Bad Vocabulary – Rants and Writings!

Review: Malum Discordiae:(Tennebrose Book 1) by Ashlyn Drewek

Rating: 4.5🌈

“Put the skull down and let’s go already!”

The person holding a yellowed human skull in his hands is Cassius. Recently returned home from his six long years of boarding school confinement in England, Cassius Corbin, has an important magical mission in mind. His arrival sets off an array of explosive events and a Capulets/Montague romance that’s the dramatic storyline and serves to launch all the other knowledge to vividly capture this incredible world.

I had only read one other book by Drewek but this just cemented the author as a must read. The incredible characters of Cassius, the necromancer of the fallen Corbin family, and that of Graeme Hewitt, of the highly successful and politically placed Hewitt family, draw the reader into their feud and romance immediately. It’s a tale fraught with emotional pain, old wounds that date back to 1667, hidden secrets, and murderous mysteries. Absolutely compelling, especially when combined with growing magic and Tennebrose University that’s as divided as the two families.

Drewek’s done a fantastic job in introducing this universe, balancing the torn lovers, the mysteries, and the ancient secrets. And this time, we get a happy ending for our couple.

But before Drewek lets the reader in on exactly what this magical hunt is about, we get a glimpse and first look at the world of the paranormal that’s the town of Winslow. A old place where, living hidden among the normals, are every type of witchcraft, represented by old dynastic families , lineages complete with complex political dynamics and tortured historical backgrounds.

Did I feel it got tied up a lot quickly at the end? Yes. That feels rushed. But everything else is so well written that I’m hoping that future stories sort that element out.

In the meantime, there’s other aspects of this book I feel that need highlighting.

Drewek has created a highly detailed and informative Preface + Glossary as well as a short list of Latin terms that are used here. For those readers who love extra visual content, don’t miss out on the stunning handwriting family trees, Winslow Founding families list, charts, and other excellent pieces of narrative detailing.

Malum Discordiae:(Tennebrose Book 1) by Ashlyn Drewek was a terrific read and now I’m hooked. Headed to the next story! This is a definite recommendation!

Tennebrose series (a note indicated they are standalone books but the universe building is complex as is the events and relationships so I don’t agree with that):

🔹CALIGO—a short MM story about an eager grad student, his “crazy” history professor, and a trip to the woods in search of the infamous Winslow Witch. This is a newsletter exclusive.

🔹MALUM DISCORDIAE—a dark academia MM enemies-to-lovers paranormal romance about witches, Necromancers, and a blood feud that has lasted centuries.

🔹IGNI FERROQUE—a dark MM paranormal romance about a pious Necromancer and an incorrigible demon and what happens when their paths intersect.

🔹MORTEM OBIRE—a best-friends-to-lovers MM paranormal romance novella

Buy link

Malum Discordiae: An MM Enemies-to-Lovers Paranormal Romance (Tennebrose Book 1)

Blurb

After Cassius Corbin’s mother was murdered by fellow witches, he learned an invaluable lesson: death comes for us all—even Necromancers. Six years later, enrolling at Tennebrose University with vengeance on his mind, the last thing he expects is to come face to face with Graeme Hewitt, the son of his mother’s killer. As much as Cassius tries to avoid the naive weather witch, fate has other plans.

In spite of their families’ ongoing feud, they’re forced to work together if they have any hope of passing their required class. But as late nights and stolen moments turn to something more, a rash of demonic murders plagues the university. If they don’t get to the bottom of it, they could both be next.

MALUM DISCORDIAE is a dark academia, paranormal MM romance about witches, Necromancers, and a blood feud that has lasted centuries. It features plenty of steam, a lot of snark, and the pile of bodies you’d expect in a magical Romeo + Juliet retelling—except this one has a happy ending. It is intended for a mature audience and reader discretion is advised. A full list of triggers can be found in the front matter of the book and at my website under Tropes & Triggers.

• Publisher: Fox Hollow Books (March 28, 2022)

• Publication date: March 28, 2022

• Language: English

• Print length: 394 pages

Review: Runaway Magic (Guardians of Boston Book 1) by Zile Elliven

Rating: 4.5🌈

Zile Elliven is a relatively new author for me as I’ve only read one other book by them, a very interesting and engaging one. So I immediately picked up Elliven’s newest release to see what it was about.

What Runaway Magic holds is an amazing array of elements in its narrative , beginning with the fascinating characters. This is especially true of the main couple of Cym and Fourteen, as well as the side group of Guardians, a trio that reads as found family with an engaging powerful dynamic.

