Book Reviews

OF Gods and Monsters Hades (#2)

Release date: January 22, 2016
Link: https://goo.gl/1RZgyF
Page count is: 347

******WARNING*******
This is not a story about a hero, or some bad boy-badass-antihero.
This is a love story between two monstrous villains and one valiant kid, held together by their entwined heartstrings.
It won’t be pretty.
It won’t be pleasant.
There’s no fluffy good feelings about it.
It will rip out your heart and never give it back.

Breno Hades el Oscuro took no bullshit from anyone. He ruled the crime world of the United States. When the King fell, what was left in the ashes was not the small boy that grew up without his father, not the same kid that chose a life of crime at seventeen, nor was it the King who had killed and clawed through a river of blood to stand at the top.

The King was dragged from his throne of bones into a deep dark pit, leaving only the raw flesh of a savage monster to crawl out of Hell.
One that knew love, but didn’t want it again.

Kemono Orochi was destined to inherit the legacy of his father, known as The Dragon’s Tongue. It was an inheritance he never wanted it, never desiring the power that came with the title of Dragon. Kemono ended it all by tearing off the Dragon’s head, watching the serpent’s remains be consumed in hellfire. Now tormented by the scars of his past inflicted by his father, he is struggling to come to terms with the Akuma he has become.

 

One that wants to devour everyone in his path to protect the only one that matters to him.

The only person that had ever made his icy heart beat.

His heart. His love. His beautiful pride.

Rex Hunter dreams of becoming a principal ballerino…all fierce, like a Phoenix. But this Phoenix has lost his wings and fallen prey, straight into the clutched claws and callus hands of two vicious beasts. Each bore the blackest of hearts, each desiring to keep him safe, cherished and loved unconditionally. Or was Rex just destined to be the goo that would stick two shattered souls together and prevent them from forever falling to pieces?

There will be blood, gore and nasty shit.

There will be watersports, crude, angry, sometimes sensual and other times just downright dirty and dysfunctional sex.

 

BUT…

There will always be LOVE…

Because even villains understand the tortured scars love leaves in her wake.

Amazon

 

“Fucker.” Hades spat, and sucked on the joint, the smoke dancing in his lungs while the weed had an orgy in his blood. He should have ripped his motherfuckin’ balls off. He should have taken his piece, pressed it to his sac and cock and blown the devils clean off in his own living room when he said he would take care of Rex. No problema. ‘Cause having a sexy little shit living with you could count as the same goddamn thing. Pride and loyalty to a dead man was fuckin’ him, royally in the ass.

Four years in the box was nothing compared to the hell Hades was going through. He was a dumb fuckin’ idiot. He squeezed his crotch, biting back the groan in his chest at the tender sting of his cock. The fucker was raw, yeah, motherfuckin’ raw, from jacking himself off so many times to relieve the fuckin’ pressure. And there wasn’t a fuckin’ moment he wasn’t reminded of the permanent semi sporting in his pants. His balls were constantly full, ready to birth a thousand mini Hades’ any fuckin’ moment.

Coming home to watch him sleep on the couch, finding the blanket had slid off, exposing his defined chest. Hades had pulled the blanket up, but hadn’t been able to resist the urge to swipe back a lock of the boy’s hair and run it between his fingers. All while imagining how those pink kissers would feel on his own lips, around his cock, and rimming his fuckin’ hairy old ass. He was a perverted fuck and needed to be shot for it. He’d carried the little thing to the bed and tucked him in, smiling, happy as a pig rolling in its own shit. ’Cause, sí, Daddy Hades always had to shove his two cents into it, and always got his goddamn way.

But that was a taste of the torment. Walking in and seeing that kid bent in half, ass tight as fuck, leggings a second skin on short muscular legs, Hades thought he’d burst a nut, seeing the little shit all-bendy-flexible like that. He’d spun and marched his shit right the fuck out of there. Pulled down his leathers in the hallway, took out his cock and stroked himself, watching the fucker belch translucent cum through the air, across the floor and onto the opposite wall.

The alcohol had helped, until two nights ago when everything had gone fuckin’ cosmic chaos as both sides of Hades, the primitive uncivilized King, el cucuy and the nurturing Daddy, had gone all motherfuckin’ batshit crazy. Not even Beo had touched the King this way, only petted el cucuy within. Rex had fuckin’ cuddled the monster, making it pant and wag its spiny tail.

 

OF Gods and Monsters Komainu (#3)

 

Release date: August 9, 2017
Link: https://goo.gl/eUCm7b

Page count is: 347

Hades

His innocence was the fire that blighted the deepest dark, but even he can’t save the King from a past stained so black, the devil won’t even touch it.

Years creep up on you, like a rotting hand: cold and wet, it will drag you down into your grave.

Life will hand you eternity only to rip it away from you.

Love will slaughter you in the most beautiful way and still manage to nail you in the ass, bareback, when you see him choose the heart of another man.

But Death… He is a patient soul. He waits, and he waits, and he waits.

‘Cause the bastard knows he will always have the last laugh when he knocks at the door.

Kemono

Memories were all I had, all I had clung to as my heart turned to stone and finally to dust.

Now he is mine and I will hold him, and I will kiss him. We will dance and we will laugh, and we will cry… We will be human together…

I did not know heaven until I knew him.

There is no greater power that can tear and rip your world apart as when their lips finally kiss yours again.

But being human comes at a fatal price.

Sometimes you have to let go of the hand you hold onto so tightly that it brought pain, because that is the only way you can save them from Death.

Rex

Why did she take them away, hand them back, then force me to choose?

Is love really that cruel, that she would enjoy tormenting you as you watch the two men you love with your whole heart, kill each other…?

And then, my worst fear, my deepest darkest nightmare became a living breathing thing.

Death had come to take from us what we could never replace.

Amazon

 

Kemono

He’d never had that, never even touched Rex other than that single instance when he had stroked Rex’s broken lip before the boy had hugged him, stealing a single febrile kiss. A memory so ancient, yet it held the power to hollow-out Kemono’s darkest nightmares and give him an ephemeral glimpse of nirvana. The thought of simply cuddling with the boy made acid guzzle through his veins, he didn’t know how…to hold Rex that close to him.

It was one thing to touch a man, fuck them while you held them down as they withered under you, or have their lips on your cock as you gripped them by the hair using their throat.
It was a ruinous sentiment to touch and hold close, for the first time in your life, the man who owned your heart and soul.

He was too terrified to even speak to him.

Because the words Kemono needed to say would never be enough to apologize, but not saying anything would be worse.

He was a large disturbing man, a strong, brutal monster, whose hands only knew annihilation, afraid to touch an angel, because Rex’s touch would be more fatal to Kemono than any cicatrix he had received.

 

 

This is Book 2 in the Of Gods and Monsters series, but it’s Book 1 of the story of Hades and Rex. **SPOILER** This is not an HEA, in my opinion. If non-HEAs that are just cruel make you want to throw things like they make me want to throw things, this is not the book for you. I’m still angry and I probably still need a cooling off period before I write this.

***several weeks later***

Hi, I’m back and I’m now more able to approach talking about this book in more than frustrated grunts and curses. I’ve put some distance between me and this book by reading some nice, true HEAs and in fact I had to review my notes to remember all the things that made me see red just a short few weeks ago.

Hades is first introduced in Book 1 of the series, Gods and Monsters: Menoetius, which tells the story of Beo and Colt. Now, Godgluck warns us that the story of Beo and Colt is rough and not for the faint of heart. Fine. That’s actually true, but I liked the book overall and was happy for their HEA. In that book we meet Hades, the president of the Cerberus Motorcycle Club. Hades is an angry, rough, unrepentant criminal who is so bad ass crazy, that Colt — himself a borderline nut job — quakes in fear when he comes around. Hades’ connection to Book 1 is through Beo, his ex-lover that he still cannot get over. Naturally this causes issues with Colt and these two never really get along; rather, they manage to not kill each other in deference to darling Beo, who cares for them both (though naturally has found his soul mate in Colt.)

Anyway, to say Hades is rough around the edges is an understatement. He’s violent, crude, and he always describes himself as physically ugly. But Hades does have some softness to him. Sure, he will kill someone who’s wronged him without thinking twice, but we know he still cares for Beo and would do anything to help him. We just need to find him his own soul mate that can love him through his faults. Enter Rex, a young ballet dancer whose connection to all of this is through his father, the MC club’s president when Hades was a teenager. Hades looked up to Dean Hunter and as the man lay dying after a shootout, he made young Hades promise to take care of Rex. But shortly after, Rex was sent to live in Japan as the ward of a powerful underworld boss. Hades doesn’t lay eyes on him again until maybe 15 years later and it’s lust at first sight for them both. This book should also have a warning, that it’s rough and gross and hard and sometimes funny. Hades is bat shit cray, but we still kind of like him. For instance, Beo has a kitten, and I love these big toughies who try to outlast a kitten that wants to make you their bed. Good luck, grumpy hero! There’s also a dom/sub aspect to their relationship, which honestly isn’t terrible (I’m not a huge fan and I’ve read worse). Though Rex calls him “Daddy Hades” and that causes my Squick-O-Meter to go off. I will warn you right now: the sex scenes are rough and hot, but include bodily fluid exchanges that, in my opinion, are beyond turn-off gross. I had to skip parts. Also, nearer the end of the book, Hades began displaying abusive relationship red flags that pissed me off, though it actually felt a bit out of left field. I think in Hades’ mind it’s part of the dom/sub culture, which is another reason I just can’t get into that whole scene. It’s a very thin line between abuse and dom/sub and that’s just too close for my comfort.

Hades ends on a cliffhanger, so don’t even bother to just try this book and walk away. I liked this one overall, and I wish I hadn’t because I may not have ventured into the next one. Man, that’s really where I got angry at this whole story.

Komainu picks up after the cliffhanger ending to Hades. I’m a little miffed at both Hades and Rex at this point and let me tell you something. When the author puts in an apology to readers as the dedication, asking for forgiveness, I want you to stop and think very carefully whether you want to go through with this. There’s a lot of crazy, pain and anger waiting for you. Kemono, Rex’s childhood, not-quite lover, has inherited his father’s underworld empire and is on a mission to find him — and kill any and all romantic rivals. Rex certainly has a type, doesn’t he?  Hades and Kemono hate each other instantly. But each are powerful leaders of their own empires, so they can’t just kill each other willy-nilly, opting instead to forge a temporary alliance in order to find Rex, who’s disappeared. They figure the only person that wants to find Rex safe and sound more than themselves is the other, so who better to work with? Once they find him, all bets will be off, of course, but in the meantime, the embark on a year-long, cross country search.

They finally find him and the three do the menage thing for a while. Threesome’s are also not really my thing as I don’t care what anyone says, someone will always be left out and that’s such a drag on my already low self-esteem. Everyone loves Rex. Hades grudgingly thinks Kemono is tolerable but is nothing compared to Rex; Kemono actually kind of falls in love with Hades. He’s a bit softer than Hades, but as I already told you, someone ALWAYS is odd man out, and Kemono is that guy. Which, I feel bad for him of course, but my ‘ship here is clearly Hades and Rex. Then because both Hades and Kemono are the kings of their respective empires, there’s always danger from one direction or other. That danger finally hits them, and Kemono is gone. And while initially he was as psycho as Hades, I didn’t hate him.

Rex loved Kemono in a way, but he realizes that Hades has his whole heart. And now Hades and Rex can be together, right? … Right …? RIGHT? Listen, don’t be angry. Don’t wail to yourself that it isn’t fair and curse the author’s name. It does no good. You were warned at the outset that this isn’t happy, and you were asked to be forgiven by the author 200 pages ago. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT WAS? I won’t give you details but … it’s awful. And I’m angry at both Rex and Hades. Rex essentially tries to play psychologist with Hades and for God’s sake … it’s Hades. You KNOW what he’s like, he’s completely unhinged on a good day, you cannot try to manipulate him into admitting stuff that may not really be true and are really unimportant. God, I’m getting mad all over again about it, and honestly my heart hurts for Hades. Don’t get me wrong, Hades does some truly bad things afterwards, but it’s because he’s cracked. Completely and utterly broken. And? The book just ends, and you’re left blinking at your Kindle debating whether it’s worth finding out if smashing it on the ground will make you feel better (it won’t). I don’t feel like I’m spoiling, per se. I just want to give fair warning to those of us who go from “yay!” to “Hulk-smash” in .3 seconds to think about it before you start these books.

Godgluck’s writing style is frenzied, full of curses, gross out images and crude language. I don’t hate it necessarily, but in Komainu especially, my patience was short, wondering where the part comes that Godgluck apologizes for in the dedication. Don’t get me wrong, there are some funny light moments in both books, the way Hades speaks sometimes is kind of sweet and charming, in his gruff way. At the same time, there are some parts that are just not clearly written; where I didn’t know or realize what was going on and had to re-read a few times or give up altogether. Some of the words he uses are just so odd: “fuckpecker”, “disco stick”, “dick tears” and other oddities began to grate on my nerves. Various characters or things happen that are talked about as if we’re supposed to know all about them, but it seems that those are just threads to other stories that don’t have direct impact on this story.

So, this is either a crappy non-HEA or just a cliffhanger. I’m not sure which I’d prefer. On the one hand, I want to see what happens next, with these jerks ultimately being together. On the other hand, Hades has done stuff I’m not sure one can come back from. Rex has also betrayed Hades in a way that may not be forgivable. I get very angry when I feel an author is emotionally manipulating me; having Rex act completely out of character just to up the angst and rip the reader’s heart out and Hades reacting by going completely off the deep end. If there’s a sequel to the story of Hades and Rex, I may read it. I don’t know how this story makes it to a HEA, though. I honestly can’t tell if I liked Komainu or not.

Hades: 3.5 pieces of candy

Komainu: 3 confused pieces of candy

Wulf Francú Godgluck
They come to me in the night, creeping into my head. Their voices are all different, their stories all dissimilar, but they keep saying the same thing…

“Show us, tell us, bring us into your world, and make us known.”

Then I sit and they take over. They tell their tales of love, loss and sinister misfortune. Not all of them get a happy ending, but they are pleased when their part is written.

I sometimes find myself lost in my own mind; a world very similar to our own yet so different. Things don’t go bump in the night— they squeal and crawl under your skin, making you grind your teeth, and making your stomach turn over and putting your nerves on edge. Then there’s the drama. Oh, the drama!

Wulf Francú Godgluck hails from South Africa. His work is not for the faint-hearted! In his books you’ll find… all the beasties with their nasty claws and teeth, and some you didn’t even know existed.

But the monsters aren’t all real.

Some live inside us. Who knows what he will make you discover about yourself, lurking in your heart, behind the closed walls in the deep, black recesses where no light penetrates?

Wulf will steal your heart and never give it back. More than likely, he’ll pin it to the wall with a bobbypin and sit there sipping his tea while you writhe and squeal on the floor…

STILL sure you want to read a Wulf Godgluck book?

Proceed at your own peril.