The Botanist’s Apprentice is the first in Arden Powell’s Flos Magicae series about a world where magic and magical studies exist, if somewhat uneasily.
A slow burn romance builds around the shared love of two mens passion and study of deadly plants. That’s such a fascinating idea that’s gets even more marvelous when the author creates a few charismatic, albeit horrifying deadly flora to add into the story as a main element.
Eli Katz is all young enthusiasm, , his intense passion for and research about deadly plants have led him to the very man and his well known greenhouse that can help him achieve his dreams. Powell ‘s Katz is believable, adorable in his intensity, and grounded in the way he views his new surroundings and Mr . Robert Lord-Harding. It’s both with the highest respect. And , to himself, acknowledging a growing attraction.
Robert Lord-Harding starts off as the lonely stiff researcher, who upon realizing he’s met a kindred spirit , starts to share his passion, watching with a quiet joy.
I love this aspect of the story. The beginning of their journey together as he opens his amazing greenhouse to Eli for the first time…
This story is short but has some unexpected moments and elements to it. Ones that brings chills, a gasp or two, and a lovely epilogue.
I started this trilogy with the much darker Winter’s Dawn so wasn’t expecting the lightness , joy of magic, or a slow burn romance. Even with killer plants. I always appreciate a deadly bit of flora!
Love it! Highly recommending this and the much darker bookend to this trilogy, Winter’s Dawn. Now to finish it up.
Recent college graduate Eli Katz is desperate to continue his studies in the field of magical botany. When a family friend arranges an apprenticeship for him with the most famous botanist in the country, Eli leaps at the chance without asking questions.
Robert Lord-Harding is a reclusive bachelor with an interest in dangerous plants. What he’s not interested in is another apprentice—especially not after the scandal of his last one. But, intrigued by Eli’s research, he offers Eli the chance to prove himself and earn access to his greenhouse.
Ever the keen student, Eli thrives under the attention. And if Lord-Harding is younger and more attractive than Eli had imagined, and if his teaching methods are more hands-on . . . Well, it’s not the first time Eli has had a crush on an instructor. It doesn’t mean he has to act on it.
But Eli and Lord-Harding aren’t the only ones in the greenhouse. A carnivorous plant that emits pheromones to lure men into its deadly embrace has been watching them flirt for weeks. Its pollen is irresistible, and it has certain effects on male physiology that make it impossible to ignore. Eli and Lord-Harding might be able to resist their attraction to each other, but resisting the man-eater is something else altogether.
The Botanist’s Apprentice is an 18,000-word standalone fantasy short with an HEA.
“I considered the Arcana, wondering if it had some healing properties. Decided to not try or suggest such a thing. I didn’t know what was inside me, what it could do. Just because it whispered things at me, we weren’t joined at the hip.”
— Night Tricks (Midnight Magic Book 1) by Richard Amos
If reading that made your brain hurt, you’re not alone. That’s Clayton or Clay as he prefers to be called, warlock and the POV of the novel and series.
This novel has some promising elements to its plot, and overall series arc. It has some interesting secondary characters like the button-eyed demon. But to get to those and others, the reader must have an either a love for certain clichés story elements, a character that’s so unbelievably dimwitted, that he repeatedly does the wrong thing , leaps into sex, hides who he is but doesn’t really know who he is, does amazing things NO One can do but has basically a meh , that’s sorta neat, attitude.
Anyway see below:
Cliché:
🔹Rift in universe caused by magical war. Literally called The Rift. Soo many books with exact element down to that name. Please find another name, someone.
🔹Billionaire Vampire with black rose tattoos, because dark beauty with thorns. Yep. Complete with alabaster glowy body.
MC is hard to read as the book is from his POV and he often comes across as someone with the emotional maturity of a tweenage valley girl. There’s a lot of EEKs everywhere! In that exact manner.
As in “I mean…EEK!”
At the end of the first quarter of the book, I was seriously thinking of not finishing.
Tae Frost and Clayton Christmas’s relationship is along the lines of I want you, let’s have sex. Oh, no, it’s you, not me. Let’s have sex. More woe is me. More, sex. Oh , no. Look what we did. More woe. Rinse , repeat. Add lies, weepy history, lies.
You get ready at one point to say to any villain “have at them”.
By the end, the author has telegraphed who or where the villain of the plot is. And they are on the run with the hero still lying his brains out.
