Category: Shifters, Weres

A MelanieM Review: All The World’s An Undead Stage (Offbeat Crimes #6) by Angel Martinez

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

Old actors never die shouldn’t be literally true.

Carrington Loveless III, skim-blood vampire and senior officer of Philly’s paranormal police department, has long suspected that someone’s targeting his squad. The increasingly bizarre and dangerous entities invading their city can’t be a coincidence. So when a walking corpse spouting Oscar Wilde attacks one of his officers, Carrington’s determined to uncover the evil mind behind it all.

As a rare books librarian, Erasmus Graham thought he understood some of the stranger things in life. Sharing a life with Carrington’s shown him he didn’t know the half of it. They’ve survived attack books and deadly dust bunnies together and got through mostly unscathed.

Now his world and his vampire’s appear ready to collide again. Books are missing from the rare books’ collection—old tomes of magic containing dangerous summonings and necromancy. He’s certain whoever’s been stalking the Seventy-Seventh is composing their end game.

It’s going to take a consolidated effort from paranormal police, librarians, and some not-quite-authorized civilians to head off the impending catastrophe.

As I said before, I’m sort of running out of superlatives here.  Angel Martinez and this series, Offbeat Crimes, has given us wildly imaginative and perfectly wonderful in every way characters, over the top creatures like ginormous pills bugs from space and lethal flying verse spitting books, an overall arc and villain to literally die for.  Of course, some of the main characters here are already dead, including Carr, aka  Det. Carrington Loveless III, a vampire who has a real distaste for blood and lives off a “blood lite” version that he still finds barely edible.  Oh and he’s in love with a rare books librarian Erasmus Graham.  What a couple, a great one among quite a few memorable ones with this series.

In All The World’s An Undead Stage (Offbeat Crimes #6) Angel Martinez brings this  particular arc to an end, although I’m hoping with all my heart not the series.  A evil mage has been targeting the Seventy-Seventh Precinct and we are soon to find out who and why.

And it involves  zombie actors spouting verse coming to kill them.  Nods.  Of course it does.  Makes perfect sense.  In an Angel Martinez world.

And that’s just the opening act as they say.

Because there are layers and layers to these stories.  It’s never just about the villain and his nefarious plans for…well…whatever.  It’s also about relationships, romantic ones, working dynamics, interspecies communication, even something beyond that here as the Precinct is made up of all types of intelligent beings even if we aren’t quite sure of their origin.  All The World’s An Undead Stage is about the beings inside of it, working together to survive, go forward, and yes, thrive while loving each other and keeping the world safe.

That’s a tall order when you are facing evil of this magnitude.

And I’ve come to care deeply about everyone, every character here due to the author’s superb characterizations and writing skills.  How else do you explain me sobbing away here:

Carrington took a quick glance back at Hunter and LJ.  They held each other tight–strange orphans abandoned on the darkest possible of nights. LJ lifted a sleeve in a wave and Carrington returned it with a salute.  They were, without a doubt, the bravest jackets he had ever met.

We are talking about animated clothing here.  Two jackets…a couple, (LJ a leather jacket and Hunter, a pea coat) who have become two of the characters I’m fondest of.  At that imagery?  I’m bawling like a baby.  Especially if you knew the rest of the context.  The author has over the course of this series given these jackets life and personality.  Oh, yes, love and a relationship. You forget you are crying over flying bits of linen and leather but recognize them as beings that levitate and love each other, that have pride in being part of the Seventy-Seventh Precinct and show fear of loss.

Extrapolate that depth of characterization to the cast of beings, the humans with quirky “talents”, the wolf cursed to be a human, the vampire who can’t stand blood, the firestarters, the shakers and quakers, all the couples and the ‘animals’ who make up the Seventy-Seventh.  They are all here in amazing detail and dimension, alive, vivid and believable.

Carrington and Erasmus are at the top of this story as they focus on their relationship while adding up clues, hunting missing books, and dealing with Carrington’s mother.  All the various story threads flow easily together, weaving in and out, like some weird, wonderful supernatural tapestry.  I arrived at the end far too quickly, a little shaken, counting all the characters to make sure everyone arrived safely (still not sure I counted right).  And now I’m squinting at some of those lines of the authors.

