April

If this book had not come out today (1/20/17), it would've been an unrelentingly depressing day for me. Instead, I spent most of the day reading it and smiling dreamily.

I still can't really believe that these two are a couple and that there is actually a book about them. It's amazing. There is so much to love; I'm seriously giddy. This book is not only a sweet and epic love story, but also, there are a lot of wonderful details about life in Widdershins, as well as an exciting plot. Mr. Quinn plays a big role, and Maggie's perception of the town, as another outsider (like Griffin) whom the maelstrom has collected, is very interesting to see.

There are a lot of laugh-out-loud moments between Maggie and Persephone. This is a friends-to-lovers kind of plot; Persephone makes a few funny mistakes, but also, they banter with each other a lot. I also laughed at a lot of Maggie's thoughts about Whyborne & Griffin. I was expecting Persephone to casually refer to "brother's husband," but that doesn't happen. In fact, Maggie doesn't find out about their relationship in this book, and is still worrying about what Dr. Whyborne is going to think at the end. I guess both she & Whyborne will learn some surprising things in the near future!

This book is also really hot, with sexual tension throughout, and a full sex scene at the end. I wasn't expecting that and was pleasantly surprised.

I absolutely loved this - definitely a new favorite. I'm so grateful it exists!

I read that this is the inspiration for [b:The Ballad of Black Tom 26883558 The Ballad of Black Tom Victor LaValle https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1447086249s/26883558.jpg 46932536], which I want to read soon, and I thought I should read this first. I really am shocked at how openly racist this story is. It is not subtle at all. It's very interesting, too, that the evil in this story is so similar to the villains of today's conspiracy theories. It's reminiscent of every “Satanic panic” type of thing I've ever read about. Anyway, I'm glad I read it (or actually listened to it free on YouTube). Definitely worthwhile as background, not just for my future reading, but in order to understand more about certain types of racism.

I really enjoyed this, and I'd rate it somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. I'm sure I'll reread it in the future. Graciela is like a modern woman in many ways, but there's something even more appealing about such a bold heroine living 100 years ago. She acts in her own best interests and doesn't need a champion, but she appreciates having someone to stand beside her. It's great.

I especially liked how the plot about Vicente leaving was handled. I thought, because I've read so many romance novels, that he would vanish after their wedding night without explaining. But he didn't, and there was no deception (apart from both characters concealing their love for each other). Instead, Graciela doesn't want to take away Vicente's freedom as Alvaro would have taken away hers. She expects him to leave, and I feel it was well-established in the story, because of all of her self-directed schemes, that she would've been fine on her own (although of course I didn't want him to go).

Vicente and Graciela are both flawed characters which makes them human and easy to relate to. Alvaro is a familiar kind of bad guy, with no real redeeming qualities, but I was okay with a villain like him being somewhat one-dimensional; I don't really want to read an exploration of the misogynist mind. I love that the ending is all about Graciela in the spotlight, because it suits her so well.

This book is also very funny, with many laugh-out-loud moments. I wonder if there will be a book about Beatriz, with her violent embroidery scenes. I'm really looking forward to reading the author's other work. I'm not rating this one 5 stars because I would've preferred to see Vicente introduced slightly earlier, with more about his backstory revealed to the reader. But overall, I loved it. Great book.

There is not a ton of depth in this story, but I enjoyed it anyway. The pairing is very sweet. The blurb is misleading, though; I would call this erotica with a romance plot, rather than a romantic fairy tale. Also, one of the erotic scenes is strange.

Serious warnings: Another character rapes and beats Felix to the point of death; this takes place off-page, so it's not explicit, but his injuries are described in detail. There is also dubious consent between the main pairing. Their first sexual encounter takes place when Ellis is still a tiny fairy (he's small enough to ride on the back of a crow), and Ellis doesn't stop when Felix clearly says no. Then, when Ellis has become human, he continues not to listen to Felix's refusals. I understand that Felix is not really averse to having sex with Ellis; Felix is just reluctant because of cultural norms, or something. But it definitely reads to me as dubious consent.

So while I didn't dislike this story myself, I don't really recommend it if you're only looking for cute romance, which is what the blurb promises. I actually was not expecting any sex scenes. But it definitely isn't a bad story. The ending is my favorite kind of thing.

This was my first time reading a cozy mystery, and I think I chose pretty well. The pace is a lot slower than that of the books I usually read, with tons of details about daily life, which I mostly enjoyed, although it did get a little boring sometimes. Also, the mysteries seemed kind of poorly paced, or something. There was not much attention given to the first murder after the second murder, until the very end, and the solution was not really satisfying.

