Tag: Author K. Sterling

Review:  Unhappy Medium (The Bisbee Batchelors’ Club Book 3) by K Sterling 

Rating: 4.75🌈

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.

Highly recommend!

Great cover!

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club :

  • Haunted Hearts #1
  • Moonlight & Madness #2
  • Unhappy Medium #3
  • Grave Expectations #4
  • Riddles & Rivals #5
  • Shadows & Reservations #6
  • Heart & Soulless #7
  • Specters & Sparks # 8

Buy link

        Unhappy Medium (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club)

    

Blurb

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.

  • Publisher: Bawdy Books (March 29, 2021)
  • Publication date: March 29, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 143 pages

Review: One Night With The Nanny (Nannies of New York Book 6) by K. Sterling

Rating: 5🌈

Nannies of New York is one of my favorite contemporary series. It’s been a memorable journey for a found family of Manhattan nannies who find themselves first in a position to help a family heal and thrive, then love finds them, placing them directly within the heart of the family they have come to love.

Each story has been framed out by elements of psychological drama, historical stories of love and tragedy, trauma and losses. And each new emotional venture turns into something marvelous, full of joy, laughter, often moving scenes as well as hot, sexual moments. All guaranteed to make these characters feel vivid, deeply realized and loved by the reader.

Never more so than in the story of Reid Marshall, co-founder, along with Gavin, his non sexual soulmate, of The Marshall Agency, the exclusive LGBTQIA nanny company at the heart of the series.

In the last book, we saw a hidden side of Reid’s life where his need to keep his sexual lifestyle secret, which he’s turned into a one night a week affair. It’s complete with its own clothes and accessories, and limited to certain bars. But things immediately go awry when a distraught older royal with family problems gets added into the mix.

Maximilian, Margrave of Hessen, who has two daughters he is desperate to connect with. Max is so unique in the cast of characters we have come to know but it turns out he’s perfect. Watching him yearn for his daughter’s understanding and love is painful and heartbreaking. Getting it is heartfelt and so amazing.

And the relationship between Max and Reid that slowly built and with great emotional work is truly everything. It’s funny, wrenching, incredibly sexy, and thought provoking.

A sticking point for Reid is his deep love and commitment to Gavin, his platonic soulmate, and their family that’s gathered around them. He finds it difficult to believe that anyone would want to be an equal partner with him in this situation. It’s never given a name. Gavin has a sexual relationship and loving partner in Dash who accepts that Reid will always be a part of their relationship. Polyamory? What’s in a name. It’s not given one here, just that they are all a unit. Such a great well written aspect of this book and series.

Also their sexual relationship and preferences which are very D/s and beautifully layered into their own stories and personalities but into their romance as it develops.

Sterling hits one high narrative note after another. I laughed, shook my head at the antics and confusion displayed by the characters, maybe cried at certain moments, and fanned myself at certain scenes. But always I was deeply engaged and emotional involved with everyone here. Each and everyone.

I was wondering if this was the end of the nannies. But another interesting development showed up, a character who has been popping up here and there. Apparently he’s next!

This is a series I’m thrilled to recommend. But do read them in order. It’s a fabulous journey and watching them find love, learning about the Marshall family, and all the wonderful people and dynamics is a joy to revisit.

Especially the romance of The King of Nannies and the Prince! So fantastic!

Nannies of New York :

✓ The Last Nanny In Manhattan #1

✓ Giles Ashby Needs A Nanny #2

✓ The Handy Nanny #3

✓ The Enchanting Nanny #4

✓ The Nanny with The Nice List #5

✓ One Night With The Nanny #6

Buy Link:

One Night With The Nanny: Nannies of New York Book 6

Blurb

Once upon a glitzy Manhattan night, a nanny finds himself in a royal mess.

The Marshall Agency may have begun on a whim, but it’s no accident that it’s considered the best in Manhattan. Everything goes exactly as planned because Reid Marshall only does things one way: his way.

Reid’s content with the life he has built with his platonic soulmate, Gavin, but knows his friends and family would be shocked at what he gets up to off the clock.

Maximilian, Margrave of Hessen, knows a thing or two about living a lie. Desperate to mend his relationship with his daughters, Max turns to the Marshall Agency’s headstrong founder for help. Only to find they have already met.

Max wants more than one night with the nanny and intends to win the fiercely independent younger man’s heart. Can Reid resist, or will he too succumb to love and live happily ever after?

One Night with the Nanny is Book 6 of the Nannies of New York series. It’s a fairytale rom-com with a twist, featuring fake dating, found family, a one-night stand that turns into more, and a struggling single dad who happens to be a Prince.

• Publisher: Bawdy Books (May 16, 2024)

• Publication date: May 16, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 318 pages

Review: Nelson & MacIlwraith: Moon Murder Mysteries III by K. Sterling

Rating: 4🌈

This type of book is extremely hard to read at times, and , for the same reasons, very difficult to rate. I wish I didn’t have to write that because I love how this series began.

K Sterling is a fascinating, imaginative writer, and I put several of Sterling’s works among my favorites. But that same inquisitive, brilliant mind that brings forth moving, modern, emotional narratives of nannies amidst Manhattan high rises can also get so caught up in creating a densely told labyrinthine fantasy tale.

One that starts with the following involved, detailed explanations from the author on

1.About Magickal Appropriation (BCE 2nd century Gaul, Ireland, Britain Druidic rituals etc)

2. Content Warnings And An Apology

3. Pronunciation & Translation Guide (very good and extremely long and will be repeated throughout the book with footnotes)

This is a clue on how the author intends to proceed with the book and address the issues of the religious aspects of the creation/combination of the storytelling and mythology found within.

Sterling is being both extremely precise with the foundations of this trilogy and themes of ancient gods awakening , then adding in the various mysteries and investigations as well as a huge sexual magic aspect to make a whole.

But instead these elements supporting or harmoniously combining together with other magical components, it gets weighed down by the author’s interpretation and references. All the numerous examples of footnotes, and descriptions which halt the story and take the reader from the narrative.

Example :

“Followers of the Badb or the Morrígan offer sacrifices to the warrior goddess because the lore holds that on the eve of the Battle of the Plain of Pillars—Samhain Eve—she met with and married the Dagda and the two mated. After, she advised him to gather his greatest warriors and that she would wield chaos and destruction when it was time to face the Fomorians [5] in battle the next day. On Samhain, they faced the enemy for the soul of Ireland and it was her ruthlessness that drove the Fomorians into defeat.”

The complex layers of additional properties of multiple mythologies (although primarily Celtic) , witchcraft, coming to life with foreboding consequences for the Earth and humanity, that the density overloads the characters and storylines right up to the 75% of the book. Then the actual plot and action is started back up again. It’s wrapped up quickly by Sterling as the author wants to get to the main drama, the god stuff that’s been playing out all along.

That’s a shame because the human drama. All those dead, tortured murdered girls, the cult and mystery behind them, that was , for me, the fascinating part of the story .That’s the real thing here. That investigation, the whole side themes and characters.

But the god awakening, all the research and mythology involved, and that thread was the one that Sterling was invested in and that’s what ended up being the one that led the narrative show.

So how to rate a book that the author put so much heart, so much research, time, so much effort into creating and crafting a story that, for me, ended up feeling like I was reading bits and pieces of a thesis or research for a project?

I found parts of this really interesting. I enjoyed reading the footnotes, albeit in stages. And I was entertained by the wrap up of the original storyline of the girls and that cult.

Everything else was just so dense and overly complex that I ended up removed from any connection I’d made previously to the main characters and their circle of friends.

That’s a shame because that first book presents a duo unlike anyone I’d met before.

I’m making no recommendations. If you like references, the author, mythology, check it out.

There’s a fourth book coming out.

Nelson & MacIlwraith: Moon Murder Mysteries I – III by K. Sterling, complete

Next up:

Nelson & MacIlwraith: The Curious Case of the Cadwallader

Buy link:

Nelson & MacIlwraith: Moon Murder Mysteries III

Blurb:

The Moon Murder Mysteries conclude…

Nelson & Nox are hunting for the real killer behind the Moon Murder Mysteries, but they’re having to do that while preventing a god from getting what he wants.

