This has been a slow week. Caught a bug and spent several days feeling awful, so not much got done. I did some rereading until I remembered I had the latest There Be Dragons book waiting for me. When I opened my kindle app I had a new release notice for Jennifer Cody. Instantly my attention was diverted. I picked up the book after reading only the first two lines of the blurb.
Series: (Hammer and Fist: Geminatus Book 1)
Author: Jennifer Cody
Length: 260 pages
Genre: Slow Burn Romance / Urban Fantasy / Found Family / Gay
Notes: If you read the paragraph above, you know that I started reading this after only reading a small part of the blurb. You should probably start with the next book on this list, Sledge and Claw, first since it is in the same world with a little overlap and earlier in the timeline. But I didn't realize this and read this one first. Not reading the other didn't diminish my enjoyment of this story, though I would have known who some of the side characters were if I'd started where I should have.
That being said, I enjoyed the story a lot. The world is intricate and the characters unique and compelling. There was a little bit a confusion for me with Ranger/Hunter in the intimacy scene. Things just got jumbled for me. But as with me and my can-take-or-leave the intimacy scenes, I didn't reread to try an parse out what was going on. Everyone had a good time and that was all I really needed to know. The rest I just gobbled up and will probably reread this again in the coming weeks.
The scene with the crossover agents made my eye twitch for a couple of reasons. If I'd read the other book first I would have been able to distinguish the characters better. Lex kept switching between his trainee's names, calling her Gillian or Roberts, and that was what confused me. I thought there was another person in the room when I was trying to keep track of 5 characters and suddenly I thought there was 6. I will admit, the antics of Lex, Tor, Roberts, and the other person Ranger/Hunter was there to meet with really irked me. I was just as incensed as Ranger/Hunter was and had this WTF are they doing moment. But now that I've read the other book I understand the underlying subtext. But I also think that not reading Sledge and Claw first also helped me to see them through Ranger/Hunter's eyes without being colored by foreknowledge.
That being said, I do suggest that you read Sledge and Claw first. At the end of that book is a short about how Ranger/Hunter met his nurse. Questions that I had about the beginning of this book was answered there.
This does leave off on a tenuous HFN and everyone being okay, but as a friend of mine would say, there is a slight cliffy on the last page. But it's nothing that would cause anxiety or heart failure.
Blurb: Ranger/Hunter:
After an encounter with gremlins that almost kills one of my avatars, I’m forced to get involved with the government agency that enforces the laws that govern non-humans on Earth. The Inter-dimensional Immigration Agency—IDIA, according to the office agent assigned to my case—has a vested interest in me. I’m a species that they’ve only just discovered, and I have a few gifts that I shouldn’t. Plus, I’ve been doing the work of a field agent for more than a decade, and they want to recruit me into the fold. It may be time I start getting paid for my efforts, but I’ll only agree to it if they can respect the family I’ve built and the people I’m protecting. If they want my loyalty, they’re going to have to earn it.
Inferno is an MM Urban Fantasy in the Hammer and Fist series. For a more informed reader experience, read Sledge and Claw (Hammer and Fist Lextalion Book 1) first, or explore the world for the frist time with Ranger/Hunter for a fun adventure into magic and inter-dimensional mayhem.
After an encounter with gremlins that almost kills one of my avatars, I’m forced to get involved with the government agency that enforces the laws that govern non-humans on Earth. The Inter-dimensional Immigration Agency—IDIA, according to the office agent assigned to my case—has a vested interest in me. I’m a species that they’ve only just discovered, and I have a few gifts that I shouldn’t. Plus, I’ve been doing the work of a field agent for more than a decade, and they want to recruit me into the fold. It may be time I start getting paid for my efforts, but I’ll only agree to it if they can respect the family I’ve built and the people I’m protecting. If they want my loyalty, they’re going to have to earn it.
Inferno is an MM Urban Fantasy in the Hammer and Fist series. For a more informed reader experience, read Sledge and Claw (Hammer and Fist Lextalion Book 1) first, or explore the world for the frist time with Ranger/Hunter for a fun adventure into magic and inter-dimensional mayhem.
