story. Angel has been in love with Stephanie since high school, they had some flings and they are on again off again sexual partners. Stephanie is dead set on not wanting a relationship and Angel may just be tired of waiting. This was a sweet one and I think the one that conveyed the most emotion and drew me out of all of these.

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