With Nelson learning more than he ever thought possible about sex magick, Nox needs to make peace with his past and come to terms with who he is, but can he do that while curses abound and the killer is far too close to home?

Nox is a little bit witchcraft. Nelson is a little bit Federal Bureau. Together, they’re a wickedly good team, but can they solve the puzzle and catch a murderer before Nox’s fate catches up with them?

• Publisher: Bawdy Books (March 20, 2024)

• Publication date: March 20, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 290 pages

Review: Nelson & MacIlwraith (Moon Murder Mysteries #2) by K Sterling

Rating 3.5:

This was a hard book to rate as well as read. For all the qualities I loved in the first book, some of those same elements were ones that made this a very frustrating reading experience.

Where book one was an expansive exploration of those characters personalities, universe , including the mystical powers and mythology that surrounds them, the second novel narrowed down the focus to the men , their new dynamic, and the important orbiting characters. The smaller field of storytelling highlights some of the issues when making this strange nebulous dynamic the central aspect of the book.

There’s page after page of non communication between Nox and Nelson of what’s actually happening between them, the changes involved with them, but most importantly, the god that’s gradually taking over Nox. Its a case of “they know or don’t know, friends know more, and talk to over the issues to one but not the other” story. Over and over.

This type of repetitive behavior and endless conversations overlaid with sex gave me headaches. And rarely did it move the narrative forward. Until a mad rush at the end.

Where the first book has the murder investigations, the town’s people and various historical elements at play alongside the intricacies of Nelson and Nox’s personal interplay along with their new relationship dynamics. Here that’s winnowed down into a frustrating monotonous story of a four men and a god power play mystery. But instead of it being interesting and exciting , it feels flat, a bit densely packed, and the ending is just too predictable.

Read it because it’s the bridge to the last book in this trilogy. The events revealed weren’t that surprising. And the final book is out. Let’s see what it holds.

Moon Murder Mysteries I – 3

Buy link for #2

Nelson & MacIlwraith: Moon Murder Mysteries II

Blurb

What’s it like having a witch for a partner?

Nelson has figured out that keeping Nox satisfied is the key to his freedom during the day. But he’s also afraid their mystical connection could be harming Nox. That’s not their only problem. They’re still working on the Moon Murder Mysteries and now, suspects and witnesses are dropping like flies. And their murderer is getting far too close to home.

Nelson & MacIlwraith: Moon Murder Mysteries #2 is a paranormal mystery book, with an MM couple, plenty of spice, a murderer to catch, and a continuation of the overarching magical storyline based on Celtic mythology.

Nox is a little bit witchcraft. Nelson is a little bit Federal Bureau. Together, they’re a wickedly good team, but can they solve the puzzle and catch a murderer before Nox’s fate catches up with them?

• Publication date: March 12, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 242 pages

Review: Haunted Hearts (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 1) by K Sterling

Rating: 4.5🌈

K Sterling’s series The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club is a wonderful strange world to tumble into. For starters, it exists. Bisbee, Arizona is a real place. That knowledge alone sent me running to google as much as I could about a place that is as descriptively beautiful, narratively haunting, and just outright fascinating as you might imagine. The photographs made me want to take the next plane out to see it for myself.

With that rich, historic haunted town as both a backdrop and foundation, Sterling populates it with some great characters, of equal degrees of emotional depth and haunted backstories. The Bisbee Batchelor s Club. Stories written about the single men of the queer friendly, hippy artsy former copper mining town.

And it starts with one of the most emotionally haunted man of them all,

Cace Talbot. Surrounded by his son and close friends, it’s still not enough to keep the pain away from losing his soul mate, the man who left him and the town to pursue his art. Cace is still struggling and Sterling make him easy to understand and relate to.

Especially when the man he’s been trying to forget returns to town. That’s Laurence “Lorrie” Nixon, who’s come back after 25 years away.

There’s a realistic look at the years these men have lost. It’s a true bittersweet element that runs through their reunion and reconnecting relationship. Discussions over what might have been, the children they should have had, the moments lost they will never get, it’s so sad in those moments when they are sharing memories , painful, and heartbreaking. It’s twenty-five years of love and loss and longing that they know could have been theirs but wasn’t. This aspect is there even as they decide to go forward because it’s ingrained into who they’ve become.

