Category: Uncategorized

An Alisa Review: Rez Dogs and Scooter Trash by Deirdre O’Dare

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

 

Mike Dufrane fled a traumatic youth, hard years haunted by an abusive biker father, poverty and degradation, by escaping into the military. There he found only more savage violence. Then a chance encounter with an animal rescue group showed him another way. On an Indian reservation in the southwest, he finds a place to make a difference. Rez Dogs Rescue Shelter will be his route to build a positive life. Then a handsome Native American rides up on a Harley and throws Mike’s plans for a loop.

 

Adam was not there when his kid brother needed guidance and a firm hand. Back from two tours with Special Forces, he starts a youth center on the Rez to try to atone for his error but he cannot give up his Harley or his image as one bad ass biker. When an outsider starts a shelter for abused and neglected dogs, Adam initially finds it ludicrous but then recognizes a purpose similar to his own. However, the stranger seems to fear or hate bikers and is reluctant to begin a friendship. When crime and danger threaten both their projects, they have to join forces to prevail and suppressed attraction bursts into flame.

 

This was an interesting story of two people from different backgrounds coming together as their different missions come together.  Adam is trying to make up for being gone when his brother dies while Adam is just trying to do what is right with the mission he feels is best.

 

There is no real connection with the characters but it was a nice quick read.  We see them work on their missions and admire each other from afar until danger comes.  I liked that these two had such different backgrounds but such similarities in them too, I think it helped to bring them together more.

 

The cover art by Written Ink Designs is cute and has the “awe” factor.

 

Sales Links: JMS Books | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 57 pages

Published: September 8, 2018 by JMS Books

ISBN: 9781634867092

Edition Language: English

Review Tour and Giveaway for Center Of Gravity (Nook Island #1) by Neve Wilder (excerpt)

 

Buy Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2DTNP55

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2Rln8sB

 
Length: 98,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Jay Aheer
 
Blurb

When life comes apart at the seams, love is the only thread that can repair it.


Accountant Rob Macomb has a stable job that he’s good at and… that’s about it. A year of nothing but heartache leaves him seeking refuge from loneliness and grief behind spreadsheets, punishing daily runs, and the occasional anonymous tryst. He wants only to bury the past and focus on his career, but he has one last task to complete: pack up his parent’s quaint beachside house and put it on the market.Alex Andrews is a budding artist with a penchant for Converse, Cracker Jack, and piercings. Family turmoil sidelines his dreams of finishing art school and building a career in three-dimensional design, and now he’s doing whatever he can to keep everyone afloat.When Alex shows up as a part of the moving crew hired to help Rob clean out the house, what should be a simple move becomes far more complex. Because it’s not the first time they’ve met, and their last encounter was memorable for all the wrong reasons.The attraction between them is undeniable and intense, but Rob’s hell-bent on pushing everyone away, and Alex is on the verge of spinning out of control. Can a grumpy accountant and a bootstrapping artist find their center of gravity together, or are they on a collision course to heartbreak?*An emotionally-charged, slow burn m/m romance featuring an age gap, hurt/comfort themes, and a hard-won happily ever after. This is the standalone first in the Nook Island, Georgia series.*

October 4 – Bike Book Reviews, OMG Reads, October 5 – Love Bytes Reviews, October 6 – Amy’s MM Romance Reviews, October 8 – Sexy Erotic Xciting, October 9 – Mirrigold – Mutterings & Musings, October 10 – Megan’s Media Melange, October 11 – Jessie G Books, October 12 – The Novel Approach, Lillian Francis, Bayou Book Junkie, October 13 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, October 16 – Joyfully Jay

Read Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 5 star review here.
Excerpt
In this excerpt, Rob is on the phone arguing with his sister, who oh-so-helpfully set up the impending move with a company called College Buffs Hauling Stuff. Rob is not pleased to begin with. As the truck arrives and the two movers get out, Rob has a moment of awkward realization:

Another door slammed and a guy with short, dark hair ambled around the front of the truck. Cracker Jack opened the door and leaned back inside, soon emerging with a silver clipboard in one hand that he checked before saying something to his coworker. In contrast to the stupid caricature on the side of the truck, Cracker Jack met all the qualifications of college buff from what I could see of his profile. He was an endless summer kind of golden blond, and lean, a bit of leftover sunburn on his cheeks laying over the warm, cabana boy tan beneath. He looked as if he should be holding the handle of a pool net rather than the dolly he deposited at the front gate. “Two Men and a Truck would have worked just fine. Or 1-800-Junk,” I argued.

“The Buffs get five stars on Yelp. Don’t be a stick in the mud,” she replied, knowing it’d get me right in the accountant’s tender spot.

Cracker Jack glanced up at the front door of the house and for the first time I saw his face in full, the dangerously carved cheekbones, the sensually bowed mouth, a bit of silver—incongruous against the golden backdrop of his face—ringed through his lower lip. I froze, first trying to place him, then in frazzled denial. But it was too late: my gut already knew and had twisted up like a pretzel. The memory came in saturated fragments that exploded behind my eyelids.

I narrowly missed being speared by the coat hook as my shoulder slammed shut the faux wood door of the stall. I fumbled the lock with one hand, pulled him to me with the other, fingers spanning and raking the damp sheen of sweat gathered low on his back. A hot wash of breath across my throat, his lips dragging over the curve of my jaw, the tickle of his lip ring against my stubble. He smiled against my teeth and murmured, “A guy who knows what he wants. I like it.”

I felt the color fleeing my face in humiliating mutiny as Cracker Jack stared at the door. I took a backward step. Summer droned on about how she’d just been picking the best option and it was hard to do from far away, that she’d not wanted to interrupt me with something so insignificant during tax season and on and on and on, but it hardly registered.

A rush of cool air over my cock—how had he gotten my zipper undone so fast?—and then the warmth of his touch. The brush of his thumb over my crown. “Fuck, you’re already slick,” he groaned, biting his lip. His forehead bumped my cheek as he looked down at his hand, watching as he stroked me. He paused long enough to spit on his palm then stroked faster, the noise obscene cutting through the piped in music of the club, but the feel of him on me was pure velvet bliss. When I reached for his waistband, he brushed my hand away. “Not yet. I like to concentrate. I’ll get mine in a minute.” He licked at the side of my neck where my pulse was hammering, then tightened his fingers around my shaft, pulling a moan from me. I just wanted him to shut up. Just wanted him to shut up and get me off.

Except he never got his.

And I couldn’t remember his name.

Neve Wilder lives in the dirty South, where the summers are hot and the winters are…sometimes cold. She is a mom to three rambunctious weebeasts who have joined forces in a mission to carpet the family home with toys and small items that really suck to step on at six in the morning.


She reads promiscuously, across multiple genres, but her favorite stories always contain an element of romance. Incidentally, this is also what she likes to write. Slow-burners with delicious tension? Yes. Whiplash-inducing page-turners, also yes. Down and dirty scorchers? Yes. And every flavor in between.


She believes David Bowie was the sexiest musician to ever live, and she’s always game to nerd out on anything from music to writing.


And finally, she believes that love conquers all. Except the heat index in July. Nothing can conquer that bastard.

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Release Blitz – Love’s Trials (Revolutionary Heart #2) by Janice Jarrell (excerpt and giveaway)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Love’s Trials (Revolutionary Heart, Book 2)

Author:  Janice Jarrell

Publisher: Janice Jarrell 

Release Date: October 12, 2018

Length: 78,333 words/224 pages

Genre/s: Contemporary Gay Romance

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Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US 

Amazon UK

Blurb

After half a lifetime spent in short-term liaisons that allowed no intimacy, charismatic Irish police officer, Colin Campbell, found the love of his life. Dark-eyed, steady Joshua Abrams burned through Colin’s emotional barriers and taught him to look at life through new eyes, eyes that made room for the love and closeness he had always denied himself. Deeply in love and completely happy, their life together remains idyllic and their fiery passion for each other seems limitless.

They survive the Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ riots, though not without scars. But later that month Colin’s position with the campus police force places him in charge of an informant program designed to crack a dangerous drug ring. Fully aware of the risks, he swears to Joshua that he will oversee the program without becoming directly involved. But Colin’s promise begins to crumble when he becomes the only one who can save a young Nigerian exchange student from a deadly drug lord.

Excerpt

Colin drew in a breath. He released Joshua, then took his hand and drew him toward the couch. “Sit with me a minute. I need to tell you something.”

Joshua shook his head as he fell onto the couch beside Colin. “You’re going to do it,” he said. “You’re going to be part of the drug investigation.”

Colin’s eyes widened. “Lenny! That jackass called you?”

Joshua chuckled and shook his head. “No,” he said. “C’mon! Lenny would never do that. No. I was expecting it.” His fingers tightening on Colin’s. “I knew you couldn’t say ‘no’ to them. Once they started waving the students in front of you it was a done deal.”

“You mad at me?”

“Oh, hell no! Are you serious? Why would I be?”

“I know this whole operation worries you.”

Joshua looked past Colin to the windows of their house, past which the Rivanna river flowed. “You can’t base the way you do your job on what might or might not make me nervous,” he said. “You have to do what you think is right.” He turned back to Colin. “And I know you always will.”

Colin leaned in and kissed him. “I didn’t tell you the best part! David’s going to partner with me. They want us to develop a set of prerequisites for the students’ participation. It’s…,” he shrugged and wrinkled his nose, “it’s paperwork. It’s grunt work. It’s no big deal.”

“I see,” Joshua said. “So there’s absolutely no chance that you’ll end up involved on a deeper level. Zero. None. Nada.”

Colin lifted Joshua’s hand to his lips. “Josh…,” he began, then stopped. It no longer surprised him when Joshua seemed to read his thoughts and often even his fears, and since he couldn’t bring himself to lie, Colin was now left with little choice. He sighed and looked somewhat sheepishly into Joshua’s dark eyes. “Well…,” he began.

“Yeah,” Joshua interrupted. “That’s what I figured.”

“I promise you this,” Colin said, pulling him closer. “I swear to you that I will resist any attempt to get me into the field. I will absolutely handcuff myself to my desk.”

Joshua’s face twisted with doubt, as he returned Colin’s gaze, then he shook his head in resignation. “Colin, I believe you. And I truly believe you’ll hold to that—”

Colin nodded.

“—right up to the moment when one of them says the words ‘student in danger’.”

Colin’s eyes fell.

“And thirty seconds after that,” Joshua said, “there’ll be a white streak where Colin used to be.”

“Josh—”

“Don’t bother denying it,” Joshua said. He leaned in to press his lips to Colin’s then sat back, his eyes locking, once again, with the honey-green eyes of his lover. “You’re the Man of La Mancha, Colin. You hear the call of glory and off you go. You don’t even think about consequences to yourself. You never have. You only care about doing what’s right.” As he spoke this last his dark brown eyes closed and his head dropped.

“Josh, please..,”

“You are who you are, Colin,” Joshua continued. “That’s why you’re the man I love.”

Colin touched his cheek.

“And no matter how this thing turns out,” Joshua continued, “I would never, ever want that man to change.”

About the Author

My name is Janice Jarrell. I am a retired grandmother who lives in Seattle, WA. I have two children and three grandsons. I’ve been writing gay romance since I was twelve years old, only back then it wasn’t called ‘gay romance’. In fact, it had no name at all. It was the fifties, and it was worth your life to admit to being gay, let alone confess to being a girl who constantly fantasized about relationships between gay men. Hell, I didn’t even know what a homosexual was. I lived on a farm out in the sticks in a tiny Michigan village and I’d never, to my knowledge, even heard the word. I just knew I loved the thought of boy on boy romance. I just knew that there was something hot going on between Tom Corbett and his Space Cadets and all those guys on ‘Combat’.