To bring all that together, Elliven has to set up a foundation for a world that includes norms, otherworldly beings, witches, an paranormal organizational hierarchy, dream walkers, demons, and the Other, a vast sea of spiritual powers that runs everything and through those that have the ability to make magic. The knowledge about this is slowly imparted into the story as some of the characters learn about magic themselves. Also about the Guardians, the magical law enforcement powers.

Elliven uses a three-person POV, a format which isn’t a favorite of mine. But here it’s necessary for the characters and universe building because of the complexity of the storylines and the various characters’ critical plot line situations. Whether it’s understanding the different traumatic backgrounds that have formed Fourteen and Cym, ones that make them uniquely vulnerable and yet so powerful. Or the world of the Guardians and Marshall, it’s head, who are soon to come into contact with the duo above.

There’s so much more to dive into, a corrupt family, an anonymous government agency, and a demon world, all of which needs further investigation and looks to receive additional exploration in the series.

I can’t wait for Killer Magic to come.

For those who are fans of this author or have read previous books by Zile Elliven, don’t miss the author’s Preface, which clears up some potential questions. I hadn’t read the earlier book the author had written.

I found Runaway Magic (Guardians of Boston Book 1) by Zile Elliven a fascinating and highly entertaining story and can’t wait to continue the series.

Check it out! It’s a definite recommendation.

Guardians of Boston:

✓ Runaway Magic #1

◦ Killer Magic #2 – TBD

Buy link

Runaway Magic (Guardians of Boston Book 1)

Blurb

Cym:

Freak. Disaster. Mistake. Cym had heard it all.

His magical family wasn’t content to lock him away ‘for the greater good’ anymore. No. Now they wanted him dead.

Protection? What was that? Cym had never known anyone who wanted to keep him safe. Either he relied on himself or he was toast. So when he landed in the lap of an assassin, Cym thought his luck was up. Little did he know his story was only beginning.

Fourteen:

No morals and a quick mind. How many times had Fourteen heard himself described that way? Usually right before getting sent on a mission they’d have to delete from his mind once he completed it.

But The Company would never be able to make him forget the terrified young man who landed in his lap during a firefight. Not when his touch made the icy cage of Fourteen’s conditioning burn away.

For someone who could barely be considered a person, Fourteen was finding it shockingly easy to act like one around Cym. Maybe that was why he was willing to do anything to keep him safe. He’d have to break Cym’s bad habit of running from him first, though.

Runaway Magic is a 119,000 word, slow-burn MM urban fantasy. You’ll find found family, obsessive love interests, and, of course, magic.

• Publication date: July 20, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 412 pages

Review: The Duke at Hazard by K. J. Charles

Rating: 4.5🌈

K.J. Charles has written another delightful novel in the Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune series, The Duke at Hazard. Here, a severely insulated Duke is robbed of his ducal ring during an anonymous encounter . To get it back, he makes a bet that he undertakes the task without use of his power and authority. For a month. If he loses, he forfeits his greys, his beloved horses.

Charles does a fantastic job in establishing the personality of Severn at the beginning of the story, then as a man out of his depth on this mission, then again as one who is finally finding himself on the road. It’s an astonishing journey of development and growth. And it happens along with that of another person’s remarkable story, and their relationship.

Severn becomes Cassian and journey companion to Daizell Charnage, a disgraced noble whose is helping him retrieve his ring . Along the way, each has experienced so much that they are able to recognize the men they both are , together and individually.

It’s a terrific story, the characters are well written, the universe authentic, and the relationship that builds is one that feels believable in its growth and obstacles encountered.

Additionally , Charles has included so many beautifully crafted side characters and well thought out elements here that together all add up to a truly satisfying experience for the reader. We enter into the story involved in Severn’s journey and then get fully invested until the final sentence.

There were a couple of things that I had issues with. One was the character of Leo, Cassian’s cousin. He was the one who prompted the bet, but it was his gambling problems that were real reason behind Leo wanting Cassian’s greys. And his attitude of entitlement and expectations from Cassian was deplorable. It made Leo a “tiresome” personality throughout the story, even afterwards when things had been resolved. I wonder if Charles realizes how thoroughly obnoxious he came across.

Lastly, the end feels too abrupt. We’re told what their future might look like but little is actually shown. It’s just cut off. I wish we might have been given a glimpse or two. That would have been very satisfying. But it’s a good ending and ties things together really well.