But I really like the friendship between Lady Hardcastle and Flo, and I'll probably keep reading the series for that. They're adorable together and it's easy to see why they charm so many of the other characters. Lady Hardcastle reminds me a little of Phryne Fisher, although she's much more whimsical than Phryne. But there isn't even a hint of romance in this book; the police inspector who reluctantly comes to like and respect Lady Hardcastle and Flo is a happily married man. Reading something with a devoted friendship at the center, rather than a romance, was a nice novelty for me.

It is overall a pleasant book, and I can imagine the series improving in quality as it continues.

I've often seen this author's works on Audible, and they all have interesting premises, so I decided to grab one in a recent sale. Fixit is a cute and fun story, and I'll definitely read this author again.

It's sci-fi set on a human colony on another planet, but because it focuses on a mechanic, it feels more like steampunk. The first-person PoV is breezy and personal, as though the character is talking to you directly. This works really well in an audiobook, and I liked the narrator, Hollie Jackson. There are a lot of errors in the writing, like tense shifts, so I would recommend listening to the audiobook over reading the text. It's a complete story, with decent character development of Fixit as well as a plot, although it's obviously the introduction to a series; the romance just barely gets started.

Fixit is an innocent young woman, who has spent her whole life working on a farm below an opulent city, although she has never been there. Her only friends are her sentient robots, who are all kind of falling apart and have adorable personalities. This story focuses on Fixit delivering some goods to the city, and she meets her love interest along the way. The love interest feels like a superhero, and it's easy to understand why she impresses Fixit so much.

Overall I liked it and will pick up book two at some point.

This is a great book. It isn't flawless, but I enjoyed it way too much to give it anything less than 5 stars.

The romance is friends-to-lovers and it's very slow-paced, with a lot of introspection. As a Secret Service agent, Ethan is not even allowed to befriend a protectee, and he definitely shouldn't develop romantic feelings for the president. I thought the romance would be solely in Ethan's PoV, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Jack's PoV also. The romance plot is central to the whole story, but at times the action is in the forefront. There are also forces moving against the president from the beginning, and that plot unfurls as slowly as the romance, culminating in some incredibly exciting and cinematic action scenes. If you love a badass hero, Ethan is your kind of character!

While this is a GFY plot (in a way), Jack does not have much difficulty altering his perspective of himself, compared to Ethan's stress about their jobs. I don't like GFY partly because it almost always erases bisexuality, and this book does suffer from that problem. The word is not mentioned in relation to Jack at all, which is strange. However, I know that the author has defined Jack's orientation as demisexual, and although this book doesn't use that word either, I can see that was the author's aim.

I was also pleasantly surprised that Jack turned out to be very toppy, after the beginning, when Ethan was so firmly established as dominant in his casual encounters. I think it's very romantic that Ethan notices for himself that Jack likes to be in control, but I also like the fact that the MCs openly discussed sex. Ethan believes he will have to tread lightly with Jack, who has never been with a man before; I have read sex scenes of that kind in GFY books before and was expecting something like that here. Instead, the author does something original with the concept, showing Jack moving at his own pace in their relationship. There are only a few sex scenes and they're very emotional and loving, with no particular kinks, which seems appropriate for the characters and the story. Ethan and Jack are already deeply in love by the time they ever have sex.

The flaws I noticed could've been remedied easily, such as typos and a few unfortunate phrases that made me cringe - example: “Though she was gorgeous and moved like a princess, she had a sharp mind[...]” It would be very easy to rephrase that so it isn't sexist. But nothing like that really detracted from my enjoyment of the story. I had a little bit of trouble warming up to Ethan at first, but I don't think that is a flaw, just the way the story is structured.

I really liked all the side characters, especially Faisal, and I hope they'll play important roles in the rest of the series. Overall this novel feels self-published, and I mean that as a compliment. To me, the author indulged themselves by delving deep into everything and thoroughly exploring the characters and the plot. I enjoyed every moment of reading this book, and I will be reading the rest of this author's work very soon!

This is not a good book, although it kept my attention. I don't think I'll read this author again. It has all the kinds of disrespectful jokes and insensitivity that I hate; for example, Killian thinks the fact that he's gay is a genetic flaw, which is just a sidenote to everything else. There is also a running joke about how the cat is bisexual and a “whore.” Surprisingly, it's not too bad in its treatment of women.

