Review: Rear Ended (Big Bull Mechanics Book 4) by K.M. Neuhold

Rating: 4🌈

Tattooed, sweet Auggie finally gets his HEA in Rear Ended after a failed crush on Dimitri, and a series of unfortunate dates. All it takes is for a new resident of their hometown to arrive to live with his younger brother when his life explodes on him in Chicago.

So in other words, a man with a lot going on, tons to figure out, and an uneasy future ahead.

That’s Henry, whose IT business has failed along with his expensive lifestyle. And, unfortunately , his perception of who he was equated with that outward projection of a successful businessman. Now Henry is lost. And staying at his younger brother’s house, fearful he’s a failure that will never recover.

Neuhold has written a low angst, sweet romance, between two older men, that includes an adorable pot bellied pig, Hamlet.

It contains mature conversations, complete with apologies for some idiotic, fearful behaviors, some lusty sex, and a lot of smooshy contented men getting into a new relationship.

It also brings in some new exciting people and introduces a new ink shop , Ink Slingers, who are also part of a motorcycle club, Skins Motorcycle Club, into this universe that includes an ever expanding group of connected series.

For me, I wanted to know more about Jay and his friends (Jaguar, Tex, Hero, Felix, Piston) than I did about the settled , sweet world of Auggie, Henry, and Hammie. Although the race episode was very funny.

Also can we please get Riggs and Shep together? I can’t wait for their relationship to start!

I enjoyed Rear Ended even if I think it didn’t have the chemistry or character development of the previous stories. It’s a lovely, sexy low angst romance. A perfect read for the early summer days!

And I think this town will be heating up soon enough with more hot inked men and motorcycles.

I’m recommending the book and the series!

Big Bull Mechanics:

✓ Crankshaft #1

✓ Stroker #2

✓ Stick Stift #3

✓ Rear Ended #4

Description:

Love is a highway, and Henry just got Rear Ended

I’ve spent my entire adult life working eighty hours a week, chasing money, security… success. When my recent start-up went under, leaving me with nothing to show for years of grinding myself down to the bone, I’m not sure who I am anymore. I never thought I’d be forty-eight with no money, living with my brother, trying to figure everything out from scratch. But, here we are…

All that chasing didn’t leave a lot of time for romance or relationships either. Unless you count the occasional hook-up to let off a little steam. Now I have all the free time in the world… but who would want a middle-aged failure anyway?

When one of my most recent hook-ups turns out to be my new coworker, I’m starting to think the universe is having a good laugh at my expense.

As if Auggie wasn’t tempting enough with all of the tattoos and his surprisingly sweet smile, now I’m spending all day watching him work. He’s covered in grease, with his overalls half zipped… is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?

He’s impossible to resist, but that doesn’t make the timing any better. Body work is one thing, but I’m determined to keep my heart out of it. If only Auggie would stop baking me cookies and touching me in ways that keep my engine running all night long. I think we’re going to need some coolant in here, because things are definitely heating up…

*** Rear Ended is book 4 in the Big Bull Mechanics series but can be read as a stand alone. It’s full of mechanic puns, hilarious and swoony banter, tons of heat, and two men falling in love in spite of their best efforts to keep things casual.

Buy Link:

Rear Ended (Big Bull Mechanics Book 4)

Review: A Mage’s Guide to Wicky (R’iyah Family Archives: Volume #3) by A.J. Sherwood

Rating: 4.75🌈

Scattered, wacky, Wicky, adorable perfection!

What happens when a magical seeking spell won’t leave Wicky alone? Well, as much as his curiosity is killing him, Wicky knows this time , he needs to call in his team and found family to find answers.

With Bel, Nico, and Garan involved, Wicky’s team are going to find out who is magically stalking their wonderful, flighty friend. And the reason why.

This is such a fabulous story. It flies by on wings of combined cultural magic and values, soars with the joy of discovery, of finding one’s true purpose and path, with characters infused with humor, intelligence, love, and sheer outrageousness.

Sun , Wicky’s soulmate, is amazing, and I look forward to seeing how a wind elemental will fit into the team. Plus the journey into parts of Thailand, along with the food made my mouth water.

Each aspect of the story contained some great elements that made you want to linger a bit longer. And still hurry forward towards the next stop . Incredible.

You giggle, you smack your head, laugh, and keep on appreciating the world that Sherwood has created that has such fantastic characters within it.

My only quibble? I wanted more.

Who wouldn’t?

And now Mobius decides to speak?

Pls we need more. More adventures of the team as they adjust to the new status quo.

I’m highly excited for that story to arrive. And recommend this until it does!

R’iyah Family Archives:

✓ A Mage’s Guide to Human Familiars #1

✓ A Mage’s Guide to Aussie Terrors #2

✓ A Mage’s Guide to Wicky #3

Buy Link:

A Mage’s Guide to Wicky (R’iyah Family Archives: Volume Book 3)

Description:

Wicky’s never been magically stalked before.