If you want to know further about the details of this story, see the author’s notes on the development of that all important card game and why the term silhouette isn’t used here. If you’re thinking about authenticity, this is exactly why everything rings so believable here. Charles does the work and layers it into the narrative. It shows in the depth and details.

I’m highly recommending this to all lovers of historical fiction and romance. And fans of this author, of course!

Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune books:

🔹The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting

🔹The Duke at Hazard

🔹Thief in the Night

Buy link:

uy links

Goodreads

Blurb:

The Duke of Severn is one of the greatest men in Britain.

He’s also short, quiet, and unimpressive. And now he’s been robbed, after indulging in one rash night with a strange man who stole the heirloom Severn ring from his finger. The Duke has to get it back, and he can’t let anyone know how he lost it. So when his cousin bets that he couldn’t survive without his privilege and title, the Duke grasps the opportunity to hunt down his ring-incognito.

Life as an ordinary person is terrifying…until the anonymous Duke meets Daizell Charnage, a disgraced gentleman, and hires him to help. Racing across the country in search of the thief, the Duke and Daizell fall into scrapes, into trouble-and in love.

Daizell has been excluded from polite society, his name tainted by his father’s crimes and his own misbehaviour. Now he dares to dream of a life somewhere out of sight with the quiet gentleman who’s stolen his heart. He doesn’t know that his lover is a hugely rich public figure with half a dozen titles. And when he finds out, it will risk everything they have…

• Publication date: July 18, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 326 pages

Review: The Wrong Familiar: Carnival of Mysteries 2 by Megan Derr

Rating: 4.5🌈

“Once more we bid you Welcome, Travelers, to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries! Join us for another round of fantastic, space-and-time spanning tales by a talented group of some of the best authors to be found in M/ M romance. Whether you enjoy mystery, action, danger, or just sweet romance, there is something for everyone at the Carnival!”

Many of this author’s books are on my fantasy rec list, and I always look forward to her novels. So when I saw that the multi-authors series, Carnival of Mysteries , was releasing a 2024 group of stories, I was excited to see The Wrong Familiar: Carnival of Mysteries 2 by Megan Derr among them.

The Wrong Familiar is a story that carries so many of the great qualities that I think of when reading a Derr novel. It has a great story, as well as characters that tug at you emotionally by their depth of personality and often angst-laden histories. The themes of loss, grief, self discovery, and love are woven together in a magical journey that culminates in a dramatic ending and our heroes happily sharing a home and a future.

As with so many of Megan Derr’s characters and the worlds she has created for them to inhabit, one book isn’t enough for all the exploration i want in this world and story. There’s so much detail and depth I needed to learn more about. That cave? We don’t see them returning there?

And it’s also the main characters themselves. Ninos, a sylven mage who has spent his whole life, since the age of 5, under the care and supervision of the professors and Headmaster of Havenbright Academy of Magic in the Iron Strike Mountains. He undergoes a tremendous transformation, from the insulated, naive young man he is at the beginning to the strong, independent, intelligent and powerful mage we recognize at the end. One who has just begun to learn how to connect with and explore the range of his abilities. More, I definitely have to read more about Ninos.

And with him, that’s Sinn, his Raven familiar, partner in all things magical and a mischievous mind of his own. Sinn’s journey is part of the story’s twists and turns here but he’s a fabulous character. Sinn too needs further exploration.

Derr’s narrative delivers action packed sequences, lovely animals as side characters, her usual wild imagery in terms of aspects of elements that effect the characters, and just intriguing notions thrown hither and yonder that subtly make you wonder.

Is the plot and overall story perfectly crafted? No, the family that all but abandoned Ninos is embraced without question or hesitation. The family themselves barely outlines. That section needed further attention.

Also when the villain appears, where’s his familiar? Although Derr gave us the answer as to what happens to them afterwards. That was a very good idea. Tie up that part beforehand.

My other concern was either an editor issue or possibly printing one. But it does show that even a small mistake shouldn’t be overlooked.

Towards the beginning, on one page a secondary character’s name is Tarsok. But several paragraphs later and he appears as Tarkan. Later on when he’s come back into the narrative, his name has reverted back to Tarsok. It’s a small mistake , one that could have been easily corrected. But wasn’t. And it made me doubt and double check every single name and title in the book instead of totally investing myself into the journey as I should have done.

Things like this take me out of the story and disconnect me from the characters. And it’s a quick fix. FYI.

The Wrong Familiar: Carnival of Mysteries 2 by Megan Derr is a book I highly enjoyed and one I’m recommending. Check it out alongside the new stories in this series.

Again, terrific covers.

