Category: M/M Paranormal Fiction

Review: Clean Finish (Goliaths of Wrestling book 2) by Lily Mayne

Rating:4.5🌈

Clean Finish is the second book in Lily Mayne’s Goliaths of Wrestling paranormal romcom series and it’s another winner, fabulous cover including.

This time the comedic romance is an age gap, first time storyline with the main characters being a young flighty sweet Fae assistant and an older werewolf bodyguard. 

Larkin, the young, not very focused, elf assistant of Holt’s, is an engaging character who we met in book 1.  Sunny, kind, and effervescent in outlook, Larkin is also scattered in his thought processes, not quite able to complete his tasks with all the gorgeous wrestlers about, and his hormones on overdrive.

Seb, an older thoughtful werewolf, is Holt’s bodyguard. He’s quiet, observant, a crossword puzzle enthusiast, and has been nurturing a deep abiding crush/love for Larkin from the moment he first saw him. 

When Larkin decides he needs a tutor in sex, it’s Seb he turns to and starts a journey to a wonderful subtly developing friendship.  Mayne creates a funny, remarkably moving, and relatable story here between Seb and Larkin that becomes a deeply passionate and loving relationship.  It’s built over home-made bread, cross word puzzles, a combined love of their warmhearted supportive families, and yes, lots of very sexy exploration and personal revelations.

We also get to see our other favorite couple, Holt and Taylor , continuing their story as they work together on making Goliaths of Wrestling a better place and their own life together richer.  The wrestling scene and wrestlers are front and center as important players here and as found family.

A teaser for the next book shows a slight increase as the characters aren’t in the same place or personality as these.  Should be fascinating. Can’t wait.

Again fantastic artwork on this cover!

Cover illustration: Vic Gray/Bloodwrit

Goliaths of Wrestling: 

🔷Impromptu Match #1

🔷Clean Finish #2

🔷Cheap Heat #3 – September 27,2024

Buy link

        Clean Finish (Goliaths of Wrestling Book 2)

    

Blurb 

Larkin

Look, here’s the thing.

I’m young, carefree, and my job as the assistant to Holt, manager and owner of the Goliaths of Wrestling, means I’m surrounded by half-naked beefcake wrestlers all day. Of courseI’m going to be interested in… getting to know them all better. It would be, like, illegal for me to not lust after them all, right?

There’s just one hurdle I have to get over first before I can… get to knowthe wrestlers in the way I want. And that hurdle makes me really, really freaking nervous.

So I come up with an amazing idea. Holt’s bodyguard Seb, a werewolf, is the quiet, dependable, calm presence in the office. He’s safe. He’s not as intimidating as the wrestlers, and we’re kind ofbuddies, so I decide to ask him for help with my little… predicament.

Just for some practice. Before I move onto the big leagues. That’s all it is. Practice.

Seb

I’m the foolish old wolf who’s pined after Larkin since the moment he started working here. I’ve had to watch him flirt with all the wrestlers, listen to him talk about how much he wants them, act like I didn’t care, and it’s never gotten easier.

At least no one knows. And I can never tell him. He’s too young for me, too carefree and irresponsible, and he’s never shown even a hint of being interested in me that way. Mentally, I’ve accepted it. My heart, however, is a different matter.

And then he comes to me with a ridiculous proposition. Something I never thought I’d get to experience, something I should absolutely turn down, but I can’t. I’m not strong enough to deny myself. And I want to help Larkin in any way I can.

It’s just practice for him. I have to keep reminding myself of that, every time I get to touch him—every time he’s pressed against me, every time he falls asleep on my chest. He doesn’t want me. He just wants… lessons. Practice.

That’s all it is. Practice.

  • Publication date: August 6, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 461 pages

Review: The Haunted Hotel (Crawshanks Guide to Mischievous Spectres & Spirits Book 1) by Vawn Cassidy 

Rating: 4.5🌈

We first met all these people (alive and ghostly ) at the very haunted Ashton-Drake Manor House  in  the Dead Serious Case #4 Professor Prometheus Plume (Crawshanks Guide to the Recently Departed). 

