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Book Review: The Alpha’s Warlock, by Eliot Grayson

I saw The Alpha’s Warlock, by Eliot Grayson, recommended on Instagram. So, I borrowed an audio copy through Hoopla. It was narrated by Chris Chambers.
the alpha's warlock

Cursed, mated, and in for the fight of their lives….

Warlock Nate Hawthorne just wants a cup of coffee. Is that too much to ask? Apparently. Because instead of precious caffeine, all he gets is cursed by a pack of werewolves who want to use him for his magic. Now the only way to fix the damage is a mate bond to a grumpy and oh-so-sexy alpha in the rival pack, who happens to hate him. This is so not how he wanted to start his day.

Ian Armitage never intended to take Nate as his mate. The Hawthorne family can’t be trusted. Ian knows that better than anyone. The fact that he’s lusted after the way-too-gorgeous man for years? Totally irrelevant. Ian’s just doing what is necessary to protect his pack. This whole mating arrangement has nothing to do with love and never will. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Nate and Ian will have to work together if they have any hope of staving off the pack’s enemies and averting disaster. That’s assuming they can stop arguing (and keep their hands off each other) long enough to save the day….

my review

This wasn’t very good.The idea underpinning it was fine and the writing seemed readable (though I had an audio copy, so that’s hard to judge), and the narrator did a good job. But the execution was simply lacking. The book felt like a second book, though I don’t think it is. The plot is far too focused and centered in a small room with two people and far too little on what is happening in general, such that whole swaths of the plot fell flat and there wasn’t any resulting tension (even in scenes where there should have been). The bickering between Nate and Ian didn’t feel like appreciable banter, but like two adolescents sniping at one another and I didn’t feel the love at all. I gathered that the author was trying to infer the two had had crushes on one another for a while, but you don’t feel it. All in all, this one was a flop for me.

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Other Reviews:

Review: The Alpha’s Warlock (Mismatched Mates #1) by Eliot Grayson

Review: The Alpha’s Warlock by Eliot Grayson

Book Review: The Alpha’s Warlock (Mismatched Mates Book 1) by Eliot Grayson [Audiobook]

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Book Review: Fortune Favors the Dead, by Stephen Spotswood

I borrowed and audio copy of Stephen Spotswood‘s Fortune Favors the Dead through Hoopla. It was narrated by Kirsten Potter.

fortune favors the dead audio

Introducing Pentecost and Parker, two unconventional female detectives who couldn’t care less about playing by the rules, in their cases and in their lives.

It’s 1942 and Willowjean “Will” Parker is a scrappy circus runaway whose knife-throwing skills have just saved the life of New York’s best, and most unorthodox, private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. When the dapper detective summons Will a few days later, she doesn’t expect to be offered a life-changing proposition: Lillian’s multiple sclerosis means she can’t keep up with her old case load alone, so she wants to hire Will to be her right-hand woman. In return, Will will receive a salary, room and board, and training in Lillian’s very particular art of investigation.

Three years later, Will and Lillian are on the Collins case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home–her body slumped in the same chair where her steel magnate husband shot himself the year before. With rumors flying that Abigail was bumped off by the vengeful spirit of her husband (who else could have gotten inside the locked room?), the family has tasked the detectives with finding answers where the police have failed. But that’s easier said than done in a case that involves messages from the dead, a seductive spiritualist, and Becca Collins–the beautiful daughter of the deceased, who Will quickly starts falling for. When Will and Becca’s relationship dances beyond the professional, Will finds herself in dangerous territory, and discovers she may have become the murderer’s next target.

my review

I really quite enjoyed this. You’ve got quite a few sorts of women who don’t often get lead billing making decisions and effecting change. There’s the bisexual assistant private detective and POV character, the elderly lead detective with Multiple Sclerosis, the lesbian possible love interest, the impoverished woman taking charge of her life, the mousey professor who may be more than she seems, the talented scam artist, etc. Women not only exist in this novel, they excel (not always for the betterment of mankind, but they still refuse to sit back and passively exist). I adored that about it.

I wasn’t super shocked to discover who the murder turned out to be, but more in a ‘where is the eye not turned’ kind of way than a ‘the foreshadowing gave it away’ way. I had no “I know who it is moment,” so, I got to the pleasuring of not knowing, but also no shock of never seeing it coming because it’s too out of left field. It’s a good balance to end a mystery with, “Oh yeah, I can totally see that,” than either “I knew it” or “no way, you just made that up.”

The story’s narrator, Will, has a marvelous voice and sense of humor. The writing is sharp and the audiobook is well done. I’ll be looking for more of the Pentecost and Parker mysteries.

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Other Reviews:

Review: Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood

Fortune Favours The Dead (2020) by Stephen Spotswood

tad md neu

Book Review: T.A.D., by M.D. Neu

I was given a free Audible code for a copy of T.A.D., by M.D. Neu.

t.a.d. m.d. neu

Tad bounces around in time and watches mankind grow and change. He loves humanity and helping when he can. However, his job isn’t conducive to helping people—he’s an Angel of Death.

Doug is a fun-loving drama queen. He’s an amazing drag queen and hairstylist with big dreams, but despite his witty exterior, he has a dark history and is prone to self-destruction.

When Tad pushes the boundaries of his duties too far, his wings are stripped away from him, and he is sent to New York City to live as a human. Lost and alone he ends up meeting Doug, and they start a friendship that shapes them both and may last a lifetime. But nothing is simple when you’re dealing with a former Angel of Death and a Drag Queen. Could these two cause the fabric of our world to collapse or will they manage to keep the future as it should?

I thought that this was really quite sweet. I love platonic love stories. Not that no characters find romance or not even that the characters don’t have sex. But the primary love of the story isn’t a romantic love and I adored that. Given this fact, I think some people might quibble with it being called a romance. But I think it fits the genre, even if on the edge. Love is certainly the point.

Set in 2002, amidst the global unrest post-September 11, the book has an emotionally charged setting. And Neu uses it to it’s fullest, giving us characters who call New York home. I thought Doug is a lovely character, if a little emotionally messy for much of the book. Tad is more complicated, for obvious reasons, but I liked him too (though not all the time(s)). And there are a host of fun side characters, though you don’t get to know them too well.

The writing is quite readable and it’s well narrated (by Steve Connor). It did feel a little slow at times. But not enough to drag too badly. All in all, a strong showing, even if it probably won’t top my favorites list.

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Other Reviews:

T.A.D by M.D. Neu

T.A.D by M.D. Neu #LGBT #Review #Paranorml #GayFiction

https://mattdoylemedia.com/2019/11/06/tad-by-m-d-neu/