If I continue on, it will be only to flip through the pages to the end to see if I’m right.
No more EEK for me.
For fans of this author, I’m sure you’ll already have found this book and series.
For other lovers of magic and Urban Fantasy Romance fiction, I’ll leave it up to you.
They say warlocks are lesser beings. I’m about to prove them wrong.
The streets have been my home for as long as I can remember. To get by, I use my magic tricks, bringing smiles to the faces of adults and children alike.
As a warlock, my powers are limited. Nothing like a witch’s magical skills. Basically, I’m a glorified magician as well as a second-class citizen. Fine. It doesn’t get me down. I have my cat Fizz and Kylie Minogue’s music to keep me going as I dream big.
I know there’s a better life out there for me.
When I accidentally summon the lost magic of arcana, something not even a powerful witch can do, my world is turned upside down.
Enter Tae Frost. Mysterious billionaire vampire. Deliciously handsome and brooding. Able to set my pulse racing with just one look. A man who offers to change my life for the better. I just have to move into his penthouse and help him hunt demons first.
Hmmm. I have a big decision to make. Do I take this Cinderella-like opportunity? Especially with the dangerous secret I’m hiding from the world. And if the witches discover I’ve summoned arcana… Well, it won’t be fun to be me if they do.
There’s a demon making a big impression—a creepy, button-eyed man spilling blood across London. Seemingly uncatchable, as well as unhinged. The city is trembling in the wake of his shadow.
With my new powers, I’m the only one to stop him.
Damn.
Night Tricks is the first book in an Urban Fantasy Romance series packed with magic, demons, action, and steamy moments. Step into the world of a warlock who always tries to see the sunny side of life, and the sexy vampire who makes his knees go weak.
So Into You (The PI Guys #2) by S.E. Harmon is a book I enjoyed far better than the one preceding it. That one, Stay With Me, had so many flags for me I thought I was at a heavily contested football play at 4th and down at NFL Sunday.
The relationship here between PI Drew Rodriguez and Screenwriter Noah Ashley is more balanced and, frankly, nuanced.
Both have issues with their childhoods, mostly stemming from one of their parents. The traumatic wounds drive their behaviors and determine their relationships. How they maneuver through and around these emotionally laden issues and barriers each has erected (in one case, the barrier is sitting himself in a chair in the living having arrived unannounced), is wonderful to read and a pleasure to be connected to.
Drew and Noah argue over the expected trust issues, work timorously towards something real, and it feels believable. The men work as a couple and as friends.
The cases they investigate are mundane, boring, sad, and, occasionally scary.
Drew’s home life mirrors just how quickly complicated things get and how they get handled. With resigned frustration that also feels as real as it comes.
The first couple makes appearances here but honestly I hardly noticed them. The real people, the ones putting in the work were right in front of me. And I was loving every bit of time I was spending with them.
So Into You (The PI Guys #2) by S.E. Harmon is a terrific realistic contemporary romance. It has people with damaged childhoods, working through their issues, and moving forward to have healthy relationships and hopefully a HEA.
I really loved them. I’m highly recommending this story. Check it out!
Screenwriter Noah Ashley has a few four-letter words for his agent when she suggests he improve his script by shadowing a PI. Still, because he’s an artist dedicated to his craft and she knows where the bodies are buried, he agrees. Then he spends a little time with the gorgeous PI, and suddenly it seems like a really good plan. The PI doesn’t seem to entirely love the idea, but Noah has never been afraid to go after what he wants.
PI Drew Rodriguez is used to people depending on him. He’s the classic rock for his family. Responsible. Dependable. The classic rock would never succumb to the borderline sleazy temptation of friends with benefits, no matter how sexy that temptation is. Drew is looking for something enduring.
Despite Drew’s misgivings, it’s not long before they’ve got all the requisites for friends with benefits going. Friendly, good conversation? Check. Fun times in and out of bed? Check. Hot, electrolyte-sapping sex? Double check. Falling in love? Yeah. About that….
The Finding Home, The Complete Series, is a splendid collection. I love being able to read one story right after the other of the men of Chi an Mor, House by the Sea.
The first novel is my favorite of the collection. That’s
🔹Oz.
