Review: Thin Ice: MM Small Town/Hockey Romance (The Elmwood Stories Book 4) by Lane Hayes

Rating: 4.5🌈

Thin Ice sees us back in Elmwood, one of my favorite places located in a fabulous heartwarming contemporary romance series. It’s a place I can’t get enough of.

This time Lane is serving up a delicious romantic treat of age gap, fresh starts, and two great characters of incredible depth and heart. Plus hockey of course!

Bryson is the older man, father to a AHL hockey player headed to the big leagues. Lane has given Bryson surprising depths and a backstory, one I’ll leave to the book. But it makes Bryson well rounded, funny, stressing, uncertain. In other words, immediately connectable. Especially in regard to his role and relationship to his son, Jake.

Smitty is absolutely his partner in every way. Sometimes there’s an inequality in an age gap romance but here Lane gives us two men who find contentment, peace, total freedom to communicate and be themselves. We laugh, quietly watch as they question this new relationship as it develops, and it’s feels real and meaningful.

Elmwood operates as another character in itself. The places, atmosphere, school , people who are now familiar to the readers, and deeply a part of the series and story.

I wish the ending was a bit longer but then I feel that at every Elmwood story, wanting to linger on.

I absolutely recommend Thin Ice and the entire series. Read them in order. There’s another one coming to my delight!

And yes, the hockey is spot on, whether it’s on the pro level or high school. Love it.

The Elmwood Stories-Small Town/ Hockey Series :

✓ You, Again #1

✓ Next Season #2

✓ Holiday Crush #3

✓ Thin Ice #4

◦ Hot Shot #5 – Summer 2024

Buy Link

Thin Ice: MM Small Town/Hockey Romance (The Elmwood Stories Book 4)

Blurb

The hunky dad, the hockey coach, and a new start…

Bryson

Elmwood isn’t good for my love life. Hey, I’m a positive person and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about small-town living, but I haven’t had a date in years. That’s fine—my son is and always has been my number one focus.

Except now he’s grown and gone. And it’s lonely.

Okay, yes, the new hockey coach is hot and single, but he’s off-limits. Smitty’s trouble with a capital T, and his baggage might outweigh mine. Besides, we said nothing would happen after “that” night. It was a one-time, never to be repeated deal.

At least…that’s what I thought.

Smitty

Am I sad about retiring from pro hockey? Honestly, no. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t in pain. I need a rest and I could use a distraction from unwelcome memories at home. Stat.

So…Elmwood.

Look, we all know I won’t last a whole season of coaching high school kids, but stepping in till they find a better candidate is a good temporary plan. And Bryson’s here.

There’s something about the hot dad with the sunny smile and bad dad jokes that makes me feel alive again. I’m not in the market for forever—been there, done that. Look, I’ve taken risks for my sport, but I’m not giving my heart away again. I know thin ice when I see it.

Or do I?

Thin Ice is an MM bisexual, age-gap, small-town romance featuring a silver fox dad, the new hockey coach, and a fresh start on solid ground.

• Publication date: May 14, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 270 pages

Review: Tears in Time (Arcadia Trust Book 4) by Christian Baines

Rating: 5🌈

It’s a series that starts with The Beast Without, meeting vampire Reyland and werewolf lover, Jorgas. It’s an excellent book, scary and powerful. And with each story, new paranormal characters and convoluted elements are added and explored, like The Arcadia Trust and then the horrifying Wound. Tears in Time is the fourth book in this increasingly complex and scarily powerful series.

Christian Baines has an incredible talent of writing supernatural or other worldly beings and making them absolutely credible. These are beautiful or stunningly horrifically broken creatures that bear no resemblance to human beings. Not in their reactions to events and emotions but in that they lack our standards of morality or ethics. They may understand the rules, the philosophical framework and how to manipulate them to their advantage. But actually have human empathy? Not really.

And for the reader to go in with expectations of the characters who are paranormal beings acting as humans, that’s a pitfall that should be discarded at the beginning. Because, Baines’ brilliantly written and compelling characters are not going to act like humans because they aren’t.

It might be hard to forget this but events will drive this element home. Betrayal after betrayal. Manifesting that each being and group of paranormals is operating on a different level and paths that humans find unfathomable . Such brilliant writing and amazing storytelling.

Chilling and brain breaking plot lines that connect and weave into something so shocking at the end that I’m just stunned that cable producers haven’t come running yet to put this into a show.

