THE REFORMATORY, death and reckoning in Jim Crow Florida...winner of the 2024 BRAM STOKER & WORLD FANTASY & SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARDS FOR BEST NOVEL

THE REFORMATORY
TANANARIVE DUE
Saga Press
$28.99 hardcover, available now

WINNER of the 2024 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel!

WINNER OF 2023'S BEST NOVEL—SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARDS!

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida

June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: WINNER OF the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel (2023)

This is one long story. Long in words, long in facts, long! What it isn't is a dragging mess to read. Ghosts, abused boys, wretched families, the oppressive miasma of Florida's hideous climate...any one of these could've sent me on my way. Instead they all work as a gestalt of Horror, suffering, and terror that left me drained but made me as happy to know this story as an old white man who has never had to fear this kind of abuse and calculated cruelty can be at knowing, from the inside out, what the system I and mine have benefited from did while we were looking anywhere but there.

The single most awful part is that it's fictionalized, not fiction.

I just do not know why anyone would, based on skin color or other cosmetic or cultural factors, engineer a life designed to end quickly and prematurely for innocent victims. Othering, a long-standing weapon of mass destruction, is the cruelest and excuses the cruelest means of hurting those unloved. Why we keep burying our knowledge of its occurrence is perfectly clear after reading this story: Admitting that we tolerated this, knowing on some level that it was happening because these people vanished, but not how, not what horrifying acts occurred in our names, is acutely painful.

So is torture. So is the murder of your loved ones.

Suddenly the pain of reading about it isn't quite so bad, is it.

I hope this book becomes the classic anti-racist read of the twenty-first century. It has renewed urgency and relevance as the years go by. It seems white folks just can't stop being horrible to others.

ON SPINE OF DEATH, laugh-out-loud cozy mystery & THE STORYTELLER'S DEATH, Ann Dávila Cardinal's mystery-tinged fantasy

THE STORYTELLER'S DEATH
ANN DÁVILA CARDINAL
Sourcebooks Landmark (NON-AFFILIATE Amazon link)
$16.99 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: From International Latino Book Award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes a gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican woman who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.

There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child...

Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.

When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family’s cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her.

At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can't solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: A young-adult fantasy-with-mystery that utterly charmed me. When Isla's unusual ability to recall, if that's the word, the stories of her family's past. If it involved one of her ancestors, she can see it! Like she was there! What a fascinating, and honestly useful, paranormal ability to have. She's got a window into her family's past that could be hugely important because, well, History is nothing but His Story and isn't it the greatest thing ever when Her Story can be told?! I was so excited!

"Reality" had to intervene, stupid boring reality!, just like it always does...not everything that happened in the past was pretty. We know this, but Isla can see it because her abuelita, on her death, passed the mantle of being a cuentista, Story-Woman, to her. Suddenly Isla's mother's sad descent into alcohol abuse and her consequent abandonments of Isla with her grandmother in Puerto Rico made more sense...it's never explicitly said, but Isla's mother seems like someone who really couldn't handle the very dark gift of becoming a cuentista. Isla's painful childhood of betrayal and loss and coping with mental illness's consequences uniquely prepares her to cope with the true burden of Remembering her family's history. And it gives her the strength to right old wrongs.

What a great idea, right?! And what a great market to target with this message, that everything that happens to you can be used to build something wonderful if you use it that way; something I truly wish more people were taught from little on up to spike the victim gun we tend to hold at our own heads. Isla's struggles with grief...her own, her mother's...at her father's early death were not dwelt on or minimized. Her mother's ongoing struggles with alcoholism are honestly, forthrightly presented as the major issue they can't help but be, yet aren't sensationalized or pounded into dust as the hobby-horse gets ridden. I was completely delighted with the storytelling voice, as well. In all, this sounds like a five-star rave, doesn't it...so why's there a "4" in front of the "5"?

Because, in service of speed I suppose, Isla faces next to no obstacles in her quest to understand the decidedly mixed blessing of becoming a cuentista. Anyone she needs to speak to, they're still alive and they're available now and they're eager to help. Hmm, that's a bit too easy...then there's the underexamined role of colonialism (internalized and not) inherent in stories about Puerto Rico's past and how that impacts her grandmother's growing up, her mother's choices, the whole kit and caboodle. The stories and their injustices were, it's true, redolent with the issues of racism and colorism, but these factors could have benefited from some further reflection in Isla's viewpoint's evolution. It's a small niggle. And it's way more than outweighed by the delight I felt in immersion into a family whose language world is Spanish-inflected English. This is something I very much enjoy and, while I'm bringing it up to you as a positive, there are readers who won't feel comfortable with it and thus might make their decision to read the story or not on that factor.

On the whole I wish they would take the plunge and get the book from the library. Try the waters! There's nothing to lose except a small investment of time in that case. The strong possibility, in my view, of broadening one's horizons a bit more is well worth the risk. It's a lovely story and Cuentista Dávila Cardinal has the chops to bring you along on one really excellent ride.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ON SPINE OF DEATH
TAMARA BERRY (By the Book Mysteries #2)
Poisoned Pen Press (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$8.99 mass market, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Don't miss the second installment of this gripping and funny bookish cozy mystery series by Tamara Berry! This case isn't just cold, it's practically frozen shut...

In the aftermath of solving their first murder, bestselling author Tess Harrow and her teenage daughter Gertrude have decided to stay in Winthrop permanently. Now that they've made some updates to their cabin in the woods, they're turning to the family hardware store that Tess inherited and converting it into the town's first independent bookstore. But when renovations unearth bones from a cold case and send them toppling—literally—onto Tess's head, the work comes to a grinding halt. With the whole town convinced that her grandfather was a serial killer, Tess has to call in a fellow horror author for reinforcements. Together, they'll come up with a perfect story to make all the clues fit...and solve a mystery more than thirty years in the making.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Not many writers will 'fess up to their weirdest research methods. Tess Harrow doesn't have a lot of choice...she's tied to a chair in a basement struggling to get free (research!) when the floor above her collapses. That, my friends, is how you open a story!

When Tess, a bestselling thriller writer and mother of a teenaged girl, needs to make a big change in her life, the opportunity to take over her late grandfather's hardware store and cabin in small-town Washington State arises. Teenager in tow, off Tess hares. It's quite clear that she won't be running a hardware store so she does what so many writers say they'd love to do and decides a bookstore is what the town needs! (The town was not consulted, but never mind.)

In the course of renovating the store, a skeleton is uncovered in a...peculiar...place. Then there's another one! All in her dear old grandfather's store! Was her belovèd grandfather a murderer?! Or if not, was he an accessory to murder? Either way, Tess wants to know (let's face it, she's stumbled into one helluva tale) and the local Sheriff doesn't much want to speed his investigation up just for this high-handed Bigfoot author from out of town. There are Procedures. They're there to make a case solid and an answer to the Big Questions of who, what, when, and why (where being known in this case) trustworthy and that's what matters to his law-enforcement officer self.

Tess, coming at this from three angles and none of them inspiring her to patience (store owner, granddaughter, thriller writer), naturally clashes with Slowpoke McPutt-putt. The sparks must fly, mustn't they, to make the needed heat for the series to rise to new heights? Add in the teenager's discomfiting fascination with Sylvie the coroner's job (to the point that she's shadowing the poor thing really, really closely as a school project), and there's a lot of moving parts. That's what makes the read so much fun...the way Author Berry keeps all the balls in the air and manages to cast your attention into the blind alleys she needs for it to be distracted by...well, it's fun to be in the presence of a skilled practitioner at her peak.

