Secrets Are Out! Adam, Vee, and Victor are all finally on the same page! They’re all together romantically and in battle! Bad beings beware!
This maniacally wonderful world gets even crazier in a sexy, action packed, “let all the secrets fly “ story. It’s jammed full with our fav bunch of fantastic paranormal characters from the SOS hotel, a mission to save a family that ends up becoming so much more!
In the meantime, there’s explosions, debris, lots of cleaning, Adam’s secrets are out and our favorite triad comes together, finally! With a lot of snark and sexy stuff. Love this narrative so much.
No Rest for the Wicked’s absolutely
yeets the prophecy into forward motion with astonishing speed here, also with some of my favorite scenes and conversations.
The ending is so satisfying and sets up the next installment in the series, Luxury To Die For. I’m hooked so I hope this dramatic finale gets dragged out a bit longer.
If you haven’t been reading the notes that come before and after the novel itself, you’re missing out. Check out the messages and ramblings from Adam and Vee where all the credits are listed at the beginning and the texts at the end. Priceless!
Yes, this is a must read and definitely recommended series and story. But do read the trigger warnings!
In Smoke and Mirrors, a novel in the Fortune Favors the Fae fantasy multi-author fantasy series, Kai Butler creates a group of characters and a place called Flower that just begs for a series of its own.
In what starts out as a magical undercover mission that goes sideways, Butler then takes the characters on a journey of healing, homecoming, and revelations. That it’s incredibly action-packed, romantic, and full of layered character growth and development is also what drives this story and its numbers of threads forward. We connect with them and the place. We become so invested in their journey.
Damian Reyes is our narrator. A undercover special agent for SPA, Strange Phenomenon Agency. When a barefooted Cassander,dethroned Shadow Prince of Moonlight and Whispers, runs into him ,it’s his mission that badly comprised.
The effects of which will lead Damian, Cassander in tow, back to the one place he never expected to return to, his home and family. The Reyes family, from mother Rosario, sister Candy, and the children, are realistic, well defined in their emotions, and reactions to Damian’s reappearance. The old history between them all, the perspectives on the past, and the manner in which Butler has Damian slowly start to question his own memories and ideas about his mother and his adolescence feels so raw and deep.
While it’s Damian’s growth and revelations we have the biggest window into, it’s also the reflections of Cassander’s changing as he interacts with the family and Damian that’s so important as well.
Butler’s story gives out so much more than just the insight and depth that goes into the family dynamics. The urban fantasy elements are fabulous. The coin is a major factor here and I love how the author has woven it into the storytelling.
Plus all the other characters that come together, whether they are from the bar, or the family, they have been created with care and given life as they are memorable.
So is the desert when seen through magical eyes.
More please. Much more.
A fantastic book and one universe I hope the author decides to write in again.
Cover art by Natasha Snow. I love the covers. Fabulous.
Fortune Favors the Fae – 15 books:
A Fae Coin Transported Me Into Another World and Now I’m the Gay Holy Maiden by AJ Sherwood #1❤️
The Wolf’s (Un)Lucky Fae by Michele Notaro #2 ❤️
Bound to the Wild Fae by Tavia Lark #3 June 13❤️
The Sorcerer’s Thief by Lee Colgin #4 ❤️🔷
The Fae Menagerie by Edie Montreaux #5
Never Darling by Sam Burns #6
Prince of Poison by Alice Winters #7 ❤️
Grave Misfortune by Nazri Noor #8 ❤️
Fae for Pay by Meaghan Maslow #9 – July 23,2024
Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand #10
Smoke and Mirrors by Kai Butler #11 ❤️
Siren in the Rain by Chloe Archer #12 – Aug 15,2024
I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem by Jocelynn Drake #13 – Aug 22,2024
A Fae Called Wylder by Michelle Frost #14 – Aug 29,2024
Lucky or Knot by Eliot Grayson #15 – September 5,2024
Secret Agent Damian Reyes has two problems: he just lost his job and now he’s babysitting a deposed prince.
When Damian ran straight into a firefight to save an attractive civilian, he didn’t realize he was also sacrificing the career he’d spent twelve years building for a man whose flirting is only slightly less lethal than his blades. Now they’re stuck in Damian’s childhood bedroom as he tries to salvage his job, avoid his mother, and keep Cassander from getting murdered.
Oh, and a phenomenally powerful magical coin has decided it wants a ride in Damian’s pocket. At some point, his luck has to change, right?
