Review: A Beginner’s Guide to Sea Monsters, Messenger Angels, and Other Management Mishaps (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures #5) by Shannon Mae

Rating: 4🌈

The penultimate (so the author says) book in this delightful paranormal romance series, Mae is looking towards tying up several important series storylines by bringing back secondary characters from previous stories. The purpose of which is to connect them together with their soulmate by way of elevating them into main character roles.

Gabriel,the tightly wrapped, overly worked, stressed out Divine Herald, the messenger of the Lord, the Angel of Revelation we’ve known before is now ready for a new path. Mae’s charted a sexy, joyful story for Gabriel here. It’s one of discovery and insight for himself and his afterlife. We feel so happy for him. And his partner.

That’s the demon Leviathan aka Levi , a sea demon/monster who has also made appearances in preceding books. Levi is a sexy tentacled delight of a demon and his development along side his relationship with Gabriel is wonderful to read.

The story also brings in important elements and characters that will help finish off the series in the concluding storylines. I’m really excited to see what this will entail.

Shannon Mae has written a highly entertaining, happy and sexy story. It’s a terrific read and one I’m happy to recommend.

Cover artwork by, Grimm Kat Cover assembly by, Tammy, Aspen Tree E.A.S.

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures:

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures: (Paranormal Romance ):

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

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Mistakenly Summoned Demons and Other Misadventures #2

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Revenge, Chaos, and Other Absurd Escapades #3

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Ghosts, Fallen Angels, and Other Afterlifers #4

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Sea Monsters, Messenger Angels, and Other Management Mishaps (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures #5)

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures Novellas:

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Christmas Miracles (A Holiday Novella)

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Pet Demons

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Demonic Possessions

Demonic Disasters and

Afterlife Adventures Collections: 🔷Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures Collection 1

Hellhounds of Paradise Falls -sequel series:

How to Flirt with a Hellhound #1 – (Coming Soon)

Buy link

A Beginner’s Guide to Sea Monsters, Messenger Angels, and Other Management Mishaps (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures Book 8)

Blurb

Gabriel:

Gabriel is the Divine Herald, the messenger of the Lord, the Angel of Revelation… and he’s currently losing ground to social media. (Really, how is he supposed to compete with that ticking app?) When the afterlife’s management team forces him into a “professional development partnership” with a demon, Gabriel is horrified—until he meets Leviathan, a sea monster with tattoos, tentacles, and a knack for helping him connect with mortals.

Levi:

Leviathan has no interest in going back to the underworld. He’d much rather spend his time topside with his octopus sidekick and now, apparently, one very uptight angel. Teaching Gabriel about mortal pleasures—food, coffee, books, and other things (that require less clothes)—is the best adventure Levi’s had in centuries.

But as they both start to enjoy their unexpected partnership, one problem remains: what happens when the leadership team decides the partnership is over? Levi isn’t about to give up his angel, and Gabriel isn’t sure he wants to return to Heaven without his demon.

Tags: Featuring one grumpy angel and one cheery sea monster demon; accidental stroke of genius from the leadership team (very accidental); Mt. Everest is overrated, but mortal coffee is divine; even angels enjoy a good book; Gabriel discovers the joys of food, and other mortal pleasures (wink, wink); Levi has tentacles, and Gabriel definitely approves.

December 1, 2025

Language

‎English

Print length

262 pages

Book 8 of 8

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures

Review: Demon Dating Service by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4🌈

Demon Dating Service by Jocelynn Drake is a really cute paranormal romance. A graduate student in need of housing and romantic relationship advice gets both in the form of a “haunted” mansion that’s home to a found family of demons.

Luke is in desperate need of a cheap place to rent when the crows he feeds drop a flyer advertising a room near campus that’s the right price. Except he’s not aware that the landlords are demons playing a game of scare the human because they are bored.

This is an engaging out story with well defined characters, especially the demons which I really enjoyed. The joint journey they all take to acceptance, friendship and found family is marvelous.

The romantic relationship is less interesting as we don’t get as much background on the other character or their time together.

For me, Luke and his demon found family made the story. Along with his best friend who deserves more time here.

Cute and entertaining.

Cover by Phoenix Design Covers.

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comDemon Dating Service – Kindle edition by Drake, Jocelynn. Romance …

Blurb

Even demons get bored…

Luke is a poor grad student, desperate for a cheap place to live.

Desperate enough even to live in a house full of demons.

(Anything is better than his last roommate.)