The renovations, the bodies, the people who just *happen* to be not quite who they say they are, the motives for the locals to take sides on the uncomfortable rooting about for answers to the Big Questions...all are standard elements handled in deft ways. They aren't surprises. They aren't meant to be, and they're all the more welcome for not being. I think the series will have legs because it's already got a smile of its own. It's presenting your ma'at-sensing organs with truth and justice but they're not as simplistically presented as they can sometimes be in series mysteries. There's thoughtful commentary on the way of the world, there's a damn-near evergreen scented evocation of the way small towns in the piney woods operate, there's the always-fun fish out of water growing into a local institution trope...remember Northern Exposure?...and it's done with panache, if not philosophical depth.

Great for the season's snatch-a-chapter-in-line reading habits because it's already episodic!

THE HEXWORLD SERIES II, four novels & three short stories of M/M paranormal romance

HEXSLAYER
JORDAN L. HAWK (Hexworld #3)
Widdershins Press LLC (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$4.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 3.8* of five

The Publisher Says: 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.

My Review: An entertaining read, befouled by six (6) w-bombs, one extra heinous because it occurs midway through a sexual encounter. I mean! How the hell is one supposed to maintain an erection while some goofball w-verbs? Mr. Softee pretty much guaranteed.

Anyway, the story itself builds out Hexworld more completely. We learn that there are seven popes; we learn the ancience of familiars' existence with a reference to Altamira's cave paintings...an explanation of their odd actions that's just flat genius! We're "treated" to an expanded take on the plight of the familiars. We're shown why so many familiars are same-sex couples. And, in trul Author Hawk fashion, we're also given little cameos from earlier stories:

Detective Tom Halloran crouched beside the hex. His familiar, Cicero, observed closely as Tom laid his hand carefully on the bloody marks.
–and–
“I know better than to disturb a crime scene.” She lowered her voice. “I read the Howl and Roger dime novels, you see.”

And the story itself? Well...I wasn't thrilled. Nick, the angry stallion, got old fast. His witch, Jamie, puts up with being lied to, manipulated, abused physically and emotionally, and absorbs with stunning rapidity the fact that "he didn't mean it."

He started for the door. “Wait,” Nick called.

“You ain’t given me a reason to,” Jamie said, and slammed the door behind him.

Um. Yeah...no. The man's a classic narcissistic abuser. The last-minute conversion/forgiveness isn't thrilling to me. But Nick's conversion to decency at least an admission that he wasn't a great guy to begin with. Rook, his brother, doesn't seem to be anywhere near critical enough of Nick's rage's effects of those around him.

I felt parts of the tale were rushed, eg the smuggled ferals, the quasi-redemption of a duplicitous relative; I suppose this is inevitable when publishing a book in this category where 100,000 words is way past the norm of 70,000. I'm also pleased that so many of the previous couples in the series get the screen time that they do. It's not a lot but it's used to reinforce the interconnectedness of problem-solving activities in this world. No one, nor any couple-unit, is required to rely solely on their own resources...IF they can get their issues out of the way of asking for help. Nick, angry stallion that he is, learns that lesson very late but very effectively.

God. Jamie’s cheeks burned, but he wasn’t going to let Nick walk out like nothing at all had happened. “It was good. You know.”

Nick swallowed, the brown skin of his throat working. “It won’t happen again.” He spoke the words with such finality that Jamie couldn’t think how to answer. Nick ducked his dark head, hunched his shoulders, and vanished back out into the overcast fall day.

It always feels good to me when the abuser gets abused...though in fact that's a terrible way to resolve the actual underlying lack-of-respect issue.

I have nothing but happy feelings about the nature, identity, and fate of the baddies.

“Ingram is crazy if he thinks people are going to stop using magic. Especially the rich. No society lady is going to give up the witch in the laundry, using hexes to make her whites brighter, let alone the rest of it.”
–and–
Pick a group, demonize them, and use the resulting fear to pass whatever laws you like.

It's an evergreen for a reason. So there it is...more to like than to frown at, more to applaud than to censure. Hexworld is a terrific creation. Not every hero is blemish-free, not every villain is a wicked mustachio-twirling caricature. And in the middle of it all are men trying their damnedest to grab and hold some happiness, spread some kindness, and sit in the sunshine with their loved ones, absorbing the world's sweetness.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WILD WILD HEX
JORDAN L. HAWK (Hexworld #3.5)
Widdershins Press LLC (non-affiliate Amazon link)
99¢ Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Can a lawman witch find love with an outlaw familiar?

After weeks spent tracking down the gentleman bandit Rafael, Hexas Ranger Enoch Bright finally has the outlaw in his sights. He doesn’t expect to find out Rafael is his familiar.

When Enoch runs afoul of the murderous Bone Gang, he and Rafael strike a deal to take down the gang together. As lawman and outlaw work together, Enoch soon realizes the next thing the gentleman bandit steals will be his heart.

My Review: Charming short extending Hexworld out to the Wild, Wild West. Rafael the Hawk, Enoch the Black Ranger...how will Author Hawk weave y'all into the main Hexworld story? And, more to the point, WHEN?!

Also: 3 (three) w-bombs, not one of 'em necessary. Three-quarters of a star off.

A lawman's worst nightmare is a miscreant whose nature makes them untrappable.

Banks, debt collectors, and taxmen hated the Gentleman Bandit with a passion, and would be happy to see him hang. Ordinary folks…less so.

Ordinary folks, whether they're bystanders with no dog in the fight or beneficiaries of the Bandit's largesse, more often than not celebrate the deeds of the underdog. And the underdog's almost never the lawman. Not even one of the US Marshals, Magical Law Enforcement Division, usually called the Hexas Rangers.

Rafael, who is a sort-of Robin del Hood the Gentleman Bandit, shifts into a Harris's hawk, the only raptor I know of that hunts in co-operative groups! It's just perfect for this series: A predator, but like a wolf one that is predisposed to co-operation instead of the solitary territoriality of most raptorial birds. It explains why he's got these urges to help the prey of banksters and railroad land-grabbers...he's sociable even in his shifted form, and inclined to help not hurt by his human (murky) past. He and Enoch have each run afoul of the Bone Gang in the past, so what could make more sense than co-operating until they take the bastards down? We know where these "this far and no farther" things lead....

The sex between the men was smokin'; the setting was a lovely surprise; the way that the bonding between witch and familiar functions as a form of love-at-first-sight is played for laughs here, and that worked.

I hope that we'll see more of these men and this setting. There was nowhere near enough time to get into their inner connection. I would adore that to happen in the very near future. Hint, hint.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HEXHUNTER
JORDAN L. HAWK (Hexworld #4)
Widdershins Press LLC (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$4.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: Detective Bill Quigley fell in love with the familiar Isaac the night they met. But after more than two years, it’s time to admit to himself that Isaac doesn’t return his feelings.

Isaac knows he’s too broken by his experiences for anyone to fall in love with. Especially someone like Bill, who deserves a partner unplagued by Isaac’s nightmares and doubts.