Smoke and Mirrors is a part of the multi-author series, Fortune Favors the Fae. From spicy to sweet, zany romps to epic adventures, there’s something for everyone in this mystical series. Discover destiny and true love and follow the coin on its fickle journey to the next world and a new magical adventure.
Humility is the finale book to Lark Taylor’s Connections series and it’s definitely worth the tissues needed to read it.
While on the surface, it’s about two commitment phobic best friends finally understanding each is the others HEA, the underlying issues, a heart wrenching event, and the backstories are the reasons that will have you reaching almost nonstop for the tissue box.
Riley, human with a history of a human stalker and dysfunctional parenting, is a series staple as he’s a best friend of Matty (Justice #2). Danny, wolf shifter firefighter, is a wounded soul with a broken history that’s revealed in this book. He too has had many scenes throughout the series as a best friend/ co firefighter with Leo (Patience #1). So we’ve been given glimpses of both characters in the preceding novels as they helped their friends through to resolving their problems and getting their mates.
With Riley and Danny , they meet, immediately click before having intense sex. Best ever. But because of various factors, each has resolved to stay commitment free. So it’s buddy only.
Until it’s not.
Taylor skillfully leads the characters through a heart wrenching and life changing event. The aftermath of which forces revelations of the past, old wounds come to light, and they journey back to Scotland where it all began for Danny , in his pack.
Lark creates a number of new and interesting characters to inhabit this new location in Scotland, and perhaps, one that will travel back to England to meet the rest of the paranormal group that resides there. Logan is an amazing shifter.
This ends one series but launches two more. One about the Seraphim and one about the wolf shifter we met in the book.
There was an absolutely wonderful epilogue that I hope gets a follow up in some way to let us see what happened next. With everyone.
Put this series on your list, including the finale. But read them in the order they are written.
Two commitment-phobes. One ridiculous plan. A decision that changes everything…
Riley
If a no-strings hookup is required, then I’m the perfect guy.
When I meet Danny, I can’t believe my luck. A sexy wolf shifter who’s also a fireman? Who runs from relationships just as fast as I do? Sign me up.
The night that follows is one for the history books, and the best part? Neither of us is looking for a repeat.
That doesn’t mean we don’t see each other again. Without even realising it, we become friends. Friends who do everything together.
Everything with Danny is perfect, but when I start to yearn for more from my hookups, I know something needs to change.
So I come up with a plan. A genius plan. I sign up for an app that arranges anonymous encounters. No names. No faces shown.
No danger of pesky feelings getting involved.
What could possibly go wrong?
Danny
Unlike Riley, my desire to avoid a relationship has nothing to do with commitment issues.
Taking a mate would mean returning to the clan who betrayed me. I’d have to leave behind this life I’ve built, a life I’m very happy with. One where Riley occupies most of my free time.
Everything is going swimmingly until Riley tells me his plan. His genius plan, he calls it. He can’t see it for what it is—an idiotic idea that’ll land him in danger.
I can’t let him go through with it. My wolf won’t allow it. Problem is, Riley’s as stubborn as they come. Once he’s decided on something, there’s no changing his mind.
Not wanting him in danger, I realise there’s only one thing I can do. One thing that’ll keep Riley happy while also keeping him safe.
I can be his anonymous hookup.
It’s idiot-proof. At least, it would be, if I wasn’t an idiot.
Turns out Riley isn’t the only one who should be scared of hooking up and realising you want more.
Humility is the thrilling fourth instalment in the Damned Connections series and can be read as a standalone. Featuring a wolf shifter x human pairing, this spicy MM PNR romance will make you laugh and cry. Each book follows a different couple with a guaranteed HEA.
Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand has a lot of good elements going for it. Multiple storylines, a universe that includes at least three highly diverse realms (demon, Fae, and human) with a variety of different, interesting characters that thread in and out of the plot lines.
The main storyline that’s centered around the enslaved Fae, Lark, and the crossroads demon, Pike, has enough to it with the characters back stories and current plight, that it should have been more detailed and the entire focus of this book. Plus the coin as well. That’s a major part of their story.
What is nice is Lark and Pike, along with the hellhound, together. They are both very different yet sweet characters. Lark’s background is a bit better defined than Pike’s but the story behind his capture still feels lacking, as though a villainous act was committed. By maybe that fae Prince who popped up to say he wasn’t bad anymore and disappeared. A absolutely strange thread and dismissible character. But one which the author made a point about several times during the book.
So many aspects to the story like this. Odd decisions that come out of the narrative void and leaves the reader wondering. Like the huge one towards the end with Drake. That’s a major question for me. But it speaks to the overall issue here.
That Lysand has a larger overall expansive character cast and narrative in mind that effectively makes this story come off as less developed and finished. You can tell which elements and characters have been highlighted by the author for new stories or additional roles in books (in multi-author series) to come. So while their roles here in scenes are as important secondary characters , what happens to each of them is incomplete or left unresolved.
Wren isn’t mentioned but demons Wick, Van, and the interspecies human town of Hex, Indiana, get upcoming stories in two completely different series (see below).
There’s enough loose ends or unresolved issues here that it leaves other aspects of Lark’s and Pike’s romantic relationship and journey just weirdly disjointed in many sections.
So while I enjoyed it, I was equally occupied by thinking about all the things that felt underdeveloped and characters left behind.
The coin was a major part of the story. I appreciated this fact.
Cover art by Natasha Snow. I love the covers. Fabulous.
Fortune Favors the Fae – 15 books:
A Fae Coin Transported Me Into Another World and Now I’m the Gay Holy Maiden by AJ Sherwood #1❤️
The Wolf’s (Un)Lucky Fae by Michele Notaro #2 ❤️
Bound to the Wild Fae by Tavia Lark #3 June 13❤️
The Sorcerer’s Thief by Lee Colgin #4 ❤️🔷
The Fae Menagerie by Edie Montreaux #5
Never Darling by Sam Burns #6
Prince of Poison by Alice Winters #7 ❤️
Grave Misfortune by Nazri Noor #8 ❤️
Fae for Pay by Meaghan Maslow #9 – Aug 21,2024
Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand #10
Smoke and Mirrors by Kai Butler #11 – August 8, 2024
Siren in the Rain by Chloe Archer #12 – Aug 15,2024
I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem by Jocelynn Drake #13 – Aug 22,2024
A Fae Called Wylder by Michelle Frost #14 – Aug 29,2024
Lucky or Knot by Eliot Grayson #15 – September 5,2024
Lark has the worst luck. After stumbling through a thin spot in the veil between realms, he’s been stuck in the human world for a decade and forced to perform parlor tricks for the witch that captured him. Luckily, the witch’s power wanes and Lark hopes to run for his freedom during the next full moon. But he needs help. What could it hurt to summon a crossroad demon to get him back home to the Faelands?
When Pike gets summoned for the first time in decades, he’s sure it’s for something ridiculous. Humans never think of consequences. However, the moment he lays eyes on the pretty Fae, he’s determined to help the ethereal one, no matter the cost, even if it’s his own heart.
Kisses at the Crossroads is a part of the multi-author series, Fortune Favors the Fae. From spicy to sweet, zany romps to epic adventures, there’s something for everyone in this mystical series. Discover destiny and true love and follow the coin on its fickle journey to the next world and a new magical adventure.
Publication date: August 4, 2024
Language: English
Print length: 157 pages
🔹The Nephilim’s Touch (Van’s story and the location of Hex,Indiana
Covington Acre is another low-angst, sweet contemporary romance in Riley Hart’s Briar County series. Located in Hart’s beautifully realized town of Harmony in Briar County , North Carolina. In this series, the author has written about the Covington family, their children and partners, their own children, as well as the extended family and towns members of Harmony to the point everyone within these stories had become familiar and real.
Covington Acres charts the romantic journey of two different men, each of whom the readers have met through previous books.
One is Vincent O’Brien, mid 40’s, former boyfriend of Holden, now best friend, who has moved to Harmony. Vince works on the Covington farms and lives with Colby Covington, a man who secretly believes himself broken.
Colby thinks that because all his romantic relationships have been unsuccessful he’s unable to find and fall in love. He’s frustrated with his life and can’t figure out why.
For both men, it’s their deep friendship and feelings about each other that’s one of the most powerful and satisfying things about their lives.
Covington Acres is a warm-hearted, sweet, friends to lovers romance. These two make perfect sense, have great chemistry, and it’s a slow realization that brings together past histories, a new awareness of demisexuality, and acceptance that allows them to grow together.
It culminates in the wedding of the original couple, Monroe “Roe” Covington and Holden Barnett. We see all the other couples, the teenagers, and family members who have been part of this series and multiple stories. This has all the feel of a series finale. If so, it’s a genuinely terrific one. In the same lovely, gentle tone as the town and its people .
If you love contemporary romance, check out this series and book. It’s a sweet, satisfying read.
Colby Covington has no clue if there’s anything in the world for him beyond Briar County. His family assumes he’ll do as they do: work Covington Acres, get married, have kids. Colby doesn’t want children, and seeing as he’s never felt even an inkling of romantic love for another person, he sure as hell isn’t interested in marriage.
In his mid-forties, Vincent O’Brien is starting over in the small town of Harmony. After being cheated on, again, he’s sworn off ever falling in love. As fate would have it, Vince needs a place to stay, and Colby has a spare room.
With an immediate connection that shakes up Colby’s sheltered world, neither man expects their friendship to blossom so fast…or for a semi-public hookup to make Colby realize he’s bi. Friends with benefits is perfect. It’s easy, it’s fun, they trust each other, and neither Vince nor Colby wants anything serious.
But the more their lives intertwine, the more Colby starts to feel something he’d thought himself incapable of. Something like love, with Vince…the man who will never feel—or want—the same.
Covington Acres is a small-town, bisexual/demiromantic awakening, friends-with-benefits romance with mature characters, home-brewed beer, and secret kisses.
The Turning of the Tables by KM Avery begins Seth Mays connecting trilogy of the Beyond the Veil series, a journey that’s got a perspective on the Arcanavirus we’ve not seen before.
KM Avery ‘s Beyond the Veil universe is a dark, highly complex world. It’s steeped in harsh human fears against those who are different, a divergence that has resulted from the Arcanavirus that’s wiped out a portion of the world’s population, the remaining population that has been exposed and is affected can change in otherworldly ways. Maybe they can hear the dead or maybe they’re a vampire.
In its wake , the world and society roils with bigotry, specism, racism, an increasingly amount of hatred based acts, as well as inflammatory politics that seem so dangerous and familiar these days. Read the author’s Notes on the universe information and trigger warnings before the book begins.
More so than any other books, except for Ward’s, Seth’s story , his beginning, has really moved me. Avery manages to so realistically, and with devastating exquisite clarity, covey a portrait of this gentle, sweet man coming physically, mentally, and emotionally apart in every aspect of his life. Just when he thought he had reached a good and satisfying point about his career, friends and family.
The pain is so intense as Avery does a deep emotional dive into the internal life of Seth Mays . Its from Seth’s point of view that we see his life , the events, the unthinkable aftermath, alongside a complicated, horrifying investigation, and the introduction of Elliot Crane, badger shifter, best friend of Hart, into Seth’s world.
Elliot arrives to craft a summoning table for Ward and an intense relationship is struck up between Seth and Elliot. One that is notably temporary due to their differences in locations and current circumstances, but that’s not how this works.
We know Elliot from Val’s books but we get a deeper understanding of him here even without reading his POV. Avery gives the reader a perfect window into this character, an insight into how the relationship between them is effectively changing him too. And it’s done, part way, through a series of texts. Some sent casually, others during the worst moments of Seth’s life.
The Turning of the Tables (Beyond the Veil Book 7) by KM Avery brilliantly follows Seth as through a journey so moving and engaging that often times, I found myself having to pause in my reading because I was so wrapped up in Seth’s story that I needed a moment to reflect.
Here a life is changed so profoundly it’s shattering, both for the character and for the reader.
The ending? Exactly what it should be. Hopeful. And now I’m exhausted but ready for the next book and step forward for Seth . That’s The Badger in his Burrow, no release date yet.
If you haven’t read this series yet, start reading it. It’s a must read in its entirety. Read them in order to understand the characters, their stories and relationships, the evolution of this world in terms of politics and magic. It’s complex, highly addictive, ingenious, and often dark as well as beautifully written.
I try to be an easygoing kind of guy, but sometimes things happen that really throw you for a loop. It turns out that meeting a certain badger shifter is one of those things.
I’d agreed to pick him up at the airport to help out a friend, and I had no idea what I’d gotten myself into. I figured I’d pick him up, drop him off at his hotel, and that would be that. Instead, I can’t stop thinking about him—and it doesn’t help that he keeps texting me, asking for my help.
The other problem is… he lives a thousand miles away and is only going to be here for a few weeks. Except that it hasn’t taken long for me to fall hard for those hazel eyes and white-streaked hair. To say nothing of the callouses on those strong hands.