It hit all my buttons, as far as a contemporary romance, and it’s everything I’ve come to expect from a Lily Morton story. It’s alternatively hilarious, so believably authentic that you feel you’re actually seeing the places and people moving through the events as they unfold, smelling the lavender, feeling the salty winds drifting through the warm fields and gardens of the golden stoned manor.
So sure everything exists because they feel so real and grounded for you.
Oz Gallagher and Silas Ashworth , the Earl of Ashworth, are absolute perfection. Oz, small, fierce Irish born Londoner, with his firsts in Art History but a common background that will always insure no reputable firm will hire him, is that quick witted, smart mouthed soul . He’s instantly someone you love. An affair that deepens, page by page.
It’s helped along by Oz’s instantaneous connection with Chewwy, a mournful Italian Spinione , who becomes his shadow, to our delight.
Silas, the Earl and local vet, is just as warm and charming as Oz, but in a totally different way. He’s, posh but without the snobbery. He’s Cornish, where the land and house have as deep a hold onto him as for it to be cellular. He loves his land, his people, and , everything about Silas telegraphs that immense connection through Morton’s wonderful descriptions and thoughtful dialogue.
Theirs is a slow paced romance, working through each other’s issues to arrive at a wonderful HEA and heartwarming epilogue.
There’s so many outstanding secondary characters, many of whom we will see again in other stories, including those in this collection.
5🌈
🔹Milo is next. This is a more somber story as it deals with issues such as domestic abuse and it’s lasting effects upon the person who suffered.
Milo Ramsey had a stutter , caused by a childhood accident, that also made him a target for bullying. This story addresses that as well. The Milo we met in Oz’s novel is one that’s had some time to recover.
This story gives us the Milo we hadn’t met yet, the trauma he endured, and the journey he took to recover and recognize the characteristics of the man he loves aren’t like the one who abused him.
It’s one of self-discovery, forgiveness, and bravery.
There’s a age difference between Milo and Niall. Milo’s romance with Niall Fawcett, estate manager to the Earl of Ashworth, that is.
But it’s a wonderful romance, and thoughtful story, working through all the serious issues that’s being discussed here, and what that means for Milo, first and their future.
Very satisfying. 4.75.
🔹Gideon is last.
Gideon Ramsey is Milo’s older brother, close friend to Niall and Silas. They grew up together at a nearby house, close to Chi an Mor. But where Milo was kept close to home, Gideon, like Silas and Niall , was shipped off to boarding school.
Gideon became a famous actor. Hiding the fact that he was “gay “ on the advice of his toxic agent. The fast lifestyle caught up with him in his late 30’s, drugs, sex, alcohol. Until it almost kills him with a bout of bronchitis.
Enter Milo and Niall, with an intervention of sorts. A cruise and a nurse to transport him to Chi an Mor where he’ll recuperate.
Eli Jones is believable as the nurse and engaging. Gideon is acerbic , dryly funny, and charming. The cruise is a great way to have them get to know each other before they land and Eli is off to another job.
I felt there could have been more in the section with Gideon’s agent. That happened abruptly. The cottage visit was lovely.
I liked this story but the other two were clear favorites. The epilogue, however, was splendid! I could picture that so easily. What a grand way to send them off.
4.5🌈
All in all just an amazing collection of stories. I wish Chi an Mor was real and I could pay to visit. I’d be on the next plane out.
One small note just because it bothers me. Of the 3 covers. The one for Oz? Has absolutely no connection to any main character . Oz? Tiny sharp faced black haired blues eyes Irish man. Silas? Tall, black haired, blade like nose Cornishman.
The bestselling Finding Home series is now available in one collection. Set in Cornwall, the series follows a group of friends as they each find love with a lot of heat and humour along the way.
Oz Gallagher does not do relationships well. Bored and jobless after another disastrous hook up, he decides to leave London for a temporary job in the wilds of Cornwall. Surely managing a stately home on a country estate will be easier than navigating the detritus of his relationships at home.
However, when he gets there, he finds a house in danger of crumbling to the ground and a man who is completely unlike anyone he’s ever met. An earl belonging to a family whose roots go back hundreds of years. Silas is the living embodiment of duty and sacrifice. Two things that Oz has never wanted. He’s also warm and funny and he draws Oz to him like a magnet.
Will falling in love be enough to make Oz stop moving at last and realise that he’s finally home?
