Friday Reads | Evenfall

It’s Friday today, did you know? I didn’t. When I woke up this morning I was wondering why my husband wasn’t in bed with me—turns out he was getting our son to school because apparently it’s Friday, not Saturday as I thought, and apparently I was tired because I have not heard any alarms go off or noticed my husband getting out of bed. But since it is Friday I’ll do a little post about what I’m reading.

This week I’ve let myself become obsessed with Hsin Liu Vega. For ages, I’ve had Evenfall by Santino Hassell and Ais on my E-reader and now I decided to read it. I downloaded the Director’s cut versions of In the Company of Shadows #1 and since then I have cheated on my daily word count goal, I’ve neglected all forms of cleaning, the pile of laundry is growing and why, why, do we have to eat so damn often?

I’m beginning to think I have a questionable taste in men—what else is new, you wonder, and nothing really. Me falling head over heels for an assassin with all his fucked up ideas and morals is not new at all. That I like blood, gore, and cruelty isn’t new either. That I gladly read post-apocalyptic stories isn’t much of a surprise, nor is the fact that I like stories with more plot than sex. So the strangest thing here probably is that I haven’t read it until now.

I’m so impressed by authors who manage to write these kinds of stories and I can’t even begin to imagine the number of hours Hassell and Ais have put into it. I hoped they enjoyed writing it as much as I’ve enjoyed reading it.


Available at: www.inthecompanyofshadows.com

In a post-apocalyptic future, the Agency works behind the scenes to take down opposition groups that threaten the current government. Their goals justify all means, even when it comes to their own agents.

Sin is the Agency’s most efficient killer. His fighting skills and talent at assassination have led to him being described as a living weapon. However, he is also known to go off on unauthorized killing sprees, and his assigned partners have all wound up dead.

Boyd is not afraid to die. When his mother, a high-ranking Agency official, volunteers him to be Sin’s newest partner, he does not refuse. In fact, his life has been such an endless cycle of apathy and despair that he’d welcome death.

In the newly revised Director’s Cut of Evenfall, the first volume follows these two cast-offs as they go from strangers to partners who can only rely on each other while avoiding death, imprisonment, and dehumanization by the Agency that employs them.

120,000 words.

Warnings: Explicit violence, physical and psychological abuse.

Note: This is the first of the two volumes comprising Evenfall, the first book in the ICoS series.

Friday Reads | Private Eye

The spring cleaning in my e-book library continues! Right now I’m reading Private Eye (Liaisons #1) by S.E. Culpepper, and it’s another one of those books I’ve had for ages and never got around to—well, now I did.

Private Eye is a solid Gay For You story with a hot Italian P.I. and a golden Adonis motorcycle police. There is a nasty case that needs solving while the MCs hash out relationship issues, plays softball, deals with meddling best friends and interfering exes. It’s a nice mix of romance and mystery and a good dose of self-discovery and some OMG-I-almost-lost-you moments. So if we’re still allowed to read GFY stories without being crucified, I would recommend this one.


Rafe Bridges stopped mixing business with pleasure long ago, but when he receives a call from an intriguing cop who needs help searching for an old family friend, he breaks down and takes on the case. With each day that passes, Rafe becomes further fascinated with Jeremy Halliday…but the biggest problem isn’t his attraction to the cop or his growing need for him. It’s the tiny little detail of Jeremy being straight.

Jeremy isn’t as immune to Rafe as he’d like to believe and as they work together, sifting through a case that is more mysterious and dangerous than it seems, Rafe draws away from him. Knowing he might miss out on someone incredible, Jeremy has to figure out what and who he really wants. And soon.

Nothing is black and white anymore.

Friday Reads | Spy vs. Spook

I’ve been trying to do a bit of a spring cleaning on my e-reader. There are soo many books, most of them I don’t even know when I got or what they’re about. At the beginning of this week, I started reading Houseboat on the Nile by Tinnean. I’ve had it for years, even before I had my e-reader I think, but I’ve been reluctant to read it. Now, however, I needed a book starting with H for my A-Z Book Title Challenge, so I started reading. I am now more than halfway through on Not My Spook!, and not because I need a book starting with N—I don’t.

There are many things that under normal circumstances would have me if not quitting the book then at least sigh loudly—there are exclamation marks everywhere, names are crammed into dialogues at the most annoying places and where they aren’t needed, and you get to read most scenes twice both in Mann’s and Vincent’s POV—but what can I say? I’m in love with Mark Vincent. He is probably one of the most frustrating men ever made up and I love him.

So nothing came of the spring cleaning since I ended up buying more books *sigh*.


Mark Vincent is WBIS—Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security. Quinton Mann is staunchly CIA. Mark thinks the CIA is full of dilettantes who leave him and the rest of the WBIS to clean up their messes. Quinn thinks most WBIS agents are sociopathic loose cannons. So they don’t exactly get along.

Of course, just because they don’t like each other doesn’t mean they can’t play mind games on each other. Or sleep together. But when an explosion at Mark’s apartment sends Quinn to the morgue to ID a body, he has to reevaluate his position on denial.

books2read.com/HouseboatOnTheNile *


Highly ranked CIA officer Quinton Mann finds himself in a relationship with Mark Vincent-for exactly five days. At that point, Mark uses the excuse of going to Massachusetts for his mother’s funeral to end it. But Quinn’s a spook, and you can’t fake a faker.

Mark fears he’s getting in too deep with Quinn, hence the disappearing act. Then Quinn does something unexpected, something nobody has ever done before: he comes after Mark. Maybe being in a relationship with Quinn isn’t such a bad idea. In the meantime, something strange is going on in the intelligence community worldwide. When Quinn disappears while investigating a rogue antiterrorist organization, Mark makes up his mind. Quinn might be a spook, but he’s Mark’s spook, damn it-and once he gets Quinn home, he intends to keep him. He just has to find him first.

books2read.com/NotMySpook *


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