Guest Review

Spellbound (Fallen Messengers, Book 2) by Ava Marie Salinger: RB, Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

October 19, 2021 by Denise

Can Cassius and Morgan overcome an elusive enemy and save a young girl’s life?

Eden Monroe has spent her entire existence believing she has no magic. Shunned by her mother Brianna and the magical bureau Hexa, she runs away from home when she is forced to embrace a future she never chose, only to fall into the hands of ghastly monsters from the Nine Hells. After being rescued by a mysterious Dryad with secrets of his own, Eden realizes there is more to her past and future than she could ever have imagined.

When San Francisco PD asks Argonaut to assist them in solving a series of strange bank robberies, Cassius Black and Morgan King uncover a disturbing plot that points to an unknown artifact hidden somewhere in the city. Their investigation soon has them crossing paths with a desperate Brianna, who seeks their help in finding her missing daughter. When the witch reveals the shocking circumstances surrounding her daughter’s birth as well as the deadly magic sealed inside the young girl’s body, the Argonaut agents realize their case is linked to Eden and the weapon of devastating power the bank robbers are after.

Can Cassius and Morgan defeat the malevolent organization behind it all and save Eden from her cursed fate? Or will the young girl suffer a destiny worse than death itself?

Spellbound is the second novel in the gay urban fantasy romance series Fallen Messengers. If you like your paranormal adventures full of action, magic, snark, and a host of steamy angels and demons, then you’re not going to want to miss this jaw-dropping, fun-filled ride!

Spellbound

Fallen Messengers, Book 2

By Ava Marie Salinger

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

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It was dark by the time Eden logged out of the public computer. She shivered when she stepped out of the cafe. A chilly wind was blowing across the city from the bay, heralding the change of seasons. San Diego in autumn would be warmer than San Francisco. She hunched her shoulders and zipped up her parka.

I should buy some food before I go back.

She got Chinese takeout at a small restaurant close by and decided to eat it while she headed for the hostel. A strange feeling settled over her as she strolled along the half-empty streets, her steps light. It took a while for her to figure out what it was.

Freedom.

She had never felt as relaxed and carefree as she did in this moment. It was as if a giant weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders.

For the first time in years, Eden experienced a surge of optimism.

Getting away from my mother and Hexa was the right thing to do.

She’d almost finished her food and was wondering what to do the next day when a sudden stillness descended around her. Eden slowed and stopped, her skin prickling.

She’d cut across a narrow lane running past a cemetery and church, a shortcut to the hostel. She looked over her shoulder, unease quickening her pulse.

The path behind her was deserted.

Eden stared into the shadows for breathless moments before turning to resume her route. Something shifted in the gloom some hundred feet ahead of her. She froze.

A figure was blocking the lane exit. Another stepped into view next to it. A stench wafted toward Eden. Her eyes widened.

It was the smell of rotting meat.

The guttural rasp that reached her next had her belly clenching in terror. It was a hungry sound. One that craved mayhem and death.

Eden knew instinctively that she was in mortal danger. Yet, her limbs refused to budge.

Move! MOVE, dammit!

The figures lunged toward her.

She twisted on her heels, her body finally unfreezing, the carton of cooling food dropping from her grasp and spilling onto the ground. She staggered to an abrupt halt in the next instant, her breath locking painfully in her throat. Two more shapes were racing along the ground toward her from the opposite end of the lane.

They were not human.

Eden whirled around and jumped onto the fence to her right. She scaled it in a flash, climbed over, and landed awkwardly in the grounds of the cemetery, cuts blooming on her hands from the barbed wire.

The night closed in around her as she darted between trees and bushes, the gravestones looming out of the shadows silent witnesses to the chase. She didn’t have to look behind her to know her pursuers were hot on her trail. She could smell their foul breath on her heels and sense their murderous gaze on her back.

She emerged into an open area next to a water fountain and saw a faint light in one of the rear windows of the chapel that abutted the church. Her heart thumped with a wild burst of hope.

“Help!” Eden shouted. “Please, help—!”

She tripped and fell, her words choking off to a gasp. Air whooshed out of her as she hit the ground hard. Her head struck the courtyard paving. Stars exploded across her vision.

Eden lay stunned for a moment, the world swimming dizzyingly around her.

Get up!

She gritted her teeth and crawled onto her hands and knees, sticky wetness trickling down her forehead from the gash in her hairline. Growls sounded behind her, hot and ravenous.

Eden fumbled for the knife in her pocket, her fingers made clumsy by panic. She staggered to her feet and turned, knuckles white on the handle of the blade, knowing she would have to make her final stand here.

