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REVIEW: Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan
Antisocial – Heidi Cullinan
A single stroke can change your world.
Xander Fairchild can’t stand people in general and frat boys in particular, so when he’s forced to spend his summer working on his senior project with Skylar Stone, a silver-tongued Delta Sig with a trust fund who wants to make Xander over into a shiny new image, Xander is determined to resist. He came to idyllic, Japanese culture-soaked Benten College to hide and make manga, not to be transformed into a corporate clone in the eleventh hour.
Skylar’s life has been laid out for him since before he was born, but all it takes is one look at Xander’s artwork, and the veneer around him begins to crack. Xander himself does plenty of damage too. There’s something about the antisocial artist’s refusal to yield that forces Skylar to acknowledge how much his own orchestrated future is killing him slowly…as is the truth about his gray-spectrum sexuality, which he hasn’t dared to speak aloud, even to himself.
Through a summer of art and friendship, Xander and Skylar learn more about each other, themselves, and their feelings for one another. But as their senior year begins, they must decide if they will part ways and return to the dull futures they had planned, or if they will take a risk and leap into a brightly colored future—together.
Wow! Just wow!
Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan reminds me of my weaboo phrase once upon a time ago when i profess undying love of Japan, colored my hair and dress up like a third rate shounen anime character. Nowadays,i still love Japan but i have significantly tone down the clothes and hair to generic. I enjoyed all the manga and anime references found in book the as well as the various trivia on Japanese culture but when Xander started using broken Japanese as come-ons, I thought it was time to reel all that Japanese kink in.
This book also reminds me of Amy Tasukada’s works. Both authors are fangirls of Japanese culture and were quite heavy handed in using it in their books but while Tasukada did manga-in-novel form style and had the sense to use Japanese characters, Cullinan did more of the blatant objectification and fetishizing of the culture, mostly white boys fapping to anything Japanese they encounter. There wasn’t any single Japanese character in the entire story. The dead Japanese professor does not count, he was off page and smacks of tokenism.
The novel started out strong and I enjoyed the first half of the book. Mostly the part where Skylar was pursuing Xander. That was squee-tastic! I liked Xander more when he was grumpy and Skyler when he was Silverstoning his way into Xander’s life. Then they were a couple and the book turned out to be one of those ace books where the ace agonizes about being an ace then undergoes some sort of sexual awakening with the help of the allosexual partner. I know each ace have different experiences but I don’t like that trope because it seemed to cater more to the allosexuals rather than accepting the asexuals for what they are. I also don’t like having an ace character hating himself and thinking there’s something wrong with him. If that was not bad enough, the author ripped a page out of Bakuman wherein Skylar worked as a writer and Xander as an artist in a manga because one can write but can’t draw and the other can draw but can’t write just like in
Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s famous manga. Ok, I’m out! I can’t take any of this shit anymore!
DNF
P.S.
I really wanted to like this but I’m sorry, it was a disaster.
For better books on the ace spectrum, I recommend the hilarious How To Be a Normal Person by TJ Klune and the utterly adorable, beyond brilliant His Quiet Agent by Ada Maria Soto.
Rating:
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn book
Soundtrack: To Be Alone
Artist: Hozier
Album:(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35652776-antisocial)
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Whyborne & Griffin: Balefire – Jordan L. Hawk
Whyborne’s Endicott relatives have returned to collect on the promise he made to help them take back their ancestral manor from an evil cult. In exchange, they’ll give him the key to deciphering the Wisborg Codex, which Whyborne needs to learn how to stop the masters.
To that end, Whyborne, his husband Griffin, and their friends Iskander and Christine travel to a small island off the coast of Cornwall. But when they arrive at Balefire Manor, Whyborne must not only face the evil within the ancient mansion, but the painful truth about his own destiny.
I can’t believe we’re almost at the end…
It has been quite a ride and ten books in, I’m still feeling the thrill. In fact, I think Balefire is the best book yet!
Reading the previous installments is definitely a must and I strongly recommend the Whyborne & Griffin series for those into paranormal historical because this is one of the best series out there.
Balefire has our quartet, Whyborne and his husband Griffin, Iskander and Christine, traveling across the Pond to help the Endicotts take back their mansion in exchange for the key to the Wisborg Codex. I love that the story almost instantly gets into the action with some major laugh out loud moments to break the tension. And there is tension aplenty. Whyborne and friends do not trust the Endicotts, the Endicotts consider Whyborne an abomination and the ketoi are making demands.
Hell yeah, Christine! Our girl is in dire need of sustenance. In her condition, she’s craving for lemons but she’s still fighting monsters in that devil may care badass way of hers. I’m also glad to see Heliabel has a major role in the story as Persephone’s emissary. The Whyborne Matriarch can fight as ferociously as the best of them.
The romance was not the focus in this installment but that is understandable. Saving the world took precedence and I greatly approved the fact that Jordan L. Hawk did not push the usual romance conflicts as Whyborne and Griffin are already married and it would be tiresome if they go through big misunderstandings or almost break ups every time. Instead we are treated with tender moments that speak volumes of the deep love between the two. Even Iskander and Christine had their moments.
Jordan L. Hawk did a great job connecting all the threads and then amping up the volume by introducing another interesting magic system, having Whyborne do more mindblowing spells and just generally making things more action- packed and fast-paced.
The author not only made good use of Lovecraftian mythos but she was also able to deftly include Arthurian legends to the mix.
Our favorite bad guy from the Outside made his appearance and he is still bent on making Whyborne surrender. Whyborne, stubborn man that he is, is holding his ground with some help from an ancient being. Although it still seems we are not any closer to seeing these Masters, I am already feeling the excitement of the final showdown.
And now for some burning questions:
How would Widdershins be now that the Endicotts are in town? What would their lives be like when our quartet becomes a quintet? What would Whyborne find in the Wisborg Codex? And who would survive the battle with the Masters?
The adventures of Whyborne, Griffin, and their friends will conclude in
Deosil, Whyborne & Griffin Book 11.Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfectSoundtrack: Long & Lost
Artist: Florence + the Machine
Album: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40281878-balefire)
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Fence #6 – C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad
After an unexpected defeat, tensions run high among the fencers of Kings Row.
Coach’s genius move at handling crushed egos.
“You can’t call me zero anymore.”
Good job, Nicholas!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: Better Now
Artist: Collective Soul
Album: Youth(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38892114-fence-6)
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REVIEW: Gold Digger by Aleksandr Voinov
Gold Digger – Aleksandr Voinov
Not all that glitters is gold.
Nikolai Krasnorada leads the life of a corporate nomad. Working for a gold explorations company, he’s never put down roots, and he likes it that way. Roots can be dangerous, as everyone from his “man-hating” sister to his manipulative mother to his war-traumatized father has proven.
But when his CEO sends him to Toronto to strike a deal with LeBeau Mining, Nikolai meets Henri LeBeau, crown prince to the resources conglomerate and inveterate flirt. Sparks fly immediately, despite the business deal that threatens to go sour and Nikolai’s own reluctance to give Henri false hope about him being Mr. Right. He’s barely come to terms with his bisexuality, and getting involved with Henri would get messy.
When LeBeau Mining launches a hostile takeover bid, Nikolai and Henri find themselves on opposite sides of the negotiating table. But fortunately – or perhaps unfortunately – for Nikolai, Henri’s not nearly as interested in his company as he is in his heart.Because I’m the type to nitpick on book covers, I’d like to put it out there that the Italian cover is so much better
Also it took me halfway through the book to realize that the Vadim mentioned here, Nikolai’s father and ex-spetnaz, is the Vadim in the epic Special Forces saga (I must have missed the part that says it’s a spinoff). Holy hell! This man’s a legend!! But as much as I love Aleksandr Voinov’s books, I don’t think I have the courage nor the patience to read something dark with more than 2000 pages. Maybe audiobook, please?
Aleksandr Voinov doesn’t do cute and fluffy the way it is typically done. In fact his writing is usually associated with the words “smart”, “dark”, “sensual”, “masculine”, and “powerful”. However, for Gold Digger, there’s a line that describes how he writes the story
Henri’s agitation was odd and endearing, so very him, and Nikolai found himself smiling. “Cute” wasn’t a word for Henri, but damn, he was a manly version of that.
Manly version of cute. This is how the story certainly feels and Henri and Nikolai both fit the bill.
