Review: Cosmo and the King by Macy Blake

Rating: 4.75🌈

While the author lists this as a standalone book, it’s not. It falls strongly before the last several books in a couple of the Chosen One series, specifically because Cosmo plays such an important role in the events that happen there and are referenced here.

And most significantly, I believe it exists as a huge part of the foundation knowledge needed for the finale book in the Chosen Champions series, one that feels like it ties up this universe. That would be Oracle, fifth book that brings everything and everyone together.

But first, back to this joyous journey of Cosmo back to his mate , King Silenus. Or perhaps more precisely, Silenus’ own development and path back into Cosmo’s life in the human realm. Their shaky reconnection, and the absolutely perfect courtship that follows.

Blake pulls in new characters and old friends to help them out and let them find their way back to each other, building new strength and confidence in their bond and ability to grow with each other.

I loved every second of the time I spent reading this romance. And it makes what’s coming even more precious and grounded.

Cosmo and the King by Macy Blake is an amazing story with fantastic characters. It’s a must read within an outstanding universe of series.

Buy Link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Cosmo…Cosmo and the King by Macy Blake – Kindle

Audio

BUY NOW

Free Read

BUY NOW

Digital

Published: February 7, 2023

Edition: 2nd Edition

Cover Artist: Alexandria Corza

Audio

Listen Length: 02:35:00

Narrator: Michael Dean

Blurb:

When Cosmo learns the faun king is in the human realm, he panics. See, Silenus happens to be his fiance… and he’s never told any of his friends in the human realm that he ran away on his wedding day, leaving his king at the alter.

Silenus made a deal with the devil–the queen of the fae–when he learned the human realm was going to be closed, keeping him separated from his mate and betrothed. He has to track down Cosmo and convince him that they are meant for each other, even though his stubborn fiance seems determined to challenge him at every turn.

Cosmo doesn’t know Silenus’s secret, though, and now the hunt is on. Silenus is facing a dark and dangerous path, and he wants nothing more than his consort at his side. He’ll follow his mate anywhere, even to the depths of the human realm, to prove to Cosmo they are meant to be together..

Now he only has to convince his stubborn mate to stop running…because no matter how long the chase lasts, Silenus will eventually catch him.

The Chosen One Suggested Reading Order

1. Sweet Nothings – Prequel – The Chosen One

2. The Trouble With Love – Nothing But Trouble, Book 1

3. Santa Trouble – Nothing But Trouble, Book 2

4. All or Nothing – The Chosen One, Book 1

5. Nothing Ventured – The Chosen One, Book 2

6. Hell on Earth – Hellhound Champions, Book 1

7. Double or Nothing

8. Next to Nothing – The Chosen One, Book 3

9. Hell To Pay – Hellhound Champions, Book 2

10. Give Him Hell – Hellhound Champions, Book 3

11. Nothing Gained – The Chosen One, Book 4

12. Stop at Nothing – The Chosen One, Book 5

13. Sweet Spot

14. All Kidding Aside – Magical Mates, Book 1

15. Stop Kidding Around – Magical Mates, Book 2

16. I Kid You Not – Magical Mates, Book 3

17. Sugar Honey Iced Tea – Magical Mates, Book 3.5

18. Hell Breaks Loose – Hellhound Champions, Book 4

19. Logan – Chosen Champions, Book 1

20. Gideon – Chosen Champions, Book 2

21. Jamal – Chosen Champions, Book 2.5

22. Cosmo and the King

23. Aleron – Chosen Champions, Book 3

24. Scout – Chosen Champions, Book 4

25. With Kid Gloves – Magical Mates, Book 4

26. Oracle-Chosen Champions, Book 5

Review: Paranormal Protectors: Atlas (On Guard #0.5) by Michelle Frost

Rating: 4🌈

Michelle Frost has written a fast-paced, urban fantasy short prequel for her new series, On Guard. This uses the same universe and characters as the previous series, Mated to a Human so knowledge of that world and those themes is necessary.

This was an action filled story that includes a romance that almost but not quite falls into the insta love category. That would be the relationship between Council mage Atlas and human Gavin, a barista.

The story picks up from the events happening in A Vampire Called Leander where the anti supernatural terrorist group is stepping up its attacks against the mated pairs and now a new group.

