Review: Calling Chaos (Demon Bound, #3) by Grae Bryan

Rating:3.5🌈

Grae Bryan’ Demon Bound series has been fantastic to date, matching the damaged, dark Russian mafia brothers with an assorted cast of demons who were an unlikely found family of demons, each watching and waiting to be summoned.

The Koslov family history is deeply disturbing, criminal as you’d expect, and horrifically terrifying for those raised inside its core. The author did a fantastic job capturing this emotional trauma and layering it into each brother in a different way, and how it impacted their stories and relationship with the demons they summoned.

Yes, the intensity and complexity of Ivan and Nix hasn’t been matched. My favorite!

So when their cousin, the highly introspective Cooper, gets the next story and summoning of a demon we’d met, I was curious.

Calling Chaos is a good book but it feels separate from the rest of the series. Bryan gives us scenes that have occurred before, but now we have them from the perspective of this couple and these characters. That’s amusing.

And while we are given a general glimpse into what a painful background Cooper must have had, there’s been no foundation laid out in the series for him or his character before. So while Chaos becomes a vital part of the series and wildly entertaining dangerous being, Cooper remains more of a one dimensional person. Someone who reacts with Chaos, has tons of sex with him, and as we know will bond with him.

There’s a “save me “ element that comes out of nowhere and goes away with equal impact. It’s there for just that. So the reader believes in it just as much.

The ending sets up the next story and series finale which I’m really excited about. That should bring everything together. And the scariest demon yet.

So the best part of Calling Chaos is actually Chaos. There’s small scenes here and there where he’s the chaos demon you want and expect. I wish we had more of that. Or a better defined and fleshed out Cooper.

Cover designed by MiblArt.

Demon Bound:

🔹Wrecking Havoc #1 (Kai and Sascha)

🔹Inviting Bedlam #2 (Nix and Ivan)

🔹Calling Chaos #3 (Chaos and

🔹Unleashing Mayhem #4 – Sept 30,2025 / finale

Buy link

Calling Chaos (Demon Bound Book 3)

Blurb

Cooper didn’t mean to summon a demon. He may be a hacker for the Mafia, but he’s not exactly brave or adventurous by nature. He was only trying to do a small, easy job for his terrifying boss and then get back to not leaving the house for days on end. Only now that the demon’s here, promising to be Cooper’s friend for as long as he needs one, Cooper might just be lonely enough to let him.

Chaos knew it was finally his time to get summoned. No more being stuck in the boring Void, no more hanging out with the same three dull demons. It’s time for madness and mayhem and answering to no one but himself. Except Chaos doesn’t expect his newest summoner to be quite so…timid. And sweet. And willing to cater to every single one of Chaos’s many wants and whims. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to stick around for an eternity or two.

Now Chaos just needs to convince his new friend that it really isn’t all that scary to be mated to a demon, even one who loves to play with fire.

CALLING CHAOS IS A HEATED MM PARANORMAL ROMANCE. IT FEATURE A LONELY, SOCIALLY ANXIOUS HACKER AND THE WILY, WICKED, AND SLIGHTLY FERAL DEMON WHO WANTS TO PLAY WITH HIM FOREVER. IT ALSO CONTAINS “IT’S JUST PRACTICE” BEDROOM LESSONS, MAFIA MEETINGS GONE AWRY, AND THE JOYS OF STEALING YOUR NOT-BOYFRIEND’S HOODIES.

Publication date: March 28, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 248 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: Inferno (Drake Security Book 4) by Mika Nix

Rating: 3.75🌈

Drake Security, the fated mates series about a family of dragons finding their bonded mates, is now on the fourth brother.

Co-written by K.M. Neuhold and Mia Monroe as Mika Nix, book four follows Valentino Drake, the one brother we know as busy being in touch with his love life instead of the brothers’ business. It takes a younger brother’s wrong doing and throughly bad decision making to bring Valentino back into the fold and help find his own unique mate.

First off, I loved the storyline of Valentino and Montrose, the demon. Montrose is a fantastic character, probably my favorite next to Lake . He’s intriguing, powerful enough to hold his own with his dragon, and dramatic enough to make any scene that involves him a little richer. Put them together and they are a great combination of riches. Dragon and demon.

Unfortunately there is an element that I found almost as irritating as I loved the romance part of the book. I feel that the authors probably have future plans for him but honestly there’s so much to character of Mac, the younger brother, that just gives me a narrative headache. As the authors created him, and as his part plays out in the book, Mac came perilously close to making me stop reading. Yes, his actions and that they spring from a certain problematic aspect of his personality are the ignition point of the story. I feel if it had only been that one factor, that one theft, it would’ve been, maybe, woven into his youthful status better. However, it’s his continued forbidden thievery that causes so much pain and danger to him and those around him. Without the Drake brothers, even at the end, having Mac feel any deeper remorse for his actions and crimes. Maybe the last one because he was so far in trouble. But all the rest? Not really.

It’s send him back home, and a new threat is here. What happened to ending this one? Because parts of Mac’s story felt unfinished.

So yes to the romance of Valentino and Montrose. They were great and could have used some of the narrative space assigned to the more irritating Mac. No, to the younger brother and his storyline who actually wanted to make me put down the book because of his personality, behavior, and lack of finality to his story.

I’m wondering if the next is the series finale for Drake Security. Sounds like Lord’s story. I’ll definitely be there for it. This was a fifty/fifty book for me.

Drake Security:

Hot Head #1

Smoulder #2

Wild Fire #3

Inferno #4

Buy link

Inferno (Drake Security Book 4)

Blurb:

I know I should keep my hands off of Montrose. But the one thing dragons and demons have in common is how much we love to play with fire.

My youngest brother has always had a knack for getting himself into trouble, but this time he’s stolen from the wrong demon and it might just be the last mistake he ever makes.

I have no reason to trust Montrose, but my dragon does anyway. There’s something about the vibrant, sassy incubus that calls to me, no matter how hard I try to resist.

Saving my brother’s scales should be top priority, but this inferno between Montrose and I just keeps heating up.

If fate put him in my path, can I trust that we’ll make it to the other side of this disaster together? There’s only one way to find out…

• Publication date: May 3, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 253 pages

Review: Twelve Days of Squidmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance by K.L. Hiers

Rating: 4🌈

There’s so many great things to like about K.L. Hiers’ Twelve Days of Squidmas, one of the Winter Tentacle Holiday collection. It’s got a truly poignant storyline about loss and the damage that years of family abuse does to a person. It talks about someone who’s watched and been a caregiver for someone dying of cancer. Then the reader is there, as the funeral is over, the grandmother’s death so deeply devastating that her grandson is having trouble moving forward, and his family is descending like vultures.

Bright and happy a start this is not.

But Hiers brings into this realistically portrayed scenario of a grief stricken young man alone with his loss and house, a new wild card that upsets everything Jack Marsh thought he knew about his grandmother. Jack summons Xorvash, an interdimensional tentacle creature who was his grandmother’s best friend.

Hiers has such fun and does a fantastic job capturing both the essence and power of the demon Xorvash, especially his impact on “Cuddles “. While there’s an amazing effervescent energy and joy that comes from this character and his scenes, Hiers still manages to bring in the smallest detail of Jack’s painful background and the emotional damage he’s suffered in ways that are fleeting but powerful. Then it’s onto a scene that’s familiarly funny and satisfying for the season.

I enjoyed the many side characters and storylines, especially the next door neighbors. I wish that aspect could have been more developed as a few details were left unexplored.

Same went for the ending. It wasn’t exactly satisfying. Jack and Horvash go to all that trouble to boot the family out of the house and then what? They leave and what happens to the house? That was an important narrative loose end that was left flapping around. And it should have been a simple one to explain or tie up.

Things like this make me wonder why, when the rest of the piece is so well written and emotionally balanced.

I’m recommending Twelve Days of Squidmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance by K.L. Hiers because even with these quibbles it’s a pleasure to read.

