While Jory Pearce may or may not be a thief, he certainly can’t be trusted. But, enchanted by Jory’s beauty and haunting voice, Daveth soon finds himself caught in the middle of a conspiracy. As he searches desperately for answers, he realizes that he’s also falling for Jory. The two men face river wraiths, assassins, a necromancer, and a talking head that could be Daveth’s salvation on their quest for the truth. But with everyone’s integrity in question and Death eager to dance, Daveth will need more than sorcery to survive.
Blyd and Pearce is a lot of things; it’s a tale set in an alternate universe with a medieval noir feel with MC’s I am completely smitten with, it’s an action packed mystery with a healthy side of romance and it’s everything I want in a fantasy.
Once I started, I didn’t want to put it down even though I did drag out the last 20% or so just because I wanted it to last longer. I can only hope this is the start of a series because Daveth and Jory have a lot more stories to tell and I feel like we are just at the beginning of their relationship. Which, to be fair, they’ve been on the run from evil Lords, unscrupulous guards and river wraiths, so the getting-to-know-you phase of their love was a bit harried and I want more of it.
Daveth is one of the best characters I’ve read in a long time. I was completely charmed by his dry wit and sage wisdom. He has virtually no education besides what he has learned so he could survive in the Low and support himself. He has no illusions about himself. He knows his strengths and his weaknesses and he’s incredibly pragmatic about everything. He has to be in order to get by. But, that’s pretty much all he’s been doing his whole life, surviving and getting by. And he’s ok with that.
Then Lord Uren comes to him requesting his professional skills as a gothic private investigator. Lord Uren hires Daveth to recover a “stolen” ring. The Lord gives him plenty of clues to work with and is generous with payment. It sounds like an easy gig until Daveth tracks down the perpetrator of the alleged crime in one Jory Pearce, a singer and possible whore with the face of an angel. Daveth is a smitten kitten from the get-go and once the two started with the banter it was obvious that there was much more to the story than a stolen ring. Daveth is not overly thrilled with this easy mark turning into an adventure for the ages, but he’s with Jory and it’s not long before Daveth would do anything for the man. And vice versa.
The mystery is fun. The fantastical beasts even more so. The author is a master at showing and not telling with the world building and while it is an entirely new environment, it’s easy to get immersed and not at all overwhelming. The city is a character in itself and the social structure is fascinating to read about.
What hooked me though was Daveth and Jory. They are on the run and in danger for much of the story, so if you are heavily into more traditional romance, this will be a bit frustrating for you. To me though, the danger element made the stolen moments between the two of them more special. The time they did have was actually incredibly romantic because it read so real. They knew there was a good chance they wouldn’t make it out of this nonsense alive so they appreciated their time together and didn’t bother with any manufactured angst.
Daveth was a man who couldn’t deceive anyone, it wasn’t his nature and it wasn’t a “skill” he ever needed for survival. He was honest to a fault, but people respected him for it and his blunt delivery of information ended up being pretty funny a lot of times. Jory on the other hand, survived, after being disowned by his family, by being able to play the game. Daveth never judged anyone for what they had to do to get by and Jory wasn’t really sure how to process that reaction to his professions. It also meant that Daveth didn’t trust Jory 100% and they both knew it. Jory owned his faults just as much as Daveth did, and while I don’t doubt Jory wouldn’t hesitate to lie, cheat or steal if his life depended on it, I never doubted his devotion to Daveth and completely bought into the idea that Jory would sacrifice himself for Daveth in a heartbeat.
I really can’t gush enough about the two of them together. Daveth really didn’t understand his true worth or appeal. Like, he honestly didn’t get it. But Jory was just as much a smitten kitten as Daveth was and I just swooned with how Jory loved Daveth so hard. He said the sweetest things and without any flowery speech (Daveth wouldn’t appreciate that) it made me believe every word. Especially knowing that Jory could flower it up to hell and back if he had to, but he didn’t for Daveth, he just spoke his truth and I loved it. In turn Daveth saw Jory as brave, smart and strong, words that had never been used to describe Jory in the past, but Daveth saw it and made sure Jory knew.
*SIGH*
While I do love me some cracky fluff, I really appreciate the stories that are more accidentally, or honestly romantic and Blyd and Pearce had that for me. Plus all the fantasy and adventure were a total kick, so this story will be a reread for me for sure. I’ll drop this not-so-subtle request one more time, I really hope there are more Blyd and Pearce books coming, that would make me one happy Peach.
**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**
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