#LGBTGIA fantasy mystery

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Review:  Back In The Hunt: A Nelson & MacIlwraith Mystery (Moon Murder Mysteries) by K. Sterling

Rating: 4🌈 Back In The Hunt both continues the overall themes and universe started with the Moon Murder Mysteries (3 book series) that introduces the characters, locations and incredible complex mythologies and cultural linguistic concepts/elements that are at the heart of everything here. That each book needs at the beginning of the story its own introduction to the various aspects of the…

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Review: The Villain Who Wasn't (Carnival of Mysteries 2) by Liv Rancourt

Rating: 3🌈 The Villain Who Wasn’t by Liv Rancourt was such a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed much of the story and characters, including how Rancourt wove the Carnival of Mysteries into this tale, making it an important part of Micah Jenkins journey to redemption. Micah, how his relationship with Anders Montgomery developed amid his journey to redemption and finding home, that entire storyline , is…

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Review: The Wrong Familiar: Carnival of Mysteries 2 by Megan Derr

Rating: 4.5🌈 “Once more we bid you Welcome, Travelers, to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries! Join us for another round of fantastic, space-and-time spanning tales by a talented group of some of the best authors to be found in M/ M romance. Whether you enjoy mystery, action, danger, or just sweet romance, there is something for everyone at the Carnival!” Many of this author’s books are on my…

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Review: Darkness by Eden Winters

Rating: 4.75🌈 Eden Winters new release, Darkness, is a superb supernatural thriller. Winters’ beautifully written narrative combines elements of horror, murder mystery, political conspiracy, as well as a deeply intriguing romance to create a dark, suspenseful, and gripping story. It starts with Atlanta PD Det. Morrisey James. He’s a wounded, broken man, with a disturbing talent that allows him…

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Review: Nelson & MacIlwraith: Moon Murder Mysteries III by K. Sterling

Rating: 4🌈 This type of book is extremely hard to read at times, and , for the same reasons, very difficult to rate. I wish I didn’t have to write that because I love how this series began. K Sterling is a fascinating, imaginative writer, and I put several of Sterling’s works among my favorites. But that same inquisitive, brilliant mind that brings forth moving, modern, emotional narratives of…

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Review: Nelson & MacIlwraith (Moon Murder Mysteries #2) by K Sterling

Rating 3.5: This was a hard book to rate as well as read. For all the qualities I loved in the first book, some of those same elements were ones that made this a very frustrating reading experience. Where book one was an expansive exploration of those characters personalities, universe , including the mystical powers and mythology that surrounds them, the second novel narrowed down the focus to…

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Review: Accidental Bonds (Elemental Bonds Book 1) by Marie Reynard

Rating: 4.75🌈 In the author’s notes, Reynard states that Accidental Bonds is her debut novel. Well, it’s a remarkable story, whether it’s her first book or one of many. Accidental Bonds, the first in the Elemental Bonds series, follows the meeting of independent mage Elijah Lauring with Alpha Victor Mills of the nearby Mills pack. Victor has come to Elijah to contract for a mage’s help with…

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Review: Perfectly Perplexing Zombie (Perfect Pixie, #4) by M. J. May

Rating: 5🌈 Honestly, I finish each story thinking this is the best yet of the series. Then the next surpasses it, building on the complex storylines and characters relationships the author is creating and linking together in an epic as yet unfinished fantasy tapestry. Each new couple incorporates a deeply unique perspective on love and relationships. While May has bright humor , magical wonder,…

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Review: Nelson & MacIlwraith (Moon Murder Mysteries #1) by K Sterling

Rating: 5🌈 K Sterling has become a go to author for me and this book is an excellent example why. Nelson & MacIlwraith, the first in the Moon Murder Mysteries, is steeped in mythologies and cultural traditions. These myths and lores that enrich and at times horrify the characters and readers have been pulled from literary sources and the author’s incredible imagination. To say the Celtic…

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Review: Dryad on Fire (Carnival of Mysteries novel) by Nicole Dennis

Rating: 4.75🌈 Dryad on Fire by Nicole Dennis is a terrific, densely layered piece of storytelling. One of the novels that makes the most of the series central theme of the Carnival of Mysteries, that immortal circus is a major element. So it’s a delightful experience that Dennis delivers many of the main Carnival attractions we’ve already visited and performers featured in books previously…

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Review: Assassin by Accident (Carnival of Mysteries) by E.J. Russell

Rating: 4.75🌈 “Welcome, Traveler! Join us for a series of M/ M fantasies by a talented group of both new and established authors. Whether you enjoy mystery, action, danger, or just sweet romance, there is something for everyone at the Carnival of Mysteries!” Assassin by Accident is E.J. Russell’s offering to the Carnival of Mysteries series and it’s just a marvelous heartwarming fantasy read.…

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Review: Night-blooming Hearts (Carnival of Mysteries story) by Megan Derr

Rating: 2🌈 I’m astonished. I adore this author and her stories rank among the many of my favorites and most rec’d. But you can’t like everything someone writes. And at the top of my lists of problematic elements in stories these days is a TSTL character, even if he’s a dead one. In this case a Vampire . That’s a character that will have me wondering what an author is thinking because their…

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Review: Magic Burning (Carnival of Mysteries story) by Kaje Harper

Rating: 5🌈 Magic Burning is a perfect example of why I find these types of series so exciting. Kaje Harper’s story incorporates the central theme of a mysterious otherworldly carnival smoothly into her multi-layered narrative. The author weaves the Carnival of Mysteries seamlessly within the novel’s important topics of late coming out, parallel existing worlds, magical governments with its own…

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Review: The Claws of Winter (Arcane Hearts Book 7) by Nazri Noor

Rating: 4.25🌈 Here we are at the penultimate book in the Arcane Hearts series with the release of The Claws of Winter by Nazri Noor. It’s hard to imagine the author is going to be able to not only resolve some of the major mysteries of the series but also to explain the rationale behind some aspects of the family dynamics that undergo an enormous transformation at the end. Personality…

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Review: Cherries Worth Getting (Keith Curry’s Case Files Book 1) by Nicole Kimberling

Rating: 4.5🌈 Nicole Kimberling is such an amazing author. I adored her Bellingham Mysteries and then lost track of her writings. But happily I’ve found her again through her series about a other-realm investigator who used to be a chef. That’s Keith Curry’s Case Files. I believe the series started in a collection called Irregulars, 4 short stories by 4 authors about NIAD. That’s NATO Irregular…

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Review: Redeeming Nick (Dark Forest Pack Book 2) by Annabelle Jacobs

Rating: 4.5🌈 I’m so enjoying this series. I believe I found Redeeming Nick even more my favorite because of the characters and chemistry Jacobs creates here. One caveat, a reader must bring a certain amount of information about the universe and characters history with them into each story. If you are new to Jacob’s’ werewolves world (and connected series), you will feel a bit lost or without a…