He kinda likes it, to be honest.

For some reason, it’s upsetting everyone else though. Maybe he should figure out who it is?

Ooooo, maybe his fated one is on the other end! In…Thailand?

Tags:

Wicky use your brain challenge: Failed, author has lost discretion in this, Wicky is in Thailand, pray for Thailand, the trio is along for the ride, fated mates, Thai magic, don’t mind the author I’m just over here building a ship, Sun is the younger of the two but he’s also resigned to being the responsible one, chosen family, Mobius talks, in Thai, Wicky feels so betrayed, look this is pure romantic crack, Sun is cute that’s all you need to know

Review: Love for the Reaper (The Elite) by Charlie Cochet

Rating: 3🌈

Love for the Reaper is Charlie Cochet’s much anticipated entry in the multi-author series The Elite, based around a sublimely complex and supremely criminal club called The Anonymous, in a dark, sinister city of Old Defiance.

The series setting and location is darkly fascinating, rich in the noir atmosphere and dangerous elements that allow all these authors to let their imaginations go wild where their characters and storylines are concerned.

Cochet’s take on this seamy underworld has plenty of interesting elements, one’s that early on showed so much depth and detail that’s been elevating the best of these stories.

Take her character Devlin “Dev” Espinosa. He’s not a Reaper , where did that come from ( not in his job description to kill anyone)?

Instead he’s a Ferryman. So much cooler. With his one of a kind, special “guaranteed to blend into the shadows “ black matte finish, 1969 Chevy Camaro, black grille and door handles, even the 18 inch wheels and rims were black. A chariot fit for the Ferryman.

Dev delivers the “dead” bodies he’s given to dump into his specially made trunk into a new life. Whether that a permanent death or new identity at a location, it’s not his to question. Just dump and leave. The Ferryman’s delivery is over.

He’s death on wheels, a black chariot wheeling through a city of Hell, enjoying the life he’s got, on smooth pavement paid for by murder and sin.

That’s a great character. So too is his partner. A woman who we don’t get nearly enough of, but who is his equal partner in wry wit and deadly experience.

Had Charlie made even the partner the other mc, things would have been better.

But things start to derail with the addition of what’s starting to be defined as the “cinnamon bun” character. Overly used too., including the phrase. The almost too sweet, innocent that ends up in a relationship, here because Remy Corbin has the survival instincts of a kumquat and works for a mobster boss without realizing it.

I think I could like Remy more if he was in another story, without the mob aspect, but here so much, imo, works against him as a character, and their relationship believability. “ oh look, I’m living in a Good Fellas set” Smh. Way too predictable.

These are short stories. Cochet doesn’t lay out, enough in her narrative, to accomplish the needed changes in character realignment, instant love, and development for us to believe that Dev is going to throw out the life he enjoys for Remy , who he’s instantly fallen in love with, who now instantly loves him back. Even though Remy has just come out of a bad situation. No, Dev threw out his history, indeed almost gotten himself killed in a maneuver guaranteed not to work.

It makes no sense, especially given that strong opening.

More sense narratively, if there’s no relationship, just a man, doing another job, and “ferrying “ an innocent out of town. That’s believable.

And then at the end Cochet throws in a whole new couple, including dub con, a conspiracy, a betrayal, and it all devolves into a whole lot of drama that has nothing to do with the original plot.

What was Cochet doing here?

The only reason this even maintains a 3 rating was that strong intro and some interesting elements. Otherwise, the manner in which the story explodes into new territory without any context or direction from the original narrative would have me issuing warning flags. Such as DNF.

Do i recommend? Not really. Read if you’re a Cochet fan or want to complete the series.

Buy Link:

Love for the Reaper (The Elite Book 1)

The Elite Multi-Author series (9 Books):

✓ Reckless Roulette by Alice Winters

✓ Leave No Trace by Michelle Frost and Sammi Cee

✓ Ace of Maids by K.L. Hiers (DNF)

✓ Poison Hearts by Jennifer Cody❤️

✓ Liar’s Gambit by Kelly Fox❤️

✓ Dealer of Secrets by Davidson King ❤️

✓ Bullets & Butterflies by Maz Maddox❤️

✓ Love for the Reaper by Charlie Cochet

◦ Chance Encounter by Luna David

Description:

Devlin “Dev” Espinosa lives in the shadows of the criminal underworld. As a Ferryman, his job is to safely transport “the dead” to their new lives, no questions asked. With no one to answer to, lots of cash, and access to The Anonymous–an exclusive club for the elite–Dev is loving life.

Until Remy Corbin gets into his car.

Remy is just a regular guy working a regular bartending job. At least, that’s what he thought before walking in on his boss taking someone out. Witnessing the assassination paints a target on Remy’s back, and when the bullets fly, he jumps into a stranger’s car.

Dev has no intention of getting involved in Remy’s problems, but something about the guy brings out protective instincts Dev didn’t know he had. Going against his better judgment, Dev vows to keep Remy alive.

