Posts Tagged With: magic

Book Review: The Oracle’s Sprite by Mell Eight

Reviewed by Nikyta

Cover - The Oracles FlameTitle: The Oracle’s Sprite
Author: Mell Eight
Series: The Oracle #4
Heroes: Keir & Sprite
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 25k words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: September 30, 2015
Available at: Less Than Three Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: At just eighteen years of age, Keir became the leader of the army fighting against the usurper king while Princes Edan and Egan led the navy. At his side, willing to help from time to time, was Sprite.

A friendly ghost, Sprite likes to keep Keir company and occasionally play tricks on Keir’s sister. When the Oracle demands Keir’s presence, he expects Sprite to travel with him.

He doesn’t expect the gale that knocks him overboard and into an adventure that might just kill him.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Blood for Magic by Aundrea Singer

Reviewed by Nikyta

BloodForMagicTitle: Blood for Magic
Author: Aundrea Singer
Heroes: Tarquin & Five
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 234 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 23, 2015
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Twenty-year-old Tarquin is smart, tactless, and braver than he knows. He’s also been Mage of the Realm of Kelor for two years, taking the title from his mother after she died protecting Kelor from a terrible threat.

While on a quest to heal his dying brother, Tarquin is attacked by a horrific, flesh-eating monster. He’s saved by an enigmatic and mute young soldier, cursed with a terrifying form that conceals the heart of a knight. There’s an almost instant attraction between the two men, but no time to explore it. The monster’s attack is the harbinger of a new invasion.

With Kelor helpless, the realm’s only hope lies with Tarquin. As Mage of the Realm, he alone can sacrifice himself, the way his mother did, in exchange for unimaginably powerful magic. He’s prepared to give up his life to defeat the coming evil, but before the battle is over, he’ll be faced not just with his own death, but the death of everyone he cares about.

Including the monster he’s come to love.
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Coming in Third by Amber Kell

Reviewed by Morgan 

27799643Title: Coming in Third
Author: Amber Kell
Heroes: Niall/Jovan/Luka
Genre: MMM Paranormal
Length: 63 Pages
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Release Date: November 24, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Love sometimes comes in threes.

With his mother plotting to have him wed, Niall decides to sneak out of the fae palace and fulfill one of his greatest fantasies. At the Unconventional bar, he finds a pair of lion shifters looking to spice up their love life. Unable to resist the strong attraction between them, Niall lets the persuasive pair take him home.

Jovan and Luka have been searching for their third for years. When Niall stumbles into the bar, their shifter instincts tell them the innocent fae could be their long sought mate. After a sensual night together, they’re certain the beautiful man was fated to be theirs.

His guards fetch him from the shifters’ bed and Niall is taken away from the pair. Upset about Niall’s return to the palace and a possible arranged marriage, the lion shifters battle to decide their future—should they go and fetch their mate or let it only be the one-night stand Niall promised them?

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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Book Review: Cookies for Courting by Amber Kell

Reviewed by Morgan 

Cookies-for-CourtingAUDTitle: Cookies for Courting
Author: Amber Kell
Narrator: Michael Stellman
Series: Tales of the Curious Cookbook
Heroes: Marshall Hunter/Pace Barlow
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 2 Hours, 13 Minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 29, 2015
Available at:  Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  After his sister’s death, businessman Marshall Hunter gains custody of his niece. Unused to children, Marshall struggles to connect with her. In an effort to make her more comfortable in her new home, he hires professional muralist Pace Barlow to personalize her room.

Pace is intrigued by his tiny client, and even more interested in her handsome uncle, but Pace isn’t certain he’s ready for the commitment of an instant family.

When Marshall decides to move for the sake of his niece, will he be able to keep his relationship with his young artist, or will he have to give up love to become a good father for a lonely little girl?

The love baked into an old-fashioned recipe might bring the two men together, but some things take more than magical cookies to fix.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Veiled Magic by Deborah Blake

Guest Reviewed by Ami

26028987Title: Veiled Magic
Author: Deborah Blake
Heroine/Hero: Donata Santori / Peter Casaventi / Magnus Torvald
Genre: MF Urban Fantasy
Length: 280 Pages
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: November 17, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Since Witches came out of the broom-closet in the early 21st century, they have worked alongside humans as police officers, healers, stock traders, and more. But they aren’t the only paranormal entities in our world…

Police officer and Witch Donata Santori spends her days interrogating dead witnesses by summoning their spectral forms. Normally the job is little more than taking statements and filing reports. But when she’s called in on the case of a murdered art restorer, she finds herself suddenly in possession of a mystical portrait that both the human and paranormal communities would kill to get their hands on.

Unable to take on the forces hunting her alone, Donata seeks help from two unlikely and attractive allies: a reluctant shape-changer and a half-dragon art forger. But as the three of them hurry to uncover the truth about the powerful painting, Donata realizes that she’s caught in the middle of not one but two wars—one for possession of the painting’s secrets and one for possession of her heart…
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, M/F, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Midnight Gardener by R.G. Thomas

Guest Reviewed by Ami 

27201559Title: The Midnight Gardener
Author: R.G. Thomas
Series: The Town of Superstition #1
Heroes: Thaddeus/Teofil
Genre: MM YA Fantasy
Length: 130 Pages
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press
Release Date: November 12, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  At fifteen, Thaddeus Cane has moved thirty-two times with his father. Each time he’s displaced without explanation, Thaddeus loses any friends he’s made. The name of their latest town is Superstition, but it seems normal enough, with one exception.

Thaddeus’s bedroom window gives him a view into the beautiful gardens next door. Every night after dark, an attractive guy around Thaddeus’s age appears to tend the plants. When Thaddeus visits his neighbor, he discovers not only how deep his interest in the other man runs, but also that Teofil, the midnight gardener, isn’t human. He’s a garden gnome, a revelation that will lead to more secrets coming to light and an adventure unlike anything Thaddeus ever imagined.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Book Review: Some Kind of Magic by R. Cooper

Reviewed by Morgan 

26530553Title: Some Kind of Magic
Author: R. Cooper
Narrator: Ron Herczig
Series: Beings in Love #1
Heroes: Ray Branigan/Cal Parker
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 6 Hours, 8 Minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 9, 2015
Available at:  Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Being a police detective is hard. Add the complication of being a werewolf subject to human prejudice, and you might say Ray Branigan has his work cut out for him. He’s hot on the trail of a killer when he realizes he needs help.

Enter Cal Parker, the beautiful half-fairy Ray’s secretly been in love with for years—secretly, because while werewolves mate for life, fairies…don’t. Ray needs Cal’s expertise, but it isn’t easy to concentrate with his mate walking around half-naked trying to publicly seduce him. By the time Ray identifies the killer—and sorts out a few prejudices of his own—it may be too late for Cal.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: The Prince’s Consort by Antonia Aquilante

Reviewed by Nikyta

PrincesConsort[The]Title: The Prince’s Consort
Author: Antonia Aquilante
Series: Chronicles of Tournai #1
Heroes: Phillip & Amory
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 290 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 16, 2015
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Legends tell of large cats defending the principality of Tournai, but such creatures have been lost to time.

Or have they?

Prince Philip inherited the throne at a young age, and since then, his life has centered around ruling his country and resisting those pressuring him to take a wife and conceive an heir—forcing him to hide his attraction to men. When kind-hearted Amory is offered to the prince in exchange for more time for Amory’s father to complete a commission, both Philip and Amory are horrified. But Philip agrees to keep Amory at the palace, where they gradually become friends, then lovers. For the first time in his life, Philip is free to share not only his heart, but the magical shape-shifting ability that runs in the royal bloodline.

Neither Amory nor Philip imagined falling in love, and they certainly don’t expect the lengths those who oppose their relationship will go to keep them apart—maybe even resorting to murder.
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Truth in the Dark by Amy Lane

Reviewed by Morgan 

TruthintheDarkAUDMEDTitle: Truth in the Dark
Author: Amy Lane
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Heroes: Knife/Aerie-Smith
Genre: MM Fantasy
Length: 4 hours, 40 minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 30, 2015
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: “I am not beautiful…”

Knife’s entire existence has been as twisted as his flesh and his face. The only thing beautiful in his life is his sister. When Gwennie is obliged to turn a suitor down because she fears to leave her brother to the brutality of their village, Knife is desperate for anything to ensure her happiness.

Her suitor’s cousin offers him a way out, but it won’t be easy. Aerie-Smith has been cursed to walk upright in the form of a beast, and his beloved village suffers from the same spell. Aerie-Smith offers Gwen a trousseau and some hope, if only Knife will keep him company on his island for the span of a year and perform one “regrettable task” at year’s end.

Knife is unprepared for the form the island’s curse takes on his own misshapen body. In one moment of magic, he is given the body of his dreams—and he discovers that where flesh meets spirit and appearance meet reality, sometimes the only place to find truth is in the darkness of a lover’s arms.

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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: The Heart of Frost by Charlie Cochet

Reviewed by Morgan 

HeartofFrostAUDTitle: The Heart of Frost
Author: Charlie Cochet
Narrator: Robert Nieman
Series: North Pole City Tales #2
Heroes: Jack/Rudy
Genre: MM Fantasy
Length: 3 hours, 4 minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 5, 2015
Available at:  Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: At the North Pole, no one is more powerful and feared than the Prince of Frost. As general of the toy soldier army, Jack Frost has been working extra hard to put away the villainous Mouse King once and for all. If that isn’t taxing enough, Jack has to deal with the scandal and gossip brought on by news of his relationship with Rudy Rein Dear, captain of the Rein Dear Squadron, which hit headlines last holiday season. Lucky for Jack, his reputation has managed to deter any foolish attempts to stir up trouble. At least until now.

When someone sabotages Rudy’s plane during a test run a few weeks before Christmas, Jack is determined to find the culprit by any means necessary. The closer he gets to finding answers, the more difficulty he has not falling back to his icy ways. Has the Mouse King stepped up his game in order to throw Jack off his, or is someone a little closer to home behind the attempt on Rudy’s life? Either way, Jack has every intention of delivering a Christmas they won’t soon forget, even if it means losing the newfound warmth in his heart.

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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment