Guest Reviewed by Karen
Title: Hero
Author: Heidi Cullinan
Heroes: Hal Porter/Morgan
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 220 Pages
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Release Date: May 27, 2014 (2nd Ed.)
Available at: Wilde City Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Construction worker Hal Porter knows he’s nobody special. But when strange events draw him into a magical world, he becomes the only man who can free Morgan, a lonely, long-enchanted shape-shifter. Whether he feels he’s worthy or not, Hal is the hero Morgan has been waiting for.
However, Hal’s task becomes personal as he and Morgan fall in love. Now, to save Morgan and give himself the happily ever after he’s always longed for, Hal will need to do something far more daunting than face Morgan’s captor or finally come out of the closet…
He’ll have to believe in himself.
This title has been previously published and has been revised from its original release.
Review:
Hal is an ‘average’ guy, whatever that is. He’s gay and unfulfilled personally and professionally. He wanted to be an architect but works on construction sites. His mother sends him the Catholic news with information of weddings, but he’s never managed to tell her the truth about his sexuality. This type of character is relatively stereotypical in m/m fiction, and I found the blandness of his character disappointing.
One day, he sees something that it appears no one else can see, a palace, and trapped in it is a beautiful being that he overwhelmingly feels a need to rescue. A mysterious and beautiful woman provides some magic to help him enter the palace to see if he can rescue the beautiful one.
Once inside the palace, Hal is in another world, one that exists in ours but is inhabited by demons and shape shifters, and there he meets Morgan, who is kept chained in the palace.
Morgan is a beautiful androgynous shape shifter; he has been kept as a sexual slave, and has lost all hope that he will ever be free again, and a fascinating character. By far, the best part of the book, for me.
This was a relatively easy read, by far, the most complicated part was the world building element, some of which seemed unnecessary and detracted from the relationship between Hal and Morgan. Setting this in an alternate world was a great way to introduce the total insta love that occurred between Hal and Morgan, but even this did not rescue it.
I didn’t feel the connection between them, and felt slightly disappointed, because the premise of the book is really good, but for me the delivery didn’t match up to the premise.
Overall Impression: It was okay
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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