London’s Slough House is where disgraced MI5 operatives are reassigned to spend the rest of their spy careers pushing paper. But when one of these “slow horses” is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must breach the defenses of Regent’s Park to steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but also the highest authorities in the Security Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the slow horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.

Review:

Dear Mick Herron,

I finished this entry in your series yesterday and I still cannot figure out how to review it.  I enjoyed the book a lot, however I also spent a lot of my reading time yelling at a certain character and it is really hard to explain why without talking about spoilers. The blurb conceals the punch of the story, but I have to at least try and this is at least mentioned in the blurb.

So here it goes, when as blurb says one member of the “slow horses” team is kidnapped, another member of the team is contacted by the kidnappers and asked to steal something or “the kidnapped person’s” safety is not a guarantee at all.

Can someone please please explain to me why the person whom kidnappers contact does not call Jackson Lamb, who is this person’s boss and the kidnapped person’s boss? I mean, what in the name was that?  I understand that this person had the kidnapped person’s safety in mind of course I do, but if you need to have your “grand adventure,” at least call your boss first then rush to do it if you so desire. Oh my god.

Again, all members of this team became Slow Horses because they either made a mistake or their superiors decided that they did, so I get that, but this was to me such a disappointing lack of trust that I could not shake it off for most of the book.

I still like this character a lot mind you, such is the talent of the writer, but my opinion of this character’s intellectual abilities went down a lot.

As I said above, I get that it was done because of the desire to help the kidnapped member, which was great and I want to go into what I actually appreciated a lot. I thought that the Slow Horses Team actually started to trust each other and care for each other more than before. Oh, they do not do fluffy bunnies stuff, but I thought that it showed in their actions in the field a lot. I was happy that the characters continue to develop and showed us some new layers, good or bad.  And Jackson may not have perfect trust of his team yet, but if I had any doubts that he cares for his team and their safety, this book erased them.

I sort of complained about previous books being a little too slow in the beginning. I actually did not feel this about this book at all, maybe because I was worried about several characters at the same time and it started too early in the story.

Grade: B/B+

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Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he has done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

More than a hundred years before, an alien named Ulysses had recruited Enoch as the keeper of Earth’s only galactic transfer station. Now, as Enoch studies the progress of Earth and tends the tanks where the aliens appear, the charts he made indicate his world is doomed to destruction. His alien friends can only offer help that seems worse than the dreaded disaster. Then he discovers the horror that lies across the galaxy…

Review:

Dear Readers,
I often enjoy reading science fiction from its Golden Age and knowing that this book was a Hugo Winner in 1964 increased my desire to read it when I heard a recommendation from a book tube blogger I enjoy.

I liked it and respected it quite a bit, but it did not knock my socks off AND I know the main reason it did not knock my socks off! It is not a fair reason at all, but it is not as if it happened on purpose. See I am a big fan of the Ilona Andrews’ writing duo and I now strongly suspect (don’t know for sure of course) that their Innkeeper series main premise took its inspiration from this book.

Obviously this book was first, and of course Simak deserves all the credit for coming up with the idea of galactic transfer station old Earth. But Andrews developed it so much more with the premises of Inkeepers as a profession, their Houses being alive, so many fun alien beings and all the adventures. Anyway, now unfortunately this story pales in my mind in comparison to those series through no fault of its own!

I really liked the description of the alien travel here; it may have been quite new for its time I think. It was interesting and the main character was wonderful. I thought the writer described his struggles really well. I also think that author showed Enoch as someone who is older despite not physically aging while he is inside the house. I liked it much better than what I find in some fantasy romance stories when the character is presumably hundreds years of age (part of the reason why I almost stopped reading about vampires) and the thoughts they have are of the young people in their twenties.

Not here. Enoch is very curious about the world around him and his Guests and the Galaxy he got exposed too, thats why he reads as a dynamic character, but he very much remembers his past and things that changed or not changed. I thought his story was well done.

Now, the blurb if you ask me gives enough spoilers already – I feel like the main premise should not have been spoiled, so I am going to try scratching my head about another character without giving too many spoilers. There is a young woman there, who cannot speak or hear and she ends up having a good ending as a character, but she also ends up being very VERY special and I just don’t know about that. I think her disability and her being special was too connected if that makes sense.

Also, and I know I keep talking about other things in this review rather than the book, but hopefully it is at least somewhat connected to the book. Some of you may remember the Hugo related squabbles few years ago and the arguments that science fiction of the past was not progressive or something, did not discuss the political issues of the days it was written in or something.

I take it they did not mean this book when they were making those arguments.

Grade: B

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The Kingdom of Cremisio is in turmoil—the royal family dead by assassination, a secret heir no one can find, and three enemy kingdoms fighting bitterly to each take control of Cremisio for themselves. If the missing heir cannot be identified and located, Cremisio will fall once and for all, and thousands of people will die with it. Only one person knows the identity of the missing Lord Cohea Szelis, the Duke of Lindquist, also known as the Fox of Cremisio. Notoriously honorable, impossible to break, leaving those who have captured him frustrated and helpless. Until one of his captors notices the ring he wears, a ring that marks him Bound, an old, illegal spell that binds two people together, body and soul. If one dies, so does the other. If they can locate the person Cohea loves enough to Bind himself to, they might finally get the Fox to break…The task of finding that Bonded falls to Jethue Bittersea, notorious exiled traitor to the throne, and an assassin who has never failed. It will also give him a chance to do some hunting of his own for this mysterious heir who is the key to everything…

Review:

Dear Megan Derr,

I have read many of your books by now. The description for this one sounded like one of your themes I enjoy the most – politics, fights and love stories (often but not always exploring from friends to enemies tropes) mixed up with suspense and adventure. In many ways this is exactly what this book ended up to be and I liked that but I also wanted to give sort of a warning. It is not exactly a warning – I am sure many readers will enjoy this part of the plot and characterization more than I did – but I still need to share: Jethue Bittersea one of the main characters in the story is an assassin as the blurb tells you.

I don’t often pick up a story featuring an assassin no matter how non graphic the descriptions of his killings are, however at times here we have graphic descriptions of blood spilled and some torture involved as well. In fact the book begins with some torture too (not done by Lord Bittersea but torture nevertheless). The violence and torture are not done *just because*. It is very much a necessary part of the story and Bittersea does have his own moral code but I won’t deny that at times his *enjoyment* of killings was too much for me as a reader no matter how much a lot of people he did in deserved it.

Mind you I didn’t blink an eye at the killings that characters including Lord Bittersea engaged in during the war when they have to protect their home and their king. Although Lord Bittersea’s motivations even at that time included some enjoyment I have to say. I’m going to sound contradictory and say that he is a fascinating character. Some book assassins are actually way too noble and fluffy bunnies deep inside. The book actually seems to acknowledge that he has serial killer tendencies no matter if he often does kill bad people but he certainly didn’t shy away from killing for hire in more grey circumstances.

And even the person who loves him seems to acknowledge that Bittersea won’t ever love him the way he does and he is okay with it. Bittersea may change a lot for one person whom he fell in love with it but his love of killing doesn’t go away and he seems to decide to exercise it *solely* on horrible people only now. I thought the characterization here was fascinating.

Also Bittersea and his love were very hot together I thought – obviously opinions differ.

There are two more love stories developing along with this one. I think I liked them all.

I also very much appreciated how the story here sent a message – this is actually the kind of message I love in the fictional books. I said the war finally breaks in the last third (I think ?) of the book and one paragraph, one paragraph of the musings that one of the characters engaged in suddenly made me think that the author may have wanted to show her disgust over the war in Ukraine.

“Cohea looked at him, at Oskia, in silent conversation. It was stupid. It was pointless. Cremisio was a small kingdom that bothered nobody, and all they’d ever asked in return was the same courtesy. They didn’t restrict travel, they didn’t levy heavy tariffs, they didn’t do anything to impede their neighbors from working with each other. They’d more than compensated everyone over the years for the damage caused by the dead sea.So many people dead, so many families ruined, because Terek and their—cronies weren’t content with the power they already had. The citizens of three whole countries would be suffering now, from the deaths caused, the property destroyed, the livelihoods lost… for what?”

I have not been in author’s head. I have no idea if this was what she had in mind, but because this is something that had been on my mind that paragraph invoked these thoughts in my head. Maybe somebody else will read that passage and think about other terrible wars where a big aggressive state decided to attack a small neighbor who did not attack anyone first. I don’t know but I liked how it was done. I think I like when the message can be more universal I guess and invoke different thoughts from different readers and still be clear enough.

B+

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Calgary PI Ben Ames expects a relaxing evening off as he supports his boyfriend, Jesse, one of the star performers at a charity concert. But it turns out relaxing isn’t on the program. When last-minute guest Matt Garrett shows up, it creates a frenzy backstage. An A-list movie star with an ego to match, Garrett has bad blood with many of the performers—Jesse included. So when Garrett turns up dead, Ben begins to dig for the truth, both to protect Jesse and to satisfy his own instinctive curiosity. So much for his night off. When the police arrive, emotions backstage heat up, but no one can step out to cool off, because the Western Canadian winter is so cold that hypothermia waits outside. With such a high-profile crime, the lead detective seems poised to make a quick arrest… and Jesse’s a prime suspect. Ben has his work cut out for him to solve the murder under the police and paparazzi’s noses before Jesse’s reputation becomes collateral damage.

Review:

Dear Gayleen Froese,

This is the book two in the Ben Ames Case Files m/m romantic mystery series. I really enjoyed the first book and grabbed this one as well. Both books were on KU and I already preordered the third one (not on KU).

I believe that six months passed after the first book. Jesse and Ben reconnected in the first book under somewhat dramatic circumstances and here we see them together working on their relationship and of course Ben gets a chance to investigate another murder. Only this time the murder hits closer to home to both of them. As the blurb states Ben accompanied Jesse to a charity concert and one of the supposed performers there who comes at the last minute, ends up dead and Jesse is one of the prime suspects.

I have to say that despite reading the blurb carefully, the story surprised me somewhat. Yes, it is clear that a celebrity gets killed, but I did not expect that Ben’s investigation (according to my calculations anyway) lasted about 24 hours or maybe even less. This ended up essentially being a closed room (or is the expression a “closed door”?) mystery. We have a limited amount of people as performers on the upcoming show for charity and some of them (not even all of them!) end up being suspects.

I liked that author did not repeat the structure of the first book and the characters even make a joke about that.

“I sure hope someone else here is moonlighting as a world-class private detective,” I said, “because that’s not me.” “You solved a whodunnit last year.” “No, I solved a keep-chipping-away-at-it last year. I ran down leads until there were no more. I have no experience with this Murder on the Orient Express business.” “Oh, we should have all killed him together!” Luna said. “Why didn’t we think of it?”

The structure of the story is interesting. I think the murder is taking place and discovered in chapter eight, and the book has twenty five chapters with the epilogue. So a third of the story at least we watch various characters, who are about to perform at this ensemble show for charity, interacting. With some of them Jess has a previous history, with some – not really. I will be honest that besides letting us see more Ben and Jesse together, I was not really sure what was the point of those chapters and all the new characters. I mean, my thought was that they all will be suspects later on, but they were not!

There were only four viable suspects (one more person looks like a possible suspect for a short period of time, but is discarded as a suspect pretty fast), and one of them is Jess and once again, no offense to the author, but despite Jess having a pretty good motive, I was really REALLY sure that he could not have done it. I was sure because of the meta reasons of course – one half of the main romantic couple is a murderer? Unless Ben planned to run away with him from the justice system, I would say no and Ben really did not sound like a guy to do that.

So why all the other people were there I was not sure. I mean some of them ended up helping in the investigation a little bit, but I cannot say that I cared much about them one way or another even when the story ended. Maybe the author plans on bringing at least some of these people back and develop them further in the next book? That would have been awesome.

Having said all that, I still enjoyed this story a lot, a whole lot I would say. I still think that Ben and Jesse have great chemistry and I really enjoyed seeing them both on page. You could see that not all angles are smoothed between them after the break up that lasted seven years, but I could also see that they both really love each other and want to stay together and hopefully make it work.

I have no frame of reference of what it means to date a celebrity of any kind, but somehow Ben’s reactions also made sense to me (genuine love and support, but also irritation about some negative aspects of his job that may take some toll on Jesse).

I was actually quite amused about how Ben tried really hard to do a balancing act about catching a murderer because he was hired (not by Jesse thank goodness) to find the real murderer and kept telling himself that Jesse could not have done it for Reasons even if many things could point at him actually doing the murderer.

I also liked that even if Ben had his eyes on the real murderer as a real suspect several times during his short but eventually very effective investigation, he kept trying to look into everything, into other people, into all the motives, in other words he tried to be thorough. I just thought that he once again was a pretty decent investigator, his inexperience (according to him) with closed door mysteries notwithstanding :)

Grade: B/B+

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The CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning British espionage novel about disgraced MI5 agents who inadvertently uncover a deadly Cold War-era legacy of sleeper cells and mythic super spies.

The disgruntled agents of Slough House, the MI5 branch where washed-up spies are sent to finish their failed careers on desk duty, are called into action to protect a visiting Russian oligarch whom MI5 hopes to recruit to British intelligence. While two agents are dispatched on that babysitting job, though, an old Cold War-era spy named Dickie Bow is found dead, ostensibly of a heart attack, on a bus outside of Oxford, far from his usual haunts.

But the head of Slough House, the irascible Jackson Lamb, is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered. As the agents dig into their fallen comrade’s circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world. How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?

Review:

Dear Mick Herron,

I hesitated a little (not much!) about continuing to read this series, because as much as I enjoyed the first book, a good part of it was sloooow. But I liked the characters a whole lot, I suspected that they will continue to develop and grow and at times the first book was just so unexpectedly funny (touches of humor obviously – this series is a not a comedy), that I spent ten dollars and bought this one.

I liked this one quite a bit too and I think more than a first one, because even though the writing does remain a little slow (I think this is just this writer’s style), the suspense storyline starts much earlier and even though slow bits come and go throughout the story, all together it just worked really well for me. I mean, it was clear enough for me in the first book that as much as Jason Lamb loves to verbally destroy some of his fellow “screw ups” (and at least some of them give back as good as they get!) who work under him in the Slough House, he considers all of them members of his team and clearly “one of our own” means something to him.

I also wondered how the rest of the characters that we met in the first book will continue to interact in this book, whether they will start to develop something like friendly ties and, call me an endless optimist, but I think they clearly did :), they just don’t always show it.

The murder described in the blurb happens very very early in the book and Jason starts conducting his own investigation very early in the book as well, but the rest of the Slow Horses get involve in the action a little later in the book and I really enjoyed watching the spy games taking place, seemingly different pieces of action coming together and I had no idea how the storyline will end. The babysitting of the Russian oligarch certainly ended with unexpected results. I have to say though, please do not get too attached to any member of Jason’s team, because the author does not seem to have any problems with killing them. Not randomly mind you, and so far none of my favorite characters died, but who the heck knows what will come later.

Grade: B+

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Can a disillusioned former cop track down a missing girl before it’s too late?

Seven years ago, criminologist Ben Ames thought he’d change a big city police force from the inside. He failed. Now he’s a private detective trailing insurance frauds and cheating spouses through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Like police work, the job would be easier if he didn’t have a conscience.

When university student Kimberly Moy goes missing, her sister begs Ben to take the case. But before Ben can follow up on any leads—What does the Fibonacci series have to do with Kim’s disappearance? What do her disaffected friends know? And where is her car?—chance and bad timing drop his unexpected ex, Jesse, into the mix.

Ben doesn’t have time to train Jesse into the junior PI he seems determined to become. Amateur sleuths are always trouble. Unfortunately, this is turning out to be the kind of case that requires backup, and his intuition is telling him Kim’s story may not have a happy ending….

Review:

Dear Gayleen Froese,

I got this book on Kindle Unlimited and it worked really well for me. Partially because I am the kind of m/m reader who prefers to read not *pure* romance. Oh I really like a romance storyline if it’s well done, but I can easily get bored if the main characters spent all their time on page mooning over each other and they have no jobs and no other interests to spend their time doing.

The bottom line is, for me this book achieved a happy medium – the mystery which is investigated by the main character, a PI and our narrator, Ben Amos and a second chance romance with his ex Jesse.

Of course I also think that this book was really well written, to me Ben and Jesse came alive on page and I found their second chance romance to be believable, because too often when two exes reunite after many years I roll my eyes when apparently all they were secretly doing for a couple of decades was to see each other again. Seven years in this book for me was I guess a shorter period of time to buy that their feelings for each other were still strong enough, and regardless it was just shown convincingly for me. I do wonder though what Jess being a rock star will do to their romance.

I also thought that Ben made a believable private investigator, although of course I don’t have first hand knowledge of what it means to be a PI, but going around talking to people sounds more real than constantly getting into trouble while chasing bad guys.

As the blurb tells you in this book, Ben is trying to find a missing young woman. I cannot tell you what came out of this search, but I liked how it was done, even if I thought the answer to who was the villain was both straightforward and a little out of nowhere. Isn’t it how it supposed to be though? If you keep trying to find the answer and investigating and putting aside the possibilities you will eventually run into the correct one.

I am looking forward to the next books in the series.

Grade:B/B+

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A thrilling race across the multiverse to save the infinite Earths – and the love of your life – from total destruction for fans of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Time Traveler’s Wife and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner – a mysterious device that can predict the future.

Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf… as his husband.

As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple’s story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf’s life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.

With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space – soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.

Review:

Dear Nathan Tavares,

Your book was recommended to me by DA Commenter SusanD when I complained about having trouble finding SFF books with gay romance being an integral part of another storyline. Of course I bought it right after I read the blurb. In some ways your book was a perfect fit for me, it is exactly what I want to read in the book that features romance. The setting was well drawn, the characters had depth and the underlying adventure was very enjoyable.

The book has a lot of social commentary in it as well, some of it I agreed with, some I empathically disagreed with but still that was something I was quite worried that we may end up with. However, I very much appreciated how well all of it was incorporated in the setting.

I have to say though that I also found the structure of the book to be a bit … chaotic I guess. I understood that it was chaotic by design. I think partially because the book chapters meant to invoke the feeling that not only Hayes is filming his movie, but also that the story itself can be seen as a movie and I got a little dizzy sometimes trying to figure out what was real and what was his imagination playing tricks on him. Also, during a major part of the story our main characters jump to different universes trying to run away from the people who were trying to catch them. No, no, I am not going to tell you whom they are trying to outrun, but I think this also played into the chaos I felt at times while reading.  And I think also the fact that throughout the book Hayes himself is trying to figure out how different universes work.

I was really curious to see how the actual romance would develop during all the action and excitement that was going on and I was very pleased with that as well, all despite the short time Hayes and Yusuf had to start falling in love, but probably because they spent a lot of time in different universes somehow it felt as if they spent more time together. And I loved Yusuf so much I just had to say that.

Lastly, since it is hinted in the blurb but not described in detail, I am just going to briefly mention that.  The moral dilemma of one life v many lives is featured quite prominently in the story and let us just say that I found at least part of the resolution quite surprising.

Grade: B+

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WHEN THE CAT’S AWAY THE MURDERER WILL PLAY….

In his will, Peter Laxter guaranteed his faithful caretaker a job and a place to live… for life. But Laxter’s grandson Sam says the deal doesn’t include the caretaker’s cat—and he wants the feline off the premises by hook, crook… or poison. When Perry Mason takes the case, he quickly finds there’s much more at stake than an old man’s cat—a million dollars or more to be exact…

Review:

Dear readers,

For years Perry Mason books had been some of my favorite comfort reads. I have read many, many of them in Russian then in English, however I have not reread them in a while. As much as I loved the noble defense lawyer who of course only defends people innocently accused of murder or those who have mitigating circumstances to help the reader feel for them, to me these books do not stand up to rereads as well as say Niro Wolfe and Archie Goodwin series do simply because I remember “who done” it and am not interested as much in rereading the book. However I came across this book on kindle in the Russian translation and it had been years since I first read it and I figured why not try the reread.

And it worked very well for me and a couple of things even surprised me. The first surprise had nothing to do with actual investigation. If you know the books well, you remember that very clear hints of attraction between Mason and his wonderful secretary Della Street run through most of them. I used to imagine that they had a relationship off pages but of course I have no idea if that was what author intended.

In any event the surprise part for me was that in this book at least Mason and Della had to play act as husband and wife as part of the charade Mason decided to play at some point in his investigation to hopefully clear up his client and when they do so, Mason seems to act surprised when Della kisses him. I wonder if this is the book where it all started from. Amazon lists it as book seven, but I am not sure if it was written that early in the series or not.

The investigation itself was a little bit surprising too, but I had seen it in some other books of these series. Mason really does not spend that much time in the courtroom here. Most of the action and investigation takes place outside of it and yes, it all started with a cat :). It still had a lot of fun action and *some* court room time and I enjoyed it all.

The last surprise of the sort for me was that Mason tries to offer some hint about the potential murderer early in the book to Hamilton Burger, District Attorney who is his constant adversary throughout the books. Again, if you read the books you may know that while Mason constantly bests Burger in the court room, Burger is terrified of accusing an innocent person of the crime and when the evidence finally staring him in the face, he always agrees to reopen the investigation, however this book to me features one of the attempts of collaboration between them which happens early enough in the plot of the story. This attempt does not turn out to be very fruitful, but not because Mason tries to conceal anything, he just does not know all the facts yet, still it was interesting to me, I did not see that too often in the series.

Of course everything turns out to be wonderful at the end, as I said comfort read is a comfort read.

Grade: B+

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Amid the hushed city, two hearts must navigate danger and deception, bound by a love that outshines the stars.

Katherine Schneider’s life as a dentist in 1913 New York is upended when a patient reveals details of a deadly plot while under the influence of laughing gas. As she is plunged into danger, she seeks help from the dashing Lieutenant Jonathan Birch, a police officer she has long admired from afar.

Jonathan has harbored powerful feelings toward Katherine for years but never acted on them, knowing his dark history is something she could never abide. Now, with her safety on the line, he works alongside her through the nights as they unravel the criminal conspiracy that threatens her . . . even as he keeps his deepest secrets hidden at all costs.

Dear Ms. Camden,

I love the fact that our heroine, Katherine, is a dentist working in a clinic that is forward thinking. The owner has hired a diversified staff, lowered his prices, and keeps the office open until midnight all so that the poor/immigrants of the city have a place they can afford, times that fit their working schedules, and staff who often speak their language. As Katherine later jokingly tells Jonathan, she’s probably the only dentist who went to dental school to spite someone but she’s good at what she does and handles her patients’ dental needs with care. Too bad that she overhears something she later puts together with other facts that threatens her life.

Jonathan Birch is the handsome but quiet police officer who is always on hand to walk Katherine to the subway station when she gets off in the middle of his night shift. They chat about nothing while he plies her with luscious biscotti and focaccia which he claims he buys in local stores – though Katherine has never been able to find a nearby bakery that makes chocolate biscotti. When, after hearing about a shipboard fire at sea, Katherine puts two and two together and approaches Jonathan with her information, she becomes part of a police investigation. When the newspaper reveals enough information about the “police source” to put her in danger, Jonathan strong-arms the police and the paper owner to provide protection for her. But who will protect Katherine when she learns the truth about Jonathan.

I can always count on something unique from your books and here it’s a female dentist who works late and a cop who works the night shift. The driving factor behind what threatens Katherine, and so many others in New York City, makes sense given the number of people around the world with similar views and ideas about how to change society. If bombs are what it takes, then bombing is what will be done.

Jonathan is obviously keeping something from Katherine but it turns out he’s got bigger secrets and grudges from his past. He’s escaped from something that has cost him dearly but from which he did want to be free. His lies about it aren’t innocent white ones and he lies to Katherine’s face as well as to his bosses. He also has to deal with a person who gets under Jonathan’s skin and whom Jonathan takes delight in besting. Things can reach the petty level between them but to Jonathan it’s a matter of honor not to let this guy get away with anything.

Katherine freely admits to Jonathan that she’s an open book and doesn’t hide her emotions. She wants to believe the best in people and thinks that everyone deserves to be heard and maybe get a second chance. This makes Jonathan and some of her friends shake their heads but if she gets fooled a time or two while giving someone the benefit of the doubt, Katherine doesn’t mind.

Of course they’re going to clash eventually about their different viewpoints and over how to deal with the situation Katherine finds herself in. Of course Jonathan’s past is revealed just at the worst time and Katherine, due to something in her past, takes it badly. When faced with how she reacts to one man and not another, Katherine has to do some soul searching. She and Jonathan have an exchange about the difficulties each has overcome and that no one wants to win an “I’ve had it worst” contest. Feelings are hurt and it takes each doing some hard thinking to move through and past their conflicts. These conflicts are where the main religious themes of the book lie. Also Jonathan is Catholic and yay for inspie books moving beyond only Protestantism.

Jonathan and his fellow police officers have to crack this case as the villains are trying to hurt and inconvenience as many New Yorkers as possible. But one other person will have to “man up” and put himself at risk to help solve the case. There is a degree of violence in the story. Katherine also learns that even 90 year old grandmothers are tough and gets some strong advice about being willing to let someone do what they feel called to do.

I enjoyed the everyday view of life in NYC in that day and age. It’s alive, vibrant, and filled with normal working people getting on with their everyday lives. Bonus points that it’s all effortlessly worked into the story and not just there to show off research. I’d love to have read some of Katherine’s newspaper columns about night workers. Double yay that the owlets are fine. I would have rioted otherwise. Just saying. My bet is that the next books in the series will focus on some of Katherine’s friends and fellow residents in the fascinating women’s only apartment building in which she lives. I’m looking forward to them. B

~Jayne

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*NOW A NETFLIX SERIES*

Dive into the first book of this frightfully fun series and join the ghost-hunting gang as they defend our world from the most fearsome phantoms!

A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren’t exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see and eradicate these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall’s legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?

Readers who enjoyed the action, suspense, and humor in Jonathan Stroud’s internationally best-selling Bartimaeus books will be delighted to find the same ingredients, combined with deliciously creepy scares, in his thrilling and chilling Lockwood & Co. series.

Please note that this is a review of book one and book two in the series

Review:

Dear Jonathan Stroud,

I have noticed that the show based on these books appeared on Netflix, however I did not watch it. Then I heard a book blogger mentioning the series very favorably and I decided to give it a try. I believe Janine reviewed the Bartimaeus trilogy here at DA a while ago. (I found the review of the first book of that trilogy in 2013, but did not search any further).

The blurb is excellent and gives you a good set up.  Only kids and teenagers (presumably their talents start to fade around nineteen or twenty based on at least one character we are meeting in the first book, but I am not hundred percent sure) have an ability to fight ghosts and other evil spirits which appear in England after dark and cause all kinds of problems.  Kids may start their training and sometimes even their work when they are as little as eight years of age. Once again this is my observation based on things mentioned in the first book, there was no definite rule mentioned at least in the first two books which I have read so far.

Now let’s back track a little bit. The reading age of these books is stated as ages 8-12, however in all honesty I could not put these stories down being an adult several decades older than the target audience.  I thought the author wrote these with such a skilled touch. The dark atmosphere of the “after dark” London full of ghosts and other evilness that may attack you, the constant danger to the kids that fight them, a lot of really great action. I really liked all that. I have to specify that ghosts are not necessarily evil per se, but very often because of the unfinished business they have, our heroes still have to put them away.

I think what I liked the best is that the author does not downplay the dangers our characters face, even writing for a younger audience. Kids with psychic abilities do die in the books and even though so far we saw very episodic characters die, I am not at all sure that the main trio will make it out alive at the end of the book five.  I both appreciate it and dread it, so if anyone who read the books can spoiler me (just tell me that you know the ending and I can email you, or do the spoiler tags which I forgot how to do :)) as to their fates, it will be much appreciated. I don’t want to read book five and be very annoyed.

Lucy narrates this book and the next one. I suspect she will narrate the rest of them too, but I do not know that. I loved her voice.  I at first thought that she sounded older than her age, but then I decided that she sounded like someone who had to take a very dangerous job at the very young age.

The first book gives us the backstory of how she came to work for Lockwood and couple of cases they did together.  I am glad that the author clearly knows what he wants to do with the story and things they have done in the first book, the characters that appear clearly appear there for a reason and I suspect will have a role to play in the later books.

I think the second book has one big case and the events taking place here would have even bigger repercussions in the next book.  The action was almost non stop and if there was a criticism I wanted to offer, it would probably be wanting more breathing room.  I loved the chemistry our trio has with each other, so I certainly would have wanted them to have more interactions when things are quieter, at least temporarily. To be fair, the author does offer some of those. I guess for the target audience more action is better than less action .

I also have to note that normally ghosts, corpses and evil spirits are very much not my kind of thing, but I really loved the main characters and the writing, so no matter how dark and grim the books can get (and yes, I got scared a few times, but I have a very low barrier for being scared, so that means nothing), I loved it and looking forward to their further adventures – if they won’t die that is.

One more thing, reading as an adult, it is often hard to convince me that kids have to do dangerous stuff without adult supervision in kids adventure books.  However, of course kids like books where kids, not adults do dangerous stuff and I thought that the author’s explanation here was as good as it gets. I mean, adults really cannot help here,  because they just do not see or hear the ghosts anymore as they get older.

Grade: B+. (for both books)

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The Whispering Skull buy links

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After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

I got the book from the library.

Review:

Dear Shelby Van Pelt,

For once I get to read a New York Time Bestsellers List Book when the book is still sitting on that list. It appears that the book is number four this week when I am typing my review. I have to admit that this book confused me. The plot was simple and the main “mystery” (it is not billed as a mystery, but the characters need to figure out something and the blurb kind of hints at it, but not quite, so that is why I called it a mystery) was easy to figure out, but Marcellus the Octopus confused the heck out of me.

Please do not get me wrong, I am aware of books that use animals as narrators, I am aware of the movies that do the same thing!  Not as if this was a narrative device completely new to me, however sometimes I can buy an animal who can express thoughts more complex than many human beings and sometimes I cannot. For me, the book either has to be a fantasy to buy it OR the animal’s narration should be limited to the things they can observe to share with the reader if that makes sense.

I think the author did try to describe Marcellus talking as an actual octopus in captivity and that made sense, but then he started making general observations about human beings and moreover he figured out a “mystery” way before the main human characters did, moreover he figured out what to do to speed up the human characters’ thought processes – so to speak – and I was sitting there, asking “What?”  And at the same time, I really liked his slightly sarcastic voice, despite all my criticisms. That is why I said that this character confused me.

This is billed as a story of friendship between the main female character Tova and Marcellus and I agree with that, although they never actually talk to each other (thank Goodness for that if you ask me, because if Marcellus started making small talk I probably would have been done with the book), but they still find a way to communicate and I liked that.

I really liked Tova, I even admired her and this story is also about her living and dealing with her grief over her son’s death (and, relatively recently in the book’s timeline, her husband’s death as well). This is also about Tova trying to understand how her son died, even if it happened many years ago. Also the book is about something that came out of her son’s death and I cannot discuss that at all, because to me this is the biggest spoiler of the book.

The story’s narration switches between Marcellus (first person mix of past and present), Tova’s (third person mostly present tense) and a couple other characters, one more prominent another rather secondary (I think he only got a few chapters but I can be wrong).  This unnamed third prominent character I actually found the most annoying in the book. I warmed up to him as story moved along, but for at least first half of the story I thought of him as a loser.

The ending was quite hopeful and I was glad for Tova’s sake, as I thought she needed that.

Grade: B-/B

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The Kingdom of Rinaha is all that stands between the violent, greedy Boorna and the rest of the continent, and they do so by way of their immense and heavily guarded Wall of Gamala, an enormous undertaking that runs the length of the southern end of the continent, standing strong for more than two hundred years.

Maintaining the Wall and the forces that guard it is an expensive undertaking, one that other countries are reluctant to contribute significantly to, despite the fact they benefit greatly from its existence. In an effort to change that, the king of Rinaha arranges a marriage between the powerful Takahara family and a royal relation of the neighboring kingdom of Aaran.

Hideki, better known as Warhammer, is playing escort for his brother Saburo, the chosen candidate being sent off to marry the nephew of the king of Aaran and bridge political divides once and for all. Shortly after arrival, though, Saburo runs away, with only a letter of apology left to explain what he’s done. Now it is Hideki, ill-suited to political games, who must keep anger and wounded pride from erupting into war.

Meanwhile, back on the Wall, his twin brother Daisuke discovers the enemy is using children to do what their soldiers cannot, and in rescuing them, finds himself in exactly the sort of situation he prefers to avoid. On top of that, his brother Jiro, General of the Wall, expects him to entertain foreign guests, despite the fact everyone knows not to trust delicate situations to the man known as Gunpowder.

Review:

Dear Megan Derr,

I had been a fan of your work for quite a few years now, however this story was for me the most enjoyable book of yours in quite some time. It is mostly me, I prefer your longer works and I just don’t care for vampires (much) or zombies (at all).

The blurb of this book promised a new pseudo historical world, political intrigues, and romance. Of course I am going to guess that since it says Seven Brothers (Book 1) in the title and at the end of this book we have an announcement for the second one, this the beginning of the series and we will be treated to four or five more books. Both twin brothers mentioned in the blurb kind of share the spotlight in this story and get their happy endings, so that’s why I said four or five more books. I am not sure whether four or five books are coming because of a certain event, not mentioned in the blurb, happening here however I am not certain that the event mentioned actually happened with the “described in the book” result. Sorry, I have to be vague because of spoilers :)

The kingdom of Rinaha seems to be loosely based on ancient Japan – the names, the foods, and some other signs clearly point that way, however Megan Derr does not seem to write an actual historical. Her wonderful invented worlds are usually pseudo historical or historical fantasy, with a much more just social order than what the countries she seems to be inspired with had in the past. I am not complaining at all! I am however far from being a new reader of this author and I know that I go into a new book expecting a historical and then getting something else, I could be very annoyed, so I’m trying to prevent potential readers from feeling that way.

Oh, there are also some scientific achievements (one comes to mind especially) that makes me wonder in what century the author wanted to place this story.

We are thrown in a world where war is taking place and one of the most powerful families in Rihana, with its seven sons, seems to be right in the middle of it. As the blurb tells you, one of the brothers, Saburo, is chosen to marry a nephew of the King of the neighboring kingdom. The kingdoms are not enemies, but the marriage is meant to strengthen the alliance.

Saburo wants one of his brothers Hideki to go with him as an escort. Honestly, I was confused why Hideki politely did not tell Saburo to go by himself with the other people who work for the family, because Hideki and his twin Daisuke and their other brother Jiro are actually right in the middle of a horrible war with the kingdom of Boorna and as much as Saburo’s incoming marriage was important, it seemed that Hideki actually being on the Wall and defending it was more important undertaking.

Hideki, being the kind soul and honorable soldier he is, agrees to go and events spun out of control soon after their arrival. Saburo runs away and Hideki is left to pick the pieces and maybe strike a friendship with Saburo’s betrothed.

I really liked Hideki. If I was forced to choose a romantic hero really close to my heart he and Daisuke would come pretty darn close. They are both extremely competent in the business of war, but they do not seem to lose themselves amongst the horror and violence of it and their dreams for the war’s end are very, very peaceful and something they both good at at.

I wrote that twins share the spotlight in this book. They always had been very close and fought alongside each other, but because Hideki went with Saburo in the beginning of the book, they spent some time apart and found their beloved along the way. I actually think Megan Derr found almost a perfect balance between adventure and romance in this book. Yes, romance is front and center, but there are chapters where the adventure moves really fast and it was quite exciting.

Highly recommended.

Grade: B+

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Emmett Maguire wants to be country music’s biggest gay superstar – a far reach when you’re seventeen and living in Illinois. But for now, he’s happy to do the next best thing: Stay with his aunt in Jackson Hollow, Tennessee, for the summer and perform at the amusement park owned by his idol, country legend Wanda Jean Stubbs.

Luke Barnes hates country music. As the grandson of Verna Rose, the disgraced singer who had a famous falling out with Wanda Jean, Luke knows how much pain country music has brought his family. But when his mom’s medical bills start piling up, he takes a job at the last place he wants: a restaurant at Wanda World.

Neither boy is looking for romance, but sparks fly when they meet – and soon they’re inseparable. Until a long-lost secret about Verna and Wanda comes to light, threatening to unravel everything.

Will Emmett and Luke be able get past the truths they discover…or will their relationship go down in history as just another Sad Country Love Song?

Review:

Dear Brian D. Kennedy,

This book so far ended being my most enjoyable gift received on Heather’s Book exchange and I did not even plan to put it on my wish list, I just saw it on someone else’s list and figured why not. It really clicked for me, but I highly advise that you check out a sample first, because first person present tense narration seems to be spreading out a lot in m/m. This is never going to be my favorite POV but for the second book in a row, for me it just worked.

Moreover, I am not a fan of country music at all! I mean I don’t hate it, but every time I try listening to it, I am mostly indifferent. I am also indifferent about Dolly Parton, who was apparently an inspiration for Emmett’s idol Wanda Jean Stubs and her amusement park. One of the main characters in the book, Emmett is an out and proud seventeen year old who eats, sleeps and dreams about becoming a country music star and he has the talent to make it, although of course even he knows that he will face many bumps along the road. I really, really admired this boy who had so much passion for his art and during the course of the story almost never gave up on his dream. I want to imagine that in the expanded fictional world of the book Emmett will achieve everything he wants to achieve.

I liked Luke too, another seventeen year old, who did not particularly like country music due to some past family drama, real and imagined, but who tried very hard to help his family deal with economical problems. In fact, I liked that his family problems were different from many family problems usually described in m/m. The main issues Luke’s family are dealing with is one parent living with a chronical illness and another parent trying to earn enough to make sure they are able to pay their bills and Luke, bless him in the best way, is doing his best to help his family.

I liked that the author is portraying a loving family here, because man I was dreading seeing another abusive step father. Luke’s step father is a good man who is working very hard and still fighting poverty and I appreciated seeing it on the pages of the book.

Luke is also someone who loves cooking and hopefully he will also achieve his dream of becoming a restaurant chef. These two young men just had so much passion about their work and somehow their passion transformed to their building romance very well for me. I don’t know, it just worked.

It worked even though it is young adult which does not work for me too often, but I believed in the boys even if them being seventeen may end up in them going their separate ways eventually. However the on page ending was perfect for me!

Grade: B+

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The latest action-packed installment in the Nero Award-winning Pentecost & Parker Mystery series follows Lillian and Will tracking the suspicious disappearance of a woman who might have known too much. From the author of Fortune Favors the Dead and Murder Under Her Skin.

Vera Bodine, an elderly shut-in with an exceptional memory, has gone missing and famed detective Lillian Pentecost and her crackerjack assistant Willowjean “Will” Parker have been hired to track her down. But the New York City of 1947 can be a dangerous place, and there’s no shortage of people who might like to get ahold of what’s in Bodine’s head.

Does her disappearance have to do with the high-profile law firm whose secrets she still keeps; the violent murder of a young woman, with which Bodine had lately become obsessed; or is it the work she did with the FBI hunting Nazi spies intent on wartime sabotage? Any and all are on the suspect list, including their client, Forest Whitsun, hotshot defense attorney and no friend to Pentecost and Parker.

The clock is ticking to get Bodine back alive, but circumstances conspire to pull both investigators away from the case. Will is hot on the trail of a stickup team who are using her name–and maybe her gun–for their own ends. While Lillian again finds herself up against murder-obsessed millionaire Jessup Quincannon, who has discovered a secret from her past–something he plans to use to either rein the great detective in . . . or destroy her.

To solve this mystery, and defeat their own personal demons, the pair will have to go nose-to-nose with murderous gangsters, make deals with conniving federal agents, confront Nazi spies, and bend their own ethical rules to the point of breaking. Before time runs out for everyone.

Review:

Dear Stephen Spotswood,

This is a fourth entry in the adventures of Lilian Pentecost and Willowjean “Will” Parker. I initially picked the first book up because it reminded me of my very favorite comfort reads. Unfortunately, I don’t see myself  rereading these books, but they are certainly very well written and I find myself picking up every new book, even if I do it with more and more worry every time because of the illness Lilian has and just because the books for me are getting darker and darker and that’s not quite what I want when I am picking up a mystery.

The blurb is surprisingly detailed, and as it states Lilian and Will take on a case of Vera Bodin, or more precisely her disappearance. Forest Whitsun becomes their client. Whitsun is a defense attorney who appeared in one of the previous books and once again as the blurb correctly states is not a friend to either Ms. Pentecost or Ms. Parker. I was surprised that they agreed to take on this case, considering who the client was, but I understood why they did it and it was interesting how Mr. Whitsun showed his human side to us, while at the same time not having a complete personality rebut. He became good friends with Vera Bodine, he worried about her and felt guilty that he did not do enough to help her in her living circumstances.

I actually think that Perseverance (Vera) Bodin was one of the most interesting characters in this book. Of course this is not the first mystery I have read where the author tries to humanize the victim of the crime and when I say humanize I only mean to portray them as human beings rather than as somebody who died in order for the detectives in the book to have something to do investigating their death. To me Vera came alive on those pages and I liked her very much and would have wanted to know her even better.

The investigation was great, very detailed, very thoughtful. I seriously did not care for the amount of rule breaking that our heroines did, but they managed not to step over my red line yet for fictional characters, so we shall see how things will develop from now on, because their world is certainly expanding and from something the author says at the end, probably will expand even more.

This author is actually very good with secondary characters. There were several in this book which were very interesting to me and very far from just being a place holder. The FBI agent, the mobster, some others were really interesting (not that I would want to know them in real life necessarily).

Also the book continues to have some call backs to the Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin series. But of course this went in a much darker direction already and is certainly not a fan fiction of the original books and I don’t need them to be that, but I can see some influences.

Oh, at the end the book has a cliffhanger. And usually I am super annoyed with the cliffhangers and yes, I had to roll my eyes a little bit at the author saying at the end “please not to hate him and there was no other way to do it.”

And I just cannot keep quiet in response to that, because I would not dream normally to give advice to a writer, but yes, there was *easily* a way to do it without a cliffhanger. Do I even need to say it?  Their investigation is completed, Will leaves on vacation with Holly.  That’s it, the end.  The only reason to include the last chapter when something happens to Ms. Pentecost, which as far as we know has zero connection to what happened in this book, is to make it end with a cliffhanger, to keep the reader interested.

Having said that, I was honestly thinking whatever, first of all there was no immediate danger to her life and second of all I realized that I am consciously trying to restrain myself from being fully emotionally attached to her character.

Grade B.

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Matthias Brandl always knew he wouldn’t spend his entire career with the same team. He does have two tiny problems with getting traded to Las Vegas, though. Number one: Matthias hooked up with their starting goalie Casey Wallace last summer. Number two: Casey totally hates his guts.

Now that Matthias has to be Casey’s backup whether he likes it or not, they have to find a way to work together. That’s when a third tiny problem appears: The more time they spend together, the more Matthias is drawn to Casey. If Matthias wants to help his team win the Cup, he can’t get distracted – but there’s nothing as distracting as Casey.

Review:

Dear Catherine Cloud,

I never heard of your works, but Ay, one of my Good Reads book buddies recommended this book to me as “good and proper hockey romance” and I ended up enjoying it so much.   This is indeed a *hockey* romance as in there are a lot of actual hockey games shown and in fact there is probably way more hockey in this book than Romance.  Please note that, this is not a criticism from me, but if you are not okay with a lot of games being described I do think you should skip this book.  For me, it was great, I may not have watched a real hockey game for decades, but I watched a lot when I was young and do enjoy reading a book which features the games if it is incorporated in the narrative well.

But a lot of the readers will probably want to know more about the romance storyline before deciding whether to pick the book up.  I think the romance storyline was a little unusual, because at the end of the book Matthias and Casey are going on their first date. Actually I think the date which is featured in the last chapter is a second or third, but still you get the drift – in a sense their love story is just beginning when the book ends. I however strongly disagree with a couple of reviews I read which argue that the book has pacing problems because of that. Because you see, I thought that the romance was developing if not from the very first time they met, then very soon after that.

Matthias narrates the book, and a lot of his narration is done in the third person present time which is normally not my favorite POV (I usually prefer third person past or first person past), but here it worked well for me. I also thought that at first the style was a little too conversational, but again, very early in the book I decided that this works well for the characters. I do recommend getting a sample to see if a style works for you, I can see some readers deciding that solely based on writing the book is not for them.

Personally I loved Matthias’ voice, I thought he was a great narrator, a little self deprecating and funny too. I thought we could see Casey through his eyes too and that is not always the case for me when the story is narrated by one half of the couple and we are never in the head of the other man. As I wrote above, despite their romance officially starting at the end of the book so to speak, I thought the author made it very very clear just how attracted both of them became to each other on all the levels possible. I thought through Matthias she conveyed just how much chemistry they had. I found it really lovely.

Oh, and no, Casey does not hate Matthias’ guts!  He may have been grumpy to him at the beginning when Matthias got traded to their team, but no, NO there is no hate I promise you :).

I also really liked some secondary characters. Not all of the guys on the team get enough page space for obvious reasons, but I thought Oliver was adorable for example. I liked how the author handled other players knowing/ not knowing about gay/bi players sexuality. I get that it is still very hard for well known players to come out, but to me it makes more sense when at least couple people on the team know and support them, if it is too much of leap of faith to trust the whole team.

B+

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Will fake boyfriends become the real deal this holiday?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—except ex-Marine Logan is jobless and getting evicted. Worse, he’s a new single dad with a stepson who hates him. A kid needs stability—not to mention presents under the tree—and Logan’s desperate.

Then he meets lonely Seth and makes a deal.

Can Logan temporarily pretend to be live-in boyfriends to increase Seth’s chances at a promotion? If it provides a roof over their heads for the holidays, hell yeah. Logan considers himself straight—he doesn’t count occasional hookups with guys—but he can fake it. Besides, with his shy little smile, Seth is surprisingly sexy.

Make that damn sexy.

Shocked that Seth has only been with one man, Logan can’t resist sweetening their deal to teach him the joys of casual sex. No strings attached. No feelings. No kissing.

No falling for each other.

Easy, right?

The Christmas Deal is a steamy holiday gay romance novel from Keira Andrews featuring fake boyfriends, bisexual awakening, a clueless single dad with an angry preteen, and of course a happy ending.

Spoilers in the review.

Review:

Dear Keira Andrews,

This story was written in 2019, but I stumbled upon it yesterday and grabbed it because it was free on amazon. I have read this writer’s works in the past and it was mixed bag for me, so I figured let me at least try again. I finished it very fast and I actually really liked the development of the relationship between them no matter how fast it happened.

Logan and Seth just had that easy going chemistry and I was rooting for them to make it, but man I had to close my eyes and imagine really hard that their relationship did not start as a fake one, that they just met through Logan’s sister and started becoming friends because Logan agreed to do renovations for Seth and they would eventually fell for each other.

Yes, yes, I know I imagined the beginning of the different story than the one I have read on page and I should not be doing it, but honestly this is a testament to how likable I found both characters and wanting to keep reading despite doing a massive eye roll as to how their relationship started in this book.

This book is another proof that fake relationship especially in contemporary romance just does not work for me, not because I mind the trope in theory, it is just every time I make an attempt to try the book with it, it sounds so silly and ridiculous. This one is no exception. Okay, sure I can see how Seth’s new boss has a policy of promoting people with families first.

Note, I am not agreeing with such a policy! I am just saying that I can imagine that happening . I would go further and say that in the romance land I can even see Seth himself ( if he was a different character mind you!) coming up with such charade and asking someone who was a friend to pretend that they were dating and going to be married, still sounds ridiculous to me, but if I squint hard I can maybe imagine that happening. But for crying out loud, why would Seth’s coworker who also happens to be Logan’s sister suggest to their new boss that Seth is dating her brother?? If the character’s actions and reactions resembled how reasonable human being acts why would she do it?

Yes, Jenna is a busybody, but she has no idea that her brother even has casual sex with men, forget about him being bi or gay. So, why would she decide that suggesting that her straight brother is in a fake relationship with her work friend may be a good idea? Beats me.

So, yes, I liked the guys and the relationship, I just really did not buy the beginning of it. I liked both men, even though they both had some hang ups, but it made sense. Actually Seth’s hang ups made a little more sense to me than Logan’s, but it is mostly because I have not read a book where one man not only does not think he is gay, but where he is having casual sex with another men and still trying to convince himself that he is straight, not even bisexual in a very long time.  I still liked Logan, but was really happy when he got over it. I also really liked Logan trying to find common ground with his step son Connor, I thought it was a very sweet and relatable storyline.

C+/B-

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Readers, first of all please beware that this is a first part of the trilogy. At the end of this one there is no happy ending, I mean it is not a tragic ending, the characters part ways because needs must (that’s the most I can do without spoilers), not because they had any fight at the end of the book.

So, because I bought this book without even reading the blurb first (something that I don’t do for the 99% of the potential purchases), I have had an interesting experience in the first chapter already. The foreword where the characters meet can make you believe that this is a contemporary romance. And then in the first chapter we already see Ravi and his team fighting monsters. It certainly gave me a whiplash, but that was totally my own fault and moreover, I love SFF storylines.  Fighting monsters? Great, sign me up, no matter how unexpected that was at first.

And then Cayenne makes their way in the storyline. Just a note that Cayenne is non-binary so the pronoun “they” are used exclusively for this character, so that’s the reason I am not tagging this story as m/m romance. This is not a warning, I don’t believe one has to be warned about non-binary characters, this is just an explanation.

Cayenne is also, at least at first, one of the most annoying romantic leads I have ever “met” in fiction.  First of all they are very high maintenance and once again, I don’t want to spoiler much, but I have to note that even though they certainly don’t do anything remotely non consensual, I kinda felt that they were almost attacking Ravi from the moment they appeared on the page. Let me stress, nothing remotely not consensual happened ever, it is more like Cayenne was too persistent in courting Ravi for my taste, too fast I guess?

But I have to go into some spoilers here because this was the main reason why I found Cayenne to be so incredibly annoying at first.

Also Cayenne obviously knows something about the events in the near or not so near future which connect them and Ravi and I am guessing that this is partially they reason why they appeared in the past to correct some wrongs as well and they are not answering any questions from Ravi, but demand to know everything about Ravi’s past, his work, etc. I get that whatever mystery will happen they are not answering for plot reasons, I am fine with that, but not answering anything about their family while demanding to know about Ravi’s?

Yes,  I disliked them a lot, but then interesting things happened and I realized that the author actually seems to have a rather tight hold on the storyline and hopefully a lot more things will become clearer in the next book/ books.  Also Cayenne has a character arc, which sadly I don’t see a lot in many m/m books, meaning that they are not just changing in the relationship, they try to make a certain change in their behavior, they seem to learn and maybe that change will even stick.

Ravi is just a noble monsters fighter for now, but they have great chemistry already and we do see that he has some interesting potential as well, and the ending of the book both annoyed me and made me kind of excited for the next one.

Grade: B

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