Review: Brought To Light by Eliot Grayson

Rating: 4.5🌈

I don’t know how I missed this first time around but I’m overjoyed to have discovered it now when it was re-released this May.

A delightful beautifully crafted urban fantasy story, it has such a great storyline, one guaranteed to draw the reader in.

It all starts with a hitman scoping out his target in a small coastal village, just after Christmas. A two person narrative, it’s the assassin who’s first up in telling us his perspective on the events of that evening.

He’s really not prepared for anything he’s seeing, but he has no choice.

Callum, our hit man, has been hired against his will to kill an innocent young man, if his and his partner’s research is to be believed.

Grayson’s believable characterization of Callum, the tired killer desperately seeking another way out of this contract, is perfectly realized and raw. More so once he sees his actual victim and talks to him.

That would be Linden, a Fae walking or hiding in the mortal realm from the very person who wants him dead. Linden, a Fae cook’s bastard son, has the unfortunate position of being the person named as the being a prophecy said would end an evil Lord’s life. Needless to say, that Lord’s not happy about it. And is trying to kill Linden.

Grayson has written a fantastic fantasy adventure story, one which has evil lords, magical powers, wonderful found family friends of both Fae and human kind, terrifying creatures, battles, and romantic love!

How an assassin and a Fae slay an evil lord, save a Kingdom, and find true love! Honestly, it’s a fantastic story! With great characters! I’m so on board with assassins finding happiness these days.

And assassins ending up in another realm that’s made for them? Perfection. It’s not a new concept but Grayson has done an imaginative and wholly satisfying job here with it.

I certainly wouldn’t mind a return trip to see how everyone is doing. What a universe.

I’m highly recommending Brought To Light by Eliot Grayson for all lovers of urban fantasy and romance in general.

Buy Link:

https://www.amazon.com › Brought…Brought to Light: An M/M Urban Fantasy Romance – Amazon.com

Description:

A hitman and a fae walk into a café…

Callum always gets the job done—whether he likes it or not—but this job isn’t like any other. The target’s too young and pretty for comfort, and the clients are offering more threats than cash. And either the target poisoned his hot chocolate or he’s going crazy, because magic trees are suddenly a thing. It’s really not his day.

Linden’s on the run, and the human realm’s a good place to hide from evil sorcerers who think he’s the answer to a prophecy. But his enemy has found a way to send a very human and very dangerous assassin after him—a man who could kill Linden with one hand. He should be terrified, but his knees go weak for all the wrong reasons.

When Linden’s family is taken hostage, Callum ought to be the last thing on his mind, but Linden can’t resist the chance to fulfill his deepest fantasies before sacrificing his own life. Callum knows he should walk away—it’s not his fight. But the beautiful fae is under his skin and now protecting Linden and his family feels more important than his own survival.

A human learning to feel. A fae learning to trust. Can two worlds merge into one true love?

This re-release of Brought to Light has a new cover and has been partially rewritten, but the characters and the ending are the same. This book contains explicit scenes, a magic flashlight, a prophecy that doesn’t quite work out the way anyone expects, and a guaranteed HEA.

Check Out the latest Release from M. D. Grimm! A Priest, A Plague, and A Prophecy!

M.D. Grimm has a new MM fantasy romance out (ace, bi, demi): A Priest, a Plague, and a Prophecy. And there’s a giveaway.

“Orcs are the answer but what is the question?”

Elias is a priest at the Temple of the Divine Sibyl. When he becomes lost in the woods after his brother’s hunting party abandons him, it’s just his luck that he’d stumble upon an angry orc caught in a trap. Unable to stomach the suffering of others, Elias throws self-preservation to the wind and frees the orc. Then Gurrkk—that’s a name?—ends up leading him to safety.

Gurrkk finds himself rather smitten by the sweet, awkward human. He’s always been fascinated with his people’s sworn enemy, and now he has a life debt to fulfill to maintain his honor.

Hiding an orc among the temple’s crypts wouldn’t have been Elias’s first choice but Gurrkk is stubborn about leaving. As they learn each other’s languages and spend more time together, Elias realizes they’ve become friends… and maybe more. And when the dying sibyl gives her last prophecy, Elias knows it wasn’t chance that brought them together, it was the gods.

But why?

This is a sweet, ace romance, so no sexy times, but plenty of snuggles and cuddles!

