Category: M/M Supernatural Fiction

An Alisa Review: Hybrid Reset (A Darker Hollow #3) by Shannon West and TS McKinney

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

“If vampires had yearbooks, I’d probably be listed as “Lucas, the Least Likely to Succeed.” After all, I’m living in the basement of a spooky old house about to fall down around my ears and a blood thrall named Liam brings me the blood of small game, so I won’t starve to death. It all started when some werewolves attacked our coven and killed off all the vampires, except for a few of us who managed to escape the bloodbath. But as the youngest, I still didn’t know how to hunt or even survive the sunlight, so I was stuck here in this old mausoleum of a house.  That is, until the werewolves came back. They found me right away, of course, and to my shock, they had Valerian, the leader of my old coven, living with them as the mate of the alpha wolf, Finn. Valerian and Mason, the beautiful blond mate of both Finn and Valerian—don’t ask; it’s way too complicated—both begged Finn to let me stay. He did, but he put me under the control of a big, mean, gorgeous, sexy wolf named Connor.

Don’t get me wrong. My old sire, Tolan, the sadist, trained me to do as I’m told. But sometimes, I forget and that really gets on Connor’s nerves. I see the relationship with Valerian and his mates and I want something like that for myself. I want to belong to someone. I want someone to love me. And more and more I think I want that someone to be Connor. But that may be something he can’t ever give me.”

A new pack, a new beginning, a little betrayal, some frequent fighting, a lot of sex and even some spanking, and you have a rousing and romantic adventure with the Hybrid wolves.

This series is continuing to intrigue me.  I liked getting to see Mason, Finn and Valerian continuing to build the trust in their relationship.  Connor has been mourning his dead mate for a long time and has trouble accepting his pull to Lucas.  Lucas hasn’t had the best life since he was turned into a vampire and he still has trouble knowing what to do.

They are beginning a new pack that will be welcoming and it’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment.  Finn and Valerian are still trying to feel accepted by their mates and for different reasons and Mason’s open defiance doesn’t help matters.

I was glad to see Mason, Finn and Valerian recognizing the work their relationship needs and taking some of the steps they need.  I could feel Connor and Lucas’s pain and worries regarding their situation and how to act.  I don’t always like when it takes a life or death situation for someone to completely accept how they feel for someone.  I feel bad that Lucas wasn’t able to get the closer he hoped for and how what happened may affect his mother.

I liked cover art by E Keith it gives a nice visual of the house and of Connor and follows the style of the first book.

Sales Links: Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 184 pages

Published: July 18, 2018 by Painted Hearts Publishing

Edition Language: English

Series: A Darker Hollow #3

An Ali Review: Death Days by Lia Cooper

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

By day, Professor Nicholas Littman works as an itinerant professor at a small college in the Pacific Northwest. He teaches seminars on mythology and the intersections of folklore and magic in the ancient world. By night, he’s the local necromancer, a rare magical talent that has left him alienated from other practitioners.

All Nick wants from life is to be left alone to run his magical experiments and teach kids the historical context of magic without anyone being the wiser. Unfortunately, his family is sworn to sit on the council of the Order of the Green Book—a group of magicians dating back to the Crusades—and they aren’t willing to take Nick’s no for an answer.

As though that wasn’t bad enough, a coven of Night Women has arrived in town, warning Nick that there are wolves at his door he had better take care of. But what can one necromancer do when every natural and supernatural card seems stacked against him?

This was a pretty entertaining paranormal story.  There was a lot going on but it was easy to follow and I felt the author did a nice job on the world building.  There are some common supernatural types of characters but the plot lines were a unique twist on them.
I liked the various characters and I enjoyed Nick at the main one.  He’s was a bit grumpy  and reminded me of a few professors I knew when I was in school.  There was some witty dialogue and some humorous parts. 
 
My main disappointment was that there was not much romance in this.  There is a slow burn between Nick and his TA Jonah.   Nothing really happens between them until the end of the book.  This leads to my main complaint of this book.  There were a lot of things left hanging and ending felt a bit rushed.  I still had a bunch of questions at the end of the book and I wasn’t satisfied with the romance.  If this was book one in a series then I would be fine with it.  The book really felt like the beginning of a series to me but there was no indication anywhere that it is so I’m going to assume it was a standalone.  And if that is the case then I’m not really happy with how things ended.  
 
Overall I thought it was pretty good.  I think it’s best going into thinking of it as an urban fantasy rather than a romance.
 
Cover:  The cover was done by Natasha Snow and I think it is a great cover.  It’s super eye catching and fits the story really well.  I think this, as well as many covers from this publisher, are top of the genre.
Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook
Published August 6th 2018 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781949340341
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Escaping Exile (Escape Trilogy #1) by Sara Dobie Bauer

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Robinson Crusoe meets Dracula in this outstanding paranormal adventure. There are even cannibals as the innocent man who washes ashore on the island, Edmund Baines, is dragged away from danger to his “home” on the nearly deserted island. The problem is, as Edmund discovers when he awakens, that he may have been saved from one danger to be plunged into another.

