Tag Archives: polyamorous

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Book Review: Ghostly Touches, by Salem Cross

I picked up a copy of Salem’s CrossGhostly Touches as a freebie last year.

Ghostly Touches cover

They came to me in the dead of night.

I should be used to ghosts, I’m a necromancer after all. But the three men who show up at my house aren’t the spiritual beings I’m used to. These Ghosts are part of a brotherhood so secret that they were thought to be a myth.

When they ask for my help, I leap at the opportunity to aid these warriors.

But none of us expected my help to come with a price tag. Now our souls are bound to one another and unfortunately, being this close to each other secrets are starting to slip out. I can’t afford to have anyone know who, or what, I really am, but with a curse hanging over our heads and with someone suddenly after us we’ll have to stick close if we want to survive. With the Ghosts looking out for me, I should be safe… right?

my review

Despite a notable lack of worldbuilding, this was an ok read. I liked Willow a lot and liked that she was the initiator in the sexual scenes, and there was no shaming for that. The plot was interesting enough that I wasn’t bored, and the writing was readable. I would probably read the next one in the series if I could find it free or get it at the library, except for one very big problem. I only liked one of the four men in the harem. A second I could tolerate. I disliked the other two from beginning to end. Yes, I know authors have to leave room for characters to grow. But they didn’t grow enough in this book for me to be in a rush to pick up the next one so I could spend more time with them. I finished this book legitimately more interested in the Reaper Willow never actually spoke to in the book than any of the love interests.

Side note: One doesn’t narrow their pupils when they glare at someone.

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Book Review: Kingdom of Endless Slumber, by Paige A. Cook

I picked up a copy of Paige A. Cook‘s Kingdom of Endless Slumber as an Amazon freebie.

Kingdom of Endless Slumber

Isadora has been possessed by demons for as long as she can remember. While the rest of the world sees her as a misguided, bipolar trainwreck to be medicated into silence, death has other plans for her.

Plunged into a new world where beings have horns, scales, and tails–Iz must learn to control her new dark powers. As the first Necromancer to live in Bellesberry for 100 years, she has her work cut out for her. She’s lived her entire life on auto-pilot being unable to take the reigns back from the demonic entities who lived inside of her. By some miracle, in this new realm, she is free of them. Free to be herself. Too bad she doesn’t know who that is yet. Much to her luck, she lands square in the camp of an adventurers’ party! Looking past the blue-skin and horns, they are incredibly alluring with human-enough features.

The rag-tag group of friends welcomes Iz to join the group. Their company includes an atheist cleric, two orc “sorcerers,” and a whirlwind of chaotic attraction that Iz has never experienced before, especially in this quantity. Will Iz find herself swept up in discovering a new place she feels like she belongs or will her past demons catch up to her all too quickly?

my review

“Fuck. I’ve been Isekai’d.”

Look, it’s finals week. I am super stressed. I purposefully chose a book that looked like it would be utterly and deliriously ridiculous (in a good way) for the sheer diversion it could provide. And, at first, this book delivered. I was enjoying the light fem-dom nature of it. I liked the heroine. I was intrigued by the possible harem participants. The anime-style guild adventure (complete with magic buffs and declarative magic) was working. At first.

I was annoyed at the anachronism, true. Every time references to corn chips, cheerleader outfits, bikinis, and such showed up in a non-earth world with no obvious contact between the realms, I was pulled out of the narrative. But it was fine. I wanted a silly distraction. That was the point.

Then, the author seemed to just give up. There came a point when things stopped making sense. I thought I was missing chapters or something; the plot started jumping so abruptly. I still don’t know why the group went to the Stone King, for example, or if they succeeded with whatever the plan had been. Or when that plan was made.

This started out as a safe 3-star read. It ended at about 1.5.

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Book Review: The Power of Three, by Kate Pearce

Last winter, I laid out a huge winter-vibes reading challenge for myself. Then, I basically fucked off and forgot about it. So, instead of doing a new one this year, I have gone back and started trying to work on last year’s. Hey, it’s my own blog. I’m accountable to no one but myself. I can do that. LOL.

I picked up Kate Pearce‘s The Power of Three as an Amazon freebie in December of 2021. So, look at me, going back to work on an old reading challenge by reading an even older book. (Yeah, I’m easily amused.)

The Power of Three cover

Trios System 229990

Soreya Lang has never met a male telepath before, let alone one who is willing to die for her on an interplanetary mission gone wrong. Risking everything, she acts on her instant telepathic and physical connection with Esca and encounters a level of psychic power she never knew existed.

Esca can’t believe he’s finally met the female who will complete his sexual and telepathic triad. He promises himself that if they survive, he’ll take her back home, introduce her to his enigmatic First Male, Ash and pray that biology will do the rest.

But nothing is ever that simple, and Soreya, Esca and Ash will have to find their own way through the ties of family and traditions to experience the full telepathic wonder of the power of three…

my review

I wanted to like this; I really did. It had an interesting premise, which could develop into an interesting world and characters that were likable enough. But it is just SO clumsily done that I couldn’t particularly enjoy it. There isn’t enough nuance; the plot isn’t developed enough (and it ends precipitously at an awkward point). The writing was pedestrian but functional, except for some clunky dialogue and any time the author had to discuss anything military. Then, it was shockingly amateurish. There were also some inconsistencies, and it needed another editing pass (which would also likely have caught some of the inconsistencies.) Mostly, the story it was trying to tell needed (and deserved) a defter hand.

Oh, and see how I said ‘fuck’ about. Yeah, I wish authors would just do that. This book did the annoying thing of using Frek instead of fuck and then littered it everywhere. Just curse, for god’s sake. It’s a polyamorous erotic novel. Anyone choosing to read such a thing should be able to handle a few dozen fucks in dialogue. (I hate when authors do this so much. So much.)

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