Universal Buy Links | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords

Giveaway

M.D. is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card with this tour:

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Excerpt

Elias closed his eyes and clasped his hands under his chin, sending a fervent prayer to the gods, asking for a sign. Any sign that would lead him home. Seconds passed. Minutes. He cracked open one eye to look around. Seeing nothing, he glared and set his fists on his hips.

So much for divine intervention.

“I’m one of your priests, and you don’t give me the time of day,” he mumbled as he set off down the left-hand path.

He was hungry again.

Even as he was contemplating the pros and cons of eating one of his last apples, he stumbled around a thick tree before halting in shock.

An orc sat on the ground, his greenish-gold skin glistening with sweat and his coal-black eyes glaring with menace. He was almost bald, except for a spiky strip of green hair running from his forehead to the back of his skull. The lack of hair accentuated his large ears that moved independently of each other. Two pronounced fangs jutted up from his lower jaw, which was square and blunt, and more sharp teeth showed when he growled.

Elias stayed frozen, taking in the long black tunic cinched at the waist by a gold cord. The short sleeves were trimmed with gold thread, baring muscled arms. The stately garb struck Elias, making him wonder as to the status of the orc. Did they have hierarchy as humans did? The tunic ended around his knees, leaving the rest of his muscled legs bare. Also, this orc wasn’t of monstrous size, so he couldn’t be of the mountain variety. He was certainly taller and broader than Elias, but also leaner, corded with muscle, like that big cat Elias had spotted earlier. And his face was… not horrible. Brutish and sharp but not hideous or even ugly. Those illustrators of tomes really set out to depict orcs as the most horrific creatures ever to grace the earth.

The urge to run made his palms grow damp and his breath to quicken. Not that he could run for more than a few steps before wheezing because he was so damn out of shape, and why the hell didn’t he train with his brother? I’m going to die, I’m going to die….

Then his gaze traveled down to the reason the orc was sitting on the ground and not eating his face. Vicious steel jaws had the orc by the ankle, piercing deeply into his flesh. The jaws were attached to a chain that was buried into to the earth. The fact the orc hadn’t freed himself meant this was one of the trick jaws. One specifically made for capturing orcs. The scoured earth around the chain proved that the orc had tried to dig himself free but clearly hadn’t succeeded. His ankle was a mess of torn flesh and caked blood, and only then did Elias notice the buzz of flies.

How long had he been sitting there, in pain? In fear?

Sympathy rose with anger not far behind. Elias and the orc stared at each other, and Elias found himself stepping closer without consciously deciding his actions. The orc growled deeper, eyes narrowed in warning. Elias stopped again, wondering what he was doing. This was an orc! The enemy! The beasts that kept trying to take their lands. Attius’s tirades whirled through his mind even as the battle songs about marauding orcs jangled in his memory.

He’d never joined in. He’d never had anything personal against orcs. He never thought one way or another about them. Fighting them wasn’t a part of his world. Most of his life had been spent ensconced in the Temple of the Divine Sibyl, which was safely behind fortified stone walls and separated from the general populace of the city.

He was sheltered and he knew it. To see such ugly pain in another living creature struck him to the core. That was one of the reasons he didn’t eat meat. He couldn’t reconcile killing just to feed himself when there were plenty of other things to consume if he simply looked.

At that moment, this orc was no different than any other wild animal caught in a trap. And would he let such a creature die so horribly? No, he would not.

Taking a deep breath, and with more courage than he would profess to have, Elias crouched before slowly pushing off his pack. He kept his eyes on the orc and opened the top flap before tilting it to show the orc that it only held medicines, plant samples, parchment, and ink.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said gently. “Can you understand me?”

The orc made no indication either way. He continued to growl and glare.

“I want to help you.” Elias took the one weapon he had, a long dagger, and showed the orc the blade before tossing it away. The orc stopped growling and blinked in apparent surprise. Elias shuffled closer on his knees, keeping his demeanor as non-threatening as possible. He almost snorted—as if a soft priest like him could be threatening. He kept speaking in low tones as he would to a frightened animal. He kept his pack held out in front of him, hoping the harmless items would convince the orc he wasn’t a hunter.

The orc’s large nostrils flared, and he squinted into the bag. He must have smelled the remaining apples, the plant samples, and the few healing ointments Elias carried with him everywhere. Elias set the bag within easy reach of the orc just in case he wanted to investigate. Then he took a good look at the steel jaws and winced.

The orc didn’t wear shoes, his sturdy, rough feet tough enough not to need them. His nails were more like claws, almost identical to those on his fingers. The trap would have been covered, and he’d stepped directly onto the triggering mechanism. The blades had barely missed his foot to cut into his ankle, probably scraping against the bones and tendons.

