Pet Delivery is another tale from Ofelia Grand that showcases her ability to create and deliver characters and relationships a reader can connect with in a short story.
Her characters are usually outside of the main character format and often have body types that are also very relatable and realistic.
If there’s an issue, it’s that the story length doesn’t leave time for full development or attention to the characters resolving any drama that’s been introduced.
Both of that happens here but the characters are so engaging that the issues surrounding them with the plot (holes, etc) sort of but not completely make up for that.
There’s Gabriel Miller, recently a witness to a murder and now stashed by the cops in a freezing cold cabin in a small town where he is a stranger. Gabe is frightened, missing his cats and sister. He’s so scared and we connect to him immediately, no matter his actions.
Then there’s Chris Hart, whose family owns the cabin and comes to the rescue. Small town is written all over Chris but in the best of small town ways.
Grand’s writing lets us watch them connect and interact with each other over the situation and bond with each other as they grow together.
It’s a lovely story, plus cats and a sister we don’t see enough of.
Pet Delivery needs fleshing out, more development and details to really work and feel satisfying but the heart is there.
Chris Hart owns the only grocery shop in Nortown, but he isn’t exactly overrun by customers. Some days he wonders why he bothers to open the doors at all. Spending his days smiling at the few people trickling in and his nights alone in bed isn’t the most interesting life a man could lead. But when Chris suddenly gets the excitement he’s been craving, it may be more than he bargained for.
Gabriel Miller loves his life. He’s close to his sister, has a job he adores and is the proud owner of one and a half cats. But all of it is taken away when he witnesses a murder. To keep him safe, the police place him in Nortown, of all possible locations.
Chris can’t believe they’re letting someone live in his gran’s old cabin in the middle of the winter. It’s too cold. When the poor man shows up in his shop looking to buy clothes, Chris’s heart melts, despite the freezing temperature. Gabriel notices the way the shopkeeper looks at him, but it can’t be right. No one looks at a heavyset man with heat in their eyes. Do they?
Up All Night begins a new series called Mount Hope by Annabeth Albert about a small town near Portland, Oregon and a close knit group of longtime friends who have recently come back together.
Up All Night is described as a low-angst, small town romance, and it does work on that level. The small town community is nicely represented, especially through the diner’s various clientele and hospital staff.
I like the newly divorced older former fire captain, Sean Murphy, that Albert has created as a main character. He’s a very familiar figure, the sort of guy who’s recognizable around in a community. The divorced dad of now adult offspring, who is trying to make his way into a future he didn’t expect and isn’t ready for. He’s returning home to help out a recently widowed friend and father deal with the aftermath of his husband’s death. That’s a wonderfully sweet, compelling storyline.
Everything about Sean feels very real. Except for the fact that his wife, a scientist, late in their marriage, both discovers she’s asexual, and, also has a shot at a dream job in Antartica. So she ends the marriage, making Sean give up his dream of his job, sell his beloved Craftsman home, and leave the area. That’s a lot. All that fallout from the divorce and he’s not mad or even mildly irritated. He’s sad and confused. That feels like a problem.
That’s just one of the issues I’m having with the story and characters here. It’s that Albert can’t stop with the complications and drama but the story itself is supposed to be low angst and sort of low drama, sweet small town romance. The author’s words.
It’s pulls in separate directions narratively because of the consistent heavy loads the author writes onto her characters and plots. This makes several of the storylines feel under explored and understandably cut short in important elements. Not just in certain aspects of Sean’s personality.
There’s considerably more along these exact same lines.
Denver Rucker, the ex foster kid with huge abandonment issues, who is now one of the short order cooks at Honey’s Hotcake Hut. He’s the other main character and his problems with commitment run deep. There’s a small Dom/sub element here within the developing relationship between Denver and Sean’s as Sean enjoys exploring his sexuality as a gay man for the first time.
Yes, it’s also a sexual coming out, first times, sexual experience storyline. So much is packed into this book.
Foster care, foster children, giving children up for adoption, all those delicate topics are major themes here. The well defined family of their widower friend,Eric, all his four children (each one with their own well defined personality from jock to “neurospicy”) came from the foster care system. But that’s not gone into detail here.