I wrote slash fanfiction for 30 years, writing over 337 stories, some as short as 100 words (a drabble) some as long as a series which was over 119,012 words. I enjoy writing my stories. I enjoyed the feedback I received from my readers. It was a creative release I’d been searching for my entire life and I blessed the Internet for leading me to this artistic oasis for my spirit.

Love’s Magic was my very first step into writing my own characters. I will always be grateful the slash fanfiction community for nurturing the budding author until she was ready to blossom into a fully realized novelist. It’s been an amazing thing to watch the gay community’s growth over these past twenty years. My own journey has echoed theirs in many ways, and I’m grateful to all those gay activists who fought to give the gay community the rights and privileges they always deserved.

I’m also grateful to the gay romance community, readers, authors, publishers and promoters, who are making these, my retirement years, the most creative ones of my life. When I’m not writing, I’m traveling, walking, hiking, knitting, crocheting, and weaving.

I’m very excited about the upcoming release of my second contemporary gay romance novel, Love’s Trials. Those of you who fell in love with Joshua and Colin in Love’s Magic are in for a treat because they are the STARS of Love’s Trials, though they may not thank me for it given the very difficult ‘trials’ they are about to face.

Social Media Links

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Facebook Reader’s Group

Facebook

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Giveaway

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A MelanieM Review: Grasmere Cottage Mystery Trilogy by Dahlia Donovan

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

A Romantic Cosy Mystery Trilogy by  author Dahlia Donovan on a cosy mystery adventure in Grasmere Cottage. With love, wit, and a murder to solve, life for Valor and Bishan is about to get bloomin’ complicated in this sweet gay romance that covers three stories and will leave you wanting more. 

The stories appear together under one cover in paperback format at Hot Tree Publishing, also separately in all eBook formats wherein lies the rub for me.  See, I was lucky to read it as one story (still not sure how the author and publisher gave me the paperback version in e format).  Cal them.  Because read in one flowing story?  The best thing ever!!

I didn’t realize they were actual separate stories until I went back to the author to beg her to write more Grasmere Cottage cosies. That’s when I found out these were three stories not one and this couple was, at least, temporarily on hold for more.  But after reading these amazing tales you will see why I’m holding out  for the trilogy to   turn into a series.  Why Valor and Bish have captured my imagination along with my heart.

Especially when the author hooks them up with one really ugly serial killer intent on destroying their hard won love and  sanctuary in Grasmere Cottage. Oh what a marvelous couple Dahlia Donovan has created here.  Unusual and perfect for each other, each with their own fascinating back histories and personalities that when mixed together become a complex, highly intelligent, loving, and absolutely unique crime fighting couple.

Talk about your layers!  Valor Tarquin Scott, tossed out of the family (for being gay) highly bred society son, now running a niche bakery and living happily with Bish in what his family refers to as his grubby little cottage.  Bishan Tambol, autistic, has been able to turn his love of music into a career with the London Symphony Orchestra. That together with their cat, and a love of the stories of the detective Poirot given them a contented and lovely life together.  Plus the support of Bish’s huge family too.

Then the killer strikes in their garden and nothing is the same.

Donovan’s character of Bish, his struggles with his autism, especially once his routine’s are destroyed when the killer infiltrates their lives is incredibly realistic and often painful.  You’ve come to care so quickly for this pair and Bish.  And to see how shattered Bish becomes at points just hurts.  And how amazing when he finds his strength and methods to cope to work the puzzles to help find the killer.  And Valor too is just that splendid bundle of depth and determination that makes you to just cheer him on, him and Bish naturally.  To push through all the vile threats of not just a murderer but that of Valor’s family also intent on derailing his life for their own purposes as well.