Elias took a moment to fight nausea.

“Damn. Once I free your leg it’s going to bleed profusely. I have to wrap it fast and tight.” He glanced up and met the orc’s eyes. Grim determination stared back at him and Elias blinked. “You do understand me.”

Author Bio

M.D. Grimm has wanted to write stories since second grade (kind of young to make life decisions, but whatever) and nothing has changed since then (well, plenty of things actually, but not that!).

Thankfully, she has indulgent parents who let her dream, but also made sure she understood she’d need a steady job to pay the bills (they never let her forget it!). After graduating from the University of Oregon and majoring in English, (let’s be honest: useless degree, what else was she going to do with it?) she started on her writing career and couldn’t be happier.

Working by day and writing by night (or any spare time she can carve out), she enjoys embarking on romantic quests and daring adventures (living vicariously, you could say) and creating characters that always triumph against the villain, (or else what’s the point?) finding their soul mate in the process.

Author Website: https://www.mdgrimmwrites.com

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001710645622

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4574220.M_D_Grimm

Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com): https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/m-d-grimm/

Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/m-d-grimm/

Author Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.D.-Grimm/e/B00I0KZMY6/

Review: A Priest, A Plague, and A Prophecy by MD Grimm

Rating: 4.5🌈

A Priest, A Plague, and A Prophecy is a new sweet, fantasy romance from M D Grimm. I admit I was overdue in revisiting this author and this short tale of two enemies, a inter species, happy ending of a Romeo and Jules sort of situation, was a perfect intro back into her writing.

Grimm has built a world of humans and orcs, living close enough that their encounters with each other haven’t gone for the better. Over the years their clashes have grown worse,their basic fears about each other’s races fed by completely different appearances, as well as an inability to communicate due to separate languages and cultures. Their skirmishes grew larger each time, offensively more bloody , due to the size , physicality and style of their fighting , until all each knows is hatred.

It’s not until a fumbling young priest called Eli meets a young orc called Gurrkk in trouble that everything starts to change.

It’s in the rich details as well as the emotional landscape that this story does so well. The author’s ability to convey two people of separate races, determined to understand each other, under enormous stress, then through friendship and finally love. We get all the different cultural elements, language, mating, bonding, children, religion,and leadership.

Grimm has deeply settled her characters within their respective communities and families, and that allows her readers to explore them on a really personal level.

This is a romance between two characters that look at sexuality in a different way. How they handle that difference is another plus for me in the narrative. While it may have an initial aspect of hesitation to discuss the subject, that doesn’t stop the characters from being adults and talking about their sexual preferences and orientation. Especially important where two species are involved.

The ending ( and the bit with the villain) came about a tad too fast. I wished for more action and explanation to compete with all the grand exposition that went before. And time with the two groups together.

Ah well!

A Priest, A Plague, and A Prophecy by MD Grimm is a richly told, happily ended , well written fantasy story! One I’m absolutely recommending.

Buy Link:

Barnes & Nobler

Smashwords

Amazon

Description:

Orcs are the answer but what is the question?”

Gurrkk finds himself rather smitten by the sweet, awkward human. He’s always been fascinated with his people’s sworn enemy, and now he has a life debt to fulfill to maintain his honor.

Review: Alliance: The Triad Series: Book One by Cari Z

Rating: 4. 25🌈

Alliance is a new polyamorous M/M/M fantasy from author Cari Z, the first in a series.

I enjoyed the book and my introduction to all three main characters, Symon Parador (mage and reluctant groom), queen’s brother, Prince Petur (shifter with multiple shapes, also reluctant groom ), and Deyvid, a warrior/bodyguard who’s been made null to all magic (and who happens to be Petur’s not so hidden love for years).

Cari Z weaves the three person POV between these characters, starting with my favorite, Symon. It’s he who gets the shocking news he’s immediately to be married to Petur, then the equally unpleasant element that Petur’s got a long time love . Nothing says Symon will be happy or welcome in his new life.

Symon becomes, through his deep, passionate and empathetic spirit that the author has created for him, a person we connect to. His journey to his new life with the Prince’s guards lets the reader and guards form a foundation of knowledge of him that makes Symon a great favorite here.

I only wish that I had more of a glimpse of how Symon looks as a whole, beyond his eyes, jewelry, piercings and great magical abilities. We get individual snapshots but never a whole picture. That’s frustrating. Clothes? Hair? Everything that would help flesh out the man and culture he came from.