It’s amazing to me that the author was able to create a world where vampires could be banned to exile for killing one too many innocents, and then she created an unforgettable character in Andrew, who was turned vampire by an Elder in the year 1066. And though he’s starved for human blood, he holds off on killing Edmund, or drinking from him, because there’s something about the fearless young man that piques his interest. Fascinated, intrigued, and finally caring for Edmund, it isn’t until he must drink from the young man to save him from the cannibals who have arrived at Andrew’s house to claim the human-scented new arrival that he finally breaks down and takes what he needs.

But their adventure is hardly over. The head vampire who originally sentenced Andrew to solitude on the island has arrived to mete out a new punishment, or will it be a reward? To find out, simply hit your one-click button. This story doesn’t take long to read, but it’s fascinating, interesting, and all-round fun entertainment for a few hours of your day.

If I had one complaint it would be that the story is short—a little over 20K words—but one would never know it by how much adventure and romance is packed in those words so it’s only a minor concern. Plus there’s a sequel on the horizon. Yay! I highly recommend this to all who enjoy a daring adventure reminiscent of the classics we read (and watched) as children. Add in a touch of MM romance and some smokin’ hot scenes and it’s a sure win.

~~~

The cover by Natasha Snow depicts a moonlit lagoon superimposed by a long-haired man with naked torso. I’m not sure whether the man or the lagoon is more gorgeous but it’s the perfect cover for this story.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published August 13th 2018 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781949340433
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Escape Trilogy #1

A MelanieM Review: Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories by Andrea Speed

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

 

A collection of tales filled with monsters, be they human or beast, ranging in setting from dystopia to pitch black noir and even general silliness. From the ludicrous to the frighteningly plausible; from deep space to after the end of the world. There are clumsy werewolves and bloody revenge, monster sleep overs and a dieting fad sure to kill your appetite.

Whether looking into the past or the future, you’re sure to find that stuff gets really weird.

Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories by Andrea Speed is a collection of flash fiction in various  genres from fantasy to horror to science fiction.  Some are even grouped together further into subcategories like end of the world and dystopian societies.

Some of them have been previously published for the Goodreads M/M Don’t Read in the Closet Events and I honestly felt those came across as the most complete, well rounded stories of the bunch, Soul Mates especially.

The rest of them felt less like actually flash fiction (complete stories of 300 words or so) than outlines or just written down sketches of possible stories the author has in mind for the future.

Quite a few show promise that I would love to see made into stories, whether its vampire hunters or the shotgun bastards of the title.  But there’s so little to the characters or world building that the fiction doesn’t really count as a full story, just a tidbit of what could be.  Which is most cases the author fully acknowledges.

There is a whole section dedicated to End of the Whole tales which gets to be a bit much.  After one or three, even as short as they are, reading about the end of the Earth, the species, it gets old.  Well, it did for me.  I would have broken this section up. Spread the tales out a bit.  But maybe the author wanted a depressing impact to hit all together.  I have no idea.  For me, it just made me want to skip over several and then return after a break.

Reading through these stories is like a walk through the author’s likes and dislikes,  Speed’s commentary in front of the stories makes that clear.  Merry Killmas?  Oh dear!  Yep, Christmas is definitely not the holiday for this author.  Short, horrific, and to the point.

If you are a fan of Andrea Speed, then I think you  would enjoy this trip through her imagination and possible plots for future books.  For fans of flash fiction, you might give it a try as well.

For everyone else?  Well, I’ll leave that up to you.  As a fan of this author, I’m not sure it worked for me.

Cover art: Philip Lloyd Simpson.  This cover totally works for the collection and the author.  Perfect.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published July 18th 2018 by Less Than Three Press (first published July 17th 2018)
ISBN139781684313129
Edition LanguageEnglish

An Alisa Review: An Arranged Mating by Jane Wallace-Knight

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

Hunter White left home as soon as he was able. Coming back to take over as alpha, Hunter learned of the serious debt his father had left the pack with. Desperate to save them, Hunter entered into a deal with a powerful vampire. The nest leader would pay off all the pack’s debts, on one condition—Hunter had to take a vampire for a mate.

Vampire Aeron Lyons had been in some serious scrapes during his unnaturally long life, but nothing came close to this. Being given to an alpha werewolf, like he was some sort of bargaining chip, wasn’t what Aeron wanted for his life, but he wasn’t dumb enough to say no to a man like Ken Roberts.

Resigning himself to join a pack who already dislikes him on principal, Aeron has no idea how rocky the road ahead will be or how he’s going to spend the rest of his life with a man who hates him.

So interesting concept, Hunter is trying to do what is right for his pack but is getting push back from many.  Aeron owes his life to Ken Roberts and when he says jump Aeron does even if it means moving to a backwater town where everyone hates him.  They both come to find there is a bunch of back stabbing going on and have to find out how to combat it.

Aeron and Hunter are both in a situation they don’t want to be in but quickly find they can make it work.  They actually connect pretty fast and want to protect the other and have to take down a few people for that to happen but they do it together.  I liked this story but felt that it was rushed and couldn’t quite connect with the characters.  It felt like they were putting up a front to others most of the time and I didn’t see the real them much.

The cover art by Harris Channing is nice and gives a nice visual for the story.

Sales Link: Siren-BookStrand, Inc.

Book Details:

ebook, 126 pages

Published: July 12, 2018 by Siren-BookStrand, Inc.

ISBN13: 9781642433081

Edition Language: English