Review: The Last Grand Master (Champion of the Gods #1) by Andrew Q. Gordon

Rating: 4 stars

Grand Master Farrell, the Prince of Haven, is visited by an avatar of his God, Honorus, the first of the Gods. The giant white eagle tells Farrell that a messenger in dire need of his help approaches the Kingdom . The true entity behind this messenger’s request? None other than Honorus’ sister god, Lenore. who is sending her messenger directly to Farrell. Her messenger is the unicorn Nerti and it is the legendary beings, the Muchari who are engaged in a losing fight against the evil wizard Meglar and Farrell is their only hope. But the gods also tell Farrell that his true mate is among those under siege and he must hurry or all will be lost.

Traveling on the back of the unicorn, Farrell enters the battle and meets the mighty immortal Muchari warrior Misceral, the one the Gods have said is his mate. Misceral too has been informed that Farrell is his one true love, something his father, the lord of the Muchari finds distasteful. But their foretold bond must take a backseat to the battle at hand. For the evil wizard Meglar is determined to capture all the Muchari and turn them into invinsible soldiers of evil that will help him conquer the world.

There is only one wizard left in the world powerful enough to fight back against the evil Meglar, and that is Farrell, the Last Grand Master. But Farrell is hiding a powerful secret from all of those around him, one that will either bring him help him succeed in defeating Meglar once and for all or bring about the ruin of everyone and everything he loves.

It is the action, the wild magic wielding military combat/battles sections of this book that really garnered the 4 star rating. From the opening page, Andrew Q. Gordon propels the reader along with Farrell into battle and brings it to life with vivid descriptions and a concisely worded narrative that kept me on the edge of my seat, thrilling at each new magical encounter. The author moves us quickly through each hard fought engagement, delighting us with inventive uses of magic by our young resolute wizard, making us gasp with each near escape from death and destruction, and marvel at the sights and sounds Farrell is encountering during his ferocious battle of the magic wands. There are humongous raptors, unicorns of both sexes who are bonded to our heroes, aged crones and more magical explosions than in a Die Hard movie. How I loved this part of The Last Grand Master, cue “Wild Thing”.

During this opening segment of the novel I also found I liked the manner in which we meet and watch Farrell handle a variety of situations, all stressful and fraught with danger. But, and here is the first quibble, the reader is left wondering about half the time about Farrell’s world and what has happened to it for it to get in such a state. I am not a fan of those books where you must slog through glossary pages of world building minutiae before the story even starts, preferring the author to frame it out during the narrative. But here some of the most basic of exposition seems to be missing and it hurts the reader’s connection to the story. I had to read Dreamspinner Press’ blurb to figure out about the “war that shook the earth,” and the Six gods of Nendor, otherwise I would have been clueless as to some of the most basic facts of this story.

My second quibble would be the characterizations. I loved the Farrell we first meet, The confident, brave young wizard sure of his powers and his ability to see his mission through to the end. But that persona wavers like the image in a fun house mirror throughout the story. Sometimes he is so unsure of himself he flees down hallways, or misjudge conversations and while that may make another character more vulnerable and real, here the manner in which these character fluctuations happen to Farrell just serve to bemuse the reader and make us wonder what happened to the young man we fell in love with at the beginning of the story. Each time he turns a corridor in the castle, it seems that we see yet another Farrell and such uneven character building just drags the story and the rating down with it. Even his soulmate, the legendary immortal Misceral just comes across as the sweet boy down the hall. Honestly, there is not much about him to make us believe in either their bond or his mythic attributes. In fact most of the characters we meet, while not exactly one dimensional, have a certain blandness about them that just doesn’t measure up to the sensational descriptions of battles, and cities under siege, and magical enchantments gone awry. That is where this author and this novel excels.