Oddly, it’s Deyvid, the warrior who’s also the long time love of Petur that’s next in powerful character embodiment. Deyvid’s a character who is second in coming across as being the most fully formed. We see him. From his figure to his face which always carries a faint aroma of a stain , we can see him. His background and personality feels the most layered next to Symon’s, his personality the more complex, and his personal back story is certainly full of angst, deception, betrayal, and damage.

I have the weirdest feeling that the author just loves writing him because the chemistry Cari Z creates for him , starts with Symon, and then Petur. But it’s Deyvid who’s the glue here of the triad.

Finally there’s Prince Petur. He’s not a character who has a great appeal to begin with. There’s little interaction with others, what we see is quick, sexy moments with Deyvid, and solo moments of intense concentration on his own inner plans and suspicions. When we do see him meet up with Symon, someone we’ve come to love, it reflects poorly on Petur.

Of the three, he’s the weakest link. The one with the least amount of information offered to the reader, the lack of background on the shifter species he belongs to is frustrating, as is the world building here as a whole.

I hope that the next story, Endurance, will build out on the universe so lightly framed out here.

Also on the monarchy and kingdoms that have their political roots at the heart of the arc espionage’s threats. That too was not fully established.

Alliance: The Triad Series: Book One by Cari Z is an entertaining fantasy novel. I felt the triad romance was unbalanced towards two of the men who had most of the narrative time , most of the chemistry, and frankly, were my favorites. Prince Petur wasn’t given the same page time as the others so when he espoused that he now loved Symon, it wasn’t believable. It didn’t have the necessary time to become real.

If you want a fantasy with enemies to lovers romance with a triad of three interesting characters, and ongoing mysteries, this is a good place to start.

A recommended read!

The Triad Series:

Alliance #1

Endurance #2

Buy Link:

Alliance: The Triad Series: Book One

Description:

One wedding. Two grooms. Three lovers, preparing to fight for themselves, and their kingdoms.

Symon Parador is a prince in name only until the day he’s bartered away to the neighboring kingdom, to marry their queen’s brother, Petur. A mage in a nation full of shifters who distrust his magic is bad enough, but even worse is the fact that Petur is already as good as married—to an assassin from the north named Deyvid, who’s immune to all magic.

He doesn’t expect to love either of them, but Deyvid’s surprising kindness is too addictive to run from, and even Petur’s ferocity is lightened by his sly sense of humor. Sy could see himself falling for them…if any of them survive the sudden onslaught of attacks against the royal family.

Entwined in a dangerous game of survival, love, and loyalty, the cost of saving his lovers may be Sy’s own life.

Alliance is a polyamorous M/M/M fantasy with enemies to lovers, graphic violence, snarky humor, and explicit sexual content.

Review: Adverse Conditions (Reclaimed Hearts Book 1) by Elle Keaton

Rating: 3.5🌈

Adverse Conditions is the first in a new small town mystery romance series by Elle Keaton, a story that’s stacked with elements. There’s a enemies to lovers trope, returning small town son, multiple murder mysteries, heartwarming family with it’s own complicated backstory, bi-coming out, single dad, rescue dogs, conniving ex , and that’s not all.

The small town of Cooper Springs is a focal point too. From the beach to the forests to the bar where all the town hangs out, the preservation of Cooper Springs and how best to save it is front and center. It probably will be a major theme for all the novels.

But as Keaton’s packed such a huge amount of elements into this first book, it’s no surprise that some feel less polished/finished than others.

The need to lay the foundation for the series is obvious, get the background down. Cooper Springs is beautifully rendered. You can see the small town as it was. And as it is now. The ramshackle resort absolutely in need of renovation that a new owner could supply and the revenue it could bring in that the town is counting on, along with the beautiful location. Also the long term familiarity of Cooper Springs’ citizenry feels believable, whether they are on good terms or bad.

Next up, the romance. Vincent Barone is a single dad to daughter Romy, herself a delightful character. He’s holding down two jobs, he’s a shop teacher at the High School, and a part time Real-Estate Appraiser, which brings him clashing back into his old high school nemesis, Xavier, recently returned to town, as a real estate agent. Vincent is a terrific character, stressed out by bills, his jobs, life, and wanting to be the best dad to a great kid. He’s relatable in all his irritable moments.

Xavier could use some more of that depth. It helps base him when we meet Xavier’s mother and brother Max. But Vincent still feels grounded in a way Xavier doesn’t. They have a old sexual tension that’s dealt with a little too quickly but the relationship is a emotional, thoughtful one.

There’s a ex here (Xavier’s) that appears and disappears for no reason to be annoying unless he’s going to be a part of a storyline further down the series. Now he’s a dropped element, one of several that aren’t fully developed for reasons other than perhaps they are part of a larger arc theme. They include the murders, missing wives, and why anyone would want an aggressive antisocial man with known anti development views to be a long term rental resident of a property up for sale. That last sounds more like a author’s needing a dramatic narrative item than something realistic.

Let’s see.

“We need to sell this property. Let’s have an aggressive nutcase with a baseball bat live there and challenge everyone who wants to sell it with threats and promises of bodily harm.”

Um no. And no one does anything about it.

Plus there’s the fact that a person that’s been missing for a while (dead) and no one has been able to find can be found easily.

So I find elements like this problematic.

I realize that murder plots and mysteries here seem to be intended to play out over the series but either we need more mystery or more substance or subtly or something.

The ending comes abruptly, moving Vincent and Xavier’s relationship forward that we miss out on the growth moments. The parts that bring all three, four counting the dog, together as a family.

So while I feel that the story has some wonderfully interesting elements, really promising moments between all parties , and a couple and family I enjoyed, I’m not sure it all came cohesively together in one first book of a series.

The next book is a different couple altogether. Which is odd when this one didn’t feel complete.

I’ll continue on to see how it all flows into the next episode. And what the author intends for the mysteries.

If you’re a fan of Elle Keaton, and contemporary mystery romance, I’m sure that you have already put this on your TBR list. For the rest, it’s a entertaining read.

Reclaimed Hearts:

✓ Adverse Conditions #1

◦ Below Grade #2 – May 25,2023

Buy Link:

Adverse Conditions: Small Town Silver Fox Gay Romance (Reclaimed Hearts Book 1)

Description:

The town is worth saving, as long as conspiracy theorists, serial killers, and Vincent Barone all stay out of Xavier’s way.

Xavier swore he’d never move back to the flyspeck of a town he’d grown up in and he kept that promise for over twenty years. Now he’s back for good.

Vincent never left. After earning his teaching certificate, he stayed in town to be close to his elderly parents. These days he’s the single dad of a fifteen-year-old daughter and working two jobs to make ends meet. He’s perfectly happy with his life.

Xavier’s mission is to save Cooper Springs. But his efforts are being hindered by his stodgy, straight-laced, rule-following neighbor, Vincent Barone. Dark-eyed, broad-shouldered, and muscly Vincent, who Xav stealthily ogles when he toils in his yard sans shirt. For a high school shop teacher, Vincent is too sexy. And he has a kid. And he infuriates Xavier. And anyway, love is for suckers.

Vincent doesn’t have time to date. And he certainly wouldn’t date his flashy, arrogant, neighbor who he absolutely did not have a crush on in high school. Who did Xavier think he was, moving back to town and throwing his weight around, causing butterflies in Vincent’s stomach, and making his stupid heart beat faster every time he saw him?

Cooper Springs has changed since they were kids, and maybe two guys can move from hate to love. But are they ready? Will Vincent bend a few of his rules? Will Xavier reign in his chaotic tendencies? Is love in the air?

Then there’s the matter of the grisly discovery in the woods, murder is bad for business.

Welcome to Cooper Springs, home to UFO chasers, Sasquatch believers, conspiracy theorists, chainsaw artists, and regular folk just trying to make a living. And, quite possibly, a killer.

Adverse Conditions is the first in the Reclaimed Hearts series, set in the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, it is an opposites-attract, older lovers, silver fox, enemies to lovers, small-town romance, with a little murder. HEA guaranteed.

Review: Double or Nothing (Double Trouble #1) by Cari Z and L.A. Witt

Rating: 4🌈

Double or Nothing is an exciting start to a new series about Hacker Leotrim Nicolosi and Deputy Marshal Rich Cody.

A quick read, full of great action scenes and some wonderful characters, I was throughly entertained by the story and committed to the romance as it evolved between two damaged men from different worlds.

Deputy Marshal Rich Cody is a newly appointed Marshal who’s fighting his own battles with his military past. That’s his PTSD from his missions abroad. He’s currently on assignment to guard a criminal hacker Leotrim Nicolosi. Hacker Leotrim is to testify if the crime family doesn’t take him out first.

