Review: The Shackles That Hold Us (The Magi Accounts #2) by Michele Notaro

Rating: 4.75 🌈

I sometimes wonder if you can really love a story when you spend so much time cringing in anxiety over the anticipated horrors you know will be visited upon the characters you’re coming to connect with and the found family that’s being constructed. Somehow I’ve found a way. It’s just that great.

The Shackles That Hold Us is only the second book in Michele Notaro’s fantastic dark fantasy series, The Magi Accounts, but already it’s served as both a outstanding foundation for the characters but also as a warning for this horrific, grim universe where several species of beings are seen as nothing less than disposable tools, or worse.

Tagged, tortured, served up as war fodder , born in breeding camps. This is the nature and foundation of the Magi. And the Shifters have it only marginally better. Be warned. The torture scenes happen on page. And to characters we have come to care about.

And because dyad pair magi Madeo and Jude Driscoll are magically powerful, they are targets so any “misbehavior “ will see them collared and taken to a compound for punishment.

This is a utterly brutal world and Notaro makes us feel every inhuman rule, every legal enforcement that uses to pain to degrade and in some instances kill those that would fight back against humanity and those that are oppressing them.

Each story dives a little further into the heartbreaking , cruel conditions under which the humans have managed to contain and imprison all magi for decades. Compounds become breeding camps, children removed to become tools for war. All seen slowly through the tortured memories of Mads and Jude when they’re able to emotionally to look back at what they’ve endured.

This includes, and will probably continue to bring up instances of child sexual abuse.

As I said this series is a dark fantasy fiction and each book will fill the reader with dread as the stakes build higher for all the characters as the events point towards even more deaths and battles to come.

The characters here. The magi, and all the members of the pride are so perfectly layered. Each has a well developed personality and each shows growth as the Pride and the three magi, Mads, Jude, and Logan (all part of the Pride) face greater challenges to the multitude relationships forming and the ones hitting them as a team.

Notaro’s storylines continue to build a series arc that carries a potential for horrific events and further deaths to come.

I’m both highly anticipating the next book and highly afraid for all the characters.

If you love fantasy, read this. But only if you read the trigger warnings first. You decide what you’re comfortable with.

Here’s the series. They must be read in the order they were written to understand the events and relationships.

The Magi Accounts:

🔹The Scars That Bind Us #1

🔹The Shackles That Hold Us #2

🔹A Date To Impress Him #2.5

🔹A Purpose That Restores Us #3 – TBR

The Shackles That Hold Us: The Magi Accounts 2 – Kindle edition – Amazon.com

Synopsis:

As if crushin’ on a shifter wasn’t bad enough, I had to go and date one.

A mage and a shifter walk into a bar… No, that’s the whole joke.

Magi and shifters don’t mix, and yet I find myself in a relationship with Cosmo, a lion shifter. And on top of that, Cosmo, and all his pride members, consider my brothers and me to be a part of their pride. Three magi in a shifter pride. Who would’ve ever thought?

Navigating our connection while trying to figure out what’s going on in the world isn’t easy. Trusting that Cosmo means forever when he says it? Even harder. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since meeting the Ono-Nais, it’s that taking a risk with my heart will be worth it to be a part of their lives.

The Shackles That Hold Us is a 113K novel and the second book in the MM urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts. It’s recommended to read the series in order because it has an ongoing storyline.

*Intended for adults only. Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this novel.

Review: The Skinny on Djinni by E.J. Russell

Rating : 4.75 🌈

From the fabulously great name on, everything about The Skinny on Djinni by E.J. Russell is absolutely on point. It just makes for a outstanding entertaining read!

Part of Russell’s Mythmatched story universe, it picks up after the events of Death On Denial

(Quest Investigations #4), some of which are referenced here. You don’t have to have read that series, although if you’re a fan of this author, it’s highly likely you’re familiar with the characters, towns, and universe.

We meet Hector Gonzales, IT werewolf hacker in trouble with the Supe Council because he’s been messing around with the magic grid, and it caused huge issues, which was not his fault! So now she’s on probation until his case is heard and he’s technology free until then. Agony!

Hector, a werewolf from Jordan’s group of young were’s, is so perfectly put together that we can see his personality as he’s desperately trying not to use all the devices he has taken for granted and deal with everything going on. He’s young but responsible, intelligent and solid, focused and kind. You can’t help but feel for the position he’s in and still understand how his nature got him there.

Then, through the mechanisms of Shirl, the store owner of the local general store, who sends Hector on a errand for her, he meets Rafi.

That’s Rafi Abbas. Who’s having a very bad life.

Rafi Abbas gets fired from his job at a burger joint when he meets Hector. Then things get even stranger.

Rafi Abbas is that hundred fold object who’s waiting to have their layers peeled back . Only they didn’t know they could do it. Rafi is a sweet, sad, adorable character . His is a history that is not only complicated but expanded on the more Hector gets to know him.

No spoilers but we also find out more about characters we’ve known for many, many books, and get answers for elements that occurred in other stories. Just perfect!

Plus at the end, all the characters and the readers are given a huge thought provoking “what if” question thrown out there that could launch not just another book but maybe a whole new Mythmatched universe series. At least I certainly hope so.