Gordon’s ability to make us believe in this world, even populated with less than notable characters, elevates this fantasy story up from the mundane and into the marvelous. Even his small touches such as the endless pockets on Farrell’s clothing where Farrell can retrieve his sword or anything else for that matter. I want those. Redesigning your quarters with a flick of a wand instead of months of renovations? Yep, want that too. I loved the spells and artifacts used for conjuring, the large white eagles and peregrine falcons. When this story goes to battle, then it really soars along with the unicorns with all the energy and magical flare one could hope for (and then sags when the participants are at rest). So even with all the unevenness I see within, this book still rates 4 stars because when it gets going, it is great and for now that is enough for me.

Cover art by Paul Richmond. It really suits the book, great job.

Author Interviews – What Does the Reader Want To Know?

I always read the author bios at the end of every book I read. Why? To get some understanding into the person who wrote the book I just read, hoping to get some information that tells me how that author was able to pull that fiction out of themselves and put it on the page. It’s the same reason I read authors blogs and interviews. More insight into the author and the process of writing a story.

When I read a Sarah Black story, I know that she is as familiar as her characters with the locations in her stories. And if she is writing about Marines, it’s because she knows them intimately. It is the same with Abigail Roux. She travels to the places her characters will visit so that it is authentic right down to the streets and bars located on them. Amy Lane knits and look at the knowledge that brought to her Knitting series, but just maybe that side passion instigated that series to begin with. The authors pour themselves into their stories, we know that. But how do they do it? Do the characters whisper in their ears, fully born or do they form slowly as character bits swirl into place, one at a time. How is a location chosen and why?

But RJ Scott lives in England and she has a wonderful feeling for locations she has never traveled to. And Charlie Cochrane? Well, needless to say, I don’t think she has promenaded down a street in 1900’s Cambridge lately but you would never know it from the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries series. In those books, England in the 1900’s seems as fresh as present day. So how do they do it? Research obviously but in such a way that it feels real and true instead of a visit to a library. Do they visit museums? Bribe their way into the inventories so they can touch and feel the clothes and artifacts of the era they are writing about? Hmmm, Charlie Cochrane, do you have a hidden list of museum back entrances and docents able to do your bidding? Hmmmmm……

Characterizations will either make or break a story. You can be a marvelous world builder and create a new universe or world full of inventive and wonderous minituae. But if it is then filled with one dimensional characters who all talk and act alike, then your story will lie lifeless on the floor. Characters are the heart and passion of any story, regardless of whether they are human, alien, or something totally different. And it’s the manner in which each author creates the people in their stories that fascinates me. An upcoming author interview with Sarah Black will talk about her process in building her characters. I am sure each author has their own methods to make their creations so believable that we lose ourselves in their lives and stories. I want to know how, how do they bring these beings to life with such force that I still think about them months, perhaps years later.

So, tell me what questions you would ask these or any authors if you had the chance. Is it about world building or characters or both? Do you want to know what a character reads or what bars they visit? How doe they chose what they name their characters? Does it help define the person when you know what music they listen to? I know it does for me.

So gather your thoughts and send me your questions. I will add them to mine in time for the next author spotlight. I am hoping you will be there when the next author spotlight rolls out.

Review: The God Hunters (The God Hunters #1) by Mark Reed

Rating: 2.75 stars

David Ruger has a nice if not exactly exciting life. He has a job as a car mechanic, a nice house, two dogs, and a sometime boyfriend named Wyler. Wyler is the most uncertain part of David’s life. Wyler will appear suddenly, baggage in hand, stay for a while and then disappear once more. David is not quite sure what Wyler does exactly but he’s not going to push the issue because he is happy with the status quo. Then one night, Wyler starts to talk of things and places he has been that are so fantastic, so unbelievable that David fears for his “little buddy’s” sanity. Until Wyler says he can take David with him to see these things for himself, specifically a destination called the Expanse, an alien universe that is Wyler’s home.

