Review: Clouded Hell by J.R. Gray

I survive on avoidance. Physical pain to avoid the mental. Disposable flesh to avoid relationships. Work to avoid attachment.

My club became my empire of avoidance. Inside the ring millions are won and lost. The fight is confined to breaths, actions and reactions, fists and pain. Rules don’t exist. Only my opponent exists.

I’d been avoiding my needs for far too long when Remi stumbles into the Inferno and I’m hungry. The promise of a submissive with no attachment is far too tempting. I can’t resist him.

He was only supposed to be a distraction, but I know I'll never get over him. There isn't a chance in this clouded hell.

The saying goes “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. Well I didn’t. I judged it purely on it’s name. I had no other information to go on when I took a chance and requested to read this story. The blurb wasn’t even available on Goodreads. I thought maybe it would be a paranormal book, and those can go either way. They are either really interesting or they suck and I get sad.

But this book is not paranormal. It is contemporary. And when I opened it up just to read the first page so I could log it on my spreadsheet under whatever genre it was, well, I ended up reading the whole freaking book. Every single word.

I had such a great time with this story. Dante is the owner of a bar that hosts underground fights, and he has some pretty heavy emotional baggage that he carries around with him, which makes him introverted and broody. He seeks fights to soothe his masochistic tendencies instead of sex, because sex could lead to emotional connections he just doesn’t want.

Remi has his eyes on Dante for a particular purpose. A no strings attached arrangement that will be beneficial to both of them. After watching Dante for a few weeks, he decides to approach the unapproachable man, based on the assurance that he will not get attached, and neither will Dante. In theory anyway.

There was a lot going on with this story. It would be considered dark to a lot of readers. Given my tendency for taboo and erotic-horror, I found it edgy myself. I really enjoyed the mysteriousness in the beginning. It gave the discovery a little more of a kick. Working out what was going on was part of the fun in the first part of the book. Some may disagree, but I really enjoyed the slow reveal.

The relationship structure may trip some people up. It was a really interesting concept, and I thought it was mostly believable. There were some scratch my head moments, but I could see how the tangled web would have started.

The BDSM element worked well. The limits were pretty basic (as in, not many), and the scenes were enjoyable and hot. I was completely focused on everything that Remi and Dante were feeling during their point of view. It wasn’t overly complicated, and it flowed really well. Knife-play is definitely my thing, and the way that scene was done got me going.

The fight scenes were fun, described well, and made the story exciting. I’ve read a few books where the Dom is also a masochist, and I really enjoyed that in this story too. It creates a really interesting contrast that not many authors touch. The fact that Dante chose fighting instead of SSC BDSM was an understandable choice. For him, it would become too complicated, and he wasn’t interested in finding someone to Top him in any way. It was risky, but that is the tone of the story anyway, so it worked. I thought it was well done, and added another layer to the characters.

Remi started to unravel a lot once he had a taste of Dante’s domination, and I really enjoyed watching that self-actualisation. It was frustrating at times, but it was consistent. Even though I was screaming at them to just stop the nonsense and change their lives to fit each other, they consistently stuck to their commitments, because the storyline demanded that they do. All the angles leaned towards what they were doing was all that could happen. There was just no way around any of it, and still have a good outcome.

I enjoyed the writing style and the easy flow. I was never lost or confused, and I didn’t notice any glaring grammar problems or style issues. I haven’t read anything by J.R. Gray before, but I am aware of prior work. I enjoyed discovering this author’s style and delivery. The story was set out well, with that rough, dark element that comes from the type of characters written, but the writing was good for me. Each character’s voice was clearly defined and I had no trouble picking out their personality.

Remi in business mode - I enjoyed his mask. The contrast between who he is in the business world and who he is in private was like night and day. I really enjoyed the way his walls were taken down by Dante and then built back up when the session ended. I liked that he was honest enough with himself and with Dante to ask for what he needed. Both characters had enough depth to carry the story.

Dante wasn’t over the top with his baggage. His hurt didn’t become annoying. It was understandable, and perfectly stated. There was no time where I thought to dismiss his hesitation. His wounds weren’t his excuse, and he didn’t try to escape the pull of Remi. He was cautious, but not angsty, and didn’t flip-flop internally, just tried to understand himself and put things into perspective.

I would love if this was part of a series. I really enjoyed these characters, and I would love to see a follow up from the ending.

I don’t want to give too much away because part of the fun for me was going in blind and being shown. If you enjoy edgy stories about anti-heroes, and lean more toward RACK than SSC in your BDSM content, then this is definitely the story for you.

There is a fair amount of violence in this story (you know, with the underground fighting ring), so fair warning if that isn’t your thing. It also doesn’t have a traditional happy-for-now ending, but then I don’t need that.