Then there is Denver himself, whose background is painful and left him emotionally vulnerable. And there is another , lesser established thread of substance abuse, that flows through several characters as too. Sometimes it’s just a sentence about no longer using/drinking something.
But again, in a low angst story, to introduce such emotional, and potentially triggering topics in a way that’s underwhelming or not thoroughly explored, doesn’t make sense. For me as a reader, either commit fully to a more complex story and well developed narrative. Or realize that, for a contemporary low angst, low drama romance, a little less complexity/issues in the characters history and relationships journey is just fine.
I like many aspects of the story, like the characters and relationships , whether it’s romantic or the friendship between the group of men. But for each of the pluses, I get a scene that will raise a question about the character or a relationship. Such as a feeling of homophobia that comes from Sean’s son but left unanswered.
Or, smh, that Albert has the younger offspring Wren, in the story, find and put a turtle in a small tank for observation purposes, possibly adding another. That’s my button being pushed.
If you can’t write animals in a manner that is satisfying (continuity in letting main animal characters exist right up to the end of the story) or in a way that’s realistic and respectful, please don’t. It might be a small thing, but reptiles ,especially native turtles, are increasingly endangered and it’s discouraged to take them for pets or any reason. PSA over
Up All Night (Mount Hope Book 1) by Annabeth Albert was on some levels, a nice romantic story, a good start on a new series . In the other hand, it was overpacked with too many sensitive issues, potentially triggering themes and emotionally charged scenes that were, imo, not fully explored or developed for this book and it’s overall low angst storyline.
Read it because you are a fan of the author, love a new series by, or any of the many themes here.
I had a stable life as a fire captain in Seattle, married to one of my best friends and raising two awesome kids. Now, my kids are grown, and my marriage is toast. I’m solidly past forty and back in my tiny hometown of Mount Hope, Oregon, filling in as a firefighter. My future is one big question mark keeping me up at night.
Also keeping me up? The short-order cook at Honey’s Hotcake Hut.
Denver might be close to my age, but we’re total opposites. The former rock roadie runs from stability, never puts down roots, and lives for the moment. Point in case, we barely speak before he invites me into his shower.
I’ve never been with a man, but my fresh start has me trying all sorts of new things—including Denver’s shower.
Our future? Hopeless.
Denver doesn’t do repeats, but I convince him to have a fling since we’re both in Mount Hope short-term. The more time we spend together, the deeper our friendship and bond grows. Our time together outside of the bedroom, reveals a caring side to the grumpy cook. Even better, my sunshine-y optimism softens him like butter.
Should a fling give me these deep feelings? Nope.
Worse, the feelings are mutual. Big decisions loom for both our futures, and our time together grows short. I might have Denver’s heart, but his trust is far harder to win. He’s the answer to all my question marks, and I need him to believe in us. Can I convince him to give our love a chance?
UP ALL NIGHT features a grumpy/sunshine pairing for a forty-something firefighter on a path of self-discovery with an UP ALL NIGHT short-order cook. It contains loads of first-time feels with sexual awakening and exploration with a heaping helping of personal growth and deep connection for this opposites-attract couple.
I can’t imagine when a new author made me laugh so hard as does Isabel Murray in her Gary of a Hundred Days, the first in The Unwanted King series.
Gary, that naive, gentle, innocent , sweet man who’s awkwardly stumbled through his entire life as the youngest son of a short lived, short reigning, somewhat nasty, royal family.
Now, as the last of his line, however, unprepared and unwilling Gary may be, he’s been dragged out of the family country seat, and into the shadowy political world of being a puppet King.
And that is where this all too human, beautifully written, hilariously memorable story is launched. With Gary in trouble, scrambling, in dire straits, and soon on his way to a new beginning.
We will meet mysterious Magnus, the stable master, who has been a quiet bulwark for Gary at his previous county residence, and get subtle details about exactly how rough Gary’s relationship to his family actually was, including an alluded to abusive adolescence .
But Gary himself comes through as a person one just adores.