David thinks Wyler is joking, until Wyler tells him that change is coming to the Expanse and David’s part in that change has been foreseen by someone close to Wyler. A half joking “seeing is believing” comment later, and David is standing with Wyler on an alien world, far away from home and trouble is indeed on the way. Wyler hasn’t been exactly truthful to David. Wyler is a shifter, able to shift himself and others, including humans from universe to universe. Long ago, the Expanse underwent a horrific war when a group of shifters known as The God Hunters and the old gods fought. Now it seems the God Hunters are plotting again, so are the old Gods and David is smack in the middle of things.

There are floating cities to traverse, a trio of brothers to meet and winged demons to fight before David can even begin to understand his place in the Expanse and uncover the real reason everyone is hunting him. But David must hurry because some of those hunters don’t just want to capture David, they want him dead.

Let’s start with something positive, shall we? There is a marvelous graphic novel in here somewhere, buried under layer after layer of repetitious and nap inducing verbiage. And that’s a shame because I think the author has a terrific plot and some really endearing characters in The God Hunters. All Mark Reed needed, in my opinion, is someone to reign him in and edit, edit, edit. But starting with the Prologue, the author is clearly in love with words and descriptions, so much so that once they start flowing, he seems unable to stop.

The author takes us from a god’s viewpoint of the cosmos to our first meeting with David and Wyler, who David calls his “little buddy”. Shades of the Skipper and Gilligan! And how appropriate for someone soon to be marooned in an alien universe. David Ruger is a somewhat bland character, leading a bland little life. Wyler is only moderately more interesting. So it is very hard to connect with these two people who don’t seem all that connected with each other. I was hoping for more “sparks” as the location changed from St. Louis, Missouri to the Expanse but what followed was description after description of the places they were walking through. Dull, vast, sleep inducing descriptions, really, it was so monotone a narrative that I had to read it in spurts, or not go forward at all.

It didn’t begin to get mildly interesting until two thirds of the way through the 308 pages when the hunt for David got a little exciting. I wish I could tell you that the other characters were better realized or at least more memorable than the main creations but even now as I try to remember who and which of the three brothers David meets and hooks up with, nothing springs to mind. No characters, nothing. There is a Bryan, a Doug and James but all have been created along the same lines (the brother thing not withstanding) as to make them interchangeable. The final four chapters brings a sense of drama and excitement missing from all the previous chapters when our heroes find themselves under fire and in danger for their lives. And while once again we have far too many words for the actions taking place, at least the narrative here is more streamlined and moves the plot forward swiftly enough to grab at the reader’s attention and make us wonder why the author waited until the end to make things exciting. Because by that time, most readers have disappeared, vanquished by a dense narrative and a flood of blandness.

What is amazing here is Mark Reed’s artwork. He has created a website for this series/book The God Hunters where he displays his notes and artwork for the series. And it is within the art that the magic of The God Hunters finally comes to life. The digital scenes Reed creates for his book are rich in color and dimension. They leap off the page with all the drama and mystery the written story is lacking. As I said, with a ruthless editor, a pared down version of The God Hunters, combined with these illustration would make a graphic novel that would be hard to beat. The drawings alone almost gave this story a 3 rating but in the end, the novel’s dense, mind numbing narrative defeats itself and the reader. What a shame.

Cover Art by Brooke Albrecht. The artwork is beautiful. I just wished the novel deserved it.

Review: Feeling His Steel by Brynn Paulin

Rating: 3.5 stars

Professor Tobias Woods leads a very quiet, closeted life as a professor in a conservative private college in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But behind his reserved demeanor lies a confused man tormented by dreams of a past life and little knowledge of his own history prior to his adoption as a teenager in England. Toby turns all his energies into his dissertation and helping catalog the medieval collection of a nearby museum. Then a knight appears before him and everything he knows about himself is shattered as his past comes back with the promise of an old love renewed.

It is the year 1340, England and Sir Alwyn is about to die having lost everything he loved. Cast out, disgraced and now hunted by knights like himself, Wyn is haunted by the fate of his love, Tobias at the hands of the town elders and knows he is next. Their crime? Loving each other, even the church calls out for his death. But an angel interferes and he is reunited with a man who he knows to be his own Tobias.

