Tag Archives: lgbtq

Book Review of Hexbreaker (Hexworld #1 ), by Jordan L. Hawk

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HexbreakerI purchased an e-copy of Hexbreaker, by Jordan L. Hawk.

Description from Goodreads:
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. 

Review:
I really quite enjoyed this one. Well, it’s kind of hard not to when there is a big, lovable teddybear like Tom involved. Don’t get me wrong; I liked Cicero too. But Tom won the show for me.

I liked the idea of witches and their shifter familiars. I liked the world-building, which was never obvious but I still understood the politics and hierarchies of the world. The writing was mostly wonderful. One of my few complaints is that I thought it faltered into clunky, almost cheesy prose sometimes, but mostly not. My only other real criticism is that the sex scenes felt quite abrupt and a little out of character for where the characters were, emotionally at the time.

It’s a complete story, no cliffhanger and I didn’t feel I was missing information having not read the prequel. Gotta appreciate that. I’ve read a couple Hawk books now and I’ve been happy with each one. I look forward to more.

Under the Dragons Spell

Book Review of Under the Dragon’s Spell (Fires of Fate #1), by Ann-Katrin Byrde

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Under the Dragon's SpellI picked up Anne-Katrin Byrde‘s Under the Dragon’s Spell as an Amazon Freebie.

Description from Goodreads:
Coming from a broken home, Adrian’s biggest dream in life has always been to find a loving partner and start a family of his own. But when his boyfriend kicks him out, it’s starting to look like that’s never going to happen. Worse yet, he has to move in with his brother to keep from living on the street, and the prevalent bias against men with the ability to carry children keeps him from finding a job of his own. 

He’s about ready to give up hope when he finds a job offer in the newspaper searching for someone to produce an heir for a rich dragon shifter. Having a baby with a stranger, even if he’s enigmatic and hot as hell, is not his definition of happiness, but when he finds himself falling for the dragon, he starts to hope again. 

If only it wasn’t for the competition…

Review:
This is one of those books that if taken on its own is a pretty poor showing, but if viewed within the confines of the Omegaverse, with all the pre-established tropes and expectations, isn’t too bad. It seems to conform with the expected rules, even if those rules don’t always make a lot of sense.

Outside that, the writing was ok. The editing was ok. The plotting was ok, etc. All ok, not exceptional by any means, but not wholly bad either. I thought there were some holes and the characters were not true to the personality established for them. But generally, if you’re in to the Omegaverse in a big way, you’ll really like this. If not, you’ll probably think it a lack-luster read. I kind of did.

Book Review of With a Kiss, by Kim Dare

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With a KissI picked up a copy of Kim Dare‘s With a Kiss when it was free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
When Liam Bates volunteered to visit lonely patients at his local hospital, he expected them to be able to talk back when he chatted to them. But, when he’s assigned to visit a comatose man, he soon finds himself spilling out his whole life story in an effort to fill the silence. It’s not long before the peace and comfort he finds in the man’s hospital room becomes Liam’s refuge from an increasingly hostile world.

Vampire Marcus Corrigan has been trapped inside his paralyzed body for over three years, unable to communicate with anyone. The chatty young man who visits Marcus quickly captivates him, and Liam’s softly spoken words soon have him determined to rescue the boy from his current life, but, unable to move a muscle, all Marcus can actually do is lay there and listen.

There’s only one thing that can wake up Marcus. There’s only one thing that can save Liam’s sanity. Everything is about to change for them both, and it will change with a kiss.

Review:
I decided to give this a chance, despite its frankly appalling cover. OMG, so bad. Luckily, the book is better than it looks. I thought the writing especially good and the editing fine. I even liked the storyline and appreciated that the effects of trauma weren’t magically swept away, for either character.

However, I have a real problem with the idea of healing trauma from abuse (or any kind) with BDSM. Both because it makes no sense to me (Yes, I’m afraid because I’ve been beaten, so tie me up hit me again and I’ll like it. WTF?) and because I think it’s a misrepresentation of what I understand BDSM to be about.

Similarly, while I liked that Liam showed PTSD-like characteristics, I thought his desire to submit was handled well in general, and I liked Marcus’ confusion on how to help him sometimes, I got tired of him acting and being treated like a child. Eventually he stopped feeling like a man with a traumatic past and on-going issues to deal with and more like a frightened rabbit instead. It made it hard to see them as any sort of equal party in the relationship.

Lastly, there was what I thought to be a fairly large plot hole. What caused Marcus’ coma was eventually shown to be something well known in the vampire community, which would suggest it’s solution was known. In fact, it turned out to be fairly simple. So, why was he left to languish in a hospital?

So, I’ll call this book a partial success for me. I’d read another Dare book, but I can’t say this one lit me on fire.