Trigger warning: discussions of assisted suicide, alcoholism, homophobia, organised crime, and violence.

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Find out more on Goodreads.

Review: Suburban Legend by BJ Sheppard

Halloween is coming, and as the parents of Damsel Creek celebrate the occasion in style, the teen population of the sleepy town are forced into caring for their youngest counterparts. As Aaron settles in to a night of babysitting at the house of the Chief of Police, he faces strange occurrences at every turn. With news of a killer on the loose, he tries to convince himself his mind is playing tricks on him, but when a series of menacing phone calls alert him that the threat is real, he has no other option than to fight. Can Aaron make it through the night as the target of a stalker who desires his death, or will Halloween be coming early this year?

Are you brave enough to read what happens when the line between real life and horror blurs?

A situation horror from the author of ‘The Rainbow Connection’ series and ‘That Day in Spring’.

Warning: scenes of violence, terror, and little to no romance. This is a tale of horror. Expect no love scenes.

Dammit BJ Sheppard.

Seriously.

Do you know how many hours of sleep you owe me?

I love you and hate you so much right now.

It was getting late when I started this one and I figured I’d just read a chapter or two. It’s been on my TBR for entirely too long and I was anxious to finally dive in. Fast forward to 1:30 am, the end of the book and the exclamation, “Dammit BJ Sheppard!”

Firstly, I LOVE horror. Books, movies, whatevs, bring it. Especially the ones that have a heavy dose of mindfuckery, I like that more than the guts and gore and a story with a good balance of the two is a win for me. That’s what Suburban Legend was. Remember that movie When A Stranger Calls? The original one, not the remake, it’s never the remake. The first half of Suburban Legend is highly reminiscent of Carol Kane getting THE phone calls. In this story though the babysitter is Aaron, a somewhat shy loner who is hoping to make some extra cash sitting for the Chief of Police’s son while he’s at work and the wife is out partying for Halloween. While the blurb is pretty clear there is no romance in the book, Aaron does have a boyfriend, Tommy, who is the absolute best and his presence in the story gave Aaron’s character more depth and the few interactions they had were “first love” adorable.

The Chief’s house is too big and too quiet and there is an ominous air even though so far, nothing has happened. Then the phone calls start. I’m actually not going to say much about the story specifically, because that would be a buzzkill and you have to read this kind of stuff first hand to get the full effect. There aren’t really huge surprises (plenty of shocks though) and the facts of the story are exactly what you expect from an urban legend. And we all know that some of the best classic horror stories start with urban legends.

This has all the things that make horror stories so fun and I did all the stupid shit expected from a fan. You see, I like to make horror stories interactive. Well, reactive at least as I’m the goon yelling at the fictional characters as if they can hear me and I truly believe my increasing levels of frustration and my raised heart rate will somehow affect the outcome of the story. It could happen.

1. I questioned the authorities. Where were they? What was talking so long? Seriously, y’all have one job here and that is to protect my Aaron. Do your damn job! Right after I thought that Aaron says, “Where were the police? What was taking them so damn long?” Then there’s me, “That's what I said, I know right?!?!?!”
2. I cursed and jumped every time the damn phone rang. Actually I cursed A LOT while reading, that was half the fun. But, every time the damn phone rang. Every. Damn. Time. Especially at 67%. Fucking phone.
3. I said some version of “For the love of sweet grilled cheezus Aaron, do not: go in that room, up those stairs, through that door, down the hallway, etc., etc.” Followed closely by, “Dammit Aaron!” Then Aaron said, “I felt like I was in a horror movie, making that dumb decision every victim chooses . . . “ This book was totally playing horror story hijinks along with me.

While the first half was ominous and quiet mindfuckery the second half was all survival and fear.

“The kitchen was empty, save for myself and the terror that was do tangible it was like a partner to me, sitting beside me and sharing in my panic.”

It was non-stop and exhausting. Aaron is turning into such a badass though and I was rooting for him so hard. Every time he’d make a little headway something would go sideways and he’d be faced with another deadly obstacle. The evil goes deeper than the reader is originally led to believe and the mindfuckery is back in spades. The psychopath’s backstory is a heartbreaker and I was pissed that I felt a tiny nugget of sympathy for him. He was soooooo broken, but the real evil was so much bigger him.

There is no comfortable place to break while reading Suburban Legend, you have to power through because you can’t stop until you know ALL the things. At least I couldn’t/wouldn’t. There’s a tiny little note at the back that says more is coming. I certainly hope so! Because the ending was a classic, “FFS you have GOT to be kidding me!” ending that was awful and it was perfect.

Thank you BJ for writing such a great story. You have a beautifully evil dark side and I love it.


For more info on Suburban Legend, check it out on Goodreads or Booklikes!

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