Can wild nights fueled by danger and explosive passion lead to more? Or will the hitman on their tail cut their romance–and lives–short?

Love for the Reaper is a part of the multi-author series The Elite. Each book can be read as a standalone and in any order. What links these books together is The Anonymous, a club beneath the gritty city where only the elite are

Review: Full Throttle (Lights Out, #2) by Lisa Henry

Rating: 4.25 🌈

“Being an F1 driver is a crazy job but not what everyone expects. My year consists of 20% driving and 80% media, marketing, and travel.

-Daniel Ricciardo”

Full Throttle by Lisa Henry is our second fast paced, passionate romance in the multi author series, Lights Out.

In this series about Formula 1 racing, each author takes one racing team, a driver or two on that team , the international races in the series , and the dramatic events that occur during that season. We see it impacting on the various races , season team standings, the emotional reverberations on each driver, as well as the relationships that arise between men on the circuit.

In Full Throttle, Henry’s focus is on Bradley Racing. Sir Andrew Bradley a former F1 champion, his sons , the oldest, Malcolm, the current F1 team champion, and Lennox, the introverted son whose been racing in F2, but now has been called up by his father to be the team’s F1 reserve driver. This is a huge honor as well as an earned achievement for young drivers, a spot that Lennox is well aware he’s not exactly achieved but being given as the son of the wealthy owner. It’s a place that should have gone to his F2 teammate, Renzo.

It’s a sore spot that other drivers, as the infamous Karl Nuemann keeps reminding him, and others, loudly and often. In scenes to be repeated throughout the series.

Henry has given us a very relatable character in Lennox. Lennox is a soft spoken, insecure man, one with a father whose disappointment and indifference to his hopes for his future plans make him withdraw into himself further. There’s no outlet for Lennox, no one to confide with, even on his own truths about his sexuality.

Until a fist fight with Karl and a dropped koala bring him to the attention of Team PR mastermind, Connor Blake.

Henry’s cast of well rounded characters expands with the addition of Connor Blake, a man from Melbourne, with a ex boss and family who want him back in Australia where he’s beginning to feel like he needs to be. Connor ‘s circle comes with the ever so delicious Arlo Paddington, CEO of Hipe, his ex boss who wants him back. Every conversation, every get together is a delight! Same goes for Alexis, the acerbic , perfectly put together director of communications of Bradley Racing, a master of the wry look . Connor is in control of each situation, changing the direction of the narrative to fit the team’s needs, and goals. But not without a heart and informative mind guiding him.

Henry has multiple themes in play here. The troubled Blake family dynamics , team hierarchy dynamics where resentment is building over Andrew’s eagerness to push Lennox forward over other better qualified drivers, and finally, Lennox’ s closeted status.

Because being gay isn’t acceptable if you’re a F1 driver, and, from Lennox’s perspective, that’s one more strike against him in his own family where he’s kept his sexuality a secret.

The slowly building relationship between Lennox and Connor is full of hurdles, and while there’s racing elements, they don’t feel as massive an element as they did in Scott’s novel, Team Orders.

This feels more relationship and personality driven, and while we focus on the team building aspects of Team Bradley, and all the communication/PR that goes into a successful business, I wish we had more track time too.

The quotes from actual drivers at the beginning of each story give us insight into how the author is angling the focus. Here it’s the stresses and frustration of the of 80 percent of the sport as it’s seen through the life of Lennox and Connor, the PR man who’s a magician at handling this aspect of F1 racing.

A bonus was the epilogue, it didn’t extend too far beyond the end of the season, all the characters were comfortably included here.

I really enjoyed Full Throttle by Lisa Henry. The characters, relationships, family dynamics, were all well defined and realistically balanced against the frustrations and challenges that comes with racing at the F1 level right now.

I’m definitely recommending this story and the one that came before. This is turning into a very exciting series!

Lights Out:

✓ Team Orders by RJ Scott

✓ Full Throttle by Lisa Henry

◦ Pole Position by Charlie Novak 6/6

◦ Scoring Points by HL Day 6/13

◦ Black Flagged by Emma Jaye 6/20

◦ Rookie Mistakes by Beth Laycock 6/27/2023

Buy link:

Full Throttle

Description:

When Lennox and Connor race full throttle into a secret relationship, can they navigate the track, or will they crash and burn?

Lennox Bradley is Formula 1 royalty. His father was an F1 champion, and so is his brother, so expectations are high for Lennox’s debut season. But when he suffers a koala-related PR disaster at the Australian Grand Prix, he’s thrust into the media spotlight. For an introvert like Lennox, it’s a nightmare.

Connor Blake doesn’t know the first thing about Formula 1, but as communications manager for Bradley Racing, it’s his job to manage the fallout for Lennox. Except Lennox isn’t anything like the arrogant, shallow guy he’s expecting, and it gets harder and harder to deny the magnetism between them. When Connor and Lennox both have to choose what it is they really want for themselves, is there any room for a future together?

This M/M romance from Lisa Henry features a secret relationship, two guys who are bad at admitting their feelings, pining, and is set in the high octane world of Formula 1 featuring fast cars, driving at the limit, spectacular crashes, heated rivalries, and of course, a HEA.

Each book in the Lights Out collection is a standalone story, and the books can be read in any order.

From R.J. Scott’s Team Orders:

Racing Pride🌈

“Racing Pride The F1 calendar takes place in some countries hostile to those identifying as queer, and teams have sponsors who might not support a queer driver. As of April 2023, there is no openly out F1 driver.”

“Racing Pride is a new initiative embracing all elements within motorsport, and actively promoting, and supporting LGBTQ + participants in order to create some desperately needed role models for aspiring LGBTQ + participants in motorsport.

Find out more here: racingpride.com.”

— Team Orders (Lights Out Book 1) by RJ Scott

Review: Team Orders (Lights Out, #1) by R. J. Scott

Rating: 4.75 🌈

“If you no longer go for a gap that exists, then you’re no longer a racing driver.

-Ayrton Senna”

I’m so used to R. J. Scott’s outstanding hockey romances, that I was surprised to see her jump into the world of Formula 1 racing and do it so immaculately.

Lights Out is a multi author series that focuses on one racing season. Each author takes one racing team, a driver or two on that team , the international races in the series , and the dramatic events that occur during that season. We see it impacting on the various races , season team standings, the emotional reverberations on each driver, as well as the relationships that arise between men on the circuit.

Even if you’re not a fan or motor head, the descriptions within this story of the adrenaline rush, the sheer amount of intensity, the desire, the passion,the planning and execution behind the drivers and the racing that Scott delivers here is incredible. She writes as though F1 has been circulating in her bloodstream for decades, motor oil replacing the platelets driving her systems. It’s that excellent.

So are her characters. Each well crafted character a driver at a different level in their careers. One, Noah Fournier, who, along with his teammate and best friend, Augusto Romero, is at the highest level of his team and aiming to take the podium this season for Deacon-Graaf Formula 1 Racing team. The other, Archie Harris , is just entering F1 as a reserve driver after winning the F2 championship. He’s just beginning his F1 journey.

There’s another aspect to the series and each character in these stories. That they are closeted by necessity, because of their passion for racing, and the fact that the companies and teams that are involved in the sport have sponsors and race in countries where any sexuality other than heterosexuality is not allowed. Some races are held in places where it’s punishable by jail or death. In reality there’s no out driver In Formula 1 today. So for any LGBTQIA+ driver, they must, for their career, stay silent and closeted about who they love if they want to race.

Scott layers that stress , indecision, inner turmoil and frustration, and fears into her characters personalities and emotions as they battle through the struggles of the team dynamics.

Outside of this structure, Noah is someone I’d would have perceived as an ill mannered, unlikable person at first. A bit of a jerk. However, put Noah within the tight constraints and emotional contexts of this sport, and he comes across as a man under unbelievable pressure. Someone who’s never been able to have a lover, or deep foundation other than his friend Augusto. And when that’s removed in the most frightening way, it makes Noah fragile, then angry.

Scott makes him relatable in all his various states of mind and heart.

Archie is just as complicated as Noah but in an opposite sense. He’s fighting for his right to be in F1, feeling a need to be his true self while realizing and being told by Noah, and others that to succeed, he’s to continue to hide, and concentrate on his driving, the team’s pursuit of the win being the goal, not his individual pursuit of the podium. His brilliance is being rewarded with orders to step aside.

It’s all extremely well plotted, richly told, exciting, and believable. The high speed action is intense, the racing breathtaking, the danger heart stopping, and the one excruciating accident on the track that will have you holding your breath is an event that is one mentioned in every book.

If I had a small quibble, it’s that it is tied up too quickly. There’s a final race, then an epilogue years later. I would have loved to have had more depth and exposition to that section of the story before the epilogue because of how fantastic the narrative was that came prior to it. It just doesn’t live up to its layered nature.

However, Team Orders (Lights Out, #1) by R. J. Scott is a fabulous novel. Scott takes the podium in her first season as a F1 writer and I’m highly impressed with the plot, the characters, and the depth of the world of F1 racing we become a part of.

I’m also impressed with her use of and ability to let her readers know that, like other sports, F1 racing, is trying to be more inclusive.

Please see below.

Racing Pride🌈

Find out more here: racingpride.com.”

— Team Orders (Lights Out Book 1) by RJ Scott

Lights Out:

✓ Team Orders by RJ Scott

✓ Full Throttle by Lisa Henry

◦ Pole Position by Charlie Novak 6/6

◦ Scoring Points by HL Day 6/13

◦ Black Flagged by Emma Jaye 6/20

◦ Rookie Mistakes by Beth Laycock 6/27/2023

Buy Link:

Team Orders (Lights Out Book 1)

When tragedy strikes and team orders are called for, will Archie and Noah’s love survive the fallout?

