• Uncategorized

    THE WANDERLUST BOOK TAG

    I found this tag from The Secret Library

    R U L E S:
    Mention the creator of the tag and link back to the original post: Reading by Starlight
    Thank the blogger who tagged you
    Answer the 10 questions below
     Tag 5+ friends

    It’s always fun to go on an adventure. Let’s do this!

  • manga,  Uncategorized

    MANGA: Karasugaoka Don’t Be Shy!!

    Karasugaoka Don’t Be Shy!! – Yuukura Aki

    Izuhara Sou, the leader of the crime prevention group “VOICE” that protects east Karasugaoka realizes he’s in love with the man he keeps butting heads with and leader of the rival group “Karasukai”, Shinba Tetsuji…!?

    Adorbs!

    That tsundere! And what a nice seme…!!

    Excuse me? Are you Shinba the one who’s in a relationship with me? 

    A super cute (pseudo) enemies to lovers story.

  • book,  Uncategorized

    REVIEW: Only The Devil Knows by Katze Snow & Tiegan Clyne

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    Criminal Delights: Serial Killers: Only The Devil Know – Katze Snow & Tiegan Clyne

    My name is Max, but people call me The London Whipper. Iโ€™ve been silent for many years. Now Iโ€™m ready to make my final move. 

    Only The Devil Knows follows the people trapped within my web of lies: 

    Nathaniel Harris, a psychologist who works with the criminally insane. 

    Genevieve Knight, the Chief Inspector determined to find me once and for all. 

    Wyatt Pearson, the beautiful boy who believes Iโ€™m a hero instead of a cold-blooded murderer. 

    Each of these people has one thing in commonโ€”they all want me. But what happens when my whip tangles around them and distorts everything they believe to be true? 

    Iโ€™ve kept my identity under wrapsโ€ฆ until now. Itโ€™s time to show the public what Iโ€™ve been working on. After all, whatโ€™s a serial killer if he doesnโ€™t have some artistic flair and his favourite boy at his side? 

    This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance. 
    Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.

    As far as the Criminal Delights series goes, the first two books, Wrong Way Home and Devil Next Door, still lean towards the ‘light’ part of the spectrum. The third book, Only The Devil Knows is DARK AS FUCK, it’s happy end reserved only for the our beloved sickos who used it to bring their game to the next level. The rest of humanity will have to settle for cringing like mangy dogs waiting for that crack of the whip.

    There are four POVs and I totally love diving into the heads of Max, Wyatt, Gen and Nathaniel. The alternating POVs were very effective in creating that suspenseful build-up to the big twist. There were major hints dropped here and there and the moment when it came was (pun intended) insanely delicious.

    Max, the Master and Wyatt’s beloved Sir. He is an artist at heart, creating beautiful paintings from the blood of his victims. He is brutal, sadistic and completely in control. With that mysterious charisma all serial killers seem to have, you will find yourself drawn to him against your better judgement.

    Wyatt, Max’s Boy, is a pure masochist, reveling in the Master’s dominance of him. He is super loyal and willing to play any game The Whipper comes up with. And as he proudly announced, his crazy matches the Master’s crazy.

    Gen is the chief inspector who has been frustratingly investigating The London Whipper case for 20 year with hardly any leads. In any other book, she would have come out the hero and I wanted her to be so but then this is not that book. I felt really sorry for her. Bring back up next time, Gen.

    Nathaniel is the very prim and proper psychiatrist working in a mental health institution. He has a troubled childhood and a domineering father who constantly tells him he is no good. As a result, he keeps his attraction to his fellow colleague under wraps because he was too cowardly to ask him out. He was completely shaken when he found himself responding to Wyatt, who propositioned him. He tried really hard to stay in control but it was a losing battle really.

    Monstrous and bloodthirsty as they are, I found myself rooting for Max and Wyatt. The Nathaniel+Wyatt angle was equally compelling too but I think that would leave Wyatt unsatisfied. Nathaniel is too nice. I like him though so Wyatt could go either way or both.

    Those who love the more extreme side of sex will find BDSM elements in full play alongside real torture, death and art. It is as graphic and disturbing as it can get, nobody was spared. I spared myself the full impact of these depravities by skimming the scenes. Chicken shit, I know.

    Some niggles:

    First, the book was set in London so I wished it had a more British feel to it. I hardly felt the place, it could have been anywhere in the US. Also,the writing had a more American/international English feel to it, I would have preferred more slangs and colloquialism. Maybe somewhere along the lines of the Constable Peter Grant novels. But that’s just me.

    Felter’s part was unecessary. It gave an extra dose of horror to the proceedings but then his part could have been done by either Wyatt or Max.

    Max is really not as careful as the book made him out to be. How is he not caught already? But do we want him caught?

    Obviously, these niggles hardly matter because Only The Devil Knows was as good as advertised. This is a fun book that I recommend for those into fucked-up stories about fucked up people.

    P.S.

    Check out other books in the Criminal Delights series:
    Wrong Way Home by K.A. Merikan (review here)
    Devil Next Door by Alex Jane (review here)

    Rating:
    4.5 Stars โ€“ perfection is only half a step away

    Soundtrack: Discipline
    Artist: Nine Inch Nails
    Album: The Slip

  • Uncategorized

    Am I
    Am I still tough enough?
    Feels like iโ€™m wearing down, down, down, down, down
    Is my visciousness
    Losing ground, ground, ground, ground ground?
    Am I taking too much
    Did I cross a line, line, line?
    I need my role in this
    Very clearly defined

    I need your discipline
    I need your help
    I need your discipline
    You know once I start I cannot help myself

    And now it’s starting up
    Feels like i’m losing touch
    Nothing matters to me
    Nothing matters as much

    I see you left a mark
    Up and down my skin
    I don’t know where I end
    And where you begin

    I need your discipline
    I need your help
    I need your discipline
    You know once I start I cannot help myself

    I. Can. Not. Stop. Myself.
    Once I start I cannot stop myself
    And you.
    Once I start I cannot stop myself
    And you know.
    Once I start I cannot stop myself
    And you.
    Once I start I cannot stop myself
    And you know.
    Once I start I cannot stop myself

    I need your discipline
    (And you)
    I need your help
    (Once I start I cannot stop myself)
    I need your discipline
    (And you know)
    Because once I start I cannot stop myself
    I need your discipline
    (And you)
    I need your help
    (Once I start I cannot stop myself)
    I need your discipline
    (And you know)
    Because once I start I cannot stop myself

  • manga,  Uncategorized

    MANGA: Reo and Mabu

    Reo and Mabu ~ Together They’re Sarazanmai ~ – Kunihiko Ikuhara (Ikunirapper), Misaki Saitou & Miggy

    Police officers Reo Niiboshi and Akutsu Mabu are stationed at a police box in Asakusa, Tokyo. One day, they find a baby girl lying on top of a plate. Naming the girl “Sara”, they decide to raise her together. Protecting the town’s peace together, what sweet incidents will they encounter!? Along the way, the pair will overcome obstacles as two men being fathers for a baby, and question the origin of Sara’s mysterious magical powers… 

    Hmm… I say less baby, more BL.

  • book,  song,  Uncategorized

    REVIEW: Shadow’s Edge by S.C. Wynne

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    Psychic Detective Mysteries: Shadow’s Edge by S.C. Wynne

    Liam Baker can see things. Dead people like to visit him and tell them how they were wronged. Some might call it a gift, otherโ€™s a curse. But either way this ability makes him useful to Los Angeles homicide detective Kimball Thompson. 

    Some madman is slitting the throats of young male prostitutes and then dumping their bodies in the desert with vague clues of pink feathers and the number five. Usually Liam can talk to the spirits of the dead. But someone is blocking him. Someone is taunting him. 

    The case is rapidly deteriorating into a violent, psychic pissing contest and Liam canโ€™t see far enough ahead to figure out who wins or who dies.

    I seem to be building a collection of psychic detectives as I yet again start on a series featuring another consulting medium+ police detective combo. Someday, I going to create a ranking list featuring these ghost talkers. Unfortunately, Liam Baker might not make it to the top 5 as this book is pretty average.

    First, the romance between Liam and Thompson was a big plus. It worked quite well with the mystery as the backdrop. Liam is prickly and grief-stricken over William, who was also Thompson’s partner. Thompson is a tough-looking, workaholic homicide detective who have always cared about Liam and had taken him under his wing when William died. He has deeply hidden feeling’s for his late partner’s boyfriend. This and the work-related pressures added extra tension to what was an already fragile relationship. Then Thompson started dating somebody else and Liam slowly realized that he was attracted to Thompson. And that he needed to get over William’s passing. All of which brought out Liam’s thorny side and he was being quite an ass. At this point, Thompson had given up on having his feelings requited, Liam being clueless and such and that should have been the end of it. But there were feels ready to be felt and USTs that irresistibly needed to be resolved and hash it out they did. While not exactly sqee-tastic, the chemistry sparked, the dynamics was enjoyable and their transition from work partners to romantic partners was convincingly executed.

    However, for me, the mystery should stand out as well and while it was one of the main threads, it wasn’t as strongly delivered as I hope it would. It was as generic as they come. I didn’t feel the suspense or the chill and some of the clues’ significance were not so clear during the big confrontation with the killer. Even the killer’s motive seemed weak. I was looking forward to this ‘psychic pissing contest‘ but I’m disappointed that the antagonist was too one-dimensional.

    The world-building also needed to be fleshed out. Are psychics common in their world? Everybody seemed okay with the police working with a consulting medium so maybe we can assume it is so. Since Samhain was mentioned, do other paranormal entities exist in their world too? Given the length of the book, it might not be surprising that we only get the bare-bones details but it would have been more effective to give the reader a little more meat to chew on as this would make mystery more compelling. Maybe in the second book then.

    Because I liked Liam and Thompson enough to read the second book. Also, I like Kale Williams’ narration a lot. Hopefully, book two’s much better than this.

    So, if you, like me, prefer your police procedural romance to be heavy on the mystery and police work, this might not be the book for you. But if you like your romance served with a side of mystery and paranormal, Shadow’s Edge by S.C. Wynne might do it for you.

    P.S.

    If you are interested on other books featuring psychics, check out:

    Psycop by Jordan Castillo Price (review here)
    Tyack & Frayne by Harper Fox (review here)
    Badlands by Morgan Brice (review here)
    The Community by Santino Hassel (review here)
    The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal (review here)

    Rating:
    3 Stars โ€“ not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked it

    Soundtrack: Wake Up
    Artist: Arcade Fire
    Album: Funeral