I love that Sterling is able to build this not only into the storyline but into their characters too. It makes the depth of their bond even more believable.

The murder mystery that runs along side the romance rebuilding is good but strangely just a secondary storyline. It never feels like a main theme. I liked how it plays out, but wanted a little bit more details and depth to the investigation until the reveal. It was all a bit pat for me.

But the relationship between Lorrie and Cace? That was emotional and heartfelt. And adding in all the found family members around them was perfect.

I’m onto the next. I’m absolutely sold on the town and these characters. And I’m a fan of the author, so I’m thrilled to gave a new series to binge.

I’m happily recommending Haunted Hearts (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 1) by K Sterling. Enjoy!

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club:

✓ Haunted Hearts #1

◦ Moonlight & Madness #2

◦ Unhappy Medium #3

◦ Grave Expectations #4

◦ Riddles & Rivals #5

◦ Shadows & Reservations #6

◦ Heart & Soulless #7

◦ Specters & Sparks #8

Buy Link

Haunted Hearts (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 1)

Blurb:

There are worse things haunting Cace Talbot than the ghosts inhabiting his beloved hometown. Hidden in Arizona’s Mule Mountains, Bisbee was small in a cozy way and just casually haunted with specters from its wild and sometimes dark past. Then, Laurence “Lorrie” Nixon returns after breaking Cace’s heart twenty-five years earlier and the town becomes too small and the memories a lot scarier.

Lorrie’s waited long enough and is determined to win Cace back no matter how hard he has to grovel. He’s already got his work cut out for him when a pair of copycat killings with echoes from Bisbee’s past cast suspicion Lorrie’s way. Lorrie turns to Cace and their band of childhood friends for help solving the brutal murders.

Cace doesn’t want to see his first love accused of a gruesome crime he didn’t commit but that doesn’t mean he’s letting Lorrie Nixon back into his life. At least, that’s what Cace says. His body on the other hand… Can Cace help find a killer without getting caught up in the memories and the pull of Lorrie’s lips?

Review: The Nanny with The Nice List (Nannies of New York Book 5) by K. Sterling

Rating: 4🌈

I have been waiting for Gavin Selby’s story since he made his appearance with his best friend in Briarwood Terrace, the old townhouse in Manhattan where he lives with Reid Marshall,owner of the nanny agency of the series.

Gavin’s quiet intensity, stately dress , and determined demeanor as well as hidden history just made even his briefest appearances objects of curiosity. The reader really wanted to know more about him. And the character Dash’s obvious crush on him, another ongoing thread, from book to book.

So I was prepared for an emotional and revelatory journey for the reader and Dash into Gavin’s past and the present. I expected the author’s usual excellent job of bringing Gavin’s entire story into the narrative forefront here so we could understand why he is the way he is. The trauma and damage he has endured to become the man who has allowed himself to become smaller inside, fearful, and alone. Boxed in emotionally by his father and events.

Sterling has been so outstanding at this in the past, but here, whether it is the nature of the situation or the holidays, we feel distanced from the causes of Gavin’s problems and past life. Even the threats, potential threats to his current life , are ephemeral, never feeling anywhere near substantial.

I think that’s because Gavin’s past, his father, any interactions he might have or had with him are on a “as told to” basis. That puts this entire situation and part of the story on a different perspective, one without any real immediate impact or emotional connection.

That’s unlike the evolving romance and relationship building up between himself and Dash. That’s sweet and sexy and vulnerable. It’s lovely watching these two grow and Gavin dare to love, especially at Christmas.

But it throws off the balance of the story because the other half is the secrets/ongoing conflicts with Gavin’s father. Which is done off page or through other sources or people. That’s taking away the power and the build up from this aspect of the plot.

At one point, I was just getting frustrated, thinking about how little was at the center core of all that secrecy. Especially when there’s all those powerful friends at hand.

So yes, sweet, sexy, loving romantic story but the entire plot itself was not a great success. A good one but not great. The romance and holiday season aspect was a delight. But the parts that centered around Gavin’s character and background didn’t really work. His past history, his family trauma, his father were all too distanced narratively from his storyline to make the impression that the story wants them to have.