Noah is devastated when his best friend is badly hurt in a fiery crash, and shocked when the team’s rookie steps up to take Augusto’s place. Not only is Archie inexperienced on the track, but he’s a threat to Noah’s heart when giving in to lust and passion could only end badly. Caught in the chaos of Formula 1, and despite being terrified of losing everything, Noah falls for Archie one passionate but secret moment at a time.

In his rookie F1 season as Deacon-Graaf’s reserve driver, Archie is called up to cover for an injured driver. He’s determined to earn a permanent place in a team, but for now he’s thrilled that he’s driving alongside his idol, Noah. Falling for his teammate is as simple as breathing, but their romance threatens to expose them to a media frenzy, leaving Archie facing a stark choice — love or career.

This M/M romance from RJ Scott features teammates, a secret affair, hurt/comfort, and is set in the high octane world of Formula 1 featuring fast cars, driving at the limit, spectacular crashes, heated rivalries, and of course, a HEA.

Please note, ‘Team Orders’ contains details of a serious motorsport accident and subsequent fire.

Each book in the Lights Out collection is a standalone story, and the books can be read in any order.

Review: Scales and Song (Monsters in My Bed #2) by L Eveland

Rating: 3.25🌈

Scales and Song is the second in L Eveland’s Monsters in My Bed series and the third I’ve read so far.

It’s also the book that’s left me with the most mixed feelings about the storyline and writing of the novels of this series.

Scales and Song deals with a character outside of the original quartet of vets dealing with the aftermath of a IED explosion in Afghanistan that killed everyone but themselves in their unit.

It’s still got a traumatized soldier at its heart, but one that came from the military’s Elite Specimen Containment Unit, the one that captures , tortures , experiments on , and kills alien/nonhuman beings. Like Ollie the Krampus. That’s where the reader first encountered soldier Phoenix Walker, first as an antagonist in Kissed by the Krampus. In that book, Walker’s one of the unit sent to recapture Ollie. After he’s captured himself by Kringle and Ollie, is rescued, then undergoes a change in attitude, flipped sides and helped save Ollie and Kringle.

I’m not sure I liked him totally here in this story. Eveland presents Walker as a troubled, traumatized soldier, AWOL from his unit due to the events of the previous book.

It’s Walker’s personality that I found hard to connect to. I understand that he’s had a lot of issues to work through but his fall back to denial, anger, and frustration prohibits us from getting emotionally invested. It’s not until later, we learn that included in all the other emotional baggage Phoenix is carrying is self loathing about his sexuality, being gay. But it’s so late in the story to help us understand why he is acting so aggressively towards his friends and Bud.

So his poor treatment of his friend, who is sheltering them , of Bud, ends up being just confusing to the reader instead of an element that helps us engage with his character.

Another real issue for me here is a lack of balance in the exposition with Bud. The author gets so caught up with the exploration of Bud’s sexual organs, how they are used, especially when it comes to sex with Walker , that Bud’s natural history, the world Bud came from is left lacking. It’s troubling because Eveland starts to give us real insight into Bud’s life there. That their species are colorful creatures, with flamboyant color the needed element to attract mates. And that Bud’s lack of color made it unlikely that they would survive in their society, that finding a mate is a necessity there.

Also Eveland started to describe the life within Bud’s habitat, the predators, including a sentient one that hunts for entertainment. And that Bud’s race “eats” by photosynthesis. But has a hive existence. So we get a hodgepodge of facts about the species and nothing more? They are loyal and mate for life? Where’s all this coming from?

Does a photosensitive winged being have a less or better ability to eat given their lack of accepted pigmentation on that planet?! Bud was attacked by the ferocious carnivorous predator on their world, did something happen to them? Why have jaws at all when they use wings to eat? Questions!

But it’s always back to the sexual activity between Walker and Bud before we get any further information.

And the issues don’t stop there. They are hiding from the military, the same ones, they escaped from. That is an intense section here. And we see people from the original four show up to assist.

Chappie, who’s lost his faith. And of course, Ollie and Chris will make an appearance.

Which will bring up inconsistencies in between what Walker says happened here in that story and what we read happened in that story when he was a “temporary” guest or prisoner.

They aren’t big things like the change in Hotdog’s RL last name from one book to his, but it’s enough of a reoccurring one that I wonder why the author’s not taking care to have someone catch these errors.

And finally, the ending of poor Parker. It was swift, and the ending honestly didn’t make any sense. Crystals? It felt rushed , as though Eveland wanted to get through this part of the arc and onto the real happy end with Bud and Walker.

For me, Scales and Song (Monsters in My Bed #2) by L Eveland was a bit of a miss and a mess. It was full of promise but with all the elements, characters, and plot lines, they never felt complete and in depth. That they gelled together.