I should be paying attention to work—to the killer using the Arcanavirus as a murder weapon—but I keep getting distracted by thoughts of Elliot Crane. Hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt.
Who am I kidding? Everything comes back to bite me in the butt. And not in a fun kind of way, either.
Static/Cling by Jaime Samms is another in the Subpar Heroes multi-author series about a group of people who have specific abilities that have been deemed just not “super” enough for high level status. They’re subpar heroes or heroes whose abilities are diminished in some respects.
Samms story involves a group of characters, first a pair of friends/lovers that eventually ends up as a triad when they find the third that completes them. Along the way, a team of like minded and powered characters is formed, there’s a scary mission to undertake, and an evil villain to be foiled.
Static/Cling has terrific characters, interesting storylines, and the potential for additional novels, packed as it is with loose ends and underdeveloped plot lines and character elements.
I really enjoyed it.
Characters like Bjorn Bielke, “electricity runs through my body” and Leif, his best friend/lover and personal current discharge unit, who end up working for SPAM (the superhero agency) where all the rest of their future team is working, are great in their respective roles. Also fascinating, if not equally well developed, is Kassian, IT SPAM specialist, but he’s more. What exactly is not delved into.
The developing Bjorn/Leif/Kassian romance is interesting in how the author pulls it off and it makes sense for all the people involved. This could have taken up more of the plot, especially since Leif and Kassian each need more narrative development than is given towards the end.
Sal, Robert (two more intriguing members of this found family) as well as actual family members, contribute to a action packed, emotionally driven story.
Only the fact that Samms had left unexplored or unresolved some major plot lines at the end of the story did I feel unsatisfied with the finish and HFN given to the characters.
Perhaps, like other writers, Samms intends to revisit this universe. At any rate, if you are enjoying the series and are a fan of the author, I recommend reading Static/Cling (Subpar Heroes story) by Jaime Samms. It’s very entertaining.
Subpar Heroes series- 15 books:
🔷The Accidental Necromancer by Liv Rancourt
🔷Behind the 8-Ball by A. E. Wasp
🔷Transparent Is a Color by Kaje Harper❤️
🔷Impossible Things by Alexa Land
🔷My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple ❤️❤️
🔷An Ex-Hero’s Guide to Axe Handling by Jenn Burke ❤️❤️
🔷In The Nick of Time by Elle Keaton
🔷Static/Cling by Jaimie Samms
🔷Spiritual Guidance Not Required by Jacy Braegan 8/1/2024
Best friends Bjorn and Leif help each other out. Whether it’s blowing off some steam in bed (as friends do), or helping each other find a new job, they’ve always been there for eachother. So when Leif points out an ad for a janitor team at SPAM it’s a perfect fit.
Bjorn will be able to work where his strange ability to gather static electricity won’t be a problem, and Leif will still be by his side to make sure nothing bad happens.
Turns out, Bjorn should have read the fine print.
Working at SPAM is like no other job they’ve ever had, and then there is Kassian. Tacitern. Unfriendly. Half computer geek, half muscle-head, he’s way more appealing than he has any right to be, and maybe the spark between them they’ve often looked for but never found.
But Kassian the computer geek is clear. He doesn’t need any more friends, and he doesn’t need a lover, never mind two. Kassian the muscle head has a different take on the idea.
When they have to track down a missing computer file and stop a madman from ruining the lives of everyone at SPAM, it’ll take the whole team, a multi-layered plan, and no small amount of luck to succeed.
It will also take the three of them combining their skills to stay alive and save, not just the day, but each other.
Static/Cling is a part of the multi-author Subpar Superheroes MM romance series.
The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt was such a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed much of the story and characters, including how Rancourt wove the Carnival of Mysteries into this tale, making it an important part of Micah Jenkins journey to redemption.
Micah, how his relationship with Anders Montgomery developed amid his journey to redemption and finding home, that entire storyline , is the best part about this book. It starts with the characters.
Corbin Blande aka Micah Jenkins is terrific, a wounded being with a great back story. He’s a polymorphic being, a therianthrope, someone who could shift into any form, human or animal. A almost mythic creature who fell into the wrong hands and did terrible things to protect people he loves.
Then there’s Anders Montgomery, a beta werewolf, one of 5 children.The pack is renting the Hidden Glen Resort for a younger sister’s first shift. But it’s never that simple. Again, a great story and character set within a pack and family that cries out for further development.