Tinsel and Tentacles (11 books)

◦ Jingle Bells and Elder Gods by Kiernan Kelly

✓ All I Want for Christmas is Tentacles by Chloe Archer ❤️🫶

◦ Tentacles and Other Stocking Stuffers by Delaney Rain

◦ Tentacles Rock by K.C. Carmine

✓ A Sucker for Christmas by J.P. Sayle

✓ Kraken Klaus by Charlotte Brice

✓ Twelve Days of Squidmas by H.L. Hiers ❤️

✓ It’s a Tenta-ful Life by Amanda Muewissen

✓ Rebel without a Claus by L Eveland

✓ Cthulhu for Christmas by Meghan Maslow ❤️🫶

◦ Tentacle Wonderland by Reese Morrison

Buy Link:

Twelve Days of Squidmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance

Blurb:

Jack Marsh has twelve days to pull off the perfect Christmas.

Even though his beloved grandmother has just passed, his rotten family is expecting him to host in her place. He already hated this time of year, and now he has to decorate, bake cookies, wrap presents, and create a delicious holiday feast.

Enter Xorvash, an interdimensional tentacle creature from another plane of existence. Thanks to a minor kitchen mishap, Xorvash comes crashing into Jack’s life and promises to do the impossible. Jack suspects Xorvash’s interest in him goes far beyond merely wanting to help him deck the halls, and he’s having trouble resisting Xorvash’s unique charms. With some luck and a sprinkle of holiday magic, Jack might get some sweet tentacle romance for Christmas—plus a little miracle or two.

Twelve Days of Squidmas is part of the Tinsel and Tentacles multi-author collaboration and a complete standalone. Expect to find a grumpy human and a sunshine tentacle creature, lots of silly snark, smexy tentacle times, and a magical happily ever after. Want more tantalizingly tentacular winter holiday romances? Grab the whole series!

• Publisher: (December 15, 2023)

• Publication date: December 15, 2023

• Print length: 167 pages

Review: A Beginner’s Guide to Death, Demons, and Other Afterlife Disasters (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures #1) by Shannon Mae

Rating: 4🌈

Innocent mistakenly ends up in Hell, falls for a Demon, has his HEA.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s has become a popular theme lately, a new trope forming.

Shannon Mae (a new to me author) is the latest to tackle this idea and she does so very amusingly. Her book, A Beginner’s Guide to Death, Demons, and Other Afterlife Disasters, a suitably detailed title, has charming characters and a well crafted universe. It’s the first in her new series, Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures, which features gods, goddesses, Heaven, levels of Hell, and Limbo which is the place to partay! We have bureaucrats on every level, hellish and heavenly. Turns out, as suspected, there’s not much difference.

Mae has crafted some very entertaining elements and a romance that’s a winner. There’s Adam, sent to Hell by mistake . And a very bored Minos, Judge of the Damned, whose unlife needs a shaking up and is about to get it.

This story is a fast, enjoyable read and I had so much fun with these characters.

I’m looking forward to a return when the next story is released.

Cute cover.

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures:

✓ A Beginner’s Guide to Death, Demons, and Other Afterlife Disasters #1

◦ A Beginner’s Guide to Mistakenly Summoned Demons and Other Misadventures #2 – TBR July 15,2023

Buy Link:

A Beginner’s Guide to Death, Demons, and Other Afterlife Disasters: An M/M Paranormal Romance (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures Book 1)

Description:

Adam:
Adam is not having a good day. First, he finds out his very long time boyfriend has been having an affair. Then, his dramatic exit becomes a little too dramatic when he ends up dead. To top it off, he finds out that the afterlife isn’t at all what he expected (he has no desire to learn to play the harp, thank you very much). Fortunately for him, some afterlife bureaucratic screw up ends him up with the most smoking hot demon he’s ever seen, and he decides he’s keeping him. Maybe the afterlife won’t be so bad after all.

Minos:
As Judge of the Damned, Minos has seen all sorts of human depravity over his endless existence. When a beautiful, shining soul pops into his chamber for judgment, he knows it’s a mistake. The human, however, seems quite content to hang around, and it isn’t long before Minos decides he just might decide to keep this one. Minos isn’t the optimistic or happy sort, but he can’t help but be caught up in the whirlwind that is Adam. When forces beyond his control want to return Adam to his designated afterlife, Minos decides that will not be happening, heaven and hell be damned.

Tags: A very grumpy demon meets his match in a snarky, sunshine-filled human; not all angels are nice; Limbo is the party place to be; the afterlife is run like a corporate office, complete with red tape, pointless memos, and high levels of frustration; Minos has a tail and knows how to use it.

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