Review: The Barony Bet: An Imperial Space Regency Novel by Kai Butler

Rating: 4.5🌈

The Barony Bet, the second book in Kai Butler’s Imperial Space Regency series, actually takes its characters from their respective homes and current lives out into space and onto another planet where they face adversity, such as it is, in a number of aspects. Obstacles to overcome that challenge them include facing their own feelings about each other and their future together, to the mission they’ve been assigned to accomplish in a short time period.

Butler has really created a winning tale in The Barony Bet. The characters are childhood friends but so different in personality and status that their dynamic is instantly intriguing. And each man is so subtly crafted that you don’t recognize how deeply rounded each is until they reveal more of themselves through their actions and conversations as the story develops.

Butlers’ remarkable ability to create believable characters and complex situations outside of a contemporary world, pulling the reader into their relationship and universe is extraordinary.

Deva is so compelling a character. I really wanted more of this book to see how the dynamics between his father and the new couple played out afterwards. It’s so quietly laid out for the reader exactly how important and responsible Deva is even if he and his family (father) aren’t acknowledging it. Deva grows in depth and maturity as a person throughout the book and it’s an amazing journey.

Step by step, shoulder to shoulder, is Asta, the childhood friend who has always loved him. And supported him. The change in their relationship and romantic understanding is another beautiful element and feels exactly right.

This is wrapped around a plot that involves a mission from Deva’s father that Deva must complete in a short time period. Butler’s narrative shows Deva,with Asta’s help, using ingenuity, his respect for others , and determination to solve the difficult mission and finally succeed.

We get a terrific cast of characters in every storyline, many of which we’d love to follow along on their adventures, and a couple we’re absolutely invested in.

The ending gets a little unfocused as a new character wanders into the story, preparing us for his book. I’d prefer he’d have been folded in another way and left the entire ending to Deva and Asta who certainly earned it.

I’m loving the series and this is by far my favorite. Check them out if you’re a fan of the author and the trope. A definite winner.

It’s a definite yes as a recommendation!

Imperial Space Regency series:

✓ The Earl and the Executive #1

✓ The Barony Bet #2

◦ The Inconvenient Count #3

Buy link

The Barony Bet: An Imperial Space Regency Novel

Blurb

A wager he can’t lose…

Lord Deva lives a charmed life. As the son and heir of one of the Empire’s wealthiest lords, Deva’s biggest problem is protecting his younger siblings from their father’s wrath. But when Deva’s actions place him on the verge of disinheritance, his only hope is an insurmountable task.

Dragging his best friend, Asta, into the fray, Deva agrees to revitalize his father’s newest acquisition – a barony on the verge of ruin. Little does he know that undertaking this task will put more than his inheritance on the line, but his heart as well.

A gamble he can’t win…

Asta is about to depart on a two year deep space trading expedition with one purpose: to fall out of love with his closest friend. Deva has no knowledge of the depths of Asta’s feelings and Asta hopes the distance will allow him to move on from the desire for more than friendship.

Agreeing to one last adventure to help Deva win his impossible task, Asta finds himself thrown into the role of protector and fake fiancé of his best friend. With an estate in ruin at the hands of a corrupt mistress, Asta and Deva must become even closer to win their bet and place their friendship at risk in the process.

The Barony Bet is a 90,000 word mm regency romance set in space. It is a fake relationship, friends to lovers romance with a HEA.

• Publication date: October 5, 2020

• Language: English

• Print length: 326 pages

Review: Inferno (Drake Security Book 4) by Mika Nix

Rating: 3.75🌈

Drake Security, the fated mates series about a family of dragons finding their bonded mates, is now on the fourth brother.

Co-written by K.M. Neuhold and Mia Monroe as Mika Nix, book four follows Valentino Drake, the one brother we know as busy being in touch with his love life instead of the brothers’ business. It takes a younger brother’s wrong doing and throughly bad decision making to bring Valentino back into the fold and help find his own unique mate.

First off, I loved the storyline of Valentino and Montrose, the demon. Montrose is a fantastic character, probably my favorite next to Lake . He’s intriguing, powerful enough to hold his own with his dragon, and dramatic enough to make any scene that involves him a little richer. Put them together and they are a great combination of riches. Dragon and demon.

Unfortunately there is an element that I found almost as irritating as I loved the romance part of the book. I feel that the authors probably have future plans for him but honestly there’s so much to character of Mac, the younger brother, that just gives me a narrative headache. As the authors created him, and as his part plays out in the book, Mac came perilously close to making me stop reading. Yes, his actions and that they spring from a certain problematic aspect of his personality are the ignition point of the story. I feel if it had only been that one factor, that one theft, it would’ve been, maybe, woven into his youthful status better. However, it’s his continued forbidden thievery that causes so much pain and danger to him and those around him. Without the Drake brothers, even at the end, having Mac feel any deeper remorse for his actions and crimes. Maybe the last one because he was so far in trouble. But all the rest? Not really.