I liked the characters, they were very engaging and the new group of oracles, mages, and now Gavin, at the Hub are all very interesting and diverse.

The potential for a great new series is amazing and I’m excited to see where Frost takes this new group and expands on this new world of oracles, demons and humans.

It’s a good start.

Mated to a Human:

A Hellhound Called Derek #1

A Warlock Called Jacob #2

A Vampire Called Leander #3 – finale

On Guard-sequel series- 4 books

Paranormal Protectors: Atlas 0.5

Buy link

Paranormal Protectors: Atlas: A Prequel (On Guard Book 1)

Blurb

Atlas’s simple crush gets complicated when Gavin turns out to be more than human. Can Atlas protect him as he becomes part of the paranormal world?

Paranormal Protectors: Atlas is the prequel novella to Paranormal Protectors: Gavin. This series is best read in order.

• Publication date: June 15, 2023

• Print length: 72 pages

Review: Oracles Always Win (Willow Lake Supernaturals Book 3) by Lori Ames

Rating: 4.5🌈

Oracles Always Win is a fantastic book, a favorite read in a great series by Lori Ames about a small town of mixed paranormal species living among humans, all magically harmonious. That changed when a small pack of werewolves lead by a disgruntled were started a chain of serious crimes that eventually lead to the arrival of Gage, a demon, and his crew from the Supernatural Council.

One of the people there on the scene of the last crime, is Jake. He’s the owner of the bar and inn it occurred at. Jake has been a curious character throughout the prior stories. While he thinks he’s human, and is clearly ignorant of the many supernatural beings that are present in his life, it’s equally true he’s not just human. He has visions. He’s an oracle. Has a cat that talks (just not to Jake) and has magical powers. In other words, Jake is a mystery too.

Ames gives us several fantastic storylines here. There’s the ongoing threat to the community from the outside werewolf pack and perhaps something else. The species trafficking. Those investigations are continuing and have implications for others inside Willow Lake

But the best threads, the most engaging are the ones that involve Jake and Gabe, separately and together.

For Jake, it’s his story about finding out who he is, what his friends and community really are, and, painfully, what his family history reveals about him. That last part still remains shrouded by mystery in large chunks of missing magical family lineage .I hope we get to this further in.

Gabe is a demon who also has a painful past related to his father. It’s one that’s haunted him and plays a huge role in how he’s looked at his relationships with his coworkers and friends. Jake will force a major overhaul in his life and his dynamics with his found family.

This whole storyline is wonderful and just grabs at the reader on multiple levels. While Jake and Gabe are trying to work through their new relationship and possibly a mate bonding, there’s a real sense of danger and crime in progress to deal with.

We meet new characters, Isaac, Nelson, Davina, who are part of Gabe’s team, and explore more of Willow Lake’s magical powers. It’s a fascinating universe. I can’t wait for the next book to arrive.

Lori Ames’ Willow Lake Supernaturals is an excellent series and Oracles Always Win is an imaginative, well written example why I highly recommend the entire series.

Willow Lake Supernaturals:

Ravens Never Fall (Prequel)

Hellhounds Never Lie (Book 1)

Wolves Always Bite (Book 2)

Oracles Always Win (Book 3)

Buy Links:

Blurb:

Jake believes he is absolutely and completely ordinary… But what if he isn’t?

Jake is absolutely, completely ordinary, even if he has a weird painting affliction. Painting is relaxing, right? It helps. It’s a form of art therapy. Even if his is the sub-conscious kind of painting. The middle-of-the-night, paint-while-you-sleep kind. The kind that makes him puke every single time it happens.
Okay. So, maybe that’s not exactly normal.
But when the sexy but imaginary guy with horns, who his weird painterly alter-ego has been fixated on for the last year, suddenly shows up in town with horns and all, Jake doesn’t know what to think. Especially when the not-so-imaginary guy claims he’s a demon and that Jake’s an oracle of all things. That’s when Jake begins to suspect his life is never going to be the same again.
After all, he mentioned the horns, right?

Tags: A demon in search of a home, an oracle unknowingly in need of a tether, the talking cat is a messy eater, oracles know things, oracles shouldn’t paint in public in only their underwear, the wolves in the hills are still jerks, a formerly human guy keeps asking crazy questions, who knew horns and wings could be sexy, and… just how many supernatural beings will be drawn to this one little town?