When the demons find it’s nearly impossible to scare Luke away, they decide on a new plan to amuse themselves.

They’re going to help Luke with his love life.

Can they really aid Luke’s efforts to catch his college crush? Or are they headed for a disaster that neither heaven nor hell can fix?

Demon Dating Service is a fluffy, chaotic stand-alone novel about a sweet guy making friends with the misfits of the demon world, trying to survive grad school, and snagging the hottest guy on campus.

Review: The Sinner’s Son (Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood Book Two) by Aimee Nicole Walker

Rating: 4🌈

The Sinner’s Son is the second in the Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood series by Aimee Nicole Walker. It’s a ongoing dramatic story about a couple who have traveled from their first encounter and police cases as police officers through the obstacles of a complicated process of their relationship and respective careers through the process of marriage and now fatherhood.

With any long history and multiple series like this, there is going to be books that will hit on every level and some that will fall short.

For me, The Sinner’s Son fell a bit short. Too much of repetition in terms of certain aspects of the storyline. I felt like I anticipated the plot and villain. Especially since the overall mystery going through to the next book seems clear.

For me the best elements are those surrounding the impending birth, their emotional state about fatherhood, their friends and support.

The mystery feels less well developed than usual. Or maybe I just read too many mystery novels. And listen to too many crime podcasts.

Either way, I enjoyed the first novel more. And will look forward to reading Brokered Betrayals later this year.

Cover photo © Wander Aguiar

Cover design © Natasha Snow

Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood series:

The Paternity Puzzle #1

The Sinner’s Son #2

Brokered Betrayals #3 – Dec 16, 2025

Preceding Necessary Locke and Key Series :

Zero Hour (3 books)

Sawyer and Royce: Matrimony and Mayhem (3 book series)

Related series:

Sinister in Savannah (3 book series)

Buy link

The Sinner’s Son (Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood Book 2)

Blurb

Can a sinner’s son outrun his father’s shadow, or will darkness follow him everywhere and taint everything?

No one’s life should be reduced to random items in an evidence box, only to collect dust for decades. Seeking justice for the forgotten will bring a temporary partner into Sawyer’s life who threatens his carefully curated peace. Alec Bishop, the son of a serial killer, arrives in Savannah with an audacious ego, an unwillingness to accept boundaries, and an overzealous fan club. Calling it quits isn’t part of Sawyer’s character, but he might not have a choice when the circumstances surrounding the sinner’s son take a dark twist.

Nature versus nurture? The age-old question forces Sawyer and Royce to reevaluate the relationships with their fathers, and it influences the parents they aspire to be now that the countdown to Baby Locke has begun.

The Sinner’s Son is book two in the Felonies and Fatherhood trilogy, the third installment in the Royce Locke and Sawyer Key story arc. ** New readers should start with the Zero Hour and Matrimony and Mayhem trilogies before reading Felonies and Fatherhood. **The Sinner’s Son continues Royce and Sawyer’s happily ever after as they move into the most anticipated phase of their lives. Though some storylines span the trilogy, this book does not end in a cliffhanger. Heat, humor, heart, and homicide abound. You have been warned.

Publisher: Chasing Rainbows Press LLC
Publication date: September 9, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 216 pages
Book 2 of 3: Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood

Review : THE BANNING OF THE BATH BOMBS (A Ross Young, Unholy Trifecta, and Spellbound Crossover) by AJ Sherwood and Devon Vesper

Rating: 4.25🌈

Short, adorable and great way to mesh these three series and zany group of characters.

Will you be lost if you don’t know the characters or their respective relationships? Pretty much. It’s still an entertaining read but having all the background information on who’s who and what series they came from makes those scenes and characters more enjoyable.

Definitely a gift to the authors fans. And I love every sentence.

Cover by Katie Griffin

Series and Characters Involved:

The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA (multiple shorts/crossovers)

Unholy Trifecta (3 book series)

Spellbound (1 book series)

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comThe Banning of Bath Bombs (The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA) eBook

Blurb

Turns out bath bombs are actually magical portals. Or at least, in the hands of Master Mage Declan, they became portals. Even he’s not sure why.

Said magical portal connects to Ross’s bath tub.

Which means this is also now the Unholy Trifecta’s problem because Ross absolutely refuses to deal with portal magic by himself. Thanks muchly.

Tags:

Crossover time!, Unholy Trifecta, Supernat PA, Insanity of Reincarnated Mages, bath bombs gone wild, lots of bath tub hopping, I treat Canon like a Buffet but in a Gentle Way, Canon-Typical Poor Decision-Making, brain cells assemble, it’s just mindless fluff and shenanigans, Declan use your brain challenge: failed, crack treated like crack, neither author is sorry.