Tears in Time is a book whose characters and plots are so intricate and deeply detailed that a reader will have to have read the stories the preceded it. That foundation knowledge and sequencing of events is essential for a total understanding about the characters relationships and twists in the narratives that the reader will experience here.

I absolutely recommend reading this series and book if you’re a fan of paranormal fiction, horror stories, and twisted romance. But be warned, this is not for the faint of heart.

Arcadia Trust:

The Beast Without #1

The Orchard of Flesh #2

Sins of the Son #3

Tears in Time #4

Buy link Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited

Blurb

Moments have passed for Reylan since he crossed the barrier between worlds to rescue his werewolf lover, Jorgas. But on their return, nothing feels right. Faithful allies have vanished, and places that once offered solace are now derelict, filled with shadows and inhabited by evil.

How can Reylan find his friends, and who can be trusted once they’re found?

The world Reylan and Jorgas returned to has destroyed the one they left behind. In this new reality, someone is playing a deadly game with time, and their fates are its prize.

• Publication date: May 15, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 284 pages

Review: The Queen of Darkness: An Epic Dragon Fantasy Saga (The Crystalline Dragons Saga Book 4) by Eoghan R. Cunningham

Rating: 4🌈

The Queen of Darkness is the penultimate story in Eoghan R. Cunningham’s epic YA epic fantasy adventure series about a young escaped slave, his two friends/companions on their journey through various kingdoms. It’s got evil villains, dragons, monsters, mythical beasts and legends for the heroes to follow.

The Queen of Darkness picks up right after the cliffhanger of Rise of the False King. It helps immensely that both books were already released so the reader could continue onto the next to pickup on the action.

Dusk is sometimes a very frustrating character here. Hes coming across as very inconsistent as far as the growth the author has given him from book to book, major trauma to trauma. Here he’s showing restraint and maturity in dealing with multiple situations and issues. Lex’s revelations and the impact it’s had on him, the separations, the immediate danger to himself and his friends, and any thoughts of power for himself. This is a person capable of intuitive thinking and trusting his instincts.

However, this more thoughtful “Dusk” is abandoned in favor of the first more untried “Dusk” that we encountered in the beginning of this journey. That Dusk has listened to the lessons he’s been taught, the wisdom that he has learned, doesn’t communicate to his friends , doesn’t think rationally, put together clues, and isn’t sure of what he wants. Even after telling someone he’s thought about the quest and knows he’s going through with it and his role.

This inconsistency is frustrating especially as there are so many wonderful people and moments here. The author has a terrific story and ability to build excitement for this adventure and a real emotional connection to these characters.

There’s one more book to go. That novel has a lot to accomplish because there’s still so much to learn about the characters as well as multiple storylines to explore and pull together.

One thing I keep forgetting to mention is the great maps of the world the author has created and includes for the reader to follow along with the characters as they travel. Fabulous.

While this series has some issues, it’s an entertaining, lively, and imaginative saga. It’s a YA fantasy adventure I’m happy to recommend. One more book to go.

The Crystalline Dragons Saga-5 books:

✓ Curse of the Dragon’s Eye #1

✓ Mist, Shadow, and Deep #2

✓ Rise of the False King #3

✓ The Queen of Darkness #4

◦ Fall of the Crystal Moon #5-June 6,2024

Buy Link:

The Queen of Darkness: An Epic Dragon Fantasy Saga (The Crystalline Dragons Saga Book 4)

Blurb

The moment Dusk steps foot in the free lands of Inahan, he is arrested and imprisoned. However, it seems the Queen has heard of his power and she wants a private audience with him.

When they dive into the dark depths below the castle to retrieve an artifact, Dusk wonders if he’ll ever see the light of day again.

I could hardly believe we’d finally made it to Inahan. After pirates, monsters, and a surprise visit from Tiernan, the capital city was a wonderful sight to behold.

But even in this safe harbor there are secrets that can tear the three of us apart.

Queen Lobelia has us arrested and before I know it, I’m summoned to her throne to complete a task for her. One I can’t refuse if I ever want to see my friends alive again.

There’s something hidden below the castle… something the Queen doesn’t want the world to see.

Much like Mist, Shadow, and Deep, this contains a diverse cast of characters and queer themes. It was previously published under another title by Blake R. Wolfe. Although the title and cover are different, the content remains the same.