Review: Elevator Pitch by Ofelia Grand

Rating: 4.5🌈

Short stories by Ofelia Grand are absolutely addictive. It’s like eating your favorite snacks or chocolates. You can just eat one right after the other. And be happy.

Elevator Pitch by Ofelia Grand, all 41 pages, tells a sweet tale of shifter love that looks incompatible on the surface but these two are perfect for each other.

As usual, Grand’s writing is spot on. We get dumped into a recognizable situation but paranormal world. A gay bear shifter is tired of trying to fit into a bear shifter society that’s not accepting of him. It’s painted quickly for the readers in skillfully written scenarios.

Bjorn Ritter is a bear shifter we can understand and connect with.

What’s next is surprising. That’s a somewhat distracted artist bat shifter, Cecil Baxter. He has a very different background and current situation on his hands. Cecil is engaging, and vulnerable.

It’s hard not to speak to the most powerful and important scenes of this very short story, but it takes place in a dark elevator. It’s believable. Stressful, real (be careful if you’re claustrophobic) and so incredibly emotional. This is why I read this author

It shows how two such individuals can make such an intense, deep connection in such a short period of time.

I love it and them.

I’ll be heading towards my next short story by this author and leaving you all to enjoy the gem that is Elevator Pitch by Ofelia Grand.

Buy Links

books2read.com/ElevatorPitch

Elevator Pitch at JMS-Books

Blurb:

Bjorn Ritter only wants one thing — to live his life away from nosey, demanding bears. That’s easier said than done when you’re the son of the female running the Bayside Bear Community.

Cecil Baxter might be a bat, but he grew up away from shifter communities and he’s doing his best to continue to keep his distance. Shifters aren’t an accepting bunch and Cecil has never fit the norm.

Already facing a dreaded meeting with his mother, the last thing Bjorn needs is a stranger using his elevator to escape a pack of werewolves. And Cecil, whose day just seems to be getting worse and worse, could really do without the added stress of finding himself trapped in an elevator with a huge bear shifter.

Still, what could go wrong in three minutes?

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (June 6, 2020)

• Publication date: June 6, 2020

• Print length: 42 pages

Review: Dire Straits and Entwined Fates (Fanged Mistakes, #2) by Alice Winters

Rating: 5🌈

Fanged Mistakes is everything I love about an Alice Winters universe and series. Fanged Mistakes incorporates humor (high and low), relatable complicated family relationships, interspecies courtship, drama, murder, psychological trauma, and layers upon layers of emotional, often tragic back histories.

These are all further entwined with some of the most memorable, surprisingly written characters, ones which, during both the course of each book and over the series, make decisions that challenge the reader’s perceptions of what we thought we knew about them. Instead, we get another layer of depth and generosity of spirit we didn’t see coming.

It’s not just the main characters this happens to either. More than once, I saw a scene or moment reveal a character’s real identity, one not previously seen. It’s done swiftly and succinctly and with impact. I can name every scene it happens in. The writing is that successful and great.

Dire Straits and Entwined Fates charts the next stage in Julian and Casamir’s relationship. Julian’s family is adjusting, albeit maybe not his father, to their mating, and things are doing well.

Naturally, here comes the past to throw up the biggest challenges they have faced yet. This was briefly hinted at in Faked Dates and Fanged Mistakes but Casamir’s past is back in one roaring, fast paced, action packed, emotional thriller of a ride.

Winters manages to keep all the heavy elements like Julian’s PTSD from his past attacks, the continuing emotional fallout, the devastating impact the return of his past is having on Casamir, the changing dynamics of their relationship, all of this raw material, is kept real and believable.

But interwoven into this is moments of hilarity, scenes of wonderful silliness and outrageous fun with their found family. It’s an eclectic group of friends and family formed of human detective, vampire sidekick, poodle, and a surprising newcomer. This allows a break from the tension and drama. And gives us some truly heartwarming scenes.

The ending and villain of this story are as compelling and complex as the themes and narrative calls for. It’s thoughtful storytelling that makes this a fantastic novel and these memorable characters.

I really need more. There’s that pesky question that keeps rearing its head of what exactly is Julian? No one seems to have the answer. More books please.

I’m highly recommending this and the series but read them in the order they are written for the events and relationships.