Read it because the series is wonderful and you want Gavin’s story. And because it sets up the next and what is possibly the last of the series, Reid Marshall’s romance, One Night With The Nanny.

Nannies of New York :

✓ The Last Nanny In Manhattan #1

✓ Giles Ashby Needs A Nanny #2

✓ The Handy Nanny #3

✓ The Enchanting Nanny #4

✓ The Nanny with The Nice List #5

◦ One Night With The Nanny #6 – May 16, 2024

Buy Link:

The Nanny With The Nice List: Nannies of New York Book 5

Blurb:

This Christmas, Dash Griffin finally gets his man.

The library needs a new Santa to read stories to its littlest patrons and Dash has lots of friends who would be perfect. But instead of asking any of them, he sets his sights on quiet, uptight Gavin Selby. Dash has known for some time that the cranky accountant is the one for him. When he uncovers Gavin’s secret, Dash sees his chance to prove just how right they are for each other. Not only will Gavin become the library’s new Santa, but Dash is on a mission to deliver the brightest, most romantic Christmas ever.

Gavin has done everything in his power to protect his friends and paid a dear price. But he was happy to toe the line as long as everyone else got their happily ever after. Now, the price for Dash’s silence is pumpkin spice lattes and walks in Central Park. Gavin is happy to endure the holiday markets and wear a Santa costume if it means Dash will keep his secret. But can Gavin keep his most dangerous secret to himself? Or, will Dash finally discover that all Gavin wants for Christmas is him?

The Nanny with the Nice List is book 5 in the Nannies of New York series. It’s a sweet and steamy MM romance with lots of pining, a grumpy/sunshine pair, 10 year age gap and a sexual awakening. Plus, all the wonderful found family vibes that lovers of the Nannies in New York series know to expect.

*Paperback includes additional illustrations, playlists, bonus chapters, and more!

Review: Nelson & MacIlwraith (Moon Murder Mysteries #1) by K Sterling

Rating: 5🌈

K Sterling has become a go to author for me and this book is an excellent example why. Nelson & MacIlwraith, the first in the Moon Murder Mysteries, is steeped in mythologies and cultural traditions. These myths and lores that enrich and at times horrify the characters and readers have been pulled from literary sources and the author’s incredible imagination.

To say the Celtic mythological tapestry Sterling has woven here works to enhance the themes, mysteries, and unique relationships is an understatement. It goes beyond that.

It starts with the unusual characters. FBI Agent Grady Nelson has been assigned the case of a missing girl, but told to “bury” the investigation by his superiors. Nelson, the son and grandson of famous agents, is a man out of favor with the FBI, a person they are looking to bury.

We’ve seen this type of character before but not Grady Nelson. Sterling has created in Nelson someone of unusual depths and qualities, submissive, unyielding in a hunt for the truth. Nelson is a dichotomy of traits and desires. And his growth here is unexpected and astonishing.

Nelson is paired with his complete opposite. That’s the renowned and well connected Professor Lennox “Nox” MacIlwraith. Looking like a combination of goth musician, he’s an archaeologist professor who’s consults in cases that have an occult or otherworldly nature. Which is what he has been working on. One exactly like the one Nelson isn’t supposed to investigate.

From a truly macabre starting point, Sterling launches a spectacular new series and couple. One missing girl becomes more, and the fact that each one is linked to local pagan communities and witchcraft just adds to the mystery.

Sterling builds on the men’s hugely different lives and unusual interior mentalities to craft a relationship unlike any other. This overlays an increasingly horrifying investigation with a narrow timeline.

This story is amazing, terrifying, haunting, and extremely suspenseful. It’s no surprise that it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

I can’t wait to see how the next episode in the men’s relationship and journey will go.

If you love a fantasy story with highly developed and compelling characters and a world that’s equally layered, this is for you.

Moon Murder Mysteries:

◦ Nelson & MacIlwraith #1

Buy Link :

Blurb:

No one wants a witch for a partner.

