Well, this was simply adorable. I absolutely adored Signed, I’m Yours! (Subpar Superhero story) By Rhys Lawless. One of the most enjoyable in this series.
The journey of Seojun, Mr Sinister, a not so very super villain, who wants to find the family he left behind in South Korea turns into a funny, heartfelt story about a man who instead finds love, respect, and a new found family when he never expected it.
Seojun, fabulous in Pink, meet the SPAM agent Jack “Happy” Lewis, signs Jack up for some internal secret investigation, that goes immediately rightfully wrong.
This wonderful story is so well written. The beautifully crafted characters have so much heart, including the many fabulous side characters, that it’s hard not to wish for more from this universe and gang of heroes.
Even the main villain of this piece is a man isn’t what you expect. Instead he’s poignant, the crimes also contain an unexpected twist.
Honestly, the story and characters were a total joy that it was an absolute pleasure reading this.
A winner for the series and as a whole for the author to the readers.
Subpar Heroes series- 15 books:
🔷The Accidental Necromancer by Liv Rancourt
🔷Behind the 8-Ball by A. E. Wasp
🔷Transparent Is a Color by Kaje Harper❤️
🔷Impossible Things by Alexa Land
🔷My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple ❤️❤️
🔷An Ex-Hero’s Guide to Axe Handling by Jenn Burke ❤️❤️
I’m The Sinister Signature. New York City’s biggest supervillain. And anything I sign is mine!
Including the hunky, happy-go-lucky SPAM agent with the bear-bod who catches me red-handed.
Jack “Happy” Lewis.
The man who can never turn his smile into a frown and who’s way too excited to be tied to me for the foreseeable future.
He drives me up the wall, but at least I’ve got a guy on the inside who can help me with my mission.
In my search for my missing family, SPAM, the mysterious agency that handles super-powered individuals, and Happy are my only recourse.
There is one problem however.
With Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes stuck by my side, I’m starting to feel…things and I don’t like it.
It gets worse when we have to pretend we’re engaged.
The last thing I need right now is to fall head over heels and quit my search. Or give up my criminal empire and go over to the good side.
Ew. That’s not me.
I’m a supervillain, damn it. I won’t fall victim to Jack’s charms.
No, I won’t.
Signed, I’m Yours is a standalone paranormal romcom with a grumpy supervillain, an always-happy good guy literally stuck together on a case, a fake instant engagement, a very convenient bi-awakening, and only one bed.
Part of the multi-author Subparheroes MM romance series.
Riddles & Rivals, an enemies to lovers story, was everything I anticipated it to be and more. Involving two of the most compelling and layered individuals in this series, Sterling delves deeply into the men’s heavily woven lives that includes their families connected thru their often dark histories. As the last of the original mine owning founding families of Bisbee, Mercer and Baxter’s animosity started in their adolescence. Fueled by the difference in their backgrounds, the deep religious beliefs, and the disparity climate of the household in which each man was raised.
Riddles & Rivals sees Mayor Mercer Hathaway asking his longtime enemy Baxter Dawson for help. Mercer is tearing down the ominous Hathaway House and wants an answer to the famous old unsolved crime of what really happened to Julia Lowell. A crime that has long been thought to have been committed by a Hathaway. The answers might be in Hathaway House and they have a weekend to find out before it’s torn down.
That’s the bare minimum of this complex, character driven, beautifully crafted mystery. It’s got ghosts determined by their own agendas, ancient passions and two men who find themselves in a strange place where they unravel long held secrets and their own destiny.
Sterling’s forward asks reviewers not to divulge the spoilers of the story and I won’t. They are far too fantastic.
I thought the men, their strengths and struggles with their pasts, especially Mercer’s inner voice as he wrestles with the events and his emotions, are so vivid and powerful.
Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5) by K. Sterling is a highlight of the series and a fabulous read. A must in itself and in the series.
One haunted mansion. Two lifelong enemies. Three days to solve one of Bisbee’s most notorious mysteries.It’s nearly Valentine’s Day but it might as well be Christmas for Baxter Dawson when Bisbee’s mayor, Mercer Hathaway, knocks on his door with an irresistible proposition for the town’s favorite crime solver. Mercer’s planning to tear down The Hathaway House and burn everything inside it to free himself of his family’s dark legacy. But first, Mercer wants to find the answer to a riddle that’s plagued him for decades: who killed Julia Lowell and why does she haunt him every time he’s a guest at The Copper Queen Hotel? The answer is somewhere inside The Hathaway House but the real mystery is: can these two bitter rivals survive a weekend together in a mansion full of ghosts and Hathaway Family skeletons without killing each other?
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
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.
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
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.
Broken is the first book in a new connected series, Erebus Assassins, by Reese Knightly. If you’re familiar with other series and characters as well as the types of themes and storylines that come with them, you know exactly what to expect from Broken.
There will be damaged characters with intense relationship dynamics, shady or situational morality, and often painful, violent backgrounds.
And flowing through each other’s stories are the characters and couples from all the other series. Sometimes this works. Other times, as I feel it happens here, it doesn’t.
Broken opens as Ice unknowingly stumbles upon an assignment already in progress. An assassination is going down and the agent is Echo from another team. That Agency is one Ice used to work for . This violent brief interaction sets off a chain of chaotic events that include Ice stalking Echo, to the extent he’s quitting his job at work and rejoining another agency.
This is one example of the issues I see with the story. Knightley spends little time on developing any relationship between Ice and Echo to warrant this depth of obsessive interest or behavior. Ice just decides Echo is it for him and hunts him, whether Echo wants him to or not. In Echo’s case, it’s decidedly not.
Another is with all the various characters themselves. Some are carryovers and some are new. But the reader must be able to recognize them and remember who they are, how they fit into the different couples dynamics/agency structure and even current tortuous situations. Otherwise, it’s a constant struggle to understand who all these people are and how they fit together.
It’s all very unsupported and unsustainable for the book to have this many characters and their own narratives dropped in (and out) behind it.
Echo has a horrific history but it’s buried under everything else so the reader, at least I did, finds it hard to connect with. Which brings us back to the villain of the story.
That entire element, including his identity, just never felt plausible. From the size of the operation , and the fact that he had been able to run it as long as he had, given the facts, doesn’t seem believable framed out by all the other characters in the book. It seems more a dramatic needs element than a naturally occurring part of the story.
But so much of Broken feels unexplored or incomplete, a jumble of characters and plot lines. A new series should focus on new starts.
Why did this feel like Knightley took odds and ends from all her previous series and just dump them here?
Read this because you’re a fan of the author or like the other series. All those series listed below.
Erebus Assassins:
✓ Broken #1
◦ Agony #2 – July 31,2024
Related series with crossover characters and agencies :
I’ve loved getting to know the latest of author V. L. Locey’s hockey team , the Watkins Glen Gladiators, and their various journeys into HEA.
Reading the Play actually involves two teams and players from each team, an old misunderstanding, and a white hot chemistry. On the ice, on skates with mad skills.
All of which, Locey does so beautifully.
The characters of competing ice hockey players, Watkins Glen Gladiators goalie Baskoro Huda and Comets goalie Marcus Newley are so good. Fleshed out, with personalities that have depth that makes them feel believable and interesting, these men make it easy to connect with each of their lives and situations.
The enemies to lovers trope and element here is one that is nicely resolved so that the storyline can move forward with the major thread, that of two men from opposing teams who are finding themselves in love with each other .
Each has complications that they bring into play with this dynamic. A daughter, a as yet to be announced sexuality, and much more. How everything is pulled together, and, along with introducing new characters, and giving the readers glimpses inside a troubled mind of another teammate, Locey carefully balances all the narrative needs of her characters and book to come up with another winner!
Baskoro Huda and Marcus Newley prove that goalies are indeed special, never more so than on their own path to love and family. I loved them.
More please.
I’m highly recommending this and the entire series
Will there be kissing and making up or will Baskoro and Marcus be dropping the gloves?
A new season is about to kick off and Baskoro Huda is ready to win it all. As one half of the Watkins Glen Gladiators two-man tandem goalkeeping duo, Basky, as his teammates call him, is on track to deliver a winning season and everything is going his way. His summer training is paying off, his family and friends are warm and supportive, and his new nephew is the cutest thing ever. He’s even had a few casual dates. The only downside to this upcoming amazing season is the fact that he has to face goalie Marcus Newley and the Comets several times. To say there is no love lost between the two men would be an understatement. Granted, Marcus is incredibly handsome and skilled, but those qualities are overshadowed by the man’s ego. The tension between the two goalies has been percolating since senior year of college and one more pithy comment from Basky’s rival might just be all it takes for a reckoning that’s been a long time coming.
Marcus Newley has come a long way in a short time. He’s clawed his way to the top of the Comets roster and is now within reach of his dream: winning that championship cup and securing his chances for a call-up to the pros. The brass ring is within reach, and he is not about to let someone like Baskoro Huda and his team stand in his way. He’s got one very important person counting on him to make those dreams a reality. Unsure of what he ever did to twist the pretty but irritable Gladiators goalie’s shorts into such a tight knot, all he can do is fire back when the verbal barbs are launched from the other end of the ice. The time to focus on hockey is now, and he refuses to let Baskoro take up any more time in his head. It’s an all-out war as far as Marcus is concerned and nothing but complete surrender from Baskoro will satisfy those—and perhaps not so hidden—passions.
Reading the Play is a low angst, enemies-to-lovers, doting uncle and single dad queer hockey romance with two goalies who snipe at each other endlessly, one old misunderstanding, far too many sci-fi/fantasy TV show and movie references, several teammates trying to keep the peace, one goaltending coach who sees what all the others seem to be missing, and a hard won but oh-so gratifying happy ending.
I love it when I hit a literary trifecta. A new author, new book, and a new series in one swoop. That’s what I’ve done with the wonderfully devilish romance, The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil: Diabolic Romance Book One by MN Bennet.
MN Bennet, an author new to me, weaves an imaginative story about an awkward young mage whose magnificent mind works much better than his ability to actually master any magical spells . Wally is instantly someone who a reader can relate to and invest in emotionally. He’s spends his days categorizing, cataloging, analyzing, and in some cases, working on the magical artifacts of an enormous collection of a University’s archives. A collection that happens to include an orb containing the Devil Beelzebub or Bez, who was captured by the mage who owns the archive.
Wally and Bez have an interesting history and the storyline that follows is a fast-paced, high action mystery that includes several plot twist and turns. What an absolute treasure!
It’s all enemies, then frenemies, and then as circumstances and personal revelations pull them closer, Wally and Bez become, realistically by this time, something much more.
The author does a great job in building the story and the characters relationship, giving them and us slow reveals about each other’s own journey to their current situations. Both get to show growth and continued depth of development in their respective personalities and their relationship.
It ends , as it should, in a HFN. There’s another story coming and I can’t wait.
I’m putting this out there as a definitive recommendation! It is a great ride!
Diabolic Romance:
✓ The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil #1
◦ The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon #2 – June 10,2024
Apprentice mage Wally spends his days cataloging rare artifacts and dreaming about finally mastering his magics and living the adventures he’s always desired. Bez, a once mighty devil who craves the freedom of the outside world again, despises his confinement inside a powerful object. His only company now comes from the mages working within the archives he’s stored. Among them, the most annoying of them all, an anxious and considerate Walter.
When the archive is attacked, Wally and Bez each seize the opportunity to achieve their dreams—and inadvertently create a magical link between them. With so many lives lost in this assault on the mage headquarters, Wally’s connection to a dangerous devil makes him a threat and a target, forcing the pair on the run. Wally sees Bez as a sadistic devil, and Bez finds every word out of the mage’s mouth grating. Even so, they’ll have to work together to unravel the true threat in the city or they won’t live long enough to enjoy the lives they’ve both desperately wanted.
I found it hard to rate A Thousand Second Chances (A Dash of Modern Magic Book 1) by Elric Shaw because, while it’s got so much to offer in terms of some of the characters and storylines, it’s also got a main character that presents a challenge to the reader in terms of how much we can expect to like or connect with him.
I don’t think Shaw sees this character in the way he comes across, at least not in the manner he does to this reader.
The story is a LGBTQIA contemporary Ground Hog day tale, one situated in an historic location that’s been the subject of many popular stories, lending itself to a magical atmosphere just by its very tone and history. That’s the famous Mackinac Island on Lake Huron in Michigan. No cars, bikes and carriages pulled by horses only, and the gorgeous Grand Hotel, along with all the many other shops and attractions, this is the perfect place to set a story that needs a magical twist to it.
It starts with a college trip, funded by the parent of one of the students, for a small group to go sightseeing, with an historic view, for the weekend, Professor in charge.
Chris, and his best friend, Quinn, are part of the group. Quinn has been the one who has been the instigator in getting Chris to come along. Chris has issues. He has a mother with boundaries problems, it’s her way or no way. Chris came out to family, friends and teammates at college and it didn’t go well. It’s turned him into a loner with self esteem issues. A former runner without a team. His past is also a part of his current issues, and it’s followed him on this journey.
Also on the trip, Percy, whose father set up the trip as a way for Percy to mourn the loss of his mother for both of them. Percy’s character is intertwined with that of Chris’, they have a long history, first as best friends, then as estranged secret lovers. It’s this last part that’s the main storyline of the book and most of the dramatic moments of the narrative.
Shaw’s two person POV gives the reader each character’s side of their journey to this point in their lives. Chris, who is bitter, out as gay, and fighting with his school, classmates (except for Quinn), with his parents, to be a writer. And the one person who he feels betrayed him is there on the trip, Percy.