From a Marshal WITSEC assignment which goes really wrong fast, we get a highly detailed, very exciting fast paced action story. It’s two enemy to lovers against everyone romance. And you just want a big bag of popcorn, drink of choice and to be left alone to read until it’s over.

I love the characters, their romance is just got enough barriers and drama to be interesting and emotional, and the intrigue is top notch.

It carries over to a second story which ends the 2-part series. I’m recommending it and heading there now for the end of the story.

Double Trouble series:

✓ Double or Nothing #1

◦ Doubling Down #2

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showDouble or Nothing (Double Trouble #1) by Cari Z.

Description:

Rich Cody joined the U.S. Marshals to hunt down bad guys, not babysit witnesses. Orders are orders, though, and now he’s protecting a hacker with ties to the Albanian and Sicilian mobs. It’s just another exciting day in WITSEC.

Leotrim Nicolosi was born into a world of crime and bloodshed. When that bloodshed hits too close to home, taking down Leo’s boyfriend—the son of a notorious mob boss—Leo is determined to destroy the Grimaldi family. He’s got evidence that will send every last Grimaldi to prison, he’s got the family’s wealth in an electronic chokehold, and he’s got a vendetta that can only be settled with the blood of the man who killed his lover.

When a routine transfer to a safehouse goes horribly wrong, Rich and Leo narrowly escape with their lives.

With the Marshals compromised and Leo being framed for murder, he and Rich are on the run from criminals and law enforcement alike. They have no one to trust except each other, and nowhere to go that their enemies can’t reach.And the only way out might mean making a deal with the Devil.

Review: Accidental Lover (Exit Strategy #5) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4.5🌈

Alexei Prescott , assassin and nephew of assassins extraordinaire, has a target. Gabor Kalman, shady arms dealer.

Soren Jessen, cat burglar, ex CIA, has a target. Gabor Kalman, shady arms dealer.

One will kill him, the other will steal from him. At the same time. The mission puts both men on a collision course to unravel labyrinthine mysteries that center around a stolen hard drive while keeping each other alive and able to fall into mad passionate love.

This is one of those stories I backtracked into. Soren and his assassin lover, Alexei, are important characters in Drake’s Shadow Elite series. They’re a fascinating and eclectic couple. So naturally when I learned that they had their own story, I needed to read it. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The last of a series (which had me backtracking even further), Accidental Lover not only gives us the complete window in Soren, the man who just happens to be a cat burglar now, but the complicated personality that makes that career so understandable.

The story also gives us an astonishing assassin in the person of Alexei Prescott. A diminutive gorgeous killer who has been raised by two of the world’s most notorious assassins, Alexei is as fascinating a character as the man he’s coming to love.

A thriller of a suspenseful romance, equally intriguing with snarky humor and lusty chemistry, Accidental Lover was a book I couldn’t put down.

Plus it ket me know that those scary assassins, Justin and Gabriel, Alexei’s uncles, were actually the main focus of the Exit Strategy series so I could happily backtrack once more for their origin story and romance.

I’m highly recommending this story and onto the first one in the series.

Exit Strategy series:

✓ Deadly Lover: Special Edition #1

✓ Vengeful Lover #2

◦ Final Lover #3

◦ Forbidden Lover #4

✓ Accidental Lover #5

Related/sequel series: Shadow Elite books

Accidental Lover (Exit Strategy Book 5)

Description:

Rule No. 1 of being an assassin: Don’t sleep with your mark.

Eh. Alexei has never been big on rules.

It’s not his fault Soren is too sexy for words.

And it’s not like he knew Soren was the cat burglar he’d been hired to kill.

But as they dodge other assassins, the CIA, and even the Russians to keep Soren alive and a stolen hard drive out of their hands, Alexei might be in even greater danger of breaking

Rule No. 2.

Never fall for your mark.

Review: The Christmas Rescue (Laurel Holidays #4) by V.L. Locey

Rating: 4.25🌈

Part of Locey’s Laurel Holidays series, The Christmas Rescue is a story that allows the author to explore her love and knowledge of the realities of farm life and winter in the Pennsylvania hills through the characters sweet holiday romance.

The barns and farm living is realistic, accepting of the early hours and hard work that’s required to make things run. But you get the wonderful insight into the animals that make such a living a passion. The chickens , a duck, the goats, even a blind farm cat. And then there’s the setting. Cold, bitter at times, snowy, and gorgeous.

The manure and the magnificent. It’s both there.

Both are an important part of the story and integral element of Acosta Melios, owner of the farm rescue facility, Happy Laurel Farm. Acosta and his rescue farm are my favorite elements here. He’s so believable in his personality and abilities to exist within that environment.

I also felt that his background added the right amount of pathos and family uniqueness to give him extra depth.

Decker Fitzgerald, younger son of a highly successful Pittsburg business family, Fitzgerald & Sons Well Services, is the lesser character.

I liked him but felt he had a bit of a weakness with regard to his foundation. I throughly enjoyed reading about his journey as he explored Acosta’s farm and got to know the animals and life there. There was a odd bit about a homophobic encounter in town that seemed out of place but the real issue here is his family.

Decker’s mother’s side is Greek. His best memories are of his grandmother. However, his family is dysfunctional in the extreme. They are horrid for horrids sake. One note characters with little basis other than greed for their actions.

The Melios, a first generation Greek family, is on the other side of the spectrum. They are the inviting, warm, accepting , quick to welcome a man so clearly in need of loving support. Especially when Decker is so clearly showing the pain that comes from his family dynamics.

The ending comes about quickly. And there’s no satisfying scene with Decker’s family that feels realistic.

The epilogue left us with a wonderful holiday feeling and a great sense of the future for the couple.

I’m definitely recommending this for all fans of the author and contemporary romance holiday stories.

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showThe Christmas Rescue (Laurel Holidays #4) by V.L. Locey

Description:

A city boy is about to discover the true meaning of Christmas from a man with a heart as big as the snow-covered farm he calls home.

Decker Fitzgerald is all about the job. Which explains why he’s out cruising around the snowy hillsides of the Allegheny Plateau looking for a rundown farm in the middle of a whiteout. If not for his need to prove to his father—and himself—that he is worthy, he could be down in Rio with his friends over the holidays. But no, he’s creeping along winding country roads in search of some two-bit farm animal rescue parcel that Fitzgerald & Sons Well Services is desperate to contract. Seems the owner, some long-haired hippie sort, is refusing to allow them to set up a natural gas fracking pad on his acreage. Foolish tree-hugger types. Why anyone would choose a three-legged goat over thousands of dollars of royalty checks is beyond him.

He quickly finds himself stuck in a ditch and at the mercy of the elements as the snowstorm shifts into blizzard status. It’s then that a lanky stranger with a beat up tractor comes to his rescue. When the greeting and handshake reveal his rescuer is Acosta Melios, the peculiar hipster who owns the farm rescue facility he’s here to sweet talk into signing a contract, the instant pull of those cordial gray eyes falters. That is until Decker is forced to spend several days with the genial and outgoing husbandman. Between the gentle warmth that is Acosta and the loving pull of the abandoned farm animals, Decker is finding it harder and harder to persuade the outgoing farmer into allowing his father’s company to have access to his land. What isn’t hard is falling in love with the man and his throwaway charges. That, it seems, is as easy as falling off a cranky, diabetic llama.

The Christmas Rescue is a standalone small-town gay insta-love Christmas romance with forced proximity, two incredibly opposite men, a barnful of rescued farm animals, oodles of snow, strings of popcorn on a cockeyed tree, and a festive happily-ever-after.

Review: Cop vs Capo (Hitman vs Hitman #4) by Cari Z and L.A. Witt

Rating: 4.75🌈

I was absolutely wondering how these authors were going to work this book (Cop Chandler and Mafia Silvia’s romance) into the series structure of the ongoing glorious mayhem that is August and Ricardo’s romance without letting the main characters fade into a secondary storyline.

No worries. Cari Z and Witt managed to juggle the needs furthering the relationship of the series couple with that of this very complex, troubled, enemies to lovers romance beautifully.

Cop vs Capo has all the narrative aspects that are indicative of the series. Fast paced, suspenseful, murderously entertaining multi faceted storylines that are intertwined with a great relationship between fascinating characters. In this case, it’s relationships and four men.

We have gotten the haunting back stories of August and Ricardo. We understand the impact their pasts have had upon their lives. But we haven’t seen the trauma that’s driven David Chandler to become a police detective or been able to dwell on why a mob underboss like Pedro Silva has a obvious attraction to a male cop , especially given that Silva has a connected ex wife. Silvia’s been a great personality, complicated, ex Army, at odds internally with the mafia persona he wields. Chandler, too, has, in the glimpses the authors have given us, demonstrated a wry humor, acceptance to think less rigidly than his companions, and follows his instincts. They were fabulous men we wanted to see more of.

Now , in the midst of a gang war, one this group started, the authors reveal the damage and trauma of each man’s history that surfaces throughout the events here to bring them closer together. Yes, high body count, trigger warnings, death, all of that.

It’s done through the company of August and Ricardo, to great comedy relief, incredible action, and the occasional moments of serious reflection.

If I had a favorite in this series (and I don’t) this would rank among the top. There’s another one coming. August and Ricardo are getting married.

That should be a even higher body count.

No release date yet for In-Laws Vs Outlaws. However, I’ll be waiting.

In the meantime, I’m highly recommending Cop vs Capo but only if you have read the rest of the series first. Read them in the order they are written to understand the men, relationships, and events.

Hitman Vs Hitman series:

✓ Hitman Vs Hitman #1

✓ Sniper vs Spotter #2

✓ Killer vs Kingpin #3

◦ Cop vs Capo #4

◦ In-Laws vs Outlaws #5 – TBD

Buy Link Amazon :

Cop vs. Capo (Hitman vs Hitman Book 4)

Description:

Wherever August Morrison and Ricardo Torralba go, chaos is sure to follow. The authors certainly know this, since their “standalone book” has now turned into a series with no end in sight, because…UGH. These two. We give up.

Anyway.

Detective David Chandler had no clue what he was getting into when he and his partner decided they were going to nail August for murder. They didn’t realize it was one of the few murders August didn’t commit, or that their homicide investigation would lead them into the middle of a mob war.

Cavalcante underboss Pedro Silva knew asking August and Ricardo for help was a terrible idea. Just mentioning their names is bad for Pedro’s blood pressure. Owing them a favor? Oh Lord. He still asked, though, because he was out of options, but he can’t say he didn’t know he’d regret it.

Neither man expected things to blow up this badly.

Now they’re both on the run from the mafia, the cops, and everyone in between… except for August and Ricardo. On one hand, that means they have two expert assassins in their corner. On the other, it means they have the biggest troll on the planet heckling them at every turn. And sticking them in a safehouse together. With only one bed.

And if August or Ricardo make one more comment about how Dave and Pedro should just hook up already…

Cop vs. Capo is 67,500 words long, and is book 4 of the Hitman vs. Hitman series.

CW: combat PTSD, alcoholism, on-page violence, discussion of abuse of a sex worker.

Review: Eldon (Christmas Sprites #3) by Macy Blake

Rating: 4.5 🌈

Oh those fabulous Christmas sprites! Eldon, the serious one, gets his mate, in a story that runs almost concurrently with all the others. So we get mentions of events we know happened in the other Sprites romances.

Here in a not really “frenemies to lovers “ trope, it’s Tatum William Bixby III , new owner of the Snowda Shoppe, that has Eldon in a snit.

Tate won’t tell Eldon his plans for the shop and the mystery is making Eldon nuts, along with all the magical drama his cousins are causing.

Tate has his own personal reasons for fleeing to Mistletoe Falls. Tate grows on the reader as he wanders about town, falling into the charm of the town and its inhabitants, learning to love it and Eldon.

Once more, Blake has built on the previous books and storylines, and made this story and characters stronger. It’s a lovely romance and it’s leading up to the very last cousin, Linus, and his romantic partner. He’s here too.

Can’t wait for the finale.

I’m highly recommending this and the series.

Christmas Sprites:

✓ Nyall #1

✓ Oberon #2

✓ Eldon #3

◦ Linus #4 – Dec 22, 2022

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showEldon (Christmas Sprites #3) by Macy Blake

Description:

Yule be sorry.

Eldon doesn’t care what Tatum William Bixby the third thinks, he absolutely will not allow the Snowda Shoppe to become some corporate monstrosity. Mistletoe Falls is Eldon’s home, his life’s work, and some stuck-up, irritating, rich grinch will not ruin their small town spirit—no matter how gorgeous and intriguing Eldon finds the annoying newcomer.

Baby it’s cold outside. Frigid even, if the adorable Eldon’s reaction to Tate’s arrival in Mistletoe Falls is anything to go by. His plan to secretly escape to the small town for a much needed break has turned into a challenge to drive Eldon over the edge.

Sweet Eldon has a bite to him, though, and when Tate’s secret emerges, he and Eldon reach a holiday crisis of their own. Will the magic of Mistletoe Falls finally miss its mark, or did Eldon and Tate find love at frost sight?

If you love fated mates, enemies to lovers, and magical elves, er, sprites, who make the season bright, this holiday romance will leave you in pepper-mint condition.

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