Publication date: August 7, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 42 pages

Review: Ghostly Bother (Ghostly Book 9) by E.M. Leya

Rating: 3🌈

I’ve been a fan of the author and this paranormal series for some time now but Ghostly Bother, the ninth book in the series, didn’t hit as well as the rest of the stories. The storyline, the main characters , the ghost of the plot, everything all came with some sort of flags or issues with the dynamics or functionality in the narrative that bothered me.

One is the mayor Eden, a nasty woman, who took bribes, was a selfish person and, even in the afterlife is a personality bordering on oblivious selfish self interest and cruelty. Spoiler. She walks into the light after being a bad person in both the living and the afterlife. Strike 1.

Because she’s a huge player here in the story and has an enormous role in the next element that put up flags for me.

That’s the relationship dynamic between Lance, who can interact with the ghosts, and Angus, his detective lover who can’t. But Angus, who has lived with his mother and her best friend, also a ghost, is familiar with ghosts and how they can impact the living.

So does he (and author Leya) write into their relationship one of an established understanding and support when Lance is constantly harassed 24/7 by Eden, unable to find rest or do his job? No, instead of the dynamic that’s been built of steady work and love, it’s demolished by one act of lack of respect and understanding. This aspect of the story has little foundation based on the previous books and the relationship the author has been building.

Nor does the quick resolution to this particular problem seem likely or believable. It just doesn’t make sense.

Unfortunately, the book, plot, mystery does feel particularly well written or thought through. It’s a miss for me.

Hopefully the next book will see a return to the original series path.

Cover Art by: Annabella Stone

GHOSTLY SERIES :

Ghostly Awakening

Ghostly Findings

Ghostly Envy

Ghostly Claus

Ghostly Target

Ghostly Hostage

Ghostly Death

Ghostly Dilemma

Ghostly Bother

Ghostly Force (coming soon)

Ghostly Grandma (coming soon)

Buy link;

Ghostly Bother

Blurb

When the mayor of Fairway is killed, Angus finds himself thrust into a confusing case of bribery and corruption. While many in the city rejoice over the mayor’s death, the investigation is a nightmare for the police.

Lance wants to be supportive, but when the mayor’s ghost figures out Lance can see and hear her, she won’t leave him alone. Insisting they solve the case as soon as possible, she follows him around, bringing chaos to Lance’s usually simple life.

Feeling stress from every angle, both Angus and Lance struggle to handle everything going on without letting it affect their relationship. Everyone is working to close the case, but it isn’t easy when the victim refuses to share information that could lead to her killer.

Someone is hiding something, and it’s up to Angus and Lance to figure out exactly what that is.

Publisher: E.L. Publishing
Publication date: July 25, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 218 pages
Book 9 of 9: Ghostly

Review: Cramming at Randy’s (Diner Days Book 3) by Alex Silver

Rating: 4.5🌈

I forget how much I love this series until I read another book about that fabulous all inclusive diner in Boston and the people who live near it and have found their authentic selves and love there.

Cramming at Randy’s is one of my favorites. Alex Silver’s characters and their stories are so beautifully written and believable, funny, raw, young and compelling.

Ray, coming from the large loving Quebec home, to go to college in Boston, is everything. He’s a fully fleshed out person, multilingual, fearfully setting out to find his true identity and the ability to live as he knows he is, a man, not the girl his family thinks of him as.

He encounters Jordan, a student, who’s secure in their own right, but has struggled with their past romantic relationship. Together, they find themselves first friends helping each other out in classes and with Ray’s new transition.

Then it turns into romance.

Everything about them and their storyline is beautifully written. It sensitive and funny, moments where they become awkwardly young adults yet it’s sexy and loving. And it has one of the funniest scenes of coming out to a family I can remember.

And these families? Totally supportive and just as respectful and wonderful as the main characters.

Honestly, I could have done with a longer version because I enjoyed it so much.

This is a series not to be missed and this is a must read among them!

Highly recommended!

Great cover!

