Can you believe we’ve reached day 200 of the year? I can’t. It’s insane how fast time swishes by.
I haven’t read super much since the last post. I’m at 83 books so far, which is less than I’ve normally read this time of year. I mean, some months I read a lot, and some months I don’t, but I normally read over 200 books a year, so 83 in month seven is lower than my normal average.
Anyway, let’s get going!
Grave Situation by Louisa Masters
I’m gonna start this post with Grave Situation by Louisa Masters. It should’ve been a part of the 150 books post, but I missed it, and I really think it deserves a mention. I loved it!
He’s not the hero they deserve, but he’s the hero they’ve got.
No, seriously. Talon wants to know what he did to deserve this. What would make a sentient rock decide that he of all people should be the one to save the world from zombies? That’s right. Zombies. Because apparently a higher power decided that teaching magic to teenagers wasn’t enough of a challenge.
With a ridiculously attractive healer (who may or may not hate him), his sister (who he miiiight have a forbidden telepathic link with), a sentient god-like rock (that can only communicate via yes/no vibes), a disdainful dragon, and a rude matchmaking horse by his side, he just might be able to save the world.
Or die trying.
Meet Talon Silverbright. He’ll save the world, but only because a rock said he has to.
Davo by N.R. Walker
Cute story! For some reason, I unwittingly read several books in a row with redheads, and this was one of them.
When Fergus Galloway takes on a research trip to a tiny mining town in the far Western Australian outback, he’s as far from Sydney as he can get.
Which is entirely the point.
He arrives in Pannalego totally unprepared for the baking heat, unprepared for the people who call it home, unprepared for the craziness and the laughs. And absolutely unprepared for the man he meets there who steals his heart.
Davo is a mining man, as rugged as he is gorgeous. Loves his found family, loves where he lives, and loves his life. He also loves the feel of soft fabric on his skin.
What was supposed to be a short field trip changes Fergus’s life. Going to a place many call uninhabitable might turn out to be the only place he wants to live.
Vortex Conundrum by Louisa Masters
I read the first one in this series a long time ago, so I figured I should continue the series. Ghosts! Who doesn’t like ghosts?!
Wanted: one demon hunter. Beware the matchmaking ghosts.
After years managing a haunted hotel and estate, I thought things were good. Sure, the ghosts can be a handful—nosy, opinionated, interfering—but they’re also friendly and fun. We have a system. Everything was under control.
Cue hysterical laughter.
But after a minor blip with a demon in the basement and a vortex to the spirit world, the ghosts swear they have no more secrets. The danger is gone, and we’ve done everything we can to make the vortex safe. It should be fine. Nothing’s come through it for fifty years.
It’s never that easy at Mannix Estate.
Lucky for us, the demon expert we met online is willing and able to help us out. I’m so grateful, I’d willingly kiss his feet. Until he arrives and opens his mouth.
Connor is… a jerk. But he’s a sexy jerk who’s doing us a favor, so I’m going to be polite no matter what. Even when he makes me mad. When he flirts hard. When the roof falls in and we have to share a bed. When we realize the vortex upstairs is just the beginning.
Suddenly, Connor’s real strengths shine. Beneath the smoking hot yet annoying surface is a heart of gold, and I don’t think I can hold out against it… or that I want to.
The Mystery of Nevermore by C.S. Poe
I absolutely loved the Memento Mori series by C.S. Poe, so I got started on this one! It didn’t hook me the same way Memento Mori did, but it was still good!
It’s Christmas in New York City, and all antique shop owner Sebastian Snow wants is for his business to make money and to save his floundering relationship with closeted CSU detective, Neil Millett. But when Snow’s Antique Emporium is broken into and a heart is found under the floorboards, Sebastian can’t let the mystery rest.
He soon finds himself caught up in murder investigations that echo the macabre writings of Edgar Allan Poe. To make matters worse, Sebastian’s sleuthing is causing his relationship with Neil to crumble, while at the same time he’s crushing hard on the lead homicide detective of the case, Calvin Winter. Sebastian and Calvin must work together to unravel the mystery behind the killings, despite the mounting danger and sexual tension, before Sebastian becomes the next victim.
In the end, Sebastian only wants to get out of this mess alive and live happily ever after with Calvin.
Red Heir by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey
This is a funny read!
Imprisoned pickpocket Loth isn’t sure why a bunch of idiots just broke into his cell claiming they’re here to rescue the lost prince of Aguillon, and he doesn’t really care. They’re looking for a redheaded prince, and he’s more than happy to play along if it means freedom. Then his cranky cellmate Grub complicates things by claiming to be the prince as well.
Now they’re fleeing across the country and Loth’s stuck sharing a horse and a bedroll with Grub while imitating royalty, eating eel porridge, and dodging swamp monsters and bandits.
Along the way, Loth discovers that there’s more to Grub than meets the eye. Under the dirt and bad attitude, Grub’s not completely awful. He might even be attractive. In fact, Loth has a terrible suspicion that he’s developing feelings, and he’s not sure what to do about that. He’d probably have more luck figuring it out if people would just stop trying to kill them.
Still, at least they’ve got a dragon, right?
A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves
Mermen have never been my thing. I’ve read very few, and none of them has ever really stuck with me, but this caught me in its net. Also a lighthouse! I love lighthouse stories.
When a fall from the mast leaves Alba Marsh unable to sail, he finally has the chance to run away from his family debts in search of a better life. He hopes to reunite with his mother, Edythe, where they always promised to meet if things went awry, but finding the small, secluded, secretive town of Moon Harbor proves a greater challenge than Alba ever expected. Worse, upon arriving, no one seems to know anyone by the name Edythe Marsh at all.
Taking a job as the local lighthouse keeper while waiting for her to come, Alba attempts to find peace in his stolen freedom–but the sea has other plans. First come the shadows, then the voices, then watery trails left on the floor while he sleeps. He’s inundated with erotic dreams of sirens calling out to him, and distant singing haunts his waking hours, all while the townspeople claim to hear nothing.
After a debtor catches up with him and he’s forced to dispose of their body in the harbor, Alba is interrupted by Eridanys, the last merrow of Moon Harbor, who curses him from leaving until he can find out what happened to the other merrow that once filled those waters. Eridanys’ demands, both mental and physical, are exhausting and endless–but as their relationship deepens, and Moon Harbor’s long-kept secrets are butterflied open to see, it becomes clear they may both be prey to the town in ways neither of them ever anticipated.
The Shapeshifter’s Secretary by Amy Padilla
This year is going down as my MMM year. I’ve said it before, and I will probably say it again, but poly isn’t my thing. This year, I’ve read several!
All Tony wanted was a job that didn’t make his life harder. Being a temp should have made it easier, let him pick jobs that he was comfortable with, but bills needed to be paid and he didn’t have the luxury of turning jobs down. So when his boss offers him what sounds like the perfect job, he’s afraid to hope he’s finally found his place. After all, the job is only temporary. They wouldn’t want to keep someone like him. Right?
Taron was starting to think he was the problem. Why else would he have gone through three secretaries in a matter of weeks? Granted, he had issues staying put and he was known to make the occasional prank, but he wasn’t that bad! So after Avery goes out of his way to find someone new, Taron promised to behave. And when he meets the newest addition, he’s determined to keep that promise. Tony calls to him in a way no one else has before, and for once in his life, he wants to stay put. But when a past mistake starts looking in Tony’s direction, he realizes behaving might not be enough. Right?
Zephyr would admit to no one that he was still in love with his ex. So when there’s an opportunity to work with him, he makes up an excuse and pretends he’s only there for the project. Except Taron has his eyes on another, and it only took one conversation to figure out why. Tony is sweet and earnest, and in sore need to be taken care of. It wasn’t possible to have them both. Right?
Seraph by Lily Mayne
I’ve had this book for a long time, bought the whole series in one go since it felt like one I should read, but I’ve read them one book at a time with a break between. They’re pretty long books, so I need a break after. I enjoyed this a lot!
I’ve already mentally prepared myself to kill the screaming, murderous monster in the cage outside our camp.
I’m used to it. It’s what I do here. Kill monsters and other people. And this monster, Seraph, is particularly unstable—has been since the moment he arrived from Collector Mary’s monster menagerie to the west, where the military stashed him away.
He’s in pain. I can see it. But he’s not a mindless beast. Not like some of the others think.
When I start guarding him in his cage every night, I begin to see the person beneath the agony that tortures his every waking moment. I begin to see who Seraph could have been if he hadn’t been twisted into this monstrous creature.
Werewolves Hate Clogs by K.L. Hiers
In all honesty, I was annoyed with the characters in this one. Didn’t particularly like either Neil or Lou, but I loved the idea of the spirits in the bracelet. Such a good idea, and I loved their skills and how they were described, so… yeah, it deserves a mention.
Othniel “Neil” Ricci has a sweet new gig working at his uncle’s flower shop—good hourly pay, free room and board, and he has absolutely no idea that the city is apparently infested with monsters.
That is, until he does.
Louis Morénas-Mostro is a werewolf and an underboss in the monstrous crime family who rule over everything that goes bump in the night. When a prized magical artifact becomes inadvertently attached to Neil, Lou is determined to get it back at any cost.
…Even pretending to date him.
Neil finds himself at odds with an entire monster family, their rebellious enemies, and his own growing attraction to Lou. He hopes he lives long enough to find out if their explosive chemistry can lead to something real, but first he has to make sure he doesn’t end up as monster kibble.
Edge of Mercy by Allie Therin
Love this series!
In this fight, feelings are the most dangerous weapon of all.
In the gripping conclusion to Allie Therin’s slow burn urban fantasy MM romance series, an empath and an empath hunter face off as the fate of an alternate-universe Seattle—and their own future—hang in the balance.
Caught in the crosshairs of a deadly conspiracy, empath Reece Davies was forced to embrace his darker nature to protect the enemy he’d fallen for. Now, joining forces with others like him, drawn to chaos and vengeance by the corruption in his veins, Reece is being hunted…by the very man he saved.
Evan Grayson, a notorious empath hunter known as the Dead Man, was engineered to never falter from his mission—until he met Reece. Even corruption can’t cool their desire for each other, but with Reece’s dark side in control and all of Seattle at stake, Grayson must stop him, no matter the personal cost.
As the battle between the two enemies heats up, so does their forbidden attraction. But the danger is growing and closing in on them from all sides. Because Grayson isn’t the only one hunting the empaths—and they both may have finally met their match…
NATO’s Irregulars Affairs Division is a secret organization operating in thousands of cities around the globe. Its agents police relations between the earthly realm and those beyond this world, protecting us from terrible dangers as well as enthralling temptations. These agents—Irregulars, as they are known to the few who know them at all—are drawn to the work for their own reasons and close cases in their own unique ways…While searching for some lost family heirlooms, half-human, half-fae Archer Green must play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Commander Rake, the new and mysterious head of the Vancouver branch of the Irregulars Division. As the humans say, All’s fair in love and war…
Ofelia Grand 