Murray’s creation of Gary is so fully inspired, so multi dimensional, that he feels real in a fantasy setting. He’s funny and painfully naive. And when, in two scenes, he utters a three word sentence! It’s both hilarious, perfectly executed, and startling.
And I’ve actually been chortling over that scene several times now since I finished the book. Perfection!
There is such a great feeling here about the characters and the narrative choices made as they journey through the kingdom. We get to know each of them as they’re revealing how much they have always known about each other.
And that ending! Be still my heart!
And now I get the absolute joy of seeing what happens next. I’m heading the next book in the series.
But Gary of a Hundred Days: MM Fantasy Romance (The Unwanted King Book 1) by Isabel Murray is an amazing read and one I’m highly recommending.
The Kingdom of Estla is in turmoil. Power plays, intrigue, and plots seethe in the corridors of power. And Gary of a Hundred Days, Last of the Tyrant Kings is…well, he’s pretty offended, actually?
Tyrant?
Seriously? Who is making this up?
Gary said no thanks, don’t want to be king, and they dragged him away from all he’s ever known and stuck a stupid crown on his head anyway.
As far as Gary’s concerned, all that political intrigue can go ahead and keep seething without him. He didn’t know or care a thing about it when he was the unwanted son of a backwater lord. He definitely doesn’t care about it now they tried to kill him and he’s on the run.
Minor problem: he managed to escape, but he’s all out of ideas. It’s dark, it’s raining, he’s in the middle of nowhere, and there might be bears. In fact, he’s pretty sure one is following him.
Luckily for Gary (it’s about time he had some good luck) his ex-stable master tracks him down, and it turns out that Magnus has more than a few interesting ideas about Gary and his future.
More specifically, about their future.
Gary of a Hundred Days is a low-angst fantasy romantic comedy in which a sheltered ex-king undergoes quite the awakening at the hands of his rugged ex-stable master, and everyone’s way more interested in kissing and romance than in all that rightful heir to the throne business.
Somehow, despite an entire kingdom wishing him dead, it’s starting to look like Gary might just end up with a happily ever after?
Oracle is a book that most readers will bring a compendium of knowledge about the universe, characters, and the impending crisis that the main characters immediately face. That’s really necessary.
For Macy Blake has been building up to this book through multiple series and standalone novels in the Chosen One universe to culminate in the events that occur during this story.
The gods, the magical warfare, all the stolen children that were used as experiments, all the ongoing trauma and battles, along with the mate bonding. Its leads to Oracles’ story and the being tormenting those around him, the manticore. Plus the gentle bear shifter , Dr Ben Jerrick, who has come to love Koios and his family.
Blake has written a beautifully balanced, excellently crafted novel that keeps the main character of Koios aka Oracle, in the narrative spotlight while also being able to continue with the forward movement of the other important universal themes. That’s the mystery behind this corrupt manticore, its background and the dark magical schemes behind its heinous actions.
It takes many of the main characters from all the series, banding together, to investigate who the manticore is, and begin the counterattack against it. That’s a storyline that’s not only thrilling but compelling as we’re introduced to new characters and another enlargement/explanation for Koios’ damaged body and magic.
All the while, along side, Koios, is Dr Ben Jerrick, healing, listening, giving him the support he needs and quietly loving him. Ben has been a strong staple of this universe since he was first found by Sam as a frightened young bear cub trying to escape with his younger “siblings “ from the horrors they’d endured as experiments. We’ve watched Ben grow and develop into the wonderful, thoughtful being and doctor he is here. So it’s everything that it’s his story as well.
Blake pours her heart into her characters and her excellence into the plotting to bring them and all the many themes and threads together to a great completion that’s satisfying and emotionally rewarding and powerful.
It makes me want to go back to when Sam first finds this young frightened, hurt group of mixed young shifters and his world and theirs is forever changed. What a journey!
That’s Sweet Nothings in case you’ve forgotten. I’m heading back to it now.
In the meantime, I’m highly recommending Oracle: Chosen Champions Book Five by Macy Blake . It’s outstanding but read the entire series. There’s a reading list of the book titles and series order on her website. Also at the end of each book.
