Review:  The Witch’s Wolf ( Fated Destinies Book 1)  by Heather K. Carson

Rating: 3.5⭐️

Spoilers ahead. 

While I enjoyed this book, it’s not without some issues. Here’s the good things about The Witch’s Wolf and those elements I thought were less well executed. 

Spoilers ahead. 

The characters are engaging. A two person perspective until the very end , when a third is unexpectedly introduced, it’s easy to see each character in their mindset(s) and how they are handling the various, often chaotic, situations. 

Sage, the oldest sister is only vaguely gendered until further into the story. I’m not sure why some readers have problems with this.  What is more important is the lack of world building and personal history of both characters. I’m not sure if this is intentional on Carson’s part and will be addressed further in the future books, but its lack is a hole that’s felt here. Especially where their father is concerned. 

Further aspects I found explored or otherwise not well executed surround the characterizations, especially the main characters. 

Sage’s character as well as that of her young sister, Coral,  lived for their entire lives in a sterile, rigidly governed and controlled environment that constructed a false history of the world built on narrative necessary to control its inhabitants. 

But when dangerous events prompted them to flee outside the city, and to a place where they find a new truth and life among those who are like themselves, do they feel deeply traumatized, as one might, by the fact that their previous lives were total lies? That everything they knew was false? Not really.

I kept waiting for a believable, grounded response from Sage, a emotional breakdown or show of shock that she’d been living in a life of lies. And  not getting any believable responses. 

The author did write her other emotional responses in scenes and events that felt credible. But there should be a detailed depth of understanding to get that energy and emotion throughout her personality and character from start to finish. At least not without the necessary narrative explanation here for her storyline. 

Then there’s Maddock, the brother to the crazy Alpha. Maddox is the fated mate to Sage. His inner wolf is treated like a separate entity, an element I’ve seen before, and it works pretty well here.  A interesting but under-explored storyline is the plot of the pack has always been lead by a 3- sibling male line. But due to a “self-inflicted” tragedy, this pack no longer has one, and is failing. 

This storyline should have been more a part of the book but instead it was shoved down and only mentioned rarely. 

Instead the drama was between Maddox and his “broken” drunk Alpha brother. It’s a nonsense plot because as any reader can see , that Alpha is the villain and should be dealt with by the very beginning. So the conflict that goes on nonsensically for 481 pages with this “made up conflict “ well its not realistic within the storyline.  It’s become an element that removes the reader instead.

It does end on a cliffhanger. And introduces the voice of the younger sister, as she’s got the next story. 

My thoughts ? It’s enjoyable.  It’s got faults but the characters are fun enough that I’ll probably be going through to the next story. 

But it’s on my TBR list. And that’s a pile. 

Like the cover.

Published by Blue Tuesday Books Cover Design by Fay Lane

Fated Destinies (3 book series)

The Witch’s Wolf #1

The Broken Mate #2

The Alpha’s Curse #3

Buy link

 Book 1 of 3: Fated Destinies 

Blurb 

Fate doesn’t exist.
But try telling that to the growling wolf shifter who thinks I’m his mate…

This is not my week.
Or month.
Or year.

My now-ex-boyfriend cheating on me with my best friend?
I’d get over it eventually.
Pretentious chefs who looked down on me because I never went to culinary school while I was raising my little sister?
Screw ‘em.
Finding out my sister has Lycan wolf DNA and I have hours to get her out of the city before she’s locked away in a government research facility?
I definitely didn’t see that one coming.

To save my sister’s life, we take off in the middle of the night following cryptic instructions from our late father to what was supposed to be the toxic wastelands.

Imagine my surprise when we stumble into a fairy tale civilization of wolf shifters where magic is real and a frustrating, but ruggedly handsome pack enforcer has serious plans for me.

The big, bad, and hungry wolf thinks I’m his fated mate and he’s not taking no for an answer.

That’s just the icing on the metaphorical cake.
But this isn’t some magical bedtime story.

Real danger exists in the Cerberus pack. There’s a poison in the ranks. Shifters are leaving. My sister isn’t safe.

And a blood-thirsty Alpha murders anyone that challenges him.
Which I may–or may not–have accidentally done…
Did I mention today is not my day?

Each book in the Fated Destinies series is a full length novel told in dual POV where the main hero and heroine get their HEA. This steamy series offers spice without sacrificing the plot. Warning: These books do end on a slight cliffhanger once the individual plots are resolved. Scroll up now and start reading to find out how these fated destinies are interwoven into the overall series.

Tropes:

  • Humor
  • Grumpy/Sunshine
  • Growling Alpha Males
  • Touch her and die
  • Spicy M/F
  • HEA
  • Fated mates
  • Slow burn
  • Publication date: March 1, 2023
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 481 pages
  • Book 1 of 3: Fated Destinies

Review: Breaking Badger (Honey Badger Chronicles, #4) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Books 4 through 6 (to date) focus in on Max’s childhood friends and basketball teammates. These females are also dangerous honey badgers and have been a part of a tight knit group of friends that have run their own small time operations since their school days. It been Max, Streep, Mads, Nelle, and Tock. Through crime and punishment (often with Charlie as backup and safety for the younger girls). 

This is Mads book, and along with the other teammates, get hooked up with the Malone brothers, Keane, Finn, and Shay ,Siberian Tigers, who are searching for the people who killed their father. These Tiger shifters are also related to Max, Stevie and Charlie  as Nat, their younger sister turns out to be half honey badger and a half McKilligan.  Complicated relationships introduced as well as some awkward dynamics  during the last fantastic story .

Laurenston weaves tightly packed, violent action scenes and densely layered storylines into developing new found family bonds and growing group relationships. The “Black Malones” tigers start out emotionally stunted and reactive yet during intense interactions and small one to one conversations, each Malone exhibits surprising emotions and hidden depths. 

And while the focus is on Mads, and her interactions with her awful family and the growing one with Finn, the strengths of this series, the MacKilligan sisters (Charlie, Max and Stevie) still have impactful moments and roles to play here. 

As do others. So many new and familiar characters here , beautifully detailed and engaging in their own personalities. It just one more reason I can’t get enough of this series. 

There’s an overall plot and mystery that seems to be going through the next section of books. It’s a really great one. I can’t wait to see how it’s explained. 

Remember these books are gory, violent and murderous. Blood and body parts everywhere. FYI.

Highly recommended. 

I really like the covers for the series. Great work. Eye catching and character related. 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

  • Hot and Badgered #1
  • In A Badger Way #2
  • Badger to the Bone #3
  • Breaking Badger #4
  • Born to Be Badger #5
  • To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

 Book 4 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles 

Blurb 

It’s instinct that drives Finn Malone to rescue a bunch of hard battling honey badgers. The Siberian tiger shifter just can’t bear to see his fellow shifters harmed. But no way can Finn have a houseful of honey badgers when he also has two brothers with no patience. Things just go from bad to worse when the badgers rudely ejected from his home turn out to be the only ones who can help him solve a family tragedy. He’s just not sure he can even get back into the badgers’ good graces. Since badgers lack graces of any kind . . .

Mads knows her teammates aren’t about to forgive the cats that were so rude to them, but moody Finn isn’t so bad. And he’s cute! The badger part of her understands Finn’s burning need to avenge his father’s death—after all, vengeance is her favorite pastime. So Mads sets about helping Finn settle his family’s score, which has its perks, since she gets to avoid her own family drama. Besides, fighting side by side with Finn is her kind of fun—especially when she can get in a hot and heavy snuggle with her very own growling, eye-rolling, and utterly irresistible kitty-cat . . .

“Filled with high-octane action, some serious snark, and a plethora of humor.. the resulting madcap adventures are sure to please series fans.”

—Publishers Weekly 

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: August 31, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 370 pages
  • Book 4 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review:  Ride Or Die (The Body Shop Book 5) by Hailey Edwards 

Rating : 4.75⭐️

Ride Or Die wraps up this fantastic series with mythical battles, high stakes, epic magical revelations, and an absolutely satisfying ending for all the characters. 

The Body Shop series has followed Frankie and her adopted siblings, the Mary’s as they call themselves after the official ‘house of horror’ they were forced to live as children, they’ve come through perilous events and horrific experiences that’s seen them come out more powerful individually and as a found family. 

From one where Frankie was the one who provided and held everything together to a family that worked together as a unit for a common purpose.  The character development and plotting was even, strong and often compelling. And Edwards didn’t leave any character behind in bringing relationships and old friendships forward as things went further into new developments. 

Kierce sacrificed himself for Frankie and now she’s going to save him. It’s time for revelations, god comeuppances, and the final showdown. And some real surprises. 

Dis Pater is shown to be even worse than thought to be. But the biggest bad is a well crafted evil, multi dimensional villain who’s horrific in his clarity of vision.  

It’s reasonable and believable and makes this credible that’s there’s a cost of defeating him.  It wouldn’t have made sense otherwise. Or been in keeping with the types of magical powers and abilities that were used by all of the characters here. 

In the end, we get a sense of how the characters are in their lives and how they feel going forward. It’s contentment and happiness. And that makes The Body Shop a well written, highly compelling and satisfying series, one I’m happy to recommend. 

Love the covers. Every single one.

Cover by Damonza

Illustration by Marouane Hs

The Body Shop – series complete: 5 books:

Fair Market Value #1 

Amber Gambler #2 

Midnight Auto Parts #3 

Cheater Slicks #4 

Ride or Die #5 – series finale 

Buy link

        Ride or Die (The Body Shop Book 5)

    

Blurb 

Kierce sacrificed himself to save Frankie, and now it’s her turn to rescue him. Whether he wants her to or not. That means venturing into Abaddon, the land of the dead, and hoping she can locate him within its shadowed depths before Dis Pater notices his favorite toy is missing. But Dis Pater isn’t the only deity she has to fear.

Frankie’s father has learned of her journey down to his domain, and he won’t take no for an answer when he welcomes her into his home. As if one MIA parent materializing wasn’t bad enough, her mother arrives with her own emotional baggage in hand. Forget the perils of traversing the underworld. Navigating this family reunion just might be what kills her.

  • Publisher: Black Dog Books
  • Publication date: September 16, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 241 pages
  • Book 5 of 5: The Body Shop

Review:  Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles, #3) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Badger to the Bone, the 3rd in the MacKilligan sisters “group” of this series. Now we get to Max, the middle sister and the only full blooded honey badger of the three sisters. 

Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan’s Asian honey badger mother is in prison doing hard time for robbery after their father left her and others caught in Russia after the theft went wrong. She’s been with Charlie since she was young. 

Her personality has been described as family first and psychopathically dangerous. 

She smiles a lot. Apparently that goes with her being a honey badger. They are a violent, vicious breed despite their size.

This takes Max on quite the journey, one that sees her saving someone unexpectedly, taking on a new albeit temporary career, and chasing down criminals, her father and family alike with vicious zest and a ton of weaponry. 

Max is unapologetically who she is. Violent, often aggressive, naked and even murderous. And the author has created her in such a way that it meshes absolutely perfectly with her animal instincts and shifter side. She is a honey badger, no matter what form she is in.  She’s not human and that realistically tracks here. 

And while her other two sisters might be ambivalent at times about parts of their own shifter instincts and abilities, Max has none of those here.

I absolutely howled in parts at certain scenes, and they were both when Max was all honestly and truly honey badger. And deadly. 

The next story starts with side characters and they are great. I’m sure I’ll enjoy those greatly. But Max? She’s fantastic.  And I look forward to seeing her and Zé Vargas, the cat shifter again in upcoming novels. 

Another winner!

I really like the covers for the series. Great work. 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

  • Hot and Badgered #1
  • In A Badger Way #2
  • Badger to the Bone #3
  • Breaking Badger #4
  • Born to Be Badger #5
  • To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

        Badger to the Bone (The Honey Badger Chronicles Book 3)

    

Blurb 

She’s the woman he’s been hired to kidnap. But ZeZé Vargas has other ideas . . . like getting them both out of this nightmare alive. Just one problem. She’s crazy. Certifiably. Because while he’s plotting their escape, the petite Asian beauty is plotting something much more deadly . . .

Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan has no idea what one of her own is doing with all these criminal humans until she realizes that Zé has no idea who or what he is. Or exactly how much power he truly has.

But Max is more than happy to bring this handsome jaguar shifter into her world and show him everything he’s been missing out on. A move that might be the dumbest thing she’s ever done once she realizes how far her enemies will go to wipe her out. Too bad for them Zé is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her alive . . . and honey badgers are just so damn hard to kill!

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Publication date: March 31, 2020
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 418 pages
  • Book 3 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review:  In A Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles, #2) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.5⭐️

A 6 book series, stories 1 through 3 focus on the foundation family of the three MacKilligan sisters.  All three have the same criminal loser and absentee father a honey badger shifter who goes finds female companions like he does trouble, often leaving behind his children (from different mothers). Who then have to deal with his problems as adults. 

The first book centers around the oldest, Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan, a wolf/honey badger shifter who has been the caretaker for her sisters since her mother died.  Now they’ve settled into a sort of normality (for them) in a bear shifter neighborhood in a rental house. And Charlie’s got a bonded relationship with a grizzly bear shifter. 

But all the events in that book sets off a ripple effect that continues here in Stevie’s story. Stevie is the youngest, and the one who has the most issues. She’s brilliant, a certified genius. She’s got mental health issues, starting with extreme anxiety and depression that can cause her to spiral and lose control of her shift.  A concern when she’s a honey badger/tiger shifter hybrid.  The weird mixture of her father’s genes adds to her ability to do some pretty spectacular stuff. 

And for , honestly , some of the best scenes in the book, as well as in the last. 

Laurenston plays with the juxtaposition of how superficially Stevie’s perceived against the reality of what Stevie actually is. Or is capable of. This happens over and over. With multiple people. And I love it. That expectations are often wrong when taken on a simplistic level. 

Of course, this is the MacKilligan sisters, so we get all three and their often hilarious dynamics, fast paced and brutal action, and powerful scenes with full on snarky, clever, and often engaging dialogue. 

Shen, the Panda bodyguard who’s the love interest is vastly different and great in his unique role. He grows throughout the book and into the next. 

If I had an issue, it’s that Stevie kept making excuses for the father, a vile being.  I hope it doesn’t take six books to bring him down. 

This is a definite pleasure to read. And one I’m happy to share. 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

Hot and Badgered #1

In A Badger Way #2

Badger to the Bone #3

Breaking Badger #4

Born to Be Badger #5

To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

        In a Badger Way: A Honey Badger Shifter Romance (The Honey Badger Chronicles Book 2)

    

Blurb 

Petite, kind, brilliant, and young, Stevie is nothing like the usual women bodyguard Shen Li is interested in. Even more surprising, the youngest of the lethal, ball-busting, and beautiful MacKilligan sisters is terrified of bears. But she’s not terrified of pandas. She loves pandas.

Which means that whether Shen wants her to or not, she simply won’t stop cuddling him. He isn’t some stuffed Giant Panda, ya know! He is a Giant Panda shifter. He deserves respect and personal space. Something that little hybrid is completely ignoring.

But Stevie has a way of finding trouble. Like going undercover to take down a scientist experimenting on other shifters. For what, Shen doesn’t want to know, but they’d better find out. And fast. Stevie might be the least violent of the honey badger sisters, but she’s the most dangerous to Shen’s peace of mind. Because she has absolutely no idea how much trouble they’re in . . . or just how damn adorable she is.

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: March 26, 2019
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 418 pages
  • Book 2 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review: A Dragon Inside: Morntag Dragons & Kingdoms Book 1 by Anabelle Raven 

Rating: 3⭐️

This book was a recommendation so I picked it up to see what I would find. A Dragon Inside is a sweet, unsurprising fantasy novel that includes dragons, dragon riders, princesses and kingdoms in peril. But adds little to the already overwhelming world of books written about this genre. 

It’s the first book in a series but wrapped up the first storyline and romance pretty well by the end of the novel. King realizes he has traitor close to him, his sister, the princess helps save the day,  by rescuing the dragonrider.  Who ends up with the princess. 

King also looks to have a HEA too. 

There’s a weird magic aspect that unexpectedly occurs towards the end that doesn’t make sense and has no foundation whatsoever laid out for it. 

Perhaps it’s coming in the future books. 

Some readers might excuse this by saying that the story is meant for YA but all writing, no matter what age the author is aiming for, should have depth in the characters, layers to the world building and intricacies of plot. None of which happens here. 

The characters should be entirely believable or engaging enough for the reader to invest their time and emotions. 

For me, I thought this was just a simple, sweet, and uncomplicated plot that didn’t ask much of the reader. 

If that’s something that you’re looking for, here’s a book and series for you. 

This author imo does not compare with KM Shea who was mentioned in the description. Not even close. 

Cover art is by Turtle Trails Publishing. Interior art (part two) is by Legowo P. Interior art (after Chapter 31) is by Sidney Brady. 

Morntag Dragons & Kingdoms:

A Dragon Inside #1

A Dragon Outside #2 – Sept 30, 2025

Buy link

        A Dragon Inside: Morntag Dragons & Kingdoms Book 1

    

Blurb 

She is a princess. He is chained in the dungeon. They don’t trust each other, but they are Solvar’s only hope for escaping war.

Ellie

When I discovered that my brother imprisoned a dragon rider, I plunged head-first into a whirlwind of political drama, mysterious history, magic, and an alluring prisoner.

Now the secrets I uncovered keep growing deeper. I wanted to save my people from war, but that was only the beginning. My brother and our inheritance complicated everything, and I must find new ways to deal with rebellions, assassinations, and an attraction to an impossible prisoner.

Deryk

I expected to die, but everything changed when the fearless princess swept into my prison cell. Now I must choose between loyalty to my family and dragon or a dangerous trust to an unnerving princess.

  • Publisher: Turtle Trails Publishing LLC
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: July 2, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 440 pages
  • Book 1 of 2: Morntag Dragons & Kingdoms

Review:  Little Bo Sneak (Once Upon A Rhyme, #2) by Abigail Manning 

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Abigail Manning continues her excellent fantasy series with Little Bo Sneak, a tweak of an old classic nursery rhyme with a touch of an undercover spy thriller combined with a fairytale storyline. 

It works surprisingly well. Especially as it continues from the first tale, and reveals a new overall series thread that’s concerned with magic stones and sinister black markets within the Kingdom to obtain them.

It started with the first novel and how Lucy’s father was framed for the theft of several of important magical stones. And then she was subsequently cursed by one. That was  The Itsy Bitsy Liar. 

In Little Bo Sneak, Lady “Evie”Genevieve Rayelle Palleep, Lucy’s mistress and friend, is the main character here.  She’s also a very good spy. 

When some dangerous magical cloaks need to be traced and the culprits identified, Evie’s handlers decide she needs a partner. 

It’s a romantic thriller,a magical romp, and an all-around heroine to the rescue in another fabulous nursery rhyme tweaked for a new trope and grand adventure. 

I can’t recommend this and the series enough. Inventive, characters with depth and humor, and dialogue that conveys emotions and intelligence. 

Adore it.  And each story is interwoven into the next.

Beautiful lush covers are everything! Here’s another in a fabulous line of them. Each is from an important scene in the book. 

 Cover design by Karri Klawitter

Once Upon a Rhythm:

The Itsy Bitsy Liar #1

Little Bo Sneak #2

Hush A Bye Lady #3

Do You Know The Muffin Scam? #4

Baa Baa Black Market #5

Twinkle Twinkle Little Scars #6 – Sept 26,2025

Buy link:

        Little Bo Sneak (Once Upon A Rhyme)

    

Blurb 

What if Little Bo Peep, had a skill for catching crooks?

Lady Genevieve Rayelle Palleep loves to point out what no one else notices, which makes it a tad difficult to get along with most suitors. While tracking down details may not be beneficial for her life as a lady, it certainly has uses in her more secretive life. Since being recruited as a crown agent as a child, Evie’s talents have never failed to hunt down black market goods, runaway convicts, or anything else one could imagine… That is, until her next mission bears an interesting request.

When eight magic-fused wool cloaks go missing from the black market, the agency doesn’t feel that Evie can handle the task alone. Much to Evie’s regret, she’s assigned her very first partner, an obnoxiously attractive agent by the name of Shepherd. He wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have to go undercover as courting lovers… or if he wasn’t so perfect.

With her new partner in tow, and a mysterious stack of cloaks ready to be found, Evie is determined to prove she never needed Shep’s help from the start. She’s worked too hard to let another man drag her around like a wandering sheep. Will Evie be able to track down the missing wools? Or will her distrust of her partner leave them both lost?

Once Upon A Rhyme is a collection of clean, intercepting stories, best enjoyed when read as a series.

  • Publication date: July 11, 2023
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 339 pages
  • Book 2 of 6: Once Upon A Rhyme

Review:  Out Of A Fix (Torus Intercession Book 7) by Mary Calmes

Rating: 4.75🌈

Out Of A Fix brings an end to Mary Calmes wonderful Torus Intercession series with the last of the original fixers, 52 year old Nash Miller takes a job in a small town in Washington state where the family she left behind of a woman who is now in WITSEC program resides. Her brother is concerned their safety isn’t a priority for the FBI and wants Torus to insure they are protected during this trial. 

Seems simple enough. However, that’s not the case that Nash finds out when he enters the town. The ex-husband is absent on a job site. The kids are in trouble and he’s desperately needed there as a fixer. On many levels. 

Calmes quickly turns this last story into a heartbreaking then finally heartwarming tale of a family rescued . Which  turns into an engaging emotional story about a family that has finds their hearts and home rebuilt into a new beginning, including their own fixer. 

The children are so well written. They grab at the readers hearts just as they do Nash’s. Whether’s Tatum, the youngest child or the oldest son, whose behavior has brought him into the worst possible situation, these are kids who are fragile and need help immediately. And get it. 

The issues are slow to be revealed and are addressed as needed. This includes issues of the dad’s too. Luke Duchesne doesn’t get an immediate pass on his behavior but there’s also an effort made to understand and address it. And to do better. 

Therapists have a prominent role here and that’s a positive element of the story. For each of these characters have issues to overcome. 

The plot moves forward swiftly, the romance is not always the center of the story but the forming of the family which folds in the newly created dynamic of Nash and Luke.  That feels very realistic and seated in the story. 

It’s fantastic to see all the characters from the Agency and the couples reunite here at the end. We see where each of them are in their own lives and relationships as well.

This is just an outstanding sendoff to one of my favorite series. 

I’m highly recommending it and have starred my favorite stories below. I’m sure we each have our own. 

Cover art Copyright © 2025 Reese Dante

Torus Intercession series: 7 books complete:

No Quick Fix #1

In A Fix #2❤️

Fix It Up #3 ❤️

The Fix Is In #4

The Big Fix #5

Get A Fix #6

Out Of A Fix #7

Buy link

        Out Of A Fix: Torus Intercession Book Seven

    

Blurb 

If you put a family back together, how can you ever leave them? 

Through the years, Nash Miller has watched all his buddies fall in love and get married. It was romantic, and he’d wondered when he himself would find the one. Now, older, wiser, he realizes that what he’s always wanted—a husband and a family—just isn’t in the cards for him. And that’s all right. He has wonderful friends, a good life, and he gets to help people, which has always been his true calling. So when the time comes to protect a family in a tiny town in Washington State, he’s more than willing to get on his white horse and ride.

The family needs a bodyguard, but it goes beyond that. The mother abandoned them for a new life, and the father is absent, stuck on a work project he took on to keep his family afloat. What Nash finds are three kids in need of a fixer, and lucky for them, that’s exactly what he does. Providing support and structure is second nature to him, and he’s on solid ground, confident…until their father, Luke Duchesne, gets home. He’s nothing like Nash assumed he’d be, and with each passing day, the lure of the man, and his great kids, gets harder to resist. But he can’t stay there. He’s a fixer, after all, and what they’re all feeling is simply gratitude. Isn’t it…? Though when Luke kisses him, it starts to feel like so much more. Nash hopes he’ll be able to explore a life with Luke—he just needs to make sure his own isn’t cut short.

  • Publication date: September 23, 2025
  • Edition: 1st
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 349 pages
  • Book 7 of 7: Torus Intercession

0Check Out This Fab Tour for “Gear Child“  by Mark David Campbell (excerpt and extras)

Gear Child - Mark David Campbell

Mark David Campbell has a new queer YA sci-fantasy book out (gay, lesbian, homonormative) Gear Box book 1: Gear Child.

From our beloved teddy bear to our cherished first car, we form deep emotional bonds with inanimate objects. Will AI machines inevitably develop the capacity to love us in return?

In a post-apocalyptic world that survives on garbage left over from the Gawd Wars eight generations ago, Sunny Boy, a semi-organic machine initially made to emulate a thirteen-year-old, and later modified as an eighteen-year-old, longs to be loved. His quest to find a family takes him from a farm in Winnipeg to the far reaches of the known galaxy. When Sunny Boy becomes embroiled in an ancient battle between a collective intelligence and a parasitic alien crystal, the boundaries between organic and inorganic life are called into question.

Warnings: Very low sex and violence (no gun play)

Series Blurb

The Gear Box Trilogy, which includes: Gear Child, The Arena of Mayhem, and The Wayward Star, is a journey of the heart that takes you from a devastated post-Gawd Wars Earth, across the Solar System to the far reaches of the galaxy, and explores the line between inanimate machine and animate life form.

Told from the perspectives of Sunny Boy, Fancy Larry, and Loofah—three AI machines—who understand the world around them through symbols, metaphors, and allegories. Along with their capacity for creative thought, empathy, and growth, they likewise struggle with issues of self-identity and self-esteem. Most of all, Sunny Boy, Fancy Larry, and Loofah, like any intelligent being, crave acceptance and long to be loved.

Gear Box Trilogy

Buy Links:

Gear Child: Universal Buy Link | Goodreads

The Arena of Mayhem: The Arena of Mayhem | Goodreads

The Wayward Star: The Wayward Star | Goodreads

Find All Three Books Here (Click on the Cover for More Details)

Excerpt

Gear Child meme

From Chapter Thirteen

I unlatched the glass, and a salty, humid breeze blew into the cabin like it was saying welcome. In no time, the burnt land below us gave way to water, and the Captain veered the airship southward.

In the distance, I made out the silhouettes of broken and battered glass and steel towers all jutting out of the ocean like fingers of drowning men reaching up to be saved. I watched as the shadow of our airship glided along the surface of the water, silently sliding over the towers.

“Is that a city?”

“Once was.” The Captain nodded. “Greatest in the world. But that’s all that’s left of it.”

“Why is it underwater?”

“Ha!” the Captain snorted. “It happened a long time ago, during the Gawd Wars and the Great Flood, when my great-great-great-granddaddy was a boy.” The Captain scratched his head. “See, way back then, everybody had their own books full of old stories about Gawd. Most of the stories were the same, but everybody told them in a different way.” He furrowed his brow. “People started fighting and killing one another to prove their way of telling the stories was right, and the way other people told the stories was wrong.”

I looked at him with my mouth hanging open, trying hard to understand why people wanted to kill each other over a bunch of old stories.

“Was Gawd bad?”

“No, I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “But by the time everybody got tired of killing one another and blaming it on Gawd…” The Captain cleared his throat. “They’d already blown up all the big cities and poisoned the land. And as if that weren’t enough, they’d also melted the polar ice caps and flooded everything remaining along the coast.” Taking his beard in his hand, he stroked it a couple of times. “People don’t talk much about Gawd anymore.”

“Is that the hand of Gawd?” I pointed to a giant green hand sticking up above the surface of the water, holding what looked like a torch.

“No. That’s the hand of a giant woman. She was one of the idols they used to worship a long time ago.” He eased the throttle and floated the ship in closer so I could get a better look.

“What happened to her?” I tried to make out her body and head below the surface of the water, but all I saw was a cluster of barnacles and algae.

“I guess she got old and tired, and people had no use for her anymore.” The Captain veered the ship southward and pulled on the big wheel. Leaving the city of dead fingers behind, we continued on down the coast, rising slowly toward the jet stream, again.

“Oh, please! Who do you think designed robos in the first place—the military! And it wasn’t only for cleaning and sex.”

“Only those who get caught are sorry.”

I thought about all the people who had died, and I felt sad, but mostly I felt sad because my name would never be recorded there or anywhere else.

“Hey, kid, don’t feel bad. It’s not about you. That boy’s head’s so full of crap, he wouldn’t know a ray of sunshine even if it was beaming up his butt hole.”

He swept the scanner across the pilot’s groin, looked at it, and laughed. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Your sperm look like a bowl full of goldfish somebody forgot to feed.”

“I thought I was dead.” He grasped both my hands. “Who are you? Some kind of a superhero?”

I felt my face flush. “No, I’m only a robo.”

He took my hand and kissed it. “Not to me.”

“Something tells me we’ve just met the resistance.”

Spinner frowned. “Beyond those doors, there’s nothing for me. I’m not like you.”

“I’m a robo, like you.”

“No, you’re not!” Spinner practically spat out the words. “You can grow, adapt, and evolve. I can’t. This is all I can ever be.”

“We’ll go to the opera and art galleries. You’ll learn about second-hand stores and how to shop for bargains, we’ll create and redecorate, dance the night away, and sit in cafes trashing the latest clothing trends until the sun comes up.”

Author Bio

Mark David Campbell

I have a passion for science/speculative fiction that is socially and culturally driven. Maybe that’s why I studied anthropology and archaeology.

My recent publications include: Eating the Moon (NineStar Press, 2021), a dystopic story of an elderly anthropologist who stumbles across a hidden society where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuals are marginalized. Secrets of Ishtabay (Ninestar Press, 2023) is the story of a Maya village in Belize, which struggles with its transition to globalization after the completion of a highway linking it to the outside world. The Homework Assignment (Polar Borealis Magazine of Canadian Speculative Fiction, March 2025) is a short story about an anthropology professor who asks his students to imagine first contact with an alien intelligence with whom they share only one sense.

Currently, I live in Milan, Italy, with my husband. When I’m not writing, I work with Italian sociologists, biologists, and psychoanalysts, assisting them with their English academic publications. I enjoy reading both classic and newer books, immersing myself in steampunk and futurism. I love adventure stories, and most of all, I want to fall in love with a great MC. I am dyslexic, which means I can’t spell, and I have a love/hate relationship with computers and the internet.

Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markdavid.campbell.9

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/14116939.Mark_David_Campbell

Author Liminal Fiction: https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/mark-david-campbell/

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Review: The Itsy Bitsy Liar (Once Upon A Rhyme Book 1) by Abigail Manning

Rating: 4.5 ⭐️

Another fantastic new book, series and author! Starting with that great cover, The Itsy Bitsy Liar (Once Upon A Rhyme Book 1) by Abigail Manning is a fabulous read, a fairy tale story with a twist of a cursed young woman who can only tell lies but ends up with the prince, being a beloved Queen who saves the day. 

Manning’s characters, especially the young woman, Lacey Arachne, who was cursed to tell only lies as a child to prevent her from telling people her father was framed for a crime. Now an adult, we see how she (and her mother) have adapted to her curse in practice and how she’s been able to get through life with it. She’s intelligent and adaptable. And working as a Lady’s maid. 

Through a complex process, she and her Mistress end up together at the castle in a contest for the hand the Prince. But they’ve switched places and Lacy is pretending to be Evie with disastrous consequences. 

The story and romance that follows is smartly crafted. It involves one of friendships, communication, plotting and several wonderful twists. 

The characters are all very engaging and fully formed. And Evie, a terrific friend and character gets the next story. 

I’m thrilled to have found this and to be able to share it. 

Beautiful lush covers are everything!

 Cover design by Karri Klawitter

Once Upon a Rhythm:

The Itsy Bitsy Liar #1

Little Bo Sneak #2

Hush A Bye Lady #3

Do You Know The Muffin Scam? #4

Baa Baa Black Market #5

Twinkle Twinkle Little Scars #6 – Sept 26,2025

Buy link:

 Book 1 of 6: Once Upon A Rhyme 

Blurb:

What if the itsy bitsy spider could only weave a web of lies?

Lacey Arachne has been cursed since she was a child to only speak lies and wants nothing more than to keep it unknown. As a common handmaiden, she’s learned how to navigate her twisted words fairly well. But that all changes when her mistress makes her switch places with her in the prince’s bride competition.

Unable to refuse her mistress’s plans, Lacey is forced to play the role of a noble and compete in a competition she has no interest in winning. Well, at least that’s the lie she tells herself after she meets the charming Prince Carlex…

With the punishment for impersonating a noble being death, Lacey must blend in with the other competitors at all costs. But how does a bold-faced liar avoid standing out amongst scrutinizing eyes? Especially when her childhood enemy certainly doesn’t seem keen on letting her go unnoticed… Can Lacey untangle herself from the webs she’s crafted? Or will she be doomed to fall with the coming storm?