Review: The Mystery of the Curiosities (Snow & Winter #2) by C.S. Poe

Life has been pretty great for Sebastian Snow. The Emporium is thriving and his relationship with NYPD homicide detective, Calvin Winter, is everything he’s ever wanted. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Sebastian’s only cause for concern is whether Calvin should be taken on a romantic date. It’s only when an unknown assailant smashes the Emporium’s window and leaves a peculiar note behind, that all plans get pushed aside in favor of another mystery.

Sebastian is quickly swept up in a series of grisly yet seemingly unrelated murders. The only connection tying the deaths together are curiosities from the lost museum of P.T. Barnum. Despite Calvin’s attempts to keep Sebastian out of the investigation, someone is forcing his hand, and it becomes apparent that the entire charade exists for Sebastian to solve. With each clue that’ll bring him closer to the killer, he’s led deeper into Calvin’s official cases.

It’s more than just Sebastian’s livelihood and relationship on the line—it’s his very life.

This is really turning into a fun series and I believe I enjoyed the second even more than the first. Most probably because when book #1 ended, Sebastian and Calvin were still very “new” and there was a lot of evolution in their relationship in book #2 that I absolutely loved reading.

The mystery kept me connected in a fun and engaging way. If you’re looking for plot twists, turns and surprises at the end of every chapter, this is not that story and I was perfectly fine with that. I read this while on a long weekend away decompressing and this was the perfect level of mysterious for that setting. It was fun while interesting and I didn’t have to think about it too hard to keep up. I could follow along with Sebastian’s OTT shenanigans and just enjoy the ride. Was it realistic for Sebastian to insert himself into police investigations? Of course not, but I didn’t come here for the absolute reality, I came for Sebastian, Calvin, their secondary characters; the mystery-lite was a bonus. Shit happens to Sebastian because it does, that’s all I really need to know to wallow in Snow & Winter happily.

I do so love the quirk and the snark Sebastian and Calvin share, but their relationship carries some extra weight in book 2. Neither of these guys are kids and it’s refreshing to read about two characters who are getting into a relationship while also have some history that they are both working through. As we get older, we become a culmination of our experiences and that is so true for both of these guys. The story was really well balanced between the thrill of new love and the gravity of the past. Calvin’s path could have been a story in itself, but the author kept the tone even enough so that there was no question as to the pain and struggle Calvin lived with, but the chance of new love kept the story hopeful even through the worst of times described.

Major props to Sebastian’s dad, the man is a rock that both Calvin and Sebastian need and he’s one of those quiet, yet amazing characters that hits you right in the feels with a few well-placed words and unwavering support consistently. The relationship between Sebastian and his dad was well described in book 1, but Calvin was included in that mix in book 2 and it created some heartwarming moments that made my heart happy for Calvin.

C.S. Poe has a writing style that is easy to fall into, I forget that I’m reading and just flow along with the words. For me, that’s the best kind of escape and the main reason I love to read to begin with. I’m eagerly waiting for the next installment of Snow & Winter, I can’t wait to read about the next step on their way to their happily ever after.

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

Review: Murder and Mayhem (Murder and Mayhem #1) by Rhys Ford

Former cat burglar Rook Stevens stole many a priceless thing in the past, but he’s never been accused of taking a life—until now. It was one thing to find a former associate inside Potter’s Field, his pop culture memorabilia shop, but quite another to stumble across her dead body.

Detective Dante Montoya thought he’d never see Rook Stevens again—not after his former partner’d falsified evidence to entrap the jewelry thief and Stevens walked off scot-free. So when he tackled a fleeing murder suspect, Dante was shocked to discover the blood-covered man was none other than the thief he’d fought to put in prison and who still made his blood sing.

Rook is determined to shake loose the murder charge against him, even if it means putting distance between him and the rugged Cuban-Mexican detective who brought him down. If one dead con artist wasn’t bad enough, others soon follow, and as the bodies pile up around Rook’s feet, he’s forced to reach out to the last man he’d expect to believe in his innocence—and the only man who’s ever gotten under Rook’s skin.

Murder and Mayhem (Murder and Mayhem #1) by Rhys Ford This is the start of a beautiful friendship between this series and I. I could tell from the first page that I was diving into a Rhys Ford murder mystery, she has a unique and all-consuming way of telling a story. That being said, it’s no formula though, the setting, the mystery and most importantly, the characters are all Murder and Mayhem.

The strength is definitely in the characters. Rook and Dante have great chemistry and their banter is priceless. They are the very definition of enemies to lovers. Dante is on board that train a lot more quickly than Rook is and given Rook’s history it’s understandable.There is more focus on Rook’s character, also understandable, his history is much more complex and if his transition from aloof and alone reformed cat burglar to legit business man and partner were too fast I would have felt cheated and his character would not have rang true in the end.