Time is running out, and the deck is stacked against Professor Lennox “Nox” MacIlwraith. Six girls have been abducted, but the FBI doesn’t realize they’re connected. There’s also the matter of the dead girl in New Castle. She was found tied to a tree and Nox suspects one serial kidnapper and killer is responsible. An unorthodox expert on the occult, Nox is rumored to be a psychic and a witch. And a crackpot. The wily young professor has to prove he’s not batty—or possibly a vampire—and that the cases are linked before the next full moon. If not, he fears the remaining girls will be sacrificed to a mythical god-king.

Everyone in the FBI hates Agent Grady Nelson. He’s failed to live up to his legendary father’s reputation within the bureau and is almost universally despised for being an uptight do-gooder. Nelson’s ready to kiss what’s left of his career goodbye when he’s ordered to work with the “sketchy professor” on what should be a nuisance case. The investigation turns into a professional minefield when Nox claims it’s connected to an ancient Celtic cult. Rules are broken and lines are crossed as Nelson falls under Nox’s spell and begins to suspect his partner might be a real witch.

Nox is a little bit witchcraft. Nelson is a little bit Federal Bureau. Together, they’re a wickedly good team, but can they find the missing girls before it’s too late? Nox is prepared to sacrifice his own career and his life to save them. He’d also like to save Nelson, but is Nox ready to sacrifice his heart too?

Review: The Enchanting Nanny (Nannies of New York Book 4) by K. Sterling

Rating: 5🌈

Embracing this story is like embracing the all of life’s experiences, wrapped up in one amazing book. You’re going to laugh, breathe in the joys and heartbreak of family life, the memories that bring one feelings of incredible loss and that of deep love. It’s startling in the intimacy of emotions and vibrancy that Sterling is able to bring to the characters, both adults and children, that the reader meets here.

To misquote a famous story, your heart will grow three sizes by the end of your journey with this small family and you will embrace every moment.

It’s one enormous narrative hug and it tops all the books in this fabulous series to date.

I’ve been waiting for this as it’s been hinted at in the previous stories. The vaguest of scenes with the Poppins like nanny Penny Lane and the fabulously rich and beautiful Agnes Cameron. Each has close ties to all the other characters in the series and we’ve seen them countless times throughout other books in various scenarios.

Now they finally get together as Agnes has decided to adopt, after being an important part of her brother’s family and an aunt to his children. We dive in as Agnes arrives at a foster care home and meets the young girl who will become her daughter, June.

I don’t need to say that this is such an emotional moment for them and us as well. It’s done in such a sweet manner, and one that’s allows Agnes to have an intimate moment to let June express herself and then bond over their love for books.

This scene really sets the tone for the story and relationship between Agnes and June. It’s believable, genuine, and heartfelt.

The rest that follows involves Penny Lane arriving as the nanny, a necessity because of the factors at play here. Agnes’ status as a beloved aunt, wealthy woman, and someone who isn’t totally prepared for all the needs that a newly adopted child might have now has Penny Lane there to support them and guide them through as a family.

If only they hadn’t hooked up those several times and now cannot stop thinking about each other.

This story incorporates some amazing elements. Both women end up working through some deep psychological issues and adolescence trauma while giving June the opportunity to have the security and stability she craves for herself. It’s launches a family as they create a new core relationship in the most incredible location, a spot the reader sees so clearly due to Sterling’s beautiful rich descriptions.

This is a very sexy lesbian love story with a great HEA, their chemistry is off the charts and their relationship is layered with their own unique personalities and issues to overcome.

And June. I absolutely love June. She’s a young girl I recognize so much. The growth K Sterling writes into her from the moment she’s seen in the backyard of the foster home to the girl at the end of the book, we understand and cherish her journey.

Books like this almost should be the series finale because they are so well written, so beautifully nuanced in their narrative that any book that follows will seem faded by comparison.

It’s hard to say goodbye to “the new queens of Manhattan “ but I’m sure I’ll be revisiting them again soon.

Until then, I’m absolutely recommending this book and the series. Totally fabulous!

Plus that cover? It’s Penny Lane and Agnes all the way! Outstanding!

Nannies of New York :

✓ The Last Nanny In Manhattan #1

✓ Giles Ashby Needs A Nanny #2

✓ The Handy Nanny #3

✓ The Enchanting Nanny #4

◦ The Nanny with The Nice List #5 – Nov 14,2023

Buy Link:

The Enchanting Nanny: Nannies of New York Book 4

Blurb:

Love grows where you least expect it.