Series: (Hammer and Fist Book 1)
Author: Jennifer Cody
Length: 281 pages
Genre: Slow Burn Romance / Urban Fantasy / Gay
Notes: When I read the back matter of Inferno, I realized that I missed another release and started reading this. LOL. Again, I only read the first couple of lines of the blurb before diving in. I found Roberts utterly annoying at the beginning. She grew on me, and I better understood her motives before I was halfway into the story, but her intrusion into a private matter with Lex in that beginning will probably always rub me wrong.
Lex is a complex and interesting character. The balance between him and his monster side was well done and kept me on my toes. The plot was fast paced with there never being a dull moment.
There is a cliff hanger warning, but if you read past the end to the snap shot of the next book in this series, that cliff will be alleviated for you.
Blurb:
Lex:
I work, I sleep, I fuck. That's what I do.
My alphabet soup agency recruited me because of my unique blend of magic and innate talent, but those come with a steep price and it’s getting harder to pay with every investigation.
I never thought Knoxville would be the place that kills me, but between someone targeting me to get me fired (or start a war; could go either way), taking on a naïve new trainee, and investigating a non-human trafficking ring, it looks like I'm about to bite off more than I can chew.
The question is, can I figure out what’s going on before it all blows up in my face?
Sledge and Claw is an MM Urban Fantasy with triggers for the horrors of slave trafficking and consent issues. There also happens to be a cliffhanger ending.
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Series: (Here Be Dragons Book 3)
Author: Louisa Masters
Length: 229 pages
Genre: Romance / Paranormal / Gay
Notes: #reading This series has been pretty angst free. There isn't any action/adventure like in the other one and is focused on the romance between the MCs. This one, the love interests are such an unlikely pairing. As of the writing of this post, I'm only about 15% in but I'm not sure I see how these two are going to fall in love. Though they are similar in a way. The blurb makes this sound as if there is only one POV but there are two so you get both sides.
Blurb: Who knew sleeping around could save the entire species?
I’m a simple dragon. Give me knowledge, give me research, give me rings for my hoard, and give me athletic men who want to get sweaty between the sheets… or anywhere else. Those things make me happy. Other things… well, who cares about those?
Turns out, I should have cared. Or at least paid attention. Because I somehow signed up for a scientific study run by a shy, nerdy sorcerer with the body of a god. And the study just happens to be about my favorite form of exercise.
It doesn’t take long for me to know I want to do more than science with Rhys. I’ve never been the kind of dragon to mix feelings with fun, but Rhys could be the one person who meets all my needs, even if he won’t wear a ring on every finger.
But when his research becomes more important than any of us could have imagined, our relationship enters a new phase. Now it’s up to me to show Rhys how much he’s worth… both to me and to the future of his species.
Title: Seducing the Sorcerer
Series:
Author: Lee Welch
Length: 261 pages
Genre: Romance / Fantasy / Gay
Notes: I'm thinking about this one. New-to-me author so I'm not sure how much angst is in the story which is about 90% of what is holding me back. I can't always tell by the sample if books are for me or not, but I sent myself a sample.
Blurb: Homeless and jobless, Fenn Todd has nearly run out of hope. All he has left is his longing for horses and the strength of his own two hands. But when he’s cheated into accepting a very ugly sackcloth horse, he’s catapulted into a world of magic, politics and desire.
Fenn’s invited to stay at the black tower, home of the most terrifying man in the realm: Morgrim, the court sorcerer. Morgrim has a reputation as a scheming villain, but he seems surprisingly charming—and sexy—and Fenn falls hard for him.
However, nothing is as it seems and everyone at the tower is lying about something. Beset by evil hexes, violent political intrigue and a horse that eats eiderdowns, Fenn must make the hardest choices of his life.
Can a plain man like Fenn ever find true love with a scheming sorcerer?
Thank you for stopping by and reading!!
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