Category: M/M Book Reviews

Review : Stitched Under Fire (Paranormal Investigative Service Book 2) by Cassidy K. O’Connor and Sheri Lyn

Rating: 4.5🌈

Stitched Under Fire takes place relatively close to the ending timeline of the first book, Faeted Under Fire. That’s where the formerly human Det. Tristan James died, becoming reborn as a phoenix shifter and federal agent in the Paranormal Investigative Service, aka P.I.S. Yes, the series has a sense of humor.

He also gained a new perspective on paranormal beings he’d been phobic about, gained a partner and boyfriend in fellow Agent Maddox Smith, half orc/half Fae.

We dive back into their world where Tris has become acclimated enough to consider his new Agent Pod/group friends and he’s moved into a house with Maddox, getting ready to met the parents.

The authors do such a great job in creating the paranormal experience for Tristan James. He’s new to everything so we get to see and learn about it along with him. Honestly, the human side pales a bit by comparison.

Tristan is thriving even if he’s at level one with regard to his shifter abilities and new identity as a phoenix shifter. The fact that phoenix shifters are rare means that even his own teammates and boyfriend aren’t exactly positive about what Tristan can do , other than the vaguest ideas.

O’Conner and Lyn are on a slow path here with Tristan’s shifter transition. I’m not sure how many books they have planned for the series, but at this point, for Tristan to gain full access to his phoenix abilities, it will be at book 10. But oddly, the cases become so big and the victims so important, that Tristan’s shifter journey can safely be relegated to a lower storyline status without hurting the character or the book.

It becomes all about the characters, the relationships, the realness of their lives and the pain of their loss. That’s what we feel as does those investigating the cases.

The side storyline about , Tallie,the young teenage prostitute who’s basically family, Maddox’s mom, and Silas, the Fae father , is heartwarming and a wonderful element that helps ground Tristan in this new world and relationship.

This book and series is one I’m enjoying so much for its well developed characters, well plotted storylines, rich world building, and expanding new information into the exploration between human and paranormal phenomena and physicality.

Bring on book 3. I’m highly recommending this and the series. Read them in the order they are written to understand the events and character development.

Paranormal Investigative Service series:

✓ Faeted Under Fire #1

✓ Stitched Under Fire #2

◦ Taken Under Fire #3 – June 8, 2023

Buy Link:

Stitched Under Fire (Paranormal Investigative Service Book 2)

Description:

Paranormals left for dead, parts of them missing. When bodies start piling up, the agents of Paranormal Investigative Service quickly realize the killings aren’t random and they are escalating.

Life is never dull as an agent of P.I.S. but Tristan James didn’t expect his fourth week as a newly turned phoenix shifter and federal agent to be spent hunting for the person who was dissecting paranormals. If that weren’t enough, he was also moving in with Maddox, his partner at P.I.S. and he had it bad for him.

Maddox Smith was going monogamous. If that weren’t shocking enough, Tristan was also moving in with him. Add to that the man of his dreams was still getting used to being a shifter and getting over old prejudices about their kind. Taking it slow was never in Maddox’s vocabulary before, but Tristan was worth the wait. A new case was exactly the distraction he needed.

They have to work quickly to stitch the pieces together if they want to stop the madman hurting their kind.

Book 3 ‘Taken Under Fire’ releases June 8th, 2023 and continues Maddox and Tristan’s story.

Review: Fool Me Once (Court of Pain Book 1) by Ariana Nash

Rating: 4.5 🌈

Fool Me Once is Ariana Nash’s opening act in her new dark fantasy series. This is a story and series that comes with a author’s note about triggers in the themes. However, it sends the reader to the author’s website to read them so they aren’t readily accessible.

They should be. While everything that happens and is brought up fits in with character development and the universe that’s being created by Nash , it’s disturbing enough to warrant the trigger warnings.

They include off page forced incest, off page rape, attempted suicide, dubious consent, knife play, revenge sex, torture , and enforced confinement/imprisonment by means of a collar. So yes, plenty of triggers.

Now that’s dealt with, Nash is also creating a darkly fascinating world of shattered lands, a missing god, and warring crowns that should be helping each other to safeguard and protect the world the god left for them. Instead they are creating chaos by attacking each other.

