Review: Mighty Quill: An MM Paranormal Shifter Romance (Sanguis Et Fauna Book 1) by Emmaline Strange

Rating: 4 🌈

Emmaline Strange is a new author for me. I just stumbled across her book by glancing at that terrific cover, and realized it represented a new opportunity to see a new author’s take on shifters and a paranormal romance.

I found that Mighty Quill has so many wonderful elements to recommend it. Strange doesn’t go too much into the universe her characters inhabit, except that humans aren’t aware that magical creatures exist along side them. That’s pretty typical.

But what’s unique is how each shifter gets their shifter form or Fauna as it’s identified here is. Instead of being born into a pack of like species, a family of shifters can have any number of species within itself. It depends on what each person’s individual fauna is called to be when they mature, be it bear, wolf, or something totally different.

Strange ‘s interpretation has some new and old elements to it. I’ll get to that in a moment.

The story has, as I said, many aspects that will totally pull a reader in. The characters are wonderful. Cassian Rhodes, the human who’s half the romance, also undergoes a bisexual awakening that’s realistic, and so well written. His confusion is balanced by his ease and openness about the possibility. He’s got a great family, who we meet, so the type of person that comes through makes sense. He’s such a lovely human being.

Thor Ambrose, a shifter who’s been unable to learn his true fauna, and has suffered immensely from that, is another endearing character. He comes from a imminent wealthy shifter family, made up of bears, wolves, panthers , who also have made excellent choices in the human world. So Thor, a small, shy, individual, has been made to feel insignificant and a failure due to a lack of a fauna.

Thor and Cassian Rhodes start off as roommates. Cassian due to the fact that some stupid , out of character behavior cost him his scholarship and Thor because he’s trying to keep his independence from his family.

Here’s where I wish Strange had enlarged on her foundation. She hints that shifters have more recourse when it comes to controlling their childrens future. Something shady or at least, known but never acknowledged among the shifter world. But we don’t exactly get a clear idea what that is. Thor hints at it, his domineering father does, but we don’t get it. Very frustrating.

The slow burn romance between Thor and Cas is absolutely the best part of this book. They are adorable. Each dances around the other, until Cas’ cooking starts a conversation. I love how they each made mistakes and then found a way to apologize. Cute, realistic within a PNR storyline.

There’s a mystery that turns into a murder plot. It’s will lead into a off the page assault. Then the ramifications of that on the person and couple.

That’s one of several choices I question that the author made here .

This is a wonderful PNR that goes off the rails at the end as a horror story. One that seems a bit odd.

On the list of elements I had issues with were:

🔹 Strange continues with the shifter predator idolatry. They are always top rung. But when talking about Alpha pairing, there is a Swan/human bonded pair which she made the human the Alpha. Now either she felt the human was truly the strongest character (not sure) or Strange has not researched or met any swans. So, that struck me as odd.

🔹There’s a grisly scene at the end that involves Thor’s father. As it’s written, it comes across less as a necessary part of the storyline, because imo there’s quite a few holes in the scene, logic wise. But more a reason to have the final confrontation between father and son at the end.

It comes across, once you’ve finished the book, as a narratively petty choice to have made for a character that’s come so far.

Strange had written Thor into a better, stronger person. But couldn’t leave it at that. Had to have a shouting match with a wounded man.

Such a shame.

Strange leaves open ended what happens to several important secondary characters, Leda especially. The police Sargent is going to get his own PNR next. That I’m looking forward to. There’s an. Except at the end of the book.

Mighty Quill: An MM Paranormal Shifter Romance (Sanguis Et Fauna Book 1) by Emmaline Strange was a very good romance that, imo, had just a few too many elements to it. It packed in horror, gore, assault, mystery, a unnecessary and often never used ice hockey element, things that overwhelmed the many wonderful aspects of the book like Cas’ large family and the central romance itself.

I won’t spoil what fauna Thor turned out to be. I guessed from the cover and was wrong. That’s the ranger in me. You all will probably get it right.

Still adorable.

I’m recommending it and will check out more from this author.

Really love the cover.

https://www.goodreads.com › showMighty Quill by Emmaline Strange – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Cassian Rhodes is just a normal guy going through normal college stuff:

Weird roommate? Check.

Panic over grades? Check.

Sexuality Crisis? Uh…

Falling for your roommate? Hold on…

Finding out your new BF’s family is magic? Wait, WTF!?

MIGHTY QUILL is a roommates to idiots to lovers, bi awakening, paranormal shifter romance. Lots of steam, fluff & magic goodness.

Author’s note: Quill is a mystery and it does contain some mentions of gore, body horror, & assault

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Silent Knight (Blackhaven Manor #7) by Arden Steele

Rating: 4.5🌈

Silent Knight was totally charming. Low angst, sweet, and huge on holiday spirit. It should make everyone’s holiday seasonal reading list.

Simon Russell has been a staple in these stories for a while. But what type of being or who he exactly is has never been stated. He’s always been the sunny guy who hangs around the receptionist desk, or goes off to handle whatever requests have been handed out by the Manor’s guests or it’s Owners. He’s a good natured, gorgeous guy.

As the Manor gets ready for its holiday season, it also prepares for the arrival of its latest employee, Snow leopard shifter,Archer Knight.

Archer was part of the Guardians seen briefly in Grin and Bear it. Now Archer’s been forcibly retired from the Guardians due to physical disabilities caused on the job. He’s been hired by the Maddox siblings to work security at the Manor.

Archer is one of the great characters in this series. A magical attack left him without the ability to verbally communicate and with a heavily scarred visage. Archer communicates with ASL. His background is not a happy one and is best left to the story.

Having his fated mate be Simon Russell , who comes from a large, loving family is perfect. And makes for a romantic relationship you’re going to love to read about.

The reveal about Simon’s true nature is part of their mating bond. One more terrific element.

Silent Knight, a reference to the mute Guardian Archer once was is a lovely book about finding love and family when you least expect it.

Blackhaven Manor is a series of short romances that keeps surprising me with the wonderful stories and great couples.

I’m highly recommending you look into the series if you’re not familiar with them already.

Blackhaven Manor Series:

✓ Purrfect Harmony #1

✓ Night and Fae #2

✓ Dragon It Out #3

✓ Grin and Bear it #4

✓ Pixie Little Liar #5

✓ Dead Over Heals #6

✓ Silent Knight #7

https://www.goodreads.com › showSilent Knight (Blackhaven Manor #7) by Arden Steele – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Being part siren isn’t exactly a secret, but it’s not something Simon Russel likes to advertise, either. He’s not ashamed of who he is or anything so dramatic as that. But people tend to treat him differently once they realize he can manipulate their emotions. Just once, he wishes someone could see him and not the demon within.

Enter Archer Knight, a former Enforcer and the newest guard at Blackhaven Manor.

Forced into retirement after a poorly executed mission leaves him damaged and disfigured, Archer figures he has a right to be a little bitter. With his scarred face and surly attitude, he’s not going to win any popularity contests, which suits him just fine, or so he tells himself.

Until he meets Simon.

Mix one not-so-chance encounter, a heap of holiday cheer, and a dash of misguided but well-meaning intentions in this recipe for Christmas magic. Season with love and serve with a side of awkward family get-togethers.

Don’t forget the marshmallows.

Review: The Shackles That Hold Us (The Magi Accounts #2) by Michele Notaro

Rating: 4.75 🌈

I sometimes wonder if you can really love a story when you spend so much time cringing in anxiety over the anticipated horrors you know will be visited upon the characters you’re coming to connect with and the found family that’s being constructed. Somehow I’ve found a way. It’s just that great.

The Shackles That Hold Us is only the second book in Michele Notaro’s fantastic dark fantasy series, The Magi Accounts, but already it’s served as both a outstanding foundation for the characters but also as a warning for this horrific, grim universe where several species of beings are seen as nothing less than disposable tools, or worse.

Tagged, tortured, served up as war fodder , born in breeding camps. This is the nature and foundation of the Magi. And the Shifters have it only marginally better. Be warned. The torture scenes happen on page. And to characters we have come to care about.

And because dyad pair magi Madeo and Jude Driscoll are magically powerful, they are targets so any “misbehavior “ will see them collared and taken to a compound for punishment.

This is a utterly brutal world and Notaro makes us feel every inhuman rule, every legal enforcement that uses to pain to degrade and in some instances kill those that would fight back against humanity and those that are oppressing them.

Each story dives a little further into the heartbreaking , cruel conditions under which the humans have managed to contain and imprison all magi for decades. Compounds become breeding camps, children removed to become tools for war. All seen slowly through the tortured memories of Mads and Jude when they’re able to emotionally to look back at what they’ve endured.

This includes, and will probably continue to bring up instances of child sexual abuse.

As I said this series is a dark fantasy fiction and each book will fill the reader with dread as the stakes build higher for all the characters as the events point towards even more deaths and battles to come.

The characters here. The magi, and all the members of the pride are so perfectly layered. Each has a well developed personality and each shows growth as the Pride and the three magi, Mads, Jude, and Logan (all part of the Pride) face greater challenges to the multitude relationships forming and the ones hitting them as a team.

Notaro’s storylines continue to build a series arc that carries a potential for horrific events and further deaths to come.

I’m both highly anticipating the next book and highly afraid for all the characters.

If you love fantasy, read this. But only if you read the trigger warnings first. You decide what you’re comfortable with.

Here’s the series. They must be read in the order they were written to understand the events and relationships.

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 – TBR

The Shackles That Hold Us: The Magi Accounts 2 – Kindle edition – Amazon.com

Synopsis:

As if crushin’ on a shifter wasn’t bad enough, I had to go and date one.

A mage and a shifter walk into a bar… No, that’s the whole joke.

Magi and shifters don’t mix, and yet I find myself in a relationship with Cosmo, a lion shifter. And on top of that, Cosmo, and all his pride members, consider my brothers and me to be a part of their pride. Three magi in a shifter pride. Who would’ve ever thought?

Navigating our connection while trying to figure out what’s going on in the world isn’t easy. Trusting that Cosmo means forever when he says it? Even harder. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since meeting the Ono-Nais, it’s that taking a risk with my heart will be worth it to be a part of their lives.

The Shackles That Hold Us is a 113K novel and the second book in the MM urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts. It’s recommended to read the series in order because it has an ongoing storyline.

*Intended for adults only. Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this novel.

Review: The Scars That Bind Us ( The Magi Accounts #1) by Michele Notaro

Rating: 4.5 🌈

The Scars That Bind Us, the first book in Michele Notaro’s urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts, takes in a scary, horrific universe, especially if you’re not human.

Here , the revelation that mages and shifters existed along side humanity did not go over well. WWIII happened, countries, governments, peoples and environments were devastated and divided. So too were species. With shifters and the magi at the bottom of the species pile.

I won’t recount it here. You can read it. People so fearful of those that make them feel less powerful ,the prejudice. So they relegated to a status as “others “ ,as less than equal. Easy to control, confinement to compounds. Tagged. Registered.

Notaro ‘s has the ability to bring the ability to transfer these devastating elements to this universe and the lives and conditions the shifters and magi now live under.

It’s very emotional reading when the narrator is magi Madeo Driscoll, compound born, paired to another mage Jude Driscoll, almost since birth. A dyad. Paired magi which increases their magical strength . Which for the government meant sending them out to fight in wars when they could barely walk. More tools than people, or children in this case.