Review: SOS HOTEL: Sleep With Us #3 by Adam Vex , Ariana Nash

Rating: 5🌈

So, so satisfying. No really. Loved it. Parts also really hurt. But Sleep With Us explored so many new areas of this world and these fabulous characters!

Adam in his desperate need to get demon Zee away from the club and out of his contract with Sebastian, is forced to accept help. Whether it’s sketchy advice from his AI bartender or something more personal and likely physical from the resident vampire, Lord Reynard, some new information is acquired about all of them.

There’s some gross action packed sequences, a few sexy scenes, and ones that make us feel so much more connected and involved with all three characters and whatever craziness is right around the corner.

I’m so in love with this series and characters. They’re so vividly drawn and widely thought out that they are just bigger than the page. Read even the credits, Zee can’t help himself.

How am I going to make it through until June 28th?

Highly recommending SOS Hotel but read them in the order they are written.

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 – June 28,2024

Buy link

SOS HOTEL: Sleep With Us

Blurb

Three weeks in, and the SOS Hotel is still standing. I know, crazy right? Despite the gremlins, lethal electrics, vampire threats, a shadowbeast in the attic, and a psycho sorcerer, our doors remain open to all Lost Ones. Also, nobody has died . . . in a few days.

All I have to do is, hold it all together, keep every guest safe, not mention the body in the flowerbeds—and maybe we’ll last another week?

But Sebastien has demanded Zee return to the club, or he’ll hurt more demons. Sebastien has become a big problem. And problems, like gremlins, have a habit of multiplying at the SOS Hotel.

I promised Zee I’d stay out of his other life. But I can’t—won’t—watch Sebastien mistreat him.

I might be a boring, average, harmless human, but even I have my limits.

Plus, I’ve got a vampire on my side. Lord Reynard has a knack for getting answers out of people, and together, we’re going to find a way to break Sebastien’s hold over Zee, even if part of our plan involves an evening of la mort d’amour at Razorsedge. Reynard says we’re not going to do anything risky. But I kind of, maybe, just a little bit . . . want to?

Trust me. I’m Adam Vex. Totally normal human. It’s all going to turn out just fine.

I’m absolutely certain I have everything under control.

Probably.

Welcome to the SOS Hotel.

***

SOS Hotel is a whacky adventure about a vampire lord, an ex-porn-star demon, and a boring human who absolutely does not have any secrets. You’ll find dark humor, explicit language and sex throughout the books.

If you don’t like the f-word, sex, some minor murders, or a few questionable pies thrown in, do not read these books.

There will be triggering content for some, including sexual coercion and pets in peril.

Proceed with caution.

Have a GREAT stay!

• Publisher: Crazy Ace Publishing (May 10, 2024)

• Publication date: May 10, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 176 pages

Review: Mates, Arranged by Michelle Frost

Rating: 3.5🌈

Mates, Arranged by Michelle Frost is a short, nicely crafted paranormal romance. At 65 pages, it’s the barest beginnings of mated couple, August and Torin. In fact, it ends as they actually physically mate. And it begins on the ritual mating of the two. In between, Frost gives us glimpses of two different people getting to know each other in a number of lovely connected scenes.

We don’t get much in the way of world building or background, just some hints and history tossed in here and there. Just enough to make it interesting and pull us closer into the story.

This could be a much larger book and the couple framed out within a better crafted narrative. It has so much potential.

As it is, it’s a good short story and romance. Very enjoyable.

Buy link

Mates, Arrangedby Michelle FrostBook 1 of 1: Mates, Arranged

Blurb

Will fate smile on a wolf and mage joined together?

Forced into an arranged mating, August and Torin must try to build a relationship from nothing if they hope to usher in peace between their peoples.

With willing hearts, they put aside their differences, but their commitment won’t get the chance to blossom if one of their own destroys it before it can grow.

Mates, Arranged is an MM romance novella and was first published as part of a novella promotion.

• Publication date: March 25, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 65 pages

Review: Inferno (Drake Security Book 4) by Mika Nix

Rating: 3.75🌈

Drake Security, the fated mates series about a family of dragons finding their bonded mates, is now on the fourth brother.

