Tag: A Free Dreamer Review

A Free Dreamer Review: Devil at the Crossroads (Deal with a Devil) by Cornelia Grey

Rating: 5 stars out of 5            ★★★★★

Devil at the CrossroadsThe devil covets more than his soul …

Six years ago, Logan Hart sold his soul to the devil to become the greatest bluesman of all time—and now the devil has come to collect.

The irony is that Logan squandered his gift. High on fame, money, and drugs, he ignored his muse and neglected his music. And despite managing to escape showbiz in a moment of clarity, it’s too late to redeem himself. All that’s left is to try to go out with some dignity. Alas, the prospect of an eternity in Hell isn’t helping much with that goal.

But Farfarello, the devil who bought Logan’s soul, isn’t ready to drag him down to Hell quite yet. He’s just spent six years working his ass off to whip a bluesman into shape, and he refuses to let that—or the opportunity for more sinful pleasures with Logan—go to waste.

A blues guitarist selling his soul to the devil. Well, been there, done that, right? That’s what I thought when I first read the summary. But “Devil at the Corssroads” is a really interesting take on that trope.

The sex scenes were sizzling hot and made me drool. But even before they got at it, there was this sexual tension that made the butterflies in my belly go crazy. Cornelia Grey definitely knows how to write sensual and erotic characters. “Devil at the Crossroads” pretty much oozes sexiness and passion from the beginning right through the end.

But what made me give this novella five stars wasn’t the hottest sex I’ve read in ages. There’s more to this than simple pornography. I often find novellas lacking something. Usually I feel like it’s incomplete or the plot is not detailed enough or a million other little things that I missed. But “Devil at the Crossroads” is different.

The characters were very well developed and unique. Farfarello really isn’t what you think of when you hear the word “devil”. I loved the way Miss Grey described his looks. Definitely a unique character.

I really liked Logan as well. The shame he felt at ruining his chance at fame was very compelling. I felt really bad for him.

The balance between plot and porn was perfect. The storytelling is utterly compelling. I felt like I was right there with the characters, living their experiences through them. It all felt very realistic. Even though we only got to see short snapshots from those six years, I felt like I knew everything there was to know. And I most definitely liked the ending.

I also loved the references to other famous blues musicians. Talking about Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the like made me really enjoy the whole setting. I’ve always had a thing for blues, and when Logan mentioned a song title, I immediately felt the urge to look it up. Thanks to this book and a dear online reading buddy, I’ve also discovered my favourite singer: some of Hozier’s songs fit the mood perfectly.


To sum it up, “Devil at the Crossroads” is an incredibly hot novella with unique characters and a very realistic setting. A must read!


The cover by Jared Rackler is absolutely gorgeous. It’s so simple and yet it fits the mood perfectly.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | ARe | Amazon

Book details:

ebook, 75 pages
Published September 23rd 2013 by Riptide Publishing (first published September 21st 2013)
ISBN139781626490581
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesDeal with a Devil

Note: While this is technically part one of the “Deal with a Devil” universe, each story can be read as a stand-alone.

A Free Dreamer Review: The Empty Hourglass (Deal with a Devil) by Cornelia Grey

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

The Empty HourglassThomas Escott has always wanted to be a toymaker, yet just as he achieves his dream, an accident claims his right hand. He’s certain his life is over—until he hears about groundbreaking prosthetics being made by a reclusive inventor.

Jethro Hastings is perfectly content to live alone up in the mountains working on a secret masterpiece: a humanoid automaton that will change the scientific community forever. He’s behind schedule, and the date of the unveiling is fast approaching, so when Thomas shows up on his doorstep offering help in exchange for a mechanical hand, Jethro agrees. Time, after all, is running out on another deal he’s made: one with the devil.

The devil gives Jethro’s inventions life, but he can just as quickly take life away—Jethro’s, to be exact. As the sand in the devil’s hourglass falls, marking the time until the end of the deal, inventions go haywire, people get hurt, and Thomas realizes he needs Jethro just as much as his prosthetic. Now he must find a way to save Jethro’s soul, but negotiating with a devil is just as difficult as it sounds.

Review: First of all, while this is part of a series, “The Empty Hourglass” is a stand alone. Every book set in the “Deal with a Devil” universe can be read independently. They only have one minor character in common.

I was really looking forward to this book. I absolutely loved the first short story of this universe, “Devil at the Crossroads”, and “The Circus of the Damned” was pretty good too. And when there was a promise of a freaky, steampunky prosthetic, I was ecstatic. Apparently I have a real thing for that. Anyway, my expectations were very high and unfortunately the book couldn’t quite live up to them.

I liked that Thomas was a bit of an underdog. I would’ve liked to read more about his background, though. It’s not every day you meet somebody who grew up on the streets and then turned into a toy maker of all things in your M/M books. That could have made for a really interesting story, but unfortunately the author didn’t really use that potential.

Jethro is your typical eccentric inventor: Kind of grumpy and a bit of a weird loner, but with a good heart and a tragic past to boot. His characterization was a little shallow, leaving him with little depth and a lot of stereotypes.

One of the reasons why I loved the other two books in this universe is the sex. Cornelia Grey can write incredibly sensual, delightfully different sex scenes. Unfortunately, this time she chose to leave the sex non-explicit, which is a real shame. I usually don’t mind fade-to-black scenes, but I was really looking forward to how and if the author would incorporate the prosthetic. That unfortunately didn’t happen here and I was a little disappointed, to be honest.

I loved that Cornelia Grey actually decided to have a real ghost show up. I’ve never seen a similar take on ghosts and mysticism. That was really well done. But again, a little more detail would have been really nice.

The world building was unfortunately rather lacking. There’s talk about a big war that happened a few years back. Thomas was even recruited as an engineer and the experience seems to have left some deep impressions. There are also a lot of veterans who were injured during said war. However, we never do find out any details about the war. Who fought against whom? And why? For how long? And so on. I really expected more details since it played such an important role in the story.

The ending felt a little forced, as if the author realized she had to write a happy end of some sort and hastily came up with a magical solution for it all.

Overall, this was the weakest book of the series so far. It lacked in details and didn’t even have any of Grey’s usually sizzling hot sex scenes. It seems like the series gets weaker with every new book the author writes. A shame, because “Devil at the Crossroads” was simply amazing. But now I finally want a book solely about Farfarello, the devil everybody’s making deals with.

Cover: I don’t particularly like the cover by Jay Asher. It doesn’t really fit with the other two books, which have absolutely gorgeous covers. There’s just too much brown for my liking and the picture looks kind of blurry.

Sales Links:   Riptide Publishing | ARe | Amazon  other links to  come

Book details:

ebook, 264 pages
Expected publication: April 9th 2016 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleThe Empty Hourglass
ISBN139781626493933
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDeal with a Devil

A Free Dreamer Review: The Relics of Gods (Between Heaven and Earth #1) by Yeyu

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

The Relics of the GodsWhat is worse: Being so broke you can barely afford food, getting hired for dangerous missions way out of your league, suffocating under mountains of unanswered questions—or wanting to sexually dominate someone who can kill you without lifting a finger?

Lu Delong is a mercenary who evaluates antiques most of the time and deals with the paranormal on rare occasions—even though it’s supposed to be the other way around. When he joins a dangerous quest for an ancient artifact, he meets and becomes strongly attracted to a mysterious and powerful immortal named Cangji. Despite his friends’ warnings and Cangji’s icy, unsociable demeanor, Delong is unable to resist befriending him. However, Cangji is deeply involved in a matter beyond mortals, and Delong is drawn into a chaotic struggle by both visible and invisible forces.

Always the pacifist who wanted to live a simple human life, Delong never imagined he’d end up involved in a conflict that will affect everything from the lowest insects on earth to the highest gods in heaven.

I wanted to like this book. I really, really did. I mean, dragons, gods AND Asian fantasy? That just had to be awesome. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.

First off, the author’s style really didn’t work for me. It felt awkward and a little clumsy. It didn’t really fit the setting of the story. The way Delong talked felt way too modern.

Then, there were the MCs themselves. Delong soon got annoying. He was very whiney and extremely naïve. He seemed to fail at everything and followed Cangji like a dog. He got jealous over the most ridiculous things, like a dog-like demon creature. He didn’t behave like a grown man. At times, he actually read more like a three-year-old throwing a temper tantrum.

We didn’t really get to know Cangji. He’s the silent, mysterious type. He has some terrible secrets, but we never really find out what those are.

Overall, these two felt like the stereotypical seme/uke pairing you’ll find in most yaois. The only difference is that Delong wants to be the dominant part in the bedroom.

There are lots of minor characters, that seem important at first but they quickly disappear after they’ve served their purpose, never to be heard of again.

The love story didn’t work for me at all. I really couldn’t understand why Delong would fall in love with Cangji. Cangji seems more annoyed by Delong than anything else. Delong mostly gets ignored or glared at. And yet there’s insta-love on Delong’s part. Why? I have no idea. Cangji doesn’t get his own POV, so I don’t know how he truly felt about Delong.

Somehow, the plot moved too fast and yet didn’t seem to go anywhere either. There was mission after mission, Delong gets hurt, Cangji grumbles and rescues him, every minor character is evil. Honestly, I was rather bored at times and seriously considered skimming great parts of the story. It didn’t feel like I’d miss anything important if I were to just read the beginning and the end.

There was also a lot of mythology mixed in. Usually I love that and I like to think that I’m not completely clueless about the topic. But here I felt like I would have needed a degree in Chinese mythology to get all those references. There was a glossary at the end of the book, but I think the author should have explained at least the basics during the story itself.

And before I forget, the blurb is missing a warning about some dub-con kink. Oh, and it does get rather violent at times.

Long story short, I was sorely disappointed by this book. It had great potential but didn’t live up to it.

Cover: The cover by Reese Dante is absolutely gorgeous, just like most DSP covers. I love that dragon.

Sales Links:  DSP Publications |  Amazon

Series: Part 1 of the Between Heaven and Earth series

Book details:

ebook, 350 pages
Published January 6th 2015 by DSP Publications
Original TitleThe Relics of Gods
ISBN139781627987790
Edition LanguageEnglish
URL
SeriesBetween Heaven and Earth #1

A Free Dreamer Review: Traitor’s Moon (Nightrunner #3) by Lynn Flewelling

Rating: 5 stars out of 5     ★★★★★

Traitor's MoonSeregil and Alec have spent the last two years in self-imposed exile, far from their adopted homeland, Skala, and the bitter memories there. But their time of peace is shattered by a desperate summons from Queen Idrilain, asking them to aid her daughter on a mission to Aurenen, the very land from which Seregil was exiled in his youth.

Just like the rest of the series, “Traitor’s Moon” was absolutely amazing.

We start about two years after the end of part two. Seregil and Alec are now officially talimenos, an Aurenfaie term that means something like “lovers”. They’ve spent these past two years wandering the country, while Skala was fighting a brutal war against the Plenimar and its necromancers. Alec and Seregil are needed for a diplomatic mission to Aurenen.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but there’s even more in-depth world building happening in this book. I loved all the details and customs we learned about Aurenen. It’s such an intriguing place.

And there are dragons! Oh my god, there are cute little baby dragons! They’r called Fingerlings, because they’re about the size of a finger. I love dragons and I love this concept of dragons. They aren’t born as sentient beings. It takes a long time for them to become sentient animals, capable of speech and thought. They can get absolutely huge. But the huge ones aren’t the ones you need to fear. It’s the middle sized ones. The teenies, not yet self-aware, but very strong and poisonous. I really, really hope we’ll get to read more about those dragons in the future. They’re awesome.

Even though Alec and Seregil are now a couple, the romance is kept way low-key. In fact, when they don’t refer to each other as “tali” (“beloved” or something like that – can be used between friends and family as well), they still call each other “friend”. There’s absolutely no on-page sex. It’s mostly just holding hands and the rest is implied. Personally, I absolutely love the very low-key romance and it’s one of the things that keeps me hooked on the entire series. Lynn Flewelling doesn’t need to make her romance explicit for me to feel the love between Seregil and Alec. It’s obvious how much they love each other and it’s absolutely beautiful.