Aside from those kinds of things, the plot was vague. I don't understand how certain secrets were kept for so long. I also never got the impression that Killian actually cared about Blaine in the same way that Blaine cared about him - like, being concerned about how Blaine actually felt. Killian keeps walking away from Blaine, yet he never thinks, “This must be painful for Blaine.” Yeah, I didn't enjoy this book.

Trigger warning: There is a detailed scene of sexual assault (not between the main couple). Killian consents to a specific sex act with someone, and the guy forcefully does things Killian did not agree to.

The reviewers at Goodreads seem much more critical of f/f than of other genres I read, so I'm not going to add to that by giving this a low star rating, because this is not a bad story. In terms of my enjoyment, though, I would give it between 2 and 3 stars.

The MC, Amanda, is an aspiring actress who escapes from a terrible blind date with a woman who seems like she should be just her type (feminine). She then meets a kind and patient butch woman, Michelle, who doesn't fit any of the negative stereotypes Amanda has about butch women. Amanda has never been attracted to a butch woman before, and she spends most of the story waffling about whether she's attracted to Michelle or not.

I know that the author was not knocking butches - just the opposite, since Michelle seems completely perfect - but I really can't relate to the concept of a potential partner's gender presentation (or gender, tbh) being such a major concern. So, the story's central conflict, between Amanda and herself, did not work for me at all. But I'm sure many other readers would enjoy it.

I have mixed feelings about this book, so I'm not going to give it a star rating.

So this is erotica, and the plot is basically about Al falling in love with the couple for whom he's sometimes a third. There are a lot of sex scenes. Coupled with Al's traumatic experience, the plot has a feeling of “magical healing cock(s).” I really only like that trope when it's ridiculous, like sex has actual magic properties in a fantasy world. In the real world, I think it's a dangerous concept. Of course we can and should all help each other along through life, but you can't fix your own or someone else's problems with sex alone.

From the very start of the story, even before Al's traumatic experience, I had the sense that there was something really wrong with Al, that he was carrying a ton of personal baggage. It does all come out in the end, but I don't think a loving relationship is going to solve all his problems. He badly needs therapy. I am pretty sure that there is meant to be a link between his promiscuity and his emotional problems, and that concept troubles me as part of a story about a promiscuous and bisexual man. There is nothing inherently wrong with being promiscuous, nor does it necessarily mean that a person has a mental illness or an excess of emotional baggage. So, in a way, I feel this book affirms harmful stereotypes about people who are promiscuous and/or bisexual.

About the traumatic experience, trigger warning: Al is raped early in the story, and we see it from his perspective near the end. Although the attack is not meant to be sexy, both mentions are pretty explicit. It made me very uncomfortable that the other two characters had sex with each other (without Al) so soon afterward. I mean, their best friend is suffering, and they can't keep their hands off each other - and he does walk in on them.

I also don't know if Laurie ever told Al, or the police, about the guy who made the hateful remarks about Al. Maybe the guy would have had some info on who attacked Al. I thought this was a strange detail for the author to leave out.

On the positive side, the quality of the writing is very high. There's also an interesting female character (another of Al's partners). The sex scenes were varied and never boring in themselves, although there could have been slightly fewer of them. Overall I am not sure I would read this author again, but it isn't a bad book. I think it's meant to be a love story between three imperfect people, and it definitely works in that sense.

I enjoyed this a lot! I was not really sure it was something I would like and was still not sold until the romance began, but at that point I got lost in the story. The romance is definitely my favorite part of this book, but the action is also very exciting.

The main character is a necromancer with a lot of responsibilities and a prickly personality. His love interest, Simeon, is an ancient vampire. I don't think I have read a vampire/human romance novel before, so that was a novelty for me. The romance is a soul-bonding type of thing, which I usually like. I don't know if Angel would've accepted anyone's love without that element, so it works well here. I really felt the connection between the main characters.

I like the side characters, especially Millie, an older woman with a foul mouth who is Angel's colleague. The other vampires are pretty great too, definitely unique characters.

On the negative side, there is not a lot of exploration of who Simeon is; he's powerful, handsome, and he's devoted to Angel, but apart from that I could not tell you much about him. I like him a lot, though, and maybe he will get more development in future books.

Also, the world-building is not very subtle and does not often feel woven into the story. This is our world, except everyone knows about magic and supernatural creatures, but there's not much about the ramifications of all of that on everyday life. Instead, the book has a few info-dumps. Still, the magic system itself is interesting and appealing, and the descriptions of Angel using his powers are all visceral; you feel the physical impact his spells have on him.

