Review: Bright Shiny Love by Pat Henshaw

Rating: 4🌈

In the same universe as Fragile As Glass, Bright, Shiny Love by Pat Henshaw focuses on the relationship between two childhood friends , who have recently reunited as adults.

Both have become artists in different mediums, with metal artist Martin working in the commercial arts space owned by the artist from Fragile As Glass.

It’s a sweet, almost instant love story, with a refreshed crush. The other main character, Ty, has many family complications, that are resolved very quickly, which after years of being their doormat, is a bit of a issue here. I thought it needed more attention or exploration.

But if you want a sweet, contemporary story with a hint of fantasy, then this short tale will go nicely. Put it together with Fragile As Glass for a romantic bookend reading experience.

Buy link

Click here to preorder from JMS Books

Blurb

Metal artist Martin Murphy knows dragons don’t talk, especially the dragon crafted of sequins on a former flame’s vest. So when the dragon seems to reach out and tells him to help its creator Ty, Marty refuses to believe the illusion. The sparks between him and Ty, on the other hand? They’re as real as it gets.

As he and Ty reconnect after so many years, Marty sees firsthand how the big man’s innate kindness and willingness to help others consume his time and energy. Maybe the dragon was right, and Ty needs saving.

While Marty is willing to try, what he really wants to do is pounce on the man and keep him all to himself while they walk down the path to HEA. Does that count as saving him?

JMS Press

GENRE: Gay Romance

LENGTH: 19,179 words

Check out the new release “The Great Forest and Other Love Stories“ by Warren Rochelle (tour and excerpt)

Warren Rochelle has a new FF/MM romance fantasy/sci-fi short story collection out: The Great Forest and Other Love Stories. And there’s a giveaway!

“The course of true love never did run smooth” might be a cliché, but for the lovers in these stories, it’s an understatement. Consider: having to rescue your beloved from seven years of service to sentient trees, or your lover wants you to curse an entire town, or your husband is sure aliens are calling to him from a comet. Find out what happens in these and other stories in The Great Forest and Other Love Stories.

Warnings: neglectful parents, end of the world

Universal Buy Link

Giveaway

Warren is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour:

a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Direct link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47324/

Excerpt

Chesapeake Air and Spaceport, North Terminal, Interplanetary Concourse A

The sun shimmered on the water, as the train pulled into the Chesapeake Air and Spaceport RR station. He gathered his things and walked out onto a winding path, into a garden of dwarf sugar maples and ash trees. The path led him over a little bridge and a stream, and lavender star-shaped flowers. He stopped there to collect himself, to remember what his therapists had taught him, Alana on Avalon, and Gavin and Julia, at Blue Ridge. Deep breaths, center and focus on the safe, on the gurgle of the stream below his feet, the star-shaped flowers, blooming by the water. Interrupt his fear-talk looping, be present now. The main building of the spaceport was straight ahead. The building seemed almost made of sunlight and water. Sea turtles, eels, dolphins, and sea horses seemed to be swimming inside its walls.

Inside, the spaceport would be filled with people from all across Terra, from who knew how many HC planets. And aliens. Strangers, all of them. Breathe in for three, hold for four, release for five. Center. Through the sliding glassteel doors, follow the signs to the ticket kiosks. Everybody was busy, going, coming. Edvard was just one more young human.

He could do this, and he had done it. He could do it again. He could hear Luc telling him that, as he touched him, kissed him.

I’m coming.

No answer.