This book, oops, these books truly have everything to keep you glued to the pages.  A plot that will keep you guessing right up until the end, so many twists and turns that the suspense is a white knuckle read all the way, so much heart and love because the relationship is just so  endearing. And  finally, because these are people/characters you may never have met before, loving each other, and succeeding to vanquish evil and live happily, we assume, ever after in Grasmere Cottage.  Fighting the righteous gnome/frog wars!

Really, Dahlia Donovan!  If for no other reason.  I need more gnome/frog wars!

So pick these up.  They will do great things for your heart.  Stupendous characters who love each other in a cottage complete with cat and crazy neighbor.    The plots are terrific, the writing marvelous, and all things combined…makes these the cosies of your heart.  Don’t miss out.  I highly recommend them one and all.

 

___________________________________________________

 

Book Covers:  Claire Smith.  I love the covers for the whole series.  Fun, out of the box for an english cozie but this artist has always surprised me and continues to do so.  I like it.Grasmere Cottage Mystery Trilogy by Dahlia Donovan  Paperback     Hot Tree Publishing 

 

Dead in the Garden (Grasmere Mystery #1):

Dead body in the garden? Check.

Mystery to solve? Check.

Police focused on the wrong person? Not good.
All grown up and graduated, Valor Tarquin Scott, son to Earl and Countess Scott, owns The Ginger’s Bread, a biscuit shop, in Grasmere in the Lake District. The love of his life, Bishan Tamboli, has turned his music studies into a successful career playing with the London Symphony Orchestra. It’s a perfect life with their cat, spending evenings watching Poirot on the television.

The nightmare begins with one dead former schoolmate, leading police to believe Bishan is responsible.

Valor struggles to solve the cryptic puzzles left behind in a race to prove Bishan’s innocence.

He can’t help wondering how far the body count will rise before they manage to stop the killer.

 

Sales Links:   Hot Tree Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 128 pages
Published October 6th 2018 by Hot Tree Publishing
ASIN B07FLVZR68
Edition Language English
Series Grasmere Cottage Mystery #1

Dead in the Pond (Grasmere Cottage Mystery #2)

Killer on the loose? Check.

Frogs in the garden? Check.

Playing a twisted game with a killer? Not good.

Bishan Tamboli struggles to recover from his false arrest. He worries the police still aren’t as convinced about his innocence. With his longtime boyfriend, Valor, at his side, he intends to solve the puzzles and catch the murderer amongst their former schoolmates.

He’s fought hard for his independence as an autistic and refuses to throw it all away because of a nameless monster. With friends and family in the killer’s crosshairs, Bishan fears the mystery will bring the end of everything and everyone he loves.

 

 

Sales Links:  Hot Tree Publishing | Amazon

Book Details: Kindle Edition, 120 pages
Expected publication: October 13th 2018 by Hot Tree Publishing
ASINB07FM3FL2V
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Grasmere Cottage Mystery #2

Dead in the Shop (Grasmere Cottage Mystery #3) :

Deadly fire? Check.

Fear-induced heart attack imminent? Check.

Time running out on them? Not good.

Valor Scott wants nothing more than to enjoy life in his little cottage with his boyfriend. The shadows of a serial killer continue to haunt him, though. He only wants the living nightmare to end. He battles one catastrophic event after the other, intent on bringing his loved ones through to the other side safely.

As their killer finally comes out into the open, Valor finds himself face-to-face with an obsessed murderer intent on destroying everyone in their path.

 

 

 

Sales Links:  Hot Tree Publishing  |  Amazon

Book Details:Kindle

Edition, 121 pages
Expected publication: October 20th 2018 by Hot Tree Publishing
ASINB07FW12FR8
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesGrasmere Cottage Mystery #3

 

 

Release Blitz – Take It All – Steamy Encounters Collection by Quin Perin (excerpt and giveaway)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Take It All – Steamy Encounters Collection

Author: Quin Perin

Publisher: Self-Published

Cover Artist: X Potion Designs

Genre/s: Gay Erotica

Length: 15 000 words/65-70 pages – three short stories

Release Date: October 11, 2018

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link

Amazon US 

Amazon UK 

Amazon AU 

Add on Goodreads

Blurb

From the bestselling authors’ of Meik&Sebastian – Obsessed come three steamy encounters of twisted, forbidden lust…

What do lust-driven men do when they think no one is watching? Find out now. Be a fly on the wall in a seedy motel room, a gym shower and the heart of suburbia, where three torrid pairings nurture the beasts inside of them.