But Toby is consumed with fear. The man before him says they were lovers hundreds of years ago and old memories start to resurface. But Toby’s fear increases as do his nightmares. Is time travel possible? Have they been given another chance? It is up to Toby to conquer his fears or let their last chance for happiness slip away forever.

This was a first book I have read by Brynn Paulin and I found much to like about her plot and characters. Paulin gives us a tale of lovers lost and reunited centuries later and combines it with tantalizing, sometimes horrific visions of past tortures for the crimes of sodomy. Toby and Wyn are appearling characters, each with their own vulnerabilities and strengths. Toby is especially somewhat frail emotionally, his past a total mystery as the only thing he can remember is being found by farmers in a field when he was a teenager. We only get a small part of Sir Alwyn’s life in 1340 before he is transported to present day Michigan.

The story zips along at a quick pace but it is the tone that I found myself having problems with. At some sections of her story, Paulin pulls up the drama and angst inherent in Wyn and Toby’s situation and makes us feel their uncertainty and pain over their current situation. But just as you are losing yourself in the story, Paulin changes gear and a measure of almost slapdash humor that breaks up the momentum of the story and breaks the connection between the reader and the characters. For example, the angel who continues to appear throughout the story is first seen as a glowing, figure of mercy. She has a serious countenance and manner which fits in which her actions and the events that are happening. Then halfway through the story, the angel reappears and she starts channeling Cyndi Lauper:

” She rubbed her nails on her sleeve then looked at them. “I’m just that good. Have fun, kids, but wait ’til I leave. I’m supposed to be pure and stuff.” She pointed up. “The big guy gets irritated when I play outside the corral.” She made a square with her fingers. “But He’s all-loving and believes in all love, if you know what I mean. So cut out the ‘it’s a test’ theories, kid. You don’t want to get struck by lightning.”

Now we have gone through many, many passages and now her character totally changes? That unevenness in narrative is displayed throughout the story. We get an awful but authentic scene ripped from the history pages and then Paulin presents us with a knight who has no problems with all the gadgets and societal changes of the modern era. What no pulling of swords when he first sees an automobile? Or plane? It’s as though the author can’t make up her mind whether this is a comedy with its tongue firmly in cheek or a fantastical tale of love through the ages so she gives us both to the detriment of the story.

There were just enough elements for me to give this story a 3.5 rating. Yes, there were parts where I sniffed, true. And the specific torture used at that time for those committing sodomy is in the news right now as the bones of Richard III were recently dug up in a parking lot in England. One of the facts revealed by his autopsy? He suffered the same fate as King Edward, although for Richard it was a knife and not a hot poker that was used. I also appreciated the emotional growth that Toby had to achieve in order for them to have their HEA, another lovely touch. But such nice facets of this story are weighed down by misplaced odd humor and just jarring bits of narrative that stop the flow of the story enough that it makes it hard to recapture the emotions the author just pulled out of you moments before.

So I will be on the lookout for more stories by this author because of the promise I see within this one. Should you read it? Sure, it’s flawed but entertaining. But don’t set the bar of your expectations too high, it will be easier to appreciate the fine points of the story and two lovely characters who I think deserved a better fate.

Cover design by Dar Albert.

Book released by Ellora’s Cave on February 13th.

Dreaming of Spring while Singing the Flues Blues and the Week Ahead in Reviews

Maryland seems to have dodged another major “storm of the century” that is still leaving its impact on New England and the NE corridor from Philly to Maine is coated with the white stuff. While those unfortunate fellows are digging out from under several feet of snow, we had to deal with wind and rain and little else.

Unless you count the flu. Yes, that’s right, the flu. Or maybe you have the norovirus, that’s going around too. Either way, like myself, you are probably feeling less than stellar. I did gather all the right stuff around me as the symptoms hit. Hot tea? Check. Loads of tissue? Check. Blankets to huddle under? Check. Every over the counter cold drug you could buy? Check. Reading material and knitting projects? Check. So what is missing? My ability to focus and stay awake. I have no energy. Sigh. So while I have a schedule for this week, it might be touch and go to stay by it. Let’s see what happens in between doctors appointments, shall we?

Here are the reviews planned:

Monday, Feb. 11: Lessons in Seduction by Charlie Cochrane

Tuesday, Feb. 12: Feeling His Steel by Brynn Paulin

Wed,, Feb. 13: Brothers in Arms by Kendall McKenna

Thurs., Feb. 14: Superpowered Love: Losing Better by Katey Hawthorne

Friday, Feb. 15: The God Hunters by Mark Reed

Saturday, Feb. 16: Reader Questions. If you could talk to an author, what would you ask them?

Meanwhile here is a vid making the rounds that cheered me up. Love the reaction of the older sister. These kids rock.

Super Bowl Sunday and the Week Ahead in Reviews

It’s Super Bowl Sunday and the Battle of the Harbaugh brothers. The Baltimore Ravens versus San Francisco 49ers. The Purple vs the Gold! Not surprisingly, since I live in Maryland, I will be rooting for the Ravens and cheering along with their mascot Poe. Gotta love a team that has a raven for a mascot and named it after a favored son, Edgar Allen Poe. Will the 49’s win? Quote the Raven “Nevermore”.

And it also means it is time for all those Super Bowl ads, great, good and awful. Some have been previewed and the best so far (judging by my sniffle count) is the new Budweiser ad starring a week old Clydesdale colt. Sniff. Check it out here.

I have found two new authors for me and I can’t wait to share their books this week. One is the beginning of a new shifter series by Kendall McKenna, it just blew me away. Black Hawk Tattoo by Aundrea Singer did the same, what beautiful writing. Two more books are also featured, they are by an author I just adore, LA Witt. A Chip in His Shoulder and its sequel, the just released Something New Under The Sun. Both are must reads, must read agains! So get ready to run, don’t walk to the nearest eBook store and grab up the best this week has to offer:

Monday, Feb. 4: Strength of the Pack by Kendall McKenna

Tuesday, Feb. 5: Black Hawk Tattoo by Aundrea Singer

Wed., Feb. 6: MIA Case Files 3: Craving by KC Burns

Thursday, Feb 7: A Chip In His Shoulder by LA Witt

Friday, Feb. 8: Something New Under The Sun by LA Witt

Saturday, Feb 9: My Choice or Lets See If I Finish in Time!

There you have it. Off to start on the hot wings and buffalo sauce. I need to grab up my bunny slippers (vampire bunny slippers of course), my four pawed kids with bones to keep them happily occupied, and friends for Super Bowl Sunday. I may tune into Puppy Bowl too because , really who can resist that? There is snow on the ground and it is threatening to snow some more. But we will be snug, and happy, and yelling our hearts out. Go, Ravens!

Review: A Dragon and His Knight by M. Raiya

Rating: 3 stars

Dragon Justin and his Knight, Wells, have been together for over 1,000 years, never apart for a moment. A decision to reenter the human world once more sees them settled in a college town in New Hampshire. Wells enrolls them both as students in the local university to pass the time and gather knowledge, a seemingly innocent pastime that becomes fraught with danger. What will happen when their bond of a millennia is destroyed?

A Dragon and His Knight is a short story in the same universe as Notice and A Sky Full of Wings. The author doesn’t say specifically where it fits in but I would put it at the end after A Sky Full of Wings otherwise very little in this story will make sense to the reader. I am very fond of the dragon lore and dragons/knight relationships that Raiya has created for this series. A Dragon and His Knight adds some additional facts of dragon lore and part of the backstory of the ancient black dragon and knight that appear at the end of A Sky Full of Wings that was missing from that book. But in some circumstances it also muddies the very history that has been laid down before, including adding a somewhat abusive relationship between a secondary dragon/knight couple that was just confusing.

What the author does so well is to portray the loving master/servant relationship that does exist between Justin and Wells, one that has endured over 1,000 years. These two characters make the story. When they appeared out of nowhere in A Sky Full of Wings, I wanted to know more about these remarkable characters who had such a large impact on that story. I still feel that way. This story was so short that it truly was only a sip that whetted my appetite instead of a drink that satisfied my thirst. I still want more of Justin and Wells backstory as well as those other dragons and knights from their era. A Dragon and His Knight is truly just a glimpse into a very small section of an ongoing story. I hope that the author has a much longer book planned that will help fill in the many gaps left by A Dragon and His Knight. Until we get more exposition, I think I would skip this addition, and if you love dragons, read Notice and A Sky Full of Wings instead.

Books in the Notice series or universe are:

Notice, Notice #1

Nice: The Dragon and the Mistletoe, Notice #2

A Sky Full of Wings, Notice #3

Origin (in the Shifting Steam Anthology)

A Dragon and His Knight, 29 pages published previously in the Mine Anthology

Inauguration Sunday and the Week Ahead in Reviews

So, we have a three day weekend with Martin Luther King Day and the Inauguration on Monday. The sky is blue, Saturday saw me scrambling so here I am still in my bunny slippers and looking to stay that way for the immediate future.

With Lance Armstrong’s self serving, “woe is me, not quite getting the whole picture” sob fest still leaving a malodorous odor in the air, I am looking forward to an inspirational speech on two on Monday. So Monday’s post will be a little different, No book banter or book reviews, just some musings on the Inauguration and MLK.

I have read some terrific books to be reviewed this week, starting with Tuesday’s selection of Charlie Cochrane’s lastest release from Carina Press. And if you missed it, go back for yesterday’s review of J.L. Merrow’s Trick of Time, loved that book. The movie Somewhere in Time is a favorite of mine so you know Trick of Time hit all my buttons and then some.

So with a drumroll please in keeping with the flair of things this weekend, here are the books to be reviewed this week:

Monday, 1/21: Scattered Thoughts on MLK and the Inauguration.

Tuesday, 1/22: Promises Made Under Fire by Charlie Cochrane

Wed., 1/23: Dirty Laundry by Heidi Cullinan

Thursday, 1/24: A Troubled Range by Andrew Grey

Friday, 1/25: The Dragon and His Knight by M. Raiya

Saturday, 1/26: Too Stupid To Live by Anne Tenino

Review of Horse of Bells by Pelaam

Rating: 3 stars

Prince Donal and his younger brother, Caolan, are hunting in the royal woods when a mysterious stranger saves Caolan from a wild boar. A case of love at first sight, the two make a pact saying that they will meet back in the woods as soon as possible, saving themselves only for each other. But royal politics interfere with that promise as their evil stepmother is plotting to kill them and have her nephew seated on the throne. To interfere with her plans, the princes are sent away for their safety and Caolan never returns to the woods.

The princes plan to stay in exile until Donal comes of age but a trick by their stepmother, Queen Doireann, sends the brothers on a quest to obtain the Horse of Bells from the Dark Prince, a mission destined to fail as all the others who have tried have been put to death after entering the Dark Prince’s lands. On their journey, the stranger from the woods joins them in their travels. But the kindness is gone and in its place a bitterness towards Caolan that threatens to derail their mission before they get started. In this fairy tale, two brothers must fight for their honor and for love if a happily ever after is to be theirs for the taking.

This story has all the basics of a fairy tale. It has the princes in danger, the evil stepmother, the clueless King, the dark strangers to the rescue, and even a magical horse. What is missing from this tale is the charm to go with the Prince Charmings, the warmth and glow of a childhood tale reworked for adults. I love a good adult fairy tale but unfortunately this one felt a bit flat.