Scattered trees inside, fountains and pools. Whoever designed the spaceport must have wanted it to look as if it was part of the bay itself. Water currents and tree-shapes in the metal and glassteel, the beams, and the afternoon sun visible in a great skylight over the departure lobby. Were those real birds flying overhead? Edvard caught the off-world accents he knew as he walked—Avalonian, Jardinero, New Scandinavian. A trio of enhanced chimpanzees, clearly traveling on business. He tried to stare at the nest of Kalsons traveling together, with their pointed ears, white-gold hair, and skin. Like Luc and his father. There were a few Kalsons like Manon with skin a darker gold, hair, a deep brown. He stepped back, as did everyone around him, at who he saw next coming down the concourse. Even though the Second Interstellar War had ended thirty-three standard years ago, clearly not enough time had passed for any Zoki to walk through the one of the largest spaceports on the North American east coast without armed HC security. No one had forgotten how many thousands of Wertyngeris had either died or were put in hibernacula for years, or how many of the frozen had been thawed and eaten. No one had forgotten how many HC soldiers died in the war. Yes, the war had ended with a palace coup, led by the Zoki crown princess. She had immediately offered reparations for the atrocities on Wertynger, and they had been paid, and were still being paid.

Edvard watched as the reptilian Zoki, all dressed in white, with ashes on their forehead, walked silently through the spaceport, staring at the floor. According to the treaty ending the war, the Zoki had to publicly atone for eating sentient life. The crown princess, now empress, had suggested fifty Terran standard years of shame and public penance. She had acknowledged that not all Zoki had known or participated, but the government she had overthrown had known, and it had had wide popular support.

Never again.

Someone spat on the floor as the Zoki and their guards walked past. He wondered if fifty Terran standard would be enough penance.

Edvard stepped in front of a ticket kiosk beside a family which was clearly emigrating. Everybody seemed to be carrying some sort of luggage, the three kids, the two dads. He inserted his passport and Universal ID into the kiosk, and selected shuttle to the station, star service to Wertynger, Next available ship, leaving Union Station. An option for stasis for the three week trip in hyperspace? Maybe after week one. Micro-cabin, no, too claustrophobic. Single double, Family? Single. It felt like forever for funds verification. Ding! Transaction complete. Please proceed to Concourse B, Gate 29, shuttle already boarding. Proceed to gate, please have ID and passport ready.

He had done it.

Author Bio

Warren Rochelle lives in Crozet, Virginia, with his husband, and their little dog, Gypsy. He retired from teaching English and Creative Writing at the University of Mary Washington in 2020. His short fiction and poetry have been published in such journals and anthologies as Icarus, North Carolina Literary Review, Forbidden Lines, Aboriginal Science Fiction, Collective Fallout, Queer Fish 2, Empty Oaks, Quantum Fairy Tales, Migration, Clarity, Innovation, The Silver Gryphon, Jaelle Her Book, Colonnades, and Graffiti, as well as the Asheville Poetry Review, GW Magazine, Crucible, The Charlotte Poetry Review, and Romance and Beyond. His short story, “The Golden Boy,” was a finalist for the 2004 Spectrum Award for Short Fiction.

Rochelle is the author of five novels, including The Wild Boy (2001), Harvest of Changelings (2007), and The Called (2010), all published by Golden Gryphon Press. The Werewolf and His Boy, originally published by Samhain Publishing in September 2016, was re-released from JMS Books in August 2020. In Light’s Shadow: A Fairy Tale was published by JMS Books in 2022.

Author Website: https://kingdomofjoria.com/

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/warren.rochelle

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/warrenwriter/

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38355.Warren_Rochelle

Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com): https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/warren-rochelle/

Review: Fragile as Glass by Pat Henshaw

Rating: 4🌈

Fragile as Glass by Pat Henshaw is a wonderful, slightly mystical romance in JMS Books LLC’s Gay Advent Calendar this year.

Henshaw does such an excellent job in creating the character of glass artist Ashton Snell, complete with compelling history that explores and helps the reader really understand him, his personality, including his disability, and the slightly magical gift that he inherited from his grandfather. Ashton is so well written that he and this narrative need a longer story to completely dive into all the many elements and characters this author has created here.

The other main character is singer/rock star/songwriter Hunter who just isn’t as layered a character but has the ability to grow into something special. He’s intriguing but there’s so much to Ashton that anyone would be a lesser individual with this story. There’s not enough pages for equal development.

He comes with a good backstory, two side characters ( a bodyguard and his boyfriend , a chef) that I also wanted more of. Especially Gil, that bodyguard, because in a tv show or on stage, he’s what’s called a “scene stealer”. He’s that dynamic.

