In Magic Slays Kate is trying to find her place in a new job, where she is running her own company, her relationship with Curran, as well as her place in the pack. All of this is discounting her usual drama surrounding her family and origins. That creates a jam-packed novel where we learn more about the past, present, and future of Kate and Curran with a smattering of high-stakes drama in the middle of it. If you try to jump into this series you will be hopelessly lost. If you have been reading along then this is another step toward learning what is going to happen with Curran and Kate, and a couple of huge revelations about Kate and where Curran’s Loyalties really lie!
Romance
26/100 Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews
This is the 4th book in the Kate Daniels series, and like all of the books before, it is filled with magic, drama, and angst. I loved it. The character development between Kate and Curren (read the rest to understand) as well as learning more of Kate’s backstory is amazing. The way Andrews winds magic, mythology, and an alternate dystopian future together is remarkable. In this tale Kate’s Aunt is wreaking havoc and Kate must try to fix things. Throughout she is also trying to save/protect her friends, figure out where she and Curren stand in each others lives and figure out where her position within the ‘order’ is. Somehow Andrews intertwines all of these plot threads, without really dropping any, and still makes a fast paced, fascinating, read. Highly Recommended. Now, I’m going to start on the 5th book to see where Kate and Curren wind up next.
9/100 Dark Stranger: The Dream by L. T. Lucas
This is a fascinating new world with some quite interesting world building. I would be very interested to hear more about this world, however, this book ends in a cliff-hanger. Without the resolution of what happened to the main couple I see no real reason to continue reading this series. This series is a new version of mythology, immortals, and so much more. While the jumping point of view is quite annoying I did find the characters to be interesting. As stated above there is no resolution to the story so I find it irritating, which negates all of the good aspects to this story. There are some bits of semi-graphic sex.
8/100 Talismaker by Megan Derr
This is an extremely brief short story. If you have not read Runescribe this will not make any sense at all. It definitely surprised me with how much I remembered of Runescribe, I cannot recall when I last read that though I will certainly re-read it in the next couple of days. Within the space of two days the main character goes from a down and out soldier looking for employment, longing for a love he thought he could never have, to…well…that would ruin the entire story.
7/100 The Dragon’s Tamer by Megan Derr
This was a wonderful short story. Derr has a very deft hand with world building, this is a lovely example of that. Within less than 50 pages she manages to immerse you into the world of the prince, the Dragon Tamer, and more. The romance and antagonism will take you by surprise, however, this fun, fast M/M infatuation is well worth reading. Since it is so brief, I am not able to give much more of a synopsis without giving most of the plot away. I love these quick reads by Derr.
6/100 The Heart of a Dragonslayer by Megan Derr
Okay, I am going to try to post twice a week at least, I always forget that to read 100 books in a year I need to post about 2 a week.
As usual Megan Derr has managed to craft an amazing new world with just a few hundred pages. I love how the main character went from being a relatively ignored youngest son to a hero in his own right. Even with this major change he manages to remain humble, loyal to his friend, and looking for love. His parents, a throuple which is common and expected in this world, have engaged him to a respectable merchant and his husband. The engagement occurred before he became a Dragonslayer, however his parents and older siblings try to prepare him for his engagement and eventual marriage. Unfortunately, the couple he is engaged to feel that they are being essentially blackmailed into the situation. It is fascinating to see the initial impression proven false and the steps taken to resolve the misunderstandings. This was a fun, fast read. If M/M and Throuples bother you, then skip this. Other wise it is a very cute, not explicit, romance story. There is some sex but that is not the extreme focus of this.
4/100 From Fear by Megan Derr
This is the last book in this series that I will be re-reading at this time. I’m working my way through a large non-fiction book on my Kindle as well as listening to an audiobook, not simultaneously since I want to actually retain some information from each of these books. This review is copied from an earlier reading, however it does still hold true today.
