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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Guarded Obsession by Brenda Murphy (Excerpt)
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MANGA: White Pawn
White Pawn – Tobi Washio
Kuroki, a freshman in college, becomes infatuated with his senior Shirasawa, who enjoys dominating men, and plans to seduce him at the school’s entrance ceremony, but ends up being the one who gets captured. Despite the setback, Kuroki is determined to win over Shirasawa’s heart and comes up with a cunning plan to turn the tables.
White Pawn is another gem from Tobi Washio, mangaka of Hochichirui Hitoka and Enishi Majiwaru Haguremono.
Kuroki spotted the gorgeous Shirasawa at the school’s entrance ceremony and fell in love at first sight. One day, he was approached by Shirasawa, who asked him to be his model for a painting. Jumping at the chance to get close to his crush, Kuroki agreed and began his seduction.
He thought his scheme was working when Shirasawa asked him to come to his house. Kuroki thought he was a tiger ready to pounce, but Shirasawa proved that Kuroki was nothing more than a kitten.
Oooh, yandere in the wild! Not as common as tsundere because theyโre not as endearing as love interest. It took a while for me to warm up to Shirasawa. He borderlined sekuhara Kuroki, but our boy wanted to sleep badly with Shirasawa, so yeah. The sticking point, if we may use the phrase, is that Kuroki wanted to top.
Quite a refreshing dynamic! Far from a tsundere, Kuroki loudly proclaims he’s in love with Shirasawa at every opportunity. Shirasawa boldly challenges Kuroki to flip the table if he can, and he will top until Kuroki does so. A challenge Kuroki is determined to win, only Shirasawa is a martial arts expert who can easily manhandle the taller Kuroki. But our boy isn’t giving up anytime soon.
My only complaint is that this is such a missed opportunity to switch. Vers couple is a rare thing in BL, and I was really hoping Kuroki gets what he wants. Maybe a sequel?
The whole time they were together, Shirazawa was seemingly just there for the dominance and sex. My favorite part is when Shirasawa’s big brother crashed the party to stir trouble, and Shirasawa had to stake his claim. Kuroki wonders if Shirasawa has any feelings for him. Only for Shirasawa to fervently declare, “It was never one-sided.”
I get such a thrill every time we get glimpses of the confident and unflappable Shirasawa’s deeper feelings coming to the surface, the rare times he gets flustered or passionate! And the gags were hilarious because we know Kuroki is never getting Shirasawa’s ass.
This is what happens when a cat thinks he’s on top, until a tiger comes along.
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REVIEW: Hell’s Most Incompetent Demon by Silvana Falcon
Supernatural Suckers: Hell’s Most Incompetent Demon by Silvana Falcon
Hell’s most incompetent demon meets Earth’s most hopeless romantic.
All Ethan wanted was someone who could help him find loveโor at least someone to pop his cherry. A spell from an odd book he found at the library promised him a wish from Cupid. Sure, some of the ingredients weren’t easy to get, but he could improvise. Was there really that much difference between dried laurel leaves and coriander?
He never meant to summon a demon.
Malphas hasn’t been to Earth in a hundred years, not since he accidentally created a massively successful support group for gamblers and saved hundreds of souls from damnation. As punishment, he’s stuck in Hell’s archives filing dusty prophecies because his boss is convinced he’s incapable of being properly evil.
When Ethan’s summoning yanks him topside, he sees his chance to prove himself. He’ll make a deal with the humanโand collect that blindingly bright soul.
All he has to do is to help Ethan get together with his crush.
What could possibly go wrong?
Low angst, high comedy m/m romance. HEA guaranteed, no break-ups, no cheating.
Hell’s Most Incompetent Demon is the first book of the paranormal rom-com series, Supernatural Suckers, by Silvana Falcon.
The demon in question is Malphas, notorious for botched soul collection jobs, which often ended up helping his targets escape damnation. Once, he helped a priest create an orphanage, and another time, he suggested that a gambler seek fellow gamblers, thus inventing the concept of a support group.
One day, he was summoned by Ethan, a librarian and incurable romantic who thought he was summoning Cupid. The plot follows Ethan as he struggles to overcome his social anxiety so he can impress his crush. The man had a rather hopeless crush on a fellow librarian and was trying to muster the courage to talk to him. Ethan agreed to hand over his soul in exchange for losing his virginity to the man he loves.
Mal’s magic backfires, revealing Ethan’s crush is not what he hoped for. As Mal and Ethan spend more time together, feelings grow, but they can’t be together without risking Ethan’s precious soulโsomething Mal is determined to protect.
Mal is a cinnamon roll demon who tries so hard to be evil. Ethan is a book nerd and quite naive. They spent their time watching Netflix and eating ice cream. Now and then, they talk about the contract and how Ethan can win over his crush. It’s all very cozy and fluffy!
The world-building is hilarious! Hell is literally corporate hell, full of triplicate multi-page paperwork, asshole co-workers, and meetings about meetings. Mal is frequently called to his boss’s office to be yelled at, then bullied by a senior soul collection specialist. When he landed a prime contract, a.k.a. collecting the pure soul of Ethan, he was given a warning not to lose such a valuable soul or else he’d be doomed to an eternity of team-building in the deepest pits of hell.
The story is also a poke at book genres. Ethan lives for romance books while his crush is a literary snob with aspirations to be a published author. Ethan is intimidated and awed by his crush’s intellect and frankly pretentious proclamations about his favorite literary fiction. Ethan secretly found the book boring but had to pretend to like it, something he failed at spectacularly when it was revealed he really likes romance stories.
And since we’re being meta, this book would be the kind of book Ethan would adore. It’s cute and cheestastic, cozy and swoony, with a sweet nerdy hero, a protective adoring love interest, and a hard-won, ridiculously romantic happy ending. Granted, there is some Deus ex machina hand-waving in the resolution, but it is still satisfying and much deserved!
Overall, Hell’s Most Incompetent Demon is a story of infernal contracts and incurable goodness. Light-hearted and hella fun, it does what rom-com does best: lift the spirits and make you smile!
Rating:
4 Stars โ minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Inner Light
Artist: Autograf & Dan Soleil
Album: Inner Light
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HELL’S MOST INCOMPETENT DEMON: Amazon UK | Audiobook
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Soundtrack: Inner Light by Autograf & Dan Soleil
Soundtrack to Supernatural Suckers: Hell’s Most Incompetent Demon by Silvana Falcon
Inner Light by Autograf & Dan Soleil for a book about light and love.
Just for a moment
You show me your inner light
Your inner light
And when your heart opens
You show me your inner light
Your inner light -
Just for a moment
You show me your inner light
Your inner light
And when your heart opens
You show me your inner light
Your inner lightAnd when your heart opens
You show me your inner light
Your inner lightJust for a moment
You show me your inner light
Your inner light
And when your heart opens
You show me your inner light
Your inner lightAnd when your heart opens
You show me your inner light
Your inner lightJust for a moment
You show me your inner light
Your inner light -
MOVIE FEATURE: Such Good People
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COVER REVEAL: Crave by C.F. White
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FLICKer: This Time of Year
Featuring LGBT short films I found around the interwebz a.k.a Youtube. Okay sucky intro, but yeah, thatโs it.
Through a holiday companion app, two strangers find an unexpected connection during the loneliest time of the year.
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COVER REVEAL: A Rookie Mistake by Wren Hamilton
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RELEASE BLITZ: Voss by Crea Reitan