Co-written by K.M. Neuhold and Mia Monroe as Mika Nix, book four follows Valentino Drake, the one brother we know as busy being in touch with his love life instead of the brothers’ business. It takes a younger brother’s wrong doing and throughly bad decision making to bring Valentino back into the fold and help find his own unique mate.

First off, I loved the storyline of Valentino and Montrose, the demon. Montrose is a fantastic character, probably my favorite next to Lake . He’s intriguing, powerful enough to hold his own with his dragon, and dramatic enough to make any scene that involves him a little richer. Put them together and they are a great combination of riches. Dragon and demon.

Unfortunately there is an element that I found almost as irritating as I loved the romance part of the book. I feel that the authors probably have future plans for him but honestly there’s so much to character of Mac, the younger brother, that just gives me a narrative headache. As the authors created him, and as his part plays out in the book, Mac came perilously close to making me stop reading. Yes, his actions and that they spring from a certain problematic aspect of his personality are the ignition point of the story. I feel if it had only been that one factor, that one theft, it would’ve been, maybe, woven into his youthful status better. However, it’s his continued forbidden thievery that causes so much pain and danger to him and those around him. Without the Drake brothers, even at the end, having Mac feel any deeper remorse for his actions and crimes. Maybe the last one because he was so far in trouble. But all the rest? Not really.

It’s send him back home, and a new threat is here. What happened to ending this one? Because parts of Mac’s story felt unfinished.

So yes to the romance of Valentino and Montrose. They were great and could have used some of the narrative space assigned to the more irritating Mac. No, to the younger brother and his storyline who actually wanted to make me put down the book because of his personality, behavior, and lack of finality to his story.

I’m wondering if the next is the series finale for Drake Security. Sounds like Lord’s story. I’ll definitely be there for it. This was a fifty/fifty book for me.

Drake Security:

Hot Head #1

Smoulder #2

Wild Fire #3

Inferno #4

Buy link

Inferno (Drake Security Book 4)

Blurb:

I know I should keep my hands off of Montrose. But the one thing dragons and demons have in common is how much we love to play with fire.

My youngest brother has always had a knack for getting himself into trouble, but this time he’s stolen from the wrong demon and it might just be the last mistake he ever makes.

I have no reason to trust Montrose, but my dragon does anyway. There’s something about the vibrant, sassy incubus that calls to me, no matter how hard I try to resist.

Saving my brother’s scales should be top priority, but this inferno between Montrose and I just keeps heating up.

If fate put him in my path, can I trust that we’ll make it to the other side of this disaster together? There’s only one way to find out…

• Publication date: May 3, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 253 pages

Review: The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer (Monsters Hollow Book 2) by Chloe Archer

Rating: 4.5🌈

In The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer author Chloe Archer continues to explore the mysterious magic of the town while bringing in new characters and adding new details to the dimensions of this universe.

Its all very exciting.

Archer had me at Max “Maxie” Poppins, the absolute star of the first book of the series and still unseated fav character of mine. As the bestie of romance writer, Ryder, he’s one of the reasons Ryder has made the move to Monster Hollow and Max remains a true emotional connection to everyone else around the town. This in turn helps his more awkward, less socially inclined bestie, Ryder, become at ease with its inhabitants and his new surroundings.

That’s the new main character and half of the latest couple.

Ryder Thomas (aka Ryder St. James) the romance writer of the title and a man with a dangerous threat to deal with. Ryder was a foster child like Max. Ryder, however , ended up with a widely different and damaging family. He is given a sensitive and realistic characterization by Archer.

Ryder’s past experiences drives his emotional perception of love, his own inability to recognize, accept and even acknowledge that it exists.

Then there is Vash Dark Wing, a Scottish Gargoyle, with his own complicated background and current situation to deal with. He too is a well defined character who will reveal new depths of personality and emotions as the story and their relationship progresses.

Really, Archer gives us a little bit of everything here. A stalker and a couple of mysteries, a serious heartbreaker for Vash that now ties up a storyline from The Orc and the Manny, and a slew of new potential characters and romances to come . All from a delightful new source.

Oh and lots of sex! And a wonderful, fun drunken street scene. More of these please.

I had such a great time reading this. And am sorry I’ll have to wait in next year to get the next book in the series.

A yes to the book, and series if you are a fan of paranormal romance and this author!

Monsters Hollow series:

✓ The Demon and the Librarian: a prequel

✓ The Bogeyman and the Schoolteacher #0.5

✓ The Orc and the Manny #1

✓ The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer #2

◦ The Sasquatch and the Stylist #3 – coming 2025

Buy link:

The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer: A Cozy M/M Monster Romance (Monsters Hollow Book 2)

Blurb:

Welcome to Monsters Hollow, where love knows no bounds—even in a town full of monsters!

A quirky romance writer in hiding. A sexy gargoyle lover turned bodyguard. And a stalker that just won’t quit…

Ryder Thomas (aka Ryder St. James)

I assumed writing swoony romance novels about humans and Otherkind might attract some unsavory attention. But I never imagined I’d have an obsessive fan stalking me. Fortunately, my BFF Max has an in with a town he assures me can keep me safe.

As a former foster kid, I’m pretty resilient, but this situation is messing with my sleep and I’m on deadline for my next book!

About the only thing that can help at times like this is some regular mind-blowing… release. Trust me, solo methods just aren’t enough and hooking up with randos isn’t my style. I need someone safe who can reliably rock my world in the bedroom and maybe help me with my research as a bonus!

Enter the hunky Scottish gargoyle who’s been flirting with me ever since I arrived to hide out in Mystic Hollow. We come up with an ideal no-strings and no-feelings arrangement until I leave town for my next book tour.

After all, romance is just a fantasy I write about in my books–right?

Vash DarkWing

From the moment I met Ryder, I wanted to know more about the bonnie, brave man who speaks his mind. With no filter.

When he proposes a few weeks of mutually beneficial shagging before his book tour starts, I immediately jump on the chance to, well, jump him. Just a bit of fun and maybe friendship.

Hell’s bells, but Ryder slips past all my defenses and wins my affections without even trying! Now, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the man I love safe. Even if it means putting my heart as well as my life on the line.

The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer is a 106k novel that features an inappropriately curious novelist, a sexy Scottish gargoyle, a specialty harness for aerial…shenanigans, a creepy stalker, and true love for the win. This is the second book in the Monsters Hollow series and can be read as a standalone.

Reviewer’s note: No , no they really can’t. These aren’t even close to being standalone stories. Who knows why they are putting this on their descriptions? It makes no sense. SMH

• Publisher: Rainbow Dreams Press LLC (April 30, 2024)

• Publication date: April 30, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 395 pages

Review: Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story (Perfect Pixie Series Book 5) by M. J. May

Rating: 5🌈

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story is the perfect way to end this absolutely fantastic series, Perfect Pixies by M. J. May.

In this vividly realized, beautifully told story, May brings all the characters and couples together that we’ve met through each other’s stories and learned to love together to reveal and vanquish the series villains.

Each story has at its core a perfectly imperfect pixie who finds themselves in an embattled or troubled position which eventually leads them to their bonds of love and a HEA. We started with hearth and home pixie, Philodendron, whose unique size made him both an outsider and perfect for his Alpha mate and family. Then nature pixie, Peaches, with a mournful background and heart wrenching history that soon brings attention to gathering dark forces and the attraction of a powerful vampire. That mating has huge ramifications for many other otherworldly species.

Next May’s pairing and novel turns dark with the seemingly mysterious introduction of pixie trafficking and pixie dust addiction. This is Parsnip’s story and another sector of magic is heard from as Vander the warlock arrives. May is deepening the series themes, expanding the types of magic that exist in this universe, and types of found families we can expect.

The narrative themes and suspenseful atmosphere doesn’t even falter for a moment. It’s picking up momentum in emotional and well written story arcs.

Wendall’s unbelievable tale is next. It includes Hellfire Rayburn, Fairy Queen Silvidia’s most trusted and feared warrior, and Wendall, who undergoes one of the most poignant, heartbreaking moments and struggles amongst them all. Well, May is amping up to the end point. Making sure that the reader knows what at stake and we care so throughly for everyone here.

So that when a final pixie appears, one that isn’t who he seems, we are ready for the showdown .

That’s Agent Frost, aka pixie Phlox. Although he’s not exactly 100 percent pixie. What he is and his background is a huge part of the ongoing investigation and reason he’s arrived in town. The one assigned to help him? That’s 300 year old vampire, Leon McMillan, King Lucroy Moony’s second-in-command.

May does an excellent job of alternating between their burgeoning romance and the ongoing investigation into the pixie traffickers. The horrific storyline of pixie trafficking , which is widely explored through the main characters and story threads, continues to branch out to the wider threat to the community and all the couples involved.