Dallin, God of Order divided the Shattered lands into 4 crowns for 4 courts. Love, Justice, Pain, and War.

What a grand concept and Nash starts the arc and journey into the mystery of the missing god with the horrific events and violence that is the world currently.

There’s Lark, one of the darkest, most traumatized, and multi-layered individuals here. He’s the Court of Love’s Jester , a master manipulator of people, a collector and distributor of lies and illusions. He’s both the agony of heartbreak , he’s deceit, and potentially the weak hope for love to revive and survive all the worst this world has to throw at it and him.

This is such a carefully written character that his depths are only gradually revealed through the storytelling. And I expect to see more as the series progresses. I think he’s going to break our hearts. Again and again.

There’s more important characters, each with startling strengths, worse frailties, and appalling histories. One is the mysterious Prince of Love. To reveal anything about this astonishing character is to spoil some of the best narrative elements Nash has in store for the reader.

Psychologically, emotionally, the Prince is impressive because, like Lark, he’s nothing like what he appears on the surface. Everyone here operates on hidden agendas, deep secrets, and years of planning for revenge/ulterior motives. It’s a narrative chess game but done with extreme violence and long range tactical aggression.

Much like her last series, the deck of cards and card tricks are woven into the story and strategy of Lark’s character. I found that a interesting element. And want to see how it’s used going forward.

Also like Nash’s Shadows of London series, this ends in a cliffhanger. So I expect the rest of the books to follow that format too.

I was enthralled by Nash’s dark new world and traumatized characters. I was so connected to Lark, and all the events as they were occurring. It’s a bleak place, Lark and the rest are indeed in a chaotic world. Read the trigger warnings and take them to heart.

Then decide if adult dark fiction with amazing characters and a well written harrowing story to follow is for you.

I’m recommending it under those guidelines.

Court of Pain :

✓ Fool Me Once #1

◦ Fool Me Twice #2 – TBD

Description:

The king of the Court of Love wants me dead, the queen wants me in her bed, and the prince… He wants the only piece of me I will never surrender.

They call me jester, dancer, trickster, lover.

I exist to entertain.

But behind my sideways smiles, my quick hands and magician’s tricks, I trade in their lies, their secrets. I know their deepest desires, their wicked schemes. Their sins are my currency.

Their reign is a card castle, and I hold the card that’s about to bring it all down.

And they say I’m the fool…

Amazon buy link:

Buy or borrow here.

Fool Me Once is a dark MM fantasy brimming with courtly spice, morally ambiguous anti-heroes, and a fool who plays them all.

This is a dark world with adult MM content.

Potentially triggering content includes but is not limited to: attempted suicide (main character), incest (non-consensual, off-page, not between main characters), dubious consent (main characters), knife play (main characters), revenge sex (main character, off-page).

Assume triggers are on-page, unless off-page is specified above.



Review: Dangerous (Shifter Scoundrels #2) by Charlie Cochet and Macy Blake

Rating: 4.5🌈

Shifter Scoundrels is a wildly imaginative , heave everything the multi era/trope sink has to offer into the adventure/romance world as conjured up by Charlie Cochet and Macy Blake. Part paranormal universe, it also includes such features as a Regency era monarchy, a royal society with the accompanying aristocracy events. To say nothing of the Regency societal laws such as rigid dress codes to go with the peerage rankings. All of these adopted by the Dragon Shifter King and the rest of the shifter world that lives invisibly along side the human one. It’s so marvelously descriptive and realized.

All of that serves as a foundation for mystery, murder, and magical mayhem as well as romance from book to book, with each novel featuring one couple involved in and investigating the overall series arc mystery. That being the murder of Prince Brandr, the son of the King.

I enjoyed the Regency relationship , romantic gameplay and subterfuge of the first story. It was all very in keeping with the theme and types of storytelling that the genre does so well.

But Dangerous goes in a different direction, romantically speaking, with its couple. And while it kept some of the Regency parameters intact, it also borrowed from the contemporary genre too. The combination is one is I found engaging and wonderfully entertaining. Because this other main character is oh so human, and comes with a very serious heart condition.