This book is a little bit gory; there are several bloody deaths, and in general there is a lot of talk about death, due to Angel's dark past and the nature of his magical ability. I really like the reveal of how Angel killed all the vampires ten years before, because it makes perfect sense with everything we learn about him and how magic works in this world.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series!

I did not really like this book. I bought it because the sample was long, and I got kind of involved and wanted to know where the story went. But although the quality of the writing is very good, the story is not my kind of thing.

The plot: two men who both have massive amounts of emotional baggage spend a couple of days together. Often, I really enjoy it when romance characters learn to cope with life together, not by ignoring their own burdens, but by sharing them with someone else. But I guess I don't read many books where interpersonal stuff is the entirety of the plot. In this book, there are a lot of conversations, which feel like awkward emotional minefields for both characters, with both afraid to say the wrong thing; a lot of introspection, which is pretty repetitive in nature; a few sex scenes, which are very good; and some New Zealand scenery / local flavor, which I enjoyed.

Also, from the blurb and the first few pages of the book, I expected there to be some emphasis on Rusty's grief. But it was pretty much in the background, as his main reason for not wanting to get into a new relationship, rather than something that he dwells on now. There's much more focus on Nate's recent breakup, which is a heavy situation, although the blurb does not make it seem that way.

So I don't really recommend this book, although there is nothing awful about it. I'm sure someone who prefers contemporary romance would like it more than I did.

I had a feeling I would regret my excessive enthusiasm over book one, but oh well, it's nice to get excited about things sometimes. This book is pretty good, just not as good as the first.

Warning for sexual assault used as a plot device, to humorous effect, (sort of) in the manner of the sex pollen trope. It didn't bother me, but it is there, and I feel like it would've been a seriously traumatic thing for the characters to experience, which is not really addressed.

It does have similar over-the-top antics, and some of it was funny to me. Unfortunately, though, a decent amount of the kind of humor I dislike can be found in this book, and (relatedly) Lena has sex with the guy she pegged as a douchebag in book one (this is not because of the sex pollen, either). I understand that having characters make sexist/racist jokes does not mean that the author supports those views, and in fact, the other characters mostly mock the ones who make those remarks. Lena has some thoughts about the topic, too, but I feel she is too forgiving. Anyway, I can definitely imagine readers liking those jokes and those characters, which makes me uncomfortable.

I was glad that some depth was added to the characters and their backstories, especially Nikki, who was a real star. Cindy got some development, as well, and I look forward to learning more about her in future stories. Of course I also really liked the appearance of David Bowie and Iman.

I mostly enjoyed this book, and I'm still curious about where the series will go next.

Very enjoyable book! It's a romantic and believable three-person love story with a solid fantasy-quest type of plot. It is definitely not a YA novel, but it's fun in the way that YA can be; the main characters don't fit into their world, and it seems likely that they will change their society over the course of the series.

The point-of-view character, Carivel, is nonbinary in my (cis) opinion, and uses female pronouns. To me the character is written with sensitivity, and her gender is only one part of the story. I would say this is a book about being trans (in a historical fantasy setting), but it's also about Carivel carving out her place in the world. There's also a good amount of focus on Senovo, his (very sad) past, and his feelings about being a shapeshifter.

I was completely enthralled, with the plot and with the erotic content. The author does an excellent job of showing all of the ways in which these characters connect to the world and each other. Senovo is my favorite of the trio, and I really like the way that the romance develops between him and Carivel. I look forward to continuing the series.

I'm so happy to have found this book. It's a sweet story about an established couple learning to let go of their hangups about acting “manly” while growing closer to each other. There's only one conflict between them, not a major one, and it gets resolved slowly over the course of the book. It's really about them learning to lean on each other as they navigate through life.

There are a few external conflicts, including some violence (but it's not too bad or too explicit) and homophobia. Ed is dealing with grief, while Joe is working things out with his family, and they both have internalized homophobia as well as strict ideas about what it means to be a man. But Ed and Joe are united against these difficulties, and it makes for a really nice read. They also slowly become part of the community in their small town, which is pretty heartwarming.

This kind of thing is exactly what I want from a pure romance novel, by which I mean a book that isn't in some other genre too (sci-fi, mystery, fantasy). The plot is just them falling deeper in love with each other. I know I'll be rereading this one and I plan to check out the author's other work also.

So this is Gay for You, and I would not have read it if I'd known that. Prior to meeting Michael, Daniel has sex with lots of women (although there are no m/f scenes in the book), and in fact he seeks out more sex when he begins feeling attracted to Michael. But once Daniel starts having sex with Michael, he decides that he will never marry a woman, because in his mind it would not be fair to her. He believes that he's tainted now, I guess - tainted by his attraction to one man, which does not make much sense. He never says he is still attracted to women or to other men.

I know that everyone's orientation is different, but this concept does not at all match my own experience of bisexuality. It also perpetuates harmful stereotypes of bisexual people. Much better writers than I have written on this topic, though, so I'll just leave it at saying that I don't like it.

I almost stopped listening early on, for that and other reasons, such as the many gendered slurs the characters use against the book's main villain, a cruel high-society type of woman. Did there need to be that much focus on how physically unattractive she is, especially to Michael, who is gay? But it isn't very long, and the narration is good. Also, the voice the narrator used for Daniel made me think of Worf, which entertained me.

Daniel's internalized homophobia continues throughout the book, but mostly, this book is a series of sex scenes strung together with a plot about having an m/m relationship in a rural community, in early-1800s Virginia. I'm not a history scholar and I don't read historical fiction to look for inaccuracies; however, one omission stood out to me as strange. The main characters don't have slaves, which makes sense in Michael's case and is explained for Daniel, but still, I think slavery would've been a part of daily life at that time. Oh well.

I didn't like this very much. It is not poorly done; it's just that those few things I mentioned made it a lot less fun for me than it probably would be for other readers. The sex scenes are good, and some of them are slightly kinky.

This story is original and written well. It addresses some gender inequality issues in an interesting way. Even though it's very short, the characters are truly memorable. There is some disturbing and visceral body horror, made even more disturbing because of the lighthearted tone of the writing, which is pretty clever. I'm glad I read it, but it isn't really my kind of thing.

I won't give this book a star rating because I have mixed feelings. There are some things I absolutely love about it and other things I didn't really like. But it's a very good book and I'm glad I read it.

I'm always reading m/m with exciting plots - mystery, fantasy, etc. - while wishing there were also a lot of f/f books primarily about couples facing outside adversity together, rather than being in conflict with each other. This is one of only a few f/f books I've read which I would place in that category, and I enjoyed that aspect of the story very much.

But although there is no real conflict between the main characters, there's still a major problem because Charaxus is from another world and they both know she will have to return. So, there are no fluffy moments. Everything about their relationship is very achy and emotional. It has a happy ending, though.

Also, the adversity that they're facing together does not get enough explanation, in my opinion. All of the fantasy elements are kind of fuzzy around the edges, which would work better in a book with a fairy-tale feel to it, whereas this book seems very immediate to me, especially with the first-person present-tense PoV (which I am not a big fan of, in general).

I really love the nature of their fated connection with each other. It's very different from other approaches I've seen to this kind of topic in romance novels. It's romantic and I felt pretty swoony about it. Both characters have had terrible childhoods, also, which means that their dream-bond has always been very important to them. I think the revelation of exactly what they've been through is handled well, without feeling like unnecessary character suffering. It's pretty matter-of-fact.

If anyone is curious, I haven't read the other books in this series, and this book seems to stand alone.

This is a sweet erotic story about a friends-to-lovers relationship between a young bisexual woman and an older man. I didn't really like it, but it was mostly just not to my taste, and definitely not a bad read.

I appreciated Lauren's lust for life, but I didn't really like her sense of humor. Also, I would've preferred slightly more development and description of the love interest, although Lauren is very well-drawn.

Lauren is somewhat dominant in bed, which was refreshing to read about in m/f romance. I like the side characters and the novelty of the orchestra rehearsal setting. Even though the story is very short, the author addresses some of the challenges of an age-gap relationship.

I've read most of Shira Glassman's short releases now, and I look forward to continuing.

I really couldn't say no to that title, and the story delivered exactly what the title promised. It's very short, but it does a fairly good job of developing the two main characters.

There is no real establishment of the setting. It does feel like the Old West, but the dinosaur rancher could be a rancher or farmer of any kind. I have no idea why dinosaurs still exist in this world or why it's okay for two women to marry each other - is it acceptable everywhere, or only because of these women's specific circumstances?

Well, I know there is no reason to take this story super seriously. It's a nice little diversion, nothing too memorable, but definitely not terrible, and the sex scene was sweet. The author really needs to hire a proofreader, though. There were several slips into the wrong tense and a lot of other minor mistakes of that kind.

