Category: Shifters, Weres

Review: Resurrection Reprise: A Soulbound Universe Novel by Hailey Turner

Rating: 5🌈

I love Turner’s Soulbound series and so wanted to see the author revisit this universe. I am thrilled it’s the complicated Spencer Bailey, a favorite in that series, who’s been chosen to get a new story.

The complexity that is mage Spencer Bailey and his relationship with his companion, Psychopomp ocelot , Fatima is a difficult task to describe in one story because readers of the series have gotten to know him over seven books. That goes for Fatima, the Psychopomp too, another layered character.

Not quite a necromancer that raises the dead but a soul breaker, that magical difference being the thing keeping Spencer from the death penalty in the world’s government’s opinions. His type of magic is considered so powerful and rare, so little understood, that most agencies would rather lock him away or kill him than take the chance on his magic working against them.

As with the other government agencies who don’t come off well in Turner’s series, filled with bureaucratic cliques, people’s willingness to take things at face value, it’s no surprise we immediately fall into Spencer’s side of things here as he starts his investigation into a missing artifact. He’s gone from one agency, the PIA (Paranormal Investigations Agency) who handles international investigations and doesn’t want him after that last big battle, to Supernatural Operations Agency, which is the agency that handles the investigations within the country’s boundaries. In other words, don’t leave the country after helping save the world.

Does it help to have read the Soulbound series. Yes. I really don’t consider this a standalone. You need to understand the relationships, events, and even the smallest of references to have a deep appreciation of this story and what happens to Spencer here. That includes the people that show up from the Soulbound series.

Even Spencer’s relationship with Takoma, the Master Vampire of Seattle, has a prior basis in his prior experiences with Lucian, a Master Vampire from Soulbound, unlike any other , and referred to here.

Hailey Turner took her foundational elements from Soulbound and used them as a launching point for an intriguing new story about a mysterious artifact that has gone missing from the federal vault with potential catastrophic consequences . Spencer is the one of the few people who’s had experience with this type of object and operation. The reasons why soon become clear.

The investigation, the events are suspenseful , dangerous, and vastly complicated. Takoma and Spencer have a great chemistry and a hot sexual relationship that makes them a fantastic couple. I would love to see one more story about them with Takoma,working with the New York God pack , removing Spencer altogether from all the federal agencies rosters completely and getting his new life outside of that one. What a tale that would be!

Until then, I’m ready to dive happily back into the Soulbound series, and start over again. Remembering the first time I met everyone, was astonished at the mythology, the labyrinthine storytelling, and the characters I still can’t get enough of.

Soulbound is fabulous stuff, absolutely always on my to be recommended list. Adding this to it.

Love the cover.

Buy Link:

Resurrection Reprise: A Soulbound Universe Novel76Kindle Edition$0.00or $6.99 to buy

Blurb:

Possession is nine-tenths of the law.

Spencer Bailey has spent his entire life under government oversight for something he can’t change: his magic’s affinity for breaking souls. After surviving the end of the world, Spencer joins the Supernatural Operations Agency with the intention of keeping his head down and his hands clean.

Tasked with tracking down a stolen artifact, Spencer wants to run his first case with the SOA by the book. The master vampire of the Seattle Night Court won’t make that easy. Takoma is demanding and possessive, used to getting what he wants, and he lures Spencer into his Night Court with the seductive promise of freedom.

In the Pacific Northwest, ghosts are crawling out of the woodwork, demons are on the rise, and Spencer can’t afford to make a mistake. Torn between the life he should lead and the one Takoma is offering, Spencer has to make a choice that won’t break his soul, but it might just shatter his heart.

Resurrection Reprise is an exciting new standalone novel set in Hailey Turner’s best-selling Soulbound Universe.

Soulbound Universe -Soulbound series:

✓ A Ferry of Bones & Gold #1

✓ All Souls Near & Nigh #2

✓ A Crown of Iron & Silver #3

✓ A Vigil in the Mourning #4

✓ On the Wings of War #5

✓ An Echo in the Sorrow #6

✓ A Veiled & Hallowed Eve #7

Review: Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches’s Story (Perfect Pixie #2) by M. J. May

Rating: 5🌈

I fell in love with this universe and characters when I read M. J. May’s Perfectly Imperfect Pixie, which was the first book in this series. It was a richly detailed, vibrant tale, full of beautifully crafted with fantastic characters a reader could easily imagine and commit to. Vampires, pixies, werewolves, elves, sprites, zombies, witches and more in a lively landscape with a unique foundation and framework that was so solid it just felt right.