Part of the main narrative includes Micah’s daughter, who because of the danger involved, doesn’t know him, and a demon that has him trapped by promises and threats. All fascinating stuff and all underdeveloped here.
The decision why is because the author decides to mash up The Carnival of Mysteries series story , and make it a sequel to her book, The Accidental Necromancer from the Subpar Heroes superhero series from a completely different universe and multi-author collection. So now SPAM and superheroes has entered the story and things go completely off the rails, narratively speaking.
Once Livcourt makes the decision to smash (not integrate) one storyline universe into another, it drastically changes tone and direction. An entirely new crew of characters, new locations and the superhero governing agency, SPAM, is the dominant force, leaving the pack and other elements pushed aside.
In fact, instead of exploring Micah’s unique natural history and having him make restitution for his actions in other ways, Livcourt brings in SPAM, takes over the story, hobbling the previous narrative, and making the Subpar Heroes the universe that’s dominating this book.
If a reader isn’t familiar with these series, especially the Subpar Heroes, or a reader of this author’s books, they will find themselves lost in the muddled world that this story has become at the end. Yes, there’s a HFN and a note from Livcourt she intends to continue on with additional stories in this universe. Which one? The subpar heroes is my guess but I’m not sure.
I liked The Villain Who Wasn’t (Carnival of Mysteries 2) by Liv Rancourt because of Micah, Anders, their relationship, and the manner in which the story began. Plus the Carnival of Mysteries was an important part of their journey. But the rest of the book was a mashup that felt forced and confusing. That was mostly the second part of this book.
Read it if you’re a fan of the author.
Again, terrific covers.
Carnival of Mysteries 2 -2024
🔹Rook’s Time by Kim Fielding (sequel to Crow’s Fate-2023)
🔹The Wrong Familiar by Megan Derr✅
🔹The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt ** notes (sequel to other stories/series)
🔹Blue Lightning by BL Maxwell
🔹Magic Escaping by Kaje Harper (sequel to Magic Burning 2023)
🔹Lighting the Darkness by Eden Winters – Aug 14,2024
🔹You Can Save Me by R L Merrill-Aug 21,2024
🔹Airs Above the Ground by Rachel Langella-Sept 10,2024
🔹Go for the Climate by Ander C. Lark
🔹 Flames of the Arcane by Nicole Dennis
🔹Midnight on the Midway by Morgan Brice
🔹Dust Bowl Magic by Zam Maxfield 🔹Dragonspark by Elizabeth Silver
Micah is not a nice guy. He can shift into anything with a pulse, a rare talent that caught a demon’s eye. Threatening Micah’s weak spot – his baby daughter – that demon gave Micah seven tasks, each one shittier than the last. It’s taken him almost five years, but now that he’s done, Micah can become a better man.
And he will, as soon as he figures out how.
Anders is a werewolf with a plan. When the time is right, he’ll take over his uncle’s contracting company and later become Alpha of the pack. He never intended to take a mate, even one as hot as Micah.
Who’s not a werewolf and might not be quite trustworthy.
A visit to a mysterious carnival shows Micah what it will take to be the kind of mate Anders deserves. Things get complicated, though, because while Micah thinks he’s done with the demon, the demon’s not done with him.
As Anders comes to terms with the Universe changing his plans, Micah struggles to be a worthy mate. Despite the growing strength of their bond, they need to send a certain demon back to hell, or they’ll never be able to build their future together.
• Publisher: Rancourt Publishing (July 24, 2024)
• Publication date: July 24, 2024
• Language: English
• Print length: 234 pages
Carnival of Mysteries series. 2023 and 2024:
✓ Crow’s Fate by Kim Fielding❤️
✓ Step Right Up by L.A. Witt
✓ Magic Burning by Kaje Harper ❤️
✓ Night-blooming Hearts by Megan Derr
✓ Go For The Company by Ander C. Lark❤️
✓ Roustabout by Morgan Brice❤️
✓ Assassin by Accident by E.J. Russell❤️
✓ Dryad on Fire by Nicole Dennis ❤️
✓ The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray by Kayleigh Sky
✓ Smoke and Mirrors by Elizabeth Silver
✓ You Can Do Magic by R.L. Merrill
✓ Sting in the Tail by TA Moore
✓ Gods and Monsters by Rachel Langella
✓ The Black Robes of Flanders by Sara Ellis
Carnival of Mysteries 2 -2024
🔹Rook’s Time by Kim Fielding (sequel to Crow’s Fate-2023)
🔹The Wrong Familiar by Megan Derr
🔹The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt
🔹Blue Lightning by BL Maxwell
🔹Magic Escaping by Kaje Harper (sequel to Magic Burning 2023)
🔹Lighting the Darkness by Eden Winters – Aug 14,2024
🔹You Can Save Me by R L Merrill-Aug 21,2024
🔹Airs Above the Ground by Rachel Langella-Sept 10,2024
🔹Go for the Climate by Ander C.Lark
🔹Flames of the Arcane by Nicole Dennis
🔹Midnight on the Midway by Morgan Brice
🔹Dust Bowl Magic by Zam Maxfield 🔹Dragonspark by Elizabeth Silver
Sam Burns is such an amazing prolific fantasy writer that I’m reading several new series from her while discovering ones from her backlist I’ve not yet started. And yet here’s another fabulous book that welcomes in a new incredible universe full of political intrigue, four magical ruling families, and a crisis that’s falling upon the land.
I’m so in.
And immediately invested as the entire book and multiple storylines plays out during a politically charged, emotional, and often potentially violent meeting between the heads or representatives of each ruling family.
Each story is about a different family. Burns starts with the family or what’s left of the Gloombringer family. That’s aging, cold, often nasty Oberon and his wounded younger sister Titania in their ancient large household. While we are deeply involved with this duo, their history, and their tangled relationships with the rest of the other rulers, it’s Adair Courtwright, and Rain Moonstriker that’s the central pairing here.
Adair Courtwright who’s powerfully talented in his ability to see life connections, bonded to moon tear Rhodri, and through his family legacy, is in service, as was his father, to Oberon Gloombringer. And Rain Moonstriker, who has shown up at the four-ruling family summit as the Moonstriker representative, bringing his own team and plenty of his mother’s agendas and secrets.
The Moonstriker family is large in size, intellectual in temperament, isolated and held in somewhat fearsome regard, mostly due to Rain’s mother and uncle’s power. Burns gives the reader several intriguing glimpses into a couple of Rain’s siblings, which only makes us want more of each of them. Rain is well developed individual assisted by his own bonded stones. His romantic relationship with Adair is one that needs to be understood by reading it as it’s layered with Adair’s personal story. It absolutely works, and they are assisted by those around them.
An occurrence that happens again and again as other different people appear during this meeting, as family members or employees. Each one is so well defined, uniquely themselves with a backstory that cries out for greater exploration, that this novel alone would weigh a ton would that happen.
I honestly forgot about the timeline here, as I was so caught up in the various drama plots, the romance between Adair and Rain, and the fact that this summit is headed for disaster with no stopping it. Just fabulous.
So many creative moments and imaginative elements that Burns has written into her story and universe. It just captures the reader’s attention and own imagination too. One of my favorites?
Burns has also created sentient stone, crystals of various ages, that bond with humans, gifting them with various forms of abilities depending upon the type and nature of each stone. This is a devastating aspect of the world, because it both has the capacity to elevate or subordinate a person’s status, especially as they have no choice over what stone bonds with them. They are simply great characters themselves, and I can’t wait for the author to explore this further.
I can’t wait for Dawnchaser to be released. I need to know what happens next! This is a must read, especially for lovers of fantasy fiction.
For decades, the four families who rule the Summerlands have been locked at an impasse. No one is fighting, but neither has anyone been speaking.
We don’t have time for that anymore.
Mount Slate, the volcano that sits in the middle of the Summerlands, is threatening to erupt, and only the four family heads working together can avert disaster.
As the right-hand man of the Gloombringer, it’s been up to me to convince first my boss, and now the rest to put aside their differences and work together for the good of the world. The problem is that not everyone is all that interested in the good of the world—not unless they get something out of it. Even worse, I now find myself distracted by the Moonstriker’s envoy, Rain. He’s intelligent and handsome and for the first time in my life, I’m struggling to focus on work. But I have to.
It’s up to us to save the world.
If we can.
Gloombringer is the first of four books in The Summertide Chronicles, featuring one right hand man trying to save the world, one future family head trying to seduce him, one woman badly in need of another drink, and a plethora of people trying to keep them from their goals. It ends with Rain and Adair’s HFN, but also contains an overarching storyline that will follow the entire series.