Koios, AKA the Oracle, is a man with a mission: hunt down and destroy the manticore who’s been tormenting his pack. There’s only one thing standing in his way…a giant, stubborn bear named Ben Jerrick.
While the author lists this as a standalone book, it’s not. It falls strongly before the last several books in a couple of the Chosen One series, specifically because Cosmo plays such an important role in the events that happen there and are referenced here.
And most significantly, I believe it exists as a huge part of the foundation knowledge needed for the finale book in the Chosen Champions series, one that feels like it ties up this universe. That would be Oracle, fifth book that brings everything and everyone together.
But first, back to this joyous journey of Cosmo back to his mate , King Silenus. Or perhaps more precisely, Silenus’ own development and path back into Cosmo’s life in the human realm. Their shaky reconnection, and the absolutely perfect courtship that follows.
Blake pulls in new characters and old friends to help them out and let them find their way back to each other, building new strength and confidence in their bond and ability to grow with each other.
I loved every second of the time I spent reading this romance. And it makes what’s coming even more precious and grounded.
Cosmo and the King by Macy Blake is an amazing story with fantastic characters. It’s a must read within an outstanding universe of series.
When Cosmo learns the faun king is in the human realm, he panics. See, Silenus happens to be his fiance… and he’s never told any of his friends in the human realm that he ran away on his wedding day, leaving his king at the alter.
Silenus made a deal with the devil–the queen of the fae–when he learned the human realm was going to be closed, keeping him separated from his mate and betrothed. He has to track down Cosmo and convince him that they are meant for each other, even though his stubborn fiance seems determined to challenge him at every turn.
Cosmo doesn’t know Silenus’s secret, though, and now the hunt is on. Silenus is facing a dark and dangerous path, and he wants nothing more than his consort at his side. He’ll follow his mate anywhere, even to the depths of the human realm, to prove to Cosmo they are meant to be together..
Now he only has to convince his stubborn mate to stop running…because no matter how long the chase lasts, Silenus will eventually catch him.
I love it when I hit a literary trifecta. A new author, new book, and a new series in one swoop. That’s what I’ve done with the wonderfully devilish romance, The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil: Diabolic Romance Book One by MN Bennet.
MN Bennet, an author new to me, weaves an imaginative story about an awkward young mage whose magnificent mind works much better than his ability to actually master any magical spells . Wally is instantly someone who a reader can relate to and invest in emotionally. He’s spends his days categorizing, cataloging, analyzing, and in some cases, working on the magical artifacts of an enormous collection of a University’s archives. A collection that happens to include an orb containing the Devil Beelzebub or Bez, who was captured by the mage who owns the archive.
Wally and Bez have an interesting history and the storyline that follows is a fast-paced, high action mystery that includes several plot twist and turns. What an absolute treasure!
It’s all enemies, then frenemies, and then as circumstances and personal revelations pull them closer, Wally and Bez become, realistically by this time, something much more.
The author does a great job in building the story and the characters relationship, giving them and us slow reveals about each other’s own journey to their current situations. Both get to show growth and continued depth of development in their respective personalities and their relationship.
It ends , as it should, in a HFN. There’s another story coming and I can’t wait.
I’m putting this out there as a definitive recommendation! It is a great ride!
Diabolic Romance:
✓ The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil #1
◦ The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon #2 – June 10,2024
Apprentice mage Wally spends his days cataloging rare artifacts and dreaming about finally mastering his magics and living the adventures he’s always desired. Bez, a once mighty devil who craves the freedom of the outside world again, despises his confinement inside a powerful object. His only company now comes from the mages working within the archives he’s stored. Among them, the most annoying of them all, an anxious and considerate Walter.
When the archive is attacked, Wally and Bez each seize the opportunity to achieve their dreams—and inadvertently create a magical link between them. With so many lives lost in this assault on the mage headquarters, Wally’s connection to a dangerous devil makes him a threat and a target, forcing the pair on the run. Wally sees Bez as a sadistic devil, and Bez finds every word out of the mage’s mouth grating. Even so, they’ll have to work together to unravel the true threat in the city or they won’t live long enough to enjoy the lives they’ve both desperately wanted.
As a long time fan of the novels of Georgette Heyer, I’ve loved to see the trope of regency romance given various interpretations by other writers, whether it’s keeping the stories within the same genre‘s era but in a LGBTQIA framework. Or, as Butler and a few others have , taken Regency Romance right into Space and beyond!
The Earl and the Executive is the first of three released Imperial Space Regency novels by Butler, a must read author for me. And I wasn’t aware that these books were available.
The story of Tiral Oican , newly poor, newly made heir to the family’s title, lands and much indebtedness, and his desperate attempt to save his family is a lovely classic Regency tale. It’s got all the expected appeal, twists, and elements we hope to see out of our Regency romances.
Tiral is a brilliant engineer who’s having to give up his career as a professional aeromech designer/engineer/professor at a university to become the head of his family, the Earl of Gret , albeit an extremely poor one once they discover the dead brother has mortgaged the estate to the hilt.
Like many a regency romance, Tiral finds there’s nought to do but offer yourself up to a rich family for marriage. Let the games begin!
Butler’s space tale plays by the rules of romance by bringing in a self made, handsome billionaire in disguise, Zev. Zev has a complex history and background. I wish he had been more fully explored than he came across. At least as far as family and the people around him. Tiral is a fully developed person and that extends to his family and friends.
Outside of the romance, the world building is fascinating in how Butler combines a variety of tropes , pulling together a diverse range of ideas and sciences to create the foundation this exists within.
There’s several types of investigations. Business, law enforcement, or just nosy! Butler has thrown in Steampunk inspired inventions, Regency dress (of course), as well as people with augmented features. And it all comes together smoothly.
Zev’s pursuit of Tiral towards the end was a bit frustrating but more in keeping with the tradition of this particular style of romance.
I absolutely enjoyed The Earl and the Executive: An Imperial Space Regency Novel by Kai Butler and am going through to the next in the series.
Tiral Oican has inherited his brother’s title, estate, and the tremendous debt his brother took out before his unexpected death. There is only one option to save the estate and all the people who are now depending on him: marry a rich heir who is willing to pay off the debt in exchange for Tiral’s title.
Now, scholarly Tiral must transform himself into a seductive fortune hunter. The only way he can see through the mess is by hiring a tutor in love. It’s too bad that Zev is so good at his job that Tiral is falling for him.
And a rich entrepreneur…
To protect his heart, Zev Laft has spent years fooling the ton into believing he’s no more than an entertaining flirtation. He just didn’t expect the ruse to work so well that the newest penniless earl to arrive on Lus for the season would assume him a demimonde and try to hire him to be his instructor in courtship.
Now one of richest men in the empire finds himself struggling to keep up the façade, when his own heart is being taken by a man he has no intention of marrying.
The Earl and the Executive is a slow burn stand alone 90,000 word MM Regency Romance Novel set in space with a HEA.
This is exactly the type of story and series I emotionally want as a reader. I absolutely wallow in it, appreciating what Jocelynn Drake is accomplishing narratively, while also still being totally immersed in the universe and the characters storylines as they are unfolding.
If I adored the first book, Two Thousand Dreams, then my deep love for this novel is for all the beautiful creativity and passion that Drake pours into this second story.
None of these are standalone novels, but intricate layered parts of an epic that’s yet to reach its climax. It’s pulling together characters from other series that form important political and mystical factions, while simultaneously creating new characters and expanding the existing world in ways we hadn’t anticipated.
It’s ancient China, the Fae, the current human world imperiled, witchcraft, necromancy, vampires and their mates . Even the Underworld and demons play an important role here. There’s skeletons on the march with varying eras making retain a piece of their long gone personality. Such an amazing foundation for the main storylines to be threaded into.
After Blood Witch Moon Mullins and 2000 year old Chinese vampire Chen and the rest of their clan of ancient Chinese vampires found the Gate the Fae were arriving through, they arrived early to rescue their family member, Yichen, who had been kidnapped 100 years earlier and disappeared into the Fae realm.
Here Yichen reappears with the Fae Prince Rei, in tow. Their 100 year old relationship clearly has been one of pain, trauma, and more brought on by the Fae King and Queen . What they’ve done and gone through is never explicitly stated but implied. But as they work together to keep themselves safe, understanding the new implications of their status, it’s the emotional state of their shaky bond that affects them and their family the most.
Imprisonment doesn’t allow for any thought beyond that of escaping. Then it’s one more goal. But Drake starts to allow the reality of their new safety to let other possibilities open up for them. It’s a story that pulls the reader into their dynamic and won’t turn us loose. Not even at the end.
Additionally, into this found family are so many fantastic characters. A Huli and its attachment to a member of the family. The other members that are extraordinary in their powers and personality.
Including the one that is the heart of the next book and the dramatic ending here. For while they have been successful in achieving their goals at the end another shattering climax awaits them .
I will undoubtedly read this again before the next book arrives. Just for the sheer pleasure and satisfaction I received from the author’s words.
I’m highly recommending this series and novels . Pls read them in the order they are written.
The Kings of Chaos :
✓ Two Thousand Dreams #1
✓ Two Thousand Tears #2
◦ Two Thousand Blades #3 – May 24,2024
The Kings of Chaos is the third series to the Lords of Discord and Princes of Mayhem series. See both below and the order to read them in.
Lords of Discord series:
✓ Claiming Marcus
◦ Saving Rafe
◦ Waking Bel
◦ Embracing Winter
◦ Healing Aiden
◦ Visiting the Variks: A Short Story Collection
Princes of Mayhem :
✓ How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Ruined Saved My Life Disaster #1:
He has escaped his imprisonment, but he’s still blood bound to the crown prince of the fae.
Oh gods, how is he going to explain that to his clan?
Finding a way to break the bond might not be too hard. Killing the king of the fae even seems possible.
But there’s no way he can let go of the elf who protected him, risked everything for him for a hundred years?
Rei is the breath in his lungs, the blood in his veins, and the beat of his heart. Somehow, he has to find a way to keep him.
An elf can fall in love with a vampire, right?
Two Thousand Tears is the second novel in the Kings of Chaos series, which is a spin-off from the Lords of Discord series. This book contains a somewhat broken vampire falling in love with an elf who should be his enemy but is actually his everything, shifters, meddling witches, other non-human surprises, snark, angst, car surfing, found family, brotherly bickering, magic, chaos, pouting, vampire cuddles, and an endless love that crosses lines drawn by war.
This is exactly the type of story and series I emotionally want as a reader. I absolutely wallow in it, appreciating what Jocelynn Drake is accomplishing narratively, while also still being totally immersed in the universe and the characters storylines as they are unfolding.
If I adored the first book, Two Thousand Dreams, then my deep love for this novel is for all the beautiful creativity and passion that Drake pours into this second story.
None of these are standalone novels, but intricate layered parts of an epic that’s yet to reach its climax. It’s pulling together characters from other series that form important political and mystical factions, while simultaneously creating new characters and expanding the existing world in ways we hadn’t anticipated.
It’s ancient China, the Fae, the current human world imperiled, witchcraft, necromancy, vampires and their mates . Even the Underworld and demons play an important role here. There’s skeletons on the march with varying eras making retain a piece of their long gone personality. Such an amazing foundation for the main storylines to be threaded into.
After Blood Witch Moon Mullins and 2000 year old Chinese vampire Chen and the rest of their clan of ancient Chinese vampires found the Gate the Fae were arriving through, they arrived early to rescue their family member, Yichen, who had been kidnapped 100 years earlier and disappeared into the Fae realm.
Here Yichen reappears with the Fae Prince Rei, in tow. Their 100 year old relationship clearly has been one of pain, trauma, and more brought on by the Fae King and Queen . What they’ve done and gone through is never explicitly stated but implied. But as they work together to keep themselves safe, understanding the new implications of their status, it’s the emotional state of their shaky bond that affects them and their family the most.
