Tag: Scattered Thoughts Highly Recommended

Review:  I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem  (Fortune Favors the Fae story) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating: 4.5🌈

 I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem is Jocelynn Drake’s funny, imaginative and quite magical story in the multi-Author Fortune Favors the Fae series.  I enjoyed it on so many levels. The characters, the storyline, and all the various elements Drake threw together to make this an entertaining rousing adventure.

I can only imagine the enjoyment Drake had writing this story, one that has a certain online novelist, Adam Lockhart , with severe writers block, stumbling into his own unfinished story where none of his characters behave as they should, the plot is nothing like he intended, as everything’s going totally amuck from how he assumes the universe will be.  Sort of like it might feel like in an author’s mind when working on an uncooperative project. Love this so much.

Adam’s been churning out a fantasy online series, Betrayal of the Elf Prince, with daily installments expected from his fans/paying readers.  A trip to see friends is waylaid by finding a gold coin, yes, that one, and boom, Adam ends up in the town of Misty Pass, a place he’d created from his own unfinished novel.  Ok, more to it than that but I’ll leave it to the book.

Of course he meets Nylian, a prince in disguise and distress.  But it’s our Adam, the modern day human, we get more and more invested in. Adams who thinks he knows what will happen but watches with total bemusement and a great deal of befuddlement as the chaos continues on with his “plot”  as he’s thrown into the lives of the people and world around him.  Including Nylian a person he’s getting so close to.

It’s funny, exhilarating, real in the exploration of a new feelings and sexuality as well as the excitement in seeing all the different aspects of the world he’s found himself in.  One he created but it’s so new too. The other characters are especially interesting and great in their own ways.  The mercenary Adeline and her younger brother, Jasper, the wizard in training.  Master Binx who I really needed more of, so adorable. 

There’s adventure, magical goings on, dastardly characters and romance.  And punny names! 

If I had a quibble, it’s that the coin had a negligible role here. It’s assumed it’s good luck but as a major element it’s somewhat lacking.

But the characters, their journey and the potential for even more interesting tales is so strong, I highly recommend this book and Drake as an author for your auto list.  

Cover art by Natasha Snow. I love the covers. Fabulous.

Fortune Favors the Fae – 15 books:

  • A Fae Coin Transported Me Into Another World and Now I’m the Gay Holy Maiden by AJ Sherwood #1❤️
  • The Wolf’s (Un)Lucky Fae by Michele Notaro #2 ❤️
  • Bound to the Wild Fae by Tavia Lark #3 June 13❤️
  • The Sorcerer’s Thief by Lee Colgin #4 ❤️🔷
  • The Fae Menagerie by Edie Montreaux #5 
  • Never Darling by Sam Burns #6 
  • Prince of Poison by Alice Winters  #7  ❤️
  • Grave Misfortune by Nazri Noor #8 ❤️
  • Fae for Pay by Meaghan Maslow #9
  • Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand #10 
  • Smoke and Mirrors by Kai Butler #11 ❤️
  • Siren in the Rain by Chloe Archer #12 
  • I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem  by Jocelynn Drake #13 ❤️
  • A Fae Called Wylder by Michelle Frost #14 – Aug 29,2024
  • Lucky or Knot by Eliot Grayson #15 – September 5,2024

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        I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem

    

Blurb:

Don’t Pick Up That Coin!

I was just an innocent author minding my own business. Until I found that coin…

The evil thing zapped me into the novel I was writing.

Now I’m dodging ogres, humans, elves, and a certain wizard-in-training with a proclivity for changing people into small harmless animals.

My only goal is to get home again, and the best way to do that is to get this book back on track. I must help the sexy exiled prince find his brother’s killer.

The only problem is that the prince keeps flirting with me rather than the women he’s supposed to be adding to the harem.

Wait! Flirting with me? That can’t be right.

Wait wait! Why did I call him sexy? Am I falling for the prince, too?

I Destroy the Elf Prince’s Harem is a stand-alone novel within the Fortune Favors the Fae collection and follows the adventures of one poor author as he stumbles his way through his own novel and just maybe falls in love with the hero. Along the way he will encounter elves, humans, ogres, a wizard-in-training who’s really bad at magic, jealousy, possessiveness, political intrigue, secrets, and a prince who has eyes for just one man. Unfortunately, that one man is as blind as a bat when it comes to love.

From spicy to sweet, zany romps to epic adventures, there’s something for everyone in the Fortune Favors the Fae series. Discover destiny and true love, and follow the coin on its fickle journey to the next world and a new magical adventure. Each book is a standalone and can be read in any order.