Russell gives us so much here that adds to her unique universe, gives us another couple to love , and another employee for Quest Investigations.

This story makes me soooo happy!

I just need Russell to sort Jordan out now. He’s just getting more complicated and a favorite by the book!

I’m highly recommending The Skinny on Djinni by E.J. Russell . Grab it up and have a outstanding time!

Amazon US

Amazon Universal

Synopsis:

Being in tech time-out totally sucks.

Hector Gonzales knew the danger when he hacked the magic grid to marry it with human technology. He’d never imagined this system crash: A total tech suspension while the tradition-bound supe council reviews his case. He’s reduced to running errands for his friends, and seriously? How had people survived before GPS? Then several wrong turns—thank you so much, stupid paper map—lead him to a remote burger joint. And when he spots the cute guy behind the counter? His wolf wakes up and howls You have arrived at your destination.

Getting fired—again—totally sucks.

Rafi Abbas tries to give customers what they want, he really does. However, when he gets distracted by the lovely man with the gorgeous brown skin, he screws up another customer’s order and his boss fires him on the spot. With no money, no job, and soon nowhere to live, Rafi has no business saying yes when the lovely man asks him out. But something about Hector whispers home.

Obeying the Secrecy Pact totally sucks.

To keep the supe community safe, werewolves cannot partner romantically with humans. That rule has been programmed into Hector since he was a pup. But as the day slides from bad to worse to are-you-freaking-kidding-me, Hector sees the moratorium for what it is: ridiculous and outdated. For Rafi, he’s willing to challenge the status quo.

After all, things can’t very well get worse than worst. Right?

Review: Making History at Crofton Hall (Modern Crofton #2) by Rebecca Cohen

Rating: 4.75 🌈

I fell in love with Crofton Hall when I started reading Rebecca Cohen’s historical romance series, The Crofton Chronicles. That featured Anthony, the 1st Earl of Crofton and the man who would forever hold his heart, the Elizabethan actor Sebastian Hewel. Those three books followed the incredible story of the twin Hewel siblings, a engagement that went weirdly, wonderfully awry, and then how two men thwarted the monarchy, the laws and the ton to stay together for their remaining days. All under disguises and slights of hand. Fantastic reading and a grand romance.

The first in the new series, Saving Crofton Hall, I read when it was written in 2014. Again. I loved being back in Crofton and watching the descendants of Anthony start to discover some of the secrets the Hall had kept hidden all these years.

Then nothing. The series was forgotten.

But now the author is writing this series once more and it’s amazing to return not only to Crofton Hall in the present but also to the fabulous love story of Anthony and Sebastian as their love letters and true romance is revealed to the present day occupants and people of Crofton Hall. And many more.

In every book we get two couples. The main couple of Ben Redbourn, 16th Earl of Crofton, and Ashley Niven, Events Manager at Crofton Hall, continues as their relationship deepens, moves past more obstacles that bring up Ashley’s sense of inferiority and inequality. How that’s worked out through their personalities and with help is real, a little painful and loving.

They are the series couple.

After them each book has its own couple to feature. Here’s its historian, Dara Callaghan, and TV producer, Nathan Lorimer. Both brought to Crofton Hall because of the TV series to be filmed there about the mystery of a extra casket in the ancient family vault and the identity of the person inside.

Dara gets hired to sort through what’s essentially rooms or buildings worth of history that Crofton Hall has stored within herself, including the letters and documents about the relationships of Anthony and Sebastian. Between Nathan and Dara, Ben and Ashley, and others the hidden story of a lifetime unfolds.

So does slowly a romance between Dara and Nathan. I have always loved Cohen’s ability to create such incredible characters that resonate so within the story. Nathan who’s grieving still the loss of his husband and trying to figure out how to move forward into another relationship. And Dara, the Irish romantic, who wants a real relationship, a man with a gentle heart, obsessed with history.

Great characters with stumbling blocks to a romance but friends all around who are there to lend a ear or bit of guidance to get both on the path to a working relationship.

It’s such a pleasure to read. It’s sexy, fun, with smart, dialogue. Everything just flies together so beautifully.

I highly recommend this series and the historical romance series that preceded it. I love the characters, the relationship dynamics, and the entwining threads of loves, lives, and families.

Read them in the order they are written for a grand and entertaining time!

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh – Black Jazz Design

Modern Crofton

Book #1 – Saving Crofton Hall – Buy Here

Book #2 – Making History at Crofton Hall – Buy Here

Modern Crofton series:

🔹Saving Crofton Hall #1 (orig released 2014

🔹Making History at Crofton Hall

🔹Below Stairs at Crofton Hall

🔹Getting Married at Crofton Hall – TBR September 2022

A spin-off from The Crofton Chronicles-historic romance series

🔹The Actor and The Earl #1

🔹Duty to the Crown #2

🔹Forever Hold His Peace #3

Making History at Crofton Hall – Goodreads

Crofton Hall is buzzing with anticipation for the filming of the Secret Histories TV special about a scandalous affair that has been hidden for over four hundred years.

The hall’s new historian, Dara Callaghan, is drawn not just by the hall’s rich history but to TV producer, Nathan Lorimer. Nathan is finally ready to start dating again, several years after the death of his husband. There’s something about Dara, a quietly spoken Irishman, and the romance that surrounds Crofton Hall, that makes him want to take a chance.

