Skeletons in the Closet Author: Kayla Bain-Vrba Title: Skeletons in the Closet Series: None Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/M, Bi Rating: Three Petals On the Publisher's Website: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books... Summary: It's no secret that Riley used to practice dark magic, but he gave it up gladly when he fell in love with Landon. But Riley has spent the last year trying to shield Landon from just how dark his past really was, desperate to keep him safe and hold on to their fragile relationship. Then Dyami, Riley's old partner, returns to town and threatens to kill them both if Riley doesn't return to his old ways… Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This story was a cute bit of fun. Riley has sworn off dark magic and is very happy in his relationship with Landon. He had to suppress the part of himself that used to revel in his evil power in order to create a happy life, which I thought gave him a nice touch of depth. Landon was also an interesting character. He knows Riley is holding back, but can't figure out how to convince Riley that Landon is able to handle even Riley's strongest powers. Then Dyami appears and throws a wrench into their relationship. Riley and Landon both share the spotlight, but at times I found myself struggling to keep track of whose perspective was in charge. I think that was because Riley and Landon's voices were too similar. While they were both interesting people, it did feel like the only significant difference between them was their upbringing, which made them hard to tell apart. I did like the dynamic between them and I did feel their love and their desperation to keep each other alive while fighting against Dyami's schemes, which I feel saved the book from becoming monotonous. The story also felt a bit like a snapshot: a single, significant spot of time in the characters' larger story. I feel like there could have been a much larger plot and this small section was chopped off instead. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy reading the book, but there was something missing because of it. Maggie's Recommendation: I found this story cute and fun, so I do recommend it. However, I had difficulties telling the two main characters apart at times and felt like there was something missing to the overall plot. This was a good read that needed just a bit more to be great.
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The Dragon Round Author: Stephen S. Power Title: The Dragon Round Series: The Dragon Round Genre: High Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://stephenspower.com/novels/ Summary: A swashbuckling adventure with a dark side for fans of George R.R. Martin and Naomi Novik—when a ship captain is stranded on a deserted island by his mutinous crew, he finds a baby dragon that just might be the key to his salvation…and his revenge. He only wanted justice. Instead he got revenge. Jeryon has been the captain of the Comber for over a decade. He knows the rules. He likes the rules. But not everyone on his ship agrees. After a monstrous dragon attacks the galley, the surviving crewmembers decide to take the ship for themselves and give Jeryon and his self-righteous apothecary “the captain’s chance”: a small boat with no rudder, no sails, and nothing but the clothes on his back to survive on the open sea. Fighting for their lives against the elements, Jeryon and his companion land on an island that isn’t as deserted as they originally thought. They find a baby dragon that, if trained, could be their way home. But as Jeryon and the dragon grow closer, the captain begins to realize that even if he makes it off the island, his old life won't be waiting for him and in order get justice, he’ll have to take it for himself. From a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet and speculative short story writer, The Dragon Round combines a rich world, desperate characters, and gorgeous, literary fiction into a timeless tale of revenge. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Dragon Round is an elaborate and beautifully descriptive story that gripped my interest from the first word all the way to the very end. Jeryon was captain of his own ship until his crew committed mutiny and he ended up marooned on the island. The plot only grew in depth and complexity from there with twists and turns that kept me turning the pages even when I had other things to be doing. The best part of this story is definitely the dragons. The descriptions of their bodies, from details like how they darken to black with age, to how valuable their bones are, were amazingly done. I thought the baby dragon was cute and the way Jeryon had to learn to interact with dragons was beautifully crafted. My only complaint about this story is the language used. For example, when Jeryon is on his ship in the beginning of the story he used terms to describe the ship that went right over my head. I admit to my ignorance about boats in general, but at times it also felt like he was using words specifically crafted for the wonderful world he created in this book. Using those words without more than the context of the sentence to give me a definition made the book a bit difficult to read. It also gave the story another level of authenticity--and I don't mind digging out a dictionary to look up a few new words--but it felt a touch excessive at times. Maggie's Recommendation: The Dragon Round is a beautifully written book with dragons that kept my interest for the entire story. I enjoyed the plot and the twists and turns a lot, but I found the descriptive language to be a touch excessive. I do recommend this story. Angel's Honor Author: Erin M. Leaf Title: Angel's Honor Series: Angel Shifters 1 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Pairing: M/M Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: http://erinmleaf.com/books/angel-shifters-series/angels-honor/ Summary: Raphael had no idea what he was getting into when he went to Castle Archangel to study the People’s oral history. He didn’t expect his wings to suddenly change from brown to the purest white—the mark of an Omega, the destined mate of the Alpha. There has never been a male Omega before, not in all the millennia angels have flown the skies of Earth. However, when Raphael meets ebony-winged Gabriel, the true leader of the People, he knows he wants this man more than anything. Change is not always bad. When Gabriel’s wings suddenly turn to startling ebony, he must deal with the knowledge that he is an Alpha, a leader of the angels. When he discovers that his destined mate is a man, he must accept that being Alpha of the People means accepting more than he’d expected. When their current leader challenges him, accusing Gabriel of committing one of the People’s most dishonorable crimes, Gabriel must fight: for his honor, for his mate, and for the survival of the angels. Maggie's Review:
I thought this book showed an amazing amount of creativity. The world and the powers Leaf created were very interesting and I really enjoyed reading them. The rest of the book unfortunately fell short in comparison. Angels are another kind of human that evolved with wings and strange powers. They lived in hiding for generations until they were recently revealed to the human world and have since been trying to integrate their societies. The angels are unfortunately led by an evil despot, which added a political edge to the story that I really liked. I thought the angel's wings were also very interesting. When an angel is in human form the wings are beautiful tattoos, but when the angel returns to angel form they become real, feathered wings big enough for flight. The feathers change color based on an angel's ranking and on their powers. Aside from that, I found this book to be utterly vapid. There is absolutely no depth at all. When Gabriel and Raphael come into their powers, they both suddenly know the other man is their mate. They meet, almost for the first time, and without even having one full conversation they're flying away to have ridiculous airborne sex that indicates they'll be together and happy forever. This wasn't just insta-love, this was missing the entire buildup to any sort of real relationship. I also thought the fight with the evil leader of the angels was terrible. Gabriel came into his powers and the evil leader immediately said let's fight. There was so much potential for political dealing, for sabotage, or even working the court, and instead they have a meaningless fight. And then, poof, suddenly there are demons. There's no buildup, no explanation that more than just angels and humans exist, and there's no description of the consequences of what demons in the human world means. Leaf just stated that demons are bad and must be defeated. I didn't find it to be believable at all. Maggie's Recommendation: This book had so much potential that it didn't live up to. The angels were very interesting and I liked the description of their wings. However, the rest of the book utterly lacked depth. The romance was too fast and the fight against the enemy completely unrealistic. I have decided to read the next book in the series because of the angels, but I still can't recommend this book. TrickedAuthor: Kevin Hearne Title: Tricked Series: Iron Druid Chronicles 4 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/F Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: http://kevinhearne.com/books/tricked/ Summary: Druid Atticus O’Sullivan hasn’t stayed alive for more than two millennia without a fair bit of Celtic cunning. So when vengeful thunder gods come Norse by Southwest looking for payback, Atticus, with a little help from the Navajo trickster god Coyote, lets them think that they’ve chopped up his body in the Arizona desert. But the mischievous Coyote is not above a little sleight of paw, and Atticus soon finds that he’s been duped into battling bloodthirsty desert shapeshifters called skinwalkers. Just when the Druid thinks he’s got a handle on all the duplicity, betrayal comes from an unlikely source. If Atticus survives this time, he vows he won’t be fooled again. Famous last words. Maggie's Review:
This series has been slowly but steadily heading downhill. It started off so interesting with the druid magic and the main character that was always so funny, yet so strong. While all of that is still there, I'm finding that each successive book is losing a little of its charm. Tricked was a low point for me in the series and I haven't been able to get myself to pick up the next book. Atticus is still busy paying off the favors he owes for the stupid things he got embroiled in during the previous books. In this story he owes Coyote, a Native American God, a big favor which includes helping to bring gold to the desert. On the way he has to figure out a way to defeat evil skinwalkers and survive to actually pay the favor back. The best part of the book was definitely the research Hearne had to do for the Native American rituals and customs. I have always found that Hearne and Atticus really bring to life the various peoples they encounter in the stories and I enjoyed reading about the Native American information piled into this story. I didn't like Atticus again, which is a problem considering he's the main character. I know I said this before in a previous review for the series, but it's still bothering me. He's such a smart guy and he has survived for thousands of years on his ingenuity alone. All the scrambling he has to do in order to keep his head attached feels exceedingly thoughtless, which doesn't match with his character. I also though the plot itself lacked depth. While there was plenty of description to build the world, I don't think Atticus actually did much of anything to then utilize that in figuring out how to survive Coyote's schemes. Instead he floated along like a leaf caught in a river current, doing almost nothing except react too late to the rocks thrown in his path. I was very underwhelmed by the plot and by Atticus himself. Maggie's Recommendation: The first book in the series had so much potential to lead to wonderful things, but I've found each successive book got progressively worse until I reached Tricked and realized this was the last straw. Tricked lacked depth, Atticus was far too idiotic for the role he was supposed to fill, and overall I was completely disappointed. I can't recommend this book and I haven't been able to pick up the next one in this series. How Not to Summon Your True Love Author: Sasha L. Miller Title: How Not to Summon Your True Love Series: Part of the Solitary Travelers Collection Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/M, Ace Rating: Three Petals On the Author's Website: http://www.sashalmiller.com/ Summary: Though it doesn't really come as a surprise, Cy is still crushed when he's dumped. His relationship with Alex had lasted longer than all previous attempts, and started promising when Alex had proclaimed he was perfectly okay with Cy being asexual. On impulse, convinced no one will ever really see him as worthy relationship material, Cy turns to a book that belonged to his late mother, a grimoire of magic spells that obviously won't work. It's a stupid idea, and even if magic was real there's no way a true love summoning spell would work for him... Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The summary makes this story sound unbelievably interesting and in many ways it holds up to that, but in too many others I found it fell short. Cy is a young man that is struggling to find himself. He knows he's asexual and that he prefers men, but finding a guy to understand him and love him because of that rather than looking for a way to work around it isn't easy. Couple that with his depression over his father's recent death and his current boyfriend dumping him and Cy is a time-bomb waiting to happen. It therefore comes as no surprise that when he finds a spell book he decides to try a spell to summon his true love. That part of the story I really enjoyed. The romance started off slow with a few well-crafted funny moments and grew steadily into a relationship of mutual respect. Even at the end of the book when they finally agree to date in a very awkward conversation, I felt their love. It almost made up for the plot holes that riddle the rest of the book. I do understand why the magic system Miller created for this world wasn't well explained. Cy is completely ignorant of magic even though he can apparently cast spells and there wasn't enough time for him--and therefore the reader--to learn everything about it. However, there was a lot of emphasis on magical families and territories, which I thought was only halfheartedly explained. In particular, the territory that Cy is forced to run from after accidentally summoning Dig is supposedly run by an evil family. However, I saw very little sign of that in the book. Cy's flight from harm is supposed to feel like a life or death situation, but it didn't come across that way. Ethan, Cy's roommate seems like a perfectly nice guy the few times we meet him and it isn't a stretch to believe that at first he thinks he's saving Cy from being kidnapped. Only once Dig has cemented the fact that Ethan is affiliated with a bad magical family do we start seeing Ethan acting poorly. Even then, his actions feel more like childish pranks than evil. At the end of the story, after all the running is complete, Cy has absolutely zero trouble getting Ethan to ship his things from their dorm room. Since the entire premise of the story was that by summoning Dig and proving that he had powers, Cy therefore needed to run away from the bad guys, not having any tangible proof that the professed bad guys were actually bad hurt this story immensely. Maggie's Recommendation: I did enjoy reading this book. The romance was well-written and the little bits of magic that were detailed seemed very interesting. I didn't like the fact that the evil enemy was never actually shown being evil, which felt like a massive plot hole. I do recommend this book, but not as highly as some of the other books Miller has written. Spider's Revenge Author: Jennifer Estep Title: Spider's Revenge Series: Elemental Assassin 5 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/books/spiders-revenge/ Summary: Old habits die hard. And I plan on murdering someone before the night is through. Killing used to be my regular gig, after all. Gin Blanco, aka the Spider, assassin-for-hire. And I was very good at it. Now, I’m ready to make the one hit that truly matters: Mab Monroe, the dangerous Fire elemental who murdered my family when I was thirteen. Oh, I don’t think the mission will be easy, but turns out it’s a bit more problematic than expected. The bitch knows I’m coming for her. So now I’m up against the army of lethal bounty hunters she hired to track me down. She also put a price on my baby sister’s head. Keeping Bria safe is my first priority. Taking Mab out is a close second. Good thing I’ve got my powerful Stone and Ice magic — and my irresistible lover Owen Grayson — to watch my back. This battle has been years in the making, and there’s a chance I won’t survive. But if I’m going down, then Mab’s coming with me...no matter what I have to do to make that happen. Maggie's Review:
Gin's mission to kill Mab is an old one, dating back to the time when Mab killed Gin's family for some petty slight. Until this moment, Gin hasn't dared confront Mab. Gin never thought she was strong enough and Mab was always too well protected. Over the last few books that's started to change. I have stated before how much I'm enjoying watching Gin grow throughout the series and this book is the culmination of that growth. She's learned to stand on her own, she's figured out how to unleash her full power, and she's been able to start whittling down Mab's resources. This is the moment to defeat Mab, yet I was glad to see that Gin didn't suddenly become arrogant or too certain of her strength. She remained focused and down to earth, which was nice. I also really liked that the fight wasn't easy. Estep didn't build up to one grand battle, she stages smaller battles throughout the story that allowed me as a reader to really get the feel of how strong Mab was and what Gin would have to sacrifice in order to win. The rest of Estep's characterizations were just as on point. Each character has a very assertive personality and Estep doesn't allow them to shrink back from the action or step away to let Gin get it done. They're involved, which keeps the fight against Mab grounded. Instead of it being another assassination, Gin goes into the battle knowing it will be a battle. I really enjoyed Estep working to make that distinction. Maggie's Recommendation: I am really enjoying this series so far and will continue reading the next books. This story was well crafted with proper buildup to the final battle and excellent characterizations of all the characters to help keep the story on point. I do recommend it. Author: Logan Taylor Title: Where Loyalties Lie Series: None Genre: High Fantasy Pairing: Poly, M/M/M Rating: One Petal On the Author's Website: The author does not appear to have a website. Summary: When his homeland is conquered by invading barbarians, Nessir winds up not dead, but instead serving the new kings much as he once served his own. Though at first he is terrified of what they will do, across the palace and through the kingdom, Abaidas and Ophion swiftly begin to make improvements their predecessor neglected. And though a married man should be off limits, Nessir finds himself falling for Abaidas anyway—and is astonished when the interest proves to be mutual, and to learn that Ophion has no objections to Abaidas taking a lover. But just as Nessir is settling into his strange, new life, he stumbles across an assassination plot—a plot he cannot speak of for fear of his sister's life, unless he can convey it in a way that will not get him caught. In an act of desperation, he throws himself at Ophion, and under guise of being lovers the two work to protect the man they both love. And all the while Nessir tries to ignore the growing wish that Ophion's affections were not merely a ruse... Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. There are so many things wrong with this book, but I am cognizant of the fact that I was reading an ARC. I had to write this review based on what I was given, but I've attempted to tailor it because many of the issues I saw might be changed for the final version. For example, an editor should catch the dozens of spelling and grammar mistakes. Although, given that the author's biography both in the book and on the publisher's website is missing a word, I can't be entirely certain of that. I thought the largest issue was the writing style itself. Taylor is constantly telling the reader what happened instead of fully fleshing out the scenes. When the invading army defeats Nessir's homeland and takes over, instead of writing about the struggles the new kings had in winning over the conquered populace to give the story proper depth, Taylor instead simply stated that there were struggles that had to be overcome. The kings worked hard and the people learned to love them. There wasn't a single scene that showed this occurring. The story also lacked description. For example, the kings would wear jewelry, but that was all that was written about it. What type of jewelry, what color or cut, what setting was it on, was it a ring or a necklace? None of that needed detail to help set the scene was written, which left me with a half-formed picture of the entire book. The emotion of the characters was just as halfheartedly given. Nessir has a knife to his throat and all that's written is he's scared. No shaking, no tears, no worry for the life of his friends. When he's told he'll now be serving the invading kings, Nessir shrugs and agrees without any thought or worry about betraying his people to the enemy or of what his new position entails. Nessir and all the characters in the book were therefore flat and boring. I also found the plot to be very linear. There were no twists or surprises, nor was there any actual romance. After one look the kings fell in love with Nessir and Nessir fell in love in return. Taylor admittedly tried to create a touch of drama by including a slight misunderstanding between the three of them, but without any emotional weight (which the story lacked) I found myself rolling my eyes in exasperation. The misunderstanding was easily fixed without any additional problems. Maggie's Recommendation: I had so many issues with Where Loyalties Lie, but at the same time I was reading an ARC. It's entirely possible that everything I disliked about this book will be fixed in the final version. However, what I read lacked description and emotion, was very linear, and overall wasn't well written. I therefore cannot recommend this book. Fated Dates Author: Abraham Steele Title: Fated Dates Series: Fated Date Agency 1 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/M, M/F Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: The author does not appear to have a website. Summary: Bryant had always known that Cade was straight. After years of crushing on his best friend, the bookish young omega was ready to move on. Cade would never be interested in him like that. It was time to move on - time for Bryant to get matched by the Fated Date Agency. The agency's response only showed Bryant how cruel fate could be. His sexy jock friend wasn't just a crush - he was the only one for him. But Cade was still straight. Bryant couldn't let him know that they were fated mates. And yet... he couldn't let him go. Maggie's Review:
Fated Dates was supposed to be a cute story, but I didn't find it cute at all. There were parts of the story that could have been interesting, but didn't quite get there, and other parts that needed to be cut entirely. Two petals is probably generous, but the fact of the matter is that I finished reading the entire story and am actually considering reading the next one (since it's available for free). I can't give a story only one petal if I'm still going to continue with it. The writing style is very stilted. There's a lot of dialogue, but not a lot of description. I have a vague idea of what the two main characters look like, but the roommate, the college, or even the basketball court where the story begins are all shrouded in mystery. The story needed that extra description to give the setting the depth necessary to hold up to the plot. The plot itself was the only interesting part. The difficulty of one partner being gay and the other straight was definitely well plotted. I also thought the idea of having them contact each other anonymously via email and the issues that arose there was well done. It was cliche, but not too poorly written. Bryant was an interesting guy. His worries over Cade were fun to read and as the relationship progressed I liked him even more. He made some stupid mistakes, but they worked with his personality. I didn't like Cade. He's a chauvinist that claims to treat women well all while belittling them and doesn't really act like Bryant's best friend for most of the book despite his claims otherwise. The other character given a lot of screen time was Tila, Cade's crazy girlfriend. All the women in the book were treated like idiots and Tila's crusade to force Cade to marry her was completely ridiculous. It only served to underscore Steele's apparent utter dislike of women. The concept of 'gay for you' has to be handled carefully for it to be believable and Steele instead handled it with a mallet. I don't think Cade really understood what he was getting involved in and I don't think he ever would have settled down with Bryant if Steele hadn't forced the issue. I think I could have rolled with it if Cade were at least bi-curious or if there had been some sort of buildup with him realizing he might be able to eventually like guys as well, but he's so exclusively straight that his sudden acceptance of a romantic relationship with Bryant wasn't believable in the least. Maggie's Recommendation: I don't recommend this book. The writing was stilted and lacked description, the characters were often portrayed as caricatures of real people. The women in particular were depicted as idiots. I also thought the 'gay for you' concept in the story was handled extremely poorly. Charmed and Dangerous Authors: Jordan Castillo Price, Rhys Ford, Ginn Hale, Nicole Kimberling, Jordan L. Hawk, Charlie Cochet, Lou Harper, Andrea Speed, Astrid Amara, K.J. Charles Title: Charmed and Dangerous Series: An Anthology Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Pairing: M/M Rating: Four Petals On the Author's Website: http://jcpbooks.com/ebook/charmed.html Summary: Magic takes many forms. From malignant hexes to love charms gone amok, you’ll find a vast array of spells and curses, creatures and conjurings in this massive collection—not to mention a steamy dose of man-on-man action. Charmed and Dangerous features all-new stories of gay paranormal romance, supernatural fiction and urban fantasy by ten top m/m paranormal authors. Maggie's Review:
I liked the premise of the anthology, that the monsters get to be heroes, and I thought every single story gave a unique glimpse into that idea. I've given short reviews for each individual story and my overall rating for the anthology is the average of those reviews. Dim Sum Asylum by Rhys Ford -- Four Petals When Roku needs a new partner the man he gets isn't at all what he's expecting and neither is their first case. I liked the overall story and thought it was very well written, but I thought there needed to be a little more explanation of the world and the magic in it for me to really get into the plot. The romance was also really sudden without enough build up for me to find it fully believable. Swift and the Black Dog by Ginn Hale -- Five Petals This is my favorite of the anthology. The world Hale created was so distinct and the magic so unusual and interesting that I couldn't help wanting more. This story could very easily become a novel, there was so much content. I also liked the romance, which came on fast and then simmered to a point that I could tell they were aiming for forever together. A Queer Trade by KJ Charles -- Four Petals I found this story to be very strange, but also very interesting. Blood magic is illegal, but Crispin is completely ignorant of that fact despite practicing that type of magic. When his master dies suddenly and the family that buys his master's house starts selling all the papers, Crispin is forced to find it all before the evil spells on them start doing others harm. He's not entirely successful, but his efforts lead him into a romance that I liked reading. Magically Delicious by Nicole Kimberling -- Five Petals I thought this story was so much fun to read. The details Kimberling put into her characters from how a goblin could be human in form but not in action to the strange people convening underneath the Lincoln Memorial was amazing. I also thought the magical creatures were well-crafted. This is another story that could easily be made into a longer novel that I very much want to read. Everyone's Afraid of Clowns by Jordan Castillo Price -- Three Petals To understand just about everything that happens in this story you need to read the rest of the Psycop series. Victor and Jacob are sidetracked from heading to a Halloween party for a very shaky reason and find themselves in the strangest haunted house I've ever heard of. The descriptions of the settings and the people were wonderful, but when I compare how limited the plot was to the rest of the stories in this anthology I can't help feeling like this one fell short. The Thirteenth Hex by Jordan L. Hawk -- Four Petals This story was short, but the length worked with the plot. Dominic works as a hexman, a man who writes the spells so witches can imbue them with magic, and although he would like to be a witch he knows he doesn't have the power for it. That changes when Rook, a crow familiar, appears needing Dominic's help. I particularly liked that the romance took its time, which balanced the simple plot perfectly. The Soldati Prince by Charlie Cochet -- Two Petals This was definitely the weakest story in the anthology. The plot was never fully explained, nor was the romantic relationship given any depth. One moment Riley is working at a coffee shop, the next he's mated to a magical tiger. I didn't think any of the story was properly fleshed out and the romance went from being enemies to lovers with absolutely no real reason for the change given. One Hex Too Many by Lou Harper -- Three Petals I liked this story, but I thought there were some holes in the plot that made it difficult to read. I thought Mike gave too little explanation to support the conclusions he reached while in the process of investigating a violent murder. I also thought the ending was rushed and the romance wasn't given any structure to give it any form of plausibility. Josh of the Damned vs. the Bathroom of Doom by Andrea Speed -- Four Petals I found this story to be a hilarious romp. I laughed the entire time I was reading it, which was a nice change from the rest of the more serious anthology. I haven't read the rest of the series, but really enjoyed this anyway and I don't feel like I missed any of the jokes or plot despite that. The only drawback I had was how short it was. It didn't have any real plot, but rather was a vignette from Speed's larger series, which didn't quite fit in with the depth in the rest of the anthology. The Trouble with Hexes by Astrid Amara -- Five Petals Because he's suffering from a terrible hex, Tim knows he has to go see his ex-boyfriend Vincent, a curse breaker, for help. As the investigation into who cursed Tim goes on, their romance rekindles in a slow burn sort of way that made me believe that their love hadn't ever been lost, just momentarily misplaced. I also really liked the magic in the story and the way the curse was described. My only complaint was that I figured out who the villain is very early on, so I missed out on the shock value of the big reveal at the end, but I enjoyed absolutely everything else in this story. Maggie's Recommendation: I liked some stories in this anthology better than others, which is to be expected, but overall I thought they were very well-crafted with depth to the plot and the magic that I really enjoyed. I definitely recommend this book. |
Magnolia's Reviews
Maggie reviews paranormal and fantasy novels and novellas. She also interviews authors and hosts giveaways. Archives
April 2018
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