-
Wrong Love – Chong Zi
“If I thrust a knife through your heart, will you feel my pain?”
Bratty child is bratty.
-
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)
-
Totsugimasen Kara! – Sunako
Itsuki a fresh high graduate was ordered by his mother to work as a servant under the Tenmei family. Little does he know, that he was actually one of the candidates into becoming the bride of Tenmei’s young master named Jin. But competition proves to be fierce as the contenders are all male Omega from well known families while he was only from a poor ordinary household.
BL logic working its magic on a tired soap-opera plot.
-
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)
-
Good Day – Woof – for Lunch! – Itsuki Makoto
Tomuro Shigeru is a loner. Because his teeth look like a tiger’s, everyone calls him disgusting like an animal… so he’s learned to keep his mouth shut. One day, he decides to eat lunch outside – since he doesn’t have anyone to hang with anyway – and he meets a weird dog and his cheerful owner.
Cute boys + doggos
-
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)
-
The Shop of Magician Sylvan – Ike Reibun
A slave boy is saved by a Magician. Tim, the slave has begun to fall in love with this amazing Magician.
Majorly cheesy stuff.
-
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)
-
Koi ni mo Naranai – Hagi
“That’s the first time I’ve seen crying so beautiful.” Tajima finds himself taken in by Koga’s crying face, but little did he know, the reason behind those tears was the death of his goldfish at the hand of Tajima’s cat (Buuta). While figuring out how to apologize for that, he stumbles across a secret of Koga’s.
Buuta is an ugly, fatass, cockblocking cat.
-
Koi ni mo Naranai – Hagi
“That’s the first time I’ve seen crying so beautiful.” Tajima finds himself taken in by Koga’s crying face, but little did he know, the reason behind those tears was the death of his goldfish at the hand of Tajima’s cat (Buuta). While figuring out how to apologize for that, he stumbles across a secret of Koga’s.
Buuta is an ugly, fatass, cockblocking cat.