Jason Reaves is a surprise in every way. Jason has POTS, Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. He also has a wonderfully realized service dog, a German shepherd, Mouse, who’s a great character. The authors, both of whom own GSDs, show us exactly how Mouse helps Jason with his disability and their partnership in letting Jason lead a wider life. This is such a superb element of this book and it’s worked so perfectly to elevate Jason as a multi-dimensional character including great backstory. As is Mouse who’s so much a part of him.

Cormac Donegan, Duke of Everard, is bringing heavyweight Regency energy here to his part of the relationship. Cormac is in recovery from a traumatic event, the losses which still haunt him. We’ve seen this event and connected events in the first book (which is running concurrently in terms of timeframe). So we have some knowledge about what’s happening and the details around the events.

Cormac and his team of valets/soldiers are absolutely fantastic characters. Cormac as he starts to understand Jason’s predicament and fall for the human he’s bound to protect. Vega and Sillian ,the manservants , who are fabulous in their roles as foils for each other and for Jason as he becomes part of the household and their world.

The mystery and fast paced action is fantastic. The narrative runs along at near breakneck speed to match the scenes unfolding on the pages.

There’s humor, some pathos, passion, and action, along with great support cast and main characters.

I honestly couldn’t put this down.

The setup for Scandalous, the third installment and romance is smoothly executed. Now to wait until next year.

I’m highly recommending this story but read the series in order first so you understand the events and backgrounds as it all comes together.

What a wild whacky mashup! I love it.

Shifter Scoundrels series:

✓ Notorious #1

✓ Dangerous #2

◦ Scandalous #3 – Feb 29,2024

Buy Link:

Dangerous (Shifter Scoundrels Book 2)

Description:

New Paranormal Romance from Bestselling MM Authors Charlie Cochet and Macy Blake.

A grumpy lion shifter duke with secrets, a sassy human who knows nothing of the shifter world, and a fiery arrangement neither of them expected.

Cormac Donegan, Duke of Everard, is all too familiar with the perils of his shifter world, especially as a Dahlia, one of the dragon king’s elite spies. After a mission nearly costs him his life, Cormac is sidelined, healing and grieving his heavy losses. Then a different kind of trouble shows up on his doorstep, a human claiming to be his fiancé.

When Jason Reaves is nearly killed in a house fire, it becomes clear that someone is trying to murder him. With his already fragile health deteriorating, Jason’s only hope is to call in the debt a stranger owes his father– a favor that promises safety, protection… and marriage.

Jason’s escape leads him and his service dog, Mouse, to an impressive country estate. He’s expecting the older man who’d made the promise, not his ruggedly handsome son–who happens to be a Duke, as in rich and royal.

Will this Cinderfella find his happily ever after in the arms of a dashing–if somewhat irritable–duke? Or will Cormac’s secrets prove to be more dangerous than the shifters hunting him?

Review: Deal With The Devil (The Reckless Damned Book 3) by Lark Taylor

Rating: 4.5🌈

Deal With The Devil is the third novel in Lark Taylor’s The Reckless Damned series about the rebellious sons of the Devil who left Hell (and servitude under Father) behind for life on earth.

Each book concentrates on a brother as he finds his fated mate , and along with his brothers, helps investigate a rebellion against their father (understandable) and thwart any possible apocalypse (also clear).

I may have enjoyed this book the most, probably because as it’s the third story it now has a solid family cast to act as a foundation/sounding board/support system for whatever Mori, this brother, needs. Whether it’s backup in an attack or advice about a relationship, the brothers and their mates, who’ve formed their own smaller group, are there for each other. Taylor has created a entertaining and interesting family dynamic here. Each is so different, some with traumatic histories , others with flamboyant personalities, differences that make for lively conversations and fast paced scenes.

River is the first non-human main character that plays up against a brother in a story to date. I liked the twists Taylor works into her narrative here. Including the several at the end. It’s a aspect of these stories I’m expecting when I pick them up and the author hasn’t let me down yet.

The relationship between Mori and River is full of obstacles for them to overcome. Mori’s human ex Eric left an indelible mark on Mori, one he needs to relinquish before he can move forward. This is a believable development in anyone’s life and it works here too in a paranormal environment.