My favorite aspect of Dante, besides the hotness of course, was that he embodies the modern definition of the word gentleman. According to good old Miriam W, a gentleman is: A well-mannered and considerate man with high standards of proper conduct. That’s Dante, with everything. Even when he breaks the rules he does it with the most noble of intentions and just the proper amount of guilt and urge to make things right again. It makes his character seem almost simple, he’s not of course, but he doesn’t waiver from his core personality and I really liked that. It made it really easy to connect with his character and his balance was needed for the chaos that is Rook. Dante was Rook’s ultimate goal to live a life of normal. No one could give that to Rook but Dante.

The secondary characters are probably some of the strongest I’ve read. The story would not have been the same without Rook’s grandfather Archie, Dante’s uncle Manny and Dante’s partner Hank. Archie is just plain awesome. He’s a complete asshole and he can afford it and he owns it. He also has a deep respect and love for his grandson buried beneath the snark and insults. Manny is Dante’s entirely too wise queen of an uncle. They are one another’s rocks and I know Manny gives Dante a tremendous amount of strength just by loving him. Now Hank is just a total kick and gives the story good balance. He doesn’t play a huge role, but he’s a great vehicle for sounding out issues of acceptance and friendship all laced with humor. I loved every conversation he and Dante had.

The overall story is heavy on aforementioned murders and mayhem and if those are go-to’s for you like they are for me, you will have so much fun reading this story. The romance and relationship aren’t as big of a focus but I’m sure more will be coming in the next installments. Reading this felt like I was reading the beginning of something much bigger for Dante and Rock. While the mystery was solved, their relationship is just beginning and I’m looking forward to more!

As an aside, I loved this:

“Loss of control could do marvelous things for someone caught in a sticky situation.”

For more info on Murder and Mayhem (Murder and Mayhem #1) check it out on Goodreads.

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

Review: Think of England by KJ Charles

Lie back and think of England . . 

England, 1904. Two years ago, Captain Archie Curtis lost his friends, fingers, and future to a terrible military accident. Alone, purposeless and angry, Curtis is determined to discover if he and his comrades were the victims of fate, or of sabotage.

Curtis’s search takes him to an isolated, ultra-modern country house, where he meets and instantly clashes with fellow guest Daniel da Silva. Effete, decadent, foreign, and all-too-obviously queer, the sophisticated poet is everything the straightforward British officer fears and distrusts.

As events unfold, Curtis realizes that Daniel has his own secret intentions. And there’s something else they share—a mounting sexual tension that leaves Curtis reeling.

As the house party’s elegant facade cracks to reveal treachery, blackmail and murder, Curtis finds himself needing clever, dark-eyed Daniel as he has never needed a man before…

Warning: Contains explicit male/male encounters, ghastly historical attitudes, and some extremely stiff upper lips.

 



I have a couple of go-to action items in books that make me sit up, take notice and balance that book right on top of the mountain of TBR beauties that are completely out of control. Think of England has those tags in SPADES!

Let’s run down that list shall we?

Historical?. . . a
Snark? . . . a
Wit? . . . a
Mystery? . . . a
Charming Brits? . . . a
Murder & Mayhem? . . . a
Awesome sidekicks? . . . a
Nipple Piercing? . . . wait, what? . . .Awwwww YEAH! . . . a

Yep, historical nipple piercing FTW!

Archie Curtis is a well-bred and well respected war veteran who has come home after an accident where he lost many friends as well as sustained major trauma of his own. He’s feeling a little lost and when he is visited by the gun manufacturer whose weapons caused the tragedy that ended his military career. The man speaks of sabotage and treason and Curtis cannot let that go uninvestigated. Justice must be served if any of what the man says is true. He gets himself invited to Sir Hubert’s country house for a fortnight (I love saying ‘fortnight’), the man in direct competition with the original manufacturer and the alleged perpetrator of said sabotage.

The country house is 30 miles out in the middle of nowhere, but has any and all modern conveniences that must cost the man dearly to keep running, raising suspicion. Enter a cast of characters that, on the surface, seem like typical English gentry, but underneath, all is not what it seems at the country house. There is one character that stands out more than the rest, Daniel da Silva. He stands out because he doesn’t want to fit in and Curtis takes a disliking to him right away. But again, all is not what it seems and da Silva has reasons for being at the country house as well. His affectations, irreverent dress code and rapier like wit make him a target for both bully’s and fans.

I really can’t say too much about the mystery without giving away too much good stuff, so you’ll have to trust me when I say, the tension and stakes are high and the murder and mayhem tag on the blog here is well deserved. Men will face their greatest fears and there are a couple of kick ass female sidekicks. The bad guys are SO bad, the good guys are deliciously good and Daniel da Silva is one of the most memorable characters of all time.

I highlighted so many of Daniel’s snarky comments but by far my favorites were the ones between he and Archie. Once they settle into their uneasy partnership to thwart the evil doings that are going on, they start to open up to one another and we see the connection between the “real” Archie and the “real” Daniel. One of Daniel’s professions is as an editor and he has written and published some of his own poetry. While his work is not understood by many, the very straightforward and very simple Archie, gets it. When I say simple I definitely do not mean stupid. He’s a military man who has never had the luxury of being able to indulge in imagination.

As Daniel says –

Unfortunately, my dear, you are so straightforward I sometimes have trouble understanding a word you say.

