Audiobook Review: The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles

The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies #1) by KJ Charles
Amazon, Audible, Goodreads
Time: 7hrs and 56 Minutes

4.5 Pants Off

Blurb: A lord in danger. A magician in turmoil. A snowball in hell.

Exiled to China for twenty years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He’s also inherited his family’s enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn't expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane’s family. Unfortunately, it’s his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he’s ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude... and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That’s definitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane’s dangerous appeal isn't the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can’t find a way through it—they’re both going to die.


Warning: Contains hot m/m sex between a deeply inappropriate earl and a very confused magician, dark plots in a magical version of Victorian England, family values (not the good kind), and a lot of swearing.

Review

THE LORD ASSHOLES 

So I’m so glad I decided to listen to this on Audio. The story is already magnificent and the narration made The Magpie Lord all the more magnificent. 

The Story: 5 Pants Off 

I really do love the heck out of this book. I am a fan of things creepy and a story filled with twists and turns and The Magpie Lord had it all. The characters are deeply rich, the storytelling topnotch, and the sexy time is definitely sexy. 

Lucien Vaudry aka Lord Crane on more than one occasion has tried to kill himself while deeply asleep and each time becoming more successful than the last. He knows he needs help and so he calls in local magician that comes highly recommend. Seems the title of Lord is deeply cursed which has Lucien feeling some sort of way because the sins of his father and brother shouldn’t fall on him since he’s been exiled for quite sometime. But in order to stay alive he will the need the help of Stephen Day, the tiny feisty magician who also hates his guts (sins of his father and all). 

What then transpires is next level creepy shit, ghosts of old, and magpies. Crane and Stephen clash in a most delicious type of way and they make the story all the more worthwhile. They got so much chemistry I was in flames. While I would call this a slow burn you won’t mind cus it burns so good and it’s quite delicious enjoying it for a second time. 

Let me also mention it’s freaking hilarious. The greatest balance of creepy with hilariousity.  

The Narration by Cornell Collins: 4 Pants Off 

Yes, yes, and yes. Having read the book previously, listening to it brought a very different level of excitement. The narration was so on point, each character so very well developed in both uniqueness and personality.  

I am all for this and I’m so much looking forward to listening the rest of the series.  

I am both happy in my pants and my ears.

Review: The Charlatan's Conquest by Vivien Dean

The Charlatan's Conquest (Phantom Fixers #1) (Dreamspun Beyond #2) by Vivien Dean
Dreamspinner Press, Goodreads, Amazon, Audible
Novel: 216pgs

3 Pants Off

Blurb: A Phantom Fixers Story

With love and ghosts, the challenge is figuring out what’s real.

Software engineer Cruz Guthrie needs money for his sister’s cancer treatments. He needs it so badly he’s willing to stand in for a ghost hunter friend and investigate a millionaire’s supposed specters. It should be an easy gig—after all, nobody thinks the haunting is real.

Neurological researcher Brody Weber is furious that Cruz would take advantage of Brody’s father. But his mind changes when spirits manifest—and he realizes Cruz genuinely wants to help. When they learn the paranormal activity centers on Brody, Cruz is willing to fight to free Brody from the entities determined to make his life miserable. With a little help from friends and family—both living and dead—they must figure out why Brody is attracting spirits and how to banish them. Only then can they pursue a future together.

Review

The Charlatans Conquest is the second book in the Dreamspun Beyond series and quite a disappointment for me. I really wanted to like it because ghosts man but failed to wow me… 

Cruz Guthrie has decided to fill in for his ghost hunter best friend. While he isn’t 100% behind the idea he would greatly benefit from the twenty thousand payout that would help with his sister medical bills. He doesn’t like the idea of doing a job that Etienne has already proven the lack of ghosts but the client is sure that he is being haunted and won’t take no for an answer. So spending 2wks doing a house cleansing seems like a money making vacation. What should have been a super easy job comes with some complications when the clients son Brody Weber shows up, and clearly Etienne was wrong because the house is haunted and there is more than one ghost. 

Brody doesn’t want anyone taking advantage of his father and clearly this charlatan is. Pretending he’s a ghost hunter and feeding his father s disillusionment, but Brody has got a secret that makes him a hypocrite and also a tad bit on the stupid side. Brody knows his father isn’t being haunted and he knows the strange happenings have everything to do with him. For someone who deals in neurology his brain is real slow on the uptake.  Now he has to deal with his attraction for Cruz and also realize for all these years his ass has been haunted by some trouble-making possible malevolent ghosts (who knew).  

Now it’s up to Cruz and Brody to figure out how to rid Brody of his hitchhikers while also falling into serious like. Cruz is this sweet family orientated guy who really wants to help Brody and Brody just wants to have a little bit of normalcy. Things are moving forward but first they’ve got to exercise some ghost. 

I wanted to like this a lot more because umm ghost and creepy are my thing but this really failed to spook or keep my interest. The writing was good, and the story was nice but overall I became bored and lost interest. The relationship between Cruz and Brody is hella sweet and Cruz’s friend Etienne offers up some intrigue as to how he started seeing ghost and made it his job, so I’m definitely interested in that. Otherwise there wasn’t much here for me. 

Overall, an alright read but it missed its mark with me….

ARC Review: Once Upon A Wolf by Rhys Ford

Once Upon A Wolf (Wayward Wolves #1) by Rhys Ford
Dreamspinner Press
Novella: 96pgs

4 Pants Off

Blurb: Once Upon A Time, There Was A Wolf….

Gibson Keller’s days are fairly routine: wake up early, get some work done, drink lots of coffee, and take care of Ellis, his older brother stuck in wolf form after coming home from the war. It’s a simple life made up of long runs on two legs—or four—and quiet evenings…. Until Ellis chases a handsome man off a cliff and into the frozen waters beside their cabin, changing Gibson’s life forever.

For Zach Thomas, buying an old B&B is a new start. Leaving behind his city life, he longs to find peace and quiet, and hiking the trails behind his property seems safe enough—right up to the moment an enormous black wolf chases him into a lake, nearly drowning him. Discovering werewolves are real astounds him, but not as much as the man who rescues him from the icy water then walks into Zach’s heart as if he owns it.

Loving a werewolf—loving Gibson with all his secrets—has its challenges but Zach believes their love is worth fighting for, especially since his heart knows the big bad wolf is really a prince in disguise.

Review

Now wait a whole damn minute...  

Rhys Ford wrote this?  

That’s what you’re trying tell me…this short with it’s quiet intensity was written by the same author that gives me crazy per book. This sweet fairytale romance was written by Rhys (mind blown face). Like “Once Upon a Wolf” is an actual gay fairytale.

Zack is having a bad day when his leisure stroll lands him in the path of a gigantic bigger than any wolf he’s ever seen, his fear kicks in and he takes off running. Running might not have been such a good idea when he finds himself in freezing waters and losing consciousness fast. He comes to in the home of a beautiful stranger and maybe he’s hit his head too hard because he's sure he just saw a man turn into a wolf. 

Gibson’s no-good brother is just pure trouble wrapped in black fur. Having taking on the role of caretaker to his brother trapped in wolf form, having someone on their land isn’t a complication they need. So for the life of him he can’t understand why Ellis would chase the man down. Now they’ve got a half dead stranger in their home and he’s just discovered that they’re a little more than ordinary.

Can I just say I’m like head over heels in love with this story. There’s something very quiet about the storytelling. It’s almost too intimate, as if I’m looking in on something I was never meant to see. I love the pace, I love the writing, and I love the characters. It was just a wonderful light read, and it goes hand in hand with the cold ass weather and snow I’m surrounded by right now. This is a side of Rhys I’ve never read and I like it.

Overall, it’s a great little read. I don’t know how fans of Rhys will take it but I welcome it with open arms. I am so looking forward to the next book in the series. This was a great setup to a world with limitless options. This could be the start of something wonderful.

Review: To Touch You by Cardeno C.

to touch you (Mates #4) by Cardeno C.
The Romance Authors
Novel: 260pgs

3 Pants Off

Blurb:  “His name is Salvatore Rossi. He’s a vampire. And he’s my true mate.”

By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone and a young wolf shifter comes to his rescue.

Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become Alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers.

Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: if you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity. 

Review

NO TOUCHING AT ALL

All the ways this book could have been great..it started great, progressed like it was going to get epic and then it left me so utterly disappointed. Like actual tears disappointed, and the soul crushing realization that greatness will never be achieved. 

I love shifter books about destined mates, and I have been really enjoying C.C’s books in the “Mates” series. So “To Touch You” had me at hello. Yoram Smith knows his mate as soon as his little eyes land on  him. He knows he needs to keep this man close and alive regardless of the adults around him being all grumpy about it. But getting Salvatore to understand what being a mate means will be the hardest thing Yoram will ever do, regardless of all the things he’s seen and become Yoram remains an after thought to the man who has his heart. 

First of all, I was feeling this. I thought I was getting something along the lines of “Until Forever Comes” that sexy vamp/shifter good good. I got nothing for 70% of the book, and don’t get me wrong the story was good but Salvatore pissed me off something fierce. I found him so ungrateful and overall a gigantic Ahole, he rubbed me the wrong way. Like someone does something amazing for you for years, and this dude doesn’t even drop a “thank you” in person, over email or text. It most definitely irked me.  

Then bada bing bada boom they’re in bed and love and I just wasn’t buying it. Like I get where Yoram is coming from, but that Salvatore needed to be raked over the coals for a bit. He got his nourishment just a bit too easy for my liking. Apart for my complete disdain for the accidental vampire this story was just a sweet read. Some off side pack conflict added a bit of extra dressing but this was a “missing mate” type drama,  “To Touch You” was a bad touch for me. 

Review: Book #1 Wake Me Up Inside
Review: Book #2 Until Forever Comes 

Rating: Book #3 3 Pants Off

Review: Duck Duck Ghost by Rhys Ford

Duck Duck Ghost (Hellsinger Series #2) by Rhys Ford
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 214pgs

4 Pants Off

Blurb: Paranormal investigator Wolf Kincaid knows what his foot tastes like. 

Mostly because he stuck it firmly in his mouth when his lover, Tristan Pryce, accidentally drugged him with a batch of psychotropic baklava. Needing to patch things up between them, Wolf drags Tristan to San Luis Obispo, hoping Tristan’s medium ability can help evict a troublesome spirit haunting an old farmhouse.

With Wolf’s sister handling Hoxne Grange’s spectral visitors, Tristan finds himself in the unique position of being able to leave home for the first time in forever, but Wolf’s roughshod treatment is the least of his worries. Tristan’s ad-hoc portal for passing spirits seems to be getting fewer and fewer guests, and despite his concern he’s broken his home, Tristan agrees to help Wolf’s cousin, Sey, kick her poltergeist to the proverbial curb.

San Luis Obispo brings its own bushel of troubles. Tristan’s ghost whispering skill is challenged not only by a terrorizing haunting but also by Wolf’s skeptical older cousin, Cin. Bookended by a pair of aggressive Kincaids, Tristan soon finds himself in a spectral battle that threatens not only his sanity but also his relationship with Wolf, the first man he’s ever loved. 

Review

Oh! How I’ve missed a Rhys Ford book. Duck Duck Ghost was a roller coaster ride of scares, thrills, and sexy men. This by far has to be scariest and craziest book by Rhys that I’ve read so far and that’s saying something.

We first met Tristan and Wolf back in Fish and Ghosts. Where Tristan ran a sort of ghost hotel and skeptic debunker of all things supernatural Wolf Kincaid visited to the hotel to prove that Tristan was all types of bat shit crazy. He went looking for ghosts but found love instead. The second book finds the boys relationship on the rocks and Wolf is out again telling Tris he’s still sort of bat shit crazy even after seeing definitive prove that ghosts are real and sometimes they’re out to kill you. 

With Tris being all mad at his lover, and the hotel losing some of its ghostly mojo, a rekindling of love needs to happen. My boys decide to once again to go do a little ghost hunting and they get more than what they bargained for. What sounded like a mild (maybe haunting) turned out to be something that would freak anybody’s freak. 

This book brought us an eclectic mix of characters and ghosts and I was just so in love with it all. I love Tristan’s interaction with his ghostly guests and Rhys does such a remarkable job of making them so memorable that I found myself wanting to know their stories -how they fell in love, how they lived and how they died-. They each brought humour and craziness to an already wonderful story.
  

Duck Duck Ghost, was one action packed scene after another, and lets keep it 100 I was legit spooked in some scenes there. There ain’t nothing scarier than bat shit crazy kids, and this had one hell of bat shit crazy kid. While I was in love with all those elements I wasn’t a fan of how it all ended. I wanted an epic throw down and the build up felt like it was inevitable but overall I was let down. I felt like it just ended and kept thinking that, this whole ghost thing could have been solved 70pgs are so in. The legit introduction to an actual ghost hunter served no purpose and provided filler or something, like don’t get me wrong I liked him and am intrigued but bud needs to go back to the school of ghostbusters. 

Overall, an entertaining read which left me wanting more especially with that ending (shooketh). DDG is authentically Rhys Ford and it will provide a nice creepy read on a bright sunny afternoon and if you dare a very creepy read in the dead of night while in the dark of your bedroom.  

Review: Book 1 Fish and Ghost

Review: Until Forever Comes by Cardeno C.

Until Forever Comes (Mates #2) by Cardeno C.
Novel: 60,702
Amazon, ARe

4 Pants Off

Blurb

A sensitive wolf shifter and a vicious vampire challenge history, greed, and the very fabric of their beings in order to stay together until forever comes.  

 Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can’t shift. Hoping to find an honorable death by joining his pack mates in a vampire attack, Ethan instead learns two things: draining his blood releases his pain and his wolf, and he has a true mate—a vampire named Miguel.   

Over four centuries old, strong, powerful, and vicious, Miguel Rodriguez walks through life as a shadow, without happiness or affection. When a young shifter tells Miguel they're true mates, destined to be together, Miguel sends him away. But Ethan is persistent and being with him comes so naturally that Miguel can't resist for long. Their challenge is staying alive so they can be together until forever comes. 

 

Review

The second book in the Mates Series and I was all types of excited to read this. Who doesn't love a Vampire/Shifter pairing? Wasn't as angst-ridden as I was hoping but it was an enjoyable read overall.  

Ethan is a shifter that can't shift. He is ostracized from his pack and just really wants to fit in and be accepted. His body is always in pain waiting for a shift that will never happen, leaving Ethan longing to be a wolf, to becoming a man. He has his family, but he knows that will never be enough, and some way; somehow he has to finally shift. When the opportunity to finally do something with his pack mates finally arrives, Ethan jumps at the chance to be a part of it. Without questioning the dangerous position he will be in, Ethan goes after vampires with his pack mates knowing he most likely will die but the opportunity to prove himself as a man and wolf strong.   

The encounter with the vamps is a bust. They get their ass handed to them, and Etan is about to die. With blood dripping from his neck, his legs weak and his breath shallow Ethan realizes this was a damn bad idea. When it looks like their leader is about to put him out of his misery, Ethan's reaction is one of shock; he finds himself aroused to black haired vamp they call Miguel. Like he's full dick hard turned on, and the Vamp is giving him feels. Not the ones he should have for a bloodsucker but the kind where he wants to crawl into his skin and just live. There was never a sweeter way to die. And before Ethan can question his feeling there's nothing but sweet release and then blackness.  

 From what you already know; the vampire is Ethan's Mate. Which is crazy right, cuz he's a vampire and a dude. Ethan deals with all this quite easily along with shifting for the very first time. The crazy unusual comes with Ethan and his blood and the fact that he seems to produce too much of it (that's all you're getting from me). He has no reservations about leaving his pack and who can blame him he was treated as an outcast. He’s finally found his home with Miguel, and though the vampire is hardly thinking of forever Ethan knows that the mate bond cannot be denied.   

Throw in a little bit of plot with Miguel’s “coven” and it keeps the book from being a fluff fest. While I would have given anything to get a little POV from Miguel, I feel like I know the kind of man he is. Ethan is young, naïve, and sweet. He had this stereotypical small town boy mindset that was sometimes annoying, but it worked for his character. Together they're a little sweet and sometimes sexy. I feel like I liked this one only because it was vamp/shifter story. There were too many things that were glossed over, and the ending was very anticlimactic.   

Overall, a sweet read with some sexy points. I felt like this could have been a great story, but too much about it felt very safe.  


Review: Book #1 Wake Me Up Inside