The anger, trauma, and damage Mads (for Madman) carries within him and in the enormous amount of scars on his body is there in his words and actions throughout the story and events.

Jude, his soulmate and brother, whose presence has seen everything Mads has and been there to help heal him, is as quiet and powerful a man as Mads is verbally and emotionally angry. Yin and Yang. So great a couple and yet there’s no romantic attachment. It’s a brotherly love and bonding.

The other love is coming in the form of Cosmo Ono-Nai , alpha of a pride of Lion shifters and the new team Mads and Jude are supposed to work with.

The story has a wonderful found family element with another young magi, Logan Torres, that was rescued from a brutal attack by Mads and Jude. As well as the overall arc and storylines that stem from the tears in the universe that a mysterious group on Earth keep opening up and the monsters that pour through.

Notaro manages to build a continuous atmosphere of anxiety and suspense due to the unstable nature of the status of our characters. They basically have no rights, no say over their future so when we or Mads start to get invested in a relationship, any of their relationships, it comes with a equal amount of trepidation and fear.

It ends with a uneasy HFN.

Which makes me want to grab for the next one immediately.

There’s a trigger warning at the beginning of the story. It’s about assaults that happened in the past, off page. But even without them happening in current time, there’s enough emotional content that it’s intense , and might make some people feel very uncomfortable. Please read the warnings so you can make the best decision for yourself.

Tremendous storylines, great characters and amazing world building, as awful and believable as it feels.

I’m highly recommending it.

The Magi Accounts:

🔹Our Hearts That Tie Us #0.5

🔹The Scars That Bind Us #1

🔹A Kiss To Revive Me #1.5-4/19/2022

🔹The Shackles That Hold Us #2 – release date TBD

https://www.goodreads.com › showThe Scars That Bind Us (The Magi Accounts #1) by Michele Notaro – Goodreads

What kind of mage would be crazy enough to crush on a shifter? Me. Apparently me.

The world is a messed-up place. Especially for those of us who have magic, and I know just how terrible it can be firsthand. Which is one of the reasons I try to stay away from people… humans and shifters especially.

Unfortunately, the NHSO forces magi to work alongside shifters to help protect the humans from taragorians—scary beasts from another realm. Which means I’m thrown onto a new team and forced to work with Cosmo Ono-Nai, a lion shifter.

And for some reason, I can’t keep my eyes off him.

The Scars That Bind Us is a 115K word novel and the first book in the MM urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts.

*Intended for adults only. Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this novel.

Review: All Kidding Aside (Magical Mates #1) by Macy Blake

Rating: 4 .5🌈

I recently reviewed Logan, the first book in Macy Blake’s new series. In that story, Orsen Riggs , a bear shifter and his adorable son came to help with the new additions and renovations to Logan’s team’s office and pack dwelling.

In a short time, they made an indelible impression. So I was thrilled to find I could read Orsen’s romance and the tale of his family.

It’s part of the Chosen interlocking group of series that Blake has ongoing that includes Logan’s series as well.

But honestly, adorable shifter kids and mates? I’m in!

The kids were a part of a drama from another series/novels but enough of their history was related here that we had a foundation. Kids kidnapped, hurt, saved, now heading under the one Alpha and clan who saved them.

Exciting and sets up a fantastic groundwork for future stories as the kids are all different shifters.

There is nothing more connectable or endearing then small beings needing families and love. Macy Blake does an outstanding job of giving us children who are not are believable but have the ability to jump instantly into our hearts.

Add onto that two men with a mate connection each is unsure about, a child they both “feel “ is somehow theirs… and you have a heartfelt storyline that pulls you in with multiple elements.

And it’s not just that child in need of a family…..

There’s a compound full. With dangers lurking outside.

Yes, I loved this.

Magical Mates:

✓ All Kidding Aside #1

◦ Stop Kidding Around #2

https://www.goodreads.com › showAll Kidding Aside (Magical Mates #1) by Macy Blake – Goodreads

Building houses for a pack of orphans might lead one griffin to find his heart’s home.Victor Eastaughffe knows three things for a fact:-He does not have a mate.-He does not like children.-His duty is to his griffin clan. When Victor meets Orsen Riggs, a scruffy bear shifter, and little Gus, an orphaned red panda cub, his orderly, structured world becomes messy and chaotic. All the things he once held true suddenly don’t make sense. Asked to help the Smith pack navigate the difficult world of shifter politics, Victor realizes he might not know himself as well as he thought.

Magic is in the air, and it’s making him long for things he never wanted before. But duty comes before all else, even at a price Victor no longer wants to pay.

Review: Hijinks With a Hellhound (Hidden Species #3) by Louisa Masters

Rating: 4.75 🌈

Hellhounds. If for no other reason to pick these amazing stories up, it’s to meet hellhounds.

These are not the beings or species that are coming to mind when the name Hellhound pops up. Nopes.

The Hellhound species here? Welp,that wasn’t originally their name. But turns out it’s a racial uh soecist slur that was flung at them sometime around the huge Species War. They thought it humorous so their Species Leader renamed their ENTIRE species! Yep Hellhounds.

It’s just the thing a Hellhound would do… see? I treat them as if the exist!

They and Alistair deserve to be real!

It’s almost painful on a cellular level they don’t.

Alistair Smythe, covert op, top Investigator and part of the inner circle of the Lucifer is 6’5” of gorgeous muscular shifter energy!Sure most of the time he’s so adorable, whether it’s Karaoke nite or doing the Macarena, that we forget how incredibly utterly fantastic Alistair is at his job.

While still being absolutely Alistair, in all his magnificently quirky glory.

Hijinks With a Hellhound is Alistair’s time to shine. It also brings him into close working conditions with Aiden Byrne, Felid shifter-Shifter Species Leader. At first what starts out as a clash of personalities turns, upon reflection and a little advice, into a journey of lust, espionage, and eventually love.

It’s a hell…hound of a ride!

Plus this incredible adventure introduces a new cast of important characters leading into the finale. Especially one species that will have you going oh no.. them and hellhounds? 😱🤣. The anticipation is off the charts!

Aiden and Alistair are so perfect together, and this story sets the foundation for the revelation and narrative explosions to come.

How could you not love this? And them? Hellhounds!

It goes without saying… absolutely recommended.

Along with the entire series!

If I only had a magic wand…..

Cover notes. Best cover of them all. That is Alistair! Absolute perfection!

🔶Hidden Species series:

Demons Do It Better #1

One Bite with A Vampire #2

Hijinks With A Hellhound #3

Sorcerers Always Satisfy #4

🔶Sequel Series:

Here Be Dragons (happens immediately after the events of Hidden Species)

Dragon Ever After#1

Synopsis: I’m a one-and-done kind of hellhound… I don’t catch feeeeeeeelings…

Once upon a time, my first and last relationship taught me that romantic love isn’t enough to stop your boyfriend from trying to kill you. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. My awesomeness is now strictly reserved for one-nighters and casual hookups. Sure, my friends seem to be matching up in romantic bliss, but screw that—I’m not interested.

Besides, things are heating up at the Community of Species Government, and I’m right in the thick of it all. Those bad guys are going down—and not in the good way. They might seem to have the drop on us right now, but we’re going to turn the tables on them. Even if it means going on a mission with Aidan Byrne.

I’m still not happy about the way Aidan handled things with my bestest bestie a few months back, even if he did turn out to be right. Plus, there’s something about him that rubs my fur in the wrong direction. He’s the kind of guy who thinks karaoke is only for college kids and looks down on me for licking my own balls. He also thinks that just because he’s the species leader, he’s in charge.

Too bad for him, I’ve never backed away from a challenge… even if it is unnervingly sexy and really bendy. A hookup won’t lead to feelings… right?

Hijinks With a Hellhound

Hidden Species Cast of Characters:

Community of Species Government-CSG

Percy Caraway: the Lucifer . Aka the Head of State of the Physical Plane

Senior Investigators Team:

Sam Tiller – team admin

Gideon Bailey, Demon

Elinor Martin, Hellhound, cousin to Alistair

David Carew, sorcerer

Lily Heath, succubus

Andrew Turner, Vampire

Alistair Smythe, Hellhound

Noah Cage, human

Aiden Byrne, Felid shifter-Shifter Species Leader

New Release Blitz for The Hunt (Psychic Underground #2) by Sarah Elkins (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: The Hunt

Series: Psychic Underground, Book Two

Author: Sarah Elkins

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: December 30, 2019

Heat Level: 1 – No Sex

Pairing: No Romance

Length: 82100

Genre: Paranormal, LGBT, psychic ability, shifters, captivity, law enforcement/FBI, fantasy, medical personnel, shifters, paranormal

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

The Facility is undergoing repairs after a chaotic failed escape attempt by several psychic test subjects some months ago. Neila and Henry’s mission is to locate potential psychics for the scientists at the Facility to study, but they have other ideas.

Neila can’t shake the idea of Nikola Tesla from her mind, and it’s getting worse as bizarre things start happening to herself and Henry. As they hunt for more about Neila’s possible past life, they aren’t sure if they will find answers or if they will become the hunted.

Things are not peaceful back at the Facility as troubling secrets come to light, and the Psychic Underground may never be the same.

Excerpt

The Hunt
Sarah Elkins © 2019
All Rights Reserved

The repair work on the Facility was slow going, but the director refused to forego using her office. The ceiling was still missing. New modern cameras, a phone, and internet were being installed: the works.

Director Lianne McClaine sat behind her desk with her elbows on several paper files while she read the results from her last checkup with her oncologist on her tablet. The cancer had vanished. Out of nowhere. Gone. Her doctor was sure there had to be some sort of error with her previous tests. Cancer didn’t just go away.

Not the type she had.

The newly installed landline phone rang on her desk.

“Director McClaine,” she said, leaving her answer vague. A director could be in charge of all sorts of things. No need to out their secret operation because of a wrong number.

“Director, you wanted to see us?” Agent Henry Anderson replied. She remembered him saving her life. The painful feeling of them being temporarily linked; her bullet wounds healing at his beckoning. He had hijacked her body with his shapeshifting ability, but it had saved her life. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Despite being grateful to be alive, she also felt violated. The director tried to put the latter feeling out of her mind.

“Yes. You and Blackbird report to my office.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The call ended.

The director glanced over the two paper files once more before she put them back in the bottom drawer of her desk. Agent Henry Anderson’s blood work and DNA tests had the same error the other shapeshifters at the Facility had. The results read as if he had just had a minor blood transfusion from multiple donors. There were traces from more than one blood type. The sort of errors that are normally attributed to contaminated samples. She should have noticed the pattern, even if the doctors hadn’t made the connection. They still hadn’t, but no denying it, he was a shapeshifter.

Henry’s results weren’t the only ones with the error. Besides the known shapeshifters, there were two others with the same anomaly: the pyrokinetic, Wallace, who had been killed by Shorty four and a half months before and “Blackbird” Neila Roddenberry, who had killed Shorty after he had almost succeeded in killing everyone in the Facility.

The whole incident had been a complete clusterfuck. Shorty, a telekinetic ex-con who, sick of being a prisoner and test subject in the Facility, rallied the rest of his test group of four men, Blue Team, to lead an escape attempt. The only reason anyone survived was because Henry had joined forces with several other test subjects.

Three members of Green Team, the shapeshifters, used their powers to help the perpetually disoriented group of telepaths and several doctors escape, bypassing the Facility’s biometric scans by copying Lianne’s own DNA. Green Team’s efforts weren’t what put an end to the assault though. Shorty had his eyes on another test subject, the only other one down on paper as an agent, Neila Roddenberry. The woman had more than one ability and the skill to use them.

After a vicious fight between members of Shorty’s Blue Team and the Facility’s surviving pyrokinetic, a nonbinary person named Lor, that wrecked the hallway leading to the Facility’s solitary holding cell, Henry managed to free Neila from the holding cell. Lianne wasn’t entirely clear on what happened afterward, but the two men Shorty sent to reach the Hole were soon very dead.

Not long after, Shorty and his remaining team member found the director, killed her guards, and almost killed Lianne just before he brutally broke Neila’s leg and dragged the small woman away by her hair.

Director McClaine was surprised she hadn’t been handed her ass on a platter by her superiors. They wanted an excuse to privatize the work the Facility was doing. The vultures circling the Facility had only grown in number since the incident. Defense contractors were interested in taking over where the clandestine government agency had continually failed. Private companies like White Rook and HUGO Defense had personnel trained to use the abilities most people assumed were utter bullshit, such as psychic powers like telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis, shapeshifting, and God knew what else. The federal government was behind the private sector and had been for years. All Director McClaine had left was one more strike, just one more mistake, and she’d disappear into another dark hole somewhere. And even God wouldn’t have a clue what would happen to everyone else at the Facility.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

Sarah Elkins is a comic artist and writer who nearly had to give up art entirely due to a form of ossifying tennis elbow that forced her to be unable to use her dominate hand for nearly a year. She spent much of that time writing novels with her left hand as a means to deal with the pain and stress of possibly never drawing again. Thanks to a treatment regimen she is able to draw again albeit not as easily or quickly as she once did.

Sarah enjoys reading science fiction, horror, fantasy, weird stories, comics of every sort, as well as any biographical material about Nikola Tesla she can get her hands on (that doesn’t suggest he was from Venus.) She has worked in the comics industry since 2008 as a flatter (colorist assistant,) penciler, inker, and colorist. She contributed a comic to the massive anthology project Womanthology. Currently she (slowly) produces a webcomic called Magic Remains while writing as much as her body will allow.

Facebook | Twitter | Deviant Art

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A MelanieM Review: NoX by Adrienne Wilder

Rating:: 4.5 stars out of 5

One is a dying man.
The other is a man who died to live.

A nude man invades Luca Suarez’s home and protects him from creatures who cannot exist.
Creatures hunting him.

The stranger can’t tell Luca why. He can’t even tell Luca his name.
He remembers nothing until the moment he sees Luca.

The only hint Luca has to the stranger’s identity is a tattoo on his wrist: N o X

Nox doesn’t know who he is, but he’s sure of three things, his memory loss is temporary, the monsters chasing Luca are called Anubis, and his Alpha, Koda, sent Nox to protect him.

There’s just one problem… Koda is Luca’s brother who was murdered five years ago.

With each passing hour, Nox fills in the pieces painting an impossible truth. And with each passing hour, both men find themselves unexplainably attracted to each other.

Something Luca is willing to embrace because he has nothing left to lose.
And one Nox can’t let happen because it could get Luca killed.

Nox is a HEA m/m paranormal, science-fiction romance.
But be warned, these are NOT the shifters you are used to reading about.

NoX by Adrienne Wilder is a HFN LGBT science fiction novel that ends with new elements added and the author opening up her universe and characters for a sequel that may never be written. Which given the snippets revealed in the author’s notes at the end would be a shame because NoX is a complex, twisty blend of Egyptian mythology, cosmology, shifters, genetics, mad scientists, action adventure, government conspiracy, and , oh yes, hot sex and romance. Maybe a few more thrown in for good measure.

NoX is a totally engrossing tale from the moment you open the story and meet the ailing Luca, alone in his house on the stormy dark night. A bang, a flahs, a barking dog, the reader’s pulse starts to race and you become totally involved in this fragile young man’s world and the terror that is about to overtake him. The writing is terrific, the descriptions are vivid, and the characterization are layered and give these people depth and authenticity. We believe in them, care for them, and often despair for them.

That is especially true for NoX, the person who begins the story without memory. That slowly returns in bits and pieces, and as it does so does his part of the story and back history. About that I will say no more.

But NoX is told from multiple points of view and it absolutely works, It flips effortlessly from one person to the next, moving the story and suspense/action forward, while creating angst and a great deal of knots in the reader’s stomach. Trust me on that last one.

Wilder’s twist on shifter culture pulls from many different areas and genres. The author brings in Egyptian mythology with Anubis, creationism and origin legends and science, plus sheer old science fiction beings/creature of unknown background now set loose. There is also plenty of talk of genetics and molecular science. Except…and here is where it get’s weak…and the author takes the easy way out of a complex explanation or creating one..

“There isn’t enough time for me to explain, and even if there was, you don’t have the education to understand it.”

I read that to be the author saying that wrote themselves into a scientific corner and that was their solution. That happens a couple of times here where the intricacies overwhelm the narrative.

There are several major twists to this story, all well woven and one a real stunner that stopped me reading in amazement. The action is so swift, the information coming at you at such a fast clip that it takes time for the reader to take it all in. It took me a while to realize that the relationship between NoX and Luca is actually very primal at first, anything resembling something romanic doesn’t appear until later in the story. So in that respect, you might say this is actually a slow burn romance as well.

It is also violent, graphic, and very sexual which is how the Anubis bonds. But again that is also such a complex matter, although it appears primal, that it is best left for the storyline.

However, while the blurb states this as a HEA that just isn’t the case. It would indicate that if it weren’t for that epilogue and the author’s notes. During the epilogue, more information and new elements are introduced which opens up an entirely new path, characters, and possibilities. None of which is suggestive of HEA. The author’s notes are further indication of a sequel in the works as snippets, which are given for the readers to look over. With Wilder’s note saying it’s dependant on whether or not this does well.

Funny, I always thought you wrote a story because it wanted to be written or you had the passion or need to write it. Huh.

Anyway. This story stands on it own merits. It deserves this rating because it’s entertaining, well done, imaginative, and I loved reading it. Aside from that author’s note of course. Which as you can tell struck me the wrong way.

If you love science fiction that combines a wonderful blend of elements, I think NoX by Adrienne Wilder might be just your thing! I’m definitely recommending it.

Cover art Adrienne Wilder. Great cover as it also contains several important elements from the story while being dramatic.

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 463 pages
Published April 2nd 2019
ASINB07QD2Q4VD
Edition Language English

New Release Blitz for Foreign to You by Jeremy Martin (excerpt and giveaway)

Title: Foreign to You

Author: Jeremy Martin

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: February 11, 2019

Heat Level: 1 – No Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 83900

Genre: Fantasy, LGBT, Young adult, fantasy, shifters, hunter, stag, forest, reincarnation

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Synopsis

The harmony between humans and fianna, a species of shapeshifting deer, begins to wither as racial tensions and deeply rooted resentment turns violent.

Ruthless hunter Finn Hail and prophesied liberator Adelaide may be heroes to their own species, but they are enemies to each other. With war on the horizon, the reluctant pair must team up to find the most elusive of prey: the god of the Forest.

As enemies press in from all sides, true intentions begin to show. For Finn to save the boy he cares for most, he might need to aim his gun at the very god he seeks. And Adelaide, with her festering hatred for mankind, will have to determine if peace holds true salvation for her people.

Excerpt

Foreign to You
Jeremy Martin © 2019
All Rights Reserved

It is strange to sit in the Forest with a rifle, bullets, and the intention to kill. The Forest is meant to be a place of harmony, where the order of things is meticulous, spontaneous, and beautiful.

I am a blemish in an otherwise blissful system.

My only justification for upsetting said balance is that I am here, with a gun, to silence another disturbance.

“To the right,” Jay whispers, his words turning into clouds similar to a furnace expelling smoke. His voice is so soft the branches seem to lean downward greedily, as if the leaves could catch each of his words like raindrops. With the meek backdrop of the Forest, Jay’s features are highlighted and prominent. His sturdy jaw, light stubble, and bright eyes were all a combination of classic handsome.

I, on the other hand, am classically average. Brown hair, dull eyes, and a nose that’s a little too big.

After waiting in the same spot an unholy amount of time, my body had sunk deeper in Pa’s musky leather jacket while my muscles and thoughts had stiffened from neglect. The slightest stirring from Jay startles me out of my daydreaming and from my cocoon of warmth. Unlike me in the present moment, Jay’s attention and energy are crisp and alert while his entire body leans forward in anticipation.

“Do you see him?” Jay murmurs with thinly veiled anxiety. He scrambles for his rifle with shaky fingers, brings the scope up to gaze through. I blame the cold, or my own fleeting concentration, but I cannot see what he does. The only abnormalities I see in the surrounding Forest are the slabs of meat Jay strung up on the branches like decorations to attract the ferals.

With a huff of frustration, he angles my line of sight with his rough fingers, squishing my cheeks, and gripping my head. Within an instant of the contact of his skin on mine, my mind sharpens.

Allowing my gaze to soften so I can absorb more of my surroundings, I finally see the tiniest of movements. A flash of white that doesn’t belong to the never-ending bark. A drifting smudge in the sea of stillness. Yet, the Forest is so dense the leaves tend to bunch together like armor, protecting its inhabitants from invaders. Between one blink and the next, the Forest returns to its previous state. Not a twig out of place. Nothing exposed.

“Found ya,” Jay says, his voice trembling. I study his nervous movements. Gloved fingers twitching individually. Teeth tugging at his bottom lip. Chest barely rising and falling as he forgets to breathe. For he has the skills of a great hunter, but not the heart for it. Jay was the boy who once found a rabbit with a broken leg and attempted to nurse it back to health. He was the same boy that cried for four days after his father snapped the creature’s neck to put it out of its misery.

I’m not good at vocalizing emotions, making them into pretty little words, which is a genetic trait from Pa. All I can tell Jay is, “Stay calm,” and that doesn’t sound like near enough. I wish I could tell him that we should head back to town, that he deserved much more than loud rifles and dirt.

But I don’t say those things.

I move past him, my boots squishing in the mixture of mud and snow. Each step is heavier than it needs to be, and my impatience starts to hum within my ears with each squish, squish. As I stalk, I strain to find the distortion of the brown that slipped away.

“It was probably a raccoon,” I tell Jay, despite knowing we are meant to be silent. Loud hunters gain no prizes. “I bet you got caught—”

A snort comes from my right, and as I turn, I find a beast stationed between two oak trees.

Its massive frame looms before me with red-rimmed eyes, thick and building black veins, patchy fur, and teeth bared. My eyes soak up every inch of the deer, my heart hammering in time with his exhales. From this distance, the beast is nearly magnificent, practically the size of a horse. His nostrils flare as he paws at the ground, catching all wayward smells while each muscle twitches and throbs. Unlike his cousins, this stag does not flee at the sight of a human. Instead, he lowers his brow defiantly, his antlers posed daggers.

It is an unholy combination of god and devil.

A loud crack fires off behind me, and before I can even blink, the bark of the nearest oak shatters into a thousand shards.

With fear leading it, the stag rears back onto his hind legs and lashes out with hooves strong enough to break bones. I attempt to leap backward, but my boots do not leave the mud willingly. As I fall onto the ground, my rifle skids across the Forest floor. I scramble for the dagger stored at my hip, but my gloves make the hilt as slick as a trout. As the stag brings down the weight of its body with an aggravated snort, I roll to my side so that the hooves bury themselves into muck, not flesh. I manage to free my knife and drag it across the beast’s torso before I make a dash for safety.

The buck, alarmed by the sudden pain, moves his eyes frantically, rolling them around his skull and exposing the whites. Its scream, a noise rivaling that of a horn being blown, attacks me even from a distance.

Another gunshot fires off too close, missing once more. As mud rains down from the misfire, the stag flees, taking blood and the stench of rot with it deep into the lush green.

Crawling out from the bush I dove into, I can hear Jay abandoning his usual stealth to reach me. His right boot slips in the slush as he nears me, causing him to crash down beside me. “Shit, Finn. Are you okay?” His hand creeps near my knee before stopping inches from it. “I thought—”

“What even was that?” I snap, pointing at the crude hole in the ground. Instantly, Jay’s cheeks flare red, his face hardening defensively. “You were aiming for it, right?” Jay is deadly silent. I work my jaw, hoping to alleviate the ringing still echoing in my eardrums.

Jay curls his fingers into fists. “Next time would you rather I let you go? You seemed to be handling it well,” he bites back with sarcasm.

At the lodge, Jay will find any reason not to pick up a gun. Instead, he studies the plants, tinkers with complex traps, and vanishes like a frightened barn cat at the sound of a rifle exploding. I shouldn’t be surprised he’s an awful shot, considering his lack of practice.

“Well, I’m alive,” I tell him, wanting more than anything to be on the move again, and to distance myself from the anger that quickly rose to the top. “But maybe leave the guns to me?”

After a quick smile, Jay squares his shoulders and flexes his hands as the facade of a hunter starts to settle back over him. As the best parts of him get stuffed away. “I’ll find him again,” he promises, and I have no doubt that he will. It’s often teased that Jay has a nose more acute than a hound. He carries a rifle for formalities, but his talents lie within his knowledge of the land. Animal droppings, tracks, and broken twigs are all parts of Jay’s trade. It’s what makes him valuable to a band of killers. “We are losing daylight,” he points out. “And we’re approaching Falling Rock.”

Are we that far out? I think, dazed. With Jay, time isn’t something I usually keep up on. When we were young, I would battle fatigue for one more hour with him.

I scratch at my neckline where sweat starts to bead. “Well, I left you a blood trail, so my portion of help is exhausted.” I let the edges of my lips rise, and Jay accepts it with a nod. This is how comrades treat one another.

Right?

Jay rises, body hunched close to the ground as he follows the red through the bushes.

Once upon a time, back when it became evident a gun only felt natural in one of our grips, Jay tried teaching me the art of tracking, taking great pride in his skill. But at that age, when I was young and full of pride, I pretended it didn’t interest me. Eventually, after I’d declined his guiding hand enough many times, Jay stopped trying to explain his methods to me.

Today, Jay is further removed, his words shorter than usual. The same tension sparking between us with the simplest of blunders, or the slightest of nods, because this is the first time Jay is tracking a feral.

The first time I have been tasked with killing a feral.

This feral is a rarity. The majority of the ferals stay in the Forest, killing what crosses their paths. Yet, this particular beast had entered human territory, killing a farmer and his wife before peeling back into the trees. It makes our mission important. It is more than just killing.

It is justice.

After a rough mile of trekking over minor cliffs and rocky outposts, Jay brings me to a halt with a snap of his wrist. As he shrinks down, I mimic him. Pointing at the snow, he shows me a large divot in the otherwise perfect layer of white. I don’t need to be a tracker to know the buck must have slipped on ice, crashing into the remaining snow and splashing against the fluff like a sponge full of red paint.

I pop two bullets into my rifle, check the safety, and snap the chambers shut. Slinging the gun onto my back, I notice that Jay’s eyes barely leave the blood, lost in the color. Doubt is starting to build upon his shoulders, gnawing at his edges.

“Are you ready?” I ask. He doesn’t know it, but the same uneasiness lines my stomach.

“We’ve come this far,” he tells me. He takes a bold step forward, and I can do nothing but follow. Despite the ground dropping away into a steep slope, it is clear the feral struggled up the side of the mountain.

Jay begins climbing first, taking fistfuls of roots and rocks, to propel himself along. As we move, the blood remains consistent on our right. Before long, Jay crawls over the top of the outpost, disappearing for a moment before reappearing to hoist me up. Once we are on even ground, I want to thank him, crack a joke, or anything, but my words are swallowed up as I look over Jay’s shoulder and across the plateau.

I follow red snow until I find the once four-legged stag wobbling on two legs, erect for a breath before plummeting onto his knees. There is blood all over his body, tainting his skin like a rampant infection. Even from here, I can see his muscles quivering and shaking, his body burning off the gentle flakes that land on his shoulders.

His frail human shoulders.

Every part of him seems at war as he spasms and writhes. Despite the fur drifting off his body in decaying clumps, his antlers still hang from his brow, holding steady in the air with crimson stains along the tines.

I snap my rifle in front of me.

When the stag turns to me, he tries to raise his hands. Hands that should be human but are jagged and blackened. A droplet of blood creeps from his eye and down his cheek and drips onto his bare leg.

It is clear he is suffering, caught between two bodies.

I hear him mumbling, but I can’t make out the individual words. Despite my head screaming, don’t get any closer, you idiot, I find my boots propelling me forward. As I near the fiend, his voice breaks like a young boy in puberty. “Begin again,” he raves. “Begin again, begin again—” he lets out a tangle of screams, his claws tearing into his cheeks. “Pain, pain, rebirth.”

“Finn,” Jay says, grabbing my shoulder with his giant hands, startling me from my daze. “It might not be too late. We might be able to help him.”

“He is sick,” I say. I stare at a point behind the beast, letting my words flood me with false confidence. “He is just an animal.” It is Pa logic. Town logic.

“Wait, Finn,” Jay pleads. None of the other hunters would hesitate to kill the feral, I want to tell him. Not after the feral’s hands were stained with blood. Blood from Norsewood.

“He’s changing—”

“It’s too late for that,” I tell him sternly. “He has already done enough damage.”

Jay looks away, squinting into the distance. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

Killing never feels right, I want to tell him. But in the seconds I take my eyes off him, the feral lunges at me, fangs angled at my throat.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

Jeremy Martin, born and raised in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, considers himself to be a part-time writer and a full-time mess. If he isn’t nose-deep in a book, he’s obsessively playing video games, re-watching The Office for the umpteenth time, or lost in nature. Foreign to You is his debut novel.

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Book Blast – Omega Challenge (Pine Creek Lake Den #4) by Quinn Michaels (excerpt)

BOOK BLAST

Book Title: Omega Challenge

Series: Pine Creek Lake Den, Book 4

Author: Quinn Michaels

Publisher: Global Grafx Press

Cover Artist: Pebbles Davis

Genre/s: Genre/s: gay romance, MMM, menage, omegaverse, mpreg, paranormal, wereshifters

Length: 35,920 words

Release Date: September 26, 2018

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Buy Links

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Link to chapters and all platforms

Blurb

One is forsworn. One is forsaken. One will pay.

Noah and Luther are in love. The problem, Luther is a beta, Noah is an omega, and their mating is forbidden. Worse, if Noah can’t find an acceptable alpha in the next three days, he will have no choice but to mate with Raymond, an alpha he despises.

Then Arthur arrives, and everything falls apart.

Arthur is an alpha with a secret. He and his mother were betrayed, and both wear the mark of it. Now, Arthur will stop at nothing to make the alpha who cursed them pay. Now, with revenge in his teeth, Arthur’s own body betrays him. Twice. Will Arthur sacrifice love and happiness for vengeance? Or will he choose another path?

Find out in Omega Challenge an action-packed Omegaverse romance. This is a short book set prior to the events of the other three books of the Pine Creek Lake series.

If you love shifters, mmm menage, alpha, omega, and beta dynamics, adventure, magic, and a touch of mpreg, grab Omega Challenge now!

Excerpt

The rock was red and rust-brown with fallen blood when the stranger approached.

He was large, blonde with a scruffy beard and a patch over his left eye. His right eye was gray. He wore a wide-brimmed cowboy hat, riding shirt and dungarees. Even from a distance, even through the smell of blood, this alpha’s scent was powerful. Noah felt something inside of him stir, like a vibrating banjo string only he could hear. To his embarrassment, his cock thickened.

Noah quickly averted his gaze. He took a gulp from a glass of lemonade he had been holding, and then, still feeling thirsty, he drank the last of it down.

Luther grazed his fingers over Noah’s neck, a seemingly absent touch, but one that grounded Noah. He didn’t dare look at the beta. His face was hot. He loved Luther, and this sudden attraction was a betrayal of the promises he’d made himself.

If only the alpha would leave. But no, he took his place in line behind another pair of alphas preparing to shed their blood and enter the Cluiche.

The stranger had a scar running from his hairline down his temple and beneath the eyepatch to the center of his cheek. Noah’s sight flashed. He saw a young, female omega wolf snapping her teeth. The edges of her muzzle were splattered with blood.

Noah blinked. In his moon vision, the alpha’s scar was a shimmering silver line.

Noah swallowed, wishing he had more lemonade.

The alpha approached the rock. “This is where I bleed for the challenge?”

Horace was quiet, and Noah scented fear on him.

Fear?

“Yes,” Noah said. The vision was beginning to fade, thankfully, but he couldn’t push away his attraction.

In one fluid motion, the stranger swiped a silver dagger over his palm. Squeezing his hand tight, he let three drops fall on to the stone. “I am Arthur, son of Marion,” he said, giving his family line and no pack affiliation.

A mutt.

Odd considering his youth and obvious physical strength. A small pack would have wanted an alpha and accepted him unless he had some deeper problem of disposition or character. Or maybe he was entering the Cluiche with the intention of proving himself so that he might join one of the packs here?

The stranger, Arthur turned to leave.

Horace said, “Wait.”

The stranger turned back around. He cocked his head. “Yes?”

“Show us your eye. Under the patch.”

Horace didn’t have the sight. He hadn’t seen the scar shimmer, had he?

“The Cluiche is open to all,” Arthur said. “Pack or no.”

Noah leaned towards Horace and whispered, “He’s right. There’s no reason to embarrass him this way.”

Horace said, “Show us your eye, mutt.”

Arthur reached up and, taking the patch in a tight, almost white-knuckled grip, yanked it down. Where Noah had expected to see a hollow space, scarred and sewn over, the eye was amber. A wolf’s eye with the pupil rimmed in red and a line of white through the center, following the path of his scar.

Noah’s breath caught. Around him, the others went silent.

About the Author

Pennsylvania native, Quinn Michaels loves fantasy, werewolves and M/M mpreg romance! Her goal is to write action-packed adventures of romance, self-discovery, and second chances, all served up with a hefty helping of sweet, sexy Omegas and hot, determined Alphas who will do anything to cherish, love, and protect them. She is ecstatic to share her characters and worlds, and she hopes you enjoy them (and the sexy times!)

Her books are available on Kindle, via Gumroad directly, and also on Nook, iBooks, Kobo & Google Play.

Author Links