Hmmm.

I mean, it’s quite all right for 42 to be the answer to life, the universe and everything.  But really, “Someone feed the gouramis!”  Damn pesky fish.  More books, Ms Martinez, more books are definitely needed because as we all know carp are never to be trusted!

Read it…it will make sense..I promise you.  But if you are new to the series, don’t start here.  Read them all in order.  It’s such a pleasure watching the men, women, beings of the Seventy-Seventh learn to come together from a shaky beginning to the solid unit they are here that depends and yes, feels deep affection for each other (more for the couples).  For me this is a must read series.  I highly recommend it.

Cover art: Posh Gosh.  I like the covers and the way it brands the series.

Sales Links:  Pride Publishing | Amazon

Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Book Details:

ebook, 200 pages
Published January 2nd 2018 by Pride Publishing
Original TitleAll the World’s an Undead Stage
ISBN139781786516602
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Offbeat Crimes – Add it to your Goodreads now:

A MelanieM Review: The Case of the Man Eater (Kanaan & Tilney #2) by Jenna Rose and Katey Hawthorne

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Wolf-Beast and ex-cop Lowell Kanaan recently brought his boyfriend, Elementalist and mystery author John Tilney, into the PI business with him. They’ve been solving cases for Boston’s varied praeternatural communities ever since. So when a young Terran feels that the brutal murder of his Beast boyfriend isn’t being treated seriously enough by the police, he brings the case to Kanaan & Tilney for a second opinion.

Similarly defiled corpses pop up around Boston as they race to find the killer. All the victims are packless Beasts, like Lowell, and the vicious nature of the killings stir up old prejudices in the praeternatural community, Beast and otherwise. Throw a personal vendetta and some ugly family history for Lowell in the mix, and the trails are as muddy as ever.

This case will test Kanaan & Tilney’s strength, both as a PI team and a couple. It’ll take all they have to keep each other alive—and stop a serial killer.

Private investigators Lowell Kanaan and boyfriend John Tilney are back with another heartbreaking case of murder that hits close to home.  This time they are called in to investigate the murder of a packless lion, torn and cut up in an alleyway, parts of him missing.  That the lion-beast was packless like Lowell was enough for them to take the case…then more are killed, and it looks like Lowell could be a target.

In this story more of Lowell’s history and the nature of the pack organization/culture comes to light, and not in a good one. Those that are packless are looked down upon by others, said that their state will make them feral without the structure of the pack.  Their “second class citizenship” is made evident through their self help groups and troubled lives within the stories.  Easy prey for a murderer.

While investigating the crimes, the authors dive into the evolving relationship of Kanaan and Tilney, progressing as work partners as well as  romantic ones.  I loved them as both and enjoyed the dynamics between them, hot, sexy, and in one instance, where they impersonated tourists, very funny.

I wish there had been more about the actual murderer.  That seemed a bit fuzzy at best.  The action was swift and suspenseful but the actual person behind it and who they were?  That needed more groundwork and a better foundation here.  That actually would be the only thing that people coming at this story new would find fault with.  It’s not a stand alone.  You need to read the first story and then come here.  I loved the coroner and look forward to more investigations where he and other continuing characters resume their roles.

Cover art by Dar Albert.  I like the intense cover.  The old typewriter font and the story elements,  Nice!

Sales Links:  Loose id  | Amazon

Book Details:

Published December 26th 2017 by Loose Id
Edition LanguageEnglish
URL http://kanaanandtilneyinvestigations.com/
SeriesKanaan & Tilney #2

A MelanieM Review: Beyond The Tunnel (The Wizard Shifter #1) by Dan Mitton

 
 Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
 

What would you do if you rode into a mountain tunnel in North Carolina and then rode out into a different world? Adam Stephens is about to find out…


Adam Stephens is a man with a mission. It has been three years since they chopped that malignant brain tumor out of his head, and he is off on a solo motorcycle camping trip through the Appalachian Mountains.


When he rides into the Pine Mountain Tunnel in North Carolina and rides out into another realm—a realm that comes complete with a big sexy grizzly bear shifter, mages, and an evil sorcerer—he isn’t sure he isn’t lying in the tunnel after crashing his bike. Can such a world exist? Or is he dreaming? If he is dreaming…it sure is realistic.


Along the way, there will be some major hurdles to surpass including no indoor plumbing…and no coffee. A man needs some basic luxuries, correct?

I’m as divided about writing this review as I was when I finished this story. Beyond The Tunnel (The Wizard Shifter #1) by Dan Mitton has left me with so many mixed thoughts and feelings about this novel.  Generally,  they are all mostly good. I completed the story knowing I would love to read more in the series and that the characters certainly left a big enough impression that I wanted to know what happened to them after the ending.

First off?  I loved the premise of this story.  A man still in recovery from brain surgery decides to take motorcycle trip he had always planned on before his next chemo session starts.  Only the light he sees exiting a tunnel in North Carolina shines with a different glow, the highway has disappeared, and the forest turned almost primeval in it’s towering growth. Is it a delusion…a result of the surgery and tumor or is it real?  That would have been an interesting road to travel but Mitton goes for the straightford route which still works here.

Adams has found his  way into another world, complete with magic, shifters, and an evil sorcerer.  Whew.  Once here, so many things start to happen.  There’s a huge case of instant love.  And to give the author his due, Adam remarks that yes, it’s instant love with tons of sex.  Unfortunately, this part of the story doesn’t help the book.  I liked both characters of Adam and Rafe but never felt that they had the time to develop their relationship.  That ‘instant love’ thing just doesn’t work here.  Good thing both are likable.

However, there’s so much more happening here.  Mostly about an evil sorcerer, who just happens to be from Adam’s time.  I found the author’s ability to make the villages and their inhabitants come alive especially appealing and essential to this story.  I cared about them and certain events are devastating.

Mitton sets himself a high agenda here with this story, with multiple tasks he obviously he wanted to accomplish with the narrative. So much so that he starts with certain threads and then drops them throughout the storyline.  I’m not sure if that’s because he’s going to use them in stories down the line or what.  But to have these tantalizing hints tossed out here and then nothing made of them? Sort of irritating.  Adam glowed in the dark in places Rafe reported?  Had snatches of lightning that appeared around him?  Little story elements  so curious and neat that just disappear never to be seen again.  Argh.  And yes, there are huge holes in the story here that never to get explained satisfactorily or at all.  Almost all center around magic, Adam and the mysterious sorcerer.

However, there are scenes so beautifully descriptive you’ll believe you are there.  Characters both down to earth and magical that you’ll connect with and root for.  There’s so much in this story that even when you want to say “why did he pull that in”, you keep going because you have to know what happens to them all.

I won’t discuss the ending.  Parts really didn’t make too much sense, especially with regards to the evil sorcerer.  So I expect he’s coming back in the sequel.  It all ends on an up and joyous note, one that will make you want to read the next story.

Cover art works for both the characters and the storyline,  Great job.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Exstasy 
 
Length: 79,777 words

 

A MelanieM Review: Ghoulish by Kat Bellamy

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Colt Jager never knew what happened to the parents who abandoned him, and he never cared–until he inherited their ghoulish secret.

Raised as a human who had no idea he was anything but a blue-collar construction worker until the night of his 25th birthday, Colt finds it hard to adjust to life in the Kinship, a hidden world woven discreetly into human society.

After a grisly encounter with his true nature, Colt meets a family of human-friendly ghouls who teach him that there’s a way to be inhuman without being inhumane. But things get complicated when he realizes that the “wolf attack” responsible for killing his boyfriend’s brother was actually committed by a ghoul on the hunt.

When an elite family of especially monstrous ghouls called Alphas threatens the man he loves, Colt will have to lie to Jason to keep him safe. Can a predator ever truly be a hero, or will the man he loves become his prey?

What an unexpected treat this story turned out to be!  A first release by Kat Bellamy, Ghoulish revolves around a main character that’s yes, a ghoul in love with a human, not that he’s aware of it right at the very beginning of the story.  Now ghouls are not something I normally find as main characters in my LGBTQIA romances or any romances for that  matter in fiction.

Where do I find them?  In superb anime like Tokyo Ghoul (if you love anime’ and haven’t found this series, it’s a must) or, ok, that’s about it. I can’t think of any outside of anime or Manga. So for Bellamy to make this work (and they did), they needed to create an empathetic character, a group of support characters we can also care about, do a terrific job with their universe building, and weave in a romance and a suspenseful plot.

Check, check, check, check,  and check.  All accomplished.

Not bad for a first work.  In fact, this story had me in it’s grip from the moment Colt discovers his true nature.  From then on, it’s a “hang onto your seat, flip that page, stay riveted to the story” sort of tale.  I became so immersed in Colt’s life, his deadly situations (really no pun intended), even his romance with Jason, that I was unaware of the time flying by.  It was 2 am when I finished and I was heartily sorry to see these characters go.

Several things here.  There is a fairly large cast of characters but not too many that a reader can’t keep track of them.  The world building isn’t complete but as there’s a sequel coming, I won’t fault the author on that, hoping the new novel is going to fill in the blanks as the title (The Kinship) seems to infer. This is a HFN and honestly, the romance sort of takes a backseat, or at least slides a bit to the side, to all the other marvelous narrative work going on here.  It’s a thriller, laden with suspense, but still manages to be full of tons of heartwarming elements and love.  Huh, how about that! And that’s on the ghoul side!

Anyway. Any details would just spoil this so none are given.  Read it!  The characters are great, the writing flows quickly, the scenes are vivid, and the story will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Plus I thought the ending worked  because there’s a sequel coming and hopefully, there’s a younger character I need to spend more time with.  And we still have some mysteries to unfold.  Yes, I can see this as a series to successfully run on past the sequel.  Now I’m anxiously waiting the next book out.  Why not pick this one up and catch up to me!  I highly recommend it!  Ghouls in love are so much fun!

Cover art is eye-catching even if that model is getting to be a bit overworked.

Sales Link:  Amazon | Amazon UK | Goodreads

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 314 pages
Published October 22nd 2017
ASINB076P71FF

An Alisa Review: Wolf’s Kiss (Polar Nights Book 2) by Siryn Sueng

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

Nolan has heard werewolves love bondage and toys in the bedroom, but Halken brings more than just his kinky nature.

Under the lights of the beautiful city, Tromsø, the call for pleasure fills the snowy air.

Having left the deep north in an attempt to bury past demons, Halken finds himself drawn in by a gorgeous blond dryad. With his original plan to leave Tromsø tossed out the window, he takes his dance partner home, fully intent on mating with him.

Nolan has heard rumors about werewolves, what they like in the bedroom. He quickly finds out that most all of these rumors are true. Taken in by his sexy wolf, he finds himself in the most erotic of situations with Halken…and begging for more.

Halken talks little of himself, preferring to keep his past exactly where it belongs. In the past.

But what he left there has a mind of its own. A deranged rogue wolf stalks the city, following the scent of what he wants—and he will have it, one way or another.

Okay, so I’m still not sold on how the mating works in this world; there apparently needs to be a pull but it isn’t completely being picked by a more dominate partner.  Nolan can’t believe his luck when Halken chooses him but Halken has some stuff from his past that will have to be resolved first.

The conflict of the fae continues into his story but not much happens with it.  The main focus is the rogue wolf who wants to mate with Halken, with this we get a little more insight into mating but not enough for me.  Nolan and Halken find happiness but we don’t get much in the way of relationship building or anything, they pretty much mate and then deal with the rogue shifter and they are good.  I enjoyed seeing the characters from the first book and hope that as more books join the series we continue to learn more about this world.

The cover art is great and follows the style for the series.

Sales Links: Amazon | B&N

Book Details:

ebook, 59 pages

Published: November 7, 2017 by Deep Desires Press

Edition Language: English

Series: Polar Nights #2