Review: The Little Shop of Curiosities The Music Box Part 2 (Crawshanks Guide to the Occult) by Vawn Cassidy

Rating: 3🌈

I’m going to talk about some of the plot points so if you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading.

I will start with saying I love the origin series with Dusty and Tristan and that entire cast and journey. Thought it is fantastic, right down to the fabulous side stories with The Grim Adventures of Death and Chan. My favorites too.

So I was really excited for some of the other characters to get their stories as well. But while the story is pretty good, I just can’t with the character of Harrison. He’s everything that makes a DNF book for me.

Sam, the paranormal PI is well done. He’s a layered personality and a good reason for being connected to the storyline. However, he’s also plays a powerful role here along with the other members of the original group, to keep me from engaging with Harrison.

A major reason for me not to buy or read a book is for an author to have written a main character who has major communication issues. Someone who, like Harrison here, has a secret or knowledge about the main mystery/storyline that’s threatening him and everyone else and is knowingly lying about it or/or refusing to tell anyone about it.

His dads and grandfather know and tell Harrison to reveal it to those who need to know, his friends and boyfriend, Sam. At one point, he lies to his parents and says he has. But no, he doesn’t, endangering his “boyfriend” Sam and his friends by withholding his all “central to the case” knowledge. As well as himself.

And once you think he’s learned something, and it’s over. It’s not because, wait for it. There’s one more potentially dangerous secret and another awful event that Harrison is responsible for.

This happened for the entire book. FFS and SMH

If you think that got old fast, you’d be correct. And it ended up with a cliffhanger where at this point I really didn’t care what happened to him. That’s a what a TSTL character reads like. Too bad about Sam.

And for my final spoiler, the author brought in characters from an unrelated series to save the day. So if you’re not familiar with them, it’s a huh, who are these people moment.

So, no not continuing further with this side series. I just don’t care about the main character and Tristan is made out to be whiny and weak , a characterization different from the other series.

Disappointing.

Cover design by Natasha Snow

Crawshanks Guide to the Occult (2 book series):

The Little Shop of Curiosities Cursed Object 1 The Music Box

The Little Shop of Curiosities The Music Box Part 2

Connected series:

The Dead Serious Universe,

Crawshanks Guide to the Recently Departed (6 book series)

Crawshanks Guide to Mischievous Spectres & Spirits(2 book series)

The Grim Adventures of Death & Chan Vol 1-3 (on the author’s website)

Buy link

The Little Shop of Curiosities The Music Box Part 2 (Crawshanks Guide to the Occult)

Blurb

The Music Box – Part 2.

Strange things are happening in London, with a murder investigation underway into his biological mother’s murder Harrison is trying to find answers about the mysterious and powerful bloodline he’s descended from. Plagued by terrifying dreams of one of his ancestors and trying to keep his friends from discovering his true identity is exhausting. But his growing feelings for Sam cannot be ignored and sooner or later Harrison knows he must tell him the truth.

Having returned to London after fulfilling his own family obligations Sam begins to realise the cases that he’s investigating as a PI are all paranormal in nature. As he delves deeper he begins to suspect they are connected to the Crawshanks family and somehow to Harrison, himself, the man he’s falling in love with.

But as the murder investigation comes to a frightening conclusion and the killer is revealed, Sam and Harrison begin to realise that this is only the beginning.

Now they find themselves facing their most terrifying challenge yet.

Underside Press

Publication date

August 19, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

314 pages

Book 2 of 2

Crawshanks Guide to the Occult

Review: Found Objects by Mary Calmes

Rating: 4.5🌈

Found Objects is the latest urban fantasy romance by Mary Calmes and it’s exactly what we expect from this author. The old,settled rich location of a small town high in the mountains of West Virginia, an intriguing group of found family of town, and a great setup for a slow paced romantic journey.

Calmes’ plot lines includes a newly arrived werewolf pack that has brought with them to the town, pack dysfunction, mystery and loads of action packed moments.

I love Merritt Baker and the mystery that Calmes builds around his character. Merritt is the owner of the town’s restaurant, and a central figure in the community. A friend and someone who acts as a shield or protector when needed.

When a new shifter pack arrives in Coille, West Virginia to establish themselves in a new territory , they bring with them old problems along with a dysfunctional pack and history. And Cole Swann and his younger brother, Evan, nephews of the Alpha of the Swann pack.