  • Publication date: August 22, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 377 pages

Review:  Get A Fix (Torus Intercession Book 6) by Mary Calmes

Rating: 4.5🌈

Every reader has comfort reads and comfort authors. Mary Calmes is one of mine. She’s happily ever after. I know her heroes without even looking at her name on the cover. They’re highly competent in their abilities, gorgeous (whether they acknowledge it or not), full of warmth and kindness, especially for a certain inner circle of people.  They shine. 

And fall in love, usually deeply ,  quickly and forever. And Calmes makes a great story for their romantic journey to the point we believe in them. 

They are fixers in a highly specialized agency, Torus Intercession, which has a  unique and often powerful clientele.  But the fixers themselves often have need of fixing as much as the people they are hired to work with. And the romance between them is quick, combustible, and as memorable as the men themselves.

I definitely have my favorites in the series.  And while Get A Fix might not be quite at that level, I definitely enjoyed this story and the couple. It’s very close. 

 

That’s due to Cooper Davis, the Torus fixer.  I fell in love with him as he helped Ainsley Cushing, mom to big brood and having airport meltdown along with Gemma, 2, at the Bangor International Airport.  Its there we got to know him, watch him interact with Gemma,2, fill a overwhelmed Ainsley about himself as he helps her get her stroller and get back together before meeting up with her husband coming in on the next flight.

There’s sequence after sequence of heartwarming moments, real and genuine in their ability to ground us in this character and the family we will get to know better.  

Ashford Lennox appears at the wedding location, an Inn that’s not exactly what the bride or anyone else expects.  Under construction, ghostly fog instead of photographic backdrop worthy snow covers the Bay and surrounding landscape, and the wedding party is a stressful affair.  As you’d imagine.  All beautifully written and executed. 

I enjoyed Ash. This relationship, as new as it is, is understandable. They both realize it is a hard like and lust with amazing potential.  They want to see where it goes.  I think that’s a great foundation here.  The chemistry is sizzling and they are a terrific team.

There’s other smaller elements I appreciated.  I’m not sure if everyone will agree with me on this.  The ex and how he was handled is one of those.  I think he was very well done. Yes, he’s an appalling man. But even those people have a right not to be outed. For me, Calmes made calm thoughtful choices about him. I’m sure others wanted a more dramatic comeuppance.

The ending was a bit abrupt but I’m hopeful that we see more of them in the upcoming wedding.  

For me, this was another winner in a series I really enjoy.

Torus Intercession:

No Quick Fix #1❤️

In A Fix #2 ❤️

Fix It Up #3 ❤️

The Fix Is In #4

The Big Fix #5

Get A Fix #6❤️

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Blurb

Simply because your world collides with a shooting star doesn’t mean that’s a sign, does it?

Cooper Davis has a nice life he’s quite fond of. He has a wonderful family, good friends, and a job he excels at. As a fixer with Torus Intercession, he’s entrusted with the well-being of the people relying on his guidance. He is protector, guardian, but most of all, as his boss always says, everyone needs to be better off once he leaves. The issue is, when he’s asked to watch over the actor Ashford Lennox, he’s not sure that leaving is what he wants to do.

Ashford Lennox is a movie star on the rise. He has everything he’s ever wanted, except someone to love and call his own. He’s learned over the years that home is not a place but sharing a life with one special person you can count on. When he meets the man tasked with keeping him safe during a wedding, it’s like a lightning bolt. Suddenly he can see his whole future unfolding.

Being on the same page is an epiphany for both, now if they could just make it to the happily ever after without getting shot…

Book Details

  • Release Date: August, 20 2024
  • Word Count: 278
  • Cover Artist: Reese Dante

Review: Jonathon, After All: Princes Take New York Book 1 by K. Sterling

Rating:  4.25🌈

From K Sterling’s forward:

“All the books in this series are meant to be modern adaptations of classic fairy tales with the primary focus on the king of all tropes: Prince Charming. He’s the king for me, at least. And if there is one thing that is consistent with Charming, it’s insta love. He believes in love at first sight and he is often blindly noble. Occasionally, to his and his true love’s detriment.”

Other classical elements of the Prince Charming fairy tale story are included.  A in-distress character who’s been wronged, knights,wicked stepmothers, etc, but all given a contemporary twist with the characters and storyline elements to make Jonathon, After All: Princes Take New York Book 1 a entertaining start to a new series.

The aspects of this story I absolutely loved were seeing the real relationship between Jonathon and his formidable aunt Muriel.  In the preceding series and stories, both Jonathon and his intimidating Aunt Muriel, and her apricot poodle, had by their own accounts here, given a very different,  oftentimes off putting impression.  But here we see and understand the truth of the matter.  That they love each other and Aunt Muriel has always been Jonathon’s most loyal supporter, even when she hasn’t understood his actions. 