Imprisonment doesn’t allow for any thought beyond that of escaping. Then it’s one more goal. But Drake starts to allow the reality of their new safety to let other possibilities open up for them. It’s a story that pulls the reader into their dynamic and won’t turn us loose. Not even at the end.
Additionally, into this found family are so many fantastic characters. A Huli and its attachment to a member of the family. The other members that are extraordinary in their powers and personality.
Including the one that is the heart of the next book and the dramatic ending here. For while they have been successful in achieving their goals at the end another shattering climax awaits them .
I will undoubtedly read this again before the next book arrives. Just for the sheer pleasure and satisfaction I received from the author’s words.
I’m highly recommending this series and novels . Pls read them in the order they are written.
The Kings of Chaos :
✓ Two Thousand Dreams #1
✓ Two Thousand Tears #2
◦ Two Thousand Blades #3 – May 24,2024
The Kings of Chaos is the third series to the Lords of Discord and Princes of Mayhem series. See both below and the order to read them in.
Lords of Discord series:
✓ Claiming Marcus
◦ Saving Rafe
◦ Waking Bel
◦ Embracing Winter
◦ Healing Aiden
◦ Visiting the Variks: A Short Story Collection
Princes of Mayhem :
✓ How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Ruined Saved My Life Disaster #1:
He has escaped his imprisonment, but he’s still blood bound to the crown prince of the fae.
Oh gods, how is he going to explain that to his clan?
Finding a way to break the bond might not be too hard. Killing the king of the fae even seems possible.
But there’s no way he can let go of the elf who protected him, risked everything for him for a hundred years?
Rei is the breath in his lungs, the blood in his veins, and the beat of his heart. Somehow, he has to find a way to keep him.
An elf can fall in love with a vampire, right?
Two Thousand Tears is the second novel in the Kings of Chaos series, which is a spin-off from the Lords of Discord series. This book contains a somewhat broken vampire falling in love with an elf who should be his enemy but is actually his everything, shifters, meddling witches, other non-human surprises, snark, angst, car surfing, found family, brotherly bickering, magic, chaos, pouting, vampire cuddles, and an endless love that crosses lines drawn by war.
This was a hard book to rate as well as read. For all the qualities I loved in the first book, some of those same elements were ones that made this a very frustrating reading experience.
Where book one was an expansive exploration of those characters personalities, universe , including the mystical powers and mythology that surrounds them, the second novel narrowed down the focus to the men , their new dynamic, and the important orbiting characters. The smaller field of storytelling highlights some of the issues when making this strange nebulous dynamic the central aspect of the book.
There’s page after page of non communication between Nox and Nelson of what’s actually happening between them, the changes involved with them, but most importantly, the god that’s gradually taking over Nox. Its a case of “they know or don’t know, friends know more, and talk to over the issues to one but not the other” story. Over and over.
This type of repetitive behavior and endless conversations overlaid with sex gave me headaches. And rarely did it move the narrative forward. Until a mad rush at the end.
Where the first book has the murder investigations, the town’s people and various historical elements at play alongside the intricacies of Nelson and Nox’s personal interplay along with their new relationship dynamics. Here that’s winnowed down into a frustrating monotonous story of a four men and a god power play mystery. But instead of it being interesting and exciting , it feels flat, a bit densely packed, and the ending is just too predictable.
Read it because it’s the bridge to the last book in this trilogy. The events revealed weren’t that surprising. And the final book is out. Let’s see what it holds.
Nelson has figured out that keeping Nox satisfied is the key to his freedom during the day. But he’s also afraid their mystical connection could be harming Nox. That’s not their only problem. They’re still working on the Moon Murder Mysteries and now, suspects and witnesses are dropping like flies. And their murderer is getting far too close to home.
Nelson & MacIlwraith: Moon Murder Mysteries #2 is a paranormal mystery book, with an MM couple, plenty of spice, a murderer to catch, and a continuation of the overarching magical storyline based on Celtic mythology.
Nox is a little bit witchcraft. Nelson is a little bit Federal Bureau. Together, they’re a wickedly good team, but can they solve the puzzle and catch a murderer before Nox’s fate catches up with them?