Milo has been burying himself at Chi an Mor, hiding from the wreckage of his once promising career and running from a bad relationship that destroyed what little confidence he had. Niall, his big brother’s best friend, has been there for him that entire time. An arrogant and funny man, Niall couldn’t be any more different from the shy and occasionally stuttering Milo, which has never stopped Milo from crushing wildly on the man who saved him.
However, just as Milo makes the decision to move on from his hopeless crush, he and Niall are thrown into close contact, and for the first time ever Niall seems to be returning his interest. But it can never work. How can it when Milo always needs rescuing?
Content warning: There are descriptions of domestic abuse in this book.
Gideon has everything he should want in life. Fame, money, acting awards – he has it all. Everything but honesty. At the advice of his agent, Gideon has concealed his sexuality for years. But it’s starting to get harder to hide, and his increasingly wild behaviour is threatening to destroy his career.
Then he’s laid low by a serious illness and into his life comes Eli Jones. Eli is everything that Gideon can’t understand. He’s sunny tempered, friendly, and optimistic. Even worse, he’s unaffected by grumpiness and sarcasm, which forms ninety percent of Gideon’s body weight. As Gideon gets to know the other man, he finds himself wildly attracted to his lazy smiles and warm, scruffy charm that seem to fill a hole inside Gideon that’s been empty for a long time.
Will he give in to this incomprehensible attraction when it could mean the end of everything that he’s worked for?
I am reading Onley James’ Necessary Evils series and thought I’d see what else the author had written.
Bad Habits, co-written with Neve Wilder, seemed like it was in a similar vein with assassins, suspense, computer hackers, and characters with a connection between them.
I enjoyed it but found that while the storyline and action was fast paced, letting me finish it pretty quickly, some of the main characters needed something more to make them adhere to the descriptions or personalities the authors intended.
Jonah is supposedly a cold blooded contract killer. He kills a person easily at the beginning of the novel, in keeping with his profile.
But shortly after, his actions are anything but . He’s appearing to be a man forced to kill because circumstances made him a killer, not because he’s a psychopath. Years of professionalism are tossed away.
Same goes for Caspian. He’s , according to the storyline and his description, a genius hacker. The only evidence we have of that being believable is the opening scenes in the book. Those dirty, exhausted, raw scenes felt real.
But everything that occurred afterwards from a hacker standpoint needed more attention to detail.
As someone returning home , yes. As a criminal hacker on the run? No. Too many chances taken , over and over.
The characters that felt absolutely perfect? Sadie, Madigan. Ruthless, brutal, perfectly flawed to the point they might be psychotic. Those characters I got behind. They had everything our main characters were lacking.
The plot towards the end was extremely suspenseful and incredibly entertaining. Great ending and wrap up.
Sending those two off made sense because to me they just didn’t seem very believable in their stated job choices to begin with.
Jonah taught Cas a million ways to protect his body but not one to protect his heart.
Smart-mouthed hacker Caspian escaped an abusive home at sixteen. Now he’s one of the most sought-after black hatters in the world.
Jonah is a ruthless contract killer with only one weakness, the vibrant runaway he took in years ago: Caspian.
But Cas bailed when he turned eighteen, and Jonah has maintained a steady diet of eat, kill, sleep since then.
Jonah had always been the fatal flaw in Cas’s code, the bug that froze the part of his brain separating logic from emotion.
A threat to Cas’s life brings him back years later—not as the boy Jonah remembers, but as a hardened computer hacker with a price on his head and a list of names everybody wants.
The chemistry between them is as undeniable as it is dangerous.
In a world of secrets and murder, trust is a liability and feelings can get you killed. But Jonah let Cas go once, and he’s not willing to do it again. Even if it means confronting his past, solving a twisted puzzle, and taking out half of New York City’s seedy underbelly to keep Cas safe.
Bad Habits is a steamy, action-packed thrill ride of a romance with a HEA and no cliffhangers. It features morally ambiguous men, pancakes drizzled with snark, chosen family, drive-in movies, and the kind of love that drives a guy to murder in order to protect. In short: all the emo, heat, and sarcasm you’d probably expect from an Onley/Neve collaboration. This is book 1 in the Wages of Sin series. Each book will follow a new couple.
Irresponsible Puckboy is the second in Eden Finley and Saxon James’ hockey romance series, Puckboy.
This time it’s a good friends to lovers, fake marriage trope story. I was looking forward to it as Tripp Mitchell, one of The Queer Collective, was a interesting character in the first book. The rest of his friends were on him about his one-sided love for his dimwitted best friend and fellow Vegas teammate .
How was that going to play out?
Much as you would expect it seems.
Tripp’s a well defined character, his pain over the years of hiding his passion and love for Dex is almost awkward to read. Especially when Dex is so hugely oblivious as well as admittedly being not the sharpest tool in the shed.
It’s a two person POV, which helps because while you immediately connect with Tripp, trying to find a way to make a case for someone who’s basically a Golden on the low scale of perception, gets trickier.
Make no mistake ,you believe Dex is a person of little self reflection, with zero concept of life outside of food, and hockey, uh, the basics. But that’s a puppy or a toddler who can skate.
And having to read about Dex as he painfully navigates mentally through the most rudimentary concepts and ideas gets a bit annoying. At one point, after he lets himself into Tripp’s penthouse unannounced, he actually throws himself between Tripp and the man he’s had a one night stand with, the next morning. Dex , while he’s in bed with the naked couple, whines about his girlfriend, and wonders why Tripp’s not exactly thrilled to see him.
Yes, there’s many other questions this scene brings up but you get my issues here.
Once they “fake marry” , the lack of communication in some areas as Dex decides to try on being gay brings up a bunch of issues as well.
It’s no wonder The Queer Collective has so many doubts about them.
Part of this story is Dex’ journey to pansexuality and coming out. But as the character was written, he just never felt layered enough or as complete as Tripp.
I’m probably not in the majority here. But this book and couple didn’t strike the same sparks as Ezra and Anton, either on or off the ice.
It was just a little bit lacking on one side.
The business end when dealing with the fallout of their marriage, the press and their managers, and even how the team handled it. That felt believable. Team dynamics are a funny thing , and it’s elements like this or certain teammates that can throw a season.
I’m anticipating the next book. I’m hoping it will feature a real bad boy of the Collective. Oskar. Won’t that be delicious!
If friends to lovers, and fake marriage tropes are your thing. If cute dim boyfriends are part of the storyline? This is the book for you. It’s got a sweet HEA.
The worst part of being in love with my straight best friend is the fact he’s too oblivious to see it.
Years of pining have left me exhausted, and I need a break from Dex. I need space to get over my feelings. But when his relationship falls apart and he turns to me for comfort, I cave immediately.
If there’s one thing I hate more than being hurt, it’s seeing Dex struggle. I can’t leave him in a time of need, even if my friends say it’s my biggest downfall.
They say Dexter Mitchale is my weakness, but if that’s true, I don’t want to be strong.
Dex
I’ve always been the dumb one. It’s what I’m known for, and usually I don’t let it get to me.
I have hockey, and I have my best friend, Tripp. What more do I need? To settle down? No thank you. Marriage? Hard pass. According to ex-girlfriends, that makes me “irresponsible.”
But the solution I come up with to get over my fear of commitment might be my dumbest idea yet. Not only does it have team management breathing down my neck, but it puts a strain on my friendship with Tripp.
This PR nightmare could lose me the only person I’ve ever loved. Losing girlfriends is nothing. Losing Tripp? It’s not an option.
As the hockey teams are making their run for the Stanley Cup in real life, I had just finished one hockey series and was in need of another when this got my attention.
Egotistical Puckboy, the first in Eden Finley and Saxon James’ Puckboy series about hockey players getting their HEA. Needless to say, I’m in.
I so enjoyed this enemies to lovers romance about two egotistical fantastic NHL hockey players. The long time feud, fueled by misconceptions about each other, including one’s sexuality, is so well written.
The bigger than life personalities of both D-man Ezra Palaszczuk and winger Anton Hayes, huge egos to match their vast athletic talents on the ice, it’s all there on the page for the reader to love, cackle at, and ,yes, swoon over, as they warily stumble their way into a relationship and romance.
Authors Finley and James are careful that, when crafting this novel , all the important elements are brought in so it feels believable and a world we should want to invest ourselves into.
The games! The way the men fly across the ice, bodies moving, puck flashing, it’s pure awesomeness. It’s hockey! You can see these games and ,when or lose (they do both), you feel the emotional impact with them.
The men themselves are layered, their pasts, their passions, their pain.
Ezra Palaszczuk is someone who appears one dimensional, on purpose, but only as a barrier to hide the damage done by negligent , borderline abusive parents and the toll it continues to take on him.
Anton Hayes has his own personal issues to work through and it’s his relationship with Ez that allows him the different perspective to start on a new path and journey.
This story has so many great aspects to it. It’s a dynamic hockey book. It’s a sexy romance. It’s a thoughtful conversation about gay athletes in a major sport (see fabulous The Queer Collective element), what it means for queer youth to have representation. It’s also about knowing yourself well enough that you’re finally comfortable and feel safe to come out .
Like I said. There’s so much to Egotistical Puckboy (Puckboy #1) by Eden Finley and Saxon James. I love this. And I’m highly recommending it.
It almost hurt to write this review because it wasn’t the one I was really expecting to write. I have loved this series since Rachel Reid began it. And a diehard fan of Shane and Ilya since they premiered in Heated Rivalry, a favorite novel among many here.
So like so many readers and fans of both author and Game Changer , I’ve been eagerly anticipating the series finale and the novel which would bring some closure to the 11 years long closeted romance of Shane and Ilya.
What I didn’t expect was that I felt the first 25 percent of the book, perhaps more , was such a slog, that I came close to putting it down completely.
The characters I had connected with were missing. Chemistry gone. Shane was the one I had the most issues with. Self involved, complaining, non communicative. Other than sex, I couldn’t see what Ilya saw in him. The relationship and dynamics from Heated Rivalry had dimmed and the sparks doused.
I couldn’t believe this was it.
It wasn’t until the halfway mark, when dramatically the narrative picked up, and their relationship became energized once more that I was invested in their lives, romance, and the story.
There had been serious elements introduced. Depression, family history, suicide. But it was one-sided narratively speaking. And it served to only connect us to Ilya and his shaky emotional status. Leaving Shane in a removed story bubble, away from the relationship and the feelings connecting us to Ilya.
The emotional ties only reached back out after the story was halfway through.
Then we got safely back on established familiar relationship ground. One we recognized from Heated Rivalry, but with personal growth accounted for.
Shame it took that long because the remainder of the story was excellent. It wove plot threads from Role Model into the storyline here, making terrific use of those characters and elements.
Reid also found the missing humor, to intersperse with the serious issues of LGBTQIA+ athletes acceptance in sports, outing, and, the stress of being a pro athlete on relationships.
The last section of The Long Game was everything I’d hoped for and wanted for this couple. It turned into the perfect way to send them off.
I just wish it had happened sooner. That the book was a complete Gordie Howe Hat Trick instead of a one goal win.
But I’ll take it. I’m sorry to see the series end. Just as I am to see the end of every hockey season.
I’ll look forward to the next Rachel Reid with the same enthusiasm as the start of the new season and run for the Stanley Cup as well.
If you’re a lover of hockey romance, contemporary romance, and the works of Rachel Reid, this series is for you. I’m highly recommending it.
Game Changers Book 1: Game Changer Book 2: Heated Rivalry Book 3: Tough Guy Book 4: Common Goal Book 5: Role Model Book 6: The Long Game
The sequel is finally here! Shane and Ilya’s story, first seen in Heated Rivalry, continues in this long-awaited hockey romance from Rachel Reid.
“Everything you could want from this magnetic couple! A passionate, sexy, emotional sequel that grips your heart! Shane and Ilya forever!” —#1 NYT Bestseller Lauren Blakely, author of Hopelessly Bromantic
To the world they are rivals, but to each other they are everything.
Ten years.
That’s how long Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have been seeing each other. How long they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret. From friends, from family…from the league. If Shane wants to stay at the top of his game, what he and Ilya share has to remain secret. He loves Ilya, but what if going public ruins everything?
Ilya is sick of secrets. Shane has gotten so good at hiding his feelings, sometimes Ilya questions if they even exist. The closeness, the intimacy, even the risk that would come with being open about their relationship…Ilya wants it all.
It’s time for them to decide what’s most important—hockey or love.
““Okay, I understand.” “Good. I take my leave now.” “Thanks for coming.” “I will always come when you ask. I’ll see you soon.” “Yes, you will see me soon.” The cat disappears into a slight mist.”
— The Witch’s Power Play (Covens of Eaton Falls Book 2) by Mia Monroe
There’s just so much I want to like about this series and story. Monroe is pulling together a interesting history of interwoven supernatural mating and wars, of inter-species bonding and Gods intervention.
All so fascinating that I really want to know where the author is taking the series.
But to navigate through the process of untangling the story threads, a reader must decide what’s their tolerance for characters whose dialogue is either so stilted or so overblown as to take a reader away from the story.
Leo and, here, Presley, the witches, are constantly “giggling “. That word is ever present. They had their heads together, giggling. He giggled. They giggled. Nonstop giggling. They also twirl, and just have personalities that, frankly, swing from varying degrees of maturity.
The vampires verbiage is oddly both a combination of something that supposedly sounds “old “ while also trying for hip. If you know what I mean. A strange unwieldy thing that doesn’t work.
Plus they go around carrying their witches as though they were young women from a bodice ripper.
While saying things like ‘I’m strangely attracted to him.I think of nothing else.’ Soooo many clichés here.
The characters themselves have real promise. Presley and Beto? Great dynamics and background. But you need to basically put them on mute after a while because it’s just to much. There’s a nice element of D/s here that is unexpected. But also a eye roll bit with the color pink . So for every one good thing that gets included, there’s bound to be another that’s zany.
There’s also a villain called The Beautiful One.
So. I breezed through this. Next time , if I continue, I’ll have to find a way to mitigate the dialogue and words that seem to populate like bunnies.
In the meantime, for those of you who adore this author, I’m sure you’ll have read it or it’s on your TBR list. It does have some really interesting themes going forward.
Want to know how it’s going? Check it out!
Covens of Eaton Falls:
🔹Never Trust a Guy With Fangs #1
🔹The Witch’s Power Play #2
🔹Vampire’s Make Bad Roommates #3 -July 14,2022
🔹Cosmic Spells and Vampire Lairs #4 – January 11, 2023
🔹A Traitor Shows His Hand #5 – March 9, 2023
Note: didn’t that last title seem a bit spoilery? So now we know the traitor is a guy. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have said A Traitor Shows Their Hand? Hmmmm?
How to tame a vampire isn’t in any of my spell books.
My life changed forever the night my coven was attacked. I was scared and alone until my bestie Leo showed up. I trust him with my life. Good thing since he dragged me to the home of a notorious vampire. Even worse, another equally terrifying vampire is in charge of keeping an eye on me.
I did my best to comply and keep my distance from the stoic, domineering man who I shared a room with. I may have tried to flirt with him a couple times, a totally dumb move considering vampires aren’t exactly fans of witches. It didn’t work anyway. Once I was able to get away from him and back to the safety of my coven, I hightailed it out of there. I thought I would quickly forget him. I was wrong.
When we reunite, Beto let’s a surprising secret slip, leading me to make a decision that we both might regret. Who am I to deny a man his need to submit? Will Beto decide to trust me with his desires? Can I learn to keep a vampire in check? Don’t know, but I’m up for the challenge. If the war doesn’t tear us apart first.
The Witch’s Power Play is an MM paranormal romance featuring a subby vampire who just wants to be good for someone, a sassy witch embracing his toppy side, a supernatural war causing havoc, a bunch of really annoying demons who show up at the worst time, and so much pining (at first). It is book two in the Covens of Eaton Falls series. Each book features a different couple with an ongoing conflict and therefore should be read in order.
“She couldn’t see the bigger picture. She looked at the twins and saw a problem. Thomas saw an opportunity. A divine creation. He was raising a legion of psychopaths.”
— Mad Man (Necessary Evils Book 5) by Onley James
Mad Man (Necessary Evil #5) by Onley James is Avi Mulvaney’s story, the other half of the mirror twins referenced above.
And every issue I had with Asa’s (the other twin’s book) is resolved here, the reasons for that’s story’s lack weirdly reflected in Avi’s nature and the fact he’s literally what’s missing from Asa. Asa has those qualities Avi will never have. Only together are they one person.
The prologue is the second half ( naturally) of how they were found and adopted. It adds those last minutiae to them as children.
Asa is the total aggressor, absolute control, all mind, and yes, cruelty. Loves to inflict pain. The perfect sadist. That’s his half. Avi is emotion. He enjoys being hurt. He’s the masochist to Asa’s sadist. He’s dependent on their twin connection. While Asa’s mean in his remarks, Avi’s kind, if that’s possible for a psychopath. He’s impulsive.
That Avi is “feeling “ the loss in their separation more deeply or able to express his spiraling makes sense given which half he is. It also makes him more relatable as he’s definitely more likable, even though he’s still very much a killer.
James’ mirror twins comes with built in narrative issues demonstrated by their stories. Asa’s such a undeniably alpha personality, a sadist who’s only weakness is his brother who carries those other character traits for him. Asa hunt’s everything, including the man he’s obsessive over. He’s even able to shut out or down temporarily his link with his brother when Avi questions his decision.
That’s unthinkable to Avi. A loss of link? Never. So while that stays true to Asa , by losing Avi, that story loses the reader to an extent.
Now in Avi , we’re back and we get another fabulous character as well. One we’ve been previously introduced to. Felix Navarro. Baby brother to Jericho, now husband to Atticus.
Felix is delicate,,gender bending, highly talented fashion designer , and extremely lethal in his own right.
He’s also forceful, possessive, and supremely intelligent. In a way perfect for the man he’s been crushing on. Avi Mulvaney, fashion designer and head of his own clothing empire company.
Felix is a complicated personality, with a family history of loss (Jericho’s story), his outlook and passion mask a fear of being left and insecurities over his background. Indeed, he’s strong and commanding but soft and in need of a family dynamics where he’s able to feel completely safe.
The two stories, Avi’s and Asa’s, actually fit together like the twins do, giving us a full portrait of the amazingly synergy that comes into existence between Avi&Felix&Asa&Zane. It’s not 2 + 2 but actually a whole of four. That’s the completed “one” at the end.
Avi woos Felix, and Felix (already a member of the Mulvaney family by way of Jericho) really learns who Avi is and understands his needs, with and away from Asa. It’s such a wild well written story.
We also get to know Felix intimately as well. His rages to his fears. His passions and aggressive side. He’s perfect. For Avi.
The mystery starts off in a startlingly different manner, with a nice twists. There’s several cases here that the family is involved in.
Plus the ongoing Aiden/Thomas drama.
I loved this book, and it reminded me that Asa’s was really a lead-in to this which, like the Prologue, completed the story for both men.
Except for the complications of length, it should have been one novel.
Together, it’s outstanding the more you think about all the elements, and aspects of each mirror twin and the men they’ve chosen, who are in fact, mirrors themselves.
Stunning.
There’s also the tiny fact that’s whispering along each story that all these characters and acts have been directed by the man who gathered them together as one large experiment.
Surely something has to come of that?
At any rate, I’m highly recommending this book and series. Heed the trigger warnings about violence. This is dark fiction and romance. The men are psychopaths.
Avi Mulvaney is many things. Son. Twin. Owner of the fashion label, Gemini. Murderous psychopath. Together, he and his brother, Asa, make one brutally efficient monster, ridding the world of predators who victimize the innocent. History proves Avi and Asa don’t do well apart, but their father has decided to test that theory.
Felix Navarro knows exactly who he is. Baby brother. Fashionista. Vigilante. While he’s not happy that his big brother married a Mulvaney, the union has its perks. Like a paid internship with Gemini. But all good things come with a cost and, for Felix, that’s enduring Avi Mulvaney each day, which inevitably leads to thinking about him every night.
Felix doesn’t like Avi. He’s cocky, condescending, overbearing, and inappropriate. He’s also sexy, brilliant, and twice as lethal as Felix. Still, Felix loathes him. Even if he keeps letting him kiss him. And touch him. Even if he slipped just once. It was still hate sex, and it would never happen again. Ever.
Except, Avi’s being sent to help take down a dangerous crime ring and he’s ordered Felix to come along. Felix has vowed to stay strong. To remember he hates Avi. But they’re trapped together and there’s only one bed, and it’s so hard to hate Avi in the dark when he’s whispering how Felix belongs to him. Felix belongs to no man, but Avi is determined. He has one week to prove to Felix that he’s the exception to his rule. After all, who says no to a Mulvaney?
Mad Man is a scorchingly hot, intense, enemies to lovers, psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a dirty talking, brutally vicious killer and a sharp tongued murderous fashionista who are both too stubborn for their own good. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, enough blood to film the final scene in the movie Carrie, and enough heat to melt your panties. This is book five in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 