Percy, whose story is complicated by the fact that he lost his mother to cancer, is a character I was frustrated by and unable to connect to. Yes, it was sad/heartbreaking his mother had died. That journey to a place where they had been happy as a family was a lovely touch but it was marred by a father, who much like his son, was unable to face his loss, so he pushed his “agenda of mourning “ onto his son. A legacy of cowardice that becomes a theme that the author never really thoroughly explores.
For 98 percent of this book, Perce is unable to deal with his own life fears/others expectations/inner voices, and truly face the devastating effect his actions have had on others. I’m not sure if the author is cognizant that they have written a character and a storyline that is so underwhelming weak in this way.
Perce is so unbelievably reliant upon other people’s perception of him that he has taken his own wants and even promises and dreams and tosses them away. Even if those included people who were counting on him. He did it without communication, without thoughtful process, even afterwards when he knew he must have inflicted great harm. It’s a role he set for himself and a path he continues on for almost the entirety of the book.
He says he knows he’s a coward. Chris waits for some word or actions to show that any of the multiple times or moments have changed the way things are. But while Chris is changing, there nothing but stasis for Perce.
And that’s almost certainly a killer when it comes to caring about a character going forward.
They repeat a day over and over, trying to figure out what they need to do to break the cycle. When the “aha” moment comes, it will surprise no one who the character is who makes the connection and saves the day.
Even at the end, Perce has made no concerted effort to talk in detail to anyone who he’s hurt about the choices or lack thereof that’s he’s made. Or really apologized to those people that he’s damaged. It’s left dangling.
So when it came back to the rating, it based solely on the character of Chris, the growth he underwent, the magic of Mackinac Island, and how well Shaw utilized the Ground Hog day format here that gave it that rating. Read it if you’re a fan of the author , the trope, and the storytelling elements above.
The only thing worse than waking up stuck in a time loop is realizing your ex is trapped there with you.
When Chris begrudgingly agrees to accompany his best friend Quinn on a university trip to Michigan’s picturesque Mackinac Island, he expects to suffer through a weekend of sightseeing, school-mandated activities, and entirely too much souvenir shopping. What he doesn’t anticipate is also having to avoid the boy who broke his heart.
Percy used to love his family’s annual excursions to Mackinac Island, but that all changed with the loss of his mother. This school trip is his chance to revisit some of their favorite haunts and honor her memory. However, what’s already guaranteed to be an emotionally charged weekend grows even more fraught when he discovers that he’s not only caught in a time loop, but that the boy he’d walked away from two years ago is his sole companion.
Forced together by the fickle whims of the universe, Chris and Percy must reopen old wounds and confront their painful pasts if they ever hope to escape their infinite Saturday. But even as they grow closer across myriad iterations of the same unending day, they grapple with one terrifying question.
Can the fragile connection they’re rebuilding survive their inevitable return to the real world?
A slow burn, fade-to-black M/M contemporary romance featuring second chance, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and a hard-won HEA. Every book in the A Dash of Modern Magic series is standalone and can be read in any order. Perfect for fans of Roan Parrish, Eli Easton, and Emma Scott.
A Thousand Second Chances (A Dash of Modern Magic Book 1)
In the sequel to War of the Wicked, I both found a lively entertainment experience but also a much less realistic story, one that’s has quite a few issues . The first novel, with its more complex violent crime plot, didn’t contain these elements .
The first issue starts with the main character of Ren Ikeda, the Japanese crime boss. Where the Italian mob family of Dante Scavo felt grounded in their culture and deep rooted belief systems, including language, the Ikeda’s Japanese culture and community here is barely existent or explored. The language appears in a couple of phrases that get dropped in a couple of times, instead of as a language that the characters use them freely and without thought. Japan’s culture or the yakuza (if that’s what King is aiming for) criminal tradition, any observance of honor is fleeting and not put into context. We are “told” Ren Ikeda’s family and business is that of an insulated Japanese society, right down to his houses. But there’s never any reason to believe this is true. Other than koi pond and some decoration.
This entire element is poorly written, which is a shame as Ren is an interesting character.
Ren can, at times , come across as a crime boss, but he doesn’t have the same strength as Dante Scavo. That’s on purpose, of course. His is supposed to be a subtle sort of “scary power” but it’s not as translatable here.
That’s left to ex military security guy, Mykel Finlay, and his scary guard dog, the cane corso, Zeus. Those two are the most dangerous creatures in this narrative. Not the mob boss. Which is part of the problem here,and causes some of the best and most unrealistic elements within the book.
Best of Mykel. His developing relationship with Ren. King gives them really great chemistry and a compelling dynamic as Mykel has to wrestle with his honor system as his loyalties start to transfer to a mobster, with all that entails. I really enjoyed watching their relationship grow. Best of this book.
Most problematic. Other than the Japanese culture aspect is how erratic King’s implementation of Mykel’s security/military company support system is. It’s so irregular as to come across as slapdash.
Mykel is part of a security company made up of ex military personnel, with access to extraordinary weapons (even helicopters) and their personal are equipped with special equipment. Mykel’s cane corso, Zeus, a special guardian breed dog used for military/ security measures , is a huge character here. He factors into many action scenes. However , he never wears special identification, not the halter nor vests which in battle/fights id him as part of a team, nor is there any mention of a special permit for him or anyone needing extra paperwork for any activities Zeus has done. That seems unlikely.
Again with Mykel , there’s a hugely significant scenario with a planned raid. What’s missing? Bulletproof vests. From both a organized crime and black ops standpoint, that’s unacceptable.
King’s story has her characters portrayed as significantly competent, highly skilled ex military or assassins yet over and over in the narrative, odd or arbitrary storytelling choices are made that counteract that.
Then there’s things like a brother who is the cause of Mykel’s involvement initially and who appears to be a perpetual screwup. He disappeared except for a brief mention towards the end of the book.
So Rise of the Ruthless (Lucifer’s Landing #2) by Davidson King has a terrific romance that’s surrounded by a problematic plot.
Read it to complete the series and for fans of the author.
Ren Ikeda’s world is falling apart. War has broken out in the streets of Lucifer’s Landing, and his entire empire is being dismantled one explosion at a time. Unsure of his men’s allegiance, but desperately needing protection, he snatches up an opportunity when it lands in his lap. Hiring Mykel Finlay, his complete opposite in every way, has the markings of being disastrous. Realizing Mykel may be the only person he can trust, he clings to the man despite the danger to his heart.
Mykel Finlay doesn’t like bad guys. As ex-police and military, he prides himself on walking the line of good, not evil. When his brother gets in a bind with Ren Ikeda, the Japanese mob boss, he must put aside his moral compass and dive into the murky waters of the mafia. The only thing Mykel isn’t prepared for is falling in love and willingly drowning for Ren, a man he should hate.
With the help of some very unlikely allies, Ren and Mykel try staying alive long enough to take down their enemies and grab a happily ever after neither man thought they wanted. Will their salvation end up leading them down a path of destruction, or will they actually prevail?
This is book two in my Lucifer’s Landing series and is not a standalone. It is highly recommended you read book one: War of the Wicked first.
Victoria Sue’s mafia boss romance was a good read. It was exciting, had many fast paced moments, thrilling scenes, and good characters.
And had the book been longer or tweaked so that the time frame let the main characters have more time to develop their relationship, this would have been a much better story.
Everything that surrounds the romantic aspect of the story is interesting and could easily be even more fully explored in additional stories. The multiple storylines that Sue has created are really intriguing, as are the five Mafia factions that go along with them. They are factor into the main narrative as well as the subplots that make the book so compelling.
But the romantic story itself between mob boss Dario and reluctant husband, Alessandro, feels as contrived as the marriage. Too instant love for me. Especially given the short timeline here. It doesn’t work. Dario is all killing Alessandro one minute and loving him the next. For Alessandro, it’s all I love him but won’t communicate with him.
I understand that last. For me, the relationship needs more time to grow before these feelings feel realistic.
So while the story is still very exciting, a terrific mob takeover tale of revenge and retribution, the romantic aspect leaves something that could have been better developed.
I enjoyed it and if this is your jam, you might too.
Dangerous secrets will get you killed. Sometimes it might even be me that’s pulling the trigger.
Dario
I’m hours away from finally inheriting my father’s legacy. All I need to do is dodge the Russians and the Irish, and put a wedding band on my fiancée. Until the moment I find out my father’s best-friend and fiancée’s papa ordered the hit that had taken out my parents eighteen years ago.
And my fiancée will step over my dead body as she walks back down the aisle and marry into the Irish Mob. The ones that have promised my future father-in-law he will have everything that is rightfully mine.
Not happening.
Even if I have to light the night sky with the fires of revenge and retribution.
I just need to get married first.
Then miracle of miracles, I find out my traitorous fiancée has a half-brother. An illegitimate one, but one that still fulfills the terms of my father’s will, so the territory rightfull becomes mine.
I just have to convince the brother of that.
A twenty-year-old innocent that has been a near slave all his life? Piece of cake.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 