Sterling presents an older, mischievous, highly intelligent woman, one determined to make sure that her beloved nephew is taken care of and safe.  If you can’t tell, I’d be throughly thrilled with a novel about Muriel , Tilly (her devoted staff), and that poodle as the go invest things!

And add in Jonathon, who has a great, wounded backstory, but a loving history with Muriel and that building that they live in Manhattan, well, I’m totally invested in this family. It gets better when Jonathon meets and is “acquired” as part of the Nanny found family by Riley and Giles.  Again, another superb pairing and part of the story.  Beautiful work with in this narrative, and so great to see this family again.

Only the romance was a little less developed for me.  I think this has to do with how the flashbacks were worked into the present day storyline.  For me, the transitions weren’t particularly smooth between the decade they met and the time now when Leo is trying to figure out what happened and get Jonathon back.

It’s too jumbled and it takes away from the story as it’s happening now between them.  The best part is all about Jonathon. Then separately about Leo.  It’s not until later that any real new relationship can begin again. And reasonably, a decade and a lot of misdeeds have happened.

More development would have been nice for them both afterwards and a better cohesive format for the flashbacks to really make this relationship stronger than it comes across.  Especially with the kink and their background.

I’m looking forward to reading the new books in the series and hopefully Aunt Muriel pops up again to save the day in some way. What an amazing character and turnaround! I adore her so much!

A definite recommendation.

Nannies of New York (6 book series) and must read. 

Princes Take New York (connected and sequel series):

  • Jonathon, After All #1

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Blurb

What do you say to the man who took your virginity, broke your heart, and ruined your life?

For ten years, Jonathon hid his pain, acting out in ridiculous ways in hopes that one day, his prince would rescue him. But when the day finally came, it was too little, too late after being pushed at and rejected by every eligible bachelor in Manhattan.

Leopold, the new Margrave of Hessen, was the gala’s guest of honor but he didn’t give a damn until he spotted the love of his life at the bar. After nearly a decade apart, Leo’s delight quickly turns into confusion when he’s doused by a cocktail and Jonathon flees the gala.

What happened, all those years ago in Austria? And what went wrong? Both men must confront the truth about their secret, month-long affair and break the spell that’s kept them apart. Is it too late for them to turn back the clock, or will Jonathon get his happily ever after, after all?

A spin-off of K. Sterling’s Nannies of New York series, Jonathan, After All is a contemporary fairytale romance about a young artist hiding a broken heart behind an influencer persona, and a valiant, misguided prince trying to save the world from climate change. There’s meddling family and staff, a metaphorical tower, a wicked aunt, and two lovers separated by an evil spell.

  • Publisher: Bawdy Books (August 20, 2024)
  • Publication date: August 20, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 303 pages

Review:  Where Fools Have Tread (Tales From The Tarot novel) by Jennifer Cody

Rating: 4.5🌈 

Jennifer Cody’s new book, Where Fools Have Tread, is featured in the new multi author series, Tales From The Tarot.  

Situated in the author’s Murder Sprees and Mute Degrees universe with crossover characters, this is an absolutely engaging story that promises to bring the reader additional books about this world and gargoyle guardians. 

Cody weaves magic, science fiction, romance and the mystical powers of the Tarot cards into a narrative where a lonely young man of indecision finds his path, his origins, a fated mate,  and a family. All with a little magical charm and assistance.

I’m a longtime fan of Cody’s, especially her ability to create beautifully realized characters and then deliver a highly imaginative, engaging storyline for them to explore and journey to their own endpoint, whatever that means.

Here Dec Scion, an aimless young man,  still mourning the loss of his uncle who raised him, ends up a butler working for the unusual wealthy Staiano family. Who happen to be guardian gargoyles. 

Dec, a great character who continues to reveal depths of personality and strengths of his own, meets Thoren, and the attraction sets off an highly snarky, fun relationship that allows each to learn about each other as it turns into a fated mates relationship. 

There’s other gargoyle brothers and uncle, Maxime, who clearly need further exploration and stories.  And great housekeeping staff equally well developed and crying for more details.

I was thoroughly entertained and delighted with this couple and new beginnings.  I look forward to more novels, both in this series and from Cody.

Love love this cover!