Meanwhile, Ben Redbourn, 16th Earl of Crofton, is trying to persuade his boyfriend Ashley Niven that he’d like to don doublet and hose and play Sebastian to his Anthony. But Ashley’s not having any of it… until someone else agrees to the take the part of the 1st Earl of Crofton’s lover.

This is the second Modern Crofton novel, featuring Benjamin Redbourn, the 16th Earl of Crofton and descendant of Anthony Redbourn, 1st Earl of Crofton from my historical series, The Crofton Chronicles. While designed to be read as a standalone, events that lead to this novel follow chronologically from Saving Crofton Hall.

Trigger warnings: discussion of grief and dealing with bereavement

Review: Temporary Partner (Valor and Doyle #1) by Nicky James

Rating: 4.75 🌈

Temporary Partner by Nicky James is an excellent law enforcement mystery that’s has elements of a romance to it. It’s the first of a two part series, Valor and Doyle, featuring Ontario detectives from different departments, often units that see each other as departmental rivals.

Quaid Valor is a Detective with the MPU, that’s missing persons. He’s following the career path of his recently retired father, a decorated detective from the same unit. The tight-knit Valor family of two is a knot of familial love, ingrained police laws and regulations, and a sadness that’s explained as the storylines enlarge.

Quaid himself is full of complications, lonely, burdened, consumed by job and family. He’s undeniably an incredible character.

Aslan Doyle is his counterpart. A excellent detective but in Homicides. Both men queer and out at work but Aslan’s ,bi , very casual outlook on sexuality as opposed to Quaid’s , who’s gay, ongoing issues with his ex make them diametrically opposed. Especially when Aslan’s attitude carries over into work.

They’ve worked together before, successfully professionally. Privately? That harder.

But a shortage of personal , a heartbreaking case with a tight time frame to close it, and a order from their superiors brings them together.

James creates a truly puzzling, heartbreaking case. That of a stolen infant, then proceeds to build a huge investigation around it, with a ticking clock. There’s superb and tedious leg work, lines of questioning that appears to have no results, more data to analyze, small victories that fade, and a fantastic, mesmerizing relationship that’s trying to establish itself between two prickly, damaged men who have trust issues.

The POV alternate’s between Quaid and Aslan, often as the men despair, feel they have it, only to realize, they need another direction. It all feels raw, anxious, heartbreaking, and painful.

Even the ending, when it arrives, is not without, some realistic elements, that have you really looking at everything that’s happened here. There’s no HFN even. But there’s a solution to this case. It’s solved.

It’s up to the reader as to how you think about it.

As to Aslan and Quaid? Book 2 , Elusive Relations, is due out July 25, 2022.

I’m eagerly awaiting their return and the new case that will surely bring them back together again.

This is a wonderful story. If you love mysteries, law enforcement tales, with the promise of a romance, grab this right up.

Outstanding characters, fantastic storylines, and a realistic ending.

Love it.

Valor and Doyle:

🔹Department Rivals: A Valor and Doyle Prequel #0.5

🔹Temporary Partner #1

🔹Elusive Relations #2

https://www.goodreads.com › showTemporary Partner (Valor and Doyle Mysteries, #1) by Nicky James – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Can two rivals work together to solve a case?

When an infant is taken from his carriage in broad daylight, missing persons detective, Quaid Valor, must race against the clock to find the child and bring him safely home to his family. Unfortunately, Quaid’s partner isn’t available, and his team is spread thin. Begrudgingly, Quaid must accept the help from his rival, homicide detective Aslan Doyle, if he wants to get the job done.

Aslan is Quaid’s opposite in every way. He’s bold, outspoken, arrogant, and the office playboy. And much to Quaid’s chagrin, Aslan seems to have set his sights on Quaid as his next conquest.

Quaid doesn’t have time to deal with Aslan’s flirty behavior when he’s trying to solve a case and juggle his cheating ex’s incessant interruptions.
It doesn’t matter how attractive Aslan is or the undeniable chemistry they seem to have. Getting involved with Aslan would be a huge mistake.
But as tension with the case builds, Quaid keeps forgetting he’s supposed to hate this new partner. Maybe Aslan is exactly the kind of distraction he needs.
Temporarily at least.
Right?

**Temporary Partner is the first in the Valor and Doyle Mysteries. Please view any trigger warnings by using the Look Inside feature**

Review: Sledge and Claw (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion ) by Jennifer Cody

Rating: 4.75🌈

I love this introduction to a new author and a universe who’s fabric is exquisitely complicated, rich with the mythologies of a multitude of cultures and nations, as well as one that has the ability to expand through portals to endless worlds as the investigations require.

Jennifer Cody’s Hammer and Fist, as the Field Agent’s of the IDIA refer to themselves , is not just one series but as of now, two series. Each with a different character as a focal point.

I haven’t started on the second series, Inferno (Hammer and Fist : Geminatus #1) yet. But we meet that species here and it seems that the two intersect at a horrific mystery and investigation over the investigation into the abduction of species from their home worlds and slave trafficking.

First, Sledge and Claw. It’s fantastic. The beautifully defined characters run the gamut from human (or part human) to Fae to main one’s you need to discover in these pages.