It’s send him back home, and a new threat is here. What happened to ending this one? Because parts of Mac’s story felt unfinished.

So yes to the romance of Valentino and Montrose. They were great and could have used some of the narrative space assigned to the more irritating Mac. No, to the younger brother and his storyline who actually wanted to make me put down the book because of his personality, behavior, and lack of finality to his story.

I’m wondering if the next is the series finale for Drake Security. Sounds like Lord’s story. I’ll definitely be there for it. This was a fifty/fifty book for me.

Drake Security:

Hot Head #1

Smoulder #2

Wild Fire #3

Inferno #4

Buy link

Inferno (Drake Security Book 4)

Blurb:

I know I should keep my hands off of Montrose. But the one thing dragons and demons have in common is how much we love to play with fire.

My youngest brother has always had a knack for getting himself into trouble, but this time he’s stolen from the wrong demon and it might just be the last mistake he ever makes.

I have no reason to trust Montrose, but my dragon does anyway. There’s something about the vibrant, sassy incubus that calls to me, no matter how hard I try to resist.

Saving my brother’s scales should be top priority, but this inferno between Montrose and I just keeps heating up.

If fate put him in my path, can I trust that we’ll make it to the other side of this disaster together? There’s only one way to find out…

• Publication date: May 3, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 253 pages

Review: Burdened to Death: A Jamie Brodie Mystery (Jamie Brodie Mysteries Book 3) by Meg Perry

Rating: 4.5🌈

Burdened to Death, the third in the Jamie Brodie Mysteries by Meg Perry, is a complex and compelling story. And it’s one not everyone is going to agree with on how this story ends.

For a novel that’s 128 pages in length, Perry’s woven a tale of incredible complexity, one that includes highly dangerous and damaging subjects such as suicide, the SA scandals within the Catholic Church’s priesthood, and the emotional/traumatic aftermath of those who survived that abuse.

One of those people is the current boyfriend of James Brodie. Pete Ferguson’s confession of his childhood SA trauma in the last novel is continuing to destabilize his relationship with Jamie.

This is one more sensitively handled element of the story and their relationship. The issues are directly connected to Pete’s childhood SA. Both men are in individual therapy (another interesting aspect of the story).

They’re at an emotional impasse when they get a phone call from Kevin, Jamie’s police detective brother, about a dead man who needs identification from Pete.

This dead man will ignite several investigations. Both of them seemingly done by Jamie for Pete, to get closure. But it’s never that simple.

Perry manages to wring out deep, wrenching emotions from current events while revealing new perspectives and past histories about the main characters here . While these events happened decades ago, they feel as fresh as they do now because so much of this is still unresolved and the investigations and lawsuits are still ongoing.

And that will bring us back to the ending. Some will absolutely not be happy or satisfied by this. I can see why. Real life works this way. And it would have worked that way back then.

And somehow I don’t feel as though we’re done with this yet.

Perry showed us that James and Pete made some progress in their relationship. Small steps. After enormous trauma. That’s life.

Thats realistic and a beautiful raw , well written story. And why I keep coming back. On to Researched To Death.

The Jamie Brodie Mysteries – 23 books

✓ Cited to Death

✓ Hoarded to Death

✓ Burdened to Death

◦ Researched to Death

◦ Encountered to Death

◦ Psyched to Death

◦ Stacked to Death

◦ Stoned to Death

◦ Talked to Death

◦ Avenged to Death

◦ Played to Death

◦ Filmed to Death

◦ Trapped to Death

◦ Promoted to Death

◦ Published to Death

◦ Cloistered to Death

◦ Haunted to Death

◦ Obsessed to Death

◦ Deserted to Death

◦ Drugged to Death

◦ Resigned to Death

◦ Snowed to Death

◦ Enchanted to Death

Dirty Laundry: The Jamie Brodie Short Stories (Jamie Brodie Mysteries)

Sequel series:

An Angeles Investigations Mystery

◦ Cheated to Death: Book 1

◦ Hunted to Death Book 2

Buy links:

Burdened to Death (Jamie Brodie Mysteries Book 3)

Blurb:

A phone call in the middle of the night is never good news. When Pete Ferguson’s phone rings, he learns that one of his childhood friends, Mark Jones, has committed suicide. Mark’s family is shocked, and wonders if Mark was abused by the same priest at whose hands Pete suffered. Pete and Mark’s family want answers, and they ask Jamie to find them. Pete is convinced the priest is connected to his friend’s suicide. Jamie isn’t so sure. When the evidence starts pulling them in different directions, will it tear them apart?

