Category: Less Than Three Press

A MelanieM Review: Scratch the Matchmaker by Austin Daniels

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

After his boyfriend moves out of state without telling him, Jay wants only to indulge in a weekend of drunken self-pity. Before he can get started, though, he is rescued by a stray dog.

While obtaining the necessary food and supplies he needs to take care of the dog, named Scratch, he meets Richard, a veterinary student. Better still, Richard offers to meet up to talk to him about caring for a dog.

Lessons in taking care of a dog lead to lessons Jay never expected, but Jay isn’t the only one with a sour past, and all the two men hope to learn from and with each other may be cut all too short.

Well, I only wish the story I found had been half as cute as the premise and the cover.  I think just about everything here needs to be addressed from the format to the multiple points of views that take you immediately away from the main characters story into various side vinaigrettes of dog matchmaking and sex.  There is a weird element of “yes, let’s immediately be boyfriends and D/s even though I just met you” that’s disconcerting as well as downright less than sexy.

Honestly it makes you want to take Jay to therapy and remind him about not talking to strangers.

I wish I could say Scratch the Matchmaker by Austin Daniels is all about perspectives. That its just me. But I really feel that it would be hard pressed to find readers to overlook the faults I found. This needs more than another looksee from a editor or two.  And that’s from someone who adores a dog story within a romance!  It’s just disorganized, the writing is poor and the characters are one-dimensional.  I’d give this one a pass.

Cover design by Michelle Seaver.  Just adorable, from the dog to the design.  Great job.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 164 pages
Published September 13th 2017 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781684310975
Edition LanguageEnglish

A MelanieM Pre-Release Review: Enter the Dragon (The Bestiary) by Jamie Sullivan

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Since a ceasefire was called on the Dragon Wars, dragons and humans have lived in an uneasy partnership. To help humans understand dragons and prepare future dragon trainers, the Academy was created. Jac Conway is an eager student, long enthralled with all things dragon. But even he, with all his hopes and ambitions, never dreamed of just how close to them one night would bring him …

For a short story I found myself totally sunk into this world in a short amount of time.  The author throws us and Jae down a scary tunnel on mating night and the rest of the story just carries us away.  Yes, I wish to know more about the past history, how the dragons decided it was worth it to come together with humans.  The tantalizing elements here raise so many questions that a mere 50 odd pages can’t begin to answer.

But the promise, the characters, small and large, the glimpses I saw of something bigger…well, if this is the start of a series I can’t wait to see what the author brings next.  I hope to see these characters again as well.  What a way to shake up an  academy!

Cover art by Kirby Crow is pretty, but the blue is distracting.

Sales Links:  Pre order Links at Less Than Three Press

Book Details:

ebook. 56 pages
Expected publication: October 4th 2017 by Less Than Three Press (first published November 21st 2012)
ISBN13 9781684311057
Edition Language English
Series The Bestiary

A MelanieM Recent Release Review: Justified (Magnified #2) by Mell Eight

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The world of vampires and werewolves is in upheaval. The magical community is under attack by a great evil power trying to destroy them all and their strongest fighter is oblivious with his nose glued in a spell book. Yani has given up hope in getting Aaron back on track. He knows he instead has to focus on his own future and the lives of those he loves, even if it means losing Aaron, the love of his life, forever.

Yani’s life isn’t the only one in flux. As the battle heats up and lines are drawn, the rest of his friends must fight for their own survival in a world with no answers to the terrible magic attacking them.

The Magnified novels, starting from the first story, is an amazingly complex and immensely mysterious series that’s getting increasingly horrifying by the book.  It’s also  quite wonderful, full of unexpected elements I’ve not seen in other tales.  Mell Eight is combining mysticism with vampires, Nazis, Kabbalism, dragons, faeries, werewolves, horror, M/M romance and it all works.

The first story, Magnified, sets up the introduction and the couples and should not be missed. It’s a gripping story. Without it, Justified floats without its foundation material.  This is not a standalone novel.  With Magnified as the backhistory for the couples and the situation they find themselves in, the reader can settle into the drama that is unfolding here in Justified.

That group of friends (and couples within) has just fought a major battle and barely escaped.  We now see the effects that it’s had on certain members, and there aren’t healthy ones.  Aaron has withdrawn into his books looking for knowledge and Yani is despairing over the loss of their closeness and perhaps their relationship.  The cost of that most recent battle is high indeed.

Mell Eight weaves her many plotlines (the overall series thread and the sub storylines) with great care, popping and pulling various elements in and out of the current scenes.  Could be Yani’s Jewish family and his ties to the vampire world and the Kabbalah or maybe we are heading into werewolf territory or even pandas, you never know.  It will be in pursuit of an evil so horrific that you are happy that Mell Eight has left some of the descriptions of that villain’s deeds less than vivid.  And terrifying to know that this series is continuing because it means only one thing has happened.

Justified (and the Magnified series) is full of fascinating, multi-layered characters, which include several here outside of the main group that I grew to love and hope to see again.  This small group of fighters seem like underdogs battling overwhelming odds with only one that stands a chance against true evil.   It started out as a gripping story and is growing into a powerful one of determination and bravery.  I can’t wait for the next book in the series.  The only reason it doesn’t have a higher rating is that you absolutely need the first book as a foundation for this one.  Together?  They have the makings of a 5 star series!

Cover art by Aisha Akeju.  I like this cover with the simple object that has its part to play within the story.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 147 pages
Published August 9th 2017 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781684310500
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Magnified

Magnified (Magnified, #1)

Justified (Magnified #2)

A MelanieM Review: The Lonely Merman (Landlocked Heart #1) by Kay Berrisford

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

 

It’s Friday afternoon, and the last thing Ben wants to be doing is trudging through a wet forest in search of a public hazard. But duty calls, and turns out more exciting than Ben imagined when he encounters a magical ruin, an enchanted pool, and Lyle—a merman who’s cursed to be landlocked many miles from the sea.

Lyle is flamboyant and exciting—he’s got tentacles, for goodness sake!—and Ben falls hard. But Lyle’s been hurt before and finds trust difficult, refusing even to reveal how to break the curse that imprisons him. Ben’s just an ordinary guy, and can’t help wondering if he can ever be the hero Lyle needs.

The Lonely Merman (Landlocked Heart #1) by Kay Berrisford has a terrific premise behind it and some wonderful mythology that the author has created for her story.  I trudged along with Ben  and tumbled headlong into a magical place, haunted by a cursed being waiting for his forever love.

How could you not want to read about that?

And for most of this story, Kay Berrisford has me hooked.  The plight of the forest, the woods surrounding the pool and the temple because of Ben and the way in which he endangered them all had me on the edge of my seat.  That was so well done.  A little less was the quick relationship between Ben and Lyle.  Really Ben seemed halfway more irritated than smitten, but maybe that was me.

But the back history and story Berrisford created for Lyle is a superb one.  I really wish she had given more page space to this portion of the story and world building because she absolutely held my interest here.  This is also where I felt let down at the end.  Everything that occurs to Lyle at the end happens “off stage” as it were and we are cheated out of a huge element of this story, an important one.

So yes, the main characters get their HFN, yes I love the idea of the story and so many of the elements here I felt it warranted a 3 star rating. But there are also enough holes that it came perilously close to 2 as well.  That’s for all the sections of the story that the author didn’t deliver and should  have been included to give the reader a satisfactory closure to the story and Lyle’s part in it.

The title indicates that this is the first in a series so I’m curious if it’s going to pick up Ben and Lyle’s story from the ending of this one, an uncertain one at that or set off on another trajectory all together.  I’m invested enough that I’ll pick up that story to find out.  For all you fantasy lovers, there’s enough here that if you’re looking for a quick read with some interesting aspects to it, The Lonely Merman (Landlocked Heart #1) by Kay Berrisford just might be the thing for you.

Cover art by J. Ang is interesting but almost too simple for this story.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published July 8th 2017 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781684310395
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesLandlocked Heart #1

A Lila Review: The Heart of the Lost Star by Megan Derr

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

 

Kamir is on the verge of losing everything. Knowing full well he can’t meet the ultimatum his parents have issued, he instead finally puts in motion his plans to live completely independent of them. His plans are interrupted, however, by the unexpected return of his despised ex-husband—and thrown even further into upheaval when he ends up comforting the man he’s secretly loved for years.

Jader may not know where he comes from, but he knows where he belongs and what he wants—until he helps rescue some stranded Bentan travelers, one of whom look almost exactly like Jader, throwing his life and everything he thought he knew into tumult. Scared and overwhelmed, Jader flees—and lands unexpectedly in the arms of a man he’s always seen, but never really noticed.

 

The Heart of the Lost Star brings two lonely men together despite their differences. They come from different stations in life and have achieved success through hard work. They complement each other and understand their need for independence and to have space to take their own decisions.

 

Some of those decisions put them at odds with their families, the court, and those around them that want to control their lives or feel the need to look down at them due to their circumstances. Throughout the story, we experience how they deal with all this and the future they built, separate and as a couple.

 

This is an unorthodox romance story since the characters spent more time apart than together. Even so, their relationship works and we get invested in their journeys. We do follow their courtship from the distance and that allows the reader to experience, in real time, what the characters did.

 

The differences between genders and nonbinary characters are shown a bit more in this installment. I need to admit that I didn’t realize them during the first two books in the series. The author did an excellent job integrating all the information between the culture and world-build. Every small detail added to the overall feeling of place in the story.

 

We also get updates about the previous couples and they do play a recurring role. Also, we learn more about the relationship between the kingdoms and their geography, politics, and culture. And during the story, as it is to be expected, we get small hints about the next story in the series, The Mercenaries of the Stolen Moon.

 

The cover by John Coulthart follows the style of the previous two books. It’s beautiful and it fits the story to perfection, showing us a profile view of Jader and Benta.

 

Sale Links: LT3 | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 

Book Details:

 

ebook, 320 pages
Published: August 23, 2017, by Less Than Three Press
ISBN: 1684310601 (ISBN13: 9781684310609)
Edition Language: English

 

Series: Tales of the High Court
Book #1: The High King’s Golden Tongue
Book #2: The Pirate of Fathoms Deep
Book #3: The Heart of the Lost Star