It will start with Lextalion Farrow, FA for the IDIA, Inter-dimensional Immigration Agency. He’s the main, but not only POV. Lex is a mystery that slowly unravels . A top field agent , if not the top, for a somewhat nebulous agency. What that means exactly will be sharply defined, both by his actions and words, as he moves from one investigation to another, each pointing the way to a larger , more horrifying conspiracy of species abduction and slave trafficking.

Cody has crafted some incredibly strong, multidimensional female characters that constantly change as circumstances and relationship dynamics require. To go further would spoil a wonderful element here.

The other man, who is soon to stir things up, is such a strong personality, that you can sense that he will be a bigger player in this book as it continues. He too has secrets.

There’s Norse gods, mini gods, and a strange spelling of Nidhöggr, which I’m sure was intentional. I really liked that.

The writing was excellent, the plotting outstanding. And while I say there’s a cliffhanger, the author makes up for it by including a sneak peek at the next in the series, Brick and Brass, which lets us know exactly how that cliffhanger was resolved.

Since we don’t have a release date for book 2, that sneak peek was greatly appreciated and virtually eliminated the angst brought on by the cliffhanger.

All good.

I suspect that we are at the start of the beginning of a foundation of a found family of sorts. It has so many magnificent possibilities.

I was grateful for that sneak peek as I said for book 2. Now I need the actual release date for Brick and Brass!

If you love fantasy fiction, and the potential for new characters, new worlds, and mysteries as well as romances?

This is it! I’m highly recommending it.

Plus fabulous cover.

Now I’m off to see what the other series holds.

Hammer and Fist: Lextalion series:

🔹Sledge and Claw: Lextalion #1

🔹Brick and Brass : Lextalion #2 TBD

Same universe:

Hammer and Fist : Geminatus series:

🔹Inferno #1

https://www.goodreads.com › showSledge and Claw (Hammer and Fist #1) by Jennifer Cody – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Lex:

I work, I sleep, I fuck. That’s what I do.

My alphabet soup agency recruited me because of my unique blend of magic and innate talent, but those come with a steep price and it’s getting harder to pay with every investigation.

I never thought Knoxville would be the place that kills me, but between someone targeting me to get me fired (or start a war; could go either way), taking on a naïve new trainee, and investigating a non-human trafficking ring, it looks like I’m about to bite off more than I can chew.

The question is, can I figure out what’s going on before it all blows up in my face?

Sledge and Claw is an MM Urban Fantasy with triggers for the horrors of slave trafficking and consent issues. There also happens to be a cliffhanger ending

Review notes: at the end of the story is a brief sneak peek at the beginning of Brick and Brass that resolves the cliffhanger. FYI for all that can’t abide cliffhangers!

Review: Finding Home: The Complete Series by Lily Morton

Rating: 5 🌈

The Finding Home, The Complete Series, is a splendid collection. I love being able to read one story right after the other of the men of Chi an Mor, House by the Sea.

The first novel is my favorite of the collection. That’s

🔹Oz.

It hit all my buttons, as far as a contemporary romance, and it’s everything I’ve come to expect from a Lily Morton story. It’s alternatively hilarious, so believably authentic that you feel you’re actually seeing the places and people moving through the events as they unfold, smelling the lavender, feeling the salty winds drifting through the warm fields and gardens of the golden stoned manor.

So sure everything exists because they feel so real and grounded for you.

Oz Gallagher and Silas Ashworth , the Earl of Ashworth, are absolute perfection. Oz, small, fierce Irish born Londoner, with his firsts in Art History but a common background that will always insure no reputable firm will hire him, is that quick witted, smart mouthed soul . He’s instantly someone you love. An affair that deepens, page by page.

It’s helped along by Oz’s instantaneous connection with Chewwy, a mournful Italian Spinione , who becomes his shadow, to our delight.

Silas, the Earl and local vet, is just as warm and charming as Oz, but in a totally different way. He’s, posh but without the snobbery. He’s Cornish, where the land and house have as deep a hold onto him as for it to be cellular. He loves his land, his people, and , everything about Silas telegraphs that immense connection through Morton’s wonderful descriptions and thoughtful dialogue.

Theirs is a slow paced romance, working through each other’s issues to arrive at a wonderful HEA and heartwarming epilogue.

There’s so many outstanding secondary characters, many of whom we will see again in other stories, including those in this collection.

5🌈

🔹Milo is next. This is a more somber story as it deals with issues such as domestic abuse and it’s lasting effects upon the person who suffered.

Milo Ramsey had a stutter , caused by a childhood accident, that also made him a target for bullying. This story addresses that as well. The Milo we met in Oz’s novel is one that’s had some time to recover.

This story gives us the Milo we hadn’t met yet, the trauma he endured, and the journey he took to recover and recognize the characteristics of the man he loves aren’t like the one who abused him.

It’s one of self-discovery, forgiveness, and bravery.

There’s a age difference between Milo and Niall. Milo’s romance with Niall Fawcett, estate manager to the Earl of Ashworth, that is.

But it’s a wonderful romance, and thoughtful story, working through all the serious issues that’s being discussed here, and what that means for Milo, first and their future.

Very satisfying. 4.75.

🔹Gideon is last.

Gideon Ramsey is Milo’s older brother, close friend to Niall and Silas. They grew up together at a nearby house, close to Chi an Mor. But where Milo was kept close to home, Gideon, like Silas and Niall , was shipped off to boarding school.

Gideon became a famous actor. Hiding the fact that he was “gay “ on the advice of his toxic agent. The fast lifestyle caught up with him in his late 30’s, drugs, sex, alcohol. Until it almost kills him with a bout of bronchitis.

Enter Milo and Niall, with an intervention of sorts. A cruise and a nurse to transport him to Chi an Mor where he’ll recuperate.

Eli Jones is believable as the nurse and engaging. Gideon is acerbic , dryly funny, and charming. The cruise is a great way to have them get to know each other before they land and Eli is off to another job.

I felt there could have been more in the section with Gideon’s agent. That happened abruptly. The cottage visit was lovely.

I liked this story but the other two were clear favorites. The epilogue, however, was splendid! I could picture that so easily. What a grand way to send them off.

4.5🌈

All in all just an amazing collection of stories. I wish Chi an Mor was real and I could pay to visit. I’d be on the next plane out.

One small note just because it bothers me. Of the 3 covers. The one for Oz? Has absolutely no connection to any main character . Oz? Tiny sharp faced black haired blues eyes Irish man. Silas? Tall, black haired, blade like nose Cornishman.

https://www.goodreads.com › seriesFinding Home Series by Lily Morton – Goodreads

Finding Home

Description:

The bestselling Finding Home series is now available in one collection. Set in Cornwall, the series follows a group of friends as they each find love with a lot of heat and humour along the way.

Oz Gallagher does not do relationships well. Bored and jobless after another disastrous hook up, he decides to leave London for a temporary job in the wilds of Cornwall. Surely managing a stately home on a country estate will be easier than navigating the detritus of his relationships at home.

However, when he gets there, he finds a house in danger of crumbling to the ground and a man who is completely unlike anyone he’s ever met. An earl belonging to a family whose roots go back hundreds of years. Silas is the living embodiment of duty and sacrifice. Two things that Oz has never wanted. He’s also warm and funny and he draws Oz to him like a magnet.

Will falling in love be enough to make Oz stop moving at last and realise that he’s finally home?

Milo

Milo has been burying himself at Chi an Mor, hiding from the wreckage of his once promising career and running from a bad relationship that destroyed what little confidence he had. Niall, his big brother’s best friend, has been there for him that entire time. An arrogant and funny man, Niall couldn’t be any more different from the shy and occasionally stuttering Milo, which has never stopped Milo from crushing wildly on the man who saved him.

However, just as Milo makes the decision to move on from his hopeless crush, he and Niall are thrown into close contact, and for the first time ever Niall seems to be returning his interest. But it can never work. How can it when Milo always needs rescuing?

Content warning: There are descriptions of domestic abuse in this book.

Gideon

Gideon has everything he should want in life. Fame, money, acting awards – he has it all. Everything but honesty. At the advice of his agent, Gideon has concealed his sexuality for years. But it’s starting to get harder to hide, and his increasingly wild behaviour is threatening to destroy his career.

Then he’s laid low by a serious illness and into his life comes Eli Jones. Eli is everything that Gideon can’t understand. He’s sunny tempered, friendly, and optimistic. Even worse, he’s unaffected by grumpiness and sarcasm, which forms ninety percent of Gideon’s body weight. As Gideon gets to know the other man, he finds himself wildly attracted to his lazy smiles and warm, scruffy charm that seem to fill a hole inside Gideon that’s been empty for a long time.

Will he give in to this incomprehensible attraction when it could mean the end of everything that he’s worked for?

Lily Morton Books

April 5, 2022

Pages: 885

Review: Unraveling The Threads of Fate by Alice Winters

Rating: 4.75🌈

Unraveling The Threads of Fate by Alice Winters is an excellently written, highly suspenseful tale that contains a lot of moments of extreme anxiety and dread. It stretches over the all events that should be happening to the people in the universe here.

I say should because a major element is that one character, Alex Coleman, school teacher, has a gift. He can see invisible threads stretching from person to person. Red threads ties a person to their soulmate. But the black threads he also sees ties them to the one who will kill them. It’s a talent he’s had his entire life and one he’s hidden.

In this universe, those with special gifts are tested and tracked, starting at a early age. But Alex’s abusive childhood with a destitute drug dealer allowed him to evade it.

Bishop King, scion to a wealthy businessman, once was the only friend Alex had growing up, until a horrific event drove them apart.

Bishop too has a special talent. He can walk in people’s dreams. But in Alex’s dreams, he’s got the power to do more, see more.

When they meet again, at Career Day at Alex’s school, they set off a set of events that have a rippling effect for a multitude of characters as Alex and Bishop fight to find and change their fates, pulled along by the threads Alex is seeing.

Winters, in her inimitable manner, with wry, sarcastic, haunting, and heartbreaking dialogue and scenes gives us a scary and thrilling tale of fate altered at breakneck pace, a murderer on the loose, and two find trying to outwit both a murderer and plot they can’t understand, and deal with a abusive past that threatens them.

With alternating flashbacks that are chilling in their cruelty and ability to deliver the blows that continues to be felt in the future, and a present where dreams are nightmares of blood, black threads, and death, that the author manages to bring romance and fun into this is amazing.

All the characters are fantastic. It includes Alex’s sister, Cali, who he raised. Her friends. Even the adults the surround them, good and bad.

It’s a vile and fascinating mixture.

But watching them trying to figure out how to change the date of each person and event, it’s thrilling and scary and heart racing.

And that ending is so very satisfying.

I believe this is a standalone.

So pick it up and enjoy a great thrill ride!

I’m highly recommending it.

https://www.goodreads.com › showUnraveling the Threads of Fate by Alice Winters – Goodreads

Alex
Some people are born lucky.
Then there’s me, destined to be loved by the man who knows my darkest secret.
My gift has followed me my entire life—the ability to see the threads of fate. I can see the red thread tying together two people destined to love one another.
But my gift has another side to it. A darker side.
I can also see a simple black thread tied to the fingers of those who aren’t aware of it, connecting them to the person destined to kill them. And when I look down at my own finger, I can see the red thread stretched over to Bishop King. The man who is my soul mate.

But then why is the black thread also wrapped around our fingers?
Bishop is sweet and caring, and I can’t stop my heart from loving him. I just need to thwart fate before it separates us forever.

Bishop
I swore to never let myself be drawn back into Alex’s world, but the man is funny and charming and the moment we’re together I fall back into the familiarity we shared as teenagers.
I know this time is different; he’s hoping that I can help him walk through his dreams to figure out how an innocent girl is going to die.

While his dreams tell of the future, mine allow us to find the truth. But what happens when we save a life and change fate–will it affect our own future? I can’t keep myself from falling for Alex, but what if helping him leaves one of us dead?

Unraveling the Threads of Fate is a standalone romance with action, mystery, humor, and a happy ending.

Review: Mad Man (Necessary Evil #5) by Onley James

Rating: 4.75🌈

“She couldn’t see the bigger picture. She looked at the twins and saw a problem. Thomas saw an opportunity. A divine creation. He was raising a legion of psychopaths.”

— Mad Man (Necessary Evils Book 5) by Onley James

Mad Man (Necessary Evil #5) by Onley James is Avi Mulvaney’s story, the other half of the mirror twins referenced above.

And every issue I had with Asa’s (the other twin’s book) is resolved here, the reasons for that’s story’s lack weirdly reflected in Avi’s nature and the fact he’s literally what’s missing from Asa. Asa has those qualities Avi will never have. Only together are they one person.

The prologue is the second half ( naturally) of how they were found and adopted. It adds those last minutiae to them as children.

Asa is the total aggressor, absolute control, all mind, and yes, cruelty. Loves to inflict pain. The perfect sadist. That’s his half. Avi is emotion. He enjoys being hurt. He’s the masochist to Asa’s sadist. He’s dependent on their twin connection. While Asa’s mean in his remarks, Avi’s kind, if that’s possible for a psychopath. He’s impulsive.

That Avi is “feeling “ the loss in their separation more deeply or able to express his spiraling makes sense given which half he is. It also makes him more relatable as he’s definitely more likable, even though he’s still very much a killer.

James’ mirror twins comes with built in narrative issues demonstrated by their stories. Asa’s such a undeniably alpha personality, a sadist who’s only weakness is his brother who carries those other character traits for him. Asa hunt’s everything, including the man he’s obsessive over. He’s even able to shut out or down temporarily his link with his brother when Avi questions his decision.

That’s unthinkable to Avi. A loss of link? Never. So while that stays true to Asa , by losing Avi, that story loses the reader to an extent.

Now in Avi , we’re back and we get another fabulous character as well. One we’ve been previously introduced to. Felix Navarro. Baby brother to Jericho, now husband to Atticus.

Felix is delicate,,gender bending, highly talented fashion designer , and extremely lethal in his own right.

He’s also forceful, possessive, and supremely intelligent. In a way perfect for the man he’s been crushing on. Avi Mulvaney, fashion designer and head of his own clothing empire company.

Felix is a complicated personality, with a family history of loss (Jericho’s story), his outlook and passion mask a fear of being left and insecurities over his background. Indeed, he’s strong and commanding but soft and in need of a family dynamics where he’s able to feel completely safe.

The two stories, Avi’s and Asa’s, actually fit together like the twins do, giving us a full portrait of the amazingly synergy that comes into existence between Avi&Felix&Asa&Zane. It’s not 2 + 2 but actually a whole of four. That’s the completed “one” at the end.

Avi woos Felix, and Felix (already a member of the Mulvaney family by way of Jericho) really learns who Avi is and understands his needs, with and away from Asa. It’s such a wild well written story.

We also get to know Felix intimately as well. His rages to his fears. His passions and aggressive side. He’s perfect. For Avi.

The mystery starts off in a startlingly different manner, with a nice twists. There’s several cases here that the family is involved in.

Plus the ongoing Aiden/Thomas drama.

I loved this book, and it reminded me that Asa’s was really a lead-in to this which, like the Prologue, completed the story for both men.

Except for the complications of length, it should have been one novel.

Together, it’s outstanding the more you think about all the elements, and aspects of each mirror twin and the men they’ve chosen, who are in fact, mirrors themselves.

