Customer Reviews

Life, Over Easy: Fragments, Book 1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By the time I was about ten pages into this book, I was grinning. We had a disabled protag, being done very well. Bad sex, done credibly and amusingly. Great characters, great set up. Thirty pages in and I was crying. That's when I started to curse K A effing Mitchell for spoiling me so badly. After I read her books, I expect every other author to be this brilliant and...they just aren't. She's one of a kind.

But about a hundred pages in, the woo woo started, and I began to lose faith. This wasn't what I expected from this story, and I was afraid it was going to go places I would find a tad sickly.

Mostly it avoided those places, though I did think the way the supernatural plot device was handled was a little pat. What it definitely was, was over too soon. I was just getting past the woo-woo thing, getting back into John and Mason, and wham bam thank you ma'am, it was over!

Huh. And I wanted more, damn it! I wanted more, because though the beautifully written and hot sex scenes were fabulous and character building, there really wasn't enough between John and Mason at the end to justify where they got to, and Mason's recovery was simply too fast. In fact, I was left feeling rather cheated by Mason because though a lot of people kept telling him and us what an a**hole he was and how he had to make amends for that at various points, he didn't seem as messed up as he could be considering what he'd gone through. John was great, and I loved how his disability was described and woven into the story, and how he coped with the grief of losing his fitness and sports career. Mason just didn't seem that well fleshed out, though he's got a lot of potential.

A cast of great supporting characters is par for the course with this author, and I see she's setting up a series with this one. For me, this was a solid Mitchell, much better than Chasing Smoke, but not quite at the level of Collision Course. Which still means this is a highly enjoyable, engrossing read, and one which makes me hungry for Fragments, Book 2.

I want a sequel!!! I loved Life, Over Easy and want more. Ms. Mitchell can tell a story. I always enjoying reading her. I can't think of one of her books that I didn't have fun with. Recommended.

Awesome story! I loved it and can't wait for book two! I just realized this one came out more than a year ago. Is there even going to be a book two?

The story was okay, but not one of Mitchell's best. I didn't mind so much the strangeness of paranormal storyline. I thought it was explained to be convincing for those who can believe those kinds of things. My problem was sometimes not following who was speaking when there was more than two interacting with each other. The romance between Mason and John really didn't work for me. At the end it felt like they might still just want to try it out instead of a real exclusive relationship. They said some words, but it really wasn't developed. You would think that John would be the more sensitive one, but somewhere along the way Mason just did a 180 change and filled more of that role and it was a weird transition. In all, I thought it was alright but not great.

I bought this book ages ago and see to my surprise that I didn't review it. It's been a reread and a keeper for me.

I loved that both the main characters are haunted by their pasts, by accidents that should not have happened but did, and now they have to live in the reality they have. John has vertigo and needs a cane, he can never drive, but more importantly, he has to redefine himself completely, because if he is not an Olympic diver, then what is he...

Mason has his own crippling issues, though he is not outwardly maimed, his spirit is certainly damaged.

This book is about them connecting, finding trust and great sex. I really enjoyed it the first time round and have probably read it 3 more times since it was first published, so I definitely rate it a reread and a keeper and am happy to have it in my library.

Great story well told - "John expected Rachel to ask some Oprah kind of questions, but one of the things he was learning was that in real life, in addition to not thinking that the Olympics were the most important thing ever, real people didn't act at all like they did on TV or in the movies." How easy it is to love John!

4834 locations.

Mitchell always writes a great story. This is another one to reaffirm that statement. John is a famous diver who's had a traumatic brain injury in during a competition. Now he's trying to deal with that and learn to live a normal life, starting with going to college. Mason is apparently trying to drink himself to death in a storm of self-hatred and guilt over the death of his lover. The two of them finding and saving each other would be enough drama for most writers, but Mitchell had to throw in a curveball. John's head injury introduces a bit of paranormal involvement which adds just that much more to the story for our heroes to deal with. It wasn't what I expected, probably wasn't strictly necessary, and could have easily derailed the story, but she handled it well. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series very much!

John Andrews was an Olympic diver, until a terrible accident left him permanently disabled. Now he's a college student, trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life and deal with the visual effects of his accident--including seeing colors around people's heads. When he meets sexy Mason, he thinks some hot sex with an attractive guy will be just what the doctor ordered. He's even prepared to ignore the two distinct colors he sees around Mason's head. Unfortunately, things don't go quite the way he'd hoped.