Now we’re back for Peaches story. We pick up shortly after the events at the end of Perfectly Imperfect Pixie, so yes, read this series in the order that it’s written.

Peaches, a nature pixie, has found his home in an orchard owned by a human couple. This is a complicated process, as pixies are actually a part of the life of the land itself that they call home. It was a big element in the last story and it remains one here. So well portrayed by May emotionally and descriptively. As is Peaches.

Peaches is golden. Golden pixie dust, gold like the sun. He shines so brightly in the narrative both physically and by his personality that he is almost warm when he appears on the page. That’s amazing writing.

So the reader can understand why a vampire would be so drawn to Peaches, a bit of sunlight they haven’t been able to see in hundreds of years or more. No matter what the mythology says.

The vampire being Lucroy Moony, King of the Southeastern nest in the United States, and owner of the bar, Dusk where Peaches’ friend, Phil, used to work. He’s also the being who saved Peaches life at the trial in book one. They have a starting point of a strange relationship. Lucroy is as dark as Peaches is bright. And just as well defined by his vampire powers , intellect, and age as Peaches is by his charm , bravery, and loving nature. In other words, they oddly match.

May builds a fantastic story here full of mystery, with our characters from the first story (and fast friends with Peaches), elements that have carried over that look to be a arc storyline, and new characters that will be revealed later on to have their own romances and roles within this arc expansion .

I was so enthralled that it was a 3am ending for me. Couldn’t put it down. May gave us sprites, a new ancient vampire I need to see more of, and a new take on social pixies that will make me stay up late again, I’m sure, in the upcoming book three.

And villains. Crazy, awful, and sometimes pathetic villains. I really love these books.

I’m highly recommending them but read them in them in the order that they are written.

Absolutely gorgeous covers!

Perfect Pixie:

✓ Perfectly Imperfect Pixie #1

✓ Perfectly Perfect Pixie #2

◦ Perfectly Charmed Pixie #3 – October 6, 2023

Buy Link :

Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches’s Story (Perfect Pixie Series Book 2)

Blurb:

Peaches is a nature pixie. Fully bonded to his orchard, he can only leave his land for a finite time. Plants, soil, daylight, and every living thing Mother Nature has on tap flows like liquid sunshine through Peaches’s lively veins.

Lucroy Moony was born into his vampiric second life over six hundred years ago. King of the Southeastern nest in the United States, Lucroy is responsible for more than his bar, Dusk. Lucroy only comes alive when the sun goes down. The moon and stars are his backdrop—the sun the quickest path to a pile of ash. Death and darkness fill Lucroy’s body with borrowed blood.

Pixies and vampires couldn’t be more different, and yet, Lucroy and Peaches find themselves drawn together time and again. But vampire myth cautions that pixie blood is deadly, and Lucroy’s willing to put that tale to the test. Nothing that smells as temptingly delicious as Peaches’s blood can be toxic. Right?

Lucroy wants nothing more than to court fate with his pixie, but someone’s been whispering in the vampire council’s ears, and they aren’t pleased to learn Lucroy killed a werewolf to save a pixie. If the council decides Lucroy was in the wrong, his life is forfeit, and the nest he’s tried so hard to protect could be left in sadistic hands.

Lucroy needs to convince the council pixies aren’t toxic but precious creatures. And, more importantly, one pixie, in particular, is his beloved—his Perfectly Perfect Pixie, Peaches.

Perfectly Perfect Pixie has a HEA ending and contains a willful nature pixie, a smitten vampire bar owner, pixie dust eating sprites, and a smattering of dwarf, werewolf, and fairy intrigue. Other species come along for the ride, popping up here and there. Be warned, there is vampire violence and a few heads will roll. If that is offensive or triggering, this may not be your cup of tea.

Review: Bluz (a Culinary Creatures novel) by L Eveland

Rating: 5🌈

Well, Bluz is by far my favorite in an extraordinary paranormal series of magical depths. In Bluz , L Eveland has given this story so many riches in terms of narrative structure and character development that its almost tactile atmosphere could be overlooked for its sublime world building.

It’s inherit within its location, its beings, the culture in this story in a way that is so unique and deeply personal to both characters but especially one. That’s Greyson Boggs,human ,guitarist, a blues musician with an old border collie, Simon. Turns out Simon is also his guide dog as Greyson been going blind since early adolescence from retinitis pigmentosa, another perfectly implemented element.

But that’s just the beginning to the layers of this man. Here’s his voice.