Stunning.

There’s also the tiny fact that’s whispering along each story that all these characters and acts have been directed by the man who gathered them together as one large experiment.

Surely something has to come of that?

At any rate, I’m highly recommending this book and series. Heed the trigger warnings about violence. This is dark fiction and romance. The men are psychopaths.

Necessary Evils series:

🔹Unhinged #1

🔹Psycho #2

🔹Moonstruck #3

🔹Headcase #4

🔹Mad Man #5

🔹Lunatic #6 – TBR Aug 23, 2022

https://www.goodreads.com › showMad Man (Necessary Evils, #5) by Onley James – Goodreads

Avi Mulvaney is many things. Son. Twin. Owner of the fashion label, Gemini. Murderous psychopath. Together, he and his brother, Asa, make one brutally efficient monster, ridding the world of predators who victimize the innocent. History proves Avi and Asa don’t do well apart, but their father has decided to test that theory.

Felix Navarro knows exactly who he is. Baby brother. Fashionista. Vigilante. While he’s not happy that his big brother married a Mulvaney, the union has its perks. Like a paid internship with Gemini. But all good things come with a cost and, for Felix, that’s enduring Avi Mulvaney each day, which inevitably leads to thinking about him every night.

Felix doesn’t like Avi. He’s cocky, condescending, overbearing, and inappropriate. He’s also sexy, brilliant, and twice as lethal as Felix. Still, Felix loathes him. Even if he keeps letting him kiss him. And touch him. Even if he slipped just once. It was still hate sex, and it would never happen again. Ever.

Except, Avi’s being sent to help take down a dangerous crime ring and he’s ordered Felix to come along. Felix has vowed to stay strong. To remember he hates Avi. But they’re trapped together and there’s only one bed, and it’s so hard to hate Avi in the dark when he’s whispering how Felix belongs to him. Felix belongs to no man, but Avi is determined. He has one week to prove to Felix that he’s the exception to his rule. After all, who says no to a Mulvaney?

Mad Man is a scorchingly hot, intense, enemies to lovers, psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a dirty talking, brutally vicious killer and a sharp tongued murderous fashionista who are both too stubborn for their own good. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, enough blood to film the final scene in the movie Carrie, and enough heat to melt your panties. This is book five in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.

Review: Moonstruck (Necessary Evil #3) by Onley James

Rating: 5🌈

Moonstruck, the third in Olney James’ extraordinary series about a family of adopted psychopathic children turned into retributive killers under the guidance of the man who raised them, albeit as a loving research project.

“…that psychopaths weren’t a plague on society but a gift, an evolutionary tool that could be harnessed to cull the monsters of their society, he’d change the world.”

— Moonstruck (Necessary Evils Book 3) by Onley James

That’s their father, billionaire Dr. Thomas Mulvaney talking about his theory and reasoning behind his adoption of the 7 special children now his sons.

Atticus Mulvaney was the first to be adopted. Each boy’s history as Thomas Mulvaney finds them is the prologue to their novel. He’s a mimic and a void. Mirroring the behavior of others in front of him flawlessly, only to subside into almost an emotionless state when no one is around. He’s tasked with helping those children that come after him, a tough job when that task is misinterpreted and the children are small psychopaths, each coming from situations even adults aren’t equipped to deal with.

A serious small child, he’s become a serious, over achieving adult. A world renown Dr (medical and researcher) , he’s happiest in his lab, conducting his tests and writing grants, not as a participant in the family’s other most important hidden business. That of killing society’s worst predators.

We slowly get a real understanding that Atticus truly isn’t like all the others. We have had small snippets of him in the other stories but now he’s beginning to come alive and the picture is startling.

It helps that it’s another person that will start to shake up everyone’s perception of Atticus, including his own.

That’s Jericho Navarro, mechanic, guardian of his neighborhood, and vigilante who’s been protecting the endangered youth by offering them sanctuary and then training. As killers themselves to protect themselves and those around them.

Their meetup is so memorable! Both hilarious, awful, sexy, and funny again. And it starts us and Atticus off on a journey of self discovery, acceptance, and romance. Yes, Atticus is very different. He needs to be taken care of and has just found the perfect person .

Moonstruck is again totally different as Atticus is so unlike his brothers who’s storylines preceded his. The villain and plot also is complicated enough to keep us involved, outside of this highly complex relationship and evolving dynamics Atticus and Jericho have going.

I can see these two are going to be a favorite couple along side August and Lucas.

Moonstruck (Necessary Evil #3) by Onley James is another favorite! Highly recommended!

Necessary Evils series:

🔹Unhinged #1

🔹Psycho #2

🔹Moonstruck #3

🔹Headcase #4

🔹Mad Man #5

🔹Lunatic #6

Note: Again, this is all dark fiction, along with humor and sexy scenes so very hot! There’s gore, murders, gritty investigations, and , some aspects that , depending on each novel, will have the potential to act as a trigger. Mentions of child abuse, rape, suicide ideation, and non con sexual kink. So each book has its own warning. If any of these are subjects you would be uncomfortable with, pls take note.

https://www.goodreads.com › showMoonstruck (Necessary Evils, #3) by Onley James – Goodreads

Atticus Mulvaney is the eldest son of eccentric billionaire, Thomas Mulvaney—a role he takes very seriously. Atticus takes everything seriously. Like his brothers, Atticus is a psychopath, raised to right the wrongs of a broken justice system. Unlike his brothers, he’s not very good at it.

Jericho Navarro is no psychopath, but he is a vicious killer. Like Atticus, he also has a secret life. To most, he’s just a mechanic. But to a ragtag group of social misfits, he’s Peter Pan, teaching them to eliminate those who prey on the weak with extreme prejudice.

When Atticus and Jericho come face to face over a shared enemy, their accidental meeting ends in an explosively hot hookup neither can forget. But they have nothing in common. Atticus is a buttoned-up closeted scientist and Jericho is a man on a mission, determined to find and punish those responsible for the death of his sister. Still, Jericho can’t stay away. And, truthfully, Atticus doesn’t want him to.

As Jericho’s mission begins to bleed into Atticus’s life, two separate but equally brutal families will need to learn how to fight together to take out a common enemy. But no amount of brute force can show Jericho how to scale the walls of a psychopath’s heart. Can Jericho convince Atticus that, sometimes, the couple who kills together stays together?

Moonstruck is a high heat, intense psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a fumbling, sexually confused maniac and the dominating, unapologetic gang leader who can’t stop tormenting him. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, more killers than you can count, and enough explosive chemistry to level a city block. This is book three in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.

Review: Psycho (Necessary Evil #2) by Onley James

Rating:5🌈

I wondered who the author would choose as the murderous sibling to go next in the series and was thrilled to see it was August Mulvaney.

August was a standout in Adam’s story. His love of the “wet work” side of killing, his knives, adult Harry Potter like features, and an IQ on par with Stephen Hawking, August was a compelling character.

Psycho introduces us to August’s adolescence history, the one that helped him become the psychopath he’s now. It’s sad and fascinating. And equally full of “what ifs” . It’s these built in questions that a reader’s mind automatically wanders to with each new “subject child “ we meet at the beginning of the novel.

August is such a unique, deep character. The more he becomes involved with Lucas Blackwell, the layers start to peel back , helping us and Lucas towards a greater sense of understanding and acceptance of this extraordinary genius who’s also a brilliant killer. Autistic polyglot, with an eidetic memory , that’s just the beginning, so the man he will obsess over will need to be equally as fascinating and strong in certain elements.

And James insures that Lucas Blackwell is. A FBI agent until he reveals his gift as a clairvoyant when he “sees” the murders a fellow agent is committing. Blackwell’s career is ruined when his accusations can’t be proved and the murderer goes after him.

James develops this aspect of Lucas’s character and the storyline in a terrifying manner. That Lucas is able to feel and see everything the victim’s are subjected to in excruciating detail is beyond anything endurable. The reader is part of his experiences, his unimaginable horror and pain.

That August, everything that makes August the person he is, decides that Lucas is his, and that exploration into what it means to become someone capable of loving August is a complex, outstandingly thoughtful journey of mind, murders, mystery, and belief.

The villain (s) and reason for the murders is as horrifyingly believable as all the other storylines James has created for these novels. The dark web is that for a reason.

This superb series and novels carry trigger warnings. They should be heeded. This is dark fiction. While most of the elements fir the warnings happen or happened off page, there’s enough descriptions and discussions that are disturbing and raw.

The writing is excellent, including humor to offset the grim realness of the killings, a squabbling feeling of family to balance the idea of a science experiment in progress. Plus the elements of hope and love when there’s the probability of neither.

Psycho (Necessary Evil #2) by Onley James was outstanding. Can’t wait to see what the next brother’s story brings.

Highly recommended!

Necessary Evils series:

🔹Unhinged #1

🔹Psycho #2

🔹Moonstruck #3

🔹Headcase #4

🔹Mad Man #5

🔹Lunatic #6

https://www.goodreads.com › showPsycho (Necessary Evils, #2) by Onley James – Goodreads

Synopsis:

August Mulvaney has always been exceptional. As the genius son of an eccentric billionaire, his off-putting behavior is often blamed on his high IQ. They say there’s a thin line between genius and madness. August is both—a brilliant professor loved by his students and a ruthless, obsessive killer tasked with righting the wrongs of a failing justice system. And he’s just found his latest obsession: Lucas Blackwell.

Lucas Blackwell was once the golden child of the FBI, using his secret talent as a clairvoyant to help put away society’s worst. Until, with a touch, he discovers his co-worker is a killer and his life falls apart. Now, the world thinks he’s crazy and that co-worker wants him dead. He seeks refuge at a small college, hoping to rebuild his life and his reputation. But then he runs into August Mulvaney. Literally.

August is immediately intrigued with Lucas and his backstory. He doesn’t believe in psychics, but there’s no missing the terror in his eyes when they collide in the hallway. Now, August has a problem. Lucas knows his secret, and August knows he wants Lucas. And August always gets what he wants.

Can he convince Lucas that not all killers are created equal and that having a psychopath in his corner—and in his life—might be just what he needs?

Psycho is a fast-paced, thrill ride of a romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a psychopath hell-bent on romance and a disgraced FBI agent attempting to redeem himself. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, and scenes so hot it will melt your kindle. This is book two in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.

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