“What happens when a group of forty-something first responders come together to support their recently widowed best friend? The result is the MOUNT HOPE series”
That’s the overall theme for the stories grouped under this Mount Hope series and it’s an emotional, heartwarming concept. It hits home on so many levels, especially when Albert adds in her own familiar, well written elements. Readers of her many series aren’t surprised by returning military or veterans characters that carry their own issues, foster care children with special histories, or just threads that are layered with mental health, commitment issues and recognition of bi-sexuality. In other words, a lot of subjects areas are part of character’s development and histories.
Albert writes all that with amazing sensitivity and awareness. Especially veterans who have served overseas and returned home with internalized trauma, PTSD, or other mental health issues.
In Off the Clock, the veteran is freshly retired Army Ranger Tony Capo, 42, recovering from his injuries, returning home to Mount Hope to figure out his next step forward. In his case, he’s opted to hire on as a firefighter for the Mount Hope Fire Department. It’s a job he has wanted since he was a child and where he has old friends. But he’s also starting over as a much older man with younger colleagues, with all that encompasses mentally and emotionally.
One of those is Caleb, a young firefighter who appeared in the first book. Congenial, somewhat clumsy, he’s recently been named guardian of his troubled teenage brother. That brother has brought him an entire set of new issues to face as well as the new hire, Tony, he’s training.
Albert’s book is an age gap, mental health, multiple issues storyline. There’s much I admire about this book. It’s begins with the characters. Each are well written, beautifully defined, by their respective histories, their life experiences, and their personalities. They are believable and flawed.
The relationship dynamics between Tony and Caleb are among my favorite and least favorite things about the story. Their ability to communicate about each other’s feelings, their experiences with emotionally charged situations that have left each traumatized, whether it’s fires, missions, or childhood damage brought about by parental loss. Loss by death in Caleb’s family or in Tony’s case by his parents drug addiction and abandonment. As Albert powerfully describes it, “matching wounded kid emotions “ bonds them but is also keeping them from being together.
Tony and Caleb’s friendship and the surrounding support from friends and community is the best part about the narrative for me. My issues are with the romance. That part where Albert has two grown men hiding a sexual/romantic connection (one the town easily guesses at and is gossiping about) but that causes Caleb great emotional distress. Tony’s fears about being openly bisexual which directly pushes any relationship between them back into the closet does harm in multiple ways. Yes, the author repairs this to a degree when Tony works through his own personal issues, but it’s striking that even when they are in a committed relationship, it’s Caleb who has insecurities about where he stands with Tony. That shows an inequality that should have been understood by Tony given their backgrounds.
It’s a miss by the author and an unsatisfactory note for the romance and storyline.
The next novel in this series is yet another age gap, mental health issues storyline and I wish that Albert had used the promise found in the series arc to at least give us some more depth and variety among this interesting group of older men. A romantic story between men of the same age would be a great addition.
Off the Clock (Mount Hope Book 2) by Annabeth Albert is a good book, a nice addition to the series with some heartfelt moments and lovely characters.
Starting over after retiring as an Army Ranger shouldn’t be this hard…
For twenty years, I traveled the world as a special operations warrior. Newly retired at forty-two, I’m back in my hometown of Mount Hope, pursuing a second career as a small-town firefighter. My meddling sisters and best friends all have opinions about my life, but the only person who seems to truly understand me is Caleb, the younger firefighter tasked with my training.
After a lifetime of denying my attraction to other men, Caleb reminds me of everything I’ve missed out on. I’ve never even kissed a guy.
Until now.
Until Caleb.
Until I push our growing friendship to the next level. While sneaking around like a pair of teens, trying not to get caught by our coworkers, friends, and family, our sexy connection leads us to some…interesting places.
And it turns out that I like taking risks. I’ve never wanted a relationship, and neither of us should be fooling around with a coworker, but we keep courting danger.
The more time I spend with Caleb off and on the clock, the more I like him and the less certain I am about everything else in my life. The one thing I know for sure is that I can’t afford to lose this intense bond we share. Can we find our way from super secret to super real before the clock runs down on this fling?
OFF THE CLOCK features two coworkers with an age gap finding out that opposites really do attract and that first impressions aren’t always accurate. All the big emotions, small-town feels, and hot romance readers expect from this acclaimed author. While certain subplot threads continue throughout the series, each guaranteed happily ever after stands alone!