Featuring:

Carter&Dave – The one with Daddy

Gordon&Jett – The one with the Politician

Josh&Graham – The one with the Jock

They can hardly handle it, can you?

Excerpt

Blue eyes narrowed, and when Graham was about to push him again, Josh’s hands darted out, fingers wrapping around his wrists. When he shoved, Graham stumbled back, landing against the hard wall of the shower. “Lemme go.” He huffed, twisting under Josh’s grasp.

“Only if you stop being an ass,” Josh shot back. His fingers flexed, tightening as he took a step closer. Eyes fixed on Graham.

“Pot meet fucking kettle,” Graham ground out dryly.

“God, you’re so frustrating.”

Mere inches apart now, Josh’s breath warm as blue and grey eyes connected. Tense silence crackled, electrifying the air between them. Josh’s eyes dropped to trembling lips. Graham took a breath but before he could tell Josh to not even think about it, Josh did it. He slammed forward, clashing their lips together. Graham’s wrists were still grasped in Josh’s strong fingers; hips forced back against the wall by the jock’s.

Graham bucked forward, trying to throw Josh off of him. He jerked his head back from the kiss. “Don’t.” He hated how breathy his voice sounded. Hated the way his cock started to stiffen. Hated how much he wanted Josh.

Soft lips brushed over his throat, warm breath tickling across his Adam’s apple. The kiss was far better than the last—and the first—time they’d kissed. Though he supposed they both had more experience now than when they were sixteen. “You want this.” Josh’s voice vibrated against his heated skin.

“N-No.” God, he did want it.

Josh chuckled low, husky. “Liar,” he murmured, dropping Graham’s wrists. He pulled back, a smug smirk spreading across his cheeks, exposing those too perfect dimples that made Josh want to punch him.

Graham didn’t move. Water soaked the back of his shirt, weighing down his pants. Blood rushed through his ears, heart pounding like a bird’s wings against his ribs, desperate to escape. The air between them was too thick to inhale, too loaded with testosterone that Graham held his breath, gaze skipping lower. A faint flush spread over the center of Josh’s chest, and a bulge, large and obvious, rose beneath his damp towel. “You are the biggest fucking asshole.”

Words barely managed to form before Graham launched towards Josh and reunited their lips in a smoldering kiss. Colliding desperately and with burning fervor, Graham’s hands scrambled to yank the towel down so he could grab both of the jock’s tight ass cheeks. Josh’s palm slapped against the wall next to Graham’s head, deepening the kiss. Reckless and oh, so fucking stupid.

About the Authors

This is Quin&Perin. We are a team of Sultry Gay Romance writers who focus on detailed, toe-curling, and realistic smut scenes with a fair share of dirty talking (Oh, boy). Unlike other authors in the genre, we write without the goal of publishing anything. Publishing is just the cherry on top of a cream-covered bubble butt.

Social Media Links

Blog/Website

Facebook

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Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

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Release Blitz and Giveaway – Adder and Willow (The Rowan Harbor Cycle #6) by Sam Burns

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Length: 45,000 words approx.

Cover Design: Melanie Farlow @ Clause & Effect

The Rowan Harbor Cycle Series

Book #1 – Blackbird in the Reeds – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #2 – Wolf and the Holly – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #3 – Fox and Birch – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #4 – Hawk In The Rowan – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #5 – Stag and the Ashe – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Blurb

Fletcher Lane has a problem. His boyfriend’s parents are coming for a visit, and they want to meet up. He’s ready to commit, so what happens if his prospective in-laws don’t like him? And how is he supposed to keep Rowan Harbor’s unique nature a secret when he might be the worst liar ever born?

