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SERIES REVIEW: Boystown Books 1-3 by Marshall Thornton
Boystown Books: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries – Marshall Thornton
Finalist for the Lambda Award in Gay Mystery, Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries takes place in Chicago during the early 1980s. Haunted by his abrupt departure from the Chicago Police Department and the end of his relationship with librarian Daniel Laverty, Nick Nowak is a beat cop-turned-dogged private investigator. In this first book of the series, Nick works through three cases: a seemingly simple missing persons search, an arson investigation, and a suicide that turns out to be anything but. While working the cases, Nick moves through a series of casual relationships until he meets homicide detective Bert Harker and begins a tentative relationship.
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Boys Town
Artist: Babes
Album: Leave Your Leather On
Boystown Books: Three More Nick Nowak Mysteries – Marshall Thornton
The Boystown Mystery series continues as Chicago private investigator Nick Nowak finds himself involved in three new cases. He’s asked to help a young man who murdered his stepfather but refuses to assist in his own defense, hired to find the murderer of a dead porno star, and, in a case that traps him between the two men he loves, must search for a serial killer’s only living victim. Set in the second half of 1981, Nick juggles his deepening relationship with Detective Bert Harker with the return of his ex, Daniel Laverty. Which man will he choose? Or will he be able to choose?
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: OOO
Artist: Karen O
Album: Crush Songs
Boystown Books: Two Nick Nowak Novellas – Marshall Thornton
In the two novellas that make up the third book in the popular Boystown Mysteries private Investigator Nick Nowak works two challenging cases and grapples with an even more challenging personal life. In Little Boy Boom, Nick’s car explodes when a thief attempts to steal it. Realizing the bomb was meant for him, Nick sets out to discover who wants him dead only to find that the list of possible suspects is longer than he’d like. When he begins to run out of suspects he wonders if the bomb was truly meant for him. Little Boy Tenor finds Nick investigating the murderer of a church choir’s star tenor, while at the same time his friend Ross asks him to discover the truth behind his lover, Earl Silver’s mysterious death. As he juggles the two cases, he becomes increasingly disturbed by what he learns.
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Slipping Away
Artist: Moby
Album: Hotel
A bit strange to call a series set in a decade you lived through as historical, but I considered Boystown by award-winning author Marshall Thornton as such. My first series from the author, The Wyandot County Mysteries, was entertainingly bitchy, and another modern historical (if we can call it that) set in the 2000s.
The usual Regencies and Victorians are not working for me as of late, so I’m hoping to dive into more books set in the mid-century and later eras.
Boystown starts in 1980, with prequels set in 1979. It chronicles the life of ex-cop-turned-PI Nick Nowak. He’s 33 years old and in the prime of his life. He’s good at his job. His business is going well and he’s free of debts He lives in a garden apartment, a.k.a. basement apartment in downtown Chicago in the known queer neighborhood called Boystown. Every weekend, he works as a bouncer at a gay club owned by a friend.
The storytelling is one of the best and a top favorite in my reading history. Nick has a very compelling voice and a charismatic character. The books are written like episodes in a TV series. Also, Marshall Thornton has always been fantastic at flavoring his stories with period-specific events, culture, technology, and so on. They have a palpable patina of time and they always feel authentic and lived-in.
Nick’s cases intertwine with his private life, and threads from the previous books are continued or mentioned in the succeeding. There are many recurring characters or references to past events that Nick would follow up on or would impact the current story. We see Nick’s everyday habits and work routine, plus the more action-packed moments.
My favorite part is the cases. Almost all mystery series tend to default to murder as the crime, so I loved that Nick’s cases vary from background checks to missing persons to arson to car bombing, and sometimes protection for rock stars. I loved that they realistically portray the variety of work a PI handles.
And Nick’s one hell of a PI! He doesn’t give up until he’s satisfied, not even if his client feels the matter is already settled. He’s got wily investigation skills and is not above lying, impersonating someone, seducing the gullible, or breaking inside an apartment to get answers.
Nick knows he’s a looker and enjoys an active sex life. There is no shortage of people eager to throw themselves at him and Nick’s not inclined to say no. From informants he’s interviewing, to corporate lawyers, to friends with benefits, beat cops mistakenly apprehending him while undercover as a homeless man and even the very person he’s investigating, as well as orgies. A couple of times, he asked himself if he was giving off some kind of pheromones.
Nick is also pining for his ex, Daniel Laverty. They had a bad breakup after a homophobic attack that left Daniel with a broken cheekbone. Daniel wanted to report what happened, but Nick, then a closeted cop, refused.
Nick eventually develops a relationship with a closeted police detective, Bert Harker. Theirs is an open relationship, which means Nick still goes around fucking any willing body. Nick is also torn between Daniel, who recently reunited with him, and Bert, currently living with him. The series is not romance, and it didn’t make promises of a romance HEA, so the open relationships didn’t bother me.
What bothered me was the APPALLING lack of protection in all the sex scenes. There’s also some scenes where the characters take drugs. It was a wild, hedonistic era and Nick is in the thick of it. In contrast, contemporary MM books make it a point to mention rubbers or an exchange of health status.
Knowing what we know now of the 80s and the AIDs epidemic, it is heartbreaking that some of the characters here were among the early victims, and Nick and his friends have no clue yet of what is happening. It’s going to hit very close to home. I almost don’t want to read the succeeding books because the impact is going to crush Nick.
As mentioned earlier, Boystown is written as a continuous chronicle of Nick Nowak’s life and should be read in order. I had grand plans of reviewing the entire series until I learned there are 13 books. It’s a lot for me, so I’ll probably do three books at a time.
The first three books of Boystown opens a highly engrossing mystery series that captures a pivotal era through the eyes of a gay PI. Blending Chicago grit and 80s sex appeal with LGBTQ+ issues and noir mystery, these stories are authentic, steamy and as irresistable as Nick Nowak himself.
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BOYSTOWN: Kindle
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BLOG TOUR: We Could Do This Tonight by Emerson Beckett (Giveaway)
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RELEASE BLITZ: We Could Do This Tonight by Emerson Beckett (Giveaway)
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COVER REVEAL: Cloud White by Fearne Hill
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BOOK BLITZ: This Will Hurt II by Cara Dee (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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BLOG TOUR: Room for Dessert by Dann Hazel (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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RELEASE BLITZ: Room for Dessert by Dann Hazel (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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RELEASE BLITZ: Blood Catalyst by Lynn Michaels (Excerpt)
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REVIEW: The Doctor by C.S. Poe
Magic & Steam: The Doctor – C.S. Poe
1882—Gillian Hamilton, magic caster and Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam, has been stripped of his title, badge, and freedom. Gillian’s true name and powers have been exposed, so now he’s kept under lock and key. To make a tragedy worse, Gunner the Deadly has returned to his life out in the Wild West and has not been heard from since.
Rumors of a doctor, known only as Sawbones, with access to illegal magic have persisted into the new year. Gillian believes that violence, chaos, and certain death will befall New York City if this criminal isn’t apprehended. And despite having lost his sense of purpose, Gillian knows he’s the only one capable of confronting this new madman—with or without the backing of the FBMS.
But such dangers should never be undertaken alone. Gillian will need both Gunner’s deadeye marksmanship, as well as his love, if he’s to detain Sawbones before irreparable damage is done to the magic of his world.
After The Gangster‘s cliffhanger hit like Gillian’s thunderbolts, The Doctor became one of my most anticipated books. The 3rd installment of the spectacular steampunk series, Magic & Steam, starts with things on an all-time low for our favorite special agent and magic caster, Gillian Hamilton.
In fact it was so abysmally bad, I thought there should be a misery rating similar to the heat rating for sex, just so we’re warned. Gillian’s true identity was exposed. He is now in a maximum security mental asylum in Blackwell’s island, a hell hole where the mad, a.k.a rogue magic casters, were left under the tender mercies of the sadistic staff. He has attempted escape several times, even gotten very close to doing so. The latest attempt landed him in a straitjacket in solitary confinement.
These events would have been bearable, but Gillian’s self-flagellatory thoughts and the overall tone of pure misery made things infinitely more wretched; they pulled me out of the story completely. C.S. Poe did such a masterful job making me feel Gillian’s plight that I felt a heavy weight on my chest, like the beginnings of depression. Not the author’s fault, she’s just that talented, and I, unfortunately, happened to have low tolerance for this brand of pain.
But I knew there’s an adventure and a reunion to be had, so I picked it up again. And yes, things do take a lighter tone once Gillian was out and about once more with help from an unlikely savior.
Where’s Gillian’s darling outlaw? Well, trust Gunner the Deadly to make a swashbuckling entrance! And save Gillian from an even direr fate. From this point, the story gave way to things we love best about Magic & Steam.
There’s the continuation of the tenderest love story between an outlaw and a federal agent. My favorite part about their romance is the peaceful quality of it, a sort of quiet center for Gillian and Gunner in the swirl of gunfire and explosion. I’m not sure I’m explaining it well, but it’s like how Gunner sounds in the audiobook. Always calm and even, kinda zen-like in the midst of chaos.
The titular doctor is the notorious Sawbones, a doctor who took pleasure in hacking off limbs during the war. He’s playing god, doing powerful magic never done before. Magic that is forbidden and highly unethical. While Gillian is haunted by his past, he and Gunner race to stop the doctor from his nefarious plans. Their adventure took them full circle, from NY to the wild west and back again.
The plot moved fast with plenty of adrenaline-pumping action scenes in an immersive alt-Victorian America run by ether. Not too many steampunk gizmos this time, but the magic was wild! Now, Gillian totally owned all his powers, and he’s unleashing them full force! I got such a thrill with him casting jaw-dropping spells left and right. He could be pretty hard on himself, but our boy is the most motherfuckin’ badass magic caster there is! I adore him!
Gillian’s superior officer, Director Loren Moore, and his informant, the Irish boxer Addison Day, play key roles in the story. Moore is also a loyal friend who always comes though for Gillian. I feel sorry for the guy. He’s been crushing on the spectacularly oblivious Gillian for years. Not sure if they met before, but I’m low-key shipping Loren and Addie. The boss deserves his HEA too.
Also, holy cliffhanger!!!
The Doctor is as awesome as promised. The opening chapters might have rattled me a bit, but this is a tale worth sticking around for. It’s one man’s struggle to shed a past he was forced to endure and become the person he is meant to be. A deeply emotional journey and a thrill ride that never ever loses steam!
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Awaken (Feel Alive)
Artist: Big Wild & Surfaces
Album: Awaken (Feel Alive)P.S.
Magic & Steam must be read in order. Those cliffhangers are not for the faint-hearted! Check out my reviews:
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THE ENGINEER | THE GANGSTER | THE DOCTOR
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SERIES REVIEW: Spellbound & Edge Lines by Ava Marie Salinger
The thing with most urban fantasy/paranormal series is that the premise pique my interest, but actually putting in the work to read them or finish them, well, most of the time, I never see the end. It happened with Whyborne & Griffin (the last book! gah!) and Soulbound. It gets to the point where so many things are happening for a prolonged period that it becomes a toss-up between laziness and boredom.
So far, Fallen Messengers is doing a great job of keeping me riveted. If this keeps up and hopefully wraps up soon, I can complete the series. I’m giving major props to narrator Alex Kydd. My first impression was he spoke too slowly. It turned out to be an advantage because his slow even delivery helps me through the info-dumps without brain overload. And he gave the million and one cast their distinct voices and personalities, which is impressive given that there are numerous female characters.
This is a review of Books 2 and 3.
Fallen Messengers: Spellbound by Ava Marie Salinger
Can Cassius and Morgan overcome an elusive enemy and save a young girl’s life?
Eden Monroe has spent her entire existence believing she has no magic. Shunned by her mother Brianna and the magical bureau Hexa, she runs away from home when she is forced to embrace a future she never chose, only to fall into the hands of ghastly monsters from the Nine Hells. After being rescued by a mysterious Dryad with secrets of his own, Eden realizes there is more to her past and future than she could ever have imagined.
When San Francisco PD asks Argonaut to assist them in solving a series of strange bank robberies, Cassius Black and Morgan King uncover a disturbing plot that points to an unknown artifact hidden somewhere in the city. Their investigation soon has them crossing paths with a desperate Brianna, who seeks their help in finding her missing daughter. When the witch reveals the shocking circumstances surrounding her daughter’s birth as well as the deadly magic sealed inside the young girl’s body, the Argonaut agents realize their case is linked to Eden and the weapon of devastating power the bank robbers are after.
Can Cassius and Morgan defeat the malevolent organization behind it all and save Eden from her cursed fate? Or will the young girl suffer a destiny worse than death itself?
Spellbound is the second novel in the gay urban fantasy romance series Fallen Messengers. This is an MM paranormal adventure full of action, magic, snark, and a host of steamy angels and demons.
Spellbound is the second book, introducing new characters and multiple POVs. I’m assuming each book will focus on one supernatural agency. Book 1, Fractured Souls, has the MC, Cassius the imperial, joining the Argonauts, the agency overseeing otherworldlies. This book features Brianna Monroe, head of Hexa, the organization of witches. She has a rather complicated relationship with her daughter Eden. The teen ran away after having had enough of her mother’s controlling ways.
What I love most about this series is that whenever people use magic, they go BIG! Even those who just discovered they have the ability don’t start small, which makes the fight scenes super mind-blowing. Although here, it’s a tad bit less intense than in Book 1, but still awesome. Possibly because a chunk of the plot is Eden struggling to survive the streets while being hunted by monsters. Reading about people on the run isn’t my favorite thing. Also, I had to wait for events to connect to Cassius, Morgan and their team. It’s a me problem because, objectively, this sequel rocks!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: Bound Together
Artist: Kate York feat. Vanyo
Album:
Fallen Messengers: Edge Lines – Ava Marie Salinger
The Gods have come to San Francisco…
Cassius Black and Morgan King’s trip to Ivory Peaks to uncover clues about their past takes an unexpected turn when a rift materializes and war demons attack the capital. Having saved one world by the skin of their teeth, they return to Earth, only to find it has been rocked by ominous quakes bearing a close resemblance to the phenomenon that nearly destroyed the Dryad kingdom.
After defeating demons that emerge from a crevasse in San Francisco, Cassius and Morgan rescue the Wild God Pan from the bottom of a rift with the help of Victor Sloan and the city’s otherwordly. But instead of thanking them, Pan makes a startling demand: rescue his lover and prevent the Spirit Realm from being destroyed, and he will reveal the truth about who Cassius and Morgan are.
Help comes from an unexpected source when a pair of Reapers visit the city and Cassius, Morgan, and Victor soon go hunting for a missing deity who may hold the key to saving all the realms. Can they free the immortals from their prisons and find the powerful artefact that can bend the mind and will of even a God? Or will the enemy who has long manipulated them from the shadows win this war and destroy everything they have come to care for?
Edge Lines is the third novel in the gay urban fantasy romance series Fallen Messengers. If you like your paranormal adventures full of action, magic, snark, and a host of steamy angels and demons, then you’re not going to want to miss this enthralling, fun-filled ride!
Edge Lines is the highly anticipated 3rd book because Victor Sloane!!!
The story also has multiple POVs but the majority is from Cass and his angel boyfriend, Morgan. This is where gods and demi-gods make themselves known. The team, along with Victor, has to deal with rifts and war demons appearing in various realms. It has something to do with the disappearance of the winter god and Pan’s lover, the winter god’s nephew.
As mentioned in my review of Fractured Souls, I’m not a fan of Morgan. His brand of assholery doesn’t appeal to me. Here, I go back and forth because, yeah, he’s super protective of Cass, but also an inconsiderate horndog who wouldn’t let his perpetually sleep-deprived boyfriend get proper sleep.
I am team Victor. Cass’ demon ex is a nicer guy than Morgan. That teeny tiny glimpse inside Victor’s thoughts revealed dark possessive desires of owning Cass, mind, body, heart, and soul. I suppose this was meant to show Morgan as the better man but Victor has the goodness in him to know doing so would kill the light in Cass that he loves. If Morgan has to stay go poly, please! Love triangles are never ever fun and tiresome as fuck! This could kill the series for me if it continues.
I’m wondering how much more epic the series could get because this one brought it up another notch! There are the crazy level-ups we love, long-awaited identity reveals that got me hyped for future events, and of course, the action scenes that always go nuclear. The writing strikes a great balance between info dumps, character progression, plot, imagery, and fight scene choreography. And with a talented narrator, this tale of the fallen and the otherworldly continues to be a spellbinding experience that kept me enthralled.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: The Curse
Artist: Agnes Obel
Album:P.S.
Fallen Messengers has a cute custom of giving many supporting characters their little happy endings. Cheesy but fun! So Victor might get one too, if he doesn’t end up throupling with Cass and Morgan. Can the angel and the demon share the imperial, please?
Fallen Messengers should be read in order. The adventure stars with Fractured Souls.
If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of Fallen Messengers. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.Fractured Souls: US | UK
Spellbound: US | UK
Edge Lines: US | UK
Oath Breaker: US | UKYou can also use my Bookshop affiliate links to buy paperbacks and MP3 CD audiobooks and help support independent bookstores.
FRACTURED SOULS | SPELLBOUND | EDGE LINES | OATH BREAKER
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