Cover design by Cormar Covers

Diner Days series -11 books:

🔷Written at Randy’s by Katherine McIntyre

🔷Final Boy at Randy’s by Loren Leigh

🔷Cramming at Randy’s by Alex Silver 🩷💚🌈

🔷Temptation at Randy’s by Emily Alter

🔷Hitched at Randy’s by A. E. Madsen

🔷Gaming at Randy’s by Duckie Mack

🔷Striking a Chord at Randy’s by K. C. Carmine

🔷Composed at Randy’s by Zile Elliven❤️

🔷Roleplay at Randy’s by Rikki Leighton

🔷Finding Home at Randy’s by Abrianna Denae

🔷Aftercare at Randy’s by R.A. Frick

Buy link

Cramming at Randy’s

Blurb

These study buddies are getting randy.

When Ray transfers to university in Boston, he has every intention of using his new start in a new city to step out of the closet. His family knows he’s bi, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to tell them he isn’t the daughter they always thought of him as. His first new friend, Jordie, is the one who gives him the courage to follow through on living as himself. Ray has Jordie pegged as the one he wants to take from study buddy to steady date—he just needs to figure out how to get Jordie to see him as partner material.

With graduation in their sights, Jordie isn’t looking to mentor another baby queer. Let alone get tangled up in a messy crush after he imprints on them. But there’s something intoxicating about helping Ray embrace his gender euphoria. Is it really such a wild idea to turn their study dates at Randy’s into a love connection?

Love beyond the binary: serving up low angst trans romance at Randy’s Diner.

Cramming at Randy’s is an X/X friends to lovers standalone romance between a newly out demiboy transfer student and an openly genderqueer older student who helps him find the confidence to be himself.

Publisher: (September 5, 2024)
Publication date: September 5, 2024
Language: English
Print length: 285 pages

Review: SOS HOTEL: On The Road by Adam Vex (Ariana Nash)

Rating: 4.5🌈

No, our favorite triad, Adam the surprising non-human, Victor aka Fancy Fangs, and Zee the fabulous incubus, aren’t done yet!

After all the explosive and deadly events of Your Final Resting Place #7, where they vanquished the Big Bad and saved the SOS Hotel and Lost Ones as maybe the world, you’d think they’d be able to rest.

But Adam’s story isn’t finished. And his history is coming for him and those he loves.

So Adam does what he does best and runs. With Victor and Zee together on the road, destination unknown.

I really loved that their relationship has grown so that Adam trusts them with his highly problematic history and the danger that’s following them.

Of course, they encounter strange events and a few bodies with a murder to solve.

Entertaining, sexy, formidable challenges again to face, and a wild ride for all involved. So happy to see them back!

Cover design by Ariana Nash

SOS Hotel:

For a Supernaturally Safe Stay #1
Friendly Sanctuary for the Fiendishly Fabulous #2
Sleep with Us #3
Great Service from Top to Bottom #4
No Rest for the Wicked #5
Ho, Ho, No #5.5
Luxury To Die For #6
Your Final Resting Place #7 -ends this sequence of events.
On The Road #8 – starts a mini-trilogy
Icy Reception #9 – coming soon

Holiday release!

SOS HOTEL: Ho, Ho, No by Adam Vex, Ariana Nash❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Buy link

SOS HOTEL: On the Road

Blurb

Did you think it was the end of our wild hotel adventures?

Yeah, us too.

The Big Bad is gone. We’re heroes! Adam, Fancy Fangs, and me (Zee, obvs) are long overdue some downtime. I’d also like a foot rub, a string of Tom’s hallucination‑inducing cocktails, and endless hours of some much needed personal time between the sheets with my two favorite people. And my pole.

Hello, happy ever after!

But it turns out, fate ain’t done with us yet.

Everyone’s favorite sunshine twink is great at unexpectedly unaliving folks who probably deserve it. What he’s not great at is keeping secrets. So when Adam packs our bags and springs a surprise vacation on us, it’s obvious—even to senile ancient vampires like Lord Fancy Fangs—that something is up.

We’ll play along and won’t ask questions, because it’s Adam. He’ll tell us what’s really going on . . . eventually.

But as we take the SOS Hotel team on the road and the weirdness stacks up—biker‑gang werewolves, psycho witchy influencers, trolls, fairy souls, and sinkholes—there’s one question Fancy Fangs and I can’t shake.

What the f*ck do dragons run from?

(We’re back in a new three part mini-series! Ha, didn’t see that coming did you? Yeah, neither did we. I still don’t get a book about ME, but the author “allowed” me to write this blurb, so long as I don’t f*ckin’ swear. Pfft. So buckle up, b*tches, the ride ain’t fuckin’ over yet. You think you’re ready? Think again, cupcake. The crazy just got crazier.)

Welcome to the SOS Hotel ~ Where we’re definitely not on the run.

Publisher: Crazy Ace Publishing (February 28, 2025)
Publication date: February 28, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 160 pages

Review: The Courtship of Julian St Albans (Consulting Magic Book 1) by Amy Crook

Rating: 4.5🌈

The Courtship of Julian St Albans (Consulting Magic Book 1) by Amy Crook is this author’s first published novel and it’s an absolute delight. A steampunk murder mystery romance, it’s got a grand cast of characters, an intriguing system of magic, and a combination of historical and cultural influences in the narrative that make the atmosphere and situations so different.

The ritual around courtship and Suitors is given its own special treatment here when Julian St Albans’ longtime Suitor is found dead. It restarts the process of finding Julian, the heir to substantial lands and fortunes, a new Suitor to run the family and take over the titles.

Alexander Benedict is a magical investigator and consultant to the police, especially in high profile cases or where magic is used. Julian’s case involves both.

Crook’s take on an historical murder mystery and romance is a cleverly crafted story. Steampunk narrative is threaded throughout with fantasy characters and elements to my absolute delight. The author dives into the details of her magical world, from the magical bespoke clothing worn to balls to the dangerous and fascinating crafted instruments used by the villain to threaten and destroy.

The slowly developing relationship between Julian and Alex is lovely. Determined by the rituals of Courtship and the fact that Alex realizes he’s falling for Julian, not just because he’s involved in the case, draws out the romantic tension.

How it ends , for Julian and Alex, and sets up the next step in their relationship is so satisfying. I’m thrilled to have found a new author and series to recommend and read.

Check it out. Series is complete!

Consulting Magic series:

The Courtship of Julian St Albans #1

The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans #2

The Guardianship of Julian St. Albans #3

A Flutter of Fae #4

I love the simplicity of design of these covers. Beautiful, important to the story (that’s Horace) and elegant.

Buy link

The Courtship of Julian St. Albans (Consulting Magic)

Blurb

Alexander Benedict is a misanthropic thirtysomething magical consultant, working with the Agency’s top homicide detective, and perfectly content with his life, thank you very much.

Julian St. Albans is the youthful heir to his family’s fortune and affiancéd to his beloved Cecil Mandeville, a family friend as well as Julian’s lover.

When Mandeville is murdered using magical means, Alex is brought in on the case. It’s the worst day of Julian’s life, but until they meet, it’s just another case for Alex. Neither of them have any idea how their lives are about to change.

Alex has to disentangle the magical threads until he can catch the murderer, and to do that he has to put himself right in the thick of things. His long-denied family connections get him invited to participate in Julian’s Courtship as a Suitor, where he can observe the suspects firsthand. He just has to stay alive long enough to figure out which of the competition thinks Julian is a prize worth killing for.

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (June 25, 2013)
Publication date: June 25, 2013
Language: English
Print length: 361 pages

Review: The Shadows Beyond: An MM Urban Fantasy Romance (Shadow and Light Duology Book 1) by TJ Rose

Rating: 3.5🌈

This was a very hard book for me to rate because while I really delighted in this author’s world building and the diversity of the otherworldly creatures and elements of the story, the characters were the issues here.

One, Cinnamon ‘Cinn’ Saunders is a character who shows depths of personality and layers related to his background as the story develops. Cinnamon, definitely a doormat/enabler to a seriously addicted friend, is constantly surrendering his own future and safety to saving him again and again. How you view the author’s writing a character purposely so obtuse about another person’s character will determine whether you connect with Cinn. Because he’s constantly forgiving people for their awful actions against him.

That goes for the other main character, Julien, a son of a wealthy French businessman , who is now part of the hidden government institution in Switzerland that houses and teaches those with special magical abilities, “the moteblessed”. Julien is the most problematic of characters for me. While both have tragic histories, the author uses Julien’s to excuse selfish, egocentric, and frankly, oafish behavior. He has a goal that his other two friends, Elliot and Darcy, are aware of and are helping him to achieve. But it’s extremely dangerous and potentially fatal.

How he achieves it, who he uses, even though his friends warn him against certain actions, doesn’t matter or matter much. That’s a common refrain with Julien. He does what he wants. Others warn him of potential consequences. He thinks about it and does it anyway. And he’s forgiven over and over. Because he has charisma. And a sad background.

Yet he’s supposed to be a fantastic relatable main character and not a person with flags stuck all over his storyline. SMH

What is fantastic here is the system of magic, that “other dark world “ that’s so eerily similar to theirs but not. The fractured moon that hangs above a 1995 London writhing with sentient beings so dark and mysterious, and horrifying. The motes, another intriguing creation, makes this book. Sentient? Just don’t know.

If I continue with the duology, it will be due to the magical realm and the dark realm that pulls me forward. Not the human characters. So probably not.

Book cover design by @the.ravens.touch with artwork by Olga Panfilova

Shadow and Light Duology:

The Shadows Beyond #1

The Light Within #2

Buy link:

The Shadows Beyond: An MM Urban Fantasy Romance (Shadow and Light Duology Book 1)

Blurb

An action-packed MM romance duology featuring magic, mayhem, and two broken boys finding love.

Cinnamon ‘Cinn’ Saunders thought he’d learnt to control his little ghost problem.

That is, until the moment he brings back a malevolent spirit from the shadowrealm, and quickly finds himself unjustly arrested for the murder of four people.

After breaking free of foster care and a stint in juvie, all Cinn wanted to do was keep his head down and work his way up to become a professional chef. Now he’s forced to make a choice: life in jail, or allow a stranger to whisk him away to a mysterious institute in rural Switzerland with the promise of learning how to control his terrifying supernatural abilities.

Julien, the French charismatic charmer who is charged with warding over Cinn, also has a problem: the murder of his sister is still unsolved.

He needs help. Help that only Cinn can provide. He’ll do anything to get it, including making Cinn an offer that he can’t refuse. What Julien doesn’t expect out of the bargain is their undeniable connection, which only serves to complicate matters as they navigate uncharted territories together.

Between battling an uprising of deadly creatures that not only threaten the moteblessed community, but the entire planet, and fighting their ever-growing attraction, can this opposites-attract pair overcome their demons to save the world, and each other?

The Shadows Beyond is part 1 of an MM urban fantasy romance duology, and contains explicit content. Full content warnings can be found within the book and on the author’s website. The overarching plot continues into book 2, with the end of book 1 offering a ‘happy-for-now’ for the main characters.

ASIN: B0D1GW41WP
Publisher: (July 12, 2024)
Publication date: July 12, 2024
Language: English
Print length: 397 pages

Review: The Hidden God of Open Doors by Tavia Lark

Rating: 3🌈

It didn’t immediately register but I had read this before as a short story in the Heart2Heart Valentine Day’s Anthology. It worked there, surrounded by other like stories and given a foundation by the Anthology basis of the Heart2Heart matchmaking process, a well established tradition and built upon by each story.

As a standalone? Removed from that structure and foundation? Unfortunately, without a solid narrative support, it doesn’t really make the type of satisfying story you would expect from Tavia Lark.

I love the premise and the potential of this story. That someone has been imprisoned for an indefinite amount of time within a small room for a unknown reason is horrifying. Especially as we get glimpses into his tiny room and his personality. Then Lark flips over to Raider, who, along with his sister Val, owns and runs a shop for magic items and are newly immortal.

Ruin finally gets to communicate with someone else when mysteriously they are hooked up via the Heart2Heart dating app.

I can’t see where this was expanded from the original version. The story is still a good concept but given the trauma of being held prisoner for thousands of years and then having a relationship, albeit a verbal one? I would have thought Rune’s reactions to have been considerably more intense and internalized.

The backgrounds of the locals or location need further explanation, especially as that’s where Rune was imprisoned. As it was there is so many unanswered questions.

The Hidden God of Open Doors by Tavia Lark is a sweet paranormal short story. A quick read that needs more attention to detail and depth of character.

Cute.

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comThe Hidden God of Open Doors – Kindle edition by Lark, Tavia. …

Blurb

Forget finding his perfect match. Rune is just desperate to talk to someone.

Rune is lonely, immortal, and trapped in a mysterious prison. Objects appear and disappear as the decades pass, and his only companions are the books and television. He hasn’t spoken to a real, live person in over two hundred years.

Until one day a phone appears, with a magical dating app already installed.

The app promises to find Rune’s perfect match for Valentine’s Day. Rune is tempted, even though he knows that’s impossible. Nobody wants a perfect match they can’t meet.

Then he matches with Raider—a confident ex-treasure hunter who shamelessly flirts past Rune’s loneliness.

And Raider doesn’t believe in impossible.

The Hidden God of Open Doors is a short Valentine’s Day MM romance about a trapped immortal, the flirty treasure hunter who wants to discover everything about him, and the dating app magic that brings them together.

Previously published in the Heart2Heart Volume 7 Paranormal Anthology

Publication date: January 24, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 62 pages

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