Once again, there’s lots of intrigue going on. There are secrets to uncover, murderers to find, allies to win, and past secrets that keep surfacing at the most inconvenient moments. We finally learn more of Seregil’s past and why he was exiled. I loved the sheer amount of politics in this book. I felt like I was really getting into the heart of the scheming. It was intriguing.

It’s hard to believe, but I think “Traitor’s Moon” might be even better than the first two parts. I’m starting to feel as if this series just keeps getting better and better with every book. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book. I might even read “Glimpses”, a collection of short stories set in the Nightrunner universe, even though I’m usually not very fond of short stories.

Cover: Once again, I really like the 90s charm of this cover. It fits perfectly with the other covers.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Series: Part 3 of the Nightrunner series

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 561 pages
Published December 23rd 2009 by Spectra (first published July 6th 1999)
Original TitleTraitor’s Moon
ASINB0031W1DZA
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesNightrunner #3
CharactersAlec í Amasa of Kerry, Seregil í Korit Solun Meringil Bôkthersa
Literary AwardsGaylactic Spectrum Award Nominee for Best Novel (2000

Series: Nightrunner (books 1,2 and 3 are linked to Free Dreamer’s reviews)

A Free Dreamer Review: Line and Orbit (Root Code #1) by Sunny Moraine and Lisa Soem

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Line and OrbitWhat he’s been taught to fear could be his destiny…and his only hope.

Adam Yuga, a rising young star in the imperialist Terran Protectorate, is on the verge of a massive promotion…until a routine physical exam reveals something less than perfection. Genetic flaws are taboo, and Adam soon discovers there’s a thin line between rising star and starving outcast.

Stripped of wealth and position, stricken with a mysterious, worsening illness, Adam resorts to stealing credits to survive. Moments from capture by the Protectorate, help arrives in the form of Lochlan, a brash, cocksure Bideshi fighter.

Now the Bideshi, a people long shunned by the Protectorate, are the only ones who will offer him shelter. As Adam learns the truth about the mysterious, nomadic people he was taught to fear, Lochlan offers him not just shelter—but a temptation Adam can only resist for so long.

Struggling to adapt to his new life, Adam discovers his illness hides a terrible secret, one that the Protectorate will stop at nothing to conceal. Time is growing short, and he must find the strength to close a centuries-old rift, accept a new identity—and hold on to a love that could cost him everything.

 I’m always a sucker for some good sci-fi/fantasy and “Line and Orbit” definitely did not disappoint. It was funny, addicting, creative and unique.

Adam has it all: lots of money, a successful career, perfect health. That is, until he has to go through a health check for a promotion. The doctors find a small problem with his heart. Nothing life threatening, not in this day and age, but anything other than perfection is simply unacceptable and Adam suddenly finds himself without job, money and a rapidly deteriorating health. With his last bit of money he buys an old spaceship and leaves his home.

Lochlan hates the very thing Adam stands for, but when Adam literally falls in his arms, half dead and on the run, he saves the man’s life and takes him to the Bideshi homeship.

I absolutely loved the idea of the Bideshi. They’re space nomads, outsiders, exiles, outcasts and yet they have a rich history and a deep understanding of the stars, of their line and orbit. They’re magical. It’s not something I’ve ever encountered before and the authors did a wonderful job describing everything in great detail, without making it feel like an info dump, leaving me with a sense of wonder and a longing to join the Bideshi. That’s an example of excellent world building right there.

The romance is very slow to develop. It’s a bit of enemies-to-lovers, a trope that I really don’t like. That’s the only reason I didn’t give this a five star rating. But the slow pace suited the story. The two protagonists are so very different, everything else would have felt unrealistic to me. And I’m always thrilled when an author actually takes the time to develop a real romance, and doesn’t take the easy option of insta-love. Sex did happen, too, but it wasn’t explicit, and that kinda fit the story as well. The romance part was very balanced with the rest of the plot.

At times I wasn’t too sure if I like Lochlan, but he always won me over. Ultimately, I think I really like him, his character just takes a bit of getting used to. Adam, on the other hand, was somehow immediately likeable.

“Line and Orbit” does get a bit violent at times, so beware. Personally, I think fantasy isn’t really fantasy when you don’t get at least one battle scene and this book didn’t disappoint. I liked the spaceship battles, it’s not something I’ve read before.

Long story short: If you like a mix of romance, fantasy and sci-fi, you should read “Line and Orbit”.

I couldn’t help comparing this book to the truly epic “Song of the Navigator” by Astrid Amara. While “Line and Orbit” wasn’t quite as epically awesome, I can definitely recommend this to fans of “Song of the Navigator”.

I’m definitely going to read the rest of the series. I really enjoyed this.

Cover: I really like the cover by Kanaxa. It looks delightfully mysterious and the planets fit with the overall theme of the book.

Sales Links:  Samhain Publishing | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 325 pages
Published February 5th 2013 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN 1619212196 (ISBN13: 9781619212190)
Edition LanguageEnglish
URL
SeriesRoot Code #1

Series: Book 1 of the Root Code Series

A Free Dreamer Review: Kanaan & Tilney: The Case of the Arms Dealers by Katey Hawthorne & J. Rose

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Kanaan & TilneyJohn Tilney–praeternatural pyrokinetic and mystery author–has noticed the bottom dropping out of the market for his usual gothic fare, so he goes to Lowell Kanaan, PI, for a crash course in noir. Lowell, the cranky wolf-shifter detective, isn’t sure why he agrees to let John shadow him–though it might have something to do with John’s weirdly endearing honesty… and pretty lips. John thinks he’s found the perfect detective novel hero in Lowell, but it isn’t long before he realizes he doesn’t want Lowell for his book, but for himself.

As they become entangled in a supernatural whodunnit involving the Zombie Mafia, black market body parts, and shady insurance deals, their partnership grows closer–and hotter. But when it comes down to the wire, Lowell’s wolfy protective side threatens to drive John around the bend, or at least out of the office. Good thing John’s as much sunshine as he is fire; hopefully it’s enough to help them catch a murderer before they end up in literal pieces, too.

 When I read the title, I figured this was going to be about an arms – as in weapons – dealer. Instead, it was about an arms – as in body parts – dealer. Definitely a very unusual idea, especially since the arms dealing business isn’t portrayed as evil here.

The authors created a delightfully insane and intriguing world here, with lots of interesting new paranormal praeternatural races/creatures. They obviously put a lot of thought into their world and that definitely paid off. I loved the variety of all those exciting new creatures and the authors’ new interpretation of commonly known ones such as shifters.

The world building was pretty good, even if one of the basics was missing for me. I never could quite figure out if there were normal humans in this world too and if so, whether knew about the praeternaturals.

At times, this was utterly hilarious. I love a book that can make me laugh without making the whole plot ridiculous. Sometimes the humour was a bit too much for me, but I generally prefer darker reads, so it might just have been me.

The mystery part didn’t play that big of a role in the plot, but since I’m more a fan of fantasy than mystery, that was fine by me. Just don’t expect extensive detective work.

What really bothered me was the relationship. It was so very insta. John confesses his feelings to Lowell, Lowell confesses his feelings for John, they make out, John confesses he’s demisexual, they have sex. A little build-up to the big confession and the following sex would have been greatly appreciated. It all seemed very sudden to me and I couldn’t really relate to their feelings.

I also wasn’t too fond of the categorical condemnation of the BSPD, the praeternatural police force. I missed an explanation as to why they were all so incompetent and unwilling to actually help.

I also wasn’t too fond of John. Sure, his powers were pretty cool, but overall he just seemed really weird to me.

Overall, this book was okay. The world was great, but the romance was kind of disappointing. If you’re okay with insta-love and enjoy unique fantasy worlds, then I’m sure you will like this book.

The cover by Dar Albert shows Lowell and John with the skyline of a big city during the night. It fits the story and the MCs match the descriptions in the book.

Sales Links:  Loose id | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 206 pages
Published October 26th 2015 by Loose Id LLC
ASIN B0178F3JPM
Edition Language English