“Footsteps crisscrossed in front of me, busy folk shuffling to places they didn’t want to be. I used the steady beat as my percussion, counting out a one, a two, a five-six-seven-eight while the guitar cried into the humid morning, conveying all the words I couldn’t.

I sang about the places I’d been from the deep dark hollers in rural Georgia to that summer I rode the rails all the way down to New Orleans. I sang about the south, about crawdads and creeks, collard greens and running from the law. The words came with no effort, shaken free from where they rattled around in my head with no pre-planned pattern. “

There’s a particular melodic progression to that voice, one that the author is also born with. And one that’s unfortunately disappearing from the world. It’s the sound and vernacular of spoken Appalachian English language, one of the oldest nonnative spoken languages here in the US. Specifically, the Appalachian dialect or as it’s also known, Smokey Mountains Holler dialect, with its colorful imagery, slow linguistic patterns, and changing tones /spoken words. It’s a language that might even feel a titch familiar, such as where I might say “I took the dog out”

it becomes :

“One night that dog was a-beggin’ and a-cryin’ to go out.”

*In The Language and Life Project that set about documenting the dialects, one man said of his talk “…it’s more like singing than talking…”

That’s pure Appalachian. A dialect so beautifully suited for an Appalachian blind blues singer named Greyson Boggs and his old dog, Simon, that it makes me question that this man is really fictional.

Except, of course, for the werewolves, demons, incubus, and such.

But they get the same layered treatment. A pack in financial straits and leadership issues. A storm coming, a real mixed community to meet, which includes a homeless shelter,imminent storms, and the raw reality of those who live life on the margins. That’s very much an important part of this story and Greyson’s as well.

Gaston, the chef who returned home to help out his recovering father and the pack’s restaurant, Bluz, is a marvelous character. Eveland did a wonderful job in giving him his own issues to work through and challenges to overcome. Gaston is lovely. But he’s next to the powerful Greyson. And he is one of those sharp shining personalities whose life becomes important to the narrative and the reader because of who he is personally. We care so much for him that it’s hard for anyone else to measure up. It’s that voice.

Gaston has a pansexual coming out, not that he wasn’t already, but out to his parents and pack. Another nice aspect of the story because there so many equally strong emotional things that are going on in the story. That includes homelessness. A camp where people/beings live , homeless shelters and what it must feel like to have no where to go when a major disaster is occurring. And it’s done in a matter of fact way that drives home the facts about this aspect of society even more.

There’s a happy romantic journey with communication, some very sexy mate bonding, and very familiar faces from previous books that show up at the end for a satisfying conclusion. Love it.

And through it all, runs songs, and southern cooking. BBQ and the Blues. Do not miss out on all the recipes at the end of each book, this time for pork butt. So yummy. Put on some Etta James or Bill Whithers and grill you some BBQ.

I’m highly recommending Bluz (a Culinary Creatures novel) by L Eveland. This series just continues to get better and expand on the topics within a paranormal realm. Fantastic.

• YouTube: The Language and Life Project : see video

Culinary Creatures:

✓ Brimstone #1

✓ Beefcake #2

✓ Bluz #3

◦ Brewtiful’s #4 – April 30, 2024

Buy Link :

Bluz: A High Heat, Low Stakes MM Monster Romance Novella (Culinary Creatures Book 3)

Blurb:

No one cooks like Gaston, and I’m hungry like a wolf.

Eight years ago, I missed my chance to be with the love of my life. Now, Gaston is back in town to rescue his pack’s troubled bar and grill, Bluz. He’s keen to rekindle things between us, but I’ve still got the blues over how it all went down before.

Gaston’s got a whole life out west full of fast cars, fancy dinners, and famous friends. He claims he’s ready to settle down, and that his wolf has chosen me, but I’m just a country boy, a drifter. Gaston is refined and cultured. I don’t fit into his elegant lifestyle, even if our nights together have been sizzling hot.

His wolf wants me, and I want him, but I’m running out of time to decide. Can I put our troubled past behind me before I lose him forever? Or will our relationship finally go up in smoke?

Bluz is a smoking hot and sticky sweet second chance MM romance between an anthropomorphic werewolf and a visually impaired blues singer. This third installment of the Culinary Creatures series can be read as a standalone, and features a delicious BBQ recipe for you to try at home!

*Appalachian language: The Language and Life Project

Review: Night-blooming Hearts (Carnival of Mysteries story) by Megan Derr

Rating: 2🌈

I’m astonished. I adore this author and her stories rank among the many of my favorites and most rec’d.

But you can’t like everything someone writes. And at the top of my lists of problematic elements in stories these days is a TSTL character, even if he’s a dead one. In this case a Vampire . That’s a character that will have me wondering what an author is thinking because their actions are so inconceivably idiotic that a reader is smacking their head in disbelief as well as putting a DNF to a book that’s coming across as too poorly constructed to continue to.

But before that aspect is addressed, what needs to be talked about is a multitude of characters and a flawed base compiled from a complicated series and related universe that appear here with no solid foundation.

If you’re a new reader, and wondering why the name Dracula is thrown about for more than one character, you’re probably not alone. Even reader’s familiar with Derr’s books can’t conjure up all the necessary detailed information needed to get through the histories, government bureaucracy, relationships, and titles packed in here. Why are there dragons? Who’s married to whom? Why is Dracula not a single person ?English? American? Such a jumble. All the beings and their incomplete series information that’s constantly thrown at a reader. Mind Boggling.

So if you are feeling lost, that’s very legitimate.

So cut loose from a firm foundation with vague mentions of the city and bits of how the past and present sort of operate, the reader then has to dwell on the dubious details and main characters of the story.

This is not a positive thing.

Starting with someone we desperately need to connect with. That’s the traumatized, wounded, thrown away vampire Phoenix.

Now Phoenix came from a German royal household, the wealthy Grimmelshausens, but a magical experiment/explosion gone awry that almost cost him his undead life (don’t think about that too hard) did destroy his beauty. It’s the loss of his gorgeous face and body that gets him tossed out of castle, family, and fiancé as vampires trade on their looks for survival ( although money , power and prestige seems to be more important here). So many conflicting elements.

Phoenix , centuries old Phoenix, who survived on the streets doing what it took to survive. Because the other vampires were mean and ignored him. He couldn’t even get blood. This perplexed me to no end. He was a vampire, correct? But he got fat and had muscles, which is abhorrent? That was never a fully explained element. Just another fact in this character’s history which is full of such “huh “ moments.

But present day, he now has powerful friends on high , dragons, demons, beings we have no idea who they are but live in high rises, Phoenix is a powerful necromancer, world class apparently.

So our expectations are that the characterization that follows meets with those elements of his history and trauma.

But time and time, that’s not what we get. Instead, in almost every case, Phoenix presents himself as someone who has the emotional and physical skill set of a bunny rabbit. Survival abilities too. The “task “ he’s asked to take on in exchange for a family heirloom comes from his brother, a murderous, repulsive sort of man/vampire. One who turned on him, reviled him, all but personally stomped his broken body into the ground.

So what does Phoenix do? Repeatedly? Trust the brother, go out of his way to accommodate him, and poorly investigate said task. Keep in mind, this main character is a centuries old world renowned necromancer who was bitterly betrayed by his family, including this awful brother. Yeah, why not go with it.

That’s the mildest of how poorly this character is written. It gets so much worse that you want to beat your head against whatever reader you’re using.

And the other main character is just a cardboard outline used to hold up the romance. We’ve no firm idea who this magical cowboy is, other than a widowed healer with a son. There’s obviously a huge backstory . It’s just not here in this narrative. But he’s not a whole lot brighter than Phoenix in some respects.

Unfortunately, I kept on reading and ended up in a disaster of a storyline. I just started flipping through to the finale.

It’s all a huge nope.

If you’re a fan of this author, take a pass. If you’re a fan of this trope and series, do the same. Unless you’re someone invested in the connected series and knows who and what all these people are and what they’re talking about. Then maybe you should read it.

Not a recommendation otherwise.

Final note. The author indicated this story as a Dance with the Devil 8.1 , then a Carnival of Mysteries. That made more sense as the Carnival of Mysteries definitely feels like a forced element into an established universe. One that doesn’t really fit.

Other authors can use established elements, characters, and even a foundation in a series with a central theme but it can’t be to the point no one can understand the concept or context. Which is what happens here. Too bad.

Carnival of Mysteries series:

✓ 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 Andre C. Lark

✓ Roustabout by Morgan Brice

✓ Assassin by Accident by E.J. Russell

◦ Dryad on Fire by Nicole Dennis – Sept 13

◦ The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray by Kayleigh Sky – Sept 6

◦ Smoke and Mirrors by Elizabeth Silver – September 20

◦ You Can Do Magic by R.L. Merrill – September 27

◦ Sting in the Tail by TA Moore – October 4

◦ Gods and Monsters by Rachel Langella – October 25

Buy Link:

Night-blooming Hearts: Carnival of Mysteries

Blurb:

Phoenix sacrificed everything to become one of the greatest necromancers in nightwalker history—including his beauty, though that was by accident rather than design. As beauty is everything to vampires, he has been a pariah ever since, disowned, discarded, and largely forgotten by everyone he once called family and friend.