There’s also something fascinating going on, plot wise, that Henshaw pulls together here. After giving us an idea of the intriguing place where Ashton lives, a home turned compound that his grandfather started and has filled with artists. Ashton has two long time friends,fellow artists, and the author begins a storyline about a changing new dynamic between them, not a welcome one.

It’s a great plot. But that’s not what the story is about, and it has nowhere to go. It’s dropped. But I certainly was glued to this aspect of the story and it’s still there in my mind, going back over what the author might have done with more pages to really explore this aspect of Ashton’s life.

The romance between Ashton and Hunter is magical, quick, with a dramatic moment and then a sweet ending. That seems a bit rushed. But that is my preference for longer stories in general and this is in keeping with the spirit of the story.

Fragile as Glass by Pat Henshaw is a lovely story. It’s got so many interesting elements and well done characters that I wish it was twice its length or a prequel for more of this universe to come.

It’s another win for this author and the delightful press, JMS Books LLC. Check them out!

Buy link

https://www.jms-books.com/pat-henshaw-c-224_462/fragile-as-glass-p-5281.html

Blurb

A scrying stone says after his gift is destroyed, a famous songwriter will fall in love. Will the stone’s prediction come true?

Glass artist Ashton Snell is delighted when superstar singer/songwriter Hunter Davidson walks into his shop looking for a gift for a friend. On a whim Ashton looks through a scrying glass to see what’s in store for Hunter in the future. The stone shows a vision of the glass unicorn gift shattering and Hunter falling in love. Should Ashton tell Hunter what he’s seen?

Before he can decide, Hunter asks him to lunch. Ashton agrees although he’s surprised someone as celebrated as Hunter would want to be seen with him. Despite living with it since birth, Ashton is still self-conscious about his limp. Hunter, however, doesn’t seem to notice it.

Could their lunch be the beginning of a lasting friendship? Or will their attraction turn into something more?

Review: Pet Delivery by Ofelia Grand

Rating : 3.25🌈

Pet Delivery is another tale from Ofelia Grand that showcases her ability to create and deliver characters and relationships a reader can connect with in a short story.

Her characters are usually outside of the main character format and often have body types that are also very relatable and realistic.

If there’s an issue, it’s that the story length doesn’t leave time for full development or attention to the characters resolving any drama that’s been introduced.

Both of that happens here but the characters are so engaging that the issues surrounding them with the plot (holes, etc) sort of but not completely make up for that.

There’s Gabriel Miller, recently a witness to a murder and now stashed by the cops in a freezing cold cabin in a small town where he is a stranger. Gabe is frightened, missing his cats and sister. He’s so scared and we connect to him immediately, no matter his actions.

Then there’s Chris Hart, whose family owns the cabin and comes to the rescue. Small town is written all over Chris but in the best of small town ways.

Grand’s writing lets us watch them connect and interact with each other over the situation and bond with each other as they grow together.

It’s a lovely story, plus cats and a sister we don’t see enough of.

Pet Delivery needs fleshing out, more development and details to really work and feel satisfying but the heart is there.

Buy Link:

JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/PetDelivery

Blurb:

Chris Hart owns the only grocery shop in Nortown, but he isn’t exactly overrun by customers. Some days he wonders why he bothers to open the doors at all. Spending his days smiling at the few people trickling in and his nights alone in bed isn’t the most interesting life a man could lead. But when Chris suddenly gets the excitement he’s been craving, it may be more than he bargained for.

Gabriel Miller loves his life. He’s close to his sister, has a job he adores and is the proud owner of one and a half cats. But all of it is taken away when he witnesses a murder. To keep him safe, the police place him in Nortown, of all possible locations.

Chris can’t believe they’re letting someone live in his gran’s old cabin in the middle of the winter. It’s too cold. When the poor man shows up in his shop looking to buy clothes, Chris’s heart melts, despite the freezing temperature. Gabriel notices the way the shopkeeper looks at him, but it can’t be right. No one looks at a heavyset man with heat in their eyes. Do they?