That was a fabulous supernatural murder mystery romp that was absolutely entertaining, romantic, and gave us an entirely new cast of characters to love.

The Haunted Hotel picks up in the aftermath of those events, the unwanted publicity and the trouble it’s brought to the Manor. And the unexpected surprises too. 

One is a leftover guest, the horror book author Mr Pennington, whose writer’s block has vanished since the last events and his creative sparks are flowing!  He’s decided to stay and write. The most important new element is the new arrival at the Manor. 

Morgan Ashton-Drake has returned home after his mother took him to America when he was a young boy. Now he’s come home, only he can’t remember the ancient manor that holds both his history and memories and perhaps his future.

While Morgan is dealing with renewed relations with his grandfather, and his past, Ellis Sparks, and the rest of the found family of staff and ghosts of Ashton-Drake Manor House Hotel have their own challenges to face.  

Vawn Cassidy weaves in intimate relationships of family dynamics, romance, friendship, and ghostly goings on to come up with a warm-hearted, layered story of families, history, and love in believable terms. Even when there’s ghosts involved.

By the end, a new resolve has set in, an additional chapter begins, and someone else has come home.  I love this book so much.

The Dead Serious Case #4 Professor Prometheus Plume (Crawshanks Guide to the Recently Departed) gives a wonderful foundation for this book as well as being a terrific story in a fantastic series. Don’t miss out on any of those stories.

I highly recommend reading them and this, the gorgeously crafted The Haunted Hotel (Crawshanks Guide to Mischievous Spectres & Spirits Book 1) by Vawn Cassidy .  Now I can’t wait to see where the next novel takes everyone.

Crawshanks Guide to Mischievous Spectres & Spirits:

  • The Haunted Hotel #1

Buy link

        The Haunted Hotel (Crawshanks Guide to Mischievous Spectres & Spirits Book 1)

    

Blurb 

Have a frightfully good stay…

Morgan Ashton-Drake hasn’t given his ancestral home in Yorkshire a second thought in decades. He has a great life in the States, running his stepfathers hotel empire with his brother. So what if he’s all work and no play. He’s not missing out on anything important.

But when a suspicious death and rather public scandal at his childhood home forces Morgan to return to England for the first time in years, he’s not keen to confront his past. What he didn’t count on was the seriously cute little blonde disaster who seems to be single-handedly running his eccentric grandfather’s hotel.

Ellis Sparks has worked at the Ashton-Drake Manor House Hotel since he was sixteen and he loves it from the bottom of his soul. Always the eternal optimist, he’s never met a frown he can’t turn upside down; that is, until he meets Morgan Ashton-Drake, the grumpy grandson of his employer.

With the hotel in danger of closing, and convinced Morgan is the only one who can help to save it, the resident ghosts decide to try their ghostly hand at a little matchmaking as an incentive to get him to stay. After all, how hard can it be to get a grumpy workaholic to fall in love with a twinky ray of sunshine?

From the creator of Dead Serious comes this hilarious grumpy/sunshine spin off which will leave you wanting to book your own room at The Ashton-Drake Manor House Hotel.

  • Publisher: Underside Press (August 24, 2024)
  • Publication date: August 24, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 277 pages

Review: Impromptu Match (Goliaths of Wrestling book 1) by Lily Mayne

Rating:5🌈

I had no idea Lily Mayne could write romcom. Paranormal romcom! I picked up Impromptu Match, the first book in Mayne’s Goliaths of Wrestling paranormal romance series, based just on that fabulous cover illustration by Vic Gray/Bloodwrit. Didn’t even look at the author at all. I was captivated by the characters I saw beautifully captured by the artist.

But that story! Wow! While I got the book in ebook format, I’m going to buy it again to have it to read in print.  I love it. The universe, the characters, the writing, everything about this is amazing.