• Publication date: October 9, 2013

• Language: English

• Print length: 128 pages

Review: The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer (Monsters Hollow Book 2) by Chloe Archer

Rating: 4.5🌈

In The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer author Chloe Archer continues to explore the mysterious magic of the town while bringing in new characters and adding new details to the dimensions of this universe.

Its all very exciting.

Archer had me at Max “Maxie” Poppins, the absolute star of the first book of the series and still unseated fav character of mine. As the bestie of romance writer, Ryder, he’s one of the reasons Ryder has made the move to Monster Hollow and Max remains a true emotional connection to everyone else around the town. This in turn helps his more awkward, less socially inclined bestie, Ryder, become at ease with its inhabitants and his new surroundings.

That’s the new main character and half of the latest couple.

Ryder Thomas (aka Ryder St. James) the romance writer of the title and a man with a dangerous threat to deal with. Ryder was a foster child like Max. Ryder, however , ended up with a widely different and damaging family. He is given a sensitive and realistic characterization by Archer.

Ryder’s past experiences drives his emotional perception of love, his own inability to recognize, accept and even acknowledge that it exists.

Then there is Vash Dark Wing, a Scottish Gargoyle, with his own complicated background and current situation to deal with. He too is a well defined character who will reveal new depths of personality and emotions as the story and their relationship progresses.

Really, Archer gives us a little bit of everything here. A stalker and a couple of mysteries, a serious heartbreaker for Vash that now ties up a storyline from The Orc and the Manny, and a slew of new potential characters and romances to come . All from a delightful new source.

Oh and lots of sex! And a wonderful, fun drunken street scene. More of these please.

I had such a great time reading this. And am sorry I’ll have to wait in next year to get the next book in the series.

A yes to the book, and series if you are a fan of paranormal romance and this author!

Monsters Hollow series:

✓ The Demon and the Librarian: a prequel

✓ The Bogeyman and the Schoolteacher #0.5

✓ The Orc and the Manny #1

✓ The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer #2

◦ The Sasquatch and the Stylist #3 – coming 2025

Buy link:

The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer: A Cozy M/M Monster Romance (Monsters Hollow Book 2)

Blurb:

Welcome to Monsters Hollow, where love knows no bounds—even in a town full of monsters!

A quirky romance writer in hiding. A sexy gargoyle lover turned bodyguard. And a stalker that just won’t quit…

Ryder Thomas (aka Ryder St. James)

I assumed writing swoony romance novels about humans and Otherkind might attract some unsavory attention. But I never imagined I’d have an obsessive fan stalking me. Fortunately, my BFF Max has an in with a town he assures me can keep me safe.

As a former foster kid, I’m pretty resilient, but this situation is messing with my sleep and I’m on deadline for my next book!

About the only thing that can help at times like this is some regular mind-blowing… release. Trust me, solo methods just aren’t enough and hooking up with randos isn’t my style. I need someone safe who can reliably rock my world in the bedroom and maybe help me with my research as a bonus!

Enter the hunky Scottish gargoyle who’s been flirting with me ever since I arrived to hide out in Mystic Hollow. We come up with an ideal no-strings and no-feelings arrangement until I leave town for my next book tour.

After all, romance is just a fantasy I write about in my books–right?

Vash DarkWing

From the moment I met Ryder, I wanted to know more about the bonnie, brave man who speaks his mind. With no filter.

When he proposes a few weeks of mutually beneficial shagging before his book tour starts, I immediately jump on the chance to, well, jump him. Just a bit of fun and maybe friendship.

Hell’s bells, but Ryder slips past all my defenses and wins my affections without even trying! Now, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the man I love safe. Even if it means putting my heart as well as my life on the line.

The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer is a 106k novel that features an inappropriately curious novelist, a sexy Scottish gargoyle, a specialty harness for aerial…shenanigans, a creepy stalker, and true love for the win. This is the second book in the Monsters Hollow series and can be read as a standalone.

Reviewer’s note: No , no they really can’t. These aren’t even close to being standalone stories. Who knows why they are putting this on their descriptions? It makes no sense. SMH

• Publisher: Rainbow Dreams Press LLC (April 30, 2024)

• Publication date: April 30, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 395 pages

Review: Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story (Perfect Pixie Series Book 5) by M. J. May

Rating: 5🌈

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story is the perfect way to end this absolutely fantastic series, Perfect Pixies by M. J. May.