The way this author blends the well known Appalachian mythology with other lore is intriguing and well done. It works well for the many other characters here and for adding some really great layers to this story.

It ends with a HFN, given the specific species of each character. And known life spans.

I will admit to hoping that Calme revisits this town and special community as I really enjoyed them and didn’t get enough of several of their storylines.

A definite winner and one I’m happy to recommend.

Cover art: Reese Dante

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comFound Objects – Kindle edition by Calmes, Mary. Romance Kindle eBooks …

Blurb

Merritt Baker is older than he looks. Quite a bit older, in fact. He knows all about the woods and where one should never wander at night, but the fact of the matter is, sometimes men are the scariest creatures of all, and Merritt makes it his business to protect the innocents caught in their wake. In the small town of Coille, West Virginia, where he makes his home, he takes care of quite a few people, and that’s always been enough. Or has been. Lately though, he’s felt a bit lost, as though he’s forgotten what it means to really live rather than simply exist.

Change arrives when a pack of shifters buys the land that borders his. He doesn’t think twice about them until his simple rules are ignored, and suddenly there’s conflict. One of the wolves, Cole Swann, is very interested in him, and surprisingly, Merritt can’t seem to get the man out of his head. But things aren’t what they seem, and between other packs, ghosts, and worst of all, love, Merritt might be in over his head. That’s the thing about being lost—it can be wonderful when you’re finally found, but is it worth the risk of losing yourself?

Mary Calmes Books, LLC.

Publication date

July 30, 2026

Edition

1st

Language

‎English

Print length

268 pages

Review: Nick’s No Good Very Bad Day (San Amaro Investigations story) by Kai Butler

Rating: 4.75🌈

Nick’s No Good Very Bad Day is a very great novel in the San Amaro Investigations series by Kai Butler. It follows on the last novel,Cypress Ashes, the Sun God battles and its ramifications for Nick and Parker.

This is an excellent story, we get to see where both men are after the battle at the World Tree. Nick in his professional career as a paranormal police officer and Parker as a PI and in his complicated role in the Fae community.

Butler’s ability to bring multiple perspectives, some of which are hostile towards the main characters, and still present a balance between all the different groups and their roles makes this a realistic portrayal of how the world works.

It’s a harrowing murder investigation with implications towards a bigger impact on the current situation and horrifying consequences for the community . And the dramatic scenes are emotionally charged so that we feel that impact along with the characters.

I thought it was exciting, suspense filled and the ending was very satisfying and perfect.

This was one of my favorite series of the Authors and I was so glad to see a new chapter in the universe.

Highly recommended. But also not a standalone. You need to have read the series.

Cover by Natasha Snow

Content Warning: past child neglect, torture, violence.

San Amaro Investigations :

A Haunting at Midwinter (audio by Greg Tremblay)

A Debt Unpaid (audio by Greg Tremblay)

Wormwood Summer (audio by Greg Tremblay)

The Oak Wood Throne (audio by Greg Tremblay)

A Belated Burial (audio by Greg Tremblay)

A Gilded Iron Blade (audio by Greg Tremblay)

A Shattered Silver Crown (audio by Greg Tremblay)

The Heart’s Blood Arrow (audio by Greg Tremblay)

Saffron Wilds (audio by Greg Tremblay)

Cypress Ashes (audio by Greg Tremblay)

Nick’s No Good Very Bad Day (audio by Sean Crisden)

Buy link

Blurb

Nicholas King has three problems:

1: Someone just turned into red goo in the middle of San Amaro.

2: The police don’t have a murder weapon or a motive.

3: Their only suspect is Parker Ferro.

Nick’s No Good Very Bad Day is a 48,000 word novella set after the events of the main series.

June 1, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

182 pages

Review: Nerds, Words & Werecats (Witchwolf) by Sam Burns and W. M. Fawkes

Rating: 3.5🌈

This is a side story in the terrific urban fantasy Witchwolf series written by co-authors Burns and Fawkes. That series is currently awaiting its next release of its second book but in the meantime, the authors have published a side story in the same universe that they wrote on the authors’ Patreon page.

I enjoyed reading it. The characters are engaging, especially the cat shifter Landon Smith, who’s a far more fully developed personality than the other main character Dean St. James.

