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suspense

A Friend in the Dark (An Auden & O’Callaghan Mystery Book 1) by Gregory Ashe & C.S. Poe: New Release Review *2

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Rufus O’Callaghan has eked out a living on the streets of New York City by helping the police put away criminals as a confidential informant. But when Rufus shows up for an arranged meeting and finds his handler dead, his already-uncertain life is thrown into a tailspin. Now someone is trying to kill Rufus too, and he’s determined to find out why.

After leaving the Army under less than desirable circumstances, Sam Auden has drifted from town to town, hitching rides and catching Greyhounds, until he learns that a former Army buddy, now a police detective in New York City, has died by suicide. Sam knows that’s not right, and he immediately sets out to get answers.

As Rufus and Sam work together to learn the truth of their friend’s death, they find themselves entangled in a web of lies, cover-ups, and accelerating danger. And when they witness a suspect killed in cold blood, they realize they’re running out of time.

Title: A Friend in the Dark

Book #: 1

Series: An Auden & O’Callaghan Mystery

Author(s): Gregory Ashe and C.S. Poe

Length: 70,000k (novel)

Cover Artist: Reese Dante

Genre: Amateur sleuth mystery, romance

Release: September 8, 2020

Goodreads

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Okay, I don’t even know where to start!

First, if it is by C.S. Poe, I am reading it. Plus, she got me hooked on a Gregory Ashe newsletter story…so this was without question something I wanted to read. Okay, but there’s a cliffhanger!!!! Dang you, authors!!! I wanted to scream and shout, but understood why, and what it was for, so I have settled in to wait for book 2 (I will be in the corner with my blanket and my pacifier…) lol

These two authors wrote seamlessly together. They created two characters that on the surface, and deep, deep below the surface were hot messes. They both have a lot of shadows in their eyes, but somehow managed to work really well together, as they learned that they might want to do more than just sleuth together.

As they work together to find out what happened to Jake, they move all around NYC, not the glizty, glamour areas, but the underbelly, the places tourists never see, and NYC doesn’t want to show them. These are the places only locals would know about, which is why Sam needed Rufus’s help, just as much as Rufus needed Sam’s help because you have to come out of the dark sometimes to find answers.

If you are looking for a flowery, beach read, this isn’t going to be it. However, if you want some suspense, maybe a little murder and mayhem, with two men who discover that they might need each other for more than just how to navigate New York’s subway system, this might be it. And I know that I will be waiting in line for book 2, because I need to know more about how these guys navigate their way back to each other.

3.75 pieces of eye candy

Gritty NYC is the backdrop for this story. Rufus is a paid police informant. And then at a meet he finds the cop he worked with murdered. Rufus has no one. No family, no friends, and now he lost the one human who cared about him.

Sam knows Jake from their time in the military. Sam is harboring some serious demons from his years at war. But when he hears that his friend has killed himself, he summons the courage to get to NYC to look into it. Because there is no way that Jake offed himself.

Sam and Rufus discover each other trying to come up with answers themselves. They begrudgingly decide to work together.

Both of these guys are rough. They are just broken shells. Rufus is so used to being in the shadows as an informant, he has nothing and no one. You can feel his desperation even though he didn’t show it to anyone. He only knows the ugly underbelly of NYC and sees most people the same way

Sam is also a mess. Some PTSD, anxiety, tremors. He hates crowds and loud and people. But he is willing to deal with it to find out the real story of his friend. The friend who emailed him drunken secrets in the middle of the night.

Sam and Rufus, both so used to working and being alone, actually work really well together. They challenge each other, help each other and never pity each other. The clues they follow are like needles in a haystack, but they do it. One at a time.

Sam makes a move on Rufus as a one off and Rufus declines. When Rufus finally tells Sam why, it just broke me. Ugh these guys. I just wanted to mother both of them.

They make sense of the web of lies using their own smarts, Jake’s drunken emails and a sex worker in the Ramble of Central Park.

I did enjoy the book. There were times when I said to myself, “Ok, enough, move on” because sometimes the descriptions of things were so long and flowery. Like the authors were showing that they can write well. Sometimes less is more.

AND there was a cliffhanger ending. Enough that I definitely want to read book 2.