Where to start? Hard to pick a favorite element.  The characters, from the main couple of Taylor and Holt , to all the otherworldly wrestlers, and the easily recognizable corporate office staff are perfect. 

Taylor Hough, sad human office worker bee , uniform of suits, dad jeans and old sneakers, 39, caught in the monotony of a job he never wanted, still doesn’t and doesn’t understand, has his world rocked with a wrong turn one night after work. Taylor is a great character. He’s easily identifiable, one we connect with, and as he changes, throwing off his old habits for new growth, exploring new ideas and concepts, we are cheering him on.  Especially in his relationship with Holt. 

Holt is everything. I’ll let the reader enjoy his character and personality in this book. But chef’s kiss. 

Talk relationship goals. These two are so well written, the chemistry, the communication, and great respect for each other, I love them. They’re sexy, they have endless potential, and they’re just so expansive in their approach to life and their love.  

What else is top notch here? The dialogue and the author’s keen ear for the sheer awfulness of corporate jargon.  The absolute nonsense that gets tossed about as often as zoom meetings these days.  Synergy as 

“The directors prefer there to be synergy across all our public-facing outputs to really leverage the HutSec brand, you know?”

Snort and giggling.  Also

“Let’s circle back to this in the morning. I’ll loop you two in when the team have our group-think first thing.”

Double Snort! More giggles

Honestly, this is so spot on and used so hilariously throughout the office conversations that I found myself laughing constantly.  That corporate culture, right down to a bland name HutSec, is narrative perfection.

When I’m not laughing at the dialogue, or swooning over the couple, or enjoying the action of the fantastic group of otherworldly wrestlers of the Goliaths Wrestling Club, I was just trying to see who was the best otherworldly character to see a romantic story next.  So many to choose from.

And the sheer comedy scenes here are incredible. These are a very hot, frisky couple, the chemistry is off the charts! Stock up on the fans! 

Love this! Highly recommended!

And I’ll repeat it again, that cover is incredible..

Cover illustration: Vic Gray/Bloodwrit

Goliaths of Wrestling: 

🔷Impromptu Match #1

🔷Clean Finish #2

🔷Cheap Heat #3

Buy link

        Impromptu Match (Goliaths of Wrestling Book 1)

    

Blurb

I, Taylor Hough, am a painfully average guy.

I have the soul-destroying corporate job, I iron my underpants, and I was unceremoniously dumped for an influencer hippie a few years ago. Every day feels the same, and I don’t know how much longer I can cope before I do something unhinged like rip off my shirt in the middle of my co-worker’s office birthday party and smear lemon cake all over my chest.

But then a case of mistaken identity suddenly lands me in the middle of a covert professional wrestling league, which is apparently being run in the basement of my office building. Weird. Even weirder are the wrestlers. They seem… otherworldly. So does the rest of the staff. And the audience. Pretty much everyone except boring old me.

And then there’s the owner, Holt Hector, with whom I have an extremely embarrassing first encounter. He’s ridiculously attractive, even in the inhuman cosplay get-up he’s wearing that only makes him hotter, if I’m being totally honest.

Then I discover it’s not a costume. And that the show put on by Goliaths of Wrestling every night is more monstrous reality than mindblowing special effects.

My previously boring life is suddenly no longer quite so average, and hot-as-hell Holt is inexplicably as interested in me, and my ironed underpants, as I am in him and his strange new world.

  • Publication date: February 9, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 422 pages

Review:  Thirst Quenched (The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx Book 4) by Shelby Rhodes 

Rating: 5🌈

Thirst Quenched (The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx Book 4) by Shelby Rhodes is a fabulous book.  It’s everything I’d hoped for and more.

For the uninitiated, stop. Read all the trigger warnings, seriously, have you read this author?  Then proceed to go to the beginning of the series and start reading there.

For the rest of us, this is outstanding on so many levels.  It moves the complex relationship between Foxx and Harlow forward even as they grapple with the challenges that Harlow’s new condition presents to them personally as well as what it means for them in the role they play as partners within the organization.  That last being a very important part of this plot.

Rhodes brings in new facets to this story and series with the change to Harlow. It’s a great twist because it’s bringing a deeper dive into his background, the energy of his relationship with Foxx enters a new dynamic, and a hints of a even wider dimension arc wise is threaded into the narrative by two of the most intriguing characters.

Honestly, there’s multiple scenes I enjoyed here that I had to read through several times before I could convince myself to continue. And others that I was sure held clues to future stories that I just didn’t want to move past.  

Iggy as “bluebird “? Yes! more please! I’ll say no more. 

And then there’s that cliffhanger. A real heartstopper!  So now we wait for False Morality to hit next March.  I can’t wait!  I’ll definitely be rereading this several times in anticipation and just because it’s outstanding and I might have missed something. 

Kudos to Shelby Rhodes on writing Thirst Quenched (The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx Book 4)! Highly recommended!

Love the covers. This might be my favorite so far.

The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx:

  • At First Irritation #1
  • Taste of Fear #2
  • Unusual Emotions #3 
  • Thirst Quenched #4 
  • False Morality #5 – March 31,2025

Buy Link

        Thirst Quenched (The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx Book 4)

    

Blurb 

Foxx Honeywell, here. So, picking up where we left off…and things are decidedly not okay. But, hey…what isfine…is my love life. Which is a win in my book, considering how badly all my former relationships have gone. And really, it’s not often you become someone’s boyfriend and have to deal with their strange secret camera obsession for keeping you safe. No red flags there!

It’s just everything else that is pretty bloody horrible. Multiple old enemies, some new ones, a not so mysterious murdery group, and just all around hatred everywhere. You know, on top of me dealing with Harlow while the man works through, and sometimes fails to work through, his brand new issues. I may end up burying a fifth boyfriend—I haven’t decided yet.

Anywho, it probably won’t be fine. But Harlow and I are still breathing! So that counts for something!

CONTENT WARNING: This is an M/M paranormal romance book that ends on a cliffhanger. Please see inside or my website for full content warning!

  • Publication date: August 23, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 539 pages

Review:  Review: Ghostly Death (Ghostly Book 6) by E M Leya

Rating:  4.75🌈

The Ghostly series by E M Leya continues its quiet, very terrific otherworldly journey with Ghostly Death, a poignant tale of young teenagers lost too soon to a mysterious serial killer, a disheartening investigation, and a crime whose resolution feels realistic, sad,and, as the officers and main characters will say, not entirely satisfactory. 

Leya’s story is so well written, slowly pulling the events together, one horrific incident after another, like puzzle pieces fitting into the scene to form a larger picture for the police and medical examiner’s team to investigate.  That the case will have help from the some of the beautifully portrayed victims in the form of their ghosts is not just a major narrative element but a quietly powerful emotional aspect of the story.  We will see the events from their perspective, feel the grim reality, and their grief.

It’s one of the things I’ve so appreciated about this series and the author’s writing is how Leya builds the characters, including them in their lives, families and surroundings. Whether they are the main characters, surrounding cast,  or the victims, they are real to us in their realism. The readers understand these characters because they are grounded in ways we ourselves recognize. 

There’s no huge drama. Instead it’s personal stories that make the most poignantly deep impact and ones which are those we can relate to, that will hit us emotionally.

I absolutely recommend reading this series and story.  It helps to read them in the order they are written. Here the characters are still dealing with the aftermath of the events from the last book. Again very believable and raw.

I’m looking forward to the next in the series, Ghostly Dilemma. With this book, a strong series got even better.

Ghostly series:

  • Ghostly Awakening #1
  • Ghostly Findings #2
  • Ghostly Envy #3
  • Ghostly Claus #4 
  • Ghostly Target #5 
  • Ghostly Hostage #6
  • Ghostly Death #7
  • Ghostly Dilemma #8 – TBD

Buy link

        Ghostly Death

    

Blurb

When teenagers start dying around town, it’s up to Detective Angus Young to figure out if the cases are connected and who would want them dead.

Lance is one of the city’s medical examiners and has a talent he doesn’t share with many people — he sees ghosts.

Helping his boyfriend figure out who wants these kids dead just became his number one job. He can see some of their ghosts, and one of them just might be the key to breaking this case wide open.

  • Publisher: E.L. Publishing (August 21, 2024)
  • Publication date: August 21, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 190 pages

Review:  Where Fools Have Tread (Tales From The Tarot novel) by Jennifer Cody

Rating: 4.5🌈 

Jennifer Cody’s new book, Where Fools Have Tread, is featured in the new multi author series, Tales From The Tarot.  

Situated in the author’s Murder Sprees and Mute Degrees universe with crossover characters, this is an absolutely engaging story that promises to bring the reader additional books about this world and gargoyle guardians. 

Cody weaves magic, science fiction, romance and the mystical powers of the Tarot cards into a narrative where a lonely young man of indecision finds his path, his origins, a fated mate,  and a family. All with a little magical charm and assistance.

I’m a longtime fan of Cody’s, especially her ability to create beautifully realized characters and then deliver a highly imaginative, engaging storyline for them to explore and journey to their own endpoint, whatever that means.

Here Dec Scion, an aimless young man,  still mourning the loss of his uncle who raised him, ends up a butler working for the unusual wealthy Staiano family. Who happen to be guardian gargoyles. 

Dec, a great character who continues to reveal depths of personality and strengths of his own, meets Thoren, and the attraction sets off an highly snarky, fun relationship that allows each to learn about each other as it turns into a fated mates relationship. 

There’s other gargoyle brothers and uncle, Maxime, who clearly need further exploration and stories.  And great housekeeping staff equally well developed and crying for more details.

I was thoroughly entertained and delighted with this couple and new beginnings.  I look forward to more novels, both in this series and from Cody.

Love love this cover!

Cover art: Fae Quin 

Cover design: Amanda Meuwissen

Murder Sprees and Mute Decrees (4 book series)

Buy Link:

        Where Fools Have Tread

    

Blurb

Dec:

I’ve never really had much in the way of direction in my life, until I walk into an eerie shop where a strange man charges me more than I should pay for a tarot reading of one card. Next thing I know, I’m graduating school to be a domestic servant and find myself employed by someone else’s weird uncle in the strangest mansion. Everyone is great even if they’re all a little… off. Except Thoren. He’s a thorn in my side, and I’m not sure how I feel about him dropping his cards all the time just to make me pick them up for him. (My ass is not what he’s looking at because… what?)

Thoren:

I’ve known since I was a child the path I would take in life. I’m a guardian, one of the Trustworthy, and I am excellent at my job. I take my pleasure wherever I can find it, because I’ve earned every second of my leisure with the hours, days, and weeks of work I put in on every mission. Finding pleasure in teasing the new butler is new, but Dec seems to like it just as much as I do, no matter how often he tries to hide in the cleaning closet. (I’m definitely looking at dat ass because… yum.)

Where Fools Have Tread is an MM paranormal romance set in the Murder Sprees and Mute Decrees universe with a human butler who finds his calling serving a household full of paranormal protectors and a gargoyle with resting bitch face who takes delight in teasing him.

Where Fools Have Tread is a standalone MM romance novel as part of the multi-author collaboration Tales from the Tarot. This book is based on the major arcana card The Fool.

  • Publication date: August 19, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 179 pages

Tales from the Tarot is a massive multi-author paranormal & fantasy MM romance collaboration. These 22 books, each by a different author, highlight the Major Arcana cards in a traditional Tarot deck – with some liberties taken, such as The Empress card being The Consort, for an all MM or gay romance focus.

Tales from the Tarot- 22 books 

🔷 Where Fools Have Tread by Jennifer Cody

🔷The Magician’s Heart by J.P. Jackson

🔷Cleric of Desire by Amanda Meuwissen

🔷The Nephilim’s Touch by Morgan Lysand

🔷King of Hollywood by Fae Quin

🔷My Minotaur Daddy: An MM Romantasy by Laura Lascarso

🔷Across Space and Time by Kit Barrie

🔷Chariot of Souls by Morgan Mason

🔷By Rude Strength by K.L. Hiers

🔷Found in Obscurity by A. M. Rose

🔷Twisted Fates by Adam J. Ridley

🔷No Justice for the Damned by Hellie Heat

🔷The Angel’s Kiss by Nicholas Bella

🔷Death Song by B. Ripley 

🔷Arcanum by Ashlyn Drewek

🔷The Devil’s Dilemma by Alex J. Adams

🔷Camelot’s Tower by Brooke Matthews

🔷A Highland Gargoyle’s Lucky Star

by Chloe Archer

🔷Trust in the Moon by Delaney Rain

🔷Raising the Sun by Eryn Hawk

🔷Zero Judgment by Kota Quinn

🔷The End of the World by Drake LaMarque

Review:  Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5) by K. Sterling

Rating: 5🌈

Riddles & Rivals, an enemies to lovers story, was everything I anticipated it to be and more.  Involving two of the most compelling and layered individuals in this series, Sterling delves deeply into the men’s heavily woven lives that includes their families connected thru their often dark histories. As the last of the original mine owning founding families of Bisbee, Mercer and Baxter’s animosity started in their adolescence.  Fueled by the difference in their backgrounds, the deep religious beliefs, and the disparity climate of the household in which each man was raised.  

Riddles & Rivals sees Mayor Mercer Hathaway asking his longtime enemy Baxter Dawson for help. Mercer is tearing down the ominous Hathaway House and wants an answer to the famous old unsolved crime of what really happened to Julia Lowell.  A crime that has long been thought to have been committed by a Hathaway.  The answers might be in Hathaway House and they have a weekend to find out before it’s torn down.

That’s the bare minimum of this complex, character driven, beautifully crafted mystery. It’s got ghosts determined by their own agendas, ancient passions and two men who find themselves in a strange place where they unravel long held secrets and their own destiny.

Sterling’s forward asks reviewers not to divulge the spoilers of the story and I won’t. They are far too fantastic. 

I thought the men, their strengths and struggles with their pasts, especially Mercer’s inner voice as he wrestles with the events and his emotions, are so vivid and powerful.

Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5) by K. Sterling is a highlight of the series and a fabulous read.  A must in itself and in the series.

Loving the covers.

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club :

  • Haunted Hearts #1
  • Moonlight & Madness #2
  • Unhappy Medium #3
  • Grave Expectations #4
  • Riddles & Rivals #5
  • Shadows & Reservations #6
  • Heart & Soulless #7
  • Specters & Sparks # 8

Buy link

        Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5)

    

Blurb

One haunted mansion. Two lifelong enemies. Three days to solve one of Bisbee’s most notorious mysteries.It’s nearly Valentine’s Day but it might as well be Christmas for Baxter Dawson when Bisbee’s mayor, Mercer Hathaway, knocks on his door with an irresistible proposition for the town’s favorite crime solver. Mercer’s planning to tear down The Hathaway House and burn everything inside it to free himself of his family’s dark legacy. But first, Mercer wants to find the answer to a riddle that’s plagued him for decades: who killed Julia Lowell and why does she haunt him every time he’s a guest at The Copper Queen Hotel? The answer is somewhere inside The Hathaway House but the real mystery is: can these two bitter rivals survive a weekend together in a mansion full of ghosts and Hathaway Family skeletons without killing each other?

  • Publisher: Bawdy Books (June 30, 2021)
  • Publication date: June 30, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 178 pages

Review:  Fated Mates and When to Keep Them by AJ Sherwood

Rating: 4🌈

Fated Mates and When to Keep Them by AJ Sherwood is both the third book in the series and the first one that should be read.  It’s a topsy-turvey world in this series in which Sherwood wrote the series in backwards order.  

It’s a blame the characters who shuffled for the loudest voices writing moment.