This is the newest addition to Derr’s Princes of the Blood series. Strangely enough though it is the fourth book in the series it is set before the first book that was written, Of Last Resort. This does mean that these books can, in theory, read in any order. The Third Book seems to take place before the fourth (which is set before the first). In Chronological Order within the Princes of the Blood universe you would probably read these books: From Fear, Book 4, With Pride, Book 2; Of Last Resort Book 1; Finally In Despair, Book 3 (though the majority is set after book 1 parts to refer back to a time before book 4).
If you can follow all of the time jumps within the series, then this is a good LGBTQ+ series with several graphic sex scenes per book. From Fear manages to add quite a bit to the universe and adds onto a very rich fantasy series. Derr manages to add in a form of werewolves without losing any of her fascinating world of demons, angels, and various magic users. The Wolves have managed to keep themselves safe for generations, however recent events have changed this status quo. I loved getting to know these characters that were briefly mentioned when reading In Despair. If you like LGBTQ+ books with fascinating warriors that fight demons and find love then this is a great series for you. The action is fast paced and I could not focus on anything but finishing this book once I’ve picked it up.
1/100 Born to Badger by Shelly Laurenston
This addition to a marvelous series was full of laughter and drama. Picking up right when Breaking Badger ended we join Tok on her journey through family drama and into love. If you have read any of the books written by Laurenston then you would be aware of the Bad-Ass women that hold you captive through her books, if not then I recommend you read these if you enjoy strong women characters with a great sense of humor.
In this rollicking adventure Tok is sent on a mission by her grandmother. A Siberian Tiger shifter tags along, and in the process Tok is shot…which being a Honey Badger shifter would normally be fine. Any more details would spoil the whole thing. I love how Laurenston takes characters that could easily be relegated to being background characters and brings them to the forefront so that each one has their story told. I’m sort of obsessed with these series.
77/100 Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich
If you have never read any of the Stephanie Plum books then I highly recommend you start from the beginning and binge your way through. In this book the overarching personal plotline is so dependent on your having read through the series that to just read this book would do Stephanie a great disservice. I loved this addition to the series, however like many of my fellow Stephanie Plum lovers I was elated at the twist ending and disappointed it will be another year before it is resolved! Of course this means that I, as will many others, will spend the entire year defending our favorite choice and debating merits.
For the actual review, this is a great addition to the Stephanie Plum series. In this book we get a look at a Stephanie we rarely see. A Stephanie that is willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but when she really needs to get things done she just goes ahead and does it. The main storyline is that someone robbed a jewelry store, dropped the bag of jewels, tried to commit suicide and a couple of other things. After that original robbery the security guard on duty, who was hired after being a bagger at a grocery store, was fired then accused of stealing a tray of diamonds. The owner of the shop hires Stephanie to track down the fired security guard just so that they can talk, or something like that, even though he had been found innocent through a police investigation. After all of that is when things get complicated. Stephanie takes down her fugitive apprehensions much faster than usual, her long time on again off again cop boyfriend Morelli is out of town and her other on again off again lover Ranger is in town helping Stephanie along the way.
I love this series, and I am so happy that Stephanie seems to be developing in this book and the long running romance plotline is finally going somewhere. If you do not like cliffhangers, maybe hold off on reading this until October 2024 when the next book should come out! Happy Reading!
64/100 Spellbound in Salem by Milly Taiden
If you want to read shifter fantasy porn then go for this. In the right frame of mind I wouldn’t mind reading this for a sexy, fantasy, escape. Hearing about a guy jacking off in the shower, with physical descriptions, while I’m at work (with headphones on fortunately) is not what I was going for. I thought this would be a cute fantasy romance, it is but there is what I would call explicit sex scenes. If you would like a fairly steamy shifter romance, give this a shot. If you’re looking for fade to black sex scenes, then skip this one. I did get invested enough in the characters that I finished listening to the book, so the characters are fairly well fleshed out for such a short book.
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