There is also the element of the relationship between River and his brother, one that’s explored emotionally through past and present events and actions. It feels realistic as well.

Overall, this is my favorite story to date in the series. I’m only frustrated that I didn’t have the fourth book to read straight on through.

If you like paranormal fiction, romance, and mystery, here’s a series for you. Read them in the order they are written to understand the events and character relationships.

I’m definitely recommending them.

The Reckless Damned series:

✓ Devil’s Mark #1

✓ Devil May Care #2

✓ Deal With The Devil #3

◦ Luck Of The Devil #4 – May 11,2023

Buy Link:

Deal With the Devil (The Reckless Damned Book 3)

Description:

When you make a deal with a devil, you must prepare to face the consequences…

Mori

I’ve loved and lost once before, and it nearly destroyed me.

One might think I’d be scared to try again, but since discovering the existence of fated mates, I’ve waited on tenterhooks for mine to appear.

Fate, apparently, is content to keep me in suspense.

When a nervous human brokers a deal to find his brother, I can’t refuse. My tracking days are over, but there’s something about River that makes me want to get back in the game. Besides, it’ll be a good distraction from waiting for my dream guy.

It quickly becomes clear that River isn’t all he seems. And even worse…I can’t deny the attraction between us. But can I go there when I can’t promise River forever?

River

I’ve always been a liar…but this might be the most dangerous lie I’ve ever told.

Making a deal with a son of Lucifer to track my brother is a bad idea. Especially since he currently holds the number one spot on Mori’s hit list.

I’m asking for trouble.

But I’m out of options. Blaise’s death creeps closer every day, and despite his past misdeeds, I have to save him. Even if it means pretending to be a human, when I’m anything but.

The more time Mori and I spend together, the harder it is to hide my true identity. How can I when he’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner?

There’s no point dreaming of a future with Mori. Even if he forgives my deception, he has a fated mate out there somewhere.

And it isn’t me.

Deal With the Devil is an exhilarating, forced-proximity M/M paranormal romance with a HEA and no cliff-hanger. It is the third book in The Reckless Damned series, which is best enjoyed in order due to the overarching plot. Each book focuses on a different couple and will have a HEA.

CW: references to off page domestic abuse and anxiety attacks. Includes references to torture and murder. One scene of homophbia, including the use of a homophobic slur.

Review : Faeted Under Fire (Paranormal Investigative Service Book 1) by Cassidy K. O’Connor and Sheri Lyn

Rating: 4.25🌈

Faeted Under Fire was a wonderful find. The vibrant cover caught my attention and the imaginative storytelling is just so well done. Both authors are new to me, so I was excited to see what they brought to paranormal fiction.

The universe building is sparse as far as how human beings and the paranormal realm came to exist together. The authors deal with this question in smattering of sentences that raise more questions than answers. Where they spend their narrative energy and enthusiasm is in the creation of the paranormal “section’ of the city much like we have a Chinatown or Little Italy. Only more as in the past when the cities were more racially segregated.

It’s a lively, culturally diverse community, with food trucks and bars owned, and run by the various paranormal species. It feels alive. Sometimes grungy and a perfect fit for the pod or group of paranormal investigators to run through or hang at .

O’Connor and Lyn spent considerable time as well as in creating engaging personalities for their main characters. One is Tristan James, a human cop, who’s prejudiced towards paranormals, and then has to undergo a psychological and physical traumatic change when he’s attacked. Tristan is an amazing perspective for the reader into paranormal life as he’s a fresh viewpoint. I adore him. He’s a good cop and someone trying to be a good person, whoever they may be.

His partner, half orc/half Fae, with prejudices of his own, is Maddox Smith. This character has layers, which continue to get peeled back throughout the story and into the next. He’s one whose character consistently deepens and matures to accommodate changes in the relationships around him.

This is the first story so everyone is still learning about each other and getting settled into their new roles.

O’Connor and Lyn kept me involved in the paranormal and human investigations and emotional stories playing out throughout the novel. If I had a bit of a quibble it was that I recognized the villain early on. Not the motivation for all the events, but who it must be at least behind one attack.

However, I do admit that mysteries and crime investigations have been my jam since early childhood. So take that for whatever it may be worth.

In total, Faeted Under Fire (Paranormal Investigative Service Book 1) by Cassidy K. O’Connor and Sheri Lyn is a exciting, immersive journey into a new partnership and journey towards a romantic relationship for two memorable people . I’m absolutely thrilled with my find and recommending it to others.

Paranormal Investigative Service series:

✓ Faeted Under Fire #1

✓ Stitched Under Fire #2

◦ Taken Under Fire #3 – June 8, 2023

Buy Link:

Book 1 of 3: Paranormal Investigative Service

Description:

A human cop, a paranormal agent, and nine missing kids. Prejudice aside, they have to work together if they want to stop number ten.

Tristan James didn’t know he had a latent paranormal gene in his body until he was attacked on the job as an officer with Tampa PD and killed. As a phoenix shifter, he rose from the ashes and came back stronger than ever. Unfortunately, he was no longer human, this meant no job, no home, no friends. New purpose finds him with the help of a paranormal federal agency offering him a job. He has to put his own learned hatreds aside and accept the paranormals he was now one of.

Maddox Smith loved his job with the Paranormal Investigative Services. He knew what it was like to have no one looking out for you and that’s what made him a good agent. Someone is taking paranormal kids and he has no leads. When a recently turned human is booted from the police and brought to P.I.S. and partnered with him, Maddox wants nothing to do with him. What had the humans ever done for their kind?

Can they forget their biases and solve the case before there’s a tenth?

Review: Heart Unbroken by Casey Cox

Rating: 4.25🌈

“I didn’t want to kiss you goodbye—that was the trouble—I wanted to kiss you goodnight—and there’s a lot of difference. “ – Ernest Hemingway”

— Heart Unbroken by Casey Cox

I love a romance that is introduced with a remarkable quote that ties into the story and characters as this one does here.

Second chance at love, lovers reunited. Yes, please.

Casey Cox gives us two wonderful characters in actor Rove Sullivan, and hotelier Leo Carter, ok three with Leo ‘ best friend, Tal.

From a quick awkward meeting at Leo’s resort earlier in Rove’s career before he’s a big star, to the present where events bring them together again, Cox makes us believe that the men actually do make a deep impression on each other in the early moments. When events happen to cause each to reach out to each other, again Cox has supplied the groundwork emotionally for the reader to understand the context and connect with them.

I so enjoy Cox as a writer. The author’s romances are interesting, the characters are human beings with faults and strengths that are relatable, no matter the circumstances because they can be understood across many different levels. Job failures because of things outside of their control? Loss of dreams? Perhaps the hardest of them all. Learning when to let go of something that keeps you from moving on.

Heart Unbroken is another heartwarming contemporary romance from Casey Cox that I’m recommending. I only hope that we get a chance to see a sequel for Tal’s romance sometime soon.

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Heart-U…Heart Unbroken – Cox, Casey: Books

Description:

ROVE

Five years ago, we had a fleeting connection. Instant attraction, sizzling chemistry, and scorching-hot sex.

It was only brief, but it was…everything.

Then my career takes off. I become one of the biggest openly out Hollywood A-listers. I’m on top of the world—rich, famous, and successful.

Until a cruel red carpet gotcha stunt blows my life apart. In the blink of an eye, I lose everything I’ve spent two decades working and sacrificing for.

I’ve got no one to turn to and nowhere to go… Except back to the man I met five years ago.

LEO

Five years ago, I met someone unforgettable.

He made me feel something I thought I’d lost forever. Something that died with my beloved Dante a decade earlier.

I never expected to see Rove again. When he returns, the spark, the chemistry, the connection, is right where we left it five years ago. Actually, it’s only intensified.

The more time we spend together, the clearer it becomes—there’s no way I can let him go again. Can we find a way to make it this time?

HEART UNBROKEN is a second chance at love MM romance with two men in their 40s, a naked meet-cute, an only-one-bed situation, found family, 90s pop culture references, and a ‘sail into the sunset’ happily ever after (literally).

Review: Trick of Light (Warders Book 7) by Mary Calmes

Rating: 2.5🌈

It’s been a while since I’d read the Warder series, books about a clutch of 5 Warders or demon hunters/city protectors and their sentinel . Each novel focuses on one Warder and his path to finding his Hearth, his soulmate.

I enjoyed them , finding some couples more entertaining than others, but a wonderful series.

However, Trick of Light didn’t live up to my expectations. It starts promising, with all the Warders, their Hearths, the Sentinel and his partner gathered together when they discover ,they as a group , are under attack.

Calmes assumes the reader is familiar with the group, the couples history , and their relationships, and the series as a whole. That’s a lot of information you must have to go forward here. It makes sense as this is book 7.

I didn’t mind that so much as a series with this many novels would be cumbersome if the author had to recreate all the previous storylines as well as the current ones to bring a reader up to speed.

No this book lost me with the reveals and narrative twists into let’s say a more angelic themed story. Calmes , imo, just never laid a firm foundation in terms of her themes, her history, even character development and background, to support the events that occur in the later stages of this book.

Some are so groundless, the actions making so little sense , no matter how you might literally frame it out that I was astonished. And not in a good way.

And once written, the following consequences were, well, inevitably worse. Like storyboard cards that fell , then rearranged up on the board out of order. No one noticed.

I enjoy Calmes writing. I didn’t enjoy Trick of Light. For me, it added little to a entertaining series, and may actually have removed some of those interesting elements I liked so much.

But I found this poorly written, with the too much “as told too” narrative, a real issue with a lack of context within the series arc for the themes here, and no grounding for the events that occur during most of the story.

The whole last quarter of this book is narrative nonsense imo. Without giving away too much, if your premise is that angels don’t understand emotions including love but all they do display is emotion, jealousy, hatred, anger, etc, then as a author you haven’t understood how to express your own themes throughly yourself. Your angels should BE without emotion. They aren’t. You haven’t been able to see your way through your own characters.

Others might have different opinions.

I’ll leave it up to you whether it’s a story you want to read.

Warder series:

✓ His Hearth #1

✓ Tooth & Nail #2

✓ Heart in Hand #3

✓ Sinnerman #4

✓ Nexus #5

✓ Cherish Your Name #6

✓ Trick of Light #7

Buy Link:

Trick Of Light (Warders Book 7)

Description:

Jackson Tybalt is living his best life even though, to others, it might sound a little odd. For starters, Jackson’s a warder. Duty bound to patrol the city of San Francisco, doing battle with demons and things that go bump in the night. Second, Jackson’s married to an ex-demonic bounty hunter.

Raphael Caliva isn’t quite a man, more of a creature, with a very normal job as a general contractor, which he really loves. But what Raphael loves most, though, is Jackson. So much so that he’s sealed his fate to Jackson’s. If one dies, so does the other. No muss, no fuss.

This is the first of the surprises Jackson receives when he and his fellow warders meet one cold afternoon in February. Turns out, a blood witch they believed they’d vanquished has returned, intent on revenge. Nothing is as it seems, and now Jackson and the others have to prepare to fight not only an elusive enemy, but also the fatal curse she imparted.

But sometimes, it’s not quite as bad as it seems. More a trick of light than life and death. Or is it?

Review: Saffron Wilds (San Amaro Investigations Book 6) by Kai Butler

Rating: 5🌈

Well , Saffron Wilds is one wild, heart-stoppingly complicated, beautifully crafted, absolutely slam dunk of a tale! Especially , especially (yes 2 especially’s) that ending! One part of me want to say, screw you, Kai Butler. The other wants to give major finger snaps for shock value.

It’s a close call. And I read this twice.

I believe this is the series penultimate book. Not sure because with everything that’s happening here, all the revelations, all the characters involved, all the players and places that are mentioned and visited, we are talking a very grand and labyrinthine scale here.

And it’s starts so simply with a case of a missing familiar and the emotional wobbling about an engagement.

And from that seemingly easy launch Butler builds a intricate narrative that is so gorgeously complex and yet so delicate constructed that the story never feels dense. Much like the lacy constructs of the larger orb spiders, those webs can appear light , big designs. Yet on closer inspection, it’s full of smaller strands, different webbing, almost invisible to the eye. Darkness and light. And lethal.