Despite being born into one of the wealthiest families in Manhattan, Agnes Cameron hasn’t had that many good things in her life. At fifty-two, she’s ready to change that. She’s adopting a child and putting her playgirl days behind her. Agnes is done piggy-backing and cherry-picking the best parts of her brother’s life and is ready to finally have a family of her own.

Enter Penny Lane Tucker: thirty, vegan, and a wild child who occasionally sleeps in trees. Like her older brother, Penn, she’s a nanny extraordinaire. There isn’t a problem Penny can’t fix with a little elbow grease and creativity. And while she believes in soulmates and the power of love, Penny suspects fate is playing tricks when she’s sent to The Killian House and meets her new clients.

Their brothers might not be aware, but Agnes and Penny have…history. Of course, neither wants to be the one to explain why Reid should send a different nanny. Instead, both decide to play it cool for the sake of Agnes’s newly adopted daughter, eight-year-old June.

That proves to be a challenge when the trio heads to the Tucker family cabin in the Catskills for the summer. Sparks fly and love blossoms as Penny learns that she’s not who she thinks she is and that Agnes and June just might be her soulmates. But can Penny trust wayward Agnes with her heart? And can Agnes prove she’s ready to put her wild ways behind her and tame her enchanting nanny?

Review: The Handy Nanny (Nannies of New York Book 3) by K. Sterling

Rating: 4.5🌈

I love K. Sterling’s contemporary romance series, Nannies of New York. Each story is a moving tale of love found and new families formed among Manhattan’s single parents/guardians of young children.

Sterling’s romances are gently choreographed tales of love and found families, with its characters often being people of different backgrounds with hidden emotional struggles and fears as well as strengths.

No where is all of this showcased so well as in the latest book The Handy Manny. The themes of this book are hard emotionally. Sterling goes right into the heart of some of people’s worst fears and those moments of despair and loss. The death of those we love the most. Whether it’s a twin sister, or beloved father or mother. Whether they have died in the past, recently died, or because of their illnesses, know that they won’t live much longer.

The characters here are in various stages of loss, and grief. For a recent death of a sister who was half of him, and who can’t find his way out of his grief. The one called on to help him and his daughter? Penn has dealt with this in the past but has known it’s coming as his father’s fighting cancer.

Yet for all the darkness of the themes and subject matter, the characters and their journey towards a relationship is one of food, laughter, tears, and compassion. It’s not perfect. Each man has a history and their own personal experiences that makes them struggle with this relationship.

But because of the group we’ve gotten to know from the previous novels, another found family of nannies, and families of the men who share a special connection, the doubts, the challenges each face and deal with, feel believable and satisfying at the end.

For people dealing with loss, especially that of a loved family member, this book might be too raw to read at the moment. Morris Mosby’s deep grief and black hole of loss is so well done that as a reader it’s as though you feel his pain and his rage and his inability to comprehend life without her. And his resentment of Pennsylvania Tucker when he arrives to take over until Morris can finally begin to recover. He doesn’t want to recover.

As I said. A tough book .

Pennsylvania Tucker is a complicated man for someone who seems like a happy hippie who care for everyone, a fixer. He’s also someone haunted by his own losses and a loss yet to come.

How they start to heal each other while forming a family over one adorable baby is a gentle, complicated story about recovery, grief, loss, and love.

Just wonderful. And that the next in the series The Enchanting Nanny features Penn’s sister? I can’t wait. Because it’s also got the corporate older scary sister from the second book as a main character as well. One wild ride.

I highly recommend the entire series and this book too.

Nannies of New York :

✓ The Last Nanny In Manhattan #1

✓ Giles Ashby Needs A Nanny #2

✓ The Handy Nanny #3

◦ The Enchanting Nanny #4 – Aug 17, 2023 (f/f)

Buy Link:

The Handy Nanny: Nannies of New York Book 3

Description:

They call Pennsylvania Tucker the human Band-Aid because he can fix just about anything and make anyone feel better, but can Penn mend a broken heart? Reid Marshall thinks so and sends his master nanny on a very important and sensitive mission. A close friend is grieving and caring for his newborn niece after losing his twin sister.

Shy and quiet outside of the studio, Morris Mosby has been a myth in the music industry since he was sixteen. But his sister was the brains behind the “Mosby Machine” and Morris is tempted to walk away from his career and focus on his family. He’s got to put his life back together and raise a baby without his best friend and half of his heart.

Not if Morris’s parents and Penn have anything to say about it. The three of them team up to help Morris heal and rediscover his passion for music. Things heat up between Penn and Morris, but our handy nanny has some old wounds that need mending as well. Can two broken hearts heal each other or has Penn finally found a problem he can’t fix?


*Paperback includes additional illustrations, playlist, bonus epilogue, recipes, and more!

Review: The Last Nanny in Manhattan (Nannies of New York #1) by K. Sterling

Rating: 4.5🌈

The Last Nanny in Manhattan, the first in the Nannies of New York series by K. Sterling, is a snappy, sexy, sweet contemporary romance by a author that’s new to me.

I enjoyed this journey immensely. It’s got age gap, wickedly intelligent 6 year old triplets , a widower who’s overwhelmed by work but most by a sense of failure when it comes to fatherhood and parenting. And , importantly, a gay, effervescent, highly competent Mary Poppins of a nanny in need of a family to fix and fall in love with.

It helps that Fin the irrepressible, remarkable nanny has a thing for gorgeous SavageFenty underwear as well as the ability to bring the chaos the demon triplets have caused to a heartwarming close through understanding, and love.

Finley Marshall comes with an entire faction of fantastic people to support him and to act as main characters in the succeeding novels. There’s Reid, Fin’s oldest brother. Reilly, his best friend. Pennsylvania aka Penn the Gandalf of nannies. And more. The LGBTGIA nanny network of New York and the solid basis for this series. Each one a highly intelligent, and star of the nanny network of the Manhattan wealthy clientele.

What a fabulous start!

Walker Cameron III is the other side. He brings his amazing bisexual sister who I’m hoping we see a great deal more of. Plus his butler, who slowly unbends to Fin, his unusual style of doing things and welcomes Fin into the household. But it’s really about Walker. And his dysfunctional relationship to his children. Walker is a tightly wrapped bundle of pain, stress, mourning, and fear.

Sterling does an excellent job in making these characters and their relationships with all the people around them clear, layered with history and emotional, and relatable.

Walker maybe wealthy but he’s a father who’s inability to connect with his girls is hurting them all. He’s lost his way and the reader hurts for all four of them even as we might be snickering at the ingenious damage the triplets are inflicting on the household.

Watching Fin come in, assess the situation, amidst the turmoil and incoming weapons the children hurl, is amazing. So is the journey the girls and Walker start on back to being a family and normalcy. With one special addition.

It’s got obstacles of course, some drama, but there’s a HEA at the end that so wonderful and heartwarming.

Nannies of New York Book series:

✓ The Last Nanny in Manhattan #1

◦ Giles Ashby Needs A Nanny #2 – January 26, 2023

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showThe Last Nanny In Manhattan (Nannies of New York, #1) by K. Sterling

Description:

Walker Cameron III might be one of the most feared men in Manhattan, but he’s no match for his six-year-old triplets. After exhausting all other options, Finley Marshall is the grumpy widower’s last hope.

Luckily for the Camerons, Fin is a master of chaos and can calm even the most beastly of children. But Fin soon learns that the girls aren’t the problem; it’s their father. Still grieving and easily overwhelmed, Walker leaves the servants to cope with his little hellions. Fin wants to prove he’s the best nanny in the city and that his older brother, Reid, should start his own agency. Is Fin willing to risk life and limb to do it, though?

Afraid to lose the most competent caregiver to ever cross his threshold, Walker agrees to an unusual set of terms. He’ll give the girls more of his time and practice better parenting with Fin as his guide. But Walker finds himself with a new and unexpected problem. For the first time in years, he’s having very improper thoughts and can’t stop thinking about Fin. Can he keep his feelings to himself or will Walker fall for the last nanny in Manhattan willing to take on the cursed Camerons?

*The paperback edition will include additional illustrations by Jayla, a short story featuring the Camerons, recipes from the book, and a soundtrack!