Dean’s a big cat shifter but the story has the potential of becoming a much better version of itself. The entire tale has the feel of an almost completed outline of a novel than a finished story. One half of the couple, Landon, is more multi dimensional, given a better storyline and execution of his character and situation, while Dean’s character sits needing more heft. In his history, shifter foundation, and, even tragic past romance. We really don’t feel even remotely close to him and those events. But we do with the fantastic cat shifter, Landon. We love his new crew, his bravery in relocating away from everyone he knew and family, just everything about him. He’s a fully fledged amazing personality. He’s the one we relate to.

It also took me a while to remember how this was connected to Witchwolf. The company and the pack. I wish the authors had brought that element of the series stronger into play here.

As a standalone, there’s absolutely no world building. Within an established universe but with a minimum connection, it’s a good story with some terrific characters with great potential.

Read it for yourself and hope, like I did, that I will see Landon popping up again later on in this series. He’s a joy.

Witchwolf series side story

Witchwolf (2 book series)

Witchwolf #1

Moonmagic #2 – March 19,2026

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comSam Burns

Blurb

Landon Smith’s life has imploded in a dramatic fashion. Following a devastating betrayal, his brother is marrying his fiancé, and his family wants him to get over it already. The only way he can move forward? Fleeing across the country and cutting contact with them, starting his life over with a new job and new friends. Well, no friends, really.

But a new coworker introduces him to a whole new circle of people, including the alluring Dean St. James. The lyrics Dean writes speak directly to Landon’s heart, but Landon’s not ready to jump into another relationship, and Dean brings his own baggage to the table.

A brutal illness stole Dean’s childhood sweetheart, and with the walls he put up to survive, he’s not sure he’ll ever love again. But a fresh project sparks Landon’s lost passion and opens a door to a future Dean turned his back on.

Their unexpected collab has the highest stakes of all: the last hope of healing two broken hearts.

This novella is set in the same world as Witchwolf, but features different characters and can be read as a standalone. It was originally published on the authors’ Patreon page.

date

February 26, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

145 pages

Review; How to Reap a Soul (And Fail Miserably) Soul Management Bureau Book One by April Kelley

Rating: 3🌈

How to Reap a Soul (And Fail Miserably) is the first book in the urban fantasy series, Soul Management Bureau by April Kelley.

It’s a fated mate romance between reaper and their soul mates, so it’s instant love/instant sex romance with a plot that’s not always easy to follow because Kelley is trying hard to lay down all her histories and plotting for multiple characters, not just the main couple, and her world building into one story.

And it’s not always effective because someone gets lost in the narrative. Some connection between her characters, some chemistry is left behind in the rush to get it all accomplished.

It’s interesting but I’m not sure I’m really engaged with this world or characters.

Try it out and see for yourself if Grym and Elliot Coyne work together for you.

Cover artist: Miblart

Soul Management Bureau

How to Reap a Soul and Fail Miserably #1

How to Reap a Soul (And Lose an Assistant) #2 – Dec 29,2026

Buy link

Book 1 of 2: Soul Management Bureau

Blurb

Love was never on my to-do list, but now that I have it, I’ll let the world burn before I let anything happen to him.

Grym

I’ve reaped souls for three hundred years without a single mistake. Until Elliot Coyne. I’m supposed to ferry him into the afterlife, not bring him back to life and turn him immortal.

Now HR is threatening me, the world is acting like it might explode, and my reaper brothers are stress-snacking like it’s Armageddon.

Even worse? My soul insists Elliot is my beloved. Reapers aren’t supposed to have those. Are they? Regardless, it’s wildly inconvenient.

Elliot
So I die, wake up immortal and able to walk between realms, not that I know what those actually are.

The guy responsible is an annoyingly hot reaper who apparently broke the universe just to keep me breathing.

We’re suddenly stuck together, hunted by his supernatural bosses, and if we fall for each other it might tear reality apart.

Love isn’t supposed to end the world. Yet here we are.

January 14, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

187 pages

Book 1 of 2

Soul Management Bureau

Review: The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf (Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala Book 3) by Michele Notaro

Rating: 3🌈

The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf (Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala Book 3) by Michele Notaro is a perfect example why I’m finding it hard to continue reading this series. I enjoyed the first book but it’s gotten more difficult to stay connected with each new release.

The Tales From Gauhala series is a crossover from the Brinnswick series and is deeply rooted in the universe. It’s characters and their relationships are intertwining with each other’s relationships in each other stories, so it’s often hard to remember these complex family dynamics. Thousand year old mates claiming hundreds (or more, I can’t keep track) of children and their children’s children lend towards a seriously over populated universe.

Yes, many outlying characters from other the series show up here in ways that add nothing to the plot. They are just references for the reader. Look, so and so, the ancient powerful mages are here. I’m not that invested in them here. That’s part of the issue as I see it.

The story, about fated mates werewolf Dain, and shy Yeti Avalanche “Lanche” has its own issues. The characters are cute. But the author has included a dramatic storyline that’s seems underwhelming, or not well written. After all the work going into the suspense of the climax and drama behind the villain, there’s a huge letdown and considerable lack of foundation laid down for this aspect of the story. Makes little sense because there’s no solid narrative behind it.

That whole icicle thing itself was problematic.

Every other element feels hastily assembled. Let’s give the Yeti family cute names and throw them together in an ice palace. Ok, but where’s the natural history? Any real grounding? Absent.

When a reader is distracted from the story, even the smallest detail or aspect in a scene can make the reader look again at the story a different way.

Example:

“I didn’t blame him for it. It wasn’t his fault that the people under him who were supposed to carry out his will had been lying to him for so long.”

Talking about the King here who while grieving, abdicated all responsibility for his Kingdom and ruling to those below him, not checking for decades, to see what monstrous things were going on. Up in his tower, while horrifying acts and events were being carried out in his name.

Whose responsibility? It’s his. The fault is his.

Something even the author isn’t saying. SMH.

So this clearly isn’t the book for me. Cute . But too many things I find problematic.

If you’re a fan, I’m sure you’ll like it.

Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala :

The Witch’s Grumpy Dragon #1

The Vampire’s Delicious Fae #2

The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf #3

The Dragon’s Devoted Defender #4-March 17,2026

Buy link

Book 3 of 4: Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala

Blurb

Being shy sucks. Being shy and having a crush sucks even more. But I can’t get the grouchy werewolf out of my head, so I need to do something… as long as it doesn’t include talking…

Step One: Leave my crush a gift. Check.

Step Two: Wait for him to open it. Check.

Step Three: Try to convince him we’re meant to be. Ugh, I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Dain caught my attention the moment I walked into the bookstore. Tall. Broody. Growly in that definitely-a-werewolf way. The more time I spend near him, the more certain I become of one impossible truth:

He’s my viramore. My soulmate.

Too bad I can barely string two words together in his presence.

When I finally tell him about our connection, he doesn’t believe me. But he does agree to a date. Hopefully I can turn one date into two, then three, and then maybe, just maybe, he’ll see that I’m right. We’re viramores, and no matter what trouble comes our way, nothing will change that.

The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf is Book 3 in Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala, an MM urban fantasy romance filled with grumpy/sweet energy, fated mates, gentle humor, and cozy found-family vibes. The series follows a new couple in each book with a guaranteed HEA. It takes place in the Brinnswick world, but you don’t need to read the other series first, although there will be familiar faces along the w

Review: How to Trust a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls Book 4) by Shannon Mae

Rating: 4🌈

How to Trust a Hellhound is the fourth book in the Hellhounds of Paradise Falls series by Shannon Mae. A terrific interconnected series with Mae’s preceding work with crossover characters, here we’re watching an adopted family of Hellhounds find their fated mates, often from a similarly small group of found family of humans friends, starting with a paranormal author next door.

The humans have, for the most part, damage and horror in their past or present lives, which meshes well with hellhounds intent on delivering justice and dark souls to the underworld.

How to Trust a Hellhound focuses on adoptive Hellhound father, Wilder, who has returned to his “boys” and the town of Paradise Falls only to find someone who needs him.

That’s human Josh, close friends with Toby (the author and now hellhound mate). It’s been obvious for several books that Josh has been in dire trouble, mostly due to his controlling boyfriend. But here Mae shows us exactly what Josh has been through. The emotional and physical abuse, and the damage it has caused.

This particular situation and how the characters, especially Josh and Wilder, as well as the various other characters, handled it, was well written. Multiple reactions, including shock. Anger, withdrawal. Everything reads realistic and painfully true.

Along with the development of Josh and Wilder’s relationship, which is slow, given the current situation, there’s also the fact that Josh was unaware of the otherworldly beings around him. Hellhounds being number one. That’s was very funny.

The only aspect of this story I felt was underdeveloped or not as well explored was the big dramatic climax which sets up the next relationship and novel to come.

There’s no foundation for it. Any of it. You could say it was all meant to be a surprise but there should be some kind of narrative shoring up of the plot and aha moments but instead it feels muddled and confusing.

The author states that originally another couple was to have the next book but she changed her mind because these two were speaking up. I get that. But it feels rushed.

Especially since it looks to be a very intriguing relationship. Can’t wait to see how that plays out.

Recommended!

Cover design by Morningstar Ashley

Hellhounds of Paradise Falls: (Paranormal Romance)

How to Flirt with a Hellhound

How to Hack a Hellhound

How to Tame a Hellhound

How to Trust a Hellhound

How NOT to Kill a Hellhound (Coming Soon)

Linked series:

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures: (Paranormal Romance)

Buy link

Book 4 of 4: Hellhounds of Paradise Falls

Blurb

Wilder

Angels, demons, hellhounds, Nephilim, and a whole host of other non-mortals—my pack of adopted hellhound sons sure knows how to pick a place. And yet somehow, the most interesting one of all is the sad, quiet human who’s become friends with the pack. Helping people heal and learn to trust is a specialty of mine, but I don’t see Josh as someone to adopt—my hellhound sees him as a mate. The problem? Josh doesn’t believe in anything supernatural. Plus, there’s the vicious and oddly hard to track ex-boyfriend, the meddling but strangely helpful sheriff, the delicate side project I’m working on, and the immortal evil rich guy running around. As I said, my boys sure know how to pick a town.

Josh

I’m the boring one. No imagination. No fun. In control. My ex-boyfriend taught me how to let loose and explore things, but then he changed… or maybe I just realized who he truly was. I want someone who cares for me, not someone who controls me, but I don’t think Rick will let me go easily. Everyone is willing to help, though, including the handsome dad of my best friend’s boyfriend. My inappropriate feelings for him aren’t helping matters, though. Not to mention that the more I hang out with everyone, the more my writer friend’s supernatural stories suddenly don’t seem so far-fetched. Something is strange about Paradise Falls, and I can’t help but think that Wilder is more involved than he lets on.

Tags: It’s always the quiet ones (wink, wink); Josh doesn’t believe in hellhounds, but they believe in him; Wilder is just the hellhound to give Josh all the comfort and healing he needs; Helene is the best therapist for someone who’s been wronged; the entire pack gets involved (of course) and chaos ensues; abusive ex-boyfriends always get what’s coming to them; there’s torture and death (but only of really bad people); hellhounds have tails, and they know how to use them.

Publication date: September 1, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 276 pages
Book 4 of 4: Hellhounds of Paradise Falls

Review: Asher (Demons-In-Law Book 1) by Louisa Masters

Rating: 4.5🌈

Asher, the first in Masters’ new Demons-In-Law series about the fabulously wealthy Bailey clan of demons, see Gideon now mates to Lucifer Sam in the connected Hidden Species/Here Be Dragons series.

It all happens in the very isolated picturesque village of Hortplatz, high in the snowy, very snow mountains of Switzerland, where it has housed an entire settlement of demons.

After a visit by a verified surprises Lucifer Sam , there to meet his bf’s family, it becomes a mission to help them understand the world they live in, it’s diverse paranormal activity and species.

Enter Garrett Smythe! Masters excels at the instant connection, the chemistry that also brings a personal bond. The sex and the emotional touches that come from that first night between Garrett and Asher set the tone for what follows.

They are magic together. Absolutely believable as a couple bonding and in love.

The formidable Bailey family is led by Damaris, the family matriarch. Warrior, politician, all around scary person who adores her family, I love this character! The many Baileys , all the cousins to grandchildren are beings you want to spend time with. I enjoy the species history and physical biology that Masters has written that makes this and them so fascinating.

The other half is, of course, Hellhound. That’s Garrett. And his cousin Alastair. His cousin is a well known character, part of several books. As much as I love him exuberance and way out there actions, here Alastair was actually too much. He had lost some of his charm and veered into being a bit of an irritant. He’s just getting used too much without the necessary underlying depths that made him a better person.

Garrett has those qualities and it makes him a fully dimensional Hellhound. And teacher, anthropologist, and loving new husband.

The relationships between the many characters, teachers to students, children to their large families, families to their community, it’s real protective, and loving. I smiled through the entire read.

This story is funny, surprising, sexy, and has a great twist at the end to bring in familiar faces and a bridge to the next book.

I’m only sorry I can’t go directly onto the next book. But I’ll wait and perhaps reread some of the stories from the two previous series. It’s a great universe!

This is one I’m highly recommending!

Demons-In-Law series:

✓ Asher #1

◦ Micah #2 – September 2023

◦ Zac #3 – TBD early 2024

Buy Link:

Asher (Demons-In-Law Book 1)

Description:

When your imaginary boyfriend turns up in your hometown, marriage is the only option.

I’m not anti-relationship, but my life is good right now, and love is not a priority. Too bad my grandmother disagrees. People say she’s scary, and sure, some of her enemies went missing under mysterious circumstances, but she loves me and wants the best for me… which, right now, is marriage. The matchmaking is a lot, and she’s not letting up. What’s a demon to do except invent a long-distance boyfriend?

That backfires hard when the one-night stand I based my fake boyfriend on arrives in our tiny village. Garrett’s here to help our cut-off town assimilate with the rest of the Community of Species. He’s not expecting to find he has a boyfriend he knew nothing about.

It doesn’t take me long to convince him to agree to my new plan. I need the matchmaking to stop; he needs our insular little community to accept and trust him. The perfect solution: marriage. A business agreement with a time limit.

Just business.

Until he demands more. A sexy, nerdy hellhound in my bed isn’t a deal breaker.

But as we get closer to our end date, it gets harder for me to imagine life without him. And when my little cousin goes missing, it’s Garrett who saves the day… and reveals secrets the village didn’t know we had.

In this hilarious spin-off from the Hidden Species series, Gideon’s cousins get their time to shine… beginning with Asher and his brand-new hellhound husband.

Review: An Embrace To Hearten Me ( The Magi Accounts #3.5) by Michele Notaro

Rating: 4.75🌈

An Embrace To Hearten Me is the novella that’s the romance/relationship story for River/Jude/Kulani the author has been working towards in the last books.

A M/M/X , the X stands for non-binary, romance that’s been slowly building between the characters of Cheetah shifter Kulani, magi Jude (half of the dyad pair with Mads), and snow leopard shifter River. To say slow is to say that molasses runs slowly in the winter. Here it’s a absolute must that we get a three person perspective but a triad that forms at a glacial rate.

The reasons why is the tormented histories the author has created for each individual here. Ones that have damaged them to the point that trust, insecurities, and trauma are the main factors in determining their relationships to date.

Jude ,a demisexual, has a unique history. Traumatized in the compound with Mads, his other dyad half (with us now finding out the exact extent of the sacrifice he’s was forced to make), Jude’s had Mad’s feelings as his own all his life. River and Kulani had no one until Cosmo found them. That doesn’t make for easy understanding when it comes to relationships between the friends. Even with the shifter extraordinary senses, actions can become misunderstood with no real foundation for understanding the actions of others.

Notaro gives us three perspectives of friends wobbling about in the fog of uncertainty and confusion. Their new feelings , fears, and ignorance keeping them from communicating while nightmares from their past’s shut them down into their own prisons.

It’s a haunting narrative and a thoroughly disturbing story at times. But one Notaro threads with hope. With the introduction of a young child, someone from the past, and a newly formed family of three that finally finds its way together.

While An Embrace To Hearten Me has a HFN element for our triad, this is a horrific and dangerous society they all live in. One in which every single one is still tagged and registered, and regarded as disposable.

We have 2 more books to go until the end. I expect it to be bloody, heartbreaking, heartfelt, and to leave me sobbing. It’s that kind of series.

So I leave Kulani, River, and Jude momentarily happy.

I’m highly recommending this series. Read them in the order they are written for character development and events. Put some tissue near by. FYI.

The Magi Accounts:

🔹The Scars That Bind Us #1

🔹The Shackles That Hold Us #2

🔹A Date To Impress Him #2.5

🔹A Purpose That Restores Us #3

🔹A Holiday to Sustain Us: A Magi Accounts Holiday

🔹An Embrace To Hearten Me: The Magic Accounts 3.5

🔹A Ruse To Unchain Us: The Magi Accounts # 4 – TBD 2023

Buy Link:

An Embrace To Hearten Me: The Magic Accounts 3.5 (The Magi Accounts Companion Stories)

Description:

I can’t seem to choose between the two shifters who mean the world to me… but what if I can have them both?

Trying to navigate my feelings has never been easy. Growing up, I had to keep my emotions locked down and hidden from the world or suffer the consequences. But now, well, now I’ve had a taste of freedom, and with it, my heart has been running wild.

Between trying to find witches—members of the Red Cloth—at work and sifting through my overwhelming emotions, I’m a mess. And two certain shifters seem happy to help sort me out, which is great, but it’s making all these feelings hit me at once.

How in the world can I tell River and Kulani that I… that I like them? Both of them. At the same time. This is going to end in disaster with one, two, or three hearts broken. But what if it doesn’t? What if there’s a way for all three of us to get what we want?

An Embrace To Hearten Me is a MMX (male/male/nonbinary) urban fantasy romance companion novel meant to be read AFTER A Purpose That Restores Us (The Magi Accounts 3). This is Jude, Kulani, and River’s story and takes place between books 3 and 4 of the main series. It’s meant to be read as part of the series, not by itself, although the love story is resolved in this book.

Review: Caught (Bureau #9) by Kim Fielding

Rating: 4 🌈

I needed to double check the release date because of cultural references Fielding’s used in the story, but she’s stated it takes place in the 70’s , not present day. So mentions of President Carter, Mork & Mindy, and , RIP, Burt Reynolds, makes sense.

Of course, given it’s the Bureau, you just never know.

There’s all sorts of beings that are featured in Bureau stories. This time it’s sasquatch.

Kim Fielding, as she has a way of doing, gets to the heart of her character’s history and momentous occasion in the prologue. Simple, unerringly haunting, and concise.

It sticks with the reader too , following through the story, tugging at you. So when Fielding’s plot neatly threads it into place, as a reader, it’s less surprise but more just a moment of content and satisfaction.

Art Gundersen is a lovely, gentle big, very big, man. One directed into his job with the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs by Ralph Crespo, our Dragon agent of the previous story.

He’s mostly someone who’s devoted to his lab and research until the Director asks him for assistance with a special case up in the woods. One of murder.

Jerry Humboldt is the Forestry Agent who found the hiker’s body and called for help.

Jerry is quiet, protective of his woods, and worried about the circumstances the dead hiker’s been found in. As everything points to another species having been the culprit.

Fielding’s story builds slowly around these two shy huge men , getting to know one another as they try to investigate the murder and maybe the other mysteries surrounding each other.

There’s a bit of Instant love here. But it’s so cute , and neither has had any relationship at all . So well, let’s just give them a break.

The solution to the murders and dramatic climax is a good one! Thrilling.

And it was great seeing a old friend once more.

Wonderful to dive back into the Bureau series again, I’m recommending it!

The Bureau:

Corruption #1

White Clay #2

Creature #3

Chained#4

Convicted #5

Conned #6

Caroled #7

Camouflaged #8

Caught #9

https://www.goodreads.com › showCaught (Bureau, #9) by Kim Fielding – Goodreads

Art Gundersen did not make it as an agent with the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs. But when Chief Townsend orders him out of the lab and into the mountains of northern California to collect evidence from a murder scene, Art’s happy to go. He looks forward to tromping around in the wilderness—and finds he enjoys the company of the forest technician who discovered the hiker’s corpse surrounded by Sasquatch footprints.

Jerry Humboldt lives a somewhat reclusive life in the fire lookout tower. Nobody comments much on his enormous size. Or his unusually hairy feet. Then Art shows up, and Jerry is forced into some new realizations.

As Art and Jerry interact, they discover some long-past connections as well as some very present dangers. It’s a risky equation: an awkward not-agent, a virginal “wild man” of the forest, and a multiple murderer—with the Bureau’s help six hundred miles away.

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