Henri is endearingly open and honest about what he wants, almost to the point of being pushy but he’s not a manipulative asshole and he never goes beyond Nikolai’s boundaries. I feel like he has this streak of crazy in him and it would have been fun had it been unleashed but the story underplayed this side of him. He was, for the most part, a flirtatious, easy going but driven guy.
Nikolai is a man struggling to get his bearings after being talked to getting a blowjob by Henri and discovered he liked it. To make things more complicated he was attracted to Henri even though he knew until now he was straight and Henri is on the enemy’s side. Him trying to wrap his head as to what is going on between him and Henri is cute. They had great chemistry and I enjoyed the banter. My complaint here is that the development of their relationship happened in the span of their first meeting with the LeBeaus up to the time they met again to talk about the take-over which is like one week? two weeks? I don’t think it even took a month and here they were, already talking about selling Henri’s condo and settling in Armenia or Georgia. That’s pretty fast for a man who just discovered he is bisexual.
Nikolai is loyal to Cybele, the company he is working for and his bestfriend, Ruslan Polonin, who is the CEO. They try to avoid a hostile takeover from LBM, the company Henri works for. This part alone is enough to keep my attention. I have always been interesting in how these high flying corporate types do business and nobody writes financial thrillers like Voinov.
Nikolai’s relationship with his family, particularly with his father, Vadim, was also a major plot point. Nikolai has always felt like an outsider in his family and the revelations by his sister, Anya, only proved the point. Vadim, being a former soldier has to deal with a dark past and mental trauma. Father and son are not emotional touchy feely types but when they laid some important issues out it was a very touching emotional moment albeit in a stoic military way. Would have wanted to meet Dan though. Where is Vadim’s husband in all this?
Overall, I really liked the feel of the story. It not as dark and heavy as is typically the case with the author but it still feels sophisticated and understated. The corporate drama was engaging. The romance was lighthearted and sweet.The characters were likable people except Anya who is a vindictive bitch. Gold Digger works well as a standalone but it will make you very curious about Vadim. I’m looking forward to a sequel and maybe someday, I will have it in me to read Special Forces.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: Make Them Gold
Artist: Chvrches
Album: Every Open Eye(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32497127-gold-digger)
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Candy Man – Amy Lane
Adam Macias has been thrown a few curve balls in his life, but losing his VA grant because his car broke down and he missed a class was the one that struck him out. One relative away from homelessness, he’s taking the bus to Sacramento, where his cousin has offered a house-sitting job and a new start. He has one goal, and that’s to get his life back on track. Friends, pets, lovers? Need not apply.
Finn Stewart takes one look at Adam as he’s applying to Candy Heaven and decides he’s much too fascinating to leave alone. Finn is bright and shiny—and has never been hurt. Adam is wary of his attention from the very beginning—Finn is dangerous to every sort of peace Adam is forging, and Adam may just be too damaged to let him in at all.
But Finn is tenacious, and Adam’s new boss, Darrin, doesn’t take bullshit for an answer. Adam is going to have to ask himself which is harder—letting Finn in or living without him? With the holidays approaching it seems like an easy question, but Adam knows from experience that life is seldom simple, and the world seldom cooperates with hope, faith, or the plans of cats and men.
Lots to love about this sweet little treat!
First, Candy Heaven is real!!!
According to the author’s note, there is an actual Candy Heaven somewhere out there in Sacramento owned by a fabulous candy man named Darrin which I’d say would make a great pilgrimage site for book tours.
Whether or not the real Darrin can read fortunes out of Pixy Stix is something I want to find out because fictional Darrin did a sugar reading and saw that Adam and Finn go together like peanut butter and jelly so he set things in motion to get them together.
The tie-dye flags mentioned in the story:
The loft Adam hides in to avoid Finn:
Candy Man has some bits of magic realism, fairy tale-like elements, low-angst drama and maximum cuteness levels that make it a charming read. There’s also a homicidal cat who has seen better days, a friendly dog, a new kitten and Finn’s delightful family.
Despite all the bad things that happened to Finn and especially Adam, the book is chock-full of humor, happiness and hope, enough to make even hardcore pessimists like me see things in a brighter light even just for a little bit.
Finn is a curly haired, blue-eyed ginger who wears that dog hat from Adventure Time. He is a walking ray of sunshine with the boundless energy and enthusiasm of a Labrador retriever. Also with the persistence of a hound on a scent so Adam stood no chance.
“I was going to fall in love with you whether I liked it or not, and it’s just a good thing you were awesome, or I would have been fucking doomed.“
Random redhead as Finn Stewart.
Meanwhile, due to some terrible circumstances, Adam is pessimistic as fuck and has a tendency to sink into a pit of negativity had he not been forced out of his shell by do-gooders, Finn, Darrin and the other Candy Heaven employees. On the upside, he is a really great artist, has dreams of becoming an animator and leaves sandwiches on dumpsters for the homeless. And despite the pessimism, he is full of hope. He’s just low-key about it.
Sufjan Stevens as Adam Macias.
Try as he might to deny it, Adam knows he and Finn are on to something. Finn might be the talkative one, but Adam has some great lines.
“Right now you and me are-we’re a sketch. And we could be a real great picture someday, with ink and oils or watercolor, and hell we may even be a movie.”
Yep, a match made in
candyheaven! Sorry, couldn’t resist that one (^_^;)Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Sugar, You
Artist: Oh Honey
Album: Wish You Were Here(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23525657-candy-man)
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The Boys Only: The Prep and the Punk – Imogene Kash
In this elite school… locked high away in the Colorado mountains… it’s boys only.
He’s a loner.
Sebastian “Bash” Lowell is used to not fitting in or going with the flow.
They call him a punk in the press, so he does his best to live up to the title.
He’s practically a professional outcast at this point, having changed schools so many times he’s lost count.
Bash learned long ago it’s far better to stand out than it is to fit in, so he’s made sure everything about him screams “back-off.“ Finding friends is more hassle than it’s worth when he knows he’s going to be gone again at his parents’ next whim.
Bash fought to get into the elite, exclusive, private school to avoid his publicity-hungry parents who use him to fuel gossip and fend off far-reaching rumors.
Having learned a few tricks from his vicious, media-savvy mother, Bash broke a few laws, ruffled the right feathers, and was exiled to Castle Pines. Now he gets to finish his high school career in peace and quiet, and in the same damn place.
All Bash wants is to graduate and get on with his life outside the limelight. No attachments, school only, so he can focus on getting into his dream college.
Nothing prepared him for Rutledge Darby.
He’s a legacy.
Rutledge “Edge” Alexander Darby IV has had everything in his life handed to him on a silver platter.
They call him the preppy-billionaire-heir in the press, although he resists his title at every possible opportunity.
Edge is American royalty, his last name synonymous with wealth and privilege. His family crest adorns the walls of the elite private school he’s attended since before he could walk. Castle Pines is all he’s ever known—a kingdom he’s ruled since birth.
Everyone in his world wants something from him, and Edge isn’t the type to give anything away for free. His life is simple. No attachments, no entanglements, and the only person he trusts to watch his back is his best friend.
For their senior year, they fully plan to do as they please and raise as much hell as possible.
Edge longs for something to surprise him. He’s desperate for the unexpected. He’s ready for something real.
Nothing prepared him for Bash Lowell.LGBTQIA+ Gossip Girl? I’m in!
Welcome to Castle Pines, an elite all-boys school where the rich and the famous hide their dirty little secrets aka gay sons they want to forget they have.
Spotted: new boy, Sebastian “Bash” Lowell. Bleached hair, pierced and tattooed within an inch of his life. Not my definition of attractive but definitely eye-catching. He certainly caught the eye of Castle Pines’ king, Rutledge “Edge” Alexander Darby IV. Rumor has it the golden boy had it bad for our resident punk, so hands off boys! You’ve heard what happened to Rodgers.
Oh, it’s not a one-way street. New boy is also apparently smitten with Master Darby but our dear Bash has all his walls up. Not until Edge throws him a surprise birthday party, his first birthday party in all the 18 years of his life, that he literally throws himself in Edge’s arms. That birthday scene is super sweet! After that, the prep and the punk were all over each other. Thank god, they spared us all the unnecessary drama.
Little ginger Ron Kray-in-training, Malachi “Mac” O’shea lives for the drama that is Theo and Klein, his two feuding, apparently straight roommates whom he had been shipping with each other. I ship them too, Mac. Our little leprechaun is pretty astute at reading people and is as manipulative as Edge. I can’t wait to see him take over his dad’s Irish mob. Oh, the havoc he can wreck! I hope we get to read about it, Imogene Kash.
What’s this? Edge’s bestfriend and shadow, Cutter Cunningham is apparently in love with him? All this time they have been together, Edge didn’t know? You think poor Cutter’s going to stick around now that Edge found somebody who makes his cold, cold heart pitter-patter? Who wouldn’t want to be the best third wheel ever? Nobody, that’s who.
Seems like our boys have an exciting senior year ahead of them. What with falling in love, falling out of friendship and a drug bust to shake things up. Not as twisty as I would have liked, the manipulation level being YA PG-13 but with NC-17 bedroom scenes. I would have wanted plots and intrigues up the wazoo but I’m loving the strong Gossip Girl vibes here so I could deal. I definitely can’t wait for the next book.
Bored beautiful boys in boarding school. Anything can happened.
You know you love it…
XOXO
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: Twice as Hard
Artist: Interpol
Album: El Pintor(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40040224-the-prep-and-the-punk)
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The Tutor – Bonnie Dee
Gothic romance with a twist.
Elements of The Sound of Music, The Enchanted Garden, Jane Eyre, and “true” ghost hunting shows make this story feel familiar. Gay love makes it unique.
Seeing an ad for a position at a Yorkshire estate, typesetter Graham Cowrie decides to make an upward career move by passing himself off as a tutor. How hard can it be to teach a few subjects to a pair of nine-year-old boys? But on his arrival at the ancient house, he finds the staff creepy, the twins odd, and the widowed master temporarily absent.
His first meeting with brooding, stern, but oh-so-attractive, Sir Richard doesn’t go well, but with no other prospects vying for the teaching position, Graham manages to keep it. His mission soon becomes clear, break down the walls of reserve both father and sons have erected and attempt to bridge the gap between them.
But strange sounds, sights and experiences keep Graham on edge until he finally admits the Hall is haunted by two entities with very different agendas. Graham works to appease one and combat the other while protecting the broken family he’s grown to care for.
This seems like a book where there should be a person on the cover running away from a foreboding manor while looking back. However instead of a woman, it should be that book model above. Rowan Mcallister’s We Met in Dreams had one such cover.
The Tutor is a Gothic novel without the deep, complicated prose of the Gothic classics. It is dark, atmospheric and creepy but the scare factor is blunted by the irreverent humor and blase attitude of the almost always cheery Graham Cowrie. Graham is, in his own words, a jovial, affable person with an active imagination. He really is. He tends to be cheeky even to the ghostly voice of the dead wife, Lavinia, in his head.
He laughs at the face of spirit possession.
Graham, whom I suspect is an atheist, seems to only half believe this ghost business the entire time even when he was looking for ways to exorcise the spirits. I liked this side of him. His personality was what carried the book to the end.
Richard Allinson is a dour, sad man who is terrible at dealing with his traumatized sons. I don’t know what attracted Graham to him other than he is handsome and he pinged on Graham’s gaydar. That and their mutual love of books perhaps. Whatever the case I think Richard and his equally sad sons need a ray of sunshine in their lives and if Graham is it, then who I am to say otherwise. Graham certainly loved playing the coquette with Richard and Richard wasn’t so bad after having all his USTs resolved.
Whitney and Clive are nine-year old twin boys grieving the loss of their mother. Clive does not speak because of the trauma and Whitney is the one who speaks for both of them. At first, they try to drive Graham away with pranks and tricks but Graham won them over with his fun, inventive lessons and masterful story telling. Juggling the responsibilities of tutor, nursemaid and caretaker, Graham tries to keep young active minds occupied, help the boys get over their loss and try to reconcile them with their father. All that is missing in this scenario is a talk about favorite things and making play clothes out of draperies.
Allinson Hall is exactly the kind of house with a name I want to get lost in, minus the malevolent spirit. Can you imagine all the secret places you can discover?! As much a character as a setting, the hall is dark, gloomy and cold and infects its inhabitants with melancholy so profound they kill themselves. It doesn’t help that it rains all the time and nobody seems to have an umbrella.
The resolution was cliche. I keep thinking maybe we will get an ending where all these mysterious happenings would be explained by perfectly logical, non-supernatural means but Bonnie Dee went ahead with the ghosts, evil spirits and Exorcism 101 techniques. Funnily enough, Graham still seems to be taking things a bit too lightly. He really is the best guy to take when exploring haunted houses.
By itself, the story was moderately enjoyable but I could definitely say the experience was made better because of narrator, Ruri Carter, whose dry comments and occasional profanity as heard through Graham’s acquired posh accent seemed funnier than they actually are. When a plummy voice says “fuck”, I imagined this is how William sounds like when he says “Fuck you, Harry! I’m next in line.”
This is only my second book from Bonnie Dee and though I liked The Fortune Hunter slightly better, I think The Tutor an OK book to start with if you want to get into her works.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Give Up the Ghost
Artist: Radiohead
Album: The King of Limbs(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25859807-the-tutor)
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Unfit to Print – K.J. Charles
When crusading lawyer Vikram Pandey sets out in search of a missing youth, his investigations take him to Holywell Street, London’s most notorious address. He expects to find a disgraceful array of sordid bookshops. He doesn’t expect one of them to be run by the long-lost friend whose disappearance and presumed death he’s been mourning for thirteen years.
Gil Lawless became a Holywell Street bookseller for his own reasons, and he’s damned if he’s going to apologise or listen to moralising from anyone. Not even Vikram; not even if the once-beloved boy has grown into a man who makes his mouth water.
Now the upright lawyer and the illicit bookseller need to work together to track down the missing youth. And on the way, they may even learn if there’s more than just memory and old affection binding them together…
A double post in celebration of the World Cup.
Congratulations, France!
I’m team Croatia but I couldn’t find a Croatian LGBTQIA+ book, so even though it did not come home, here’s an English book anyway.
Anything K.J. Charles writes, I read. I am reading my way through her existing oeuvre. At the latest count, there are probably only 4 books left that I need to get my hands on. I hope she keep those goodies coming.
As she had stated on her blog, historical romance and happy endings should not be limited to rich white people and true to her word, she has created happy endings for a jobbing writer and a black merchant as seen in Wanted, a Gentleman, an Indian lodgings keeper and a Victorian taxidermist in An Unseen Attraction and has also included a transman and black club manager (a couple) in the A Society of Gentlemen series.
Unfit to Print is another example of Charles’ consistent effort to write diverse and inclusive stories. Vikram Pandey is a successful Indian lawyer who works pro bono for the poor Indian residents of London. He was tasked to look for a missing Indian boy and his search brought him to the ironically named Holywell Street which is the Akihabara of porn in 19th century England. To his extreme shock, he found his childhood friend and former school buddy Gil Lawless, long thought dead for 13 years. Gil is a mulatto bastard of the Lawes family, swindled out of his inheritance and abandoned to the streets by his half brother, Matthew. He now owns a bookstore selling illicit materials.
Vikram is a moralizing, uptight gentleman with an overactive sense of responsibility and Gil is one of the free love, free will, mutual enjoyment sort who let the others do the worrying because it’s damn well none of his business. Theirs is a combination that worked quite well despite of and/or because of the differences. Vik sees through Gil’s well-cultivated apathy and knows he cares. Why else would he come to Vik’s office? Gil brought the joy and the smiles back to Vik’s life like he always had all those years ago in Oxford. And when one is uptight and the other is insouciant, the resulting dialogue is usually the laugh out loud kind.
“You’ve really got a problem with the pictures?”
“Of course I do,” Vikram snapped. “They’re illegal, immoral, and obscene.”
“Right, but what’s bad about them?”
Although the main focus was Vik and Gil and the mystery was light, it wasn’t a slouch on that area either. The two did great detective work, sorting through a massive heap of porn photos looking for clues on the whereabouts of the missing boy, Sunil, who worked as a model in some of the photos. Their search also bought another case
to their attention, that of a young boy who was found in the streets with his skull caved in, and as this boy was also found posing in the pictures, they knew the cases were related.
I commend the amount of research done for this story. I think modern day porn connoisseurs would be astounded at the variety and scope of Victorian era pornography. As always, the way Charles writes about London is like opening a door and getting hit with the smell of Thames and a barrage of Anglo accents. I also liked the way Vik and Gil’s race and background were worked into the story in a very natural way. They were important and were touched upon but not the focus. Rather, there was the well-paced and well-fleshed out development of their characters and relationship, there was the fight to right the wrongs done to poor immigrants, a discussion on the depths people go through to survive, a look at the hypocrisy of the upper class and an exhortation to be happy even if life has given you one too many kicks in the guts.
“What’s important,” he said carefully. “For me, what’s important is that you give each other a good time when you can. Carpe diem, as they used to say at school. Take your pleasures where you find them, while they last.”
“And do anything you like, because it doesn’t really matter?”
“Being alive matters,” Gil said, on a sudden wave of something like anger. “It matters that I’ve got a warm room and a full belly, and I know that because I went a while without those things, which I’ll bet is more than you ever did. It matters that I’ve a pal with me, and there’s something I reckon you’ve been missing. It matters to be happy instead of miserable.”
It’s easy to take the high moral ground but there’s also the adage of walking a mile in another man’s shoes. I think Vik and Gil made a compelling case of how we can make these things work, of keeping an open mind, of giving enough damns and taking action.
This is an opposite attracts + childhood friends to lovers story + second chance romance with great sense of time and place, palpable Victorian atmosphere and as always, that distinctly sharp humor I have come to associate with Charles’ writing. This might not be her best work, hence the quibbles, but if you ask me what’s wrong with it, I really couldn’t say. Still, this is a great addition to her collective body of work.
Definitely recommended!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39330140-unfit-to-print)
P.S.
Wanted, an Author – K.J. Charles
Wanted, an Author is a 5000-word story set in 1807. It returns to the characters of Wanted, a Gentleman, and also introduces a character from my forthcoming novel, Band Sinister.
A Newsletter freebie.
This works best if you’ve read Wanted, a Gentleman.In Unfit to Print, Gil found a copy of Jonathan: or, The Trials of Virtue, said to be the holy grail of illicit books. Here is where you find the author who wrote it.
Theo getting giddy at being called “a real writer” is adorbs! I’m glad his career is going well.
Martin snoring like a foghorn and annoying the hell out of Theo is just too funny.
Setting the story at the time when Parliament was voting for the abolition of slavery was a nice historical touch and a great excuse to party. And boy, did they party!
John Raven and Lord Corvin! I can’t wait to see what mischief they are up to.
What’s up with all these birdy surnames?
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40735423-wanted-an-author)
Soundtrack: Adventures in Solitude
Artist: The New Pornographers
Album: Challengers -
The Art of Murder: The Magician Murders – Josh Lanyon
Nothing up his sleeves. Nothing but murder…
Jason West, hot shot special agent with the FBI’s Art Crime Team, is recuperating from a recent hit-and-run accident at the Wyoming home of BAU Chief Sam Kennedy when he’s asked to aid in the investigation of a suspicious death in a National Forest.
When the dead man is found to be the Kosher Conjuror, a much-hated part-time magician accused of revealing the highly guarded secrets of professional illusionists, it seems clear this must be a simple revenge killing—until Jason realizes an earlier suspicious death at the trendy magic club Top Hat White Rabbit might be part of the same, much larger and more sinister, pattern.
Who knew Kennedy could be a caring and patient nurse and is capable of shedding tears?! Must be the Jason West effect This is the book where Sam Kennedy melted, not completely but just enough to show he got blood and not ice running in his veins.
However, how long is that specter of Ethan going to be a third wheel in their relationship. That question regarding Ethan’s effect on your relationship has been hashed and rehashed already so let it go, Jason. It’s natural you are curious, so go ahead and ask but nobody’s going to like it.
Special Agent Abigail Dreyfus was the rookie agent partnered with West and whom he hilariously mistaken as a serial killer. I use the word hilarious here but actually I was gullible as fuck and believed it for a second. Anyway, I think Dreyfus is a great addition to Lanyon’s collection of FBI agents. It’s not everyday we get somebody still green enough to bungle up the basics but gets to fight another day. Plus she “had guts and grit”.
This is the best book of The Art of Murder series so far. Extra points for focusing on magicians and for that trivia on Val Valentine. Now I know who the Masked Magician is. I think Lanyon was dangling some teasers on how magic tricks works, I wished she went ahead and revealed some secrets.
The Magician Murders is well-written as usual but one major reason I enjoyed the book and the series as a whole is narrator, Kale Williams. I don’t know how to describe his style exactly but he could read his grocery list and I would still be listening.
Holy hell…THAT.CLIFF.HANGER. People are going to lose sleep over that.
Actually, I was vaguely entertaining an FBI agent slash psycho psychiatrist angle since The Mermaid Murders but the author already gave Jeremy Kyser unattractive features and that usually means a no-go on the romance department. Too bad. It seemed more interesting really.
P.S.
Both Adam Darling’s former partners, JJ Russell and Jonnie were present here. I hope we get an update on Adam and Rob soon.
Rating
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step away
Soundtrack: In the Morning of the Magicians
Artist: Flaming Lips
Album: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36546086-the-magician-murders)
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A Full Plate – Kim Fielding
Opposites come together for a spicy surprise.
Bradford “Tully” Tolliver has everything—money, a great car, a beautiful condo, and a promising career as one of Portland’s hottest young lawyers. Sure, he puts in long hours and has no social life to speak of, but who needs romance when corporations pay top dollar for his expertise? He hesitates when a colleague asks if her cousin can live with him, but the arrangement will last less than a year, and then the cousin—Sage Filling—will return to his tiny hometown.
But Sage is handsome and intriguing, and his cooking makes Tully swoon. Sage has obligations back home, though, and Tully has offers he might not refuse from a persistent—and very wealthy—ex. Since Tully and Sage each have a full plate, can they make room for a side of love?
This is not the book to read if you are on a diet. This book is full of sumptuous, mouth-watering food and men moaning in culinary ecstasy. You have been warned.
Bradford “Tully” Tolliver never expected how good a deal he got when he agreed to house Sage Filling as a favor to his co-worker and friend, Carrie who was Sage’s cousin. Sage turned out to be a genius in the kitchen and soon Tully, who probably couldn’t boil an egg to save his life, was eating the best meals of his life (hence the moans). Major bonus is the fact that Sage was really nice and handsome. Tully found himself intensely attracted to Sage but as Sage declared that “he had his plate full”, Tully kept his hands off.
I really liked Tully because when he says he will keep his distance, he really kept his distance and when that annoying Eddy Harrington tried to go beyond the lawyer-client relationship, he was really adamant in keeping things professional to the point of socking his client when Eddy kissed him. And even though he was a hotshot corporate lawyer, he is such a decent human being. He generously bought Sage all the fancy kitchen gadgets he could play with and he always treated Sage like an equal even though Sage was poor.
Sage would probably win the grand slam titles of best dad, best cook and best boyfriend. He is also one of the hardest working book people I know, slaving in the kitchen all night and still have enough energy to cook some food for Tully, and drive 200 miles every week to see his daughter. I very much prefer this Sage to the other Sage found in K. Sterling’s In the Kill as this Sage can make his own mozzarella, cook a variety of international dishes from Thai, Filipino. Italian to Croatian and has encyclopedic knowledge of all things culinary.
The book is from Tully’s POV and I think the story worked really well from his perspective. This is like a Cinderella tale in reverse where the prince found his love in the guise of a pauper. The book had that characteristic Kim Fielding brand of magic, full of those fluffy, endearing moments that trigger warm fuzzy feelings. Tully and Sage had great chemistry together and I am beyond happy that there were no big misunderstandings. In keeping with the fairy tale theme, both men knew that their relationship had a deadline because Sage needed to go back to his hometown and they tried to make the most of the time left. In the end the prince gave up his castle to live in an old house in a boring rural town full of nosy relatives with the love of his life. And they couldn’t be happier.
P.S.
I am so glad Paul put Eddy Harrington out of his misery. The man was a giant pest.
Rating
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Fruits & Vegetables
Artist: Shonen Knife
Album: Brand New Knife(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36258643-a-full-plate)