Carnival of Mysteries 2 -2024

🔹Rook’s Time by Kim Fielding (sequel to Crow’s Fate-2023)

🔹The Wrong Familiar by Megan Derr✅

🔹The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt

🔹Blue Lightning by BL Maxwell

🔹Magic Escaping by Kaje Harper (sequel to Magic Burning 2023)

🔹Lighting the Darkness by Eden Winters – Aug 14,2024

🔹You Can Save Me by R L Merrill-Aug 21,2024

🔹Airs Above the Ground by Rachel Langella-Sept 10,2024

🔹Go for the Climate by Ander C. Lark

🔹 Flames of the Arcane by Nicole Dennis

🔹Midnight on the Midway by Morgan Brice

🔹Dust Bowl Magic by Zam Maxfield 🔹Dragonspark by Elizabeth Silver

Buy link

The Wrong Familiar: Carnival of Mysteries

Blurb

Ninos has been training all his life to be a sylvan mage. Trees, plants, herbs, flowers, fruits, berries, nuts—he knows them all, and he intends to use that knowledge for the good of his home, a village he has not seen in more than a decade.

The final step to becoming a full-fledged mage is the conjuring and binding of a familiar, a faithful companion and guide who will supplement his power and remain at his side the rest of his life. Instead of a sylvan familiar, like a unicorn or stag, however, something goes horribly awry and Ninos finds himself bound instead to Sinn, a raven familiar meant for dark magics.

Neither is happy about it. Ninos wants a familiar who can help him with life, with growing and restoring a place destroyed by fire and plague. Sinn should be helping to raise the dead or cast blood workings. They were never meant to meet, let alone be bound.

Bindings are permanent, however, and cannot be broken. Their only chance at setting this wrong to rights is to locate the dark mage that Sinn was meant for, hope they in turn have Ninos’ true familiar, and perform a rare but not impossible switch…

• Publisher: (July 17, 2024)

• Publication date: July 17, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 202 pages

Carnival of Mysteries series. 2023 and 2024:

✓ Crow’s Fate by Kim Fielding❤️

✓ Step Right Up by L.A. Witt

✓ Magic Burning by Kaje Harper ❤️

✓ Night-blooming Hearts by Megan Derr

✓ Go For The Company by Ander C. Lark❤️

✓ Roustabout by Morgan Brice❤️

✓ Assassin by Accident by E.J. Russell❤️

✓ Dryad on Fire by Nicole Dennis ❤️

✓ The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray by Kayleigh Sky

✓ Smoke and Mirrors by Elizabeth Silver

✓ You Can Do Magic by R.L. Merrill

✓ Sting in the Tail by TA Moore

✓ Gods and Monsters by Rachel Langella

✓ The Black Robes of Flanders by Sara Ellis

Carnival of Mysteries 2 -2024

🔹Rook’s Time by Kim Fielding (sequel to Crow’s Fate-2023)

🔹The Wrong Familiar by Megan Derr

🔹The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt

🔹Blue Lightning by BL Maxwell

🔹Magic Escaping by Kaje Harper (sequel to Magic Burning 2023)

🔹Lighting the Darkness by Eden Winters – Aug 14,2024

🔹You Can Save Me by R L Merrill-Aug 21,2024

🔹Airs Above the Ground by Rachel Langella-Sept 10,2024

🔹Go for the Climate by Ander C.Lark

🔹Flames of the Arcane by Nicole Dennis

🔹Midnight on the Midway by Morgan Brice

🔹Dust Bowl Magic by Zam Maxfield 🔹Dragonspark by Elizabeth Silver

Review: Grave Misfortune (Fortune Favors the Fae Book 8) by Nazri Noor

Rating: 4.5🌈

Grave Misfortune is Nazri Noor’s novel in the fantastic fantasy series, Fortune Favors the Fae. This is a multi-author series about a mysterious ancient Fae coin that travels from world to world, interfering with the lives and destinies of those it encounters. It’s a fascinating theme and Noor puts it and the coin to rigorous use in his highly entertaining novel.

In Noor’s storyline, there’s a small town called Barrowdeep that is besieged by ghouls. Its the perfect setting for this enemies to lovers romance. And the author has created a number of memorable characters that inhabit it to make this place real, its horrors to the remaining citizens haunting and scary, and the heartfelt rawness of those who have survived believable.

Already there is Leoric, a battle hardened, war weary soldier whose laid down his weapons for a new job as the town’s grave keeper in return for a new home. Leoric is an impressive man, a powerful character on the town’s side, whose history is as slowly revealed as is his match here.