When children go missing from an orphanage, Bill and Isaac must work together to find them. And as years of yearning threaten to ignite into passion, they must decide once and for all whether to take a chance on love.

I RECEIVED THIS BOOK FROM MY SECRET SANTA! *SMOOCH*

My Review: First, read this:

Nothing seemed odd about the figure itself, other than depicting the Holy Familiar. Which, yes, this was a Belfastian institution, but he still would’ve expected Saint Jerome, patron of orphans.
–and–
“Denying a part of yourself is never a good thing. Familiars who stay too long in animal shape start to forget they were ever human, and those who stay human forget they were ever an animal. They lose half of themselves either way.”
–and–
"It’s significant because it revealed details of a civilization known to us only through the tales of the Greeks, tales recorded long after the Minoans—the ancient inhabitants of Crete, that is—vanished. There are many interesting points irrelevant to tonight’s discussion, but one of the things claimed by the legends—and supported by the excavations—is that the royal family were all familiars.”

If you've followed me long enough, you know that I'm an old fan of Author Hawk's Whyborne & Griffin Lovecraftian-horror series. I'm a sucker for expanding the Cthulhu Mythos in ways that would appall and repulse Lovecraft! And I'm always down for some good, old-fashioned men-shaggin'-men action.

On screen or off. *leer*

So here we are in a different late-Victorian/early-Edwardian/Gilded-Age New York City, another of my personal favorite settings for fiction or non-fiction. In this Manhattan, the world has SEVEN Catholic Churches, an underclass made up of magical familiars who can assume animal shapes, and an overclass of witches whose control of the magic inherent in the familiars renders their powers usable and useful to Humanity at large. Which does not, of course, translate into being valued at their correct level.

What this series does, in its set-up, is interrogate 1) crony-capitalist dystopian society; 2) the role of hatred and prejudice towards all those who make up the QUILTBAG community; and 3) the intense miseries of being trapped in an identity that simply is not yours, bears no resemblance to your true nature, and being reviled for daring to claim your proper place in the world.

“Denying a part of yourself is never a good thing. Familiars who stay too long in animal shape start to forget they were ever human, and those who stay human forget they were ever an animal. They lose half of themselves either way.”
–and–
"Rook said this case has something to do with missing familiar children?”

“Potential familiars, yes.”

Bill felt suddenly sick. “Saint Mary, Holy Familiar of Christ. You don’t think whoever has them is doing this, whatever this is, to them too?”
–and–
“Assumed to be the wrong gender at birth?”

“Exactly. Yet, {the Minoan royal familiars} took the familiar form associated with their proper gender. Nathan, you would have been a bull, not a snake. Which to me suggests human intervention.”

This is some heady, high-level worldbuilding. Think about the mental pathways that this creative leap took: Minoan civilization vanished; we know now it existed but for millennia it was a bad legend of a woman who transgressed her marriage vows and produced a monster; then we see the art of Knossos, men leaping bulls and women handling snakes tranmogrifies into familiars who can assume these forms, mutates through the generations as "normals" try to control/exterminate the weirdos, and even explains why there is such a hatred for Mary Magdalene, her being Witch-Christ's familiar, and seven—seven!—Catholic churches resulting from the chaos of getting on top of the facts behind the legends. (I like the idea of the Pope in Belfast...Celtic Christianity seems to me a less virulent thing than the Roman variety.)

But Author Hawk, a transman, isn't likely to let us off that easily. The worldbuilding is the stage...the story is the people on it. And they are all in for it, poor lambs, because there's a wicked, vindictive worldbuilder at the helm and they will suffer for their bad luck in being summoned into life by him!

I've said above that I like and appreciate the way charcters in Author Hawk's series come back from their abeyance to inform the stories with an enhanced level of reality. You go around your life with the same, or a roughly similar, group of people in it...so do these folk. They have families, they have friends, they have bosses and co-workers...all is the same in these stories as in the stories of our lives. These characters, Isaac and Bill, have shown up briefly in other tales; Malachi, Dominic (ugh!), Nick and Jamie, Rook, Cicero...all make their presences know in here, too. It's so very warming, like seeing an old childhood friend on the streets of your vacation destination.

Family, birth family, comes in for a lot of knocks in this series. I am not the product of a happy family, so I think of this as merely a reflection of reality. Then there are the good birth families that exist here, too, like the Yates siblings. I suppose someone somewhere has one of those. They would be wise not to talk much about it lest they be placed in a zoo for us ordinaries to gawk at.

And of course, the role of the closet...Isaac the mastiff familiar being treated the way he was by Martin, the witch his magic longs to connect with, retreats into wounded silence about his essential nature; Bill, the rejected poor-quality witch-son, runs from even the least hint that he is a witch:

So Isaac had pulled away, before the inevitable rejection. Because he was spoiled, broken, unworthy. Bill surely knew it as well as Isaac did. Now he knew, too, that Isaac wanted him.
–and–
It was time to move on. Time to accept Isaac would never return his affection. Bill’s own da hadn’t wanted him; stupid to have imagined anyone else ever would.

Realizing that your own family rejects who you are ("love the sinner, hate the sin" is the cruelest and most invidious formulation of "I don't like who you are") is not a fast-track way to get your richly deserved portion of love on this Earth. And they've both got this obstacle to overcome, so Bill and Isaac aren't going to get together easily or quickly. As this story takes place two years-plus after the last, that was a given.

Category romance, laddies and gentlewomen. HEA is standard equipment.

I give nothing away when I say that the couple becomes one, then. The circumstances of that are for you to discover; as is Author Hawk's guaranteed twist on expectations. Bill's life isn't one of luxury but he at least had a mother who loved him. Isaac's life wasn't ordinary for many reasons, but his Jewish identity was always going to Other him no matter what. How these broken places mesh is a delight; how they learn to accept and value each other is a pleasure, if one that was slightly rushed by the demands of the adventure plot.

As always, the fight against evil-doers and vile malefactors is pursued on multiple fronts. This time there is a court case for Isaac to assist with, involving the poor trafficked familiars/slaves from earlier stories; there's also a larger conspiracy taking place that ties together the past, the present, and a dreadful authoritarian future that our Scooby-group of witches and familiars are aware of and fighting further back with each battle.

Martin's position in this story, pivotal on two fronts, is not one I want to spoil for you. The links of the larger story-arc are, as in all good series stories, growing more and more restrictive around our dramatis personae. And that explains my overall delight in and eagerness to push these reads at you.

And there is the basic human lovingkindness of the world these men inabit as well. They are there for, supportive of, each other; they accept the bonds of Family and carry them with willing hands and hearty acceptance of responsibility and for support. This is a world where someone says to a belovèd friend, “Sometimes strength means asking for help when you need it," and isn't criticizing or belitting him; reminding him, rather, that this is what he is being offered.

Isn't that a beautiful dream. Even in the midst of the pain and chaos of fighting an uncaring-to-cruel world for your existential survival, these men offer their own strength, their own lives, to help and support others.

Tell me, please, what kind of story could possibly be more 2021 than that.

THE HEXWORLD SERIES I, four novels & three short stories of M/M paranormal romance

THE 13TH HEX
JORDAN L. HAWK (Hexworld #0.5)
Widdershins Press LLC (non-affiliate Amazon link)
99¢ Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Romance. Magic. Murder.

Dominic Kopecky dreamed of becoming a member of New York’s Metropolitan Witch Police—a dream dashed when he failed the test for magical aptitude. Now he spends his days drawing the hexes the MWP relies on for their investigations.

But when a murder by patent hex brings crow familiar Rook to his desk, Dominic can’t resist the chance to experience magic. And as the heat grows between Dominic and Rook, so does the danger. Because the case has been declared closed—and someone is willing to kill to keep it that way.

The 13th Hex is the prequel short story to the all-new Hexworld series. If you like shifters, magic, and romance, you’ll love Jordan L. Hawk’s world of witch policemen and the familiars they bond with.

My Review: Three w-bombs in under 40pp means one entire star off.

A perfectly fine story. I like Rook a lot, but am less enamored of Dominic Kopecky.

Dominic pulled Rook closer. “Of course I do. You’re everything I ever dreamed of, Rook.”

He tenderly cupped Rook’s smooth jaw in one hand. “You’re beautiful and clever, and I would have wanted you even if you weren’t a familiar. But you are, and you’ve given me magic.”

It just feels...opportunistic? like an emotional manipulation? I'm putting that aside for now, more data needed, and the books are mostly out.

I just wanted a toe-dip into the world of the series before committing myself to it. This short tale was enough to allow me to get the sense of what Author Hawk was planning...a New York City imbued with magical energy that expresses itself via pseudoscientific means...to see if this could keep my soap-opera lovin' story-slurpin' soul from parching into dust. I mean, Whyborne & Griffin is now complete on my reader radar! I need sudsy sweet seriesness! Now I'll get my Hawk fix here.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HEXBREAKER
JORDAN L. HAWK (Hexworld #1)
Widdershins Press LLC (non-affiliate Amazon link)
99¢ Kindle edition, available for a limited time!

Rating: 4.75* of five

WINNER OF THE 2016 RAINBOW AWARD: GAY PARANORMAL ROMANCE!

The Publisher Says: Will a dark history doom their future together?

New York copper Tom Halloran is a man with a past. If anyone finds out he once ran with the notorious O’Connell tunnel gang, he’ll spend the rest of his life doing hard time behind bars. But Tom’s secret is threatened when a horrible murder on his beat seems to have been caused by the same ancient magic that killed his gang.

Cat shifter Cicero is determined to investigate the disappearance of one friend and the death of another, even though no one else believes the cases are connected. When the trail of his investigation crosses Tom’s, the very bohemian Cicero instinctively recognizes the uncultured Irish patrolman as his witch. Though they’re completely unsuited to one another, Cicero has no choice but to work alongside Tom…all the while fighting against the passion growing within.

Tom knows that taking Cicero as his familiar would only lead to discovery and disaster. Yet as the heat between them builds, Tom’s need for the other man threatens to overcome every rational argument against becoming involved.

But when their investigation uncovers a conspiracy that threatens all of New York, Tom must make the hardest decision of his life: to live a lie and gain his heart’s desire, or to confess the truth and sacrifice it all.

My Review: Tom the Hexbreaker = Yes. Big, solid, muscular boys are always welcome in my world, fictional or factual.

Cicero the Familiar = ...
...
...he's a C-A-T and I ***HATE*** those creatures. The make me sneeze. They have TOXIC SPIT faGawdsake. Their dander, designed by them in conjunction with their lord and master Satan, is so shaped that it causes acute irritation in human mucus membranes.

Cicero closed the door soundlessly behind him and shifted into cat form. Instantly, the room brightened; he could make out every detail of the worn fabric, the flaking paint on the hobby horse, the silk flowers twined around the swings. The smell of mice tantalized, mingled with the scents of the various people who had traipsed through. Sloane, Kearney, others he didn’t recognize.

And I still gave the book almost 5 stars. (The passage above is one of the main reasons I did...Author Hawk brings me into a cat's world in a way I haven't thought of before.) That, laddies and gentlewomen, is still nothing short of astounding. I have lived in or near Manhattan since the 1980s, and visited the city fairly often after my first taste of it in my long-ago childhood (before they started digging the basement of the long-gone Twin Towers, that's how long ago it was). This is my home, this is the place I want to be. So yes, I'm inclined to give stories set here a big head start into my good graces.

I'm also a history buff. In the post-book note left by Author Hawk, I was pleased but unsurprised to see they acknowledged Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940 as one of their sources. I got this book in the 1990s and have read and re-read it a few times as research and as pleasure reading. The gay male culture of New York has arguably always been the gold standard (pace you San Francisco queers) in this country. I was eager to learn about it then, and happy to see it used so very well in this series of books.

Most of my happy croons are reserved for the alternate history of this New York, part of a world where magic is real and imperfectly understood as well as unscrupulously used thus necessitating an entire branch of law enforcement dedicated to detecting and preventing malefactors from taking unfair advantage of its gifts.

Tom didn’t mean to stare, but he couldn’t help it. Of course, he’d been staring nonstop since he’d entered the Coven and asked to speak to someone about a dead man and a bad hex.
–and–
“I follow the pope in Belfast, if that’s what you mean."
–and–
The one with the shotgun pointed it at Tom. “I said hands up! Revolver on the floor, now!”

The world seemed to sharpen to unnatural clarity. The black bore of the gun trained on him. Cicero’s coat, bright against the washed out clothing of the anarchists. The smell of gunpowder from the barrels. The hum of hexes from the boxes and barrels, so many he could feel them vibrating in his teeth. Meant to keep the gunpowder and dynamite from exploding too early, or catching fire from open flames.

The plight of the unbonded familiar is a strong theme in this first novel of the series. It's clear that the familiars, those whose abilities create the magic channeled by witches, are the downtrodden second-class magical citizens. Cicero the cat-shifter is a survivor of an abusive unbonded past. It informs his every waking moment. It's also obvious that most witch/familiar bonds are same-sex; this makes the gayness quotient of the world quite high, an agreeable development from my PoV. That there is still homophobia out there is depressingly inevitable, human beings being what they are.

It wasn’t Rook’s fault he and Dominic {from The 13th Hex, above} were perfectly suited as lovers as well as friends.

It was the fairytale every familiar wanted to believe in, and the MWP did nothing to dissuade. One day, a familiar would be minding their own business, look up…and there would be their witch. Dashing, charming, strong, funny…whatever the familiar needed them to be.

The events of this book bring the politics of the creation of New York City from the independent cities of Brooklyn, Manhattan, the County of Queens, and the Bronx to bear on the lives of the characters, and in that teaches each of them what it means not to fit into any corner of society. There are competing factions attempting to redress the very real wrongs of the place and time, but in ways that wouldn't lead to a better world only a replacement of those at the top with themselves.

Tom knew how the world worked, knew money flowed mostly in one direction and to hell with the poor bastard who ended up with empty pockets at the end of the day. But there was wrong and then there was wrong, and this seemed terrible in a way he couldn’t articulate.
–and–
"Show the people that the real threat to their safety comes from a corrupt government enslaved to the whims of rich men who would work the rest of us to death for their profits.”

It seems revolutions never do what they are supposed to do.

But Tom and Cicero are there, ably assisted by Dominick and Rook from The 13th Hex and joined by the next book's MC Dr. Yates, to make sure the body count is kept to a minimum and the worst excesses of evil are prevented from making the city a shambles. This is what I like about Author Hawk's books: The stakes are high, the issues are drawn from reality, the resolutions are based in the logic of the world created and include the requisite Happily Ever After for the main characters.

In this series, the magical system is wonderfully presented, the alternate timeline is sketched in with intriguing spaces left to be filled by future events' historical roots, and PoV characters from previous books will appear in supporting roles. I very much like this method of world-building as it lets me feel I am discovering something instead of arriving at a destination in time, conclusions in hand, to watch events unfold.

The sexual reality of the setting is probably going to put hetero readers off their feed. If men sexin' up other men makes you squeamish, seek elsewhere for your entertainment reads. If it doesn't, then here's you a terrific new series to enjoy.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HEXMAKER
JORDAN L. HAWK (Hexworld #2)
Widdershins Press LLC (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$4.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: 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.

Hexmaker is the second book in Jordan L. Hawk’s Hexworld series, following the adventures of witch policemen and the familiars they bond with. Download today to enter a world of magic, romance, and intrigue.

My Review: All good things must end. My unbroken streak of adoring Author Hawk's books has ended: I don't grok these characters. And then there's the overuse of the w-bomb: There are seven (7) of them in the book which is eight too many.

I didn't like Owen because he reminds me of Franklin Pangborn from old-timey post-Code movies. When they needed a gay man, they got Franklin Pangborn or someone like him to play a fussy, mousy, icky stereotype.

UGH.

Owen straightened and clasped his hands behind him, as if preparing to deliver a lecture. The sight brought a grin to Mal’s face.

“The device is a remarkable feat of hexology and engineering,” Owen said. “Today, we’ve uncovered one of the lost secrets of the ancient world.”

Athene shot him an impatient look. “Get to the point, Dr. Yates.”
–and–
“Shut up, Owen,” Kirk said. “God, you’re tiresome. I can’t believe Father would so demean Edith as to hand her over to a prissy fussbudget like you.”

I just so completely agree with Kirk...And that meant I couldn't really get a grip on the stakes of the story. Wasn't much on Malachi, either, and their sex scenes...I can't believe I'm typing this...were dull, so I skimmed them. I mean, of course Owen was bottoming, he's such a squishbag I can't believe he could ever do anything else...and that's not Big Daddy's kink.
“All I ever wanted was you,” Mal said. “Just as you are.” And, to quote the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, "you don't want much, do you?"

A sad day for me.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A CHRISTMAS HEX
JORDAN L. HAWK (Hexworld #2.5)
Widdershins Press LLC (non-affiliate Amazon link)
99¢ Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A Hexworld Short Story

Roland knows he will never find love. Everyone views wolf familiars like himself as dangerous beasts, unable to rein in their savage impulses. He’s resigned himself to his fate—or so he thinks, until he meets the dashing Augustus Cao. His witch.

Gus is on the trail of a gang of thieves, and Roland holds an important clue. Even though they can never bond, Roland can’t pass up the opportunity to spend a night with his witch.

Can Roland conceal his secret, while helping Gus catch the thieves? Or will the handsome detective be the one to steal his heart?

My Review: Not a lot of room to maneuver in 56pp. A sweet Yuletide story, another facet of the Hexworld, and a half-hour spent quite pleasurably.

We're out in the Metropolitan Witch Police's purlieu this time, which is interesting; and the Hexworld's additions of prejudice to the already awful nineteenth century include ones against wolf shifters. Roland's family chucked him out when they discovered the dangerous animal in their midst.

Roland had known better than to get close to anyone. A decade of hiding had taught him that much. No one would ever see him as anything other than a dangerous beast.

He's made his peace with it, though of course he's very unhappy at Yuletide...who isn't whose people don't want them?...but as a successful writer of adventure stories he's made a good life and wants for little materially.

Now, eating at a Chinese restaurant, he meets his witch: An Irish-Chinese private detective whose present case is finding and stopping a gang of thieves using a dangerous, mesmerizing hex to in order to steal and kill. Roland saves Gus, whose sex appeal he's noticed immediately and whose existence as his witch is fizzing between them, from certain death, and tags along with him on the case. Truth is he's too afraid to share the truth of his animal nature, and of their magical connection, but just can't bring himself to let Gus face the very real danger he's in alone.

A successful resolution to the case, a Happily-Ever-After, and all in a corner of the Hexworld we barely slid into in Hexmaker. The dangerous-animal shifters aren't bad people; they're being true to their inner selves. They're no worse, no better, than anyone else!

The author, a trans person, knows how very deeply this resonates with all sorts of QUILTBAG people. They wrote this perfect summation of the happiness most all of us seek: "For once, the future didn’t matter; just this man and this moment."

Happy Yule, everyone.

THE HANGED MAN'S GHOST, first in a paranormal mystery series enhanced by bisexual male lead

THE HANGED MAN'S GHOST
MISSOURI DALTON
Self-published
$4.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: three fat stars of five

The Publisher Says: Detective Fynn Adder is embarking on the case that will change his life forever. The ghosts of murder victims are leaving him clues, his drinking problem is out of control, and no matter how nepotistic the Chicago Police Department might be, there are some forces his family’s reputation can’t save him from.

Just a few years ago, Fynn’s longtime partner Robert was murdered and the case went unsolved. As he gets deeper into a new investigation, it becomes apparent that somehow the two cases are connected. To make matters worse, it’s clear to Fynn that forces beyond this world have come into play.

Forces like Internal Affairs agent Daniel Voight, who’s determined to make dirt stick to Fynn any which way he can. The only real bright points in Fynn’s day are when he’s with Jack, his unfortunately straight partner. Fynn is going to have to pull himself together—because if the dead don’t kill him, his family will.

Edition includes the short story "A Girl With Two Faces"

My Review: I love series books that allow me to immerse myself in their made-up world. I adore mysteries that enable me to feel that Bad Guys lose, fail, get punished. I am a complete pushover for gay guys as main characters, a sucker for paranormal stuff that makes common sense, EAGER to see bisexual men in relationships...this book, in short, should light every fire in my mental hypocaust.

And it didn't.

I made forty (40) Kindlenotes, which is either Very Very Good or Really Really Bad news. This time it was both. This is a first novel, and begins the ongoing Night Wars series. There's a downside to revising first books, as was done for this one after its first publisher disappeared. The later books add to the series canon; that can require first-book additions. The author says in the Author's Note that the changes are minor. I wonder if one result of this is the strange choppiness of the narrative. As my most WTF-inducing example, why is Fynn's father "Da" sometimes and "Pops" others? In general, people choose a name for their parents and stick to it. My sisters and I called our mother by different names, but never by each others' name for her. (I called her Mama, Sister Old called her Mommy, Sister Middle called her Mom.) It's not A Rule to have your characters do this, but it's a distraction from the story when they don't. I don't like to have to take a moment to wonder who is being addressed.

The feeling of being popped out of the narrative also comes when details arise and disagree with each other but are never reconciled. An example of this is the first murder. The body has three bullet holes, the witness says four shots were fired with great confidence, which attitude is pointed out by the author. And nothing ever reconciles the mismatch. That's frustrating to a seasoned mystery reader accustomed to watching for clues.

A more macro-level issue for me is the damn-near real time narration of (particularly) the first third of the book. Fynn goes to a bar, sits on a stool, talks to the bartender, reaches for his wallet, gets out his money, pays the bartender, gets off the stool, goes out the door...you get what I'm talking about. It's purely a taste thing, not everyone is annoyed by this, but it isn't a narrative strategy I'd encourage anyone to use. Stage directions in a play aren't usually this detailed.

LOTS of coincidences and unsupported knowledge in here. How does Fynn know where his rescued almost-suicide is? Why is that individual's boss sitting there holding the kid's hand? And what astonishing luck that Fynn's in the same hospital, given that the city of Chicago fairly *bristles* with hospitals and people are triaged to different ones based on injury not on proximity. (This is true for all major metropolitan areas.) The sheer amazing stunning convenience of the existence of some blackmail materials used to manipulate Fynn is unaddressed. Why would these materials exist? In whose possession were they, how did they end up with the blackmailer, and WHY DOES NO ONE ASK THESE QUESTIONS in a POLICE STATION where chain of custody is an ingrained data point to be investigated?!

The latter issue is, I suppose, dealt with by the nature of the series: Paranormal. As in magical, as in manipulating the material world accepted. But this event occurs before the outing, so to speak, of the book's true nature. I can't accept that a cop, especially a senior cop like Fynn's boss, wouldn't bring this up despite the...spooky...nature of the blackmailer. He wants to save Fynn, a good cop from a cop family, from disgrace and dismissal.

Now for the biggest problem I had, and one that came close to closing the book to me for good: Jack, Fynn's cop-partner, serves a fresh-out-of-rehab drunk a drink, *overcomes the drunk's objection to being served a drink*, and proceeds to ply the drunk with four more.

BIG. HONKIN. NO-NO.

It's especially upsetting as this is the same person who expresses loving, tender concern for Fynn's recovery before and after this occurs. It's never mentioned again...like that's realistic!...Jack never asks forgiveness or makes amends. This would be a huge, huge issue in an alcoholic's trust inventory. As would the relationship between Jack and Fynn after this occurs. Not cool. Not realistic.

I hate smoking so I hate the mentions of Fynn lighting up. Personal peeve.

Anyway, from all the above, the question arises: Why'd you bother? What kept you reading, since this isn't a one-star rage review? Because the world the author's building appeals to me, like Charlaine Harris's paranormals appeal to me. I love the world-unseen-by-muggles trope. I grew up gay! In 1970s Texas! Of course I love unnoticed realities, I lived in one. And I understand viscerally the desire of the inhabitants of that world to be left the fuck alone to live as they are. The urgency of adopting a cover story. The skill at verbal deflection. The sensitivity to vibes, to the initiate's gaze identifying Our Own. This book strums my strings the right way in this regard.

I enjoy the Catholic parents of a gay kid making absolutely no waves about his sexuality. Their overbearing controlling behaviors are utterly unrelated to Fynn's man-lovin' just to his whoring around and drinking. Any parent of an addict will look at that and say, "that's exactly it, I love my child and want the self-destruction to stop!" Note the silence about gayness. Refreshing to see religious people portrayed as loving, nurturing, supportive parents. (If a tad on the meddlesome side.)

And last, most importantly, in fact crucially to my pleasure in the read, is the fact that the author dropped two...two!...w-bombs. One of which I felt was appropriate to the situation and was cheekily funny.

Anyone who can make ME, the arch-wink-hater, approve of a w-bomb, is a wizard and deserves a chance to make my eyeblinks focus on their work.

DOGFIGHTERS by Alex Beecroft, UNDER THE HILL #2

DOGFIGHTERS Under the Hill #2
Alex Beecroft
Pronoun Publishing
$3.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Kidnapped by the Faerie Queen, Ben is confronted with his own supernatural heritage, a royal family and a lover he doesn’t remember. His first instinct is to turn his back on them all and get back to Earth. Compared to this, Chris and his wacky cohorts seem almost…normal.

Back on Earth, Chris Gatrell is having trouble convincing the police that he didn’t do away with Ben and hide the body. Determined not to lose another sweetheart to the elves’ treachery, he presses his motley crew of ghost hunters to steal a Mosquito bomber…and prays the ghosts of his WWII crew will carry them through the portal to Ben’s rescue.

Meanwhile, Chris’s elf-trapped WWII love, Geoff, has a dragon and he’s not afraid to use it. If only he could be entirely sure which of the elf queens is the real enemy—the one whose army is poised to take back planet Earth for elf-kind.

In the cataclysmic battle to come, more than one lover—human and elf alike—may be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My Review: Well. That was fun.

This being the second of two parts, and part one ending on what can only be described as a coitus interruptus-level cliffhanger, it's a darn good thing for my sanity and the health of those around me that this volume was already teed up on the Kindle.

Only Mrs. Beecroft could keep me up all night reading two back-to-back (!) romantic stories about faeries and dragons and Lancaster bombers and pretty, pretty mens NOT having hot monkey sex despite wanting to.

Some things jarred me, though, and I re-read the book to see what they were, before I wrote this review. No, no, you of little faith, it wasn't the lack of hot monkey sex (well, yes it was but I'm not admitting it publically), it was...well...it was the fact that this story needed more.

Yes, that's correct, Mr. Crabby Pants said the story needed more. More words, more scenes, more time spent in the Raelmes of Phauntaieesee explainin' stuff and makin' the unreality realer.

Fast-drawn lines and suggested histories are fine in shorter works. One expects them. This read, in aggregate tree book form, probably takes 400 or so pages to tell. Make it six hundred, don't break it into two bits, and give me more!

I hear crickets. It's not that amazing, really, when you think about it. I'm always grousing and moaning about the fact that the bajillion-page nonillionologies are fatty, padded, poofy-marshmallow-dipped-in-saccharine idealess attempts to empty the wallets of the bored. And here's a book whose two worlds, well three really, could profitably be expanded to make them intersect more satisfyingly with the sweet guys who populate Beecroftite tales. Love, the falling-in kind as well as the milder, friendlier kind, is at the heart of any story Beecroftly. But the background story has such a huge impact on the tale of love she spins here that it really needed to be fuller, though not richer.

So here I am plunking a mean-spirited 3.5 stars on what should have been a five-star read. The ending, which I won't spoiler, is the main reason I got over three stars. I cried soft, sentimental tears, sniffing into my hanky, as the ending played out. Oh goodness I am a sappy old queen some days. I even called the now-former gentleman caller and we had a good mutual sniveling about the ending. (To his current man's vocal annoyance, which I confess gave me a most unworthy stab of satisfaction...guy doesn't read, and you're gonna leave me for him? Fool.)

Ahem. Sorry.

So, well, I'm certainly not yodeling rapturously from the housetops, but I would very much suggest the squeamish "ewww-ick" homophobics who have a weakness for knight-errantry, dragons, and the warm, healing glow of love rewarded by love.

BOMBER'S MOON: Under the Hill #1

BOMBER'S MOON (Under the Hill #1)
Alex Beecroft
Pronoun Publishing
$3.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 3.6* of five

The Publisher Says:The faeries at the bottom of the garden are coming back—with an army.

Under the Hill, Part 1

Ben is a modern, sceptical man but the fairies are trying to abduct him. When he hires Chris's paranormal defence agency to protect him, he doesn't expect to fall in love.

Chris is a refugee from his own time. He's lost one lover to the elves already. Terrified, but determined that this time he'll do better, he promises Ben that the elves will get him over his dead body.

If only that wasn't looking so likely.

Under The Hill was voted Best Multicultural Fantasy 2013 in the M/M romance Swirl Awards. Bomber's Moon is the first book of the complete story. If you love KJ Charles' Green Men and Magpie Lord books, you'll love this.

My Review: Exactly and precisely as the book description says it is. Now, anyone who has ever interacted with me knows I'm no fan of fantasy, but there is nothing on earth more useless than a hermetically sealed mind so I tried this out. Fantasy plus men having sex with each other *must* be better than the straight kind.

Well, yeah, of course.

But there isn't any serious sex in here, so get a big ol' two-fisted grip! One little scene, nothing even close to explicit. The point of this novel isn't the zeal of the organs for each other, it's the Hero's Journey. And the Hero has a wonderful journey, from WWII to 1995 in a blink, then living through the birth of our 21st-century world, and meeting someone whose own Hero's Journey is crossgrained to his own. Ben is Indian, living in Bakewell, and working in a bank; Chris is as English as spotted dick, living in Bakewell, and fighting the forces of supernatural invasion as he once fought the Luftwaffe. They aren't instantly obviously going to fit together. And that's the fun, romantic part of the story.

But then there's the fantasy bit, complete with German fairies invading and occupying English Elven territory; an ancient prophecy that demands an English bomber crew be brought to the other world; an air force of modern fighters in the elven lands, ready to rain destruction on...well, anyone; and a princess hostage damsel in distress to satisfy the conventions, one whose seductiveness can straighten the crooked path of a lost navigator.

I've read Beecroft's Hearts-of-Oaky smexy romances, and so I knew what to expect from the prose. It's direct, it's unfussy, and it's effective. (It also needs copyediting, but that's not Beecroft's fault, it's Samhain's...I mean, calling someone "died-in-the-wool"? It's DYED and that should have knocked the publisher's eye out!) I had sort-of hoped for the Age of Sail's smut content, since I like that kind of thing, but was steeled for the mildness of the entry by previous reviews.

The issues for me, apart from the copyediting, were focused around the hanging-together-ness of the plot's big points. Why, I wondered, does it not occur to modern-day Ben (20s) to ask why Chris (late 30s) is SO old-fashioned? It's right completely out of the modern day, the way Chris behaves towards Ben, even after Chris comes out to him. How has Chris managed to live almost 20 years in the modern era and not had more of it rub off on him? How on earth does he live, I mean money-wise? They're niggles. But they're niggles about big points.

But, and this is why I rated this book at least a full star above any other with issues that size, this is a thumping good read, with lots of very interesting urban-fantasy takes on old fantasy tropes, and characters whose happiness I actually care about. Yes, yes, teenaged girls are people too, but I don't care about their Special Uniqueness and Awesome Powers even a little bit. I do care about Ben's. And Chris's. And I want them to have a happily ever after.

Because they're man-lovin' men. For once someone is talking to ME. And I like it. Thanks, Mrs. Beecroft, for doing your usual solid job of entertaining me.

GHOSTS OF TSAVO, African paranormal lion-hunting with ghostly husbands, possessed zebras, and nasty Dursleyesque families!

GHOSTS OF TSAVO Society for Paranormals #1
VERED EHSANI
Kindle Edition
FREE!

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Armed with Victorian etiquette, a fully loaded walking stick and a dead husband, Beatrice Knight arrives in colonial Kenya desperate for a pot of tea and a pinch of cinnamon. But she’ll need more than that if she’s to unravel the mystery of the Ghosts of Tsavo without being eaten in the process. All this while surviving the machinations of her best friend’s dashing godfather and the efforts of her safari guide to feed her to any lion willing to drag her away. What is a ghost-chasing widow to do?

This is Case #1 in the “Society for Paranormals” series: A series concerning dead husbands, African legends and the search for a perfect spot of tea. For those readers who adore “Pride & Prejudice” and would love to experience “The Parasol Protectorate” set in colonial Africa, this is for you!

My Review: A possessed zebra, "ghost" lions who turn out to be shape-shifters, an automaton with many exciting characteristics (including a ghost-in-residence who happens to be the narratrix's dead husband), a Dursleyesque family far from Privet Lane and therefore even more disagreeable than usual...it's all here, and all the moving parts are managed by our narratrix, Mrs. Knight. Bee to her most unpleasant aunt, Mrs. Steward, whose unpaid labor keeps the Steward house running. Certainly Jonas, their one African servant, isn't much help. He's unfamiliar with tea and toast, those urgent requirements of the entire British race. He has a wonderful survival knack, though, simply listening to Mrs. Steward bloviate and inserting "yes, mama" into the spaces made by her inhalations to bloviate some more.

The barely-more-than-tent-city that is Nairobi, British East Africa, upon the Steward ménage's arrival, meets with vocal disapproval from the ladies of the party, though Bobby the 12 year old son is unaware of anything about the place except that he'll get to go lion hunting. Bee, in her ever-unflappable way (how would one frighten a lady accustomed to sniffing out and dealing with werewolves?), sets the house to rights just in time to greet her shipboard friend Cilla, come to Nairobi to stay with her handsome, unsettlingly odd godfather Mr. Timmons. The Steward ladies find Mr. Timmons' presence makes the African savannah much more palatable. Lilly, the daughter of the house, is in the market for a husband as she was forced to leave London on the eve of her grand Coming Out. Bee doesn't quite know why Mr. Timmons affects her so negatively, but as an investigator of things paranormal, she has learned the long and hard way to trust the prickings of her thumbs.

But, as is usual in slightly romantic books, Mrs. Knight and Mr. Timmons are thrown together to solve the mystery of the "ghost" lions while preventing the baying packs of foolish British hunters from killing their mutual prey before the two paranormals can discover what exactly they are. As the hunt fails spectacularly on its first night (lions are, keep in mind, nocturnal hunters) and the camp is brought to a state of swirling chaos by the disappearance of the aforementioned automaton (and with it the lively ghost of Gideon Knight), seeds are sown that will reap a bitter harvest quite soon.

A mysterious, tall, dark, and handsome African paranormal contact called Kam has been communicating with Bee since her arrival in Nairobi. He appears and disappears with disconcerting silence and always utters unsettling, sibylline warning-cum-instructions that Bee must decipher in order to navigate hazardous paranormal surroundings new to her. It is his major revelation to Bee about the nature of the ghost/shape-shifting lions that propels the wild, careening ride in the last third of the story. Bee and Kam hatch a desperate plan to save the more recalcitrant of the target lions from the bumbling Great White Hunters...and unexpectedly from Mr. Timmons as well. After the comical success of this silly plan, a conversation between Bee and Mr. Timmons reveals information she would greatly prefer not to know about the living and desperately needs not to believe about the dead.

It's a rollicking good ride, similar in its tenor and pace to the much-beloved Chronicles of St Marys by Jodi Taylor. I'm very much looking forward to future installments in the series, three more already being available. I expect that they will fill in some bits of Bee's story, such as an alluded-to previous trip to Africa, West Africa that time, that has left Bee with a disfigured right ear and a goddess who appears as a praying mantis--yuck!--of any size she wishes--yikes!--as a bitter enemy.

Yes indeed, a good time will be had by all!

SOMEBODY TELL AUNT TILLIE WE'RE IN TROUBLE!, hot off the Kindle and ready to make you smile

SOMEBODY TELL AUNT TILLIE WE'RE IN TROUBLE! (Toad Witch Mysteries #2)
CHRISTIANA MILLER
Hekarose Publishing
$3.99 Kindle original, available now

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Mara’s in hell! Neither one of the guys in her life is talking to her. Paul, her ex-boyfriend, is afraid she’s going to give birth to a baby demon—complete with horns and hooves. He wants proof that he’s actually the father. And her best friend, Gus, is so obsessed with his new boyfriend and his plans for the late, great, Lord Grundleshanks the Poisonous Toad, he has no time for anyone else.

After Gus flips the seasons and manages to bring summer into winter, everything starts going weirdly wrong. Summer refuses to leave. Household electronics start going haywire. When J.J., a local boy, vanishes from Mara's car, Mara begins to suspect he's been turned into a rat. But it’s such a crazy idea, who could she possibly talk to abut it? Then, her dead Aunt Tillie shows up to warn her that Gus is in trouble—big trouble—and it’s up to Mara to save him.

Before Mara can stop him, Gus opens up a portal to Hell and the Devil comes calling. Now, she’s got her hands full, trying to find out what happened to J.J., assure Paul she’s not going to give birth to a mythological creature, and broker a truce between Gus and the Devil before Gus becomes Hell’s newest resident.

My Review: I think there's something magical about these books. I mean that in the literal, not the figurative, sense. I was casting about for a Sunday review to tart up and post on my blog, and a random person "Like"d my review of the first Toad Witch mystery at Goodreads. Why the heck not, it's the weekend, thought I, some supernatural silliness will go down a treat. Part of posting reviews to my blog is finding a link to the publisher's information; that led to Amazon; and there was an enticement to pre-order the next book in the series, which just *happened* to be dropping onto one's Kindle the next day!

*hattip to Miller's efficacious spellmongering*

I've read it now, and found it fun, light, and charming. I enjoyed my time back in Devil's Point, Wisconsin, and was happy that Mara and Gus were sparring and bantering and charging ahead into uncharted waters (in winter, in Wisconsin!), heedless and hedonistic or hangdog and fearful, and not infrequently both by turns.

I've scored it a quarter point lower than the first installment because such annoyances as possessives used for plurals, almost-correct words (instance is used, instant is meant), and variant spellings within a line of each other (the character of Forrest is called Forest several times) should, by this second book, be ironed out by a better-paid proofreader and separate better-paid copyeditor.

Irascible and brimful of zest for living, Aunt Tillie the shade reminds me of a passed-away Ruth Zardo from Louise Penny's Three Pines. Gus and Mara are a lot like Olivier and Gabri from that series, snappish and loving by turns. These are compliments, as I'm sure most reading this would know; I'm invested in the characters. I like the ongoing problems Mara has, as a mom-to-be, with her baby-daddy, because the set-up for her pregnancy is...unusual...and caused baby-daddy "Post-Possession Stress Disorder." I like the way Miller is layering in future plots based on the Hellmouth's location under Mara's cottage and the struggle against De Debbil Hisse'f it provides.

It's kind of the anti-Garden Spells, in a way; all the sweetness ripped from the bones of the story, but left behind is the generational sisterhood of magical protectresses. If that's a trope that appeals to you, the reasonable cost of these paranormal suspense novels should make them a no-brainer one-click purchase.

It worked on me, after all.


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SOMEBODY TELL AUNT TILLIE SHE'S DEAD, fun paranormal romp & first in series

SOMEBODY TELL AUNT TILLIE SHE'S DEAD (The Toad Witch #1)
CHRISTIANA MILLER
HekaRose Publishing
$3.99 Kindle original, available now

The SECOND Toad Witch romp is arriving today, 7 September 2014!

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A little magic can go a long way - to really screwing up a girl's life!

Mara is having the worst month of her life. At least, that's what her cards tell her and they've never been wrong. She's evicted from her apartment, loses her job, and is banned from Beverly Hills. So when the tarot cards predict her imminent demise, she uses a little magic to make her world right.

Suddenly, an aunt she's never met dies, leaving Mara as her sole heir. But when Mara moves into her inherited home, she discovers Aunt Tillie never moved out. She's still one pissed-off old lady, even postmortem, and she blames Mara's magical meddling for her death.

When Mara accidentally releases a demon and awakens the spirit of the most powerful witch in history, Tillie's ready to kill her - literally. It's the only way she can think of to save the girl from herself. The witch and the demon, however, have other plans for Mara's body!

My Review: Mara's a thirtysomething Angeleno girl with the best kind of life a slightly portly, extremely witchy fag hag can have: Her GBFF Gus keeps her in snack food and gossip, her gay uncle/landlord keeps her in a super-cool apartment for less than market rent, and her spirit guides keep her in grocery money by enabling her to read Tarot with such accuracy she's scary. All in all, an enviably calm existence.

Until it isn't anymore. Gay uncle's new inamorato has a mama who needs a job, so he installs her as manageress of the apartment complex where Mara lives. Trouble is, the lady's a wacko fundamentalist with a major hate on for witches like Mara. Since what makes Mama unhappy keeps Uncle from gettin' laid, Mara has a month to vacate.

*Just* in the nick of time, and thanks to an ill-advised piece of spellcrafting, Mara's Great Aunt Tillie dies and leaves her a beautiful cottage in Devils Point, Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Superior. (Side note: One pities the lassie on the first whiteout due to a lake effect blizzard, being from LA and all.) Mara packs up her entire worldly goods and sets out for Wisconsin in Gus's SUV, which she has traded her beloved 1965 Mustang convertible for (stupid woman).

Arriving in her new home-sweet-home brings many unsettling feelings, including being possessed by an ancestress, hit on by a super-centenarian, boinked to exhaustion by a ghost, and chatted up by a poison toad. It also brings a sense of complete and utter satisfaction, because after a lifetime of rootlessness, Mara is Home.

In the end, what Mara has to do to defend her home is heroically demanding of her witchly talents and worldly energies. Her life, however, is at stake, and her world finally has contours that please and delight her, so Mara sets about making what's hers safe and welcoming for her chosen family, no matter the cost to herself.

I think most of us desire a trip down the river of another's life as an escape, and so we read fiction or gossip magazines (minimal difference there), or watch "reality" TV, or listen to Faux News and pretend it's truthsome and logical.

When that mood hits, there needs to be something at hand that will scratch the itch as well as offer some pleasure in the process. This story did that for me on a few levels. I was quite taken by the characters...I've even been told by some "friends" that the annoying, arrogant, opinionated Gus reminds those perfidious ingrates of me!...and I was quite pleased with the author's plot-crafting.

I wasn't quite so taken with a few details, such as the missed opportunities for world-building and the overdrawn secondary characters that don't get the screen-time (so to speak) that their qualities set readers up to expect. Still, these are quibbles, and readily susceptible to ironing out as the series (Toad Witch, blurgh not the name I'd've chosen) progresses.

This is an investment of $3.99 that pays Kindle owners back with smiles, thrills, and fun in abundance. I say hit the Buy Now button without any hesitation.

You'd think that church of his would teach him tolerance. Whatever happened to love thy neighbor?"

"Did you miss the Crusades? The Inquisition? Since when has any fundamentalist religion taught religious tolerance?"

"You have a point," he snorted.

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