Read it if you like completing a series, but this really exists outside of our four vets and their stories.

Monsters in my Bed series:

✓ Kissed by the Krampus #1

✓ Scales and Song #2

◦ Hearts and Halos #3

✓ Lassos and Lace #4

Buy Link:

Scales and Song: M/M Paranormal Fantasy Monster Romance (Monsters in my Bed Book 2)

Description:

We were supposed to protect the world from monsters, not become them.

All I’ve ever wanted was to protect the people I love. That’s why I joined the military’s Elite Specimen Containment Unit.

When I learned they were experimenting on sentient monsters, however, everything changed.

Now, I have a new mission: protect a scaly winged monster named Bud and escort him to somewhere he’ll be safe from my superiors.

Yet, Bud’s so sweet and perfect, I can’t help but fall for him, even though I know it’s too dangerous for us to be together. It’ll be safer for us to go our separate ways, especially when we’re being hunted.

But I’ve only got so much willpower…

Though Scales and Song is the second book in the Monsters in my Bed series, it can be read as a standalone novel. It features a closeted and traumatized special forces soldier, the sweet cinnamon roll monster who loves him, and a HEA. Please see the interior for content warnings.

Review: Rago: An Order Universe Short Story by Kasia Bacon

Rating: 4.5🌈

Utterly charming. Kasia Bacon’s short fantasy stories are succinct well developed windows into her established, ever widening Order Universe. Each has its own unique narrative with a different location, couple, often complete with cultural references and fleeting hints from past events.

Always my main issue is they’re over too soon, leaving us wanting more with a couple we’ve just connected with, and learned to love.

Rago brings that home because this contains too such beautifully crafted characters, totally different, yet so perfectly balanced and defined that they’re immediately recognizable, real and breathtaking in their fated mates magic.

There’s Lieutenant Laahn Ĉortez, with a background the author so delicately hints at, one of a family he’s risen above and a recent traumatizing past as a prisoner of war in a brutally, cruel enemy prison. She fleshes him out as a highly respected soldier and man of character in just mere sentences.

It’s a fabulous layered portrait . We know exactly who Laahn is. But we aren’t prepared for the sheer adorability , the absolute magic that is Rago! The dragon shifter that’s recognized it’s mate and is crying out its need!

They are so sweet and perfect for each other. Laahn who hasn’t felt safe before now and the sweetness of the dragon warrior who has found his mate.

I was entranced by their meeting, charmed by their love, and wanted to know what happened next. And about Rago’s people.

Laahn and Rago are magic and I hope Bacon brings them back in another story.

There’s a guide to the Order Universe at the back but it’s not necessary to have read any of the other books to enjoy Rago!

I’m highly recommending it to all lovers of fantasy, fated mates, and dragons.

Buy Link:

https://www.amazon.com › Rago-O…Rago: An Order Universe Short Story eBook : Bacon, Kasia: Kindle Store

Description:

Lieutenant Laahn Ĉortez is about to sit down to his well-deserved supper when destiny hits—winged, scaled and more than a little tipsy.

Rago is a fated mates/forced proximity short story from The Order Universe, featuring a puffing dragon shifter and a romp in the fencing hall.

Review: They Call Him Levity (Welcome Boulevard, #1) by Davidson King

Rating: 4🌈

I enjoyed They Call Him Levity (Welcome Boulevard, #1) by Davidson King. I thought King’s characters were all very well defined, given fully fleshed out personalities and lives.

It didn’t matter whether the character was crime boss Salvatore Grillo, or the professional beggars Levity, Clove and Muse with their poverty level lives and realistic low expectations for their future, or the endearing Jaquelyn, Sal’s on the spectrum younger step sister. Each one felt real, and grounded in a real life vision of the world.

The romance as it develops between Levity and Sal is sweet and feels genuine, despite the imbalance in their status and age. Somehow the author lessens that impact in their dynamic enough that it’s not the thing that matters.

Another positive is Sal’s relationship with his step sister, Jaquelyn. King wrote her as being a functioning on the spectrum individual but treated within her family as someone to be ashamed of because of her disability. We see Jaquelyn with her hobbies, her friends, as any 17 year old girl would have, even with a crush. The mistreatment here comes from a parent, which makes it also seem realistic, unfortunately.

My cons are with the aspect of Levity that deal with Sal’s father, Sal’s stepmother, their characters and that entire storyline.

While the others plot threads felt more full developed, the whole bit with the step mother came across as forced . She was already “hissing “ from the moment we met her. Everything else was perfectly transparent as to where the plot was headed next. It just needed more work.

The ending was lovely. And we get set up for Clove’s book to come.

If you like a sweet romance with a hint of gangster and suspense, Levity might be a good choice for you.