That would be the traveling lone elf, Orphium of the Dawning Court. With his magical wagon that needs no animal to pull it, he careens from town to village, where aided by his charm and magical tricks, he wagers its people out of trinkets that also carry their precious memories, unknowingly won by him without their consent.

That’s the Orphium we meet as his wagon wheels itself into Barrowdeep. Self centered, self serving is perhaps a better term, and not prepared for the reception he receives.

Noor does an excellent job of transitioning the character of Orphium from a dislikable being to someone the reader understands and invests in emotionally. Orphium’s an isolated desperate elf constantly trying to deny the consequences of his actions, stealing precious memories from those who unknowingly surrendered them to him over a game of chance. Through the events, the escalating violence of the ghoulish invasion, and yes, that Fae coin, the relationship between Leoric and Orphium, and Orphium and the townsfolk starts to evolve.

I love all the many elements that Noor creates in this world and story and felt some didn’t get the development they deserved. But the author notes that this is the first book in a new series, so I imagine that those things will get better explanations further down the road.

I’m absolutely looking forward to seeing where this goes. Grave Misfortune (Fortune Favors the Fae Book 8) by Nazri Noor is another must read book in this fantastic collection. It’s a definite recommendation!

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 – August 1,2024

◦ 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

Buy link

Grave Misfortune

Blurb

Darkness sleeps beneath Barrowdeep.

War-weary mercenary Leoric has traded his sword for a shovel, burying the undead blight that plagues the little town of Barrowdeep. Now he fights for the living instead of against them.

Fae trickster Orphium travels from town to town, stealing human trinkets and memories through games of chance. He’s desperate to fill the hollow in his heart, but the hunger never goes away.

Barrowdeep is ripe for the picking, except the nosy local gravedigger keeps interfering. But when Leoric unearths an ancient fae artifact, Orphium knows he’ll stop at nothing to possess the powerful coin.

And the undead will stop at nothing to possess him.

Orphium and Leoric must fight the undead together before tensions and their shadowy pasts rise to the surface — and before an even darker evil awakens beneath Barrowdeep.

Grave Misfortune 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: July 18, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 218 pages

Review: The Grim Adventures of Death and Chan: Vol. 2 (a Dead Serious Companion novella) by Vawn Cassidy

Rating: 5🌈

Stories include:

Death goes to the Circus

Death does Pride

Death goes Camping

Death Falls in Love

The evolution of the fascinating relationship between Death and Chan continues in The Grim Adventures of Death and Chan: Vol. 2 (a Dead Serious Companion novella) by Vawn Cassidy.

A consecutive series of five short stories that has Death and Chan reflecting on their lives or state of being, their relationship, and if they have a future together. Chan is having trouble with being the “normal human” when all he sees is the extraordinary and otherworldly nature of Death. Death, on the other hand, in a raw and painful reality, is now having a profound first hand experience with emotions. Including anxiety and fear of being unable to control them.

Each story carries the couple through event after event, and a series of highly stressful and significant scenes (each one greatly crafted by Cassidy). In every one, in some manner, Death and Chan have moments where each undergoes a moment of intense emotional introspection about themselves and their relationship.

Cassidy’s detailed plotting, gorgeously executed characterizations, and emotionally compelling scenes make each tale a gem and necessary read in this remarkable journey this couple is taking.

There is going to be a Vol 3 as well as seeing them in the next adventures of the group in their new series.

I’m so excited and can’t wait. I’m highly recommending everything listed below. Read them in order.

Crawshanks Guide to the Recently Departed:

✓ Dead Serious Case #1 Miz Dusty Le Frey #1

✓ Dead Serious Case #2 Mrs Delores Abernathy #2

✓ Dead Serious Case #3 Mr Bruce Reyes #3

✓ Dead Serious Case #4 Professor Prometheus Plume #4

✓ The Grim Adventures of Death and Chan: Vol. 1 (a Dead Serious Companion novella) – Side story

✓ Dead Serious Case #5 Madame Vivienne

✓ The Grim Adventures of Death and Chan: Vol. 2 (a Dead Serious Companion novella) – Side story

Crawshanks Guide to Mischievous Spectres & Spirits

◦ The Haunted Hotel (Crawshanks Guide to Mischievous Spectres & Spirits Book 1) – Aug 24,2024

Buy Link:

vawncassidystore.comhttps://vawncassidystore.com › the…The Grim Adventures of Death & Chan Vol 2. (EBOOK) – Vawn Cassidy Official Store

Blurb:

Set in the Dead Serious Universe, The Grim Adventures of Death & Chan Vol 2. is a compendium of bonus shorts told in chronological order of the hilarious but sweet evolution of the relationship between an ex-drag queen and the supernatural entity known as Death.

Review: Skies That Burn (Kings of Airlie Book 3) by Casey Cox

Rating: 3🌈

Skies That Burn is the finale to Casey Cox’s trilogy about the Kings of Airlie, a powerful family of kitesurfing champions, father and sons, their troubled dynamics and the dysfunctional damaging family history that’s impacted them all.

Oceans that Swim, the first book, was incredible, both in the introduction of this wounded group of brothers and in their love of and extreme talent for the little known sport of kitesurfing. Cox has brought this sport vividly to life here as well as the crazy athleticism needed to excel as champions.

By the second story, Mountains that Move, has finished, the reader and all the major characters have experienced and revealed so much of the trilogy storylines and mysteries.

Cox has had the King brothers (Terry, Troy, and Travis) have had so many dark family secrets exposed, including horrible abuses, as well as unthinkable events occur here. All during their various runs for the kitesurfing championships during the cable tv show reality series they are filming. It was a lot of storytelling but Cox did a great job with heavy emotional scenes and content. Be aware that it involved child SA, family abuse, and more. Read the warnings.

So what is left for Skies That Burn? Travis, the oldest of them, getting his romance, and plot threads , if any, are finalized.

Unfortunately for this book, it feels as though most of the passion and enthusiasm went into the other novels and brothers. Terry and Troy had the dramatic stories and histories. They had the biggest, wildly descriptive kitesurfing scenes, and were our introduction to the sport.

With Travis and Luca Silva, the Brazilian kitesurfer, so much about their journey is written by Cox, laid out in detailed descriptions. But instead of being involved or emotionally invested, their relationship felt removed and lacking chemistry. It checks all the right boxes. The potential should be there for a good romance.

But I never felt it. Even with all Luca’s substance abuse issues (that comes across as “told to” instead of his written reality as a long term drug addict), the enablers, and even the fact I kept wondering about any sports drug testing, this entire narrative didn’t make sense to me.

The many unresolved trilogy plot lines, especially the one involving their mother, that was so swiftly fixed by a fast moving investigation that the onsite paparazzi didn’t seem interested. Highly unlikely given the seriousness of the event. The father, a major figure, is basically brushed off here as an afterthought. He, along with too many other aspects of this trilogy, are given underwhelming treatment in the last story. Cox’s story is feeling more rushed and less well developed than any of the previous stories the more it progresses.

Then Cox does an odd thing and doesn’t write one epilogue, but a series of jumbled mini-scenes. Each one an epilogue.

Yes, we do finally get a measure of kitesurfing scenes but only a few. So that they come across as one more element to tie up.

This trilogy starts off strong and powerful , continuing with the haunted Mountains that Move.

Skies That Burn (Kings of Airlie Book 3) by Casey Cox ? It’s the smallest of waves, the last ride of the day. Everyone is ready to go home. It’s definitely done. Enjoyed the characters, happy that they found their own HEA, and finished the journey. Ironically, away from kitesurfing, a sport I enjoy watching now.

Kings of Airlie trilogy:

✓ Oceans that Swim #1

✓ Mountains that Move #2

✓ Skies that Burn #3

Buy link:

skies that burn: MM Rivals to Lovers Sports Romance (Kings of Airlie Book 3)

Blurb:

TRAVIS
All I’ve ever wanted is a simple life—kitesurfing, my brothers, and someone to love.

Too bad Luca Silva, the Brazilian golden boy of kitesurfing, didn’t get the memo.

We’re the epitome of on-again, off-again, our relationship a looping roller coaster neither one of us can stay off for long.

We may not choose who we love, but we can decide if we fight for them. And I’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to Luca…even as we face off against each other in the grand final.

LUCA
I’m not the perfect athlete everyone thinks I am. My whole life is a sham. The only real thing? My love for Travis.

But everything about his world is complicated. His family. His bad boy reputation. His track record in the sport.

I love Travis with everything I’ve got, but we’ve been yo-yoing back and forth for years now. And that’s withouthim knowing what I’ve been hiding.

Once he discovers my secret, it could very well destroy us—for good this time.

skies that burn is perfect if you love:

• MM sports romance

• rivals to lovers

• hate to want you

• hurt/comfort

• thrilling series conclusion (everything is revealed!)

This is the final book in a trilogy and is NOT a stand alone.

