Review: The Key of Solomon: Amber Moon by Hurri Cosmo

Lucas has a low-paying, dead-end job, lives in a tiny apartment, and can count his close friends on one hand. Well, one finger actually, and for all the sympathy she has, it may as well be the middle one. No, Lucas’s life is not one any would truly strive for. However, it keeps him from thinking too much about his distant past and the one man who had gently held his heart… but then ripped it right out of his chest and crushed it under his expensive leather Gucci’s. As a teenager not even out of the closet yet, surviving the fallout became unbearable so Lucas did the only thing he could. He disappeared.

Fourteen painful years later and Lucas is ready to move on. He’s going to finally kill his unrequited love for Ryder once and for all.
That’s when the magic of Solomon and his galactic bar sweep in. Seems Lucas had the audacity to query the gods in the form of a fist to the sky. The cosmic bartender couldn’t resist taking up the challenge. Mainly because Solomon holds many keys and one of them just happens to be to Lucas’s happiness. He only needs to convince Lucas of that.

Shouldn’t be too difficult… right?

I’m a big fan of Hurri Cosmo and I’ve enjoyed every story of hers that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. There was a lot I liked in Amber Moon, but there were a few things that I had trouble with and I just couldn’t let them go.

The stuff I liked was the bulk of the stuff, so that was good. The two MC’s are basic guys that you could run into anywhere. I appreciated that, it was nice to read about two good guys getting their second chance. Poor Lucas and his unrequited love for Ryder. We’ve all felt that all-consuming crush feeling for another human at some point in our lives and while Lucas’ was much more lengthy and consumed him to bits, I had to empathize with the guy.

Ryder is a bit of a mystery at first, but once he gets fully introduced and his whole side of the story is told I rooted for him too. Turns out Lucas wasn’t the only one crushing but if they hadn’t gone through the bittersweet the way they did, and taken the time to grow up, the adulty love they fell into wouldn’t have been as strong.

I felt a disconnect when it came to Solomon and his “galactic bar” - as described in the blurb. I got very little of that from the story itself. Sure, the bar was some paranormal portal, etc. but the blurb did lead me to believe that the whole bar thing was going to be way more than it was. The blurb made it sound important (and a fun plot point) but the presence in the actual story felt like more of an afterthought that wasn’t completely formed. I was kind of bummed and it seemed like a missed opportunity.

Now the thing that I just couldn’t with. Lucas has a best friend named Molly, who is, to put it bluntly, a real bitch. She’s rude, mean and was too off putting for me. Why would Lucas even hang out with her?? The story is too short to have a character I hated this hard. Any page time with her made me cringe and that was a bummer.

I would love to have Molly be ditched completely and more time devoted to the paranormal aspect of the story. And then, once Lucas and Ryder got together, a little more time to rebuild their connection before the declarations of love. I wanted those declarations, believe me, I did, but after 14 years, I wanted them to work up to it a little.

Overall, I did enjoy the story, but needed a bit more balance with the paranormal aspect and a lot less Molly to fully be able to appreciate Ryder and Lucas in the end.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**