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Dear Mona Lisa… – Claire Davis & Al Stewart
Tom, shy office clerk by day and drawer of foxes by night wakes up one Monday knowing the most extraordinary week of his life is about to begin. In five days time a lifelong ‘secret’ will be made gloriously public—but will it mean losing the person he loves most?
Getting married…
It seems like only yesterday Tom changed nappies and sang nursery rhymes to a laughing baby. He relishes the demands of being a daddy; especially teaching his little girl to draw and paint as she grows up.
But the years tick by and times change. Long-buried secrets must come to the surface which may test even the strongest ties.Tom and Lawrence…
He writes a list of all the things he has to do before the weekend and sticks it in the middle of his wall. The names and goals hang like threads of a spider’s web, inevitably leading to the centre, and all to the same place.
Dear Mona Lisa…
How to explain?
Each morning he notes the colours of dawn, listens to the birds and waits for the perfect moment. In one hand rests the balance of life and a terrible responsibility, in the other a wedding ring. Difficult days and the past loom, but his friends rally round and one by one the words come to life.
Everyone waits as Tom finds the strength to open up and set free the secrets of his heart in a celebration of family, friendship and love.
A quirky story of modern life, set within the breathtaking landscape of Bradford.Claire Davis and Al Stewart create stories that are sweet and emotional. Dear Mona Lisa have all those feels in abundance. Why it merited two stars from me was because I struggled with the writing style. Right from the start I felt like I was dropped in the middle of a story so I was very much confused and quite frankly, bored with what Tom was talking about. From what he says, I think he has some special condition where his senses work differently (smells colours, sees animals everywhere, etc) which in itself was interesting but It took a while to figure out what was what which affected my experience with the story. However that’s just me. It clicked with most readers so ahead and give it a try.
Rating:
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn bookSoundtrack: The Fox in the Snow
Artist: Belle & Sebastian
Album: If You’re Feeling Sinister(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35848708-dear-mona-lisa)
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Bureau: Clay White – Kim Fielding
Someone—or something—is murdering young men in San Francisco. Clay White has been fired from the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, but he’s determined to track down the killer. When he comes across a vampire named Marek, Clay assumes he’s caught the perp. But the encounter with Marek turns out to be more complicated than Clay expected, and it forces him to deal with his own troubled past and murky psyche. As Clay discovers, sometimes the truth doesn’t come easy—and the monsters are not who we expect.
I’m happy that Tenrael and Charles made appearances and it was great how everybody was working together.
For this installment, we get vampires. I haven’t read a vampire story in quite a while and Clay White, the story did just fine. It’s a hunt for a serial killer who left desiccated corpses so bloodsuckers were the obvious suspects. Clay White, the titular character was approached by a vampire, Marek, who offered to help him find the killer. They did find the killer or rather the killer found Clay. The rescue scene kind of just happened really fast (was all a blur to Clay) so I think the focus is really on Clay, what he is about and his transformation. The attraction between Clay and Marek was a given and there was nothing really new but Kim Fielding still managed to hold my interest. So far, this series is looking really good. Can’t wait for book three.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Funtime
Artist: Iggy Pop
Album: The Idiot(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36316189-clay-white)
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Bureau: Corruption – Kim Fielding
Once a proud demon of the night sky who carried nightmares to humans, Tenrael has spent decades in captivity as the star attraction of a traveling carnival. He exists in miserable servitude to men who plunk down ten dollars to fulfill their dark desires.
Charles Grimes is half human, half… something else. For fifteen years he’s worked for the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, ridding the country of dangerous monsters. When his boss sends him to Kansas to chase a rumor about a captive demon, Charles figures it’s just another assignment. Until he meets Tenrael.
I really liked this!
Poor Tenrael, he might be a demon but he didn’t deserve the torture and abuse. He’s not really the ravager of innocents, eater of babies kind of demon. All he does is give people bad dreams. Charles is something of an angelic being on his father’s side but he didn’t really confirm it. Whatever he maybe, the moment he saw Tenrael, there was instant attraction. I normally don’t like insta-attraction/insta-lust but maybe we can chalk it up to the cosmic connection between the two. Anyway, It didn’t detract from the story. The romance was sweet with some M/s flavor and I would like think they got their HEA (hope to see them in the next book too). The world-building wasn’t in-depth since it’s a short story but I kind of wished it’s a full-length novel just so I could learn more about the entire AU and occult magic system. The setting was perhaps intentionally vague (it could have been the 1950s since they still wear hats) and gave plausibility to the traveling carnival part. The story was dark but poignant. I didn’t realize Kim Fielding writes dark stories (I read Speechless which was so fluffy) but she had me rooting for Tenrael and Charles from the beginning. Looking forward to the other books of this series!
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: No One is Innocent
Artist: Sex Pistols
Album: The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35305623-corruption)
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Tyack & Frayne: Once Upon a Haunted Moor – Harper Fox
Gideon Frayne has spent his whole working life as a policeman in the village of Dark on Bodmin Moor. It’s not life in the fast lane, but he takes it very seriously, and his first missing-child case is eating him alive. When his own boss sends in a psychic to help with the case, he’s gutted – he’s a level-headed copper who doesn’t believe in such things, and he can’t help but think that the arrival of clairvoyant Lee Tyack is a comment on his failure to find the little girl.
But Lee is hard to hate, no matter how Gideon tries. At first Lee’s insights into the case make no sense, but he seems to have a window straight into Gideon’s heart. Son of a Methodist minister, raised in a tiny Cornish village, Gideon has hidden his sexuality for years. It’s cost him one lover, and he can’t believe it when this green-eyed newcomer stirs up old feelings and starts to exert a powerful force of attraction.
Gideon and Lee begin to work together on the case. But there are malignant forces at work in the sleepy little village of Dark, and not only human ones – Gideon is starting to wonder, against all common sense, if there might be some truth in the terrifying legend of the Bodmin Beast after all. As a misty Halloween night consumes the moor, Gideon must race against time to save not only the lost child but the man who’s begun to restore his faith in his own heart.
Cornwall is a place I often meet in literature with its moors and fogs and craggy hills. Living in a tropical country and never been abroad, sometimes I find it hard to imagine what the whole Cornish countryside looked like. Harper Fox, who is probably a Cornwall native, gives a good sense of the place and atmosphere in this first Tyack and Frayne novella. The cover also perfectly captured that walk in the desolate countryside. The mystery was straightforward and not so complicated. The main characters were likable and there’s a dog too. Overall, a nice, cozy, spooky read.
Rating:
3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked it
Soundtrack: Girl in Amber
Artist: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Album: Skeleton Tree(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18744000-once-upon-a-haunted-moor)
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Hexworld: Hexslayer – Jordan L. Hawk
Horse shifter Nick has one rule: never trust a witch.
Nick has devoted his life to making his saloon a safe haven for the feral familiars of New York. So when a brutal killer slaughters a feral under his protection, Nick has no choice but to try and catch the murderer. Even if that means bonding with a handsome Irish witch.
Officer Jamie MacDougal came back from the war in Cuba missing part of a leg and most of his heart. After his former lover becomes one of the killer’s victims, Jamie will do anything to solve the case.
Nick comes to Jamie with a proposal: after making a temporary bond, they will work together to stop the murders. Once the killer is caught, they walk away and never see one another again.
It sounds simple enough. But the passion that flares between the two men won’t be so easily extinguished. And if Nick can’t learn to trust his witch, he stands to lose everything—including his life.
I was excited to read this installment since there were a lot of hype and 5-star reviews and I could definitely say they were all very much well-deserved! Hexslayer is my favorite addition to this series so far. It was longer than the other books but I couldn’t stop reading it. The action and mystery got me hooked from the beginning. I was also happy that the other couples had a lot of page time and I am looking forward to more of that in the next book (hopefully Isaac and Bill Quigley). This book is everything but missed the 5-star mark by a hair’s breadth meaning I loved everything about it, I liked Nick and Jamie, I like them together but their romance wasn’t quite as squee-inducing as I hoped. However that is just me as other people were pretty happy with the two of them. Overall, still the best book of the series to date.
P.S. I want a Hexworld movie. Somebody make this happen please!
Rating:
4.5 – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Wooden Horse
Artist: Suzanne Vega
Album: Solitude Standing(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36225312-hexslayer)
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Hexworld: Hexmaker – Jordan L. Hawk
A straight-laced policeman. A lighthearted thief. A murdered millionaire.
Fox shifter Malachi steals for one of the biggest crime rings in New York City. But when he witnesses the murder of a millionaire, the only person who can keep him safe is Dr. Owen Yates, forensic hexman for the Metropolitan Witch Police—and Malachi’s witch.
Owen is horrified to discover his familiar is an uneducated thief. Even worse, Malachi threatens to unleash Owen’s deepest desires…desires Owen can’t act upon, as he’s destined for an arranged marriage to secure the Yates family fortune
Their agreement: Malachi will be Owen’s lover as well as his partner, until the day of the wedding. But as their hunt for the murderer carries them from teeming slums to Fifth Avenue mansions, Owens begins to realize Malachi commands his heart as well as his body.
With dark forces drawing ever closer around them, Owen must decide whether to bow to the demands of duty, or to risk everything for the man he loves.
In the Hexworld universe, New York is full of magic, witches and familiars. In book two, Hexmaker, we have Owen Yates whom we met in Hexbreaker, as the forensic hexman of the MWP and his familiar, the thief or should we say the reformed thief and fox Malachi. I took an instant liking to the MCs as they are both beautiful skinny men and that they are both well-developed characters and Mal’s a ginger. The romance happened fast but was believable with some kinky bedroom play involved. The story was a fast-paced, finished-in-one sitting variety. It’s a mix bag of mystery, family drama and class conflict that also picked up threads from the theriarchy plot from the first book. All of these on top of a deftly written, well-conceived world run by hexes. Overall, a solid addition to the series.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Heartsong
Artist: The Paddingtons
Album: No Mundane Options(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31949586-hexmaker)
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The Firebird’s Tale – Anya Ow
The Firebird’s Tale begins with the end of a familiar story: a Prince who never smiled, and by Imperial decree, has to marry the one who managed to make him do so.
Except that it was all an accident, and the Prince would say he didn’t actually smile at the thief who dared to rob a Tsar, and the thief was not even a woman—or, as it turns out, even human.
I love faery tales and MM so the combination of the two is a delight. This is the second firebird retelling I had come across with. It’s a story about the prince who was forced to marry the first person who made him smile. In addition, there are tales of different Russian magical creatures scattered throughout the story courtesy of the thief which is good but could have been better had it not been all over the place or dropped at inconvenient times. I would like some tweaks to the writing style, chief of which is the author’s tendency to namedrop magical creatures, people and places like the reader is suppose to know them already. Some explanation would have been appreciated. Like, what the hell are leshys suppose to be? What’s a vucari? What does their land look like? What are these dukes? A little depth to the characterization would also be nice.
The highlights for me are the moments between the prince and the thief that were playful and sweet. And then there were the harsh commentary on human nature by the thief in connection with the tales that were a bit jarring sometimes. I liked it though because it was from the perspective of someone not human.
Sadly, tried as I could, I couldn’t finish this story. The good parts were not enough to overcome the needs-improvement parts and reading has become a pain. An edited, more focused version of this would be appreciated.
Rating:
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn bookSoundtrack: Bird of Prey
Artist: Editors
Album: The Weight of Your Love(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31923190-the-firebird-s-tale)
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500 Kisses to Steal a Heart – Anyta Sunday
“… Five hundred kisses are all it takes to steal a heart.”
Chris Montgomery doesn’t believe it, and he’d know. He’s met— and had— many a man. None of whom he’d want to share five hundred kisses with. If you don’t like someone, you just don’t like them. End of story.
No amount of kissing will change that.
Dylan Halsworth doesn’t believe it either. But Chris and his arrogant, “always right, dare I be wrong” attitude has Dylan challenging him to try it. And who knows, maybe watching his most-loathed neighbor suffer through five hundred kisses with the same man is worth it? He’d sit back, crack open a Mountain Dew, and have a good laugh…
But… shit… there is one slight snag in his plan.
Chris has chosen Dylan with whom to prove his point…
An enjoyable friends-to-lovers/enemies-to-lovers (it’s a bit of both) story involving a stupid bet and major misunderstandings. I liked this better than the last friends-to-lovers contemporary I read. There’s slow build up but it never drags. It’s short but not rushed. I’m not an outdoors person but I could imagine how fun the whole Camp Halsworth experience must be. I don’t blame them for getting carried away.
Rating:
3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked itSoundtrack: Kiss Me Deadly
Artist: Generation X
Album: Generation X(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22442348-500-kisses-to-steal-a-heart)
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The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue – Mackenzi Lee
Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.
But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.
Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.
With a title and cover like that, how can I resist? Right off that bat, I know it was going to be a fun, lighthearted read with adventure and laughter and kissing at the end. And indeed it is.
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is about Monty, his sister Felicity and his best friend Percy and their Grand Tour gone awry (to be expected because Monty). Feckless is a word I learned recently and it is something that can be used to describe Monty, along with fun-loving and not the brightest spark in the room. Monty’s sister Felicity can throw a better punch than him. Probably the only things we can commend him on are his indecent supply of good looks and that he really does love Percy with all the love his silly little heart can give. Felicity is the nose-buried-in-a-book/can-do-anything type aka the smarter one and Percy is a music loving, well-mannered guy whose darker looks makes him a bit more circumspect with his behavior compared to his more reckless best friend.
If this was a movie, the visual style, storytelling and soundtrack might be something like what Sofia Coppola did with Marie Antoinette. Not entirely accurate but still gives a good sense of time, place and mood. This would also have been a solid 5-star book had it been a little more concise but I felt it was stretched out a tad too long like the author felt the trio had to have as many misadventures and go to as many places as possible before resolving everything.
Rating:
3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked itSoundtrack: City of Culture
Artist: Slow Riot
Album:(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29283884-the-gentleman-s-guide-to-vice-and-virtue)
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Coming Home – Jay Northcote
Jago returns to his home in the wilds of Cornwall, and is looking forward to catching up with old friends after a term away at university. When he’s reunited with Will—his best mate from sixth-form college and last summer’s fling—Jago’s feelings for him are rekindled and impossible to ignore.
Over the short winter break, Jago can’t resist taking whatever Will’s offering. But will the New Year bring new beginnings? Or will Jago be left with more bittersweet memories and a heart that needs to heal again?
Jay Northcote is a new to me author and Coming Home is a not bad story about friends who had a summer fling and now had to deal with the awkwardness of seeing each other again. This is a short story but I liked how the author fleshed out the details so it didn’t feel like things were rushed. I’m lukewarm about the couple but I liked the holiday atmosphere and the Brit stuff.
Rating:
2.5 Stars – far from hate but not quite a likeSoundtrack: Barbed Wire Love
Artist: Stiff Little Fingers
Album: Pure Fingers(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19003291-coming-home)