• Publication date: July 15, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 195 pages

Review: Prince of Poison (Fortune Favors the Fae Book 7) by Alice Winters

Rating: 4.5🌈

Alice Winters is a favorite author of mine. Her ability to write stories and characters that inspire outrageous emotions, high and low humor along with subtle layering of poignancy and pain never fails to entertain and engage me.

So my expectations for her novel, Prince of Poison, in the Fortune Favors the Fae series was high. What a wonderful story! I still find myself cackling at scenes involving Dandelion and Madden or Callisto’s few attempts at romantic gestures. Absolutely gems of hilarity.

There’s just so much to this tale of fantasy romance and epic adventures. Winters has created some great characters, given all of them intriguing histories or origin stories, layered in various plots from those of mystery to romance to high suspense that fascinate and engage right to the ultimate battles and magical fights towards the end.

I love this. And really can’t go into the details about the characters and their relationships without divulging any spoilers. To give away major revelations would be a shame. But I’ll say that Dandelion is an absolute masterpiece and I need more.

I love the growth in the relationships between the characters and that it occurs naturally as trust and respect become real between them. And not only them.

Winters manages to use humor as a tool to slide in moments and subtle references to the true darknesses the characters have or have had to endure. It’s done beautifully and with great emotion. And it always makes us connect with the characters and their stories with genuine heart and feelings.

If I had a few issues here, it was with a disappearing character, a wisp called Titus, who I felt wasn’t well developed or terribly needed. He feels more like a distraction than anything else. At the end of the novel, Titus isn’t mentioned at all.

However, if you are like me and look into bonus content by authors, this story has an additional thirteen bonus pages that include Titus, and expand on what happened next between Madden and Dandelion. This is from Madden’s perspective, which makes sense that it wasn’t intended for the novel. But it does give Titus a bit more personality and lets us know where Titus was at the end of the book. See the author’s note for this content.

Prince of Poison (Fortune Favors the Fae Book 7) by Alice Winters is an absolute must read. I love it and the series. Highly recommend!

Love these covers , just fantastic , some of my favorites in years.

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 – July 18,2024

◦ Fae for Pay by Meaghan Maslow #9 – July 23,2024

◦ Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand #10 – August 1,2024

◦ 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

Buy link

Prince of Poison

Blurb:

Silas

The fae prince caught my eye the moment I saw him, and no, it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that he was being abducted. It’s not even that Callisto adores the large mount who wants to maim him. Or that every time he smiles, flowers bloom around him. No, there’s something else that draws me to him, though when the kingdom begins to fall apart around us, I realize I’m not the only one who wants him.

But the others want him dead.

With memories of my past hanging over me, I’m trapped between who I want to be and who I need to be to protect Callisto.

Callisto

While being officially crowned prince should be my main concern, something isn’t quite right with the king—unless it’s normal to have an evil mist hanging around you. Then again, who am I to judge when I can poison someone with just a kiss?

When an attack on the royal court leaves me wounded, I have no one to turn to but Silas, but he wants to keep me at a distance… like he’s afraid of me finding out the secrets he holds.

Thankfully, with Dandelion (my sweet mount—don’t listen to Silas), a strange and suspicious coin, and Silas’s friend who can speak to animals (who don’t seem interested in speaking to him) at our side, we’re going to tip this fight in our favor and prove that heroes (and love) come in all forms.

Prince of Poison 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: July 11, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 342 pages

Review: Ascendant King (The Empty Throne Trilogy Book 3) by Kai Butler

Rating: 5🌈

Kai Butler’s finale story, Ascendant King is everything I had hoped for. And it makes me so sad this series is over while leaving me completely satisfied with the ending and the way the author has tied up the storylines.

Butler’s trilogy and fabulous romantic arc ties up with thrilling storytelling, incredible character growth, and imaginative narrative visuals that continue to make me think.

What a journey this has been for Miles and Cade as one becomes Emperor of Werewolves and the other the King of his House, and so much more. This tale has so many complex elements and intricate magical detailing to the components that Butler’s creating and then slowly revealing. It’s breathtaking in conception and execution but as the reader is so focused on the action and character-driven dramatic scenes, it’s elements that are apparent afterwards when you think about the story and events.

To say that I think the universe Butler created here can easily be extended beyond to further stories is one driven by love of the characters and need for more tales to see what happens next.

That unique pack, those bonded mates, that future that still holds so many questions. Yes, more please. Even the page length wasn’t nearly enough.

Now to wait for whatever comes next from this amazing author.

Highly recommended!

The Empty Throne Trilogy:

✓ Exiled Heir #1

✓ Contested Crown #2

✓ Ascendant King #3

Buy Link

Ascendant King (The Empty Throne Trilogy Book 3)

Blurb:

His life is in my hands, but my heart is in his.

Miles Castillo has the one thing his mother never did: time. As he gathers new members to his pack and help in his war against House Bartlett, he can’t help but wish that Cade was more than a reluctant ally. But the ice prince has made his position clear and nothing Miles can do will change the history that divides them.

Still, as they both confront the echoes of their past, they must learn to work together and find something like a middle ground. With nothing to lose, Cade and Miles must make a choice that will save both of them.

• Publication date: June 17, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 466 pages

Review: Cherry on Top: a MM Fake Boyfriend Standalone (Indigo Bay) by Beth Bolden

Rating: 4.5🌈

Beth Bolden’s intense, passionate Italian American Moretti family stretches over two series, sorry, three, as cousin Rocco is heading off to Christmas Falls towards the end.

The Moretti family, brothers or cousins, can be found as chefs or restauranteurs in the wonderful Food Truck Warriors and now in her Indigo Bay novels. And as I mentioned even more.

While these books are listed as standalone, they really aren’t as they need the foundation of the preceding novel to give the reader depth of understanding of the characters, their history, and the setting of Indigo Bay from the perspective of both stories.

Here, it’s Enzo Moretti, a character who was introduced to readers in Sweet as Pie #1, but returning home (temporarily) older and as an established mural artist . He’s separated himself from the Moretti family culinary path, and has tried to do the same with his own life by his absence.

I thought Bolden, who always does an exemplary job of layering her characters, has made Enzo a person to relate to with his complicated family dynamics and own troubled journey to maturity . The author is also able to let us see into his artistic passion and processes as he creates the mural so important to the story and town.

Oliver Billings fled Florida and his family food business to move to Indigo Bay, opening up a fantastic ice cream shop, Cherry’s. Oliver is just as much a beautifully written character as the man he’s being paired with. The recipes are mouthwatering, the shop and employees are believable, and this stressed out, hard working man is a delight to watch get his HEA.

Of course, this starts as a fake boyfriend trope but Bolden’s chemistry between the two is palpable and real. Also great are all the other people who live and are necessary for the story and their relationship. Mothers, families, friends. Just perfect.

I hope Bolden will give us Rocco’s story too. And further adventures of the Moretti family. I’m so invested.

Connected Series:

Food Truck Warriors

Christmas Falls

Indigo Bay:

Sweet as Pie #1

Cherry on Top #2

Buy Link:

Cherry on Top: a MM Fake Boyfriend Standalone (Indigo Bay)

Blurb

When Enzo Moretti’s mom lures him home to paint one of his famous murals in Indigo Bay, he expects an awkward family reunion.

Not an awkward matchmaking attempt.

And not Will Johnson, the new owner of Cherry’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor and it turns out, also who she’s been boasting to about all Enzo’s perfect qualities.

He’s perfectly embarrassed, all right.

When Will suggests pretending to date might be easier than fighting his determined mama, Enzo knows he should say no. That Will is as tasty as his frozen desserts doesn’t matter. Enzo isn’t staying.

Instead, he plans a series of very public romantic dates. Dates that only end up proving that, yes, Will is as sweet as his ice cream, and no, Enzo isn’t as immune to romantic entanglements as he thought. The longer they continue the charade, the less it feels like a game of pretend and more like a truth he can’t avoid.

But can Enzo really admit his mom got it right—and stay in the town he’s always wanted to leave? It’ll be tough to live down that “I told you so.”

Even tougher to leave Will behind.

Because what he never expected is for Will to be the cherry on top of this matchmaking sundae. He’s one tasty treat Enzo never wants to finish.

• Publication date: July 12, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 313 pages

INDIGO BAY series:

🔹Sweet as Pie #1 – Luca Moretti is very grumpy. Not just about his six younger siblings, or the four Italian restaurants he runs for his family, but about Oliver, who not only seduces him with all his delectable baked goods, but just so happens to be sweet as pie.”

🔹Cherry on Top #2 – When Enzo Moretti’s mother lures him home to paint a mural in his hometown, he doesn’t expect her awkward matchmaking attempts. Or that the source of them is Will Johnson: the very cute new owner of Cherry’s Ice Cream Parlor. But the last thing he expects is for Will to suggest they fake a few dates to get his mother off their backs. Or that he’ll enjoy them quite so much.