Mason has felt wrong since the death of his boyfriend months earlier. He's been using alcohol and mindless sex to try to cope, but it's not really working. Then he meets John. Something about the guy makes him want to be different. Too bad Mason is carrying more baggage than either of them knows...

Life, Over Easy is a fascinating, emotional paranormal tale. John and Mason are both great characters. They're both lost, John after his accident took his diving career and Mason after his lover's death. They're also both vulnerable, although they deal with it in different ways. Overwhelmed already by changes, John isn't looking for complications, and Mason is a big one. When things don't go well, John moves on and makes new friends, all the while trying to hide the fact that he sees the strange colors. Mason, on the other hand, seems to flail around searching for a lifeline. Alcohol and sex didn't work, and he can't seem to let go of his lost love. He wants to be around John, but he's conflicted. Discovering that his problem letting go might not be all in his head leads Mason and John on a quest to figure out how to disentangle Mason from his dead lover. Life, Over Easy features hot sex, lots of emotion and conflict, and a bit of the paranormal. I really liked John and Mason. The series of misunderstandings and conflicts that kept them apart, while frustrating, allowed them both to grow and understand what they truly needed. The paranormal aspects to the story were very cool and added icing to an already appealing cake. KA Mitchell has earned a place on my auto-buy list, and Life, Over Easy definitely doesn't disappoint. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

Cassie
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I enjoyed these characters very much. There was 'woo woo' metaphysical stuff, but not over done. The sex was not too often, but often enough and good enough.

k. a. mitchell writes characters that are developed without being overwritten. Just enough detail that you care about them. She is also aware that there is nothing wrong with a little ha ha in your romance. I know I had a large smile on my face a few times during the reading of this. I can be picky, but can think of no reason not to recommend this book to everyone.

You will enjoy it despite the, or in some cased, because of the 'woo woo'.

This book has all the good stuff: emotional rollercoaster, high tension, hot sex. I, too, thought it was a little bit short but it was atill a thoroughly enjoyable read. That said, i haven't met a story by KA Mitchell that I didn't like.

Due to the matter and the blurb I was not expecting for this romance by K.A. Mitchell to be also a light comedy, but indeed it was; better it was a romantic comedy, with some funny moments, that is even better.

Both Mason than John, for a reason or the other, have lost everything and now they have to find a way to start again. Mason was a nice and simple guy, nothing special, but he got lucky and ended with the best boyfriend during his freshman year, the boy everyone wanted, but only Mason got. They were immensely happy but a car accident put a sudden stop to that happiness. Mason cannot neither have the consolation to not being the one who was driving since he was, and Alex is now dead and Mason is alive. I think it was good, and original, that Mason is yes mourning the loss of Alex, and maybe he is drinking too much, and maybe he doesn't know how to come out of his depression, but he has not suicidal instinct. True, if he could choose, he wanted to be the one dead, and Alex alive, but this is not, and Mason is not thinking to kill himself, he only doesn't know how to start again without Alex.

John was an Olympic diver, two time gold medallist and All-American boy, at least until the moment a accident during practive didn't put a stop to his career; now he is simply a college student, a bit too old to be simply a freshman, but not enough experienced to be a senior. He doesn't fit anywhere and he has no friend. Plus he is gay and virgin, and now that he has not to be in the closet due to the homophobic environment he was living until months ago, he wants to get lost of that virginity thing. At a party John meets Mason, and they seem perfect together: John wants to experience everything and Mason seems to know everything John wants to experience; but when they are right there to make John's dream comes true, Mason passes away for too much drinking and John gets a serious case of blue ball.

That is the first time I smiled reading this novel, but it was not the last. Even if there is an angst undertheme, Alex's ghost who wants to communicate with Mason, and John who seems to be the perfect carrier of the message, I didn't really feel like that was the main theme of the story. Maybe it was since not Mason or John gave too much importance to it; maybe it was the setting, a college campus where everyone seems to have fun; maybe it was since Alex wasn't an angry ghost: all of that and the humor helped in having the comedy feeling more than the drama. And maybe, or above all, it was since Mason and John are young and horny, and they were plenty enjoying these two characteristic: they can argue, they can have opposite idea, but in the end, they were good in bed, and both of them know it; why do they have the waste such good understanding of each other needs with futile details like a ghost or the meaning of life? They are young and they have plenty of time to decide what they want to do in life.

There is a nice group of supporting characters, all young gay guys wanting to love and have fun: Tyler is probably the most outrageous, the one who welcome you with sex to then become your best friend without any jelaousy at all; but also Simon and Drew and even Keith, they all seem nice guys and for all of them I can see a nice story.