In this vividly realized, beautifully told story, May brings all the characters and couples together that we’ve met through each other’s stories and learned to love together to reveal and vanquish the series villains.

Each story has at its core a perfectly imperfect pixie who finds themselves in an embattled or troubled position which eventually leads them to their bonds of love and a HEA. We started with hearth and home pixie, Philodendron, whose unique size made him both an outsider and perfect for his Alpha mate and family. Then nature pixie, Peaches, with a mournful background and heart wrenching history that soon brings attention to gathering dark forces and the attraction of a powerful vampire. That mating has huge ramifications for many other otherworldly species.

Next May’s pairing and novel turns dark with the seemingly mysterious introduction of pixie trafficking and pixie dust addiction. This is Parsnip’s story and another sector of magic is heard from as Vander the warlock arrives. May is deepening the series themes, expanding the types of magic that exist in this universe, and types of found families we can expect.

The narrative themes and suspenseful atmosphere doesn’t even falter for a moment. It’s picking up momentum in emotional and well written story arcs.

Wendall’s unbelievable tale is next. It includes Hellfire Rayburn, Fairy Queen Silvidia’s most trusted and feared warrior, and Wendall, who undergoes one of the most poignant, heartbreaking moments and struggles amongst them all. Well, May is amping up to the end point. Making sure that the reader knows what at stake and we care so throughly for everyone here.

So that when a final pixie appears, one that isn’t who he seems, we are ready for the showdown .

That’s Agent Frost, aka pixie Phlox. Although he’s not exactly 100 percent pixie. What he is and his background is a huge part of the ongoing investigation and reason he’s arrived in town. The one assigned to help him? That’s 300 year old vampire, Leon McMillan, King Lucroy Moony’s second-in-command.

May does an excellent job of alternating between their burgeoning romance and the ongoing investigation into the pixie traffickers. The horrific storyline of pixie trafficking , which is widely explored through the main characters and story threads, continues to branch out to the wider threat to the community and all the couples involved.

May’s newest character is one I think will be a great reader favorite . That’s Erasmus, a young necromancer who has an intriguing , poignant backstory and a rich personality. I really can’t get enough of him. So many layers. And the other character who is equally and quizzically intrigued by Erasmus? That’s Aurelia, the djinn .

No spoilers but what an epic ending. And while I’m happy sad this superior series has ended, the author has left us with something new to anticipate.

That epilogue is everything! Why? Because it tells us that Erasmus and Aurelia are coming back in Summer/Fall 2024 in their own story. And now I’m so excited and happy for their new adventure to begin.

Read this incredible series in the order it’s written . It’s a top recommendation. So is it’s author.

Cover design by cheriefox. Absolutely splendid! Like all the other covers.

Perfect Pixies series:

✓ Perfectly Imperfect Pixie Book #1

✓ Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches’s Story #2

✓ Perfectly Charmed Pixie: Parsnip’s Story #3

✓ Perfectly Perplexing Zombie: Wendall’s Story #4

✓ Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story #5 – series finale

Buy link

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story (Perfect Pixie Series Book 5)

Blurb

Phlox isn’t your typical pixie, and his feisty shifter DNA might be the reason. Recruited by the Magical Usage Council, Phlox—who is now Agent Frost—is a pixie with a mission, and he’s not afraid to place himself in mortal danger to eradicate the latest pixie trafficking ring.

Despite being King Lucroy Moony’s second-in-command, Leon McMillan’s second life has become dangerously monotonous. For a vampire, boredom is as deadly as a stake to the heart. Three hundred years of existing has taken a mental toll—one that will eventually lead Leon into the sun’s deadly embrace. Leon needs a life raft; he just never imagined it in the form of a pushy pixie.

Phlox and Leon can’t deny their mutual attraction. However, in order for Phlox’s mission to succeed, he needs to appear helplessly alone, and Leon’s worried stalking isn’t aiding that mission.

But soon, the knowledge Phlox and Leon obtain leads to a dangerous, mentally unstable djinn, who has a vicious master holding its leash. Although history claims djinns are all-powerful, indestructible creatures, Phlox and Leon must find the secret to their destruction if they are to save Rutherford Haven’s citizens. If they can’t, Rutherford Haven will be the first to fall, but it won’t be the last.

Phlox will dig his shifter claws into anyone who dares threaten his mate and Leon will tear the heart out of anyone who dares threaten his beloved—his purrrfectly peculiar pixie.

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie is the fifth and final book in the Perfect Pixie series. The books should be read in order. Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie features an emotionally constipated vampire, a pixie who’s far more than he appears, witches and trolls with questionable morals, an alpha werewolf whose time on planet Earth is precariously close to ending, a (questionably) good djinn, an (unquestionably) sinister djinn, an interesting necromancer, and all our previously beloved characters coming together to prove that teamwork really does make the dream work.

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie also contains homicide of the fantasy kind (no humans were killed in the making of this book) with scenes describing death and killing.

• Publication date: April 29, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 343 pages

Review: Death In The Spires by K. J. Charles

Rating: 5🌈

K. J. Charles is such an incredible writer, a word artist with a passion for rich historical settings, layered characters, and complex plot development. All that is apparent here in Death in the Spires.

It’s a haunting story that Charles lays out for us immediately. And then in flashbacks. A man , Jeremy “Jem” Kite, is in the process of losing his job. It’s emotionally devastating. And it’s not even the first time.

His employer has received a letter accusing Jem of murder. A sensational murder that took place ten years earlier. A murder of a man Jem was close to. Went to Oxford with, and once was one of his close knit group of friends referred to as the “Seven Wonders” on campus. A murder that destroyed Jem and has remained unsolved.

Through memories of the past, and Jem’s new determination to find out who is behind the letters, Charles builds a layered historical narrative of differences in status, innocence, friendship, mystery, love, and murder. One that skillfully stretches over a ten year period from 1905 to 1915, moving from time frame to time frame with impactful results.

Charles brings all the laws and prejudices of this era vividly and thoughtfully into the various storylines, whether it’s about gender, race, sexuality, or birth control. I should also mention Charles includes the role of that primogeniture plays in this era with rights of inheritance . Repealed here in the US at the time of the Revolution, it was the foundation for the nobility, aristocracy or peerage abroad.

Then the author sets about weaving a tortuous tale of seven friends on the cusp of greatness. Some are innocent, there’s a difference in class status, relationships have complicated dynamics, but, seen through the lens of Jem’s early memories, it’s an idyllic place, a golden age of freedom, heights, and a future never to be recaptured.

Charles’ gift is the ability to make the reader feel Jem’s amazement at his time there in 1905 , and his absolute grief at it’s loss, at what he has become.

Every character is beautifully crafted in their details, from their past lives to the ones they are now living in. I can visualize each and every one.

That includes the dead man, Toby Feynsham, who gathered them all together and was finally responsible, in death, for their destruction.

The investigation, the growth and continued character revelations, the way in which Charles weaves twists and surprises into an already convoluted narrative made me appreciate more a novel I couldn’t tear myself away from.

Fabulous, fascinating. Ultimately incredibly satisfying. Death In The Spires by K. J. Charles is a must read!

Great cover. Cover design by Lisa Horton

Buy Links:

Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com › Death-…Death in the Spires: A completely gripping and addictive historical mystery

Blurb

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby’s killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried…

From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!

• Publisher: Storm Publishing (April 11, 2024)

• Publication date: April 11, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 273 pages

Review: Broken (Erebus Assassins Book 1) by Reese Knightley

Rating: 3.25🌈

Broken is the first book in a new connected series, Erebus Assassins, by Reese Knightly. If you’re familiar with other series and characters as well as the types of themes and storylines that come with them, you know exactly what to expect from Broken.

There will be damaged characters with intense relationship dynamics, shady or situational morality, and often painful, violent backgrounds.

And flowing through each other’s stories are the characters and couples from all the other series. Sometimes this works. Other times, as I feel it happens here, it doesn’t.

Broken opens as Ice unknowingly stumbles upon an assignment already in progress. An assassination is going down and the agent is Echo from another team. That Agency is one Ice used to work for . This violent brief interaction sets off a chain of chaotic events that include Ice stalking Echo, to the extent he’s quitting his job at work and rejoining another agency.

This is one example of the issues I see with the story. Knightley spends little time on developing any relationship between Ice and Echo to warrant this depth of obsessive interest or behavior. Ice just decides Echo is it for him and hunts him, whether Echo wants him to or not. In Echo’s case, it’s decidedly not.

Another is with all the various characters themselves. Some are carryovers and some are new. But the reader must be able to recognize them and remember who they are, how they fit into the different couples dynamics/agency structure and even current tortuous situations. Otherwise, it’s a constant struggle to understand who all these people are and how they fit together.

It’s all very unsupported and unsustainable for the book to have this many characters and their own narratives dropped in (and out) behind it.

Echo has a horrific history but it’s buried under everything else so the reader, at least I did, finds it hard to connect with. Which brings us back to the villain of the story.

That entire element, including his identity, just never felt plausible. From the size of the operation , and the fact that he had been able to run it as long as he had, given the facts, doesn’t seem believable framed out by all the other characters in the book. It seems more a dramatic needs element than a naturally occurring part of the story.

But so much of Broken feels unexplored or incomplete, a jumble of characters and plot lines. A new series should focus on new starts.

Why did this feel like Knightley took odds and ends from all her previous series and just dump them here?

Read this because you’re a fan of the author or like the other series. All those series listed below.

Erebus Assassins:

✓ Broken #1

◦ Agony #2 – July 31,2024

Related series with crossover characters and agencies :

Cobalt Security – 6 books

Code of Honor – 8 books

Out for Justice -7 books

Buy link

Broken (Erebus Assassins Book 1)

Blurb

He craved him like he’d never craved anyone before.

-Ice

They’d kissed. And spent a brief and wild time together.

He fell.

But Echo disappeared on him.

And now the chase was on.

He was going to find Echo, catch him, and make him his.

Even if it killed him.

-Echo

He should have never screwed the blue-eyed blond…

But he had.

He couldn’t say why, but Ice got on his last nerve.

So he wounded the guy a couple of times.

Since then, Ice seemed to be in his way every time he turned around.

Assassin vs assassin

Blind to love

Unrequited love

Emotional Scars

A traitor

**Please note 18+ content. See inside for trigger warnings.

• Publication date: April 4, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 244 pages

Review: Mist, Shadow, and Deep: An Epic Dragon Fantasy Saga (The Crystalline Dragons Saga Book 2) by Eoghan R. Cunningham

Rating: 3.75🌈

Mist, Shadow, and Deep, the next book in The Crystalline Dragons Saga, suffers a bit from the second book syndrome. Where the first book introduces the characters, had the huge amount of mystery, fantastic emotional dramatics for the characters and in events, and lays out the mythology. We get pathos, murder, sorrow, and some heroic moments.

That’s hard for a second book to continue forward while maintaining the momentum of that previous novel, keeping the magic alive, and juggling the newly created relationships between the trio of widely different characters.

It’s a narrative job that can turn into a struggle as it does at points here. At times it’s overly dense, where the reader just wants them (Dusk and his two companions) to just get on with it. Other times, the author creates these gems of scenes that encapsulates moments of startling high scary action, ones that demonstrates both the camaraderie that’s growing between the group and the mysterious dragon magic hidden inside Dusk .

We don’t get nearly enough of those.

The character of Dusk is a well thought out, beautiful creation. He’s undoubtedly the best thing here because it’s his stolen adolescence as a salt mine slave that plays into his actions and thoughts here. He’s an innocent on the outside world. He can’t read people, he can’t read period. Can’t hunt or fish. And he’s got an impulsive kind heart in a world that wants to kill him.

We see the villain coming a mile away. Which is a real problem here. Because we still have most of the book to get through to see how it ends. We know badly. Just how badly is the question.

Which doesn’t make for enjoyable reading.

So read Mist, Shadow, and Deep as the bridge it is to get to the next level of this saga . I’m onto Rise of the False King next.

The Crystalline Dragons Saga-5 books:

✓ Curse of the Dragon’s Eye #1

✓ Mist, Shadow, and Deep #2

◦ Rise of the False King #3

◦ The Queen of Darkness #4 -May 9,2024

◦ Fall of the Crystal Moon #5-June 6,2024

Buy link:

Mist, Shadow, and Deep: An Epic Dragon Fantasy Saga (The Crystalline Dragons Saga Book 2)

Blurb:

A shadow rises to meet the light and, with it, an evil sorcerer. Dusk must choose between what is right and what is easy.

In his hour of need, a new face emerges. But is he friend or foe? Only time will tell.

Barely escaping with their lives, Dusk and his companions head south, following the mountains as they search for another way through. That is until they’re lost within a misty bog that threatens to consume them.

Out of the mist appears a figure who saves Dusk before the monster of the bog can consume him. Grateful and indebted, they head south together toward the port town of Emerald Deep. There’s a pass through the mountains there that will lead the party to their freedom at last.

But Emerald Deep is filled with mysteries, thieves, and temptation. The moment they arrive, the group begins to crumble, and Dusk is left wondering if his companions ever cared about him at all.

And that’s the moment the shadow attacks.

Mist, Shadow, and Deep contains a diverse cast of characters and queer themes. It was previously published under the title “The Crystal Archivist” by Blake R. Wolfe. Although the title and cover are different, the content remains the same.

• Publication date: March 14, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 264 pages

Review: Catch and Release by Isabel Murray

Rating: 4.5🌈

Isabel Murray continues to surprise me with her stunning perspectives on romance, relationships, and love.

I fell in love with her through her series, The Unwanted King, a fantasy series with unlikely, memorable characters, subtle heartbreaking elements, hilarious moments, and fabulous storylines.

Catch and Release is a remarkable paranormal romance, usually involving love story between a human and a mythical figure I don’t normally seek out in these romantic novels. I’m talking mermen.

Probably because I overthink the issues that come into play when writing mermen as viable/believable nonhuman beings. More so than other paranormal species, a mermaid or merman exists deep inside our minds, both in fables and mythology. And secretly for some strange reason, there’s a hope that our waters might be actually home to them as well. But would they be humanoid? Humans ,who for whatever reason, live aquatic lives.

Often that’s how they are portrayed.

Not here .

Catch and Release finds Joe McKenzie, 38, ex-hedge fund manager, living a new life as one of the world’s worst fisherman. Joe has moved to Lynwick, small harbour town tucked up between Scotland and northern England. He’s taken up not fishing very well, and been sort of adopted by Jerry Barnes, 58, owner of mid-sized trawler, the Mary Jane.

These are some of the best characters, with a uniquely wonderful dynamic between them. Half friends, and half family, it continues to grow throughout the story, with some of the beloved dialogue between them.

Which is great because there’s none between Joe and what they found in the netting. What they find is not human.

The chapters alternate between titles called Catch and Release. It’s both about the events and about the relationships that occur between them. Dave is the name given to the sea being caught in the nets. Who, what he is ? That’s all assumptions on Joe and Jerry’s part. We only get glimpses of exactly how removed from human Dave is by his actions and interactions with both men.

I love how Murray is able to demonstrate growth in a relationship and layers of understanding without losing sight of his otherworldly self or that Joe is fully human. And that there is a capacity to see each other’s viewpoint even if we have major differences to begin with.

So much deep humanity running into the shocking waters of another world. It’s wonderful, funny, sexy, and painful.

How do I review a book that will break your heart, mend your heart, and break your heart. And sort of mend it again. But only if you don’t think too far ahead past the end of the book.

Because Murray is beautiful in her realism. In her acknowledgement that Joe is and will always be human. And sometimes love is not forever. But it can be enough for today. And tomorrow.

Read this book. And, if you haven’t already, put Murray on your auto buy list. Highly recommended to both.

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Catch-…Catch and Release: MM Merman Romance eBook : Murray, Isabel: Kindle Store

Blurb

Joe McKenzie’s high-flying London life imploded six years ago, and it happened dramatically enough that paramedics were involved. That’s all in the past. Now, Joe couldn’t be happier living a solitary life as a fisherman on England’s wild northern coast.

Okay, he could be happier.

It’s not like he’s depressed or anything but, you know. The weather’s not great. Life’s a bit samey. He’s only thirty-eight. The idea of another forty years is a bit exhausting, to be honest. He passes the time pretending to be a fisherman but the truth is, he sucks at it.

Then Joe makes the catch of a lifetime when he stumbles across the mysterious Dave washed up on the beach—an enormous man with gills and uncanny power over the sea. Once Dave stops trying to kidnap Joe and/or kill Joe’s fishing buddy, Jerry, turns out he’s kind of…intriguing?

And not half as smooth as he seems to think he is.

There’s a lot Joe doesn’t know about Dave. He doesn’t know why Dave keeps disappearing or why he can’t seem to stay away. He doesn’t know what Dave wants from him. He doesn’t even know what, exactly, Dave is. And Joe can’t ask, because they don’t speak the same language.

Joe does know one thing, though. He is in love.

Which, great. How’s that going to end well?

Catch and Release is a gay paranormal romantic comedy featuring a truly terrible fisherman with an octopus phobia, a merman (maybe? Confirmation pending) with no sense of personal boundaries at all, constant communication fails, a whole lot of sea life not in the sea but in Joe’s house, yes, it’s dead, some epic yearning from both sides, and bewilderingly enough, maybe a way to make it work?

• Publisher: (August 16, 2021)

• Publication date: August 16, 2021

• Language: English

• Print length: 267 pages

Review: An Archer’s Awakening (Of Crowns & Quills Book 1) by Casey Morales

Rating: 3🌈

I picked up An Archer’s Awakening because of that fabulous cover and interesting description. Morales is also a author I’ve never read before.

What I found was a story that has strong themes, great characters, and wonderful potential for the storyline. So why not a higher rating?

The format. Unfortunately Morales undermines what’s best about his story, everything that connects the reader to his characters and their situations by his choices with his narrative.