3.5 Pieces of Eye Candy

Gregory Ashe is a longtime Midwesterner. He has lived in Chicago, Bloomington (IN), and Saint Louis, his current home. When not reading and writing (which take up a lot of his time), he is an educator.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Goodreads | BookBub | Newsletter | The Gregorian Order

C.S. Poe is a Lambda Literary and two-time EPIC award finalist, and a FAPA award-winning author of gay mystery, romance, and speculative fiction.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Blog | Goodreads | BookBub | Newsletter | C.S. Poe’s Curious & Mysterious

Variable Onset by Layla Reyne: New Release Review

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To catch a killer, a special agent and his former student will need to get close—to their target, and each other. Layla Reyne returns with a stand-alone romantic mystery.

When the serial killer known as Dr. Fear seemingly reemerges after a cooling-off period, Special Agent Lincoln Monroe wants on the case. He knows his research on the calculating criminal, who targets couples and uses their worst fears to kill them, could prove invaluable. But nothing can prepare Lincoln for the agent waiting for him in Apex, Virginia: a brash and cocky former student. Carter Warren is everything Lincoln is not, and somehow everything he wants. And they’ll be going undercover. As newlyweds.

For Carter, seeing Lincoln again—and flustered to boot—pokes his raging bear of a crush something fierce. He thinks posing as lovers will provide the perfect bait for Dr. Fear. But pretending to be married forces them to confront fears of their own…like giving in to the very real chemistry between them.

With evidence pointing to the possibility of a copycat killer, Lincoln and Carter will have to race to separate truth from fiction. But when another couple goes missing, finding the killer will test every ounce of their training, skills and the strength of their bond like never before.

This book is approximately 72,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

Amazon

Okay, let’s start with YES!!!! I love Layla Reyne’s books. This author does suspense so well!!! This book says it is a stand-alone, and I’m not sure with how this book ended how the author could make this into a series, but please figure it out!

I really enjoyed these two characters, both together, and separate. Lincoln is such a nerd, a true academic, but clearly adores his family. And had a bit of a crush on his student. Meanwhile, Carter is his exact opposite, bold and cocky, and although he wants to go after what he’s been wanting for years, he is patient, and waits. They worked together so well, finding the clues they needed to find their serial killer, but also to find the answers to a long held secret of Carter’s…which guaranteed, it will make you cry.

I really would like to see these two work together again. I’d love to see this author take this series and run with it. I mean…if the author is asking. 🙂

4 pieces of eye candy

Earnest Ink by Alex Hall: Book Blast, Excerpt and Review

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While twenty-year-old FTM Hemingway is making an excellent living as a tattoo artist in a near-future version of Hell’s Kitchen, the rest of the country is splintered and struggling in the wake of a war gone on for too long. Technology has collapsed, borders rise and fall overnight, and magic has awakened without rhyme, reason, or rule, turning average unwitting citizens into wielders of strange and specific strands of magic.

Hemingway’s particular brand of magic has made him a household name. Not only is he a talented artist, but his work comes to life. Literally.

When NYC’s most infamous serial killer—the East River Ripper—abducts Hemingway’s best friend, Grace, he has only days to save her. Hemingway teams up with his stoic cop roommate to hunt for the killer and rescue Grace before she becomes the Ripper’s latest victim. But as the duo chase clues to the serial killer’s identity, Hemingway begins to fear the magic he and the Ripper share might eventually corrupt him too.

Book Title: Earnest Ink

Author: Alex Hall

Publisher: Nine Star Press

Published: October 14, 2019

Cover Artist: Natasha Snow

Genre/s: Queer Spec Fic, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller/Suspense

Trope/s: Found family

Themes: Mystery/adventure

Heat Rating:  1 flame

Orientation: Asexual, Pansexual

Identity: Cisgender, Trans

Warning: Depictions of Trauma, Blood, Violence, Murder, Eating disorders, Body hatred, Transphobia, PTSD, War

Length: 72 100 words/244 pages

It is a standalone book.

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I work without speaking because that’s the way I prefer it. The vibration of my machine, the softer buzz of the fluorescent lights overhead, the tap of my foot on the pedal—it’s the best music in the world.

When I hit a ticklish spot, the girl I’m working on gasps, jolting in my chair.

“Don’t move,” I say. And then, with a salesman’s false cheer: “Almost done!”

The girl is sweating down the crook of her neck. She’s got silver glitter paint on her eyelids and cheeks, a new fashion trend I just can’t quite get behind. Under my lights the mix of perspiration and makeup looks like a blurry constellation.

She wanted a bee inked onto her collarbone, one of those tiny honeybees you find on good tequila bottles. Easily done, and she met the cash requirement. She’s eager, nervous, and breathing in and out in little puffs.

I can’t remember her name, but that’s fine. Customer relations is Eric’s job.

There’s another kid leaning over my glass counter, watching eagerly as I work. “Does it hurt?” he asks. “When the magic happens?”

The bee’s fat yellow thorax wriggles from side to side as it begins to wake, fighting the pressure of my needle, hungry for life.

“It looks like it hurts,” the kid says. I ignore him.

One minute more and—thanks to my peculiar magic—this bee will fly free.

I’m perched on a swivel stool, a wet paper towel in my hand to wipe away ink. It’s too hot in my studio, even with the industrial fans whirling overhead and the door propped wide open. Evening light slants in through the door and the north-facing, floor-to-ceiling window panes that look out onto West Forty-Sixth. It’s muggy, too warm for New York in October, and all of Hell’s Kitchen is wilting, including my client.

“What does it feel like?” the kid demands. He’s leaving greasy fingerprints on the surface of the glass as he strains to get a better look at what I’m doing. I study him out the corner of my eye, wiping sweat off my nose with the back of my wrist before it drips on my customer. He looks like one of the street punks who have taken to running in packs near the cruise terminals, sleeping in old, abandoned cargo containers and panhandling up and down the marina.

He’s skinny and tall, hair dyed an unsettling violet and styled into spikes all over his head. He’s got a silver ring in his septum and more hoops in his ears; his eyelashes are coated with purple mascara to match his hair. Green glitter paint sparkles on his lids. His T-shirt and jeans are torn and dirty, and he’s got a pack of black-market cigarettes rolled into one sleeve against his upper arm.

I am trying to branch out more. Take on a book to review that maybe I normally wouldn’t automatically reach for.

Earnest Ink is not a book I would automatically grab. It is a dystopian serial killer mystery. And I am glad I took a chance. In fact, I want more.

The blurb says Hemingway is a FTM trans tattoo artist. Honestly, except for representation, him being trans has no bearing on the story at all. There are a few passages throughout the book about it, but it isn’t an overall theme at all.

Instead the themes are serial killers, magic, friendship and a really messed up world post- World War III.

The East River Ripper kills on a schedule. He is very methodical about kidnapping someone, holding them for a few days, using magic to literally suck the life out of them before slicing their throats and throwing them in the river.

Hemingway almost seems like a bystander in this story that is at it heart, his. He just wants to create art. His magic turns his tattoos three dimensional. But he is sucked into this murder mystery by his roommate who is obsessed with it since her brother became a victim. And because there aren’t a lot of people out there with magic and they are under the watchful eye of the government.

The first 25% at least of the book was world building, but much of it seemed self indulgent. Prose with fifty cent words to describe a scene on the street. It got to be a bit much. But after that we got more into the different characters and the meat of the story.

And it was a good story. Well thought out with interesting characters that didn’t just take up page space. I actually wanted more story behind what exactly happened to the United States that fateful day that changed everything. Instead of describing the entire trip to meet his therapist, more time on what actually happened to leave the country in a shambles.

But don’t take that to mean I didn’t like the book. Because I did, very much. It was so different from anything I’ve read. Once I really got into it (past that first 25ish%) I didn’t want to put it down.

If you are a fan of dystopian, you will really like this. Even if you aren’t, give it a chance.

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

Sarah Remy/Alex Hall is a nonbinary, animal-loving, proud gamer Geek.

Their work can be found in a variety of cool places, including HarperVoyager, EDGE and NineStar Press.

Author Links

Blog/Website  |  Twitter: @sarahremywrites 

Kept in the Dark (Locke and Keyes Agency Book 1) by Charlie Cochet: New Release Review *2

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Former Army Ranger turned government assassin Álvaro Montero and CIA Officer Caiden Cardosa crossed paths two years ago in Vienna, where their encounter ended less than amicably—despite the explosive sexual chemistry between them.

Now Caiden is riding a desk at Langley after his cover is blown. And Álvaro—who was “killed”—has a new identity and purpose as Delta/D, an operative for the Locke and Keyes Agency, under the leadership of the mysterious Alpha Orion.

When D and Caiden team up in a deadly black ops mission, the urge to kill each other will have to take a back seat to the desire for revenge against the man who betrayed them both. Surviving the mission won’t be easy. Resisting the passion between them—that might be impossible.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

A new series by Charlie Cochet? Sign me up!

I unabashedly love her THIRDS series. I am pretty excited for the spin off of that. And I enjoyed her Four Kings Security series, but one of the main characters was just too similar to the main character in THIRDS. Did I still totally devour the books? Yep. Because above all, they are fun, super entertaining reads.

So now we have this series. The Locke and Keyes Agency looks innocuous on the outside, but really it is a cover for hired assassins. But they only go after the bad guys- and they don’t always kill them.

This first book starts with D (short for Delta) who is presumed dead after being shot, and Caiden, a CIA spy who’s cover was blown. Alpha- the person in charge- wants both of them to work together to get a flash drive that has incriminating evidence on it. Including who shot D and who blew Caiden’s cover.

BUT…these guys know each other. They had one super hot night a few years ago, but then D ghosted Caiden before morning. Caiden is still mad about it, but D still wants him.

So they are trying to work together while also trying to fight their attraction. HA! Like that will happen.

So while this book was classic Charlie Cochet- funny, sarcastic, totally action packed, sexy, with two big alpha dudes, the characters definitely didn’t remind me of anyone else. They were unique to her- which made me happy.

Because the book is based in Florida there are jokes about gators- of course. Which is just funny. I mean my aunts moved to Florida (in fact, they moved to where the Four Kings is set) and I joke with them all of the time about gators.

By the end of the book we meet the rest of Alpha’s team of guys AND see them recruit someone else. And I want all of their stories! They were a crack up.

So bring it on Alpha! I want more Locke and Keyes and more guys!

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

Another great start to a new series by the very talented Charlie Cochet, and with the group of guys behind our two MC’s, it looks like this could be a series that takes many wild turns.

D and Caiden were quite the pair, rarely agreeing, but always having each others’ backs. (I’ll admit the back and forth on D’s name was difficult for me to keep track of…didn’t happen a lot, but enough to throw me a time or two.) There was some good humor in this book (not on the level of THIRDS, but that was ok!) which helped break up some of the challenges that these two were facing with trying to find D’s “killer” and Caiden’s bad guy…which by the way…totally took me by surprise!

The final big scene was intricate, and really well mapped out. I feel like sometimes Charlie sits down with little toy soldiers and moves them around to see if it will work. 🙂 Which it always does!

Can’t wait to see more of this series!

4 pieces of eye candy

Doubling Down (Double Trouble Book 2) by Cari Z and LA Witt: Release Day Review

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Hacker Leotrim Nicolosi and Deputy Marshal Rich Cody may have escaped a vengeful crime boss by the skin of their teeth, but they’re not out of danger yet. With the mob’s tentacles embedded in everything from local law enforcement to federal agencies, the guys are running low on allies.

Rich has one ace up his sleeve—the men who had his back in warzones during his time in the Marines. When he sends out a distress call, the cavalry comes running. Heavily armed, highly trained, and fully provisioned, they hunker down in a buddy’s missile silo, ready to make a stand against whatever the Grimaldi family sends after Rich and Leo.

Leo isn’t so sure about the Marines, though. He trusts Rich, but something isn’t right, and he’s not a gambling man when his life is on the line. The Marines aren’t so sure they trust him, either, and Rich suddenly finds himself in a standoff between the men he’s bled with and the man he’s quickly falling for.

Now they’re running out of time to either find the turncoat among them or get on the same side.

Because the Grimaldi family is coming, and this time they’re bringing out the big guns.

Doubling Down is the sequel to Double or Nothing, and is the conclusion to the Double Trouble duology.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

When we last saw Leo and Rich, lots of bad guys were dead and the biggest bad- Matteo Grimaldi- was in federal custody. But Papa Grimaldi was still out there calling the shots. And still wanted Leo dead. So back on the run they go- back to the missile silo and his Marine buddy Smitty.

The stakes have been raised though, so Rich calls in his other Marines. The show up- because that is what they do- but they don’t really trust Leo. Nor does Leo trust them.

It was cool to see these guys show up in waves. That way they all needed to learn about each other all over again. And then Gianna showed up- Papa Grimaldi’s only daughter, who he also has a hit out on.

So all of these alpha men, plus Leo and Gianna are hunkered down in a missle silo trying to come up with a plan, but also not kill each other. It is kind of funny. But they all know that this is going to come down to war. Them versus the mob, no way around it.

The story is exciting and mostly fast paced. There are a few slow spots, but not too many. There’s a double crosser in the mix, so it was fun trying to figure out who it was (I didn’t guess it).

Total escapism book with a very satisfying ending. Like an action movie on the pages with a healthy dose of gay romance.

Don’t even try to read this book without reading the first.

4 Pieces of Candy