I will skip over the two instances of instant love as that is certainly permissible in a fairy tale, but give me characters that make it even a little bit believable. All of the characters that Pelaam delivers are pretty one dimensional people, from the princes to the Dark Prince to the King. Even fairytale characters must be fleshed out enough that we identify with them to some degree. How can we feel any angst at all that the prince will be torn away form his true love if we don’t care about the characters? All have so little depth that it flattens out the story, wiping it of any gaiety and joy associated with stories of this genre. It did have one little bit of darkness in it but it felt out of place considering all that had gone on before.

I did like the magical Horse of Bells, a nice creation and the stepmother was suitably “evil” in her mechanisms but I keep waiting for the literary magic to begin, to be swept away into a enchantedl kingdom, where everyone is gay, and all good Princes wait for their Prince to appear. That would have made a great fairytale. But I can tell you after reading this, I am still waiting for that Kingdom to appear.

Review: Some Kind of Magic (Being(s) in Love #1) by R. Cooper

Rating: 4.75 stars

Ray Brannigan has always fought against convention. He was the first were to become a police officer and then detective. He worked hard to become one of the best on the force, respected by his peers. Life was pretty good, until he met his mate then his life started unraveling. Now he finds himself unable to sleep or eat, his thoughts constantly on the one being he wants most in life and can’t have, at least on his terms. That would be Cal Parker, half human half fairy, consultant to the Police force and son of his retired Captain. Cal Parker is his mate and Ray can never let Cal know the truth. Because wolves mate for life, and fairies? Well, everyone knows that fairies don’t do long term anything, so what’s a wolf to do?

When bodies start piling up, all the evidence point to a supernatural Being as the killer. Ray’s Captain wants everyone working on the case, including Cal Parker. Working closely with his mate is playing havoc with his senses, all those delicious smells pouring off the fairy and Cal loves to flirt, especially with the grumpy wolf detective. The more time Ray spends with Cal, the harder it is to fight the pull of his mate. Then the killer turns his attention towards Cal, and the race is on to protect Cal and catch the killer.

Some Kind of Magic is some kind of charming. I loved this supernatural tale of romance between a grumpy wolf detective and the flighty half fairy consultant. Ray Brannigan is almost along the lines of those old noir detectives, detached yet protective of his city, honorable yet fighting his own nature. The story is told from Ray’s pov, so the reader assembles the facts of the case and the details of Ray’s relationship with Cal as Ray thinks about it. But right away, we realize that part of Ray is not thinking very clearly, and this is in turn with a being not eating or sleeping well. A wolf has found his mate and is denying them both the deep relationship that comes with the part. A lovely touch by the author is the inclusion of “known facts” from old fairytales about werewolves and fairies versus the “new modern knowledge”.

We realize, even if Ray doesn’t, that his perceptions of fairies is off from the start, and that it is fear that is ruling his decision. So the author gives us a slow build, full of heat mind you, to a sexual explosion between Ray and Cal. Cal is a lovely character, half human and half fairy, who has his own troubles fitting in with the police and constant human prejudices. Descriptions of Cal are always accompanied by mentions of sugary confections and candy, savory aromas and rich smells as fairies are constantly feeding on sweets. The sensual descriptions just add another layer to the reader’s enjoyment of this story as well as makes one want to visit a candy shop.

Humor is not left out of the picture either. At one point, Ray is telling his partner that were natural history was easy to find as the book “I’m Going To Get Fur Where?: A young Were’s guide to their changing body was in every library for Pete’s sake.” I loved the meshing of worlds here and that does sound exactly the sort of book you would find in the library.

The only element I found to be disappointing was the identity of the killer. I had that figured out early in the story. But the real journey is the one that Ray and Cal take towards true romance and that is the one that filled me with joy. Vivid descriptions, wonderful characterizations, and terrific world building, it’s all here. I hope R. Cooper continues to revisit this world she has created so there seems like a city full of stories await us and I want to hear each and every one.

cover by Paul Richmond is just lovely.

Stories in the same universe include A Boy And His Dragon.

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