To begin with the author has multiple points of view which only serve to muddle the various characters and our connections to them. Some of these are honestly secondary cast people who get chapters, like two who get assigned as the POV only to “vanish”, and later be described as an object of their mission. They’re here, disrupting the flow of the narrative and then gone. Literally.

That’s the main issue. It’s a chopped up story. I’m not sure how many books Morales intends for his series but the titles for books one and two are about The Archer. Not 7 or 8 other people. So make it about the Archer.

However it’s as though Morales can’t decide which direction he’s going in this story . So he begins with his two main characters. They truly are the main couple and have the most depth, the relatability of their dynamic. That’s Ranger DeClan Rea (cadet when we meet him) and noble born, fellow Ranger, Ayden. We follow them through training ,through individual exploration of romantic feelings and self worth, and a mystical experience in the mountains. All of which is abruptly, jarringly, stopped by a sudden change in direction.

For no apparent reason we are reading a different story. We get a new set of characters, narrators, new location, and a whole new set of plots about them, an interesting investigation, and yes, one of them turns out to be the mage brother of Ranger DeClan. It’s time for us to forget about that couple and their growing relationship and mystery and now focus entirely on someone else. It’s the brother Mage Keelan and his group now.

Then their section is abruptly ended. And it’s a Princess and King and a Sheriff’s son. And so on.

Frustrating? Absolutely. And this is only the beginning of this questionable process.

Any sort of logical process or narrative flow that allows a reader to follow freely the themes as they thread through the story or any important element or plot lines is almost impossible. It’s too jumbled.

And by extension, taking away from the main characters voices and storylines to squeeze in a perspective from a person that, in my opinion, isn’t necessary, lessens the impact and connectivity on the reader.

Just as we start to care about these characters and their lives and futures, Morales comes up with more strange ways to make less sense and divide our attention.

Towards the end of the book, the author finally brings two of his separate pieces together and the mage brother Kellan is reunited with his Ranger brother DeClan. The story is working in a manner it could have been all along. And it’s terrific. The mysteries are being revealed, investigations started. The book is dynamic and the relationships are revealing hidden depths of information and emotions.

Of course, it can’t stay true to course. Now that it’s working. Let’s go back to separating everything and everyone in a nonsensical manner.

There’s so much more here that I haven’t begun to address. There’s a prologue that sets down a magical threat and future events that involve a prophecy (gods involved of course). That pops up in the middle of the book in a character that had no previous voice so it really adds to the confusion. And there’s a character that everyone can identify as a “villain” without having a V stamped on him. He’s that guy.

So yes, among the fine characters, great scenes, and remarkable moments, there’s just too many overwhelmingly strange writing choices Morales made here that derail the narrative momentum, remove the reader from their connection to the characters and plot, and halt the flow of the storytelling.

Will I read the next book in the series? Yes. Hopefully the author will have abandoned the many pov , multiple sections format that he employed so disastrously here. A great editor helps with this.

Great cover. It did its job and got me to read the book.

Of Crowns and Quills:

◦ An Archer’s Awakening #1

◦ An Archer’s Destiny #2- July 31,2024

Buy link:

An Archer’s Awakening: An epic m/m fantasy romance adventure (Of Crowns & Quills Book 1)

Blurb:

Two Brothers. One Gift. A World on the Brink of Disaster.

In a world where most wield a Gift, Ranger cadet Declan Rea grapples with his lack of magic’s touch. His ungifted status breeds tension with his brother, Keelan, and fuels deep-seated insecurities.

Amidst his struggles, Declan finds solace and strength in a budding romance with fellow cadet, Ayden.

When a shadowy threat rises, and an ancient cult threatens to resurrect a long-forgotten queen, the world is plunged into chaos. Kidnappings and whispers of impending catastrophe set the stage for a showdown of epic proportions, where alliances are forged and loyalties tested.

As Keelan investigates, Declan and Ayden’s burgeoning romance faces the shadowy threat, as they navigate treacherous paths of betrayal and uncertainty.

Amidst the chaos, love becomes their guiding light.

Declan and Ayden uncover secrets of the past and within themselves, confronting their destinies and realizing that true courage lies not in the heat of battle, but in the quiet moments shared between two souls bound by an unbreakable connection.

Perfect for contemporary and fantasy mm romance fans alike, An Archer’s Awakening promises a heartwarming, slow burn, enemies-to-lovers story wrapped in a riveting adventure. From heart-stopping intrigue to tender moments, this story captivates with its blend of romance and peril.

Immerse yourself today in a world where love conquers all and heroes rise to meet their destiny.

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