May’s newest character is one I think will be a great reader favorite . That’s Erasmus, a young necromancer who has an intriguing , poignant backstory and a rich personality. I really can’t get enough of him. So many layers. And the other character who is equally and quizzically intrigued by Erasmus? That’s Aurelia, the djinn .

No spoilers but what an epic ending. And while I’m happy sad this superior series has ended, the author has left us with something new to anticipate.

That epilogue is everything! Why? Because it tells us that Erasmus and Aurelia are coming back in Summer/Fall 2024 in their own story. And now I’m so excited and happy for their new adventure to begin.

Read this incredible series in the order it’s written . It’s a top recommendation. So is it’s author.

Cover design by cheriefox. Absolutely splendid! Like all the other covers.

Perfect Pixies series:

✓ Perfectly Imperfect Pixie Book #1

✓ Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches’s Story #2

✓ Perfectly Charmed Pixie: Parsnip’s Story #3

✓ Perfectly Perplexing Zombie: Wendall’s Story #4

✓ Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story #5 – series finale

Buy link

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie: Phlox’s Story (Perfect Pixie Series Book 5)

Blurb

Phlox isn’t your typical pixie, and his feisty shifter DNA might be the reason. Recruited by the Magical Usage Council, Phlox—who is now Agent Frost—is a pixie with a mission, and he’s not afraid to place himself in mortal danger to eradicate the latest pixie trafficking ring.

Despite being King Lucroy Moony’s second-in-command, Leon McMillan’s second life has become dangerously monotonous. For a vampire, boredom is as deadly as a stake to the heart. Three hundred years of existing has taken a mental toll—one that will eventually lead Leon into the sun’s deadly embrace. Leon needs a life raft; he just never imagined it in the form of a pushy pixie.

Phlox and Leon can’t deny their mutual attraction. However, in order for Phlox’s mission to succeed, he needs to appear helplessly alone, and Leon’s worried stalking isn’t aiding that mission.

But soon, the knowledge Phlox and Leon obtain leads to a dangerous, mentally unstable djinn, who has a vicious master holding its leash. Although history claims djinns are all-powerful, indestructible creatures, Phlox and Leon must find the secret to their destruction if they are to save Rutherford Haven’s citizens. If they can’t, Rutherford Haven will be the first to fall, but it won’t be the last.

Phlox will dig his shifter claws into anyone who dares threaten his mate and Leon will tear the heart out of anyone who dares threaten his beloved—his purrrfectly peculiar pixie.

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie is the fifth and final book in the Perfect Pixie series. The books should be read in order. Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie features an emotionally constipated vampire, a pixie who’s far more than he appears, witches and trolls with questionable morals, an alpha werewolf whose time on planet Earth is precariously close to ending, a (questionably) good djinn, an (unquestionably) sinister djinn, an interesting necromancer, and all our previously beloved characters coming together to prove that teamwork really does make the dream work.

Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie also contains homicide of the fantasy kind (no humans were killed in the making of this book) with scenes describing death and killing.

• Publication date: April 29, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 343 pages

Review: Death In The Spires by K. J. Charles

Rating: 5🌈

K. J. Charles is such an incredible writer, a word artist with a passion for rich historical settings, layered characters, and complex plot development. All that is apparent here in Death in the Spires.

It’s a haunting story that Charles lays out for us immediately. And then in flashbacks. A man , Jeremy “Jem” Kite, is in the process of losing his job. It’s emotionally devastating. And it’s not even the first time.

His employer has received a letter accusing Jem of murder. A sensational murder that took place ten years earlier. A murder of a man Jem was close to. Went to Oxford with, and once was one of his close knit group of friends referred to as the “Seven Wonders” on campus. A murder that destroyed Jem and has remained unsolved.

Through memories of the past, and Jem’s new determination to find out who is behind the letters, Charles builds a layered historical narrative of differences in status, innocence, friendship, mystery, love, and murder. One that skillfully stretches over a ten year period from 1905 to 1915, moving from time frame to time frame with impactful results.

Charles brings all the laws and prejudices of this era vividly and thoughtfully into the various storylines, whether it’s about gender, race, sexuality, or birth control. I should also mention Charles includes the role of that primogeniture plays in this era with rights of inheritance . Repealed here in the US at the time of the Revolution, it was the foundation for the nobility, aristocracy or peerage abroad.

Then the author sets about weaving a tortuous tale of seven friends on the cusp of greatness. Some are innocent, there’s a difference in class status, relationships have complicated dynamics, but, seen through the lens of Jem’s early memories, it’s an idyllic place, a golden age of freedom, heights, and a future never to be recaptured.

Charles’ gift is the ability to make the reader feel Jem’s amazement at his time there in 1905 , and his absolute grief at it’s loss, at what he has become.

Every character is beautifully crafted in their details, from their past lives to the ones they are now living in. I can visualize each and every one.

That includes the dead man, Toby Feynsham, who gathered them all together and was finally responsible, in death, for their destruction.

The investigation, the growth and continued character revelations, the way in which Charles weaves twists and surprises into an already convoluted narrative made me appreciate more a novel I couldn’t tear myself away from.

Fabulous, fascinating. Ultimately incredibly satisfying. Death In The Spires by K. J. Charles is a must read!

Great cover. Cover design by Lisa Horton

Buy Links:

Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com › Death-…Death in the Spires: A completely gripping and addictive historical mystery

Blurb

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby’s killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried…

From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!

• Publisher: Storm Publishing (April 11, 2024)

• Publication date: April 11, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 273 pages

Review: Broken (Erebus Assassins Book 1) by Reese Knightley

Rating: 3.25🌈

Broken is the first book in a new connected series, Erebus Assassins, by Reese Knightly. If you’re familiar with other series and characters as well as the types of themes and storylines that come with them, you know exactly what to expect from Broken.

There will be damaged characters with intense relationship dynamics, shady or situational morality, and often painful, violent backgrounds.

And flowing through each other’s stories are the characters and couples from all the other series. Sometimes this works. Other times, as I feel it happens here, it doesn’t.

Broken opens as Ice unknowingly stumbles upon an assignment already in progress. An assassination is going down and the agent is Echo from another team. That Agency is one Ice used to work for . This violent brief interaction sets off a chain of chaotic events that include Ice stalking Echo, to the extent he’s quitting his job at work and rejoining another agency.

This is one example of the issues I see with the story. Knightley spends little time on developing any relationship between Ice and Echo to warrant this depth of obsessive interest or behavior. Ice just decides Echo is it for him and hunts him, whether Echo wants him to or not. In Echo’s case, it’s decidedly not.

Another is with all the various characters themselves. Some are carryovers and some are new. But the reader must be able to recognize them and remember who they are, how they fit into the different couples dynamics/agency structure and even current tortuous situations. Otherwise, it’s a constant struggle to understand who all these people are and how they fit together.

It’s all very unsupported and unsustainable for the book to have this many characters and their own narratives dropped in (and out) behind it.

Echo has a horrific history but it’s buried under everything else so the reader, at least I did, finds it hard to connect with. Which brings us back to the villain of the story.

That entire element, including his identity, just never felt plausible. From the size of the operation , and the fact that he had been able to run it as long as he had, given the facts, doesn’t seem believable framed out by all the other characters in the book. It seems more a dramatic needs element than a naturally occurring part of the story.

But so much of Broken feels unexplored or incomplete, a jumble of characters and plot lines. A new series should focus on new starts.

Why did this feel like Knightley took odds and ends from all her previous series and just dump them here?

Read this because you’re a fan of the author or like the other series. All those series listed below.

Erebus Assassins:

✓ Broken #1

◦ Agony #2 – July 31,2024

Related series with crossover characters and agencies :

Cobalt Security – 6 books

Code of Honor – 8 books

Out for Justice -7 books

Buy link

Broken (Erebus Assassins Book 1)

Blurb

He craved him like he’d never craved anyone before.

-Ice

They’d kissed. And spent a brief and wild time together.

He fell.

But Echo disappeared on him.

And now the chase was on.

He was going to find Echo, catch him, and make him his.

Even if it killed him.

-Echo

He should have never screwed the blue-eyed blond…

But he had.

He couldn’t say why, but Ice got on his last nerve.

So he wounded the guy a couple of times.

Since then, Ice seemed to be in his way every time he turned around.

Assassin vs assassin

Blind to love

Unrequited love

Emotional Scars

A traitor

**Please note 18+ content. See inside for trigger warnings.

• Publication date: April 4, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 244 pages

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