Between Daniel's verbosity and Archie's direct simplicity, you can imagine how fun their exchanges are to read. When the barriers start coming down it just gets better. Archie is so charmingly chivalrous and poor Daniel has NO idea what to do with that, but I could tell part of him wants to eat it up like the most delicious dessert imaginable.

Daniel and Archie are going on my list of most memorable couples and so worth reading about. Highly recommended read (and re-read).

 

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

Review: Ball & Chain by Abigail Roux

Home from their unexpected deployment, the former members of Marine Force Recon team Sidewinder rejoin their loved ones and try to pick up the pieces of the lives they were forced to leave behind. Ty Grady comes home to Zane Garrett, only to find that everything around him has changed—even the men he went to war with. He barely has time to adjust before his brother, Deuce, asks Ty to be his best man. But that isn’t all Deuce asks Ty to do, and Ty must call for backup to deal with the business issues of Deuce’s future father-in-law.

Nick O’Flaherty and Kelly Abbott join Ty and Zane at the wedding on an island in Scotland, thinking they’re there to assuage Deuce’s paranoia. But when bodies start dropping and boats start sinking, the four men get more involved with the festivities than they’d ever planned to.

With the clock ticking and the killer just as stuck on the isolated island as they are, Ty and Zane must navigate a veritable minefield of family, friends, and foes to stop the whole island from being destroyed.

***may contain spoilers so watch out!***

OK, so here’s the deal.  I have been anticipating this book ever since I finished Touch & Geaux.  I was jealous of everyone who got an ARC and I couldn’t wait to read more about Ty & Zane and see what kinds of shenanigans they could get up to.  When I learned that it had been released early on Riptide I jumped on it right quick.

Then I started to read…

I was eager to see the reunion.  I just knew it was going to be epic.  I was expecting one of the hottest sex scenes I have ever read.  I knew they were going to reunite, it was going to be so romantic and joyful, and then burn up my screen with the wild monkey lovin’.  I didn’t get that.

And I was pissed!!!

Only 5% in and I was already disappointed.  Big, epic reunion at the base and they go home and fuck like bunnies, right?  NO!  All of a sudden it is two weeks later and I’m left looking for the missing scene, thinking I got a defective copy because surely Ms. Roux wouldn’t skip over something like that!  I mean, who does that?!?!?

Then they go to some castle on a cliff on a remote island off of Scotland for Deuce’s wedding.  Already my eyes are rolling because, yeah, I can see where this is going.  As I progress through the story my eyes just keep rolling until I think they’re gonna detach from their sockets from the strain.  Really?  Secret passageways?  Come on!  It was like watching the movie Clue or seeing really bad mystery dinner theatre.  Then someone is murdered, all communication with the mainland is cut off and all the boats float away in a storm.  Yep, I’m watching Clue.  

Oh, and this book is funny.  I’m telling you it is.  See, right here in the book it tells you that this book is funny.  Why aren’t you laughing?  You should be laughing because this shit is funny dammit!  The book says so for crying out loud!

I’m so freaking disappointed by this time that I consider DNFing the book.

But then I read one sentence, just five little words strung together by Nick and my entire perspective changes.

She did this shit on purpose y’all.

Suddenly my eyes are open and I’m seeing this not as a serious book (or a book trying to be serious) but for what it truly is.

Entertainment.

Now it’s gone from horrible, rant worthy mystery dinner theatre to entertaining blockbuster movie.  Because that’s what it really is.  Just pure entertainment.  So much more enjoyable that way!  I started flying through the book with glee.  Here are the shenanigans I wanted.  Oh, this is gonna be good!

As I continued reading though, I couldn’t help but notice that I was getting less and less Ty & Zane and more and more Ty & Nick and Kelly & Nick until it became just Nick.  Nick, Nick, Nick, Nickety Nick.  All Nick, all the time.  I was now watching the Nick channel.  Why is that?  I thought this was book 8 in the Cut & Run series, not book 2 of the Sidewinders novellas.  Did i buy the wrong book?  What the hell is going on around here?!?

And I’m back to being disappointed.  

But!  I persevered because, hey, it’s Ty & Zane!  Well, kinda.  I think I was hoping Nick would fade into the background so we could get back to the MAIN CHARACTERS of this story.  Sad to say, that never happened.

Then at 69% (heh) I was thrown into a big ole batch of WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?!? Chaos has ensued and I’m digging it.  I’m digging it hard.  I am just going to come right out and say this:  I love shenanigans.  I love over-the-top storylines.  I love chaos.  Needless to say I am back to loving it.

I’m not even going to touch on the ending because it was just more of Nick the Great and I don’t wanna get mad again.  I will tell you this though.  There was a scene in this book that just about gutted me.  I won’t tell you what it was and I won’t tell you where in the book it was.  Just know this:  it made me bleed.

So to sum up, I both loved and hated this book equally.  I will give it 3 stars and hope that Abi Roux gives the boys (Ty & Zane, NOT NICK) the face time and the HEA they deserve in the final book of this series.  ‘Cause they really do deserve it.