Welcome Boulevard:

✓ Levity #1

◦ Breathe My Name #2 – Clove’s story

Buy Link:

They Call Him Levity (Welcome Boulevard Book 1)

Description:

Levity works the streets of Welcome Boulevard, begging people for money. It keeps food in his belly, a leaky roof over his head, and he gets to do it with his best friend, Clove. No, it’s not the ideal life, but he does what he must to survive.

Salvatore Grillo is a man who is used to getting what he wants. He’s a loyal brother to his autistic sister, runs numerous business empires, and knows how to make people to bend to his will. It’s not often someone comes along and shakes things up. And then Levity smiles at him.

Levity’s idea to pull in more money draws Salvatore’s attention, and while being the focus of a crime boss should be terrifying, Levity is intrigued by the man. Not to mention, Sal is as gorgeous as he is powerful. The two gravitate toward one another and soon are wrapped up tightly in each other’s worlds. When enemies try to break through their doors and their lives, Salvatore has to do everything in his power to save not just himself but Levity too.

Not knowing who is behind all the chaos or when they will strike makes their happily ever after almost impossible. Time’s running out for Sal and Levity. Will they survive, or will their story end before it’s even begun?

Review: Bullets & Butterflies (The Elite) by Maz Maddox

Rating: 4.5🌈

One of the real delights of having a series written by multiple authors is that the reader can get a great depth in differences in the depiction of the central location , and variety in how the series theme is presented through the many different characters and plots.

In Bullets & Butterflies (The Elite) by Maz Maddox, we are transported into the inner workings of The Menagerie Hotel, home to unsavory club, The Anonymous , right in the heart of the city known as Old Defiance.

The reader has always been a guest at the club, along with whatever criminal character(s) that particular author has created for their storyline. But here , with Maddox, we go behind the doors, to the Hotel’s/club’s infirmary, where the assassins, thieves, wet-workers, and other nefarious members who need “patching up” come to get medical care.

Dr. Liam Bexley has been the doctor for The Anonymous’ clientele for years, trodding its blood red carpet and sticking by his rules of non engagement with his notorious patients.

Even the patient is the attractive and flirtatious hitman Francisco Delgado.

Maddox brings us into the seamier aspect , if that’s even possible, of an already dark and dangerous world with two jaded men, deeply seated within this environment. Liam’s constantly aware of his patients deadly professional side, as well as their often murderous skill sets. They end up on his table, needing everything from emergency surgery to simple stitches.

Liam’s such a complex man, wry, jaded, accepting of his status and lifestyle that includes healing criminals, yet somehow he manages to hide his own tender heart. I so enjoyed listening to his grumpy doctor’s interior monologue.

Francisco Delgado, or Cisco as he’s called, is a different character. Handsome, charismatic, he’s a member of the Courtesan Guild of assassins. The other group being The Sheath Guild.

Maddox builds a marvelous tale of intrigue, betrayal, suspense, murder and , a rising love among falling bodies.

If a have a quibble, it’s that I wanted to know more about each Guild, especially The Courtesan Guild, how it operates and the history behind it. And I wanted to know how each man came into each moment that they chose to be both a doctor at The Anonymous and an assassin .

Each story would be a remarkable story itself.

Together, Cisco and Liam make a sexy, darkly compelling couple. More of them pls.

I highly recommend their story and hope Maddox finds the time to explore their future together.

Buy Link:

Bullets & Butterflies (The Elite Book 1)

The Elite Multi-Author series (9 Books):

✓ Reckless Roulette by Alice Winters

✓ Leave No Trace by Michelle Frost and Sammi Cee

✓ Ace of Maids by K.L. Hiers (DNF)

✓ Poison Hearts by Jennifer Cody❤️

✓ Liar’s Gambit by Kelly Fox❤️

✓ Dealer of Secrets by Davidson King ❤️

✓ Bullets & Butterflies by Maz Maddox

◦ Love for the Reaper by Charlie Cochet

◦ Chance Encounter by Luna David

Description:

As the on-call doctor for a club that caters to assassins, Liam Bexley has learned to set some strict boundaries:

Never ask questions about their work.

Always stay professional.

And never, ever date a client.

Easy rules to follow, and ones that Liam takes very seriously. Being lonely and boring is a small price to pay to keep trained killers out of his personal life.

In one chance encounter with the handsome hitman Francisco Delgado, Liam’s routine and existence is completely altered.

Pulled into the insanity of rival assassin guilds and a high profile death, Liam is suddenly stuck eluding danger at every turn with a man he has no business fraternizing with.

Even if he is interesting.

And really hot.

And covered in tattoos.

Liam may have to rethink those boundaries…

Bullets & Butterflies is part of the multi-author series The Elite. Each book can be read as a standalone and in any order. What links these books together is The Anonymous, a club beneath the gritty city where only the elite are welcome.

Review: Off The Wall by Edie Montreux

Rating: 2.5🌈

Off The Wall by Edie Montreux is a fantasy novel by a writer i just discovered. I always want to be positive about books by a as new to me author.

But I found myself struggling to find some good aspects of this fantasy book to highlight.

It’s not the storylines originality. The author doesn’t help herself by telling us exactly what her inspiration was when plotting her story (the movie ‘Overboard’ – “”It’s Overboard, but she’s a princess, her rescuer is gay, and she mistakes him for her brother, also gay.” Then mixed with , also in the author’s words , “Throw in a royal marriage proposal (The Princess Bride) and a royal decree on marriage “(” You must be married to a prince,” a.k.a. Aladdin), and it practically wrote itself.”

Le sigh, as they say.

The characters hold appeal. They are the strength of the book. But for every strength the author layers in, like Rye’s relationships with his family and especially his brother Trevor, a challenging dynamic that gets a believable amount of growth, there’s a equally weak and unsettling element.

Here it’s the manner in which Prince Cyril is portrayed. A “himbo prince “, a scatter brain, “lazy”, who can’t do his own work or school book training. A dreamer who can’t even remember math numbers correctly.

Are things adding up for you here?

Was Montreux truly unaware that Cyril is written as someone who’s learning disabled or challenged? That every word the other characters, including the man who’s supposedly been in love with him, who calls him lazy, are intolerant, and often ugly ?

Yes, Cyril may have had a privileged, tightly controlled upbringing but he’s , as written a sweet, open hearted person. Yet he’s being mocked for his lack of ability to understand mathematics, ability to concentrate, and other things seemingly out of his control.

Not a nice element.

The moat dragon comes and goes at will. It’s not a well developed part of this book and storyline, especially at the end where it obeys surprise commands. Really?

But aside from the characters within Rye’s family, the reader has to live with the feel and flow of a narrative overflowing with a density of details.

Need a chair? We get the type of wood, how it was made, type of lathe, two backs,spindles. The story becomes burdensome with knowledge that slows down the movement of the narrative until the pace is downright glacial.

And it’s not just slow.

There’s no energy or enormous mountains to overcome, it’s all monotonous in the feel of the narrative. There are those stories where the main characters journey is literally laid out before you. Days, weeks, months of them living together, doing chores, rehashing their history, and it works on a deeply believable, emotional level. The reader is so invested in this life with them that the slowness doesn’t bother them.

Then there’s the books where the same journey goes on as it is written above but the reader instead feels “Omg,will they just get on with it “.

Off The Wall becomes the later, a draining narrative of endless chatter about farm chores , animals, clothing, and choices. It’s all on a one low energy level sort of basis.

As said, Montreux loves to describe things . Everything is very detailed. In a book where there’s a deficit of energy to begin with, hardly any suspense or action in a plot where a Prince and a princess, a moat dragon and even a Kingdom are at risk, well , more details aren’t quite the thing that’s missing here.

There’s no battles, nary a sword fight, the villain is rarely seen and his death is swiftly done and forgotten.

This is an example of the type of narrative and detail here:

“Building their cabin proved to be enough of a challenge in the early days. It took Rye all spring to find the right wood to make the beams. Once the frame was built, Cyril helped him with the walls and the thatched roof until the cool mornings gave way to hot afternoons. They spent those in the cool stone of the outpost until it was too hot. Then, they would cool off in the nearby stream. Finally, on the first day of autumn, Rye considered their little house a home worthy of a prince. It had three rooms, like his parents’ original cottage. The sitting room, kitchen, and dining room”

The next paragraph is about how and what type of rooms the house had. What they were lined with, how many chairs, the type of chairs. Etc.

Next paragraph is all about building their bed, their dresser, etc.

On, and on. Details upon details.

Imagine pages and pages of this.

The entire book is like this.

Even their sexual activity is a manual. Just read as so non sexy.

It took everything I had to finish this.

Read the above passage. Decide if that sort of writing is your thing.

If so, this might be your book.

Buy Link:

Description:

When unrequited love sours to hate, it takes something off the wall to turn it around.

After the royal moat dragon is accused of murder, Prince Cyril immediately heads to his childhood friend-turned-nemesis’s farm to exonerate the beast. Too bad Rye still hates him and assassins want him dead.

Rye has avoided Prince Cyril since he learned his crush was futile. Now, he’s responsible for his siblings and the majority of the kingdom’s food supply. He doesn’t have time for his princely annoyance, especially when they’re trapped together with only one bed.

Instead of finding a way to return the prince to the castle, Cyril and Rye succeed only in irritating each other until another feeling rears its ugly head. Love or no, a prince can’t marry a farmer, even if their relationship is key to restoring peace in their kingdom.

Off The Wall is a male/male fantasy friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance with comedic and cottage core elements. It has a farmer turned rescuer, a himbo prince who complicates everything, a princess with amnesia, and a playful moat dragon. There’s snark, spice, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Content Warning: Off the Wall contains fantasy violence with swords, assassins, dungeons, and the aforementioned hungry moat dragon. It also contains farm animal battery for butchering. There is mention of a fatal plague-like disease.

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