Nowadays, he lends his skills to sorcerer Jackie Black and the notorious Clan Mordred. If he still feels lonely and isolated, and rejected by the man he’d been stupid enough to think returned his interest, that’s his own problem, no one else’s. He’s used to rejection anyway.

Then his brother shows up on his doorstep begging for help with a blackmail problem—and offering the one thing Phoenix cannot refuse as payment. But if there’s one thing he’s learned about nightwalkers, it’s that nothing is ever as it seems, and problems always get worse before they get better…

Night-blooming Hearts is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one 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 a lonely vampire convinced he’s unloveable, a pining cowboy who wants to prove him wrong, and a guaranteed HEA.

Review: The Human’s Incubus: A Brinnswick Story 1 by Michele Notaro

Rating: 4🌈

I really enjoy Michele Notaro’s work so I immediately picked up her release, The Human’s Incubus: A Brinnswick Story 1 . It’s the first in a new series but one that’s connected with two of her other larger series, and shared universe . Those would be the Ellwood Chronicles and Brinnswick Chronicles world.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve read any of those books, but I will be after meeting some of the characters who crossed over from there into this story to help out our main characters.

That would be Hugo, a human with an angst-filled history and Zaos, an incubus with an emotional backstory who’s determined that Hugo is his viramore, his soulmate.

Unlike Michele Notaro’s The Magi Accounts series which I’m reading and throughly in love with, this isn’t the dark fiction that is. While it does contain hints about Zay’s horrific childhood, that’s all it’s got. See the author’s trigger warning. It does seem it’s more from the narrative in another series.

And that’s a bit of an issue as far as the world building goes. That the knowledge of the world is assumed because of the other series. There’s enough of a framework to fill in some necessary details but the overall structure isn’t quite there.

Does it spoil a terrific story? No. I loved getting to know Hugo and Zay, watching them navigate their way through Hugo’s problems, the idea of their bond, Zaos’ large family, and their (much needed) interference in their lives here.

I can’t wait for the next story and chapter in their relationship to be released. That will be The Human’s Heart (A Brinnswick Story Book 2). No date as yet.

Until then I’ll be heading back to pull up on the connected series and the universe I missed out on.

I’m definitely recommending this to all fans of the author and fantasy fiction.

A Brinnswick Story series:

✓ The Human’s Incubus #1

◦ The Human’s Heart #2 – TBD

Trigger warnings:

“Mentions of past child abuse/ sexual abuse (nothing on page).”

— The Human’s Incubus: A Brinnswick Story 1 by Michele Notaro

Buy Link:

The Human’s Incubus: A Brinnswick Story 1

Blurb:

When an incubus tells you he’s your soulmate, do you stay and listen or run and never look back?

I’ve spent most of my life knowing that supernatural creatures exist but never really interacting with any, so my knowledge of them is limited. Still, who would’ve thought a demisexual incubus was a thing?

Well apparently, not only is it a thing, but I have one who claims to be my soulmate—or viramore, as he calls it. And now he has it in his head that he’s going to save me from my past.

I think he might have a few screws loose, but something about him intrigues me, and I find myself drawn into his orbit. Could he be telling the truth? Could he really be my soulmate? Or should I be running from him the way I’m running from my enemies?

The Human’s Incubus is the first book in A Brinnswick Story series and is a MM paranormal romance. This series takes place in the Ellwood Chronicles and Brinnswick Chronicles world, but it’s not necessary to read those series first in order to enjoy this one.

Review: How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Date Night Disaster #3 (Princes of Mayhem) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 5🌈

Here we are at the penultimate story and it ends with, gasp, a cliffhanger! Ok , no surprise as this is a serialized story and that’s in keeping with the format. So it’s very much to be expected.

But before that happens, author Jocelynn Drake gives our main characters, adorable , powerful necromancer Skylar Wallace and his human equally adorable author and neighbor Nolan Banks a first date to remember.

Does it go off the rails immediately? Absolutely! Spectacularly wrong in all the right and humorous ways? You bet!

Where the previous story went dark, dark, deeply serious into the worst that Sky’s paranormal life and world offer to Nolan, a human newly discovering that humanity wasn’t alone. Date Night flips the narrative showing Nolan that magic and magical beings have a lighter side.

It’s a wild ride, literally, of a date night.

Even a suspected element that’s anticipated to be one of anguish and horror has an unlikely twist.

There’s plenty of side characters, including the vampire Varik brothers and mates. And Sky’s witchy best friends.

Honestly my hardest thing right now is the fact that there’s only one more book to come.

How can Drake deliver such fantastic characters, give us the potential for more revelations about them and their lives and leave us at four books? Short ones at that?

I believe the author needs to conjure us up a sequel.

Anyway, the finale is coming. It’s called Disaster, Who Woke the Dead?Naturally.

I can’t wait.

Absolutely recommending this and that. And the series.

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life:

✓ Disaster #1: Fun With Family

✓ Disaster #2: Pet Problems

✓ Disaster #3: Date Night

◦ Disaster #4: Who Woke the Dead?-Aug 28

Buy Link:

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Disaster #3 (Princes of Mayhem)

Blurb:

Disaster #3: Date Night

Date night! Date night!

It’s date night!

Life has settled down and Nolan has agreed to go on a date with Sky. There’s just one catch: Sky has to promise that it’s a totally normal, non-magical date.

I bet you can already see where this is going…

It would have been a totally normal, non-magical date if it weren’t for the purple fungus, a completely minor nonlethal mostly harmless but useful poisoning, and the pig.

Sigh…Will Nolan give him a second chance after this mess?

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life is a serial comprising four novellas that follow the insane adventures of necromancer Skylar Wallace and his next-door neighbor Nolan Banks. This is book three of four and contains vampires, werewolves, witches, spells gone bad, good friends who should never call during a date, and a pig. Really. This will make your worst date look amazing. And did I mention it’s a full moon?

Review: How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Disaster #2 (Princes of Mayhem) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4.75🌈

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life is a marvelously humorous, sometimes romantic, often horrifying serialized 4 piece story. Last one ending on a cliffhanger!

Which is where Pet Problems picks up. Pets, as in vampire human pets whether they want to be or not. There’s a trigger warning that comes with the story and it’s at the beginning of the book. It concerns a vampire’s actions that are non-con, can be defined as assault. The author mentions where they will occur so a reader can choose to read those pages or not.

It’s totally appropriate.

The book deals with secrets and a huge danger that Nolan has fallen into trying to free his scrounge of a brother from his debts. We get to see more of Nolan trying to deal with a shattering revelation about the paranormal world that has always coexisted with his.

But the real story is Sky. Sky who on the surface is sweet, small, adorable Sky the Necromancer. Here we get to see what’s been bubbling darkly underneath, just emerging in hints with demons who like sandwiches, or shrubbery gone cannibalistic. And it’s wonderful!

Finally! A dark raging necromancer and it’s fabulous! I so wanted more of this Sky! And the blood witch that showed up too. Ok all that is towards the end but what a climax!

The middle of the story is pretty good too. Oh, yes, Nolan does something predictably dumb but you knew that was coming. And since it sets up that amazingly awesome battle? I say let’s do it again.

This series is so much horrifying fun! But a reader needs to remember that it’s dark fiction as well so heed any trigger warnings the author includes.

It’s a definite recommendation. But you need to read them in the order that they are written.

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life:

Disaster #1: Fun With Family

Disaster #2: Pet Problems

Disaster #3: Date Night -Aug 11

Disaster #4: Who Woke the Dead?-Aug 28

Buy Link:

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Disaster #2 (Princes of Mayhem)

Description:

Disaster #2: Pet Problems

Nolan has been keeping a secret.

In his defense, he wasn’t sure if he could trust Sky at first.

And then, well…his life got pretty crazy for a while. He might have just forgotten.

But that secret has come calling and it’s about to take a big bite out of Nolan.

Of course, there’s no way Sky’s going to let anyone hurt his neighbor, friend, and possibly one-day baby daddy. He’s hitting back hard to keep Nolan safe.

Even the roses are angry in this one. (Just trust me on this one. Beware of the roses.)

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life is a serial comprising four novellas that follow the insane adventures of necromancer Skylar Wallace and his next-door neighbor Nolan Banks. This is book two of four and contains vampires, werewolves, witches, underworld minions, danger, a meddling ghost grammy, aggressive roses, and one very angry necromancer. Seriously, nobody better touch his man.

Trigger Warnings:

“Just a warning to sensitive readers: some of Christoph’s actions can be viewed as aggressive, verging on assault. You might want to proceed with caution in chapter one and the last half of chapter seven. Thanks,”

— How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Disaster #2 (Princes of Mayhem) by Jocelynn Drake

Review: With Kid Gloves (Magical Mates: Book Four) by Macy Blake

Rating:5🌈

Magical Mates, part of Macy Blake’s The Chosen One universe, is an adorable little series , and With Kid Gloves it goes out with a magical, magnificent narrative bang!

Absolutely my favorite of the series, it plays beautifully to the strengths of Blake’s themes and characters, reminding us and them of the importance of love in every aspect, the need for support from people who love and support each other whether it be family or pack or both, and the deep emotional connections that we make and share are sometimes broken. And need to be grieved for.

What a story.

The base structure starts with Tiger shifter, Bayu, who’s been a bit of an enigma. He’s a crush for Ollie, a formidable force that lingers in the woods, protecting the compound, and silently guarding those around him. Now as Bayu starts collecting rocks to build something, his past is slowly revealed. This nebulous project becomes, as a perfect narrative tool, a way for Blake to build a strong framework for a secondary theme . As the project grows, reshaping itself into something memorable, something remarkable happens. I won’t spoil it. Just say this thread is such a deeply rooted one in the philosophy of this universe and the overall storyline. I love it so much.

It helps with the relationship between Ollie and Bayu, which builds realistically. And they in turn extend outward to the other players in the compound who have need of them both.

Several major characters we have grown to love through past storylines and novels are at crossroads here. And one will die. And everyone will grieve deeply, including the reader.

I didn’t expect this element in a book about children, rescues, and even babies. But it makes sense. Because this is about cycles of nature too. Natural passages of life. Blake handles this so perfectly, with the love, compassion and sensitivity I have come to expect from the author.

The ending is so powerful and well conceived. It’s hard to believe that this is the last in this series but it also makes sense that it is. That it’s put a closure to so many threads and we get to see so many of the couples who got their families.

As I said, it by far, my favorite of the series. An absolute 5 star read and a comfort level storyline!

I’m highly recommending this fabulous book! Read them in the order that they are written. Unfamiliar with the Chosen One universe? The author’s website has a comprehensive reading guide for you there. It’s a must with so many series and books involved.

Magical Mates:

✓ All Kidding Aside #1

✓ Stop Kidding Around #2

✓ I Kid You Not #3

✓ With Kid Gloves #4 – finale ❤️

Buy Link :

With Kid Gloves Magical Mates: Book Four: An MM Paranormal Fated Mates Romance

Description:

A grumpy tiger thinks he can be a lonely drifter? Not on Ollie Jerrick self-proclaimed Happiness Champion’s watch.

Ollie Jerrick has a hero complex. As a wolf shifter, he’s been surrounded by real-life heroes since his dads rescued him from an evil witch when he was six. He’s the son of a doctor wolf shifter, his boss is a billionaire griffin, and his big brother…well, he’s a super-powered mage mated to the mythical Chosen One. Not convinced yet? The hellhounds, guardians of the human realm…they’re Ollie’s adopted uncles. So when a mysterious tiger arrives, Ollie decides to save him from his miserable, lonely life. It’s not like it’ll be hard…right?

Bayu prefers the solitude being a tiger provides, but tragedy leads him to Nick Smith and the menagerie of kids he rescued. He accepts the role as a pack guard on one condition: the lion shifter will use his powerful connections to help Bayu find the answers he seeks. He has zero intentions of staying on a permanent basis. Some pack members seem to have other ideas, though. Especially Ollie, a young, gorgeous wolf who seems to enjoy nothing more than talking Bayu’s ears off while coaxing him into leaving his isolated existence behind.

Bayu and Ollie find themselves brought together in ways neither of them could have anticipated. When tragedy strikes again, this time it’s Bayu who has to decide if he’s hero enough to save Ollie from himself, especially when the cost will be nothing less than Bayu’s heart.

An MM Paranormal Fated Mates Romance

“The Chosen Universe is a group of interconnected series set in one universe. There is some overlap to the series, so it’s recommended to read the books in order. You can download a FREE reading order guide.”

— With Kid Gloves (Magical Mates: Book Four) An MM Paranormal Fated Mates Romance by Macy Blake

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

Review: At First Irritation (The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx Book 1) by Shelby Rhodes

Rating: 5🌈

When a book leaves me laughing at the end, has me doing spittakes and in stitches in the middle, and absolutely captivated by the strangeness and unique nature of the characters at the beginning of the story, well 5 stars it is.

And Shelby Rhodes didn’t even include one cliffhanger this time! Murderous, pain-loving characters (yes, pls do read the trigger warnings), a vampire who is quite unlike any other I’ve read, and a snarling human hunter who gets him as a partner. Both seem to have mysteries swirling around them. Even better.

The writing is really great, moving the story forward quickly without sacrificing character growth or relationship development. There’s so much more going on here that’s it’s easy to miss the small details. Bombs going off,bodies everywhere, mythologies being laid down, an agency foundation and country laws pieced together for the readers and multiple species at the same time.

It’s fabulous and woven in a bit at a time. Along with a great cast of characters that support diminutive vampire Foxx Honeywell and hulking hunter Harlow Blackmore.

Those terms in no way even begin to describe how complex and dynamic this partnership will become.

I’m dying to have the next release in my hands! My mind is filling with possibilities about what is going on with both of them. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Highly imaginative, beautifully written, yes! A five-star read! One I’m absolutely recommending.

The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx:

✓ At First Irritation #1

◦ Taste of Fear #2 – Dec 15, 2023

Trigger Warnings:

“This is a slow burn M/ M paranormal romance series with heat. There will be blood, violence, gore, torture and death. Please do not read if you find any of the previous triggering.”

— At First Irritation (The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx Book 1) by Shelby Rhodes

Buy Link:

At First Irritation (The Unwilling Adventures of Harlow & Foxx Book 1)

Description:

“Welcome, welcome. I can only guess you are here to read about my wonderful adventures? Oh, you don’t know who I am? Well, I’m Foxx Honeywell. An adorable, fierce vampire with a kink for violence. Anywho, this marks the beginning of my story. A story of violence, blood, possibly pain, and love. Though, the love part is not so apparent at first.”

So how does this story start, you may ask? Well, it starts with a simple—okay, maybe not so simple—law change, and a new job. I, Foxx, join the notorious Hunters Guild. An organization that used to murder my kind indiscriminately. But that was in the past. We’ve moved on and forward to better things, as paranormals are legal now! Yay, legal…

However, joining this government agency of questionable morals was just the catalyst of it all. Sure, the job is fun; lots of killing, maiming, blood, and even some explosions. But what is an adventure if you are all on your own? Boring, that’s what. No, the true satisfaction and fun comes not just from the job but from my partner on the job, Harlow Blackmore. The man is a sexy, silver fox of a human, who may or may not be a psychopath. He also possibly finds me irritating as hell. As any rational adult would, I choose to ignore those last parts and focus on the sexy! It will surely all work out in the end!”

Review : How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Disaster #1 (Princes of Mayhem) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4.75🌈

This fun little story is the start of a spin-off from Drake’s Lords of Discords vampire series. Luckily, since I’m unfamiliar with that series, Drake has made this , Princes of Mayhem, filled in with all the necessary details that’s it’s basically standalone .

Serialized at four books, you quickly fall into the universe of necromancer Skylar Wallace and his goth next-door neighbor Nolan Banks. It’s Nolan who’s in trouble and Sky, the Necromancer with the positive attitude and yellow sunshine house, who’s happy to step in to save the day.

Drake adds in just the rights amount of humor, horror, quirkiness, and terrific characters that carry the reader right through a plot that’s sort of murky.

What I was surprised at was the twist at the end which came with a cliffhanger. It took the story and this element in an unexpected direction. Really enjoyed this.

A cliffhanger isn’t uncommon in a serialized story. Instead, it’s almost a given.

I’ve listed the four books below. They will be released fairly quickly. I’m absolutely recommending this story! Highly entertaining! Can’t wait for the rest to roll out.

Great cover.

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life:

Disaster #1: Fun With Family

Disaster #2: Pet Problems-July 28

Disaster #3: Date Night -Aug 11

Disaster #4: Who Woke the Dead?-Aug 28

Buy Link:

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Disaster #1 (Princes of Mayhem)

Description:

Disaster #1: Fun With Family

Nolan is the hot but grumpy goth boy who lives across the street from perpetually sunny necromancer Sky.

Nolan wants nothing to do with Sky.

That is until his older brother is on the run from a local vampire clan after he failed to deliver on a promise.

Nolan is about to learn that vampires, shifters, witches, and magic are very real. He needs an expert to guide him through this dangerous world.

It’s Sky’s time to shine!

And just maybe he can win the heart of a grumpy introvert. (Assuming he doesn’t scare the man to death first.)

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life is a serial comprising four novellas that follow the insane adventures of necromancer Skylar Wallace and his next-door neighbor Nolan Banks. This book contains vampires, werewolves, witches, underworld minions, danger, surprises, sassy corpses, and some pretty amazing sandwiches.