I really enjoyed this! An event in book two (Lena having sex with the character she had previously termed a "douchebag") bothered me, and I was surprised to see the other characters in this book reacting the same way I did.

The plot was wild and exciting, once again. This series is action-driven, but the characters are so great. Ritter and Cindy are my favorites at this point, and I liked seeing their homes and learning more about them. I love the author's writing style, too - very witty with so many creative turns of phrase. And he just goes for it, including silly pop culture references without any shame, as well as cultural monoliths like all the holiday creatures and the actual Devil.

Anyway, I love this series. I guess these are meant to stand alone, but I would not recommend reading this one before book one.

The blurb and the other reviews do a good job of describing this, so I'm not going to summarize the plot. I hovered between one and two stars and decided on two, because the book is well-paced and kept my attention. But I was rolling my eyes at it a lot. This review is mean, I'm sorry.

Age difference is not my favorite trope in general and I did not really get into the pairing here, but my two major problems with this book weren't about the age difference.

I really should've known I was in for something out-of-touch when the central premise is that a 33-year-old man is having porn DVDs delivered to his house. Would a young-ish guy who works in software really a) pay for porn and b) buy it on DVD? But maybe there are reasons people would do this that I don't understand.

Less forgivably, there are some off-handed comments that really made me uncomfortable:

Tall and dark-skinned, he looked like he'd have fit in better modelling than working as a lowly porter, if it weren't for the gold tooth and long dreadlocks hanging down his back.

A tall, dark-skinned bloke stood backlit by the hallway lighting—the same one I'd seen Ollie with that time I went spying at the ramps. It could only be Omar. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of baggy silk trousers and a ferocious scowl. With his shaved head and hooked nose, he looked like some kind of warrior out of the Arabian Nights.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first! I am so happy to have found this series.

The blurb is misleading; it does explain Nicholas' view of the unfolding story, but we also see Emma's point-of-view. So, there is no real mystery, since we know what's going on with her. And her sections were great - she's as engaging of a character as Nicholas.

I've seen a phrase that we measure a hero's strength by what he accomplishes, while we measure a heroine's strength by what she can survive. I'm sure there are many great books that fall in the latter category, but I don't usually enjoy reading about women surviving horrible things. I was afraid, early on, that this book would be about Emma's suffering. She definitely does face hardship, but instead of the narrative excessively punishing her, this is primarily a story about a woman taking charge of her own destiny. Nicholas helps her and the other women in the story, but his goal is to give them the means to choose their own paths, not to make decisions for them, even in this remote time.

There are again a lot of details about daily medieval life, including a couple of sections about candle-making, which were interesting, although they seemed somewhat oddly placed near the climax of the story. I also really liked the visit to the lord's manor; having spent so much time in this series seeing how Nicholas, the nuns, and the college employees live, it was nice to see a version of medieval wealth.

I was very into the sweet and subtle romance between Nicholas and Emma, but I felt it got exactly the right amount of time in this book (very little). This book would be appropriate for just about anyone, even (I think?) an ultra-Christian reader who goes over texts with a fine-toothed comb looking for their version of immorality. Religion is an important part of these characters' lives, and although Emma does not want to be a nun, she never rejects her beliefs. Yet with the strong theme of women's empowerment, it definitely did not offend my own strict moral sensibilities, either.

Warning for animal harm: there are several dogs in the story, and they're frequently hurt and/or in danger. This made certain key scenes really harrowing for me. Only one dog dies, though, and it's one of the bad guy's hunting dogs.

A lovely short intro to a new serial. I really like Jude, and I especially enjoyed the close friendship between Jude and Eva. We also meet Jasper, who seems to be Jude's love interest; he's a charming eccentric character, but he only appears very briefly.

I also like the clear writing style. Jude is pretty solitary as this story opens, so there's a decent amount of introspection, but the story still moves along really well.

Although I knew this was a serial before I read it, I was expecting this first offering to have a little more to it. I didn't know where the plot was headed until I read the series synopsis afterward, but it does sound very good. I look forward to continuing with the series, either on Patreon or in the book which will come out this fall.

This story introduces another set of characters in the same universe as Stake Sauce. The crime is the same and the main character is somewhat similar, in that he also doesn't know about the supernatural. But he does get some information here, which gives some insight into what's going on in Stake Sauce. The characters are all very appealing, and the setting of 19th-century Venice is pretty great. I look forward to continuing with the series.