Fanged Mistakes:

✓ Faked Dates and Fanged Mistakes #1

✓ Dire Straits and Entwined Fates # 2

Buy Link

Dire Straits and Entwined Fates (Fanged Mistakes Book 2)

Blurb

Julian

When did fake-then-real dating an ancient vampire become the easy part?

Casimir’s ridiculously sweet now that he’s conquered “the art of the flirt,” as he calls it. He tries hard to fit in with my family—if we forget about those silly threatening chocolates he sent my father—and he even makes me popcorn… okay, he tried. I know, I know, I’m just bragging at this point.

Everything is perfect until we stumble upon a half-dead vampire who is being hunted by someone. And I’m afraid the person hunting him knows all about Casimir’s history. Casimir has fought so hard to drive the darkness away, but we both know that he needs to bury his past… one last time.

Casimir

I never saw myself in a relationship, let alone with a pesky werewolf. He’s funny and sweet, has questionable friends, and phenomenal taste in dog bandanas. After five hundred years, I think I’ve finally convinced myself that I deserve this.

However, someone else isn’t quite certain I do. Julian has assured me that it’s time to move forward, but when there’s a masked man waiting in the shadows for me, I find it hard to ignore my past mistakes.

But I have something I didn’t have the last time I faced him.

Someone who loves me.

Dire Straits and Entwined Fates has a cheerful werewolf who seems to have an aversion to clothes; a vampire leader who overuses speedy delivery services; board games with a little too much exhibitionism; and animals that are too cute to be eaten.

• Publisher: (March 12, 2024)

• Publication date: March 12, 2024

• Print length: 368 pages

Review: A Vampire Called Leander (Mated to a Human Book 3) by Michelle Frost

Rating: 4🌈

A Vampire Called Leander wraps up Michelle Frost’s trilogy about a Paranormal Council’s arranged matings between paranormal beings and humans in order to unify their world.

It’s been a while since I read this series but it was easy to fall back into the universe and characters. At only 90 pages, Frost gets immediately into the storyline, the first meeting and mating of the two characters.

The short length doesn’t allow for much background or depth of culture, but the characters are engaging and the nature of their mating process intriguing.

It’s a fated mates without the buildup of anticipating or the recognition by one that normally occurs. There’s an ongoing conflict by a Human only faction that’s a series element and a fabulous side character, Ammon, who’s a bodyguard of both Leander and his human mate, Merrick.

The ending sets the stage for a sequel series to come. I can only hope that one of those characters that gets a story will be Ammon.

Vampire Called Leander (Mated to a Human Book 3) by Michelle Frost is highly entertaining and I recommend it and the series. Read them in the order they are written to understand the events and characters.

Mated to a Human:

A Hellhound Called Derek #1

A Warlock Called Jacob #2

A Vampire Called Leander #3 – finale

Buy link

A Vampire Called Leander (Mated To The Human Book 3)

Blurb

Can an uptight vampire and a free-spirited human find some common ground?

Merrick’s family name is one of the oldest and most influential in Solston, but maintaining an empire has never interested him. He prefers his books, the company of his cat, and to his surprise, his new prickly vampire mate.

Leander refuses to take part in the Council’s arranged matings until the most alluring scent catches his nose. Once their mating is finalized though, he finds he has no idea how to meld their two lives together.

A Vampire Called Leander is the third and final book in this fast-paced novella series where the paranormals are all deliciously protective of their humans…no matter what type of trouble they get into. Series is best read in order.

• Publisher: (April 6, 2023)

• Publication date: April 6, 2023

• Print length: 90 pages

Review: The Ruby Tooth by Ofelia Gränd

Rating: 4🌈

One of these days by Ofelia Gränd is going to surprise me and deliver a full length novel and I won’t know what to do. I’ll be overwhelmed and overjoyed, of course, but still. Someone will have to pick me off the floor first.

Until then, I’ll settle for these short tales of whimsical romance or whatever she decides to call them. Her mind is a decidedly different and wonderful place.

Here it has created a bar on an unknown world, The Ruby Tooth, a place where all the species can have a drink and mix, but under the most rigid rules that only the doorkeepers understand.

How I love how weirdly quirky Grand’s imagination is. The Ruby Tooth is divided into two bars, a good side and those that belong on the bad side. The veritas, the doorkeepers, with their intense glaze that see into the soul, say left or right, good or bad. And that’s where the beings go for their side of the bar, unable to switch for the night. The veritas give no clues or rationale for their actions, just the words. Left or Right.

Which is all the more intriguing when two widely different beings, one human (I’m assuming) and one a werewolf bounty hunter, each end up on the wrong side of the bar. Thats approximately where the author’s short story begins.

But it’s full of boundless possibilities, wild elements , fanciful ideas, and great characters. Honestly, why is Ilya Lewis the only one in an Elf costume and why does that bring immediate dislike? I need to know!

And don’t get me started on his friend who ends up with two bear shifters. Nope.

But even better is the new fated mate’s romance that’s a “take it slow” road romance. What a great change of pace.

There’s even more going on. Fast paced action, heart stopping fights, and a happy ending. All well done in 45 pages.

Sigh. I need a full length book so badly!

Read this quirky, imaginative paranormal romance and enjoy!

I highly recommend this author in all her flights of narrative fancy.

Buy link

JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/TheRubyTooth

Blurb

Ilya Lewis is gonna kill his best friend Vera. She not only persuaded him off his couch and into the creepiest nightclub in the city, she also didn’t show. When Ilya learns the bar is split into two halves, and he’s been let into the wrong side, it doesn’t make things any better. Once the doorman determines which half to let you into, he won’t let you into the other.

Ulric Moon hates the Ruby Tooth. But as a bounty hunter, he must go where the trails lead him, and tonight it’s landed him in the worst nightclub in the universe. All he wants is to catch the vampire he’s hunting, but despite trying to convince the veritas doorman examining his soul that he needs to be let into the good side of the club, he’s shown to the bad. As if that wasn’t enough, his destined mate somehow manages to sneak into the bad side where he doesn’t belong.Ilya finds a way to the other side of the bar, but one look at the patrons there has him regretting ever leaving his apartment. When he tries to leave, a scary-looking man who does nothing but growl follows him.

Ulric knows he’s freaking Ilya out, but Ilya has inadvertently caught the interest of the vampire Ulric is hunting, and he has to protect him. How will Ulric keep Ilya safe when he doesn’t believe Ulric is a bounty hunter? And how do you tell someone they’re your mate when they don’t believe you’re a werewolf?

Details

•

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (December 25, 2021)

• Publication date: December 25, 2021

• Print length: 48 pages

Review: Code Name Jack Rabbit (The Vampire Guard Book 1) by Elizabeth Noble

Rating: 4🌈

“Welcome to the Vampire Guard, where legend and myth meet science and technology.”

Code Name Jack Rabbit is a book the starts a new chapter in the lives of the couples and characters from Anne Barwell and Elizabeth Noble’s excellent paranormal series, The Sleepless City.

There, along the banks of Lake Erie in the town of Boggslake, Ohio, there was a haunted mansion called Bogg’s Castle. Home to a werewolf, several ancient vampires, a human, a dog, and the ghostly original owner, they solved murders, had many found family dramatic perilous moments, and found their mates.

Code Name Jack Rabbit picks up from the end of tumultuous events in Shifting Chaos. While recovered, each is dealing with the aftermath.

I enjoyed this and was somewhat sorry to see that the intriguing town and full found family is going to be left behind for the trilogy.

Two couples, Jonas Forge and Blair Turner (both vampires) and Henri de Fluer aka Declan and Lucas Coate (vampire and werewolf) are recruited by an ancient agency. And moved, along with Moose the dog, to another location.

Left behind in Bogg’s Castle is Simon and Ben (vampire and human). And the ghost of course. And while Noble’s storyline and the characters discussions themselves have this separation make perfect sense, they are after all extremely long lived, if not eternal species, it’s not as easy for the reader who loves them as family.

So it’s a major adjustment to have a new crew of people and players. They also are a foundation of their own, like those of Bogg’s Castle.

The mystery plays well against the type of paranormal creatures and murders they have already faced prior. And I’m sensing a link that may be forming between the series villains.

Anyway, it’s shaping up to be another exciting new series and a fast paced new group of characters.

I’m definitely recommending it. And read The Sleepless City too. It a much needed foundation for this.

It’s a rec for me. It a good lead in to a terrific sequel series. Read them in the order they are written.