I read them backwards, of course, and absolutely enjoyed Fated Mates and When to Keep Them, where I got the vampire origin story, at least from Fernando’s family’s perspective centuries ago.  We also get the adorable romance between Fernando and Noel, a couple we’ve seen only as an established mate powerful duo in the other books. 

I really enjoyed reading their journey. If a mafia boss and an orphan can have a violence filled relationship, that’s equally filled with smooching, cookies , music, and flying bodies, this was it! A highly entertaining romantic adventure!

I’d love to see a continuation of this, with some of the other, equally interesting and exciting characters get their own romances.  

A definite rec! 

Correct Reading Order (per the author and characters)

  • Fated Mates and When to Keep Them #3
  • Fated Mates and How to Woo Them #2
  • Fated Mates and Where to Find Them #1

Buy Link:

        Fated Mates and When to Keep Them

    

Blurb

Noel is desperate for cash. So PA for the mafia boss it is, or he risks losing his childhood home. Too bad the job also comes with a grumpy vampire boss. 

Family has been Fernando’s priority for centuries, so why does his adorable PA suddenly stir long-forgotten feelings?

Killing anyone that endangers Noel counts as a romantic gesture, right? Asking for a vampire. 

Tags: 

I am apparently writing this series backwards, so have book zero everyone, mafia, vampires, cute boys in trouble, this story is pure crack, I’m not even sorry, blood and sex, dino nuggies, hurt and comfort, bad guys get karma, stubborn to lovers, music is their love language, mindless violence and fluff, cinnamon roll protection squad assemble!, boss-employee trope

  • Publisher: Raconteur House LLC (August 16, 2024)
  • Publication date: August 16, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 205 pages

Review:  Lighting The Darkness (Carnival of Mysteries 2) by Eden Winters

Rating: 4.5🌈

Lighting The Darkness , a novel in the second Carnival of Mysteries collection, is a sequel to Eden Winters’ marvelous supernatural science fiction thriller, Darkness.

That book wasn’t a part of this series, and that’s very complex universe is the basis for this story and that cast of characters is central to the journey of Lio and Bel here.

Lio and Bel mirror the roles somewhat of the first couple in Darkness, that of Atlanta PD Det. Morrisey James and Farren Austin, all from the dying realm Domus who came to Earth by way of inhabiting the human bodies of those in the process of dying. 

Unlike the first couple, for Bel and Lio, this is a separate and highly tragic/traumatic experience.  FYI for readers because it happens with Lio on the page. 

Winters does an excellent job of weaving in the background information for those who haven’t read the preceding novel.  But the characters from that book and the agency they work for is such a substantial part of Lighting the Darkness, I highly suggest you read it.

The author throws in some interesting twists and a great turn with respect to the origin of the world and mystery. Wonderful work.

One of my favorite aspects of the story is how Winters used the Carnival of Mysteries to not only be a central element of the story but to continue to be an emotional component that moves the story forward.  Truly one of the best uses of the theme in this collection.  

Lighting the Darkness is a terrific story, situated within a complex universe, beautifully plotted, full of fascinating characters and layered storylines. Don’t miss out on it or it’s connected novel, Darkness.

Beautiful 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 

🔹Blue Lightning by BL Maxwell 

🔹Magic Escaping by Kaje Harper (sequel to Magic Burning 2023)

🔹Lighting the Darkness by Eden Winters – sequel to Darkness 

🔹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

Buy link 

        Lighting the Darkness: Carnival of Mysteries

    

Blurb

Only Light can balance Darkness.

Lio wakes in someone else’s battered body with plenty of questions but no answers. Who is he? Who are the strangers who rescued him? Why do they call him Tenebris and Darkness? And why does everyone treat him like a feral dog about to attack?

Bel Am’I’s home world of Domus died moments after his escape, trapping him in the human realm with a clear mission. As Light, he must prevent Darkness from destroying Terra and the Domusians who’ve escaped there. Failure will doom billions to certain death, but how can he locate and balance a single, hidden being who doesn’t want to be found?

A mysterious carnival unites Lio and Bel, who must work together to uncover Lio’s true identity and stop him from accidentally annihilating the world. Yet someone doesn’t want them to succeed, someone who will stop at nothing to achieve the total destruction of both realms—even pitting Light against Darkness.

The battle for the end begins…

Lighting the Darkness is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series and a side story to Eden Winters’ Darkness. Each book includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains characters from Darkness as well as new ones, alternate realms, a twist on soul mates, and bad guys. I mean, evil, horrible, terrible guys. Definitely the type you wouldn’t bring home to Mother. And one cookie-baking demon.

  • Publication date: August 14, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 295 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

Review:  Unhappy Medium (The Bisbee Batchelors’ Club Book 3) by K Sterling 

Rating: 4.75🌈

I’m a big fan of author K Sterling and that includes this fascinating paranormal series, The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club.  It takes place in a real, absolutely intriguing historical mining town of Bisbee, Arizona.  

Definitely take the time to check into Bisbee, look at the history and pictures, as it’s a great place to go for a trip for its art,  ghosts, and history.   Don’t miss out on reading the author’s notes as well.

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club, that group of well known, single men in Bisbee that meet at The Bisbee Bean Company for coffee have slowly each been getting their own stories and romances. Their lives are interwoven with each other’s as well as their stories. 

It’s common for ghosts, witches, mediums, and the paranormal to play big roles in the storylines as the town is steeped with haunted houses and historical events that resonate.

This book turned out to be a favorite. The characters, Noah Kennedy, younger brother to Hal, and Kieran, a firefighter, are two souls who are bound together and meeting each other again. This is a great element but a tough one to get right and the author does. We see it happen, the spontaneous, spiritual sparking connection and how that affects both men.  If you are thinking instant acceptance, you’re wrong. 

So it’s an intense, revelatory dance around this soul connection that’s pulling them together, while a murder case that involves Noah is being investigated.  Both threads are beautifully written and executed to pull the reader into the story and make them fully invested in every aspect of this book and these characters journey.

Old familiar characters are here to help them and support the investigation.  There are new characters that are also involved that will be established further as towns citizens.

I can’t wait to get further into this series and explore more of the ghostly history and paranormal romance to come.

Highly recommend!

Great cover!

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club :

  • Haunted Hearts #1
  • Moonlight & Madness #2
  • Unhappy Medium #3
  • Grave Expectations #4
  • Riddles & Rivals #5
  • Shadows & Reservations #6
  • Heart & Soulless #7
  • Specters & Sparks # 8

Buy link

        Unhappy Medium (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club)

    

Blurb

The cards don’t lie… He drew the Two of Cups and the Hierophant. Noah Kennedy might be an unwilling empath but he knows better than to doubt the deck or turn his will against fate. He’s spent his whole life running from his gift and believed he was cursed. Anyone would, after a childhood overshadowed by the afterlife. Knowing too much about the living and the dead can make life nearly impossible. Seeing his brother happily engaged leaves Noah emotionally adrift and tired of being a burden. Noah wonders if he has a purpose, other than holding his brother back and making his eye twitch. The Two of Cups. Kieran Watts is the one. He’s Noah’s soulmate and his future but the otherwise fearless firefighter runs after a meet cute in a hot dog joint reveals a shockingly intense and sensual psychic bond. Kieran has deep emotional scars and does his best to avoid Noah but can’t deny the pull he feels whenever they cross paths. And he certainly can’t resist the heat and the sparks when they touch. The Hierophant. A not-so-chance encounter with a local witch sets Noah on a path our young medium hadn’t foreseen. Or refused to see until a murderer attempts to frame Noah’s new guardian angel and teacher. Noah begrudgingly accepts that he could be a powerful witch and turns to The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club for help finding a killer and learns he’s not as much of a lost cause as he thought he was.

  • Publisher: Bawdy Books (March 29, 2021)
  • Publication date: March 29, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 143 pages