Review: Worth His Salt (a Tattooed Corpse story) by Ofelia Gränd

Rating:4🌈

Sometimes a story by Ofelia Grand is less a long winding, complicated adventure for her characters and more a fleeting vivid window into a certain important moment of her characters lives. It doesn’t matter if it’s a science fiction story or a tale of a ghost and a family of witches set in a lighthouse in an anonymous coastal town.

Each novella has all this author’s narrative hallmarks. They contain weirdly mysterious elements, wonderfully detailed characters, and a story that, much like a work day, just ends once that storyline “job” is fulfilled, leaving the reader feeling both filled with awe at the story itself and dismayed by its abrupt ending.

The tattooed corpse stories were born out of a group discussion about having a tattooed corpse just appearing in a story, no matter the trope. This is Grand’s ghost story.

Eldred Henstare, guardian of a city, has been feeling a ghost calling to him from across the town. Now, he’s out in the middle of a storm, blindly following the voiceless call. Which leads him to a lighthouse.

That’s the start of another strange, remarkable tale from this author I can’t get enough of. As with Worth His Salt (a Tattooed Corpse tale), Grand gives the reader fascinating characters, fleeting glimpses into mysterious family backgrounds , a foundation story to sink your teeth into, and a finish that ends the story just as the characters begin what appears to be a very magical romantic relationship.

It’s fabulous, well written, and also frustrating, because it feels like we’ve been given a glance into a new world and the beginning of a life we want to see more of.

Which is typical of Grand and her flights of narrative fancy.

Will we see these characters again? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s sounds as though this highly unusual author has a mind full of ideas and drawer(s) stuffed with stories, so who knows which will see the light of a publisher?

I will be waiting for every one. And recommending them.

Cover art: Amy Spector

Tattooed Corpse Stories:

✓ Worth His Salt (ghost story and lighthouse)

✓ It Doesn’t Translate (syfi universe)

Buy Link:

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Worth-…Worth His Salt eBook : Gränd, Ofelia: Kindle Store

Blurb:

Eldred Henstare is a not so powerful witch who’s been left in charge of helping the city’s lingering spirits to move on. He usually handles it pretty well, but something’s wrong with the spirit leading him to the abandoned lighthouse.

Mo Vin likes his quiet life in the cottage next to the lighthouse, at least it’s quiet until one night when Eldred Henstare — young, beautiful, and crazy — arrives. After that night things aren’t the same. A man is found dead on the beach outside Mo’s cottage, and he’s almost sure he’s the one who killed him, except it doesn’t make sense. Why would he kill anyone?

Eldred needs to get rid of the ghost haunting Mo. If he doesn’t Mo’s life is in danger, but to do it he needs both Mo and his brother Lachtin to help out.

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (March 13, 2021)

• Publication date: March 13, 2021

• Print length: 54 pages

Review: It Doesn’t Translate by Ofelia Gränd

Rating: 4.5🌈

Another short fantastical story by the strange, imaginative mind of author Ofelia Grand. It Doesn’t Translate originated as a casual bunch of texts amongst a group of friends/authors who wondered about a wandering (very dead) body that would pop up in various places, no matter the context, universe, or even trope.

Before long a series, the Tattooed Corpse stories, was born.

“Different time, different place, same body” How irresistible.

It Doesn’t Translate by Ofelia Gränd is a LGBTQIA SYFY short story that I desperately want to see a sequel to.

I adored the characters, this weirdly wonderful, and fascinating universe, and the relationships that are forged within a human owned Hamburger joint on a small space station near a ravaged Earth.

There’s human Max Welch, proud owner of on The Lunar Terminal, a small fake city, that was home to the barest of essentials. A barber, a grocery store, a fuel station, bathhouse, healthcare center, and Max’s Hamburger Bar, a small restaurant that served the local and ships that docked.

Quam, a reptoid, is Max’s best friend, bodyguard, side orders cook if needed, and casual guide to the alien world all around him as Max is pretty the only human being outside of Earth, one of the few left.