The Sleepless City:

✓ Shades of Sepia #1 by Elizabeth Noble

✓ Electric Candle #2 by Elizabeth Noble

✓ Family and Reflection #3 by Anne Barwell

◦ Shifting Chaos #4 by Anne Barwell

Sequel Series:

The Vampire Guard by Elizabeth Noble:

The Vampire Guard:

✓ Code Name Jack Rabbit #1

◦ Quarry #2

◦ Endosymbiont #3

Buy Link:

Blurb:

Vampires and werewolves live long lives. The Sleepless City saga might have ended but the story continues…

Welcome to the Vampire Guard, where legend and myth meet science and technology.

Vampires make the best spies. Throw a smart-mouthed werewolf in with three vampires, mix well, and The Vampire Guard’s newest team is bound to become one of their greatest assets. Super spies with a full range of skills. Warrior, hacker, thief, and scientist. They get in, do the job, and get out before the bad guys ever know what hit them.

Forge, Blair, Declan, and Lucas are thrust into the world of high-tech spies and top-secret espionage conspiracies. Recruited into the world’s most elite and secret organization with one singular mission. Protect those who can’t defend themselves from ruin.

Together they must thwart an assassination attempt on the open waters of Lake Superior while tracking a previously unknown biological weapon controlled by the Qiguan—a weapon which may very well mean death for one of them.

• Publisher: Howling Corgi Press; 2nd edition (January 12, 2021)

• Publication date: January 12, 2021

• Print length: 249 pages

Review: Contested Crown (The Empty Throne Trilogy #2) by Kai Butler

Rating: 4.75🌈

Contested Crown, the second novel in The Empty Throne Trilogy, hits so many high marks. It easily overcomes the usual second book syndrome in a series, by ramping up the multiple storylines Butler has already established in the first book. The author does a great job introducing new characters whose meaning and connections to the men on the run are clouded by the new dark mysteries forming. Some of these new storylines include elements that are of a wildly magical nature while others are deeply rooted within the supernatural drug-related crime world.

It picks up right after the shocking events of Exiled Heir, with mage Cade and werewolf Miles on the run after Cade , Prince of House Bartlett, was betrayed by those closest to him m, stealing his throne and his heritage. But Miles, whose real name is Miles Castillo, is also a dethroned Prince in hiding from the very man he’s on the run with.

Butler’s narrative explores this tangled relationship that’s full of potential conflict between two cruelly connected pasts , pasts with dangerous secrets . The author’s dramatic choice to make the suspenseful , angst filled , hunted run the driving force behind the story is a fantastic narrative springboard.

Emotionally, the forced intimacy, their continued dependency under these circumstances, the constant peril, and the growing affection/attachment towards each other that this trip is allowing them to feel, it’s everything the reader wants and the author’s storytelling is beautifully achieving. It packs a darkly magical, sexual punch.

Butler’s writing simultaneously moves into new areas here with Cade and Miles, especially with regard to their magic, the use of tattoos, and the return of a old friend. The new creativity here giving their world more depth and diversity in its magical history as well as using it in the current criminal scene.

There’s so many great twists and shocks here, ones to delight and horrify. This is a book once you get started it’s impossible to put down.

That ending especially is a killer.

Now everything is in place for the dramatic events and tumultuous times to come in Ascendant King. That can’t be here quickly enough.

One last note, Contested Crown, as magnificent as it is, is definitely a bridge novel. It doesn’t exist without the first book . Nor the one to come. As a reader you must have read that first book, and have the knowledge to go along with it to understand and appreciate the events and stories that happen here.

I’m highly recommending you read both because both are outstanding.

The Empty Throne Trilogy:

✓ Exiled Heir #1

✓ Contested Crown #2

◦ Ascendant King #3 – June 17,2024

Buy Link:

Contested Crown (The Empty Throne Trilogy)

Blurb:

I can’t give him up, even if it costs me my life…

Miles and Cade are on the run. Without money, protection, or allies they have only each other to rely on as they flee the most powerful mage house in the country. Unfortunately, the outside world is even more dangerous than the lion’s den they just escaped from.

No matter how right it feels to have the mage prince relying on him, Miles knows the closer they get to each other the more dangerous it is for both of them.

A new mage house is Cade’s only chance to survive the magical war he started. With House Morrison exclusively interested in Cade, Miles will be left out in the cold. And can he stay with Cade when every moment together risks revealing Miles’s deepest secret?

• Publisher: (February 26, 2024)

• Publication date: February 26, 2024

• Print length: 468 pages

Review: Justice (Damned Connections Book 2) by Lark Taylor

Rating: 4.5🌈

Justice is the second in Taylor’s Damned Connections paranormal romance series, a sequel to the original Reckless Damned that featured the sons of Lucifer and their mates. This one focuses on the outlier characters from that series and their own journey to find their mates.

Vampire assassin Sebastian has lurked about the edges of many a story, snarling and sneering, while providing evidence for his deadly powers with his legendary blade Bessy. Now we get his romance as his tragic history.

Taylor has paired him , that most “monstrous of men” , up with with a man most would consider a true innocent. That’s Matty, who’s brother and mate got their story in the first book, Patience. Matty is that sunny, effervescent personality, a knitting sunny bundle of emotions that’s recently undergone a severely traumatic experience. One that he still has nightmares about.

Please read the trigger warnings for this story. They happened in a prior story and anything here is off page details but those sensitive to this subject matter should be aware.

Taylor’s story gives us two men working through the darkness and damage that life’s worst has dealt them. Each character has let the traumatic violence , emotional damage and the deep fear of loss/death they’ve experienced impact their lives, but in different ways.

Sebastian has cut himself off from all relationships, removing himself ,and potentially anyone he might come to care for, from repeat of the history that continues to haunt him. Matty’s life has become more circumspect, he’s got protection 24/7 whether he wants it or not. Plus he’s unaware of the paranormal world and beings that exist in and around him. They’ve all kept him ignorant for his safety.

In Justice’s fast paced storyline, Clark brings everything together on a collision course. The previous plots from the Damned Connection series weaves together with the story here to bring Sebastian and Matty together.

It’s heartbreaking, tortuous, a definite hurt/comfort, but so satisfying when it all finally comes back together as the characters work through their own struggles and emotional damage to a realistic mating the reader feels fit them both as it should.

Sebastian was never going to be an easy fix but I didn’t realize how hard Clark was going to make the journey for Matty too. That balance was needed for this to be true for them both.

Now for the next novel, Temperance. I can’t wait.

This book and series is a must read.

Reckless Damned Series

✓ Devil’s Mark

✓ Devil May Care

✓ Deal With the Devil

✓ Luck of the Devil

Damned Connections Series

✓ Patience #1

✓ Justice #2

◦ Temperance #3

Buy Link:

Justice (Damned Connections Book 2)

Blurb:

Sebastian

Blood. Torture. Murder. They’ve been my only companions for centuries. I haven’t needed or wanted anything else.

Until I see Matty smile. Then something in me, something that’s been dormant for centuries, begins to reawaken.

Matty doesn’t belong in my world. He’s loving, innocent, and full of joy. The darkness of my life would corrupt him in a heartbeat, but when he’s dragged into it against his will, nothing can stop me delivering my personal brand of justice.

Matty keeps fighting for things I can’t give him, for things I’m no longer capable of. I can’t come between him and his family. I can’t give him what he needs.

But I also can’t stay away from him.

Matty

I’m surrounded by couples in love.

Once, I thought that’d be me. That I’d be swept off my feet and experience the kind of epic love you only see in movies.

Now, I know better.

A horrific night taught me to look for other things in a partner. Someone who’s predictable. Safe. Stable.

Sebastian is anything but.

Everyone tells me to stay away from him, but I don’t understand their concerns. How can he be a villain when all he’s shown me is kindness?

He makes me want things I thought I’d given up on. Things I’m too scared to admit I still want.

The trouble is, I can’t figure out what Sebastian wants. He tells me he can’t say no to me, but he won’t open up. He says to stay away from him, but he keeps coming around.

One thing is for sure, Sebastian is who I want in my future.

But how can I keep fighting for us if I’m the only one doing it?

Justice is a MM PNR romance about a grumpy vampire assassin and the sunshine human he can’t stay away from. The second in the Damned Connections series, each book will follow a different couple as they find their HEA. Although better read in order, these books can stand alone.

• Publisher: Lark Taylor (February 1, 2024)

• Publication date: February 1, 2024

• Print length: 476 pages

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: