I really am invested in K Sterling’s universe she’s creating for The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club series but the characters relationship, or specifically the character of Dr. Flip Satis really didn’t work well for me. Or his storyline.
It’s unfortunate because the character paired with him, Dr Wallace Brinkley, Bisbee’s ME, is one I’ve become very fond of. He’s quirky, older, knowledgeable, and his way of thinking and understanding his patients in the morgue is fascinating.
So having Sterling him in an age gap developing relationship with someone who’s been, it turns out, stalking him because of a crush, is problematic for starters. The issues with Dr. Flip Satis continues because every time there’s an instance where he might be a little bit more appealing, it turns out that he’s still full of secrets. Ones he’s keeping hidden, even from the “man he loves “.
This we learn from Flip’s inner monologue, a conversation that is full of hints about how he should be spilling secrets but doesn’t. That gets old fast, in the narrative and with the character.
This also impacts on how I perceive the relationship and the investigation proceedings.
All in all, this wasn’t one of the strongest stories and I didn’t find Flip a character I liked. Maybe if more of his history and background had been written in, but instead as is, Flip was a person I didn’t connect with.
But it does explore the personality of another ambiguous character and sets him up nicely for a book to come. Can’t wait for that story.
The town and support cast are always interesting in these roles and investigations. Read it for that.
Dr. Flip Satis is in Bisbee for all the wrong reasons, but he’s chasing the right man. He’s wanted Dr. Wallace Brinkley since Flip sat in Dr. Brinkley’s anatomy class but the chivalrous older medical examiner never acted on the chemistry between them. After making a deal with the devil to be closer to his mentor and eternal crush, a summer monsoon and a dead body throw Flip’s plans into disarray.
Wallace came to Bisbee looking for a slower pace, but now his one temptation has arrived in the eccentric former mining town. When Flip needs his help, Wallace can’t turn his back on the beguiling young doctor with the haunting blue eyes.
As Flip becomes the primary suspect in the murder of a notorious businessman, Wallace turns to the Bachelors’ club for assistance. Can he solve the crime without giving into temptation, or will falling for Flip lead to grave expectations…
I’m a big fan of author K Sterling and that includes this fascinating paranormal series, The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club. It takes place in a real, absolutely intriguing historical mining town of Bisbee, Arizona.
Definitely take the time to check into Bisbee, look at the history and pictures, as it’s a great place to go for a trip for its art, ghosts, and history. Don’t miss out on reading the author’s notes as well.
The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club, that group of well known, single men in Bisbee that meet at The Bisbee Bean Company for coffee have slowly each been getting their own stories and romances. Their lives are interwoven with each other’s as well as their stories.
It’s common for ghosts, witches, mediums, and the paranormal to play big roles in the storylines as the town is steeped with haunted houses and historical events that resonate.
This book turned out to be a favorite. The characters, Noah Kennedy, younger brother to Hal, and Kieran, a firefighter, are two souls who are bound together and meeting each other again. This is a great element but a tough one to get right and the author does. We see it happen, the spontaneous, spiritual sparking connection and how that affects both men. If you are thinking instant acceptance, you’re wrong.
So it’s an intense, revelatory dance around this soul connection that’s pulling them together, while a murder case that involves Noah is being investigated. Both threads are beautifully written and executed to pull the reader into the story and make them fully invested in every aspect of this book and these characters journey.
Old familiar characters are here to help them and support the investigation. There are new characters that are also involved that will be established further as towns citizens.
I can’t wait to get further into this series and explore more of the ghostly history and paranormal romance to come.
The cards don’t lie… He drew the Two of Cups and the Hierophant. Noah Kennedy might be an unwilling empath but he knows better than to doubt the deck or turn his will against fate. He’s spent his whole life running from his gift and believed he was cursed. Anyone would, after a childhood overshadowed by the afterlife. Knowing too much about the living and the dead can make life nearly impossible. Seeing his brother happily engaged leaves Noah emotionally adrift and tired of being a burden. Noah wonders if he has a purpose, other than holding his brother back and making his eye twitch. The Two of Cups. Kieran Watts is the one. He’s Noah’s soulmate and his future but the otherwise fearless firefighter runs after a meet cute in a hot dog joint reveals a shockingly intense and sensual psychic bond. Kieran has deep emotional scars and does his best to avoid Noah but can’t deny the pull he feels whenever they cross paths. And he certainly can’t resist the heat and the sparks when they touch. The Hierophant. A not-so-chance encounter with a local witch sets Noah on a path our young medium hadn’t foreseen. Or refused to see until a murderer attempts to frame Noah’s new guardian angel and teacher. Noah begrudgingly accepts that he could be a powerful witch and turns to The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club for help finding a killer and learns he’s not as much of a lost cause as he thought he was.
I’m absolutely hooked by this universe. A science fiction epic romance adventure, originally published in 2013, authors Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen have released this marvelous series again, starting with their first novel written together, Chaos.
I missed this first time around so I’m so excited to read this series and book now. The tale of the journey of the crew of the space ship Chaos, specifically two men who have a long way ahead of them before they can find their happy ending, gets a remarkable launch here.
Told from several perspectives of the crew and found family involved in this epic science fiction adventure, it begins with a mission.
The universe the authors introduce us to is an intergalactic postwar one, which is still slowly rebuilding from the devastating impact of a war that saw millions of lives and stations lost. That cost is seen on a smaller darker scale through the wounded, damaged characters that are Felix Ingession, the ship’s engineer, and Major Zander Anatolius, a covert operative during the war against the alien stin. But they aren’t the only ones who have been affected. And the ship’s crew reflects the fascinating multi species universe of this series and found family.
Zander and Felix were long time friends, both growing up and at the Academy. But the war separates them just as romantic feelings became known. It’s nine years when they dramatically meet again as the story begins.
Burke and Jensen’s story is compelling and action packed. Terrific characters and dialogue, with vividly detailed scenes and astonishing wonderful world building. It’s full of criminal organizations filling the void that the war created, malfunctioning experimental super soldiers, POW torture ( both sides), and a war that might start again. All threaded through with the relationships , romantic and otherwise, of the crew of the Chaos.
That of Zander and Felix aka Flick will be long and torturous. This is the beginning of their reunion and they’ve each been through so much personally that just a hug is a tremendous thing.
The books are all available so I’m thrilled to read them together without any waiting for a release date.
I’m happy to recommend Chaos Station (Chaos Station Book 1) by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen and I’m on to Lonely Shore next!
The war with the alien stin is over, but Felix Ingesson has given up on seeing his lover, Zander Anatolius, ever again. Zander’s military file is sealed tighter than an airlock. A former prisoner of war, Felix is attempting a much quieter life keeping his ship, the Chaos, aloft. He almost succeeds, until Zander walks on board and insists that Felix isn’t real.
A retired, broken super soldier, Zander is reeling from the aftereffects of his experimental training and wants nothing more than to disappear and wait for insanity to claim him. Then he sees footage of a friend and ally—a super soldier like him—murdering an entire security squad with her bare hands and a cold, dead look in her eyes. He never expected to find Felix, the man he’d thought dead for years, on the ship he hired to track her down.
Working with Felix to rescue his teammate is a dream come true…and a nightmare. Zander has no exit strategy that will leave Felix unscathed—or his own heart unbroken.
Ink Slingers is a new series that follows and contains the characters from both the Four Bear Construction Series and Big Bull Mechanics.
As Flash, the first book to focus on the group of tattoo artists we have met, it will introduce new people as well, brought in to provide additional romantic partners and cast to this enlarged universe.
The newest couple is Arrow, the older motorcycle riding owner of the tattoo shop, and Lewis, the young “twink” who recently arrived in town to open his new flower shop. The location of this new floral shop just happens to be next door to the Ink Slingers. This element in the story leads to a series of increasingly juvenile pranks between the shops as well as a plot thread that makes little sense where neither man knows what the other does for a job.
Flash, meaning a standard
piece of ink artwork available to anyone, is a sexy contemporary romance that is light, a quick read and has some interesting characters.
However, unlike the other novels from preceding series, I just couldn’t connect with it. It starts with the pranks plot threads. I don’t find pranks funny. Instead they are often actions that border more along the lines of harassment and bullying.
Here? Neuhold clearly meant it to be funny and cute, and each business used it to create a positive effect. But honestly, these are grown businessmen, one trying to establish a new business and identity in the community, and this is what they do? The author doesn’t have Arrow the owner at least investigate what his shop and employees are doing against a new business next door?
The one that he is having a relationship with but isn’t aware that Lewis owns that very store? SMH
And Lewis isn’t even aware that the motorcycle riding hottie he’s in bed with often is the tattoo shop owner next door? No one Googles anyone anymore? Especially Lewis with his trust issues?
And Jag’s character is just turning mean. I’m not sure why Neuhold thinks Jag’s behavior and words are funny or even things to overlook, but his fellow artists seemingly give his character a free pass. Another no here.
A cute dog , who I do like, just doesn’t help to connect me to a story and characters that just pop with issues.
Others will find they like Flash more than I did. I’ll be interested in seeing if the next story has a similar or different slant to it.
A tattooed silver fox, a dramatic florist, and the epic prank war standing in the way of their happily ever after. Let the fun begin…
A chance encounter during a flash rainstorm isn’t supposed to be anything serious, just a little fun to pass the time. So why can’t I stop thinking about Lewis weeks later?
Running into him a second time feels like fate, but it’s obvious he isn’t interested in anything more than casual.
I’ve never managed to leave a fling where it belongs before, but there’s a first time for everything, right?
Besides, who has time for anything but a quick fling when we’re in the middle of a prank war With the twink who owns the flower shop next door. I haven’t met the poor guy yet, but if I ever do, I’ll have to tell him that a store full of rubber duckies is just the price you pay for messing with the Ink Slingers.
There are goats in my tattoo shop and drag queens delivering crude singing telegrams. Will I ever get untangled from this mess? And, more importantly, will Lewis ever be interested in more than a good time or is this thing between us nothing more than a Flash tattoo that will fade with time?
Flash is a “they don’t know they’re enemies”, lust at first sight, “we can totally keep this thing casual” mm romance featuring a silver fox tattoo artist and a snarky florist twink. First in the Ink Slingers series set in the world of Four Bears Construction.
Secrets Are Out! Adam, Vee, and Victor are all finally on the same page! They’re all together romantically and in battle! Bad beings beware!
This maniacally wonderful world gets even crazier in a sexy, action packed, “let all the secrets fly “ story. It’s jammed full with our fav bunch of fantastic paranormal characters from the SOS hotel, a mission to save a family that ends up becoming so much more!
In the meantime, there’s explosions, debris, lots of cleaning, Adam’s secrets are out and our favorite triad comes together, finally! With a lot of snark and sexy stuff. Love this narrative so much.
No Rest for the Wicked’s absolutely
yeets the prophecy into forward motion with astonishing speed here, also with some of my favorite scenes and conversations.
The ending is so satisfying and sets up the next installment in the series, Luxury To Die For. I’m hooked so I hope this dramatic finale gets dragged out a bit longer.
If you haven’t been reading the notes that come before and after the novel itself, you’re missing out. Check out the messages and ramblings from Adam and Vee where all the credits are listed at the beginning and the texts at the end. Priceless!
Yes, this is a must read and definitely recommended series and story. But do read the trigger warnings!
In Smoke and Mirrors, a novel in the Fortune Favors the Fae fantasy multi-author fantasy series, Kai Butler creates a group of characters and a place called Flower that just begs for a series of its own.
In what starts out as a magical undercover mission that goes sideways, Butler then takes the characters on a journey of healing, homecoming, and revelations. That it’s incredibly action-packed, romantic, and full of layered character growth and development is also what drives this story and its numbers of threads forward. We connect with them and the place. We become so invested in their journey.
Damian Reyes is our narrator. A undercover special agent for SPA, Strange Phenomenon Agency. When a barefooted Cassander,dethroned Shadow Prince of Moonlight and Whispers, runs into him ,it’s his mission that badly comprised.
The effects of which will lead Damian, Cassander in tow, back to the one place he never expected to return to, his home and family. The Reyes family, from mother Rosario, sister Candy, and the children, are realistic, well defined in their emotions, and reactions to Damian’s reappearance. The old history between them all, the perspectives on the past, and the manner in which Butler has Damian slowly start to question his own memories and ideas about his mother and his adolescence feels so raw and deep.
While it’s Damian’s growth and revelations we have the biggest window into, it’s also the reflections of Cassander’s changing as he interacts with the family and Damian that’s so important as well.
Butler’s story gives out so much more than just the insight and depth that goes into the family dynamics. The urban fantasy elements are fabulous. The coin is a major factor here and I love how the author has woven it into the storytelling.
Plus all the other characters that come together, whether they are from the bar, or the family, they have been created with care and given life as they are memorable.
So is the desert when seen through magical eyes.
More please. Much more.
A fantastic book and one universe I hope the author decides to write in again.
Cover art by Natasha Snow. I love the covers. Fabulous.
Fortune Favors the Fae – 15 books:
A Fae Coin Transported Me Into Another World and Now I’m the Gay Holy Maiden by AJ Sherwood #1❤️
The Wolf’s (Un)Lucky Fae by Michele Notaro #2 ❤️
Bound to the Wild Fae by Tavia Lark #3 June 13❤️
The Sorcerer’s Thief by Lee Colgin #4 ❤️🔷
The Fae Menagerie by Edie Montreaux #5
Never Darling by Sam Burns #6
Prince of Poison by Alice Winters #7 ❤️
Grave Misfortune by Nazri Noor #8 ❤️
Fae for Pay by Meaghan Maslow #9 – July 23,2024
Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand #10
Smoke and Mirrors by Kai Butler #11 ❤️
Siren in the Rain by Chloe Archer #12 – Aug 15,2024
I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem by Jocelynn Drake #13 – Aug 22,2024
A Fae Called Wylder by Michelle Frost #14 – Aug 29,2024
Lucky or Knot by Eliot Grayson #15 – September 5,2024
Secret Agent Damian Reyes has two problems: he just lost his job and now he’s babysitting a deposed prince.
When Damian ran straight into a firefight to save an attractive civilian, he didn’t realize he was also sacrificing the career he’d spent twelve years building for a man whose flirting is only slightly less lethal than his blades. Now they’re stuck in Damian’s childhood bedroom as he tries to salvage his job, avoid his mother, and keep Cassander from getting murdered.
Oh, and a phenomenally powerful magical coin has decided it wants a ride in Damian’s pocket. At some point, his luck has to change, right?
Smoke and Mirrors is a part of the multi-author series, Fortune Favors the Fae. From spicy to sweet, zany romps to epic adventures, there’s something for everyone in this mystical series. Discover destiny and true love and follow the coin on its fickle journey to the next world and a new magical adventure.
What Could Go Wrong? By Toshi Drake is another in the multi-author series about a group of people labeled subpar superheroes who work for the secret agency SPAM.
Most of them have abilities that are considered less essential or powerful to society or the agency, hence the label.
In Drake’s book, What Could Go Wrong?, the best elements of this story are the two main characters and their new developing relationship. It starts with Ezra, an awkward records clerk for SPAM. Enthusiastic about his unseen employer, April, naive about exactly SPAM does, and sort of unaware about his own weird powers, Ezra’s attempts to prove himself to himself and his boss powers the events.
And it’s how he accidentally but not really meets Chauncey “Chaz” Adams, retired subpar agent with a weird power of his own.
It’s a case of goofy, enthusiastic , out of his depth employee meets grumpy, bitter retired agent, they have a instant attraction, get ensnared in a muddled investigation involving Big Foot, that further develops into just a narrative plot line quagmire.
What does work here is the dynamic between Ezra and Chaz. It’s built slowly as they get to know each other under adverse conditions, further adjusting to each other’s expectations and differences in sexualities. It’s developed around respect and mutual understanding. They treat each other as responsible adults and with support for each other’s issues, whatever they feel they might be.
It’s a lovely romance and Ezra and Chaz make the story entertaining and sweet.
But the investigation and case they fall into is a narrative bungle. It makes little sense, it’s choppy in execution, and its overall plot is muddled. Even their powers aren’t clearly defined.
So read this if you’re a fan of the author, the series, and for the relationship, which is lovely.
Subpar Heroes series- 15 books:
🔷The Accidental Necromancer by Liv Rancourt
🔷Behind the 8-Ball by A. E. Wasp
🔷Transparent Is a Color by Kaje Harper❤️
🔷Impossible Things by Alexa Land
🔷My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple ❤️❤️
🔷An Ex-Hero’s Guide to Axe Handling by Jenn Burke ❤️❤️
🔷In The Nick of Time by Elle Keaton
🔷Static/Cling by Jaimie Samms
🔷Spiritual Guidance Not Required by Jacy Braegan 8/1/2024
All Ezra has to do is deliver a message to retired clean-up agent, Chauncey Adams, and he’ll become the go-to person for SPAM’s Canadian office. Drive to Chauncey’s, hand off the papers. That’s the mission.
What could go wrong?
Everything. Everything could go wrong. A random phone call, unexpected magic words and a grumpy retired agent are just the beginning. The end? Finding Bigfoot on the Bruce Peninsula.
Between dead bodies popping up and being kidnapped by incompetent bad guys, Ezra and Chaz have to solve the mystery of what happened before they get stomped out for good. These secret agents are more laughable than lethal, but they’ll have to rely on each other–and the growing spark between them–if they want to survive.
What Could Go Wrong? is a part of the multi-author Subparheroes MM romance series.
Humility is the finale book to Lark Taylor’s Connections series and it’s definitely worth the tissues needed to read it.
While on the surface, it’s about two commitment phobic best friends finally understanding each is the others HEA, the underlying issues, a heart wrenching event, and the backstories are the reasons that will have you reaching almost nonstop for the tissue box.
Riley, human with a history of a human stalker and dysfunctional parenting, is a series staple as he’s a best friend of Matty (Justice #2). Danny, wolf shifter firefighter, is a wounded soul with a broken history that’s revealed in this book. He too has had many scenes throughout the series as a best friend/ co firefighter with Leo (Patience #1). So we’ve been given glimpses of both characters in the preceding novels as they helped their friends through to resolving their problems and getting their mates.
With Riley and Danny , they meet, immediately click before having intense sex. Best ever. But because of various factors, each has resolved to stay commitment free. So it’s buddy only.
Until it’s not.
Taylor skillfully leads the characters through a heart wrenching and life changing event. The aftermath of which forces revelations of the past, old wounds come to light, and they journey back to Scotland where it all began for Danny , in his pack.
Lark creates a number of new and interesting characters to inhabit this new location in Scotland, and perhaps, one that will travel back to England to meet the rest of the paranormal group that resides there. Logan is an amazing shifter.
This ends one series but launches two more. One about the Seraphim and one about the wolf shifter we met in the book.
There was an absolutely wonderful epilogue that I hope gets a follow up in some way to let us see what happened next. With everyone.
Put this series on your list, including the finale. But read them in the order they are written.
Two commitment-phobes. One ridiculous plan. A decision that changes everything…
Riley
If a no-strings hookup is required, then I’m the perfect guy.
When I meet Danny, I can’t believe my luck. A sexy wolf shifter who’s also a fireman? Who runs from relationships just as fast as I do? Sign me up.
The night that follows is one for the history books, and the best part? Neither of us is looking for a repeat.
That doesn’t mean we don’t see each other again. Without even realising it, we become friends. Friends who do everything together.
Everything with Danny is perfect, but when I start to yearn for more from my hookups, I know something needs to change.
So I come up with a plan. A genius plan. I sign up for an app that arranges anonymous encounters. No names. No faces shown.
No danger of pesky feelings getting involved.
What could possibly go wrong?
Danny
Unlike Riley, my desire to avoid a relationship has nothing to do with commitment issues.
Taking a mate would mean returning to the clan who betrayed me. I’d have to leave behind this life I’ve built, a life I’m very happy with. One where Riley occupies most of my free time.
Everything is going swimmingly until Riley tells me his plan. His genius plan, he calls it. He can’t see it for what it is—an idiotic idea that’ll land him in danger.
I can’t let him go through with it. My wolf won’t allow it. Problem is, Riley’s as stubborn as they come. Once he’s decided on something, there’s no changing his mind.
Not wanting him in danger, I realise there’s only one thing I can do. One thing that’ll keep Riley happy while also keeping him safe.
I can be his anonymous hookup.
It’s idiot-proof. At least, it would be, if I wasn’t an idiot.
Turns out Riley isn’t the only one who should be scared of hooking up and realising you want more.
Humility is the thrilling fourth instalment in the Damned Connections series and can be read as a standalone. Featuring a wolf shifter x human pairing, this spicy MM PNR romance will make you laugh and cry. Each book follows a different couple with a guaranteed HEA.
Through four incredible books, we’ve been with Cleric Chih as they have journeyed through the country, on their mission of collecting stories and memories of those they encounter. Enduring much, Chih has ventured through vast stretches of plains, traveling through haunted woods and eerie misty swamps to meet, or listen of mythical beings, whether it’s a Pig Man, ancient royal ghostly servants, or deadly Tiger sisters. They’ve been the temporary companion of a group of scouts and their young northern mammoths as they navigated the harsh weather and bandits through the high winter mountain passes. Each and every trail and story full of cultural references, ghosts, mythical creatures, and historical legends. Scary, emotional, thought provoking, and moving tales that left Chih moving onto the next road and new destination.
Chih, along with the hoopoe Almost Brilliant, a neixin, a companion sentient species that remembers everything. A race of beings that author Nghi Vo has done an incredible job in creating and now expands on here with Cleverness Himself, Almost Brilliant, and the unforgettable Myriad Virtues.
Now they’re finally returning home. After four years journey, Chih has returned home to the Singing Hills Abbey, a place that the reader has only heard about from Chih’s memories, references, and conversations with others. Including those with Almost Brilliant.
And we are there in what turns from a incredibly joyous anticipatory moment into one of surprise, then unsettled
Once inside the ancient Abbey, Chih faces momentous challenges and change. Outside the gates, the secular world is demanding that the clerics submit to immediate demands. Inside those walls, they face the recent death of their Divine(Abbot)Thien, who since their arrival had been everything to Chih, father, teacher, mentor, and leader.
Mammoths at the Gates becomes a beautiful, quietly powerful story about grief, death, and what loss does to one. About mourning, processing grief, and how that very experience can be transformative.
Its a profoundly poetic story. In encapsulates within a dramatic narrative, many fundamental truths, that the person one has known can often be someone completely different in another part of their life, that everyone holds within them a variation of truths that effect how others perceive them.
For each one ,memory layered within their personal beliefs, lives, as well as what they think they knew about that individual. Memories with the ability to wound, to salve, to create a new perspective and a new beginning.
It’s the deceased Thien, who divides and powers the story. Remnants of his former life are fiercely making demands outside the ancient Abbey gates. Inside the gates and beloved stone walls,are those who were deeply involved in his later clerical years , the clerics and neixin, all who are mourning him and divided over how to handle their grief, loss. Along with all the warriors at the gates.
Chih’s emotions, their friend and acting Divine, Ru, the neixins whose deep connections to their clerics is revealed and fully explored here, as well as those fierce women from the deceased Thien’s former secular life.
Cleric Chih, that gentle nonbinary cleric, is seen in their full present own world for once. In vividly descriptive scenes, the author introduces us to the almost mythical world of the Singing Hills Abbey,from its still war stained stone walls to the old cook handing out the food Chih hopes for and gets to eat upon their return. It’s incredibly believable and richly detailed, from the rooms, kitchen and meals, to the highly imaginative aeries of the neixin.
The ending was so entirely unexpected and yet so memorable. It’s in keeping with the series, and the spirit of this story and unique universe.
There’s another tale coming. So like cleric Chih I’ll be enthusiastically venturing forward into the next journey with them and whatever hoopoe they travel with.
The Singing Hills Cycle and author Nghi Vo have won many awards. They are richly deserved. Memorable characters, remarkably emotional and thoughtful storytelling combined with a multitude of mythological and historical elements.
Finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novella; shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award, the Ignyte Award, the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction; One of Book Riot’s Best Fantasy Debuts of All Time; A Milwaukee Journal Best of 2023 Pick; A Recommended Reading List Pick for Locus; A Powell’s Best of 2023 Pick
“Both tear-jerking and gut-punching. . . . Entirely accessible on its own, it is an excellent place to start if you haven’t read any of Vo’s novellas yet.”—The Washington Post
The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.
Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass–and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.
But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien’s own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate. . .
“A remarkable accomplishment of storytelling.”—NPR on The Empress of Salt and Fortune
“Nghi Vo is one of the most original writers we have today.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid on Siren Queen
Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand has a lot of good elements going for it. Multiple storylines, a universe that includes at least three highly diverse realms (demon, Fae, and human) with a variety of different, interesting characters that thread in and out of the plot lines.
The main storyline that’s centered around the enslaved Fae, Lark, and the crossroads demon, Pike, has enough to it with the characters back stories and current plight, that it should have been more detailed and the entire focus of this book. Plus the coin as well. That’s a major part of their story.
What is nice is Lark and Pike, along with the hellhound, together. They are both very different yet sweet characters. Lark’s background is a bit better defined than Pike’s but the story behind his capture still feels lacking, as though a villainous act was committed. By maybe that fae Prince who popped up to say he wasn’t bad anymore and disappeared. A absolutely strange thread and dismissible character. But one which the author made a point about several times during the book.
So many aspects to the story like this. Odd decisions that come out of the narrative void and leaves the reader wondering. Like the huge one towards the end with Drake. That’s a major question for me. But it speaks to the overall issue here.
That Lysand has a larger overall expansive character cast and narrative in mind that effectively makes this story come off as less developed and finished. You can tell which elements and characters have been highlighted by the author for new stories or additional roles in books (in multi-author series) to come. So while their roles here in scenes are as important secondary characters , what happens to each of them is incomplete or left unresolved.
Wren isn’t mentioned but demons Wick, Van, and the interspecies human town of Hex, Indiana, get upcoming stories in two completely different series (see below).
There’s enough loose ends or unresolved issues here that it leaves other aspects of Lark’s and Pike’s romantic relationship and journey just weirdly disjointed in many sections.
So while I enjoyed it, I was equally occupied by thinking about all the things that felt underdeveloped and characters left behind.
The coin was a major part of the story. I appreciated this fact.
Cover art by Natasha Snow. I love the covers. Fabulous.
Fortune Favors the Fae – 15 books:
A Fae Coin Transported Me Into Another World and Now I’m the Gay Holy Maiden by AJ Sherwood #1❤️
The Wolf’s (Un)Lucky Fae by Michele Notaro #2 ❤️
Bound to the Wild Fae by Tavia Lark #3 June 13❤️
The Sorcerer’s Thief by Lee Colgin #4 ❤️🔷
The Fae Menagerie by Edie Montreaux #5
Never Darling by Sam Burns #6
Prince of Poison by Alice Winters #7 ❤️
Grave Misfortune by Nazri Noor #8 ❤️
Fae for Pay by Meaghan Maslow #9 – Aug 21,2024
Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand #10
Smoke and Mirrors by Kai Butler #11 – August 8, 2024
Siren in the Rain by Chloe Archer #12 – Aug 15,2024
I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem by Jocelynn Drake #13 – Aug 22,2024
A Fae Called Wylder by Michelle Frost #14 – Aug 29,2024
Lucky or Knot by Eliot Grayson #15 – September 5,2024
Lark has the worst luck. After stumbling through a thin spot in the veil between realms, he’s been stuck in the human world for a decade and forced to perform parlor tricks for the witch that captured him. Luckily, the witch’s power wanes and Lark hopes to run for his freedom during the next full moon. But he needs help. What could it hurt to summon a crossroad demon to get him back home to the Faelands?
When Pike gets summoned for the first time in decades, he’s sure it’s for something ridiculous. Humans never think of consequences. However, the moment he lays eyes on the pretty Fae, he’s determined to help the ethereal one, no matter the cost, even if it’s his own heart.
Kisses at the Crossroads is a part of the multi-author series, Fortune Favors the Fae. From spicy to sweet, zany romps to epic adventures, there’s something for everyone in this mystical series. Discover destiny and true love and follow the coin on its fickle journey to the next world and a new magical adventure.
Publication date: August 4, 2024
Language: English
Print length: 157 pages
🔹The Nephilim’s Touch (Van’s story and the location of Hex,Indiana
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 