To make matters worse, when he finds and helps two strangers stuck on the road, it leads him to a new threat: the man who’s been terrorizing the town has set events into motion that endanger more than just Rowan Harbor. Can Fletcher and his friends stop him before there’s nothing but a smoking crater where the Oregon coastline used to be?


Sam wrote her first fantasy epic with her best friend when she was ten. Like almost any epic fiction written by a ten year old, it was awful. She likes to think she’s improved since then, if only because she has better handwriting now.

If she’s not writing, she’s almost certainly either reading or lost down a Wikipedia rabbit hole while pretending to research for a novel.

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A Chaos Moondrawn Review: Texas Charm (Aberrant Magic #6) by Lyn Gala

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The sixth book in the series focuses on the policemen in El Paso from book three, Art and Zach–partners both on and off the job. We know that the local council had misallocated or openly stolen federal money instead of using it for a Djedi Center, so Salma comes to see what facilities and resources are available for local people with Talent.

Zach has found a spirit guide in one of the old ifrit–an Aztec hummingbird named Pochi. So, like Darren, he has no powers of his own, being neither a shaman nor a trained magic user, but now has some power at his disposal, which is not really a lot of help at this point. In fact, it is difficult not to compare Zach and Darren, so it’s also difficult not to compare Art and Kavon. I did laugh as Art visits Zach’s version of the spirit plane. It’s a good way to drive home that though these couples are similar in some regards, they are their own people, so it’s unfair to expect them to act the same. Their banter and the ways they like to irritate each other are part of their charm.

The point of this book is to fix the political problems locally and rally the magical community in order to oust the corrupt council members. Art has always made it very clear he doesn’t want to be involved, so it’s no surprise when Zach can’t convince him to challenge for a seat when hundreds of shamans and adepts meet on the spirit plane to discuss the situation as everyone picks a side. It is both difficult and easy to see Art’s side of things and while I might not agree, it’s an accomplishment of the author to make Art such a complicated character. At this point, I have to admit that Art was not my favorite character in this series. However, Art has many good reasons to have a few chips on his shoulder. This book helps establish why his personality may not be that inviting. In the middle, he made me laugh out-loud. By the end, I wanted to both hug him and punch him out at the same time. We finally get some differences between the way the Vatican, the Egyptians, and Native Peoples train people who have a spirit guide. I also enjoyed seeing the psychological aspect of a guide’s relationship with their shaman.

Art and Zach are called to the scene of a murder. Their victim is actually a famous rapist. I enjoyed the parts about them working the case, although the subject matter is disturbing. The emotions are also difficult to handle as his father is questioned by police and the author creates some empathy for everyone involved. There is a good job of juxtaposing the awful case they are working on and the private lives of the detectives. This is an established couple so we walk in on the middle of their story and get to share in their intimate moments and their journey to their HEA. Adding in family dynamics was a great way to add depth to this story.

This book really puts us forward in the overarching plot, whilst showing new allies for the fight ahead in a more nuanced depth. This also takes us structurally back to the first few books, while stylistically it has some things in common with book five. I liked having Art’s POV (third person limited) for most of the book, because he would come across unfavorably if we didn’t know his thoughts and motives. We need to like him, so this was a smart move. Now, in hindsight, I wish we had gotten to know one of the shaman in Toronto the same way in book three. I am so excited to have the links between this book and book five explained. This is a great addition to a series that has been uneven in many ways. Still, there is always something in each book that draws me back.

The cover art is by Natasha Snow and is in keeping with the rest of the series. I believe it shows Art and Zach in the meditation room of the police precinct going to the spirit plane.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:
ebook, 187 pages
Published August 20th 2018 by Lyn Gala (first published August 16th 2018)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesAberrant Magic #6