Cover art: Fae Quin 

Cover design: Amanda Meuwissen

Murder Sprees and Mute Decrees (4 book series)

Buy Link:

        Where Fools Have Tread

    

Blurb

Dec:

I’ve never really had much in the way of direction in my life, until I walk into an eerie shop where a strange man charges me more than I should pay for a tarot reading of one card. Next thing I know, I’m graduating school to be a domestic servant and find myself employed by someone else’s weird uncle in the strangest mansion. Everyone is great even if they’re all a little… off. Except Thoren. He’s a thorn in my side, and I’m not sure how I feel about him dropping his cards all the time just to make me pick them up for him. (My ass is not what he’s looking at because… what?)

Thoren:

I’ve known since I was a child the path I would take in life. I’m a guardian, one of the Trustworthy, and I am excellent at my job. I take my pleasure wherever I can find it, because I’ve earned every second of my leisure with the hours, days, and weeks of work I put in on every mission. Finding pleasure in teasing the new butler is new, but Dec seems to like it just as much as I do, no matter how often he tries to hide in the cleaning closet. (I’m definitely looking at dat ass because… yum.)

Where Fools Have Tread is an MM paranormal romance set in the Murder Sprees and Mute Decrees universe with a human butler who finds his calling serving a household full of paranormal protectors and a gargoyle with resting bitch face who takes delight in teasing him.

Where Fools Have Tread is a standalone MM romance novel as part of the multi-author collaboration Tales from the Tarot. This book is based on the major arcana card The Fool.

  • Publication date: August 19, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 179 pages

Tales from the Tarot is a massive multi-author paranormal & fantasy MM romance collaboration. These 22 books, each by a different author, highlight the Major Arcana cards in a traditional Tarot deck – with some liberties taken, such as The Empress card being The Consort, for an all MM or gay romance focus.

Tales from the Tarot- 22 books 

🔷 Where Fools Have Tread by Jennifer Cody

🔷The Magician’s Heart by J.P. Jackson

🔷Cleric of Desire by Amanda Meuwissen

🔷The Nephilim’s Touch by Morgan Lysand

🔷King of Hollywood by Fae Quin

🔷My Minotaur Daddy: An MM Romantasy by Laura Lascarso

🔷Across Space and Time by Kit Barrie

🔷Chariot of Souls by Morgan Mason

🔷By Rude Strength by K.L. Hiers

🔷Found in Obscurity by A. M. Rose

🔷Twisted Fates by Adam J. Ridley

🔷No Justice for the Damned by Hellie Heat

🔷The Angel’s Kiss by Nicholas Bella

🔷Death Song by B. Ripley 

🔷Arcanum by Ashlyn Drewek

🔷The Devil’s Dilemma by Alex J. Adams

🔷Camelot’s Tower by Brooke Matthews

🔷A Highland Gargoyle’s Lucky Star

by Chloe Archer

🔷Trust in the Moon by Delaney Rain

🔷Raising the Sun by Eryn Hawk

🔷Zero Judgment by Kota Quinn

🔷The End of the World by Drake LaMarque

Review:  Hot Shot (The Elmwood Stories Book 5) by Lane Hayes

Rating: 4.5🌈

Hot Shot is the penultimate book in a series I’m extremely fond of. In The Elmwood Stories, Hayes has let her readers enjoy watching a group of men connected by hockey and friendship find their HEA in a town that feels so remarkably real and vibrant that’s is as much a draw as the storylines. 

Hot Shot is Denny Mellon, a man we met as a troubled teenager under his Gran’s care in the earlier books. There, along with MK and the kids/(now best friends) he ended up playing high school hockey with, they grew up, the readers watching their emotional journey. 

Now, they’re adults and Denny has fulfilled that promise as a hockey golden boy seen all those years ago. He’s insanely talented and headed for the NHL.  But his increased stress over the intensity of the off ice public and insecurities are an issue. 

The other MC is a man who is torn between his ill father’s plans for him and the one he has made for himself. Outside of the family business.

Hank Cunningham, has come to Elmwood as the son of the new owner of the Wood Hollow Mill.  This is a heavily divisive issue as his father bought it from the family that’s established it and been part of Wood Hollow for its history.   The town feels betrayed, the mill isn’t working well for anyone, and Wood Hollow itself is dying. Hank’s mission to turn it around seems impossible because he needs to be accepted himself.

Hayes beautifully captures a man who is both determined to make the mission successful but divided over his own life purposes. When he meets Denny, and both the hockey player and Elmwood work together to charm him into the town and the potential for more, it’s everything.

All the many people who have had their own stories have strong roles to play with getting Denny and Hank their HEA.  That always includes that wonderful Gran. 

Denny’s journey through his fears to commitment and love is equally realistic and rewarding.  I love them both.

Hot Shot (The Elmwood Stories Book 5) by Lane Hayes is a sexy heartwarming read.  I’m looking forward to one more book in the Elmwood Stories before another town in this area gets its due.  I can’t wait for both.

Highly recommended!

The Elmwood Stories-Small Town/ Hockey Series :

  • You, Again #1
  •  Next Season #2
  • Holiday Crush #3
  • Thin Ice #4
  • Hot Shot #5 

Buy link

        Hotshot: MM Small Town/Hockey Romance (The Elmwood Stories Book 5)

    

Blurb

The rookie superstar, the desperate cowboy, and a naughty proposition…

Denny

The press calls me this year’s hot shot, the rookie who scores at will and conjures plays out of thin air. Truth is…I’m a PR nightmare. Seriously. Ask my agent.

My anxiety is off the charts. I can’t talk to the media without breaking into a cold sweat, but once I get through the season, I can regroup at home. Life is simpler in Vermont.

Well, not anymore. There’s a new cowboy in town. Literally, a cowboy. At least, Hank looks like one—he owns a horse, wears a hat, and did I mention he’s hot?

And get this…he has a proposition for me.

Hank

Proposition is a strong word. I prefer to call this a mutually beneficial arrangement. See, I could use Denny’s help with a family business venture, and though I was planning to offer cash, the jock has a sexier idea.

Not gonna lie, I’m interested.

This could be a fun distraction while I’m stuck in Elmwood. Nice enough place, however, the locals are wary of an outsider taking over the neighboring mill. Long story short…they don’t trust me. But they love their hometown hockey hero.

I get it.

I’ve never met anyone like Denny—skittish in street clothes and a feral beast with cunning instincts on the ice. He’s fascinating, sexy, smart, and—

Whoa! I’m not falling for the hotshot rookie. No way, no how, no chance…

Too late.

Hotshot is an MM bisexual, age-gap, small town romance featuring a hotshot rookie, a sexy cowboy, and a proposition that changes everything.

  • Publication date: August 12, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 276 pages

Review:  Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5) by K. Sterling

Rating: 5🌈

Riddles & Rivals, an enemies to lovers story, was everything I anticipated it to be and more.  Involving two of the most compelling and layered individuals in this series, Sterling delves deeply into the men’s heavily woven lives that includes their families connected thru their often dark histories. As the last of the original mine owning founding families of Bisbee, Mercer and Baxter’s animosity started in their adolescence.  Fueled by the difference in their backgrounds, the deep religious beliefs, and the disparity climate of the household in which each man was raised.  

Riddles & Rivals sees Mayor Mercer Hathaway asking his longtime enemy Baxter Dawson for help. Mercer is tearing down the ominous Hathaway House and wants an answer to the famous old unsolved crime of what really happened to Julia Lowell.  A crime that has long been thought to have been committed by a Hathaway.  The answers might be in Hathaway House and they have a weekend to find out before it’s torn down.

That’s the bare minimum of this complex, character driven, beautifully crafted mystery. It’s got ghosts determined by their own agendas, ancient passions and two men who find themselves in a strange place where they unravel long held secrets and their own destiny.

Sterling’s forward asks reviewers not to divulge the spoilers of the story and I won’t. They are far too fantastic. 

I thought the men, their strengths and struggles with their pasts, especially Mercer’s inner voice as he wrestles with the events and his emotions, are so vivid and powerful.

Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5) by K. Sterling is a highlight of the series and a fabulous read.  A must in itself and in the series.

Loving the covers.

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club :

  • Haunted Hearts #1
  • Moonlight & Madness #2
  • Unhappy Medium #3
  • Grave Expectations #4
  • Riddles & Rivals #5
  • Shadows & Reservations #6
  • Heart & Soulless #7
  • Specters & Sparks # 8

Buy link

        Riddles & Rivals (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club Book 5)

    

Blurb

One haunted mansion. Two lifelong enemies. Three days to solve one of Bisbee’s most notorious mysteries.It’s nearly Valentine’s Day but it might as well be Christmas for Baxter Dawson when Bisbee’s mayor, Mercer Hathaway, knocks on his door with an irresistible proposition for the town’s favorite crime solver. Mercer’s planning to tear down The Hathaway House and burn everything inside it to free himself of his family’s dark legacy. But first, Mercer wants to find the answer to a riddle that’s plagued him for decades: who killed Julia Lowell and why does she haunt him every time he’s a guest at The Copper Queen Hotel? The answer is somewhere inside The Hathaway House but the real mystery is: can these two bitter rivals survive a weekend together in a mansion full of ghosts and Hathaway Family skeletons without killing each other?

  • Publisher: Bawdy Books (June 30, 2021)
  • Publication date: June 30, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 178 pages

Review:  Fated Mates and When to Keep Them by AJ Sherwood

Rating: 4🌈

Fated Mates and When to Keep Them by AJ Sherwood is both the third book in the series and the first one that should be read.  It’s a topsy-turvey world in this series in which Sherwood wrote the series in backwards order.  

It’s a blame the characters who shuffled for the loudest voices writing moment.

I read them backwards, of course, and absolutely enjoyed Fated Mates and When to Keep Them, where I got the vampire origin story, at least from Fernando’s family’s perspective centuries ago.  We also get the adorable romance between Fernando and Noel, a couple we’ve seen only as an established mate powerful duo in the other books. 

I really enjoyed reading their journey. If a mafia boss and an orphan can have a violence filled relationship, that’s equally filled with smooching, cookies , music, and flying bodies, this was it! A highly entertaining romantic adventure!

I’d love to see a continuation of this, with some of the other, equally interesting and exciting characters get their own romances.  

A definite rec! 

Correct Reading Order (per the author and characters)

  • Fated Mates and When to Keep Them #3
  • Fated Mates and How to Woo Them #2
  • Fated Mates and Where to Find Them #1

Buy Link:

        Fated Mates and When to Keep Them

    

Blurb

Noel is desperate for cash. So PA for the mafia boss it is, or he risks losing his childhood home. Too bad the job also comes with a grumpy vampire boss. 

Family has been Fernando’s priority for centuries, so why does his adorable PA suddenly stir long-forgotten feelings?

Killing anyone that endangers Noel counts as a romantic gesture, right? Asking for a vampire. 

Tags: 

I am apparently writing this series backwards, so have book zero everyone, mafia, vampires, cute boys in trouble, this story is pure crack, I’m not even sorry, blood and sex, dino nuggies, hurt and comfort, bad guys get karma, stubborn to lovers, music is their love language, mindless violence and fluff, cinnamon roll protection squad assemble!, boss-employee trope

  • Publisher: Raconteur House LLC (August 16, 2024)
  • Publication date: August 16, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 205 pages

Review:  Lighting The Darkness (Carnival of Mysteries 2) by Eden Winters

Rating: 4.5🌈

Lighting The Darkness , a novel in the second Carnival of Mysteries collection, is a sequel to Eden Winters’ marvelous supernatural science fiction thriller, Darkness.

That book wasn’t a part of this series, and that’s very complex universe is the basis for this story and that cast of characters is central to the journey of Lio and Bel here.

Lio and Bel mirror the roles somewhat of the first couple in Darkness, that of Atlanta PD Det. Morrisey James and Farren Austin, all from the dying realm Domus who came to Earth by way of inhabiting the human bodies of those in the process of dying. 

Unlike the first couple, for Bel and Lio, this is a separate and highly tragic/traumatic experience.  FYI for readers because it happens with Lio on the page. 

Winters does an excellent job of weaving in the background information for those who haven’t read the preceding novel.  But the characters from that book and the agency they work for is such a substantial part of Lighting the Darkness, I highly suggest you read it.

The author throws in some interesting twists and a great turn with respect to the origin of the world and mystery. Wonderful work.

One of my favorite aspects of the story is how Winters used the Carnival of Mysteries to not only be a central element of the story but to continue to be an emotional component that moves the story forward.  Truly one of the best uses of the theme in this collection.  

Lighting the Darkness is a terrific story, situated within a complex universe, beautifully plotted, full of fascinating characters and layered storylines. Don’t miss out on it or it’s connected novel, Darkness.

Beautiful covers.

Carnival of Mysteries 2 -2024

🔹Rook’s Time by Kim Fielding (sequel to Crow’s Fate-2023)

🔹The Wrong Familiar by Megan Derr✅

🔹The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt 

🔹Blue Lightning by BL Maxwell 

🔹Magic Escaping by Kaje Harper (sequel to Magic Burning 2023)

🔹Lighting the Darkness by Eden Winters – sequel to Darkness 

🔹You Can Save Me by R L Merrill-Aug 21,2024

🔹Airs Above the Ground by Rachel Langella-Sept 10,2024

🔹Go for the Climate by Ander C. Lark

🔹 Flames of the Arcane by Nicole Dennis 

🔹Midnight on the Midway by Morgan Brice 

🔹Dust Bowl Magic by Zam Maxfield 🔹Dragonspark by Elizabeth Silver

Buy link 

        Lighting the Darkness: Carnival of Mysteries

    

Blurb

Only Light can balance Darkness.

Lio wakes in someone else’s battered body with plenty of questions but no answers. Who is he? Who are the strangers who rescued him? Why do they call him Tenebris and Darkness? And why does everyone treat him like a feral dog about to attack?

Bel Am’I’s home world of Domus died moments after his escape, trapping him in the human realm with a clear mission. As Light, he must prevent Darkness from destroying Terra and the Domusians who’ve escaped there. Failure will doom billions to certain death, but how can he locate and balance a single, hidden being who doesn’t want to be found?

A mysterious carnival unites Lio and Bel, who must work together to uncover Lio’s true identity and stop him from accidentally annihilating the world. Yet someone doesn’t want them to succeed, someone who will stop at nothing to achieve the total destruction of both realms—even pitting Light against Darkness.

The battle for the end begins…

Lighting the Darkness is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series and a side story to Eden Winters’ Darkness. Each book includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains characters from Darkness as well as new ones, alternate realms, a twist on soul mates, and bad guys. I mean, evil, horrible, terrible guys. Definitely the type you wouldn’t bring home to Mother. And one cookie-baking demon.

  • Publication date: August 14, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 295 pages

Carnival of Mysteries series. 2023 and 2024:

  • Crow’s Fate by Kim Fielding❤️
  • Step Right Up by L.A. Witt 
  • Magic Burning by Kaje Harper ❤️
  • Night-blooming Hearts by Megan Derr
  • Go For The Company by Ander C. Lark❤️
  • Roustabout by Morgan Brice❤️
  • Assassin by Accident by E.J. Russell❤️
  • Dryad on Fire by Nicole Dennis ❤️
  • The Extraordinary Locket of Elijah Gray by Kayleigh Sky 
  • Smoke and Mirrors by Elizabeth Silver 
  • You Can Do Magic by R.L. Merrill
  • Sting in the Tail by TA Moore 
  • Gods and Monsters by Rachel Langella 
  • The Black Robes of Flanders by Sara Ellis 

Carnival of Mysteries 2 -2024

🔹Rook’s Time by Kim Fielding (sequel to Crow’s Fate-2023)

🔹The Wrong Familiar by Megan Derr

🔹The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt 

🔹Blue Lightning by BL Maxwell 

🔹Magic Escaping by Kaje Harper (sequel to Magic Burning 2023)

🔹Lighting the Darkness by Eden Winters – Aug 14,2024

🔹You Can Save Me by R L Merrill-Aug 21,2024

🔹Airs Above the Ground by Rachel Langella-Sept 10,2024

🔹Go for the Climate by Ander C.Lark 

🔹Flames of the Arcane by Nicole Dennis 

🔹Midnight on the Midway by Morgan Brice 

🔹Dust Bowl Magic by Zam Maxfield 🔹Dragonspark by Elizabeth Silver

Review:  Unhappy Medium (The Bisbee Batchelors’ Club Book 3) by K Sterling 

Rating: 4.75🌈

I’m a big fan of author K Sterling and that includes this fascinating paranormal series, The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club.  It takes place in a real, absolutely intriguing historical mining town of Bisbee, Arizona.  

Definitely take the time to check into Bisbee, look at the history and pictures, as it’s a great place to go for a trip for its art,  ghosts, and history.   Don’t miss out on reading the author’s notes as well.

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club, that group of well known, single men in Bisbee that meet at The Bisbee Bean Company for coffee have slowly each been getting their own stories and romances. Their lives are interwoven with each other’s as well as their stories. 

It’s common for ghosts, witches, mediums, and the paranormal to play big roles in the storylines as the town is steeped with haunted houses and historical events that resonate.

This book turned out to be a favorite. The characters, Noah Kennedy, younger brother to Hal, and Kieran, a firefighter, are two souls who are bound together and meeting each other again. This is a great element but a tough one to get right and the author does. We see it happen, the spontaneous, spiritual sparking connection and how that affects both men.  If you are thinking instant acceptance, you’re wrong. 

So it’s an intense, revelatory dance around this soul connection that’s pulling them together, while a murder case that involves Noah is being investigated.  Both threads are beautifully written and executed to pull the reader into the story and make them fully invested in every aspect of this book and these characters journey.

Old familiar characters are here to help them and support the investigation.  There are new characters that are also involved that will be established further as towns citizens.

I can’t wait to get further into this series and explore more of the ghostly history and paranormal romance to come.

Highly recommend!

Great cover!

The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club :

  • Haunted Hearts #1
  • Moonlight & Madness #2
  • Unhappy Medium #3
  • Grave Expectations #4
  • Riddles & Rivals #5
  • Shadows & Reservations #6
  • Heart & Soulless #7
  • Specters & Sparks # 8

Buy link

        Unhappy Medium (The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club)

    

Blurb

The cards don’t lie… He drew the Two of Cups and the Hierophant. Noah Kennedy might be an unwilling empath but he knows better than to doubt the deck or turn his will against fate. He’s spent his whole life running from his gift and believed he was cursed. Anyone would, after a childhood overshadowed by the afterlife. Knowing too much about the living and the dead can make life nearly impossible. Seeing his brother happily engaged leaves Noah emotionally adrift and tired of being a burden. Noah wonders if he has a purpose, other than holding his brother back and making his eye twitch. The Two of Cups. Kieran Watts is the one. He’s Noah’s soulmate and his future but the otherwise fearless firefighter runs after a meet cute in a hot dog joint reveals a shockingly intense and sensual psychic bond. Kieran has deep emotional scars and does his best to avoid Noah but can’t deny the pull he feels whenever they cross paths. And he certainly can’t resist the heat and the sparks when they touch. The Hierophant. A not-so-chance encounter with a local witch sets Noah on a path our young medium hadn’t foreseen. Or refused to see until a murderer attempts to frame Noah’s new guardian angel and teacher. Noah begrudgingly accepts that he could be a powerful witch and turns to The Bisbee Bachelors’ Club for help finding a killer and learns he’s not as much of a lost cause as he thought he was.

  • Publisher: Bawdy Books (March 29, 2021)
  • Publication date: March 29, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 143 pages

Review:  Chaos Station (Chaos Station Book 1) by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen

Rating: 4.5🌈

I’m absolutely hooked by this universe.  A science fiction epic romance adventure, originally published in 2013, authors Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen have released this marvelous series again, starting with their first novel written together, Chaos. 

I missed this first time around so I’m so excited to read this series and book now.  The tale of the journey of the crew of the space ship Chaos, specifically two men who have a long way ahead of them before they can find their happy ending, gets a remarkable launch here.

Told from several perspectives of the crew and found family involved in this  epic science fiction adventure, it begins with a mission.  

The universe the authors introduce us to is an intergalactic postwar one, which is still slowly rebuilding from the devastating impact of a war that saw millions of lives and stations lost.  That cost is seen on a smaller darker scale through the wounded, damaged characters that are Felix Ingession, the ship’s engineer, and Major Zander Anatolius, a covert operative during the war against the alien stin. But they aren’t the only ones who have been affected.  And the ship’s crew reflects the fascinating multi species universe of this series and found family.

Zander and Felix were long time friends, both growing up and at the Academy. But the war separates them just as romantic feelings became known.  It’s nine years when they dramatically meet again as the story begins. 

Burke and Jensen’s story is compelling and action packed.  Terrific characters and dialogue, with vividly detailed scenes and astonishing wonderful world building. It’s full of criminal organizations filling the void that the war created, malfunctioning experimental super soldiers, POW torture ( both sides), and a war that might start again.   All threaded through with the relationships , romantic and otherwise, of the crew of the Chaos. 

That of Zander and Felix aka Flick will be long and torturous.  This is the beginning of their reunion and they’ve each been through so much personally that just a hug is a tremendous thing. 

The books are all available so I’m thrilled to read them together without any waiting for a release date.

I’m happy to recommend Chaos Station (Chaos Station Book 1) by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen and I’m on to Lonely Shore next!

Series – read them in the order below:

  • Chaos Station 1
  • Lonely Shore 2
  • Skip Trace 3
  • Inversion Point 4
  • Phase Shift 5 – series finale 

Buy link:

        Chaos Station

    

Blurb

“You’re not real. Felix Ingesson is dead.”

The war with the alien stin is over, but Felix Ingesson has given up on seeing his lover, Zander Anatolius, ever again. Zander’s military file is sealed tighter than an airlock. A former prisoner of war, Felix is attempting a much quieter life keeping his ship, the Chaos, aloft. He almost succeeds, until Zander walks on board and insists that Felix isn’t real.

A retired, broken super soldier, Zander is reeling from the aftereffects of his experimental training and wants nothing more than to disappear and wait for insanity to claim him. Then he sees footage of a friend and ally—a super soldier like him—murdering an entire security squad with her bare hands and a cold, dead look in her eyes. He never expected to find Felix, the man he’d thought dead for years, on the ship he hired to track her down.

Working with Felix to rescue his teammate is a dream come true…and a nightmare. Zander has no exit strategy that will leave Felix unscathed—or his own heart unbroken.

  • Publisher: Ghost Ship Books; 2nd edition (July 23, 2024)
  • Publication date: July 23, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 351 pages