Such an incredible interplay. What a fabulous piece of storytelling. I’ll definitely reread it again to see what I missed.

And to pass the time until Cypress Ashes is released.

I’m highly recommending the series and definitely this story. But the books must be read in the order they are written in order for the relationships, characters, and events to make sense.

San Amara Investigations Series:

◦ A Haunting at Midnight #0.5

◦ A Debt Unpaid #0.75

✓ Wormwood Summer #1

✓ A Belated Burial #1.5

✓ The Oak Wood Throne #2

✓ A Gilded Iron Blade #3

✓ A Shattered Silver Crown #4

✓ The Heart’s Blood Arrow #5

✓ Saffron Wilds #6

◦ Cypress Ashes #7 – June 19,2023 (series finale)

Buy Link:

Saffron Wilds (San Amaro Investigations Book 6)

Description:

Someone’s cat is missing and Parker Ferro, San Amaro’s best paranormal PI can’t find it.

Parker Ferro has cracked some tough cases, so he didn’t think a missing cat would be the investigation to ruin his five star rating. But months in, he still can’t find the feline and the only lead he can track points straight to a dead body. With Paranormal Crimes now involved, Nick joins Parker when they head straight into the illegal world of familiar theft.

As the body count rises, Parker and Nick are drawn deeper into a darker game than they’ve ever played before, and drag the people around them in with them.

When shadows begin to move, fae politics gets bloody, and the Dark Realm prepares for war, Parker and Nick are faced with a threat to the lives of all of the thousand realms. To win, they’ll need to decide how much they can bear to sacrifice.

Review: Stone Skin (The Gargoyles of Arrington, #2) by Jenn Burke

Rating: 4.5 🌈

Its been a year since the first book in The Gargoyles of Arrington series by Jenn Burke so I needed to get reacquainted with the arc storylines and particulars before diving into Stone Skin, the novel that’s centered around brother Rian O’Reilly. He’s one of the three remaining O’Reilly brothers who were cursed with turning into Gargoyles and eventual stone death until a witch aunt altered the curse just enough that finding true love would break it.

There’s just two now with the curse hanging over them. The others have either died or met with their true loves.

I admit I connected with this story more fully than I did with Drew and his human mate/lover from Stone Wings. That book had to set the foundation (a lot of information), and lay out the mysteries of the curse and O’Reilly family. It then had even more important details to be worked into the narrative such as a invasion of mountain lion shifters, then a wolf shifter pack element. All that put the fake boyfriend romance under a smaller spotlight, bookwise.

But from the beginning, I was highly invested in the lives of Professor Logan Davis, a person haunted by loss, and Rian, the tattoo artist brother, who’s determined to find a way out of the curse for himself and his remaining brother before it’s too late. And hoping that the unknown professor of legend and mythology will help him to find a clue in the past to unravel their ancient mystery.

Burke shows us so clearly how Rian is desperate to find the cure. We watch as the effects of the old magic falter and he’s sure he doesn’t have much time left. It’s hits us as hard as it does him and his family.

Then we shift to the Professor and a portrait of grief that’s raw and real.As the Professor isn’t even emotionally or mentally available in this world, traumatized by recent events. The author has made us care for him, for Rian, and now the reader is committed to solving the mystery and to the couple to finding their own happiness.

There’s multiple plots also brought forward from Stone Wings that get futher development. I enjoy a found family trope and this one is coming together beautifully.

While all the side storylines are still continuing, they take a secondary role and leave the relationship between Rian and Logan as the main focus. It works perfectly to let the reader understand the overall arc theme is coming together towards a resolution and yet still gives us enough information about the third brother to make us want to continue following the story into the next book.

The drama isn’t over yet.

I’m eagerly awaiting Stone Heart , the last in this series. Love a paranormal hurt/comfort love story? Then I’m recommending Stone Skin and the beginning novel, Stone Wings. Read them in order before the final book in the trilogy comes out.

The Gargoyles of Arrington series:

✓ Stone Wings #1

✓ Stone Skin #2

◦ Stone Heart #3 – June 27, 2023

Buy Link:

Stone Skin: An M/M Paranormal Hurt/Comfort Monster Romance (The Gargoyles of Arrington Book 2)

Description:

Can he break his curse before time runs out?

Despite being cursed to sleep as a gargoyle for a hundred years, and awake for only twenty-five, Rian O’Reilly is an optimist. He knows he can find a way to break the curse through the tattooed runes he’s spent years mastering. No need to wait for this true love crap. But he hasn’t found the right combination of magic and his time is almost up. Rian isn’t ready to lose everyone and everything. Again.

Professor Logan Davis knows about loss. In the past year, he’s lost his mother, his twin, his werewolf pack, and he’s on the verge of losing his mind. So when he’s invited to Arrington to learn about a legend he’s never heard of, he jumps at the chance for a working vacation. He doesn’t expect to find a handsome gargoyle who needs his help to break a centuries-old curse—and he certainly doesn’t expect his grief to finally overwhelm him.

As Rian comforts Logan, he starts to wonder if there might be something to this true love crap after all. He’d give anything to help this gentle giant of a man, but Logan needs time to heal…and time is the one thing Rian doesn’t have.

STONE SKIN is a male/male hurt/comfort paranormal romance featuring a magical tattoo artist gargoyle who doesn’t want to go, a werewolf professor who needs time to rediscover himself beneath his grief, and a budding love that might be the answer to everything…if only it has time to bloom.

Review: Fairy Cakes in Winter by Lane Hayes

Rating: 5🌈

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”—Albert Camus Scott”

With that quote, Lane Hayes leads us into a heartwarming, absolutely engaging tale about two men who meet on a turbulent life changing airplane ride to London.

I fell so in love with this story from the moment I met them as they tried to get settled into their seats next to each other and prepared for their journey to London. Hayes effortlessly captures the essence of the intimacy of the closeness of the seats, the emotional experience it becomes as they get deeper in conversation and farther along into the flight.

There’s 39 year old Scott O’Brien, a baker originally from Seattle who now lives and works full time in the UK. Bearded, bearish, and quiet , Scott is a portrait of a man who has withdrawn into himself and intends to stay there. Too bad his seat companion is 29 year old Theodore Belden, an accountant from San Francisco on his way to visit his mother.

Theo is vibrant, a gift of verbiage and positivity. He’s also absolutely adorable in a Theo way. He’s also afraid of flying.

From this point the story flows visibly gathering layers and bits of each man’s past as they’re being pushed and pulled together into a incredible romantic journey that includes fairy cakes and side trips to Bath’s historic sites.

This was funny, sexy, romantic, and had me researching fairy cakes! It’s also now one of my favorite Lane Hayes story. Theo and Scott are such a fabulous couple.

If you are a fan of romance, grab this up! It’s a joy to read! I’m highly recommending it.

Buy link:

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Fairy-C…Fairy Cakes in Winter: An M/M Age-Gap, Grumpy/Sunshine Romance

Description:

A grumpy baker, a quirky ad man, and a recipe for forever…

Scott

So this cute guy sits next to me on the plane and proceeds to talk my ear off for hours. Not good. I don’t like talking and I don’t like strangers. But Theo’s sweet, smart, and sexy—the perfect distraction from business woes and personal worries.

Okay, things get overly friendly, but we’re adults who know the score. I’m too old, he’s too nice, and we live on different continents.

Then, out of the blue, he shows up at my bakery with that pretty smile and a list of wacky marketing ideas—like how to make fairy cakes a thing.

I don’t like fairy cakes.


But I do like Theo, so…maybe?

Theo

The new me takes risks. The new me is brave and confident. The new me flirts with hunky, imposing bears on planes while traveling to a foreign country.

It’s going well, thank you.

However, my plans to sight-see, drink tea, and eat my weight in biscuits every day are derailed when I realize there might be a way to help Scott and prove a few things to myself.

Don’t worry. I won’t fall for the grumpy baker. No way. He’s complicated and broody and—

Uh oh…it might be too late. Help!

Fairy Cakes in Winter is a bisexual, age-gap, grumpy/sunshine MM romance featuring a sexy baker, a sunny tourist, and a few dozen fairy cakes.