The monsters loomed out of the shadows, their grotesque shapes finally taking form under the starlight. A whimper tumbled from Eden’s lips, unbidden.

I didn’t like this as much as book 1. Sorry. I actually enjoyed the YA secondary characters more than Cassius and Morgan which for those readers wanting a pure MM storyline with character development it may be a little disappointing.

It was still a good book but I would class it as fantasy with romantic elements more than a romance.

I’m not going to rehash the plot but save to say there was a lot of action for those that want it and a large supporting cast.

Just not for me.

3 pieces of eye candy

Ava Marie Salinger is the pen name of an Amazon bestselling urban fantasy author who has always wanted to write scorching hot M/M urban fantasy. In 2021, she launches FALLEN MESSENGERS, her first M/M urban fantasy romance series. She also writes contemporary M/M romance as A.M. Salinger. When she’s not dreaming up hotties to write about, you’ll find Ava creating kickass music playlists to write to, spying on the wildlife in her garden, drooling over gadgets, and eating Chinese.

Subscribe to Ava Newsletter and receive a free prequel short story to Fractured Souls (Fallen Messengers #1) here: https://www.amsalinger.com/subscribe/

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Seducing the Sorcerer by Lee Welch: Exclusive Author Interview and Excerpt, Release Day Review and Giveaway

September 22, 2021 by Denise

Homeless and jobless, Fenn Todd has nearly run out of hope. All he has left is his longing for horses and the strength of his own two hands. But when he’s cheated into accepting a very ugly sackcloth horse, he’s catapulted into a world of magic, politics and desire.

Fenn’s invited to stay at the black tower, home of the most terrifying man in the realm: Morgrim, the court sorcerer. Morgrim has a reputation as a scheming villain, but he seems surprisingly charming—and sexy—and Fenn falls hard for him.

However, nothing is as it seems and everyone at the tower is lying about something. Beset by evil hexes, violent political intrigue and a horse that eats eiderdowns, Fenn must make the hardest choices of his life.

Can a plain man like Fenn ever find true love with a scheming sorcerer?

Release date: 23 September 2021

Length: 100,000 words

Genre: fantasy m/m romance

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Two Chicks Obsessed: At the end of Seducing the Sorcerer, I felt everything was primed for a book 2. When’s it going to happen?

Lee Welch: Never say never, but I wrote Seducing the Sorcerer as a standalone, so there’s nothing planned. But I love that you feel there could be a second book because I hope that means the characters are living on in your imagination, having more adventures and a future together. So, it makes me very happy you would ask that question!

TCO: Are there plans to expand the world or write another book in that world but with different main characters?

LW: I’m not sure, because I created the world specifically for the story I wanted to tell about Fenn and Morgrim. Everything about the world—from the history to the geography to the politics—serves the themes of their story.

For example, one of the themes of the book is hope: hope lost and found, false hopes and real ones. Therefore, at the beginning of the book, Fenn is weary, middle-aged and nearly out of hope. He’s homeless and jobless and in many ways he’s been done out of these things by magic, because that’s the recent history in this particular world. That bit of history heightens Fenn’s particular situation. And it means he has a jaded view of magicians, so when he stumbles across some magic himself and is catapulted into Morgrim the court sorcerer’s world of magic and power—that means the situation is particularly interesting for Fenn. Because of the history.

And Fenn’s particular history makes things tense for Morgrim too, because Fenn’s from a place Morgrim failed to defend years ago. So, there’s already tension between them.

I feel other stories and other characters might need different worlds?

Mind you, I have wondered about the magician who developed crystal magic. Because while that whole discipline is almost a side detail in Seducing the Sorcerer, there’s a strong hint that it’s not as safe and convenient as everyone thinks. And if there are side-effects, I suspect the magician who developed it might one day feel he has to redeem himself. And since I’m a romance author, I’d need to discover who could fall for a man who’s regretting his whole life’s work…so now you’ve got me thinking!

TCO: I’d love to know the story behind the worple horse. Was it a complete figment of your imagination, or something else? I ask because Worple was the name of an Australian thoroughbred racehorse so I’d be fascinated to know.

LW: OMG was there really a racehorse named Worple?! *laughs*

But no, there’s no connection. The worple horse in my book was a figment of my imagination, inspired by a very bad sketch of a horse as drawn by my daughter.

The name was inspired by our cat, whose name is Turple (itself a corruption of Turtle) and who is also sometimes called ‘Wurple’. He’s a very worple-ish kind of cat; always following you about, getting in your way, staring at you in the bath, having inconvenient ideas about things. He’s a bit of a derp, but we love him and he makes us laugh. So, when I was looking for a name for a ridiculous kind of horse, ‘worple’ sprang to mind. It feels right to me.

TCO: What dialect was Fenn’s accent based on? Because you’re a New Zealander, but I looked it up and I’d swear it was Northern Brit.

LW: Yes, I’m a New Zealander, but my mother and grandmother were from County Durham in the north of England, and my husband and his family are from North Yorkshire. I know people who talk a tiny bit like Fenn—saying ‘give over’ instead of ‘stop that’ for example, ‘grand’ to mean ‘good’, and ‘right’ as an intensifier (as in ‘it’s right cold today’). But don’t go to the north of England and expect to hear people talking like Fenn! Because I played around and mixed it up and added some Victorian era slang to his vocabulary because I love old-fashioned slang.

But that’s one of the joys of fantasy worlds for an author like me. I can play with language and nobody can tell me I’m wrong, because I can assure you that all working-class people from the Essurean Isle of Mandillo speak like Fenn. Although he’s got a particular gift for metaphor, I think.

Seducing the Sorcerer is out on 23 September.

The sorcerer gave his staff a vicious twirl and pointed it at Fenn’s chest, clearly ready to destroy an army. Fenn gritted his teeth against whatever hideous hex was about to kill him. How much would it hurt? How unnatural would it be? He ought to run, but he could barely move. He hunched, eyes closing of their own accord, and clutched the horse’s sacking mane as if the coarse twine could help him keep a grip on life.

At least he’d die astride a horse.

But nothing happened. The rain pattered cool on his head and hands. He opened one eye, then the other, and risked a glance at Morgrim. A shadow of doubt passed over the sorcerer’s narrow face. It was almost confusion, if a hunting hawk can ever be said to look confused.

“Well?” Morgrim said.

His tone said “and how dare you keep me waiting”. It was clear Fenn was expected to make the next move.

“Er, evening, sir. My lord.” Fenn ducked his head. “I’m right sorry for the intrusion.”

“You’re sorry?”

There was such vicious scorn in the sorcerer’s voice that Fenn flinched. Morgrim cocked his head to one side, raptorlike. He hadn’t lowered his staff. “Who are you?”

“Fenn Todd. Er…your grace. Sir.” Gods, what were you supposed to call a court sorcerer? “Um…your honour.”

“Fenn Todd.” Morgrim sounded as if he were sizing it up to put in a spell.

Fenn shivered. Should have given a false name. Why hadn’t he thought to give a false one? Now Morgrim would be able to find out that Fenn had a criminal record and all. Oh Gods, this was going to be bad.

“And what is your purpose here?” Morgrim snapped.

“There ain’t one, your worship. It was a mistake. The horse brought me. I didn’t mean to trespass. I’ll go, eh? Quick as you like.”

Morgrim frowned as if Fenn’s answer hadn’t made sense.

“Who sent you?”

“No one. Honest. I came by the horse sort of…accidental. Tried riding it, only it took off in the air and…well, then it came down here.” Fenn had never felt more stupid or incompetent in his life. The whole thing was a ludicrous humiliating nightmare. “But I don’t want no trouble. I’ll be off, eh? Sorry to disturb you…er…sir.”

“You came to the Unket Tower by accident? You expect me to believe that?”

The name made Fenn shiver. He’d heard of it, of course, because court sorcerers had lived here for over a thousand years. The name was synonymous with magic. The place was reputed to be haunted. It was a giant trap.

He glanced about the courtyard again. There were several doors but they were all closed fast. The stone walls were five yards high and slimy with wet that flickered red in the torchlight. And there was that young bloke with the sword to think of, let alone the angry sorcerer. If the horse wouldn’t fly there’d be no escape. Why in blazes had the creature brought him here?

“Aye, by accident. Gods’ truth,” Fenn said grimly.

“And what magic did you use?” Morgrim still hadn’t moved from the top step. The tower door stood open to the dark behind him.

“Magic?” Fenn shook his head. “No. No, no. I know what it looks like, but I ain’t a magician.”

“You’re lying. Worple horses can’t fly. Don’t antagonise me, Mr. Todd. You’ll regret it.” Morgrim’s glare intensified. “I repeat: What magic did you use?”

“A worple horse?” It was Fenn’s turn to frown. “Wait. Is that a thing? What is that?”

“I’m asking the questions.”

There was an edge to the sorcerer’s tone, like anger and yet not quite. Fenn found he’d raised his hand in a reassuring gesture.

“All right, sir. I meant no disrespect.”

“What. Magic. Did. You. Use?” Morgrim demanded.

“None. Honest. I know the horse has a rune on its chest but that weren’t me. That just appeared. I can’t do magic.”

“Liar.”

“You think I’d come here if I could?”

“You are trespassing in my courtyard in the middle of the night. Are you now also being insolent?” Morgrim sounded as if he couldn’t believe his ears, but he lowered his staff.

Some of the tension went out of Fenn. It seemed Morgrim wasn’t going to do anything unnatural to him just yet.

“No, sir. It was an honest question. If I could do magic, why would I come here? Wouldn’t I be lying on silk sheets somewhere with a glass of wine and a valet peeling me a grape?”

Morgrim gave him one of those quelling looks that folks who liked to be in charge often gave. Fenn had weathered plenty in his time, though never one from the most powerful sorcerer in living memory. It made his blood run cold, but he kept his face plain. It didn’t do to be too easily cowed. It could make these domineering types worse. No, Fenn must strike the right balance between deference and dignity, and never mind that he felt too rattled to be up to the task.

It wasn’t helping that it was still raining. Even though the moon was right there, clearly visible over the yard wall to the east. It was raining only on the tower. Fenn shivered.

That was right uncanny. It certainly looked as though Morgrim had stolen all the rain clouds like people said.

This whole situation was unimaginable. Perhaps Fenn was dead after all.

There was a change in the solid body of the horse beneath him. It was sinking, deflating like a pricked balloon. Its legs bowed and then slid outwards. Its body grew thin and its head nodded towards the ground. Fenn jumped off with a muttered curse and it sank into a sad pool of sacking on the wet cobbles at his feet.

Fenn scratched his beard. “Blame thing.”

There’d be no flying out of here on it now. Not that it had seemed inclined previously, but now he was definitely stuck. Perhaps that quelling look of Morgrim’s had been more than just a look. Perhaps it had been some sort of evil eye.

Fenn glanced up. “You do that? Sir.”

Morgrim made a scoffing noise that said, “of course I did, but your question is beneath me”. He was glaring at the horse with a sort of outraged curiosity. He looked like a bloke who did a lot of glaring. His eyebrows were two perfect curves, positively made for the job.

Fenn nudged the horse with the toe of his boot and it gave a plaintive whinny. So, it hadn’t gone lifeless. It just wasn’t standing up any more.

In a way, Fenn sympathised. His knees felt right shaky. But Morgrim didn’t seem about to strike him down with a bolt of lightning just yet. And if Fenn was flung in a dungeon for a few nights, well, it wouldn’t be pleasant, but it wouldn’t be the first time. Who knew what would happen to the horse, but he himself would at least be fed and watered. Probably. Regular prisons had to feed you these days, though it was quite possible that Morgrim was a law unto himself.

“Well. I know it’s an ugly great thing to have littering up your courtyard,” Fenn said, wiping a raindrop off the end of his nose. “And I’m right sorry to have bothered you, and I hope you’ll be a gentleman and forgive the nuisance. I’ll be off now, eh? I won’t trouble you again. I promise.”

“All in good time.”

Morgrim came down the stairs in a ripple of black silk. He moved like a snake and in spite of himself Fenn was impressed. The man’s grace was mesmerising. It was hard to look away. And not just because Morgrim was so bloody terrifying.

“I have questions for you, Fenn Todd.”

Fenn was hardly in a position to refuse. “Aye, sir. Ask away.”

“You, Mr. Todd”–the sorcerer gave a graceful inclination of his head towards Fern–“are dealing with wild magic.”

I’ve read fantasy books for at least twenty years and it takes a lot for one to take me by surprise with such a unique twist.

Fenn Todd is desperate. He’s been betrayed, cheated, lost his home and countless jobs and the only work he can find that might keep him from starvation is digging a cesspit for a local farmer. Fearing he is being cheated and ridiculed because he is promised a horse for his labors when all he expected was water and a couple of coppers. He knows it can’t be true, a valuable horse for poor labor? But horses are his real love, and the thought of even touching one again makes him agree.

All I will say not to spoil the plot, is that the horse isn’t anything you would expect, but it sets off with Fenn and eventually takes him to an enchanted tower where where Morgrim, the court sorcerer rules.

Nothing is as it seems.

I love the plot and I adore the characters. Both older men that expect no kindness or hope from the world but find it in each other. The love story is adorable. The action fabulous, and the twists very satisfying.

The real star of the show is Squab. Just don’t let him anywhere near your clothes, or your bedding, or your curtains.

Five pink silk stars! (You’ll have to read it to understand)

Lee Welch lives in a house on a hill in the windiest city in the world, Wellington, New Zealand. She shares the house with her partner, two kids, two cats, a dog and quite a lot of spiders. Lee studied ancient history at Auckland University and creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London. By day, she works as an editor and business communications adviser for a large government department. By night, she writes escapist romances, usually with magic in them.

Contact information

Email: leewelchwriter@gmail.com

Website + newsletter sign up: https://leewelchwriter.com/

Twitter: @leewelchwriter – https://twitter.com/leewelchwriter

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King of the Titans by J.K. Jones: Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

August 3, 2021 by Denise

Revenge.

Resentment. Malevolence. Desire. It wraps around him like a familiar cloak.

Like a second skin. Years of war hardened his heart into something unfathomable. For centuries he knew nothing but retribution and the ruthlessness of death and decay. His clan lost the war. They were decimated, their way of life stripped and sold to the highest bidder.

Now he finally has a chance to take back everything he lost.

To kill the King of Titans, assassin Julian White pretends to be a courtesan.

Falling in love with Lucious Rex, the man that tortured and killed his family is an unfortunate complication.

King of the Titans
By J.K. Jones

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

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The moment the arctic demon stepped near; a thrill ran down his spine. It was so sharp and sudden he nearly buckled. His knife weighed heavily in his pockets, and his hands itched to thumb the blade and plunge it into the demon’s neck. Yet amid his blinding hatred, something else settled inside him, a spark, quick and strident, something profound.

Ocean-blue eyes made him dizzy as if he were swimming in warm sun-lit currents before being pulled under. That face, he knew that face. For many years, Julian had meditated on it. The night that had brought hellfire and destruction right to his doorstep.

I will set you free. The day he’d taken pity on the worthless Þrælar had been his undoing. They’d been friends once. Julian stopped that thought before it could begin before it could even form and spiral into a well of self-loathing and despair. He went to bed soon after, his mind in disarray. What exactly did the demon want? Why go through all the trouble to scent him and mark his territory if all he wanted to was talk? None of it made sense.

Julian tossed restlessly throughout the night. In the morning, he awoke groggy and disgruntled, wishing he could close the curtains and go back to sleep. The threat of Madame Zelina barging into his room forced him to get up. No matter what, he wasn’t going to incur her wrath. He dressed simply, putting on some pants and his signature coat.

He tied his hair into a low bun, then went downstairs. Madame Zelina stood near the bar, her dress bright red with vines weaving up and down the hem.

I love fantasy when it’s well done, and this was really well done. Classic enemies to lovers. Basically the humans had ruled and treated the wolves like scum for years to the point of rape, torture, and starvation.

Julian (a human) years ago as a boy hears screams in his father’s house night after night and eventually plucks up courage to investigate. He finds a wolf (in human form) bound, starving, and tortured. He doesn’t find out until he’s an adult that his own father was raping the wolf as well.

Julian takes pity on him, lets the wolf go assuming he will escape, but instead the wolf frees other captive wolves and they slaughter the humans and eventually some years later take over and rule.

Now the wolves are in charge but they descend to the same levels of depravity as the humans once were at, except the King–the wolf Julian released all those years ago–doesn’t like what his wolves have become.

The world building, the writing, is amazing and that earns four stars all on its own.

The plot is tight and moves along at a good pace and the last betrayal was well set up and something I didn’t see.

My problem is the ending. They have an enforced three year separation which is never properly justified and then in the last few paragraphs the King sends for Julian and they have maybe three sentences worth of I love yous.

That isn’t enough for me.

After all that death, bloodloss, execution, murder and death I want to wallow in a happy ending. I want declarations of love and devotion that go on for days, and I didn’t get that.

But that’s me. It was a good book, I just wanted another chapter of smoochiness!

4 pieces of eye candy

J.K Jones is a University Graduate with a B.A in Sociology, also a TESOL certificate for teaching English as a Second Language. Literature is in my veins and the words pour out of my blood. Message me privately to join the mailing list. I like my artys with a bit of fartsy. I love Sundays spend drinking massive amounts of coffee and lingering over whichever book I am currently enthralled with. Favorite movies: American Beauty. Duh. What can I say? It’s a classic. Favorite place: The fort I built in my basement which my mom forced me to take down. Favorite food: Cheetos. Puffs. I don’t know what everything is crazy about the crunchy ones are crap.

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Fractured Souls (Fallen Messengers, Book 1) by Ava Marie Salinger: RB, Exclusive Excerpt, Release Day Review and Kick A$$ Giveaway

July 19, 2021 by Denise

Humans are dying in San Francisco. The most shunned angel on Earth may very well hold the key as to why…

When Cassius Black moves to San Francisco for a fresh start, the angel’s hopes of staying below the radar of the supernatural organizations that oversee the otherworldly and magic users in the city are dashed when he stumbles across a dead body in the sewers. His grim discovery soon puts him in the sight of the Argonaut Agency and Francis Strickland, the bureau director who knows his darkest secrets.

Morgan King and his team of Argonaut agents have been hunting for the culprits behind a series of gruesome killings that have rocked the city all summer. Killings that bear sinister hallmarks of sacrificial rituals where the victims’ souls have been ripped from their bodies. When Fate brings Cassius in Morgan’s path, he realizes the angel everyone likes to call The Devil may very well be the only person who can help them track down the murderers.

Morgan and Cassius soon find themselves chasing down a sect of black magic sorcerers and cross paths with a mysterious warlock whose actions evoke disturbing echoes of an incident from Cassius’s past. As rumors of a potential plot to tear the Nether reach their ears, Cassius and Morgan must work together to defeat their common enemy and save the city from destruction, all while fighting their growing attraction for one another.

Fractured Souls is the first novel in the MM urban fantasy romance series Fallen Messengers. If you like action-packed paranormal adventures with romance and snark, then grab this pulse-pounding book today and enter a world you won’t want to leave!

Fractured Souls

Fallen Messengers, Book 1

By Ava Marie Salinger

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“Are you the person in charge?” Cassius asked the blonde icily. “On whose authority are you trying to arrest me?”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “You know very well who we are. You are a suspect in the murder of a man whose body was discovered in the sewers under Bayview Park eight hours ago. You were seen fleeing the scene of the crime.”

Cassius drew himself to his full height.

“So, you decided to come in here and gun me down?” he snarled. “Is that the modus operandi of the San Francisco branch of the Argonaut Agency? Kill first and ask fucking questions later?!”

The blonde frowned. “Like I said, that was an unfortunate accident. Now, how about you—?”

“What’s going on here?” someone said behind Cassius.

He whirled around.

Glass crunched under Morgan’s bare feet as he stepped inside the apartment from the terrace. He was wearing jeans, an almighty scowl, and little else.

Cassius stilled. The glass was not cutting Morgan’s skin.

Alarm had Cassius’s pulse spiking. He hadn’t sensed anything unusual about his neighbor when they’d just spoken out on the terrace. His stomach dropped.

Except for the fact that he knew I was there when I’d deliberately masked my aura.

“Morgan?” The blonde gaped. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

Cassius’s heart stuttered. Wait? They know each other?!

“I live next door,” Morgan replied irritably.

Cassius registered the expressions on the other Argonaut agents’ faces with a sinking feeling. It was clear they knew Morgan too. Not just knew him, but regarded him as their superior.

Shit. He’s an Argonaut agent.

Cassius fisted his hands. The demon cat protested with a soft meow when his fingers sank into its hide.

“Since when?” the blonde asked Morgan, still shocked.

“Since a month ago,” Morgan snapped. “Now, how about you tell me what the hell you’re doing in this guy’s apartment, Adrianne?”

“I should renegotiate my salary,” the blonde muttered, looking around the luxurious penthouse. Her gaze focused on Morgan and Cassius once more. “Your neighbor is a suspect in a murder,” she told Morgan. “FYI, your neighbor is Cassius Black.”

Morgan visibly stiffened. He observed Cassius with an inscrutable expression before turning to Adrianne. “That still doesn’t justify you guys coming in here in full tactical gear and shooting at him, Adrianne.”

Cassius blinked. That’s a first.

It wasn’t every day an Argonaut agent came to his defense.

He clenched his jaw. “I happened to be looking for this cat. That’s why I was in those sewers. My client is a woman called Joyce Almeda. Her phone number is on my cell phone.” Cassius studied Morgan and Adrianne coldly. “Seeing as your agency appears to be as biased against me as every other one on this planet, you’ll excuse me for not having stuck around long enough for you assholes to pin the blame on me for something I had nothing to do with.”

Adrianne frowned at Cassius.

“We found another victim,” she told Morgan, a muscle jumping in her cheek.

Morgan froze. “What?”

“We found another human sacrifice. It was a man this time. Your neighbor was at the scene of the crime when our agents got there.” Suspicion glittered in Adrianne’s eyes as she glanced at Cassius. “And yes, before you ask, it was a magic circle made from Dark Blight and human—”

Wind exploded inside Cassius’s apartment. It wrapped tightly around his body in overlapping bands, locking his limbs in place and robbing him of his breath. Cassius gasped as he was lifted bodily into the air, his wings straining uselessly against his back where he sought to spread them and escape.

Morgan’s pupils glowed with blinding-white light as he wielded his powers, imprisoning Cassius in a painful tempest of seraphic energy. The demon cat leapt onto the floor and hissed angrily at the angel who was glaring at Cassius as if he’d committed a grave sin.

Black spots burst across Cassius’s vision as the constraints squeezed his ribs to near breaking point.

He thought he heard Adrianne shout Morgan’s name.

Darkness encroached upon his world as his consciousness faded.

A supernatural detective/security agency of angels and demons. What a cool idea! And the name – Argonaut! I was expecting Jason to show up any second.

So, think bad boy/enemies to lovers. Morgan runs the team of avenging angels trying to find out why humans are dying.

Cassius Black – way more devil than angel – comes to town not looking for trouble but quickly finds it.

And speaking of Angels – these are the type of winged wonders that like whisky and cigarettes.

Add in black magic sorcerers, a warlock, angels, demons, and magic cats – oh my! And you have a high charged magical romp through the underworld – or I believe they’re calling it San Francisco these days.

Read the glossary of terms at the beginning because you’re going to need it!

4.5 pieces of eye candy

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The Madam’s Baby Boy by Ki Brightly & Meg Bawden: New Release Review

July 13, 2021 by Denise

Worship From Afar
Brooks Sutherland has been interested in Darcy Winters since he first laid eyes on him at the Courtesan Hotel, where Brooks worked as a bodyguard. Darcy never knew he existed. When Brooks had a seizure that resulted in loss of his eyesight from a head trauma, he could no longer do his job. Years later, Brooks comes back to bid on Darcy at the annual summer auction. He knows Darcy all too well and wants him to relax before Darcy kills himself from stress. Kidnapping him away for a vacation is perfectly reasonable—to Brooks.

Workaholic on Vacation
As far as Darcy is concerned, the Courtesan Hotel will be a disaster without him, so he doesn’t expect his mother to put him up for auction as a last-minute surprise. The man who wins time with him is charming, but Darcy has no plans to be swept away from his work. A night will more than do. When Brooks hustles him off on a vacation, he’s not sure how to relax, but Brooks is a good distraction.

Stress Less or Else
Darcy needs someone to teach him how to let go, and Brooks thinks he’s that man. But making a relationship work is a lot harder than he expects because Darcy runs back to the Courtesan every chance he gets. Brooks wants to take care of Darcy, but unless Brooks can learn what that really means, he’ll push Darcy away instead. If that happens, neither man will get what he needs.

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This was so sweet. Darcy is such a workaholic and honestly doesn’t know how to let go and be in the moment.

Brooks was an ass at first. I hated his arrogant attitude. Then he became exactly what Darcy needed. Someone to actually rely on, not someone that wanted anything from him. (Except peace) they were very sweet.

Brooks and Darcy showed how worthy they were of the others’ love.

I just wish Brooks learned how to give up little more control and let Darcy help him, despite his disability.

4 pieces of eye candy

The Prince’s Vow: Starian Cycle #3 by Iris Foxglove: Blog Tour, Exclusive Author Interview, New Release Review and Giveaway

June 29, 2021 by Denise

Adrien de Guillory may be the heir to the throne of Staria, but no one in court believes that the submissive, meek-minded prince will ever be king. What they don’t know is that Adrien is hardly the meek, shy creature he pretends to be and that he has his own plans for the future. To see those plans through, Adrien embarks on a journey to Mislia, the land of his mother’s ancestors, to seek an answer to controlling his magic of foresight.

The one thing Adrien’s visions don’t predict is Isiodore de Mortain, his father’s confidante and the subject of Adrien’s long-standing, deeply embarrassing infatuation. Isiodore intercepts Adrien on his way to Mislia. But it’s too late to turn back—the two of them are now stranded on foreign soil, forced to rely on each other in order to get home in one piece. With Isiodore set on keeping Adrien safe and Adrien determined to become the most troublesome prince in Starian history, a storm is brewing over Mislia…one that will surely sweep both of them out into uncharted waters.

(The Prince’s Vow is an m/m dark fantasy novel, set in a fictional world where everyone is biologically either a dominant or a submissive and compelled to satisfy those urges. As such, the biological imperative kink in this story is pure fantasy, and not intended as a representation of real-life BDSM practices or dynamics.)

Title: The Prince’s Vow

Series: Starian Cycle #3

Author: Iris Foxglove

Release Date: 6/22/21

Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 64,000

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, BDSM, AU

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When did you write your first story and what was the inspiration for it?

Foxglove: My family couldn’t afford a computer for some time, but we did have a typewriter for homework purposes. The big rule was that in order to use the typewriter, what you were writing had to be worth it. The first story of mine that was deemed worthy featured a group of fairies who caused a hurricane because they partied too hard, and a girl who told them to kindly knock it off, please. I wasn’t a big fan of hurricanes, to be fair.

Iris: I’m older than Foxglove and brought a word processor to college, LOL. But my first story was honestly very similar to Duke’s Demon — I joke that I’ve been writing some version of that story since I was twelve, but it’s true. I wrote a screenplay (I don’t know why it was a screenplay, to be honest) about a ballerina who was magically transported to an Irish castle and lived with a duke who was possessed by a demon. It was absolutely awful, but I still have it, and it makes me smile to think about how years later I published a (much better) version! I probably have had dozens of old Trapper Keepers filled with half-finished fantasy stories, but that was the first thing I ever finished in its entirety. It was called “At the Edge of Midnight” and my dad made me a cover on Print Shop on our family computer. To be honest, it would be a horrible movie but the concept was there, ha!

Where did the desire to write LGBT romance come from?

Foxglove: Well, I came out pretty young, which was rare in my conservative town, and I spent years carefully cultivating a small collection of LGBTQ fiction. It was important to me to know that there were writers out there who thought that people like me deserved love. Eventually, my room was searched and the collection was discovered—only one book remained hidden. I decided then and there that I would write my own stories to make up for the ones that were lost.

Iris: I’ve been a voracious reader all my life, especially of fantasy, and always wanted to see a story with someone like me in it. Especially because I always wanted romance in my stories, and the characters I wanted to get together were never the ones who did! I also wanted to write stories where people were accepting of all sexualities and genders, especially since so much of my love of fantasy is centered around the “found family” trope.

Briefly describe the writing process. Do you create an outline first? Do you seek out inspirational pictures, videos or music? Do you just let the words flow and then go back and try and make some sense out it?

Foxglove: We mostly babble at each other excitedly until a plot happens. There are a lot of moments that tend to go like this:

“So what IF, bear with me, but what IF this character…”
“Yes?”
“What if they did THIS?”

“OH MY GOD YES AND WHAT IF THEY DID THIS OTHER THING?!”
“AND THEN THIS OTHER THING HAPPENS?”
“YES!!!!”

It can get a little out of hand, but our brainstorming sessions are ridiculously fun.

Iris: It’s true!! We have so many books planned it’s unreal — the world that we’ve created is so fun, and we’re apparently going to write a story for the entire population 😀 We’re pretty good about writing a scene, then saying, “Hey, do you want to jump in, here?” and switching off. Usually we each gravitate toward a character and write their POV. Sometimes we outline, but it’s normally more of a general plot idea that we tweak as we go along.

We did write one of the books in the Starian Cycle out of order — look, we really love the pairing in The King’s Mage, okay — and after we went back and wrote Exile’s Gift, had to rewrite the fifth one!! So there’s two versions of book 5 floating around our Gdocs, lol.

I write best, personally, with music or thunderstorm sounds. Background noise is essential, but it can’t be anything I’m TOO interested in or I’ll get too distracted!

If you could sequester yourself for a week somewhere and just focus on your writing, where would you go and what would the environment be like?

Foxglove: Is this a magical place where I don’t have to cook anything? Can I go there? Also, my kingdom for a comfortable desk chair! I am a creature of simple needs.

Iris: Honestly if I could go somewhere it was raining and/or snowing constantly, with me in a comfy chair with sixteen blankets and a sweater with too-long sleeves and a huge mug of Earl Grey, I would still find a way to play a mobile game and be distracted. But I have such fond memories of finishing Traitor’s Mercy — I woke up at 5 am after I couldn’t sleep due to the excitement of nearly being done, and went to my then-office in our house and watched the sun rise with tea while I wrote Laurent being dramatic in the snow with Sabre. Then, I watched in real-time as Foxglove finished the epilogue, and immediately opened a doc to start Duke’s Demon! It’s such a happy memory, that feeling of excitement when you type “The End” (which I always do) is so satisfying.

I want to say right off that this is book three in the series and I haven’t read one or two. Which might have made a lot of nuances and sub-plots in this book easier to understand. I love fantasy and this had a really good start. In and amongst a fantasy plot the book had dominant and submissive tendencies which if that’s your jam was well done.

I think the plot got lost in detail a little in the middle, but there are a wealth of characters I am interested in discovering how their story progresses.

Adrien as a character is a delight and very well balanced. Isiodore is good for him even if a little too patient sometimes. I wished I had read the previous two books first.

4 pieces of eye candy

Iris Foxglove is a shared pen name between two longtime fantasy readers who are committed to writing fun, escapist dark fantasy featuring decadent, kinky stories, intricate world building and unforgettable characters.

Author Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/irisfoxglove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21219026.Iris_Foxglove

Email: irisfoxgloveauthor@gmail.com

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