This story is supposed to be a one of simple short, a kind of quickie tale but it’s not. Grand is far too deeply bent an author, narratively speaking, (and I mean that in the best way possible) for this not to have multiple storylines and just so many different well defined characters that reach out to grab the reader’s attention and imagination.

There is a pirate infestation and alien being trafficking aspect here, one that threatens Max. A fabulous mate match element, not one but potentially several. A dead body (yes that one), and so many more appealing and downright interesting storyline threads that the author has built into this short tale that the mind wants to follow its journey through to the end is woven with endless possibilities.

We want to know what happened to Earth and the rest of the population. Where are those fabulous dairy products coming from? What did happen to that one pirate? Did they help Quam date? I have a page of things I need to know!

I want to send bribes, so many bribes to Grand, to get her to continue this story and characters forward with more adventures.

Is the story perfect? Not exactly.

There’s a tiny quibble. It’s over a typical mindset.

“And I’m not allowed to carry you?” Noir held his arms open.”

Definitely not, I’m not a girl.”

“Girls get carried?” “

“Well, no, but guys definitely don’t.”

It wasn’t that hard to understand, was it?

Noir shrugged.

— It Doesn’t Translate by Ofelia Gränd

I hope to see this gendered type of behavior less and less in the coming years. There’s a sort of a start. But, tbh, does it really matter what the gender in how someone is carrying another? Especially if one is an alien and the other is perceived to be injured? I say let’s leave gender and sex out of this, and let the scene and storyline prompt the action.

It Doesn’t Translate is a fantastic short story, ending far too quickly for me and the characters. Grand is such an inventive writer and the world building is so satisfying that it cries out for more than a single tale.

I’m definitely recommending this book and author. Check them both out.

Tattooed Corpse Stories:

◦ The Worth His Salt (ghost story and lighthouse)

✓ It Doesn’t Translate (syfi universe)

Buy Link:

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Doesnt-…Kindle – It Doesn’t Translate eBook : Gränd, Ofelia

Blurb:

Noir Kioko had only ever seen one human before his undercover work brought him to the diner at the Luna Terminal, and that was at a distance. Humans are rare, most of them disappear without a trace, and he hopes hanging around the restaurant will give him a lead on the smuggling ring he’s investigating. There was no way he could’ve known the human would turn out to be his mate, and no way he can let it show without putting his mate in danger and possibly jeopardising his mission.

Max Welch is the proud owner of the only restaurant within a light year’s distance. He left Earth four years ago to create a better life for himself, but he hadn’t considered the possibility of scary alien pirates making his restaurant their favourite hangout spot. As a measly human there isn’t much he can do about it, but as one of the pirates starts coming by almost every day he has to come up with something before he loses all his customers. That the giant cat man is rather nice to look at changes nothing.

When rumours of another human arriving at the space station start to circulate, Noir’s species trafficking infiltrate and observe only mission may need a revamp. But will Noir be able to protect his mate and another one of his rare species?

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (March 17, 2021)

• Publication date: March 17, 2021

• Print length: 100 pages

Review: Jaeger’s Lost and Found by Ofelia Grand

Rating: 3🌈

Grand’s affinity for writing quirky, offbeat characters is evident in her paranormal novella, Jaeger’s Lost and Found. It’s in every main character and all the secondary characters as well. Their personalities are so different from the mainstream, even the paranormal ones.

What makes them so unusual is both easily understood and vaguely explained, a dichotomy of traits that’s a hallmark of Grand’s. That quicksand of characterization, while making the beings interesting can also make them less connectable.

It starts with Archibald Jaeger, the last of the famed Jaegers. The bloodline has become so weakened in him as he’s the last that the famous gift of the family, to be able to find anything, has become weakened as well. It no longer works as it should and his livelihood depends on it as does that of his partner.

Archie’s got his own deep quirks outside of a gift gone wonky. He hates to leave his establishment but the author refuses to call it agoraphobia. He’s got a certain way he’s got to dress and act (won’t step on cracks in the pavement) but again there’s an outright decision on Grand’s part not to label him as OCD or anything else behavior related. But those odd mannerisms add up, continuing to pile on top of one another. Plus he’s otherworldly, just what we don’t know. It’s a constant lack of definition here and it’s frustrating.

His partner is slightly better. She’s a naga. Or considered part naga because of an inability to shift. This changes towards the end of the story. We get fangs and venom and the fact she’s an unwelcome species but not much else. Just that as outsiders, she and Archie have stuck together.

We really need so much more world building than we get here.

There’s some really great stuff here. Like Archie needing to suddenly veer off and find lost things because they call to him. Love that aspect of the narrative.

But instead the main storyline goes to a vampire who’s behaved so poorly to his coven they’ve cut him loose. We get to meet the vampire equivalent of entitlement. Oh joy.

Gael Murray is another one of those characters that I can’t get invested in. His backstory for one isn’t that type of story that makes one immediately root for him. Yes he’s dying. But, he’s been living his life away from the coven, hasn’t stayed in touch with them, preferring the company of people. Now he’s whining about lost contact. Hmmm, ok. Yes. Got it.

There’s an actual romance that makes no sense and has no foundation laid down for it Or little chemistry between them. And the journey to find the coven is that of hardly going anywhere.

I think the solution for Gael’s problem the author came up with and the descriptions involved ,was again, one of the better elements here.

So, in the end, I found the story interesting and certain elements fascinating, but the romance made no sense, and many of the other things were absolutely frustrating.

Read this because you’re a fan of the author and genre. It’s short enough that the interesting aspects are worth it.

Buy Link:

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Jaegers-…Kindle – Jaeger’s Lost and Found eBook : Gränd, Ofelia

Blurb:

Jaeger’s Lost and Found is the only finder shop to be had on the whole of the west coast. The problem is, Archibald Jaeger, the last of the Jaeger line, seems to be defective. A result of too many generations of crossbreeding with humans. But Jaegers are finders, and there’s nothing to be done about it.

Gael Murray has lost his connections. A vampire can’t survive without the energy exchange he has with the members of his coven through mental links. And, as of this morning, they’ve all vanished. Gael will die if he doesn’t reinstate his connections through a blood exchange. And his only hope to find the other members of his coven is to hire a finder.

Even a terrible finder is better than none at all.

Together Gael and Archie set out to save Gael’s life, but what was an already difficult task becomes nearly insurmountable. And Archie, who can never find what he’s looking for, finds himself falling in love with a man he’ll be hard pressed to save.

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (June 1, 2019)

• Publication date: June 1, 2019

• Print length: 107 pages

Review: Mind Scrambler by Ofelia Gränd

Rating: 3.75🌈

Mind Scramber is in the same universe/series as the wonderful Soul Eater and Ghost Dater. Where the other books involved the fated mates couple of mage Detective Thaddeus Ezax and werewolf ghost Sandulf Hunter, Mind Scrambler focuses on the boss of the Rockshade Paranormal Investigators Department, panther shifter Kol Jaecar.

Kol Jaecar has always presented himself as a dominant, formidable figure in the mixed team of beings that includes a psychic, shifters of several species, a mage and his ghostly mate. It’s a team that doesn’t always function well together with the different pack dynamics in play.

Gränd is able to bring a more complex picture of the personalities and the squad into the storyline here than was previously shown. Maybe that’s because the author was laying out the foundation for the universe and the characters. Elora, the psychic, becomes a more interesting and fully explored character here . We understand her reluctance in using her powers and how the shifters see her interactions with them in regard to their own power dynamics. It’s a great window into into both individuals.

The author opens up her universe and storytelling by enlarging her perspectives even as we meet Elora’s empath brother, Elijah.

He’s already in enormous danger and physical pain.

Trigger warnings for readers should include that this character has undergone extreme domestic abuse and violence, physical and psychological. He’s kidnapped and the implications are unclear for his future. For those readers who are uncomfortable about these issues, please take note.

Elijah has been written as someone who is fundamentally different from everyone else, even his twin. His empathy makes it difficult to tolerate the constant company of beings and their emotions pressing against him. Then pack on a history of abuse and little education of the paranormal species around him, and he becomes a traumatized victim in more than one way.

I thought that the characters and the mate relationship between Kol and Elijah was sensitively handled. Elijah couldn’t just fall immediately into an instant intimate relationship with Kol after the horrible abuse he’s endured under the ex he’s been hiding from. That would negate so much of the trauma and damage. So having it slowly grow made sense.

But I had issues with some of the other things that the author wrote into the narrative. Some felt like drama for drama’s sake. That (spoiler alert) second kidnapping was a bit of an eye roll in every way.

And for a group that’s a part of the Rockshade Paranormal Investigators Department, aka Paranormal police, there felt like very little procedural work going on. Especially when they were trying to find a certain person at the end. Some things were too easy to figure out. Had it been a tv show, I would have been throwing popcorn and shouting out the answer.

The drama there was the showdown in the Interrogation room where Elijah and Kol could have their say with the villain. That is what it was there for, exposition and dramatic moments.

Then came the epilogue.

I really liked the story but came away feeling there were quite a few loose ends that needed some work and explanations.

We are left not knowing what happened to certain important characters and certain magical abilities that were employed by the villain.

Is Ofelia Gränd going to follow up on these elements with another book? I don’t know and that’s more than a little frustrating.

So while I thought this was a better written story In some ways, with more well rounded characters, there were also some narrative elements that were not fully explored or characters that were left without closure.

Hopefully there’s another book to come along that will pick up where this one left off to answer some of these questions.

This author writes some really interesting stories and this is one of them. Pick it up, read the warnings, and enjoy.

Stories in this series:

✓ Soul Eater

✓ Ghost Dater

✓ Mind Scrambler

Buy Link:

Blurb:

Years ago, empath Elijah Long made a bad decision, and he is still paying for it. He’s kept hidden from his abusive werewolf ex for years, but when he wakes in a dark room, cuffed to a wall, he knows he’s out of luck. Elora, his psychic sister, will come for him, he just has to endure long enough to give her a chance to find him.

Captain Kol Jaecar of Rockshade’s Paranormal Investigations Department detests slow times at work, so when Elora wants time off to search for her brother, Kol treats it as if it’s a real case and starts an investigation. What he assumed was a brother not picking up when his sister called turns out to be something else.

Elijah experiences people’s emotions so strongly, it prohibits him from living a normal life. Spending time in the city is out of the question, yet it’s where Elora takes him once she finds him. Elijah does his best to keep his distance, especially from the growling man Elora brought to his rescue. Elijah will never make the mistake of getting close to a shifter again.

The moment Kol smells Elijah, he knows he’s his mate, but how to get close to someone who doesn’t want to be near you? The man who abused Elijah is still on the loose, and Kol calls in the entire team to hunt him down. But how are they to keep Elijah safe when he can’t be around people? And how will Kol stay sane if he can’t touch his mate?

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (January 30, 2021)

• Publication date: January 30, 2021

• Print length: 198 pages

Review: Ghost Dater by Ofelia Gränd

Rating: 4🌈

Ghost Dater has the feel of an addendum short story to the wonderful Soul Eater. It reads like a cute afterthought to that tale. Turns out I’m not far off.

The author’s publisher put out a call for Halloween shorts and Ofelia Gränd thought her readers would like to see what the couple was up to.

Having problems, apparently.

At Halloween, the anniversary of Sandy’s untimely death.

A reader needs to have read Soul Eater before this to understand the characters, their history, and what they are going through to have their relationship. Sandy’s feelings at his new status are understandable but the lack of communication about those thoughts between the partners is not.

As the ghostly aspects of his new life are still in a learning phase, the frustrations Sandy is experiencing are emotions that the reader can relate to. The author is so very good at expressing these emotions and thoughts through scenes and dialogue.

The story is very short, only 38 pages long. I felt that the balance of voices between Sandy and his sorcerer mate, Thad , was a bit off, with Sandy the dominant POV. Perhaps that’s on purpose so when we get into the story and see Thad’s part of the plot, it’s a bit of a surprise.

For me, I missed the surrounding characters and more of these characters’ current lives as they just didn’t seem to fit as well into a short story format given their complexity in terms of relationship and developing mate bond. It ends with them called off to a new case. I’d love to see that happen.

Here’s to another case and another novel. This is a wonderful bridge between the two. Happy Halloween 🎃.

Buy Link:

Ghost Daterby Ofelia Gränd

Blurb:

Thaddeus Esax has a grumpy werewolf problem. For a year, he’s been mated to Sandulf Hunter, a ghost werewolf he brought back from the dead without meaning to. It’s been great. Thad’s been happy, and he believed Sandy was too. But Sandy has been sulking for more than a week, and Thad fears their relationship isn’t going as well as he believed.

The problem with being mated to a ghost is that said ghost never can leave your side, and therefore it’s extremely hard to keep secrets. Thaddeus wants to surprise Sandy, to cheer him up, but to do that, he has to trick him into believing they’re doing something they’re not.

Telling Sandy they’re having a Halloween party doesn’t go over well, but how do you trick a ghost? By making him believe he’ll be dressed up as a pirate for an evening, of course.

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (October 13, 2021)

• Publication date: October 13, 2021

• Print length: 38 pages

Review: Soul Eater by Ofelia Gränd

Rating: 4.75🌈

Swedish author, Ofelia Gränd’s latest novel reminds me that I really need to put her on my auto buy list.

Soul Eater’s wonderful universe drew me in completely and the storylines kept me invested in the characters and the potential for more tales to come.

She begins the story with a Paranormal Investigations Department that employs a number of different beings, from a psychic to a witch with detectives of various shifter species, including a jaguar Captain.

We get a glimpse into a squad out of sorts with each other and the cases several missing women to solve.

The individuals within the squad are divided into two groups, the magical humans and the shifters, as personalities and deep feelings have contributed to conflict between the members. Gränd’s believable well defined characters help the reader understand the differences that now exist between them as the case investigation gets underway.

I’m not sure exactly what it is about this author’s work that adds that extra dimension to it. That touch of subtle horror or oddity that overlies the most mundane of actions.

Not that there’s much of those here in a paranormal mystery murder thriller where shifters, sorcery, a ghost, and Halloween overlap .

Especially a wereghost. I found that aspect of the story so satisfying as it develops on multiple levels.

The author’s world building expands as the story goes along, our knowledge of the magical universe coming to include a division of human witchcraft into wizards, mages, sorcerers and warlocks, an distinction that’s been hidden from the human population and paranormal one alike. This has implications for a major part of the storyline and not one I would spoil. It’s just one more thing I found entertaining and added more to the characters.

It’s elements like this that will keep me returning to Gränd’s books and hopefully more in this universe.

I found the narrative fascinating, the elements marvelous, the characters well developed, and all of it thrilling and suspenseful.

A definite recommendation for this author and book! Love it!

Buy Link:

Blurb:

Detective Thaddeus Ezax is in over his head. He’s the only wizard in Rockshade’s Paranormal Investigations Department, and it was his name that got him the job. The Ezaxs are known as some of the most powerful wizards in the world, but Thaddeus isn’t your average Ezaxs. Is it any wonder his family shuns him?

When a kidnapping case is dropped into his lap, Thaddeus must act fast. While most five-year-olds can cast a location spell, Thaddeus can’t and is forced to get creative. When he finds himself in possession of a black market werewolf skull with a ghost trapped inside, accidentally releases the spirit, and somehow forms a connection with it, things get even crazier.

Sandulf Hunter doesn’t remember dying, but he remembers the last thing he saw before everything went black — a wizard. All wizards must die! The only problem is, the wizard standing next to him smells too damned good, so good Sandy thinks he might have to keep him.

And since wherever Thaddeus goes, Sandulf finds himself yanked along, he might not have a choice in the matter anyway.

• Publisher: JMS Books LLC (October 31, 2020)

• Publication date: October 31, 2020

• Print length: 186 pages

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