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Book Title: The Bond (Elemental Book 1)

Author: Xavier Axelson

Publisher: JMS Books

Release Date: October 1, 2022

Genres: Contemporary M/M Horror/Dark Fantasy/Bisexual/Paranormal

Tropes: Vampire/stranger comes to town/strange things start to happen/good versus evil/transformations/magic/suspense/creepy beings/witches/goblins

Themes: Loyalty, forgiveness, obligation, acceptance commitment

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: 155 459 words/392 pages

It is Book 1 in the series and ends with a HFN. There are unresolved plot points but it's not necessarily a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links

JMS Books  |  Amazon US  |  Amazon UK 

In a small New England town, three men, each facing unthinkable horrors, must rely on their friendship to destroy an evil beyond imagination.

Blurb 

Four men are about to discover things are definitely not what they seem…including themselves.  Declan Makavoy, small town farmer and single father, finds out it’s not just his thumb that’s green.  Ivan Soresceau, a local reporter, who always plays with fire in life and love, is about to discover what it means to be burned.  Chester Silberglocke, the ailing but sage chiropractor, finds his death only the beginning of an atmospheric afterlife.  Vinny Pirelli, the local swimming champ may make waves inside and outside the pool but has no idea he is the last piece in a dangerous and life-changing puzzle. Seduction and unearthly occurrences are only the beginning in what proves to be a race against time as Declan, Ivan, Chester, and Vinny are pitted against a dark force beyond imagination, in the ultimate battle of good versus evil. 

Excerpt 

The wind carried the unpleasant smell of decay. In the heat of summer, the odor is nectar sweet, but in autumn, decay is unexpected. In the summer, it could be tomatoes left too long on the vine, fresh roadkill or sewage wafting up from the dank sidewalk grates. Autumn chilled the stench, offered it bite and acid. The hair on my neck stood on end. I dug my hands deeper into my pockets. 

Coming out of the tree-lined path leading to the fields reminded me of emerging from a dream. Overwrought and graphic, like an illustration in a bad comic, the scene unfolded block-by-block, piece-by-piece. The fields were barren, except where remains of gourds and pumpkins jutted from the earth like fevered skulls, things emerging to the cold dreary light. The distant pine trees lined the border of my property like sentries sent from a general to contain the scene. Beyond the trees, the forest appeared a black mass; empty and full at the same time. Perhaps Adam’s body—or Adam himself—waited, hidden in the woods.

They hadn’t found a body.

Hadn’t found…

A new but not unfamiliar wave of pain welled within my chest so I thought I’d burst. Adam was dead. Dead…How could he be…?

Chester turned toward me, his eyes wide. He pointed.

Antonia sat, facing him. She’d been playing house or school with her gourd-squash students. Her singsong contrasted with the fouled air, unnerving me.

Behind her, centered in the field, something either unaware or unconcerned with our presence was consuming the remaining pumpkins.

Some thing.

“Declan,” Chester breathed, “stay still.”

The stench coming from the field hit like a ton of putrid bricks. 

“Get her.” I heaved, trying to breathe through the stink. “I have to get her.” 

Chester restrained me with more strength than I thought he possessed. “She must stay still.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

Just then a huge crow dove and we watched as the creature reached with a massive clawed paw, grabbed the bird and crushed it. It then stuffed the bird into its mouth and made horrific bone-sucking sounds of pleasure.

Antonia smiled and called, “Daddy, have you seen the goblin?”

About the Author  

Xavier Axelson is a writer and columnist living in Los Angeles. Axelson’s work has been featured in various erotic and horror anthologies including Best Gay Erotica 2016 Volume 2, Best Gay Erotica 2015. 

Longer written works include “The Incident”, “Dutch’s Boy”, “The Birches”, “Earthly Concerns”, “Velvet,” and “Lily”.  

Author Links

Blog/Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram

Giveaway 

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one of 5 ebooks from the author's backlist.

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Review: Lavender by Xavier Axelson

Following the sudden death of his father, Lawrence "Law" Crow must not only comfort his bereaved mother, but also find the strength to continue running the family business, a local and beloved lavender farm in the mountains of northern California. At first, consumed with his own grief and struggling to find meaning in life, Law indulges in his vices, mainly by surrendering to his sexual urges with numerous men, all in a desperate battle to forget his pain and to end the emotional turmoil tearing him apart.

But when a stunningly handsome and passionate Spanish soccer player named Garbi suddenly crosses his path, Law discovers light in the possibility of love. Does Garbi have the ability to heal Law's shattered heart, provide him with purpose, and help him fully embrace the joy of living once again amidst the beautiful and fragrant lavender fields?

One of my all-time favorite books is Lily by Xavier Axelson. It wasn’t what I was expecting when I read the blurb, it was so much better and I really fell in love with the author’s writing style. It stuck with me and Lavender is much the same. The author does not write your typical hearts and flowers or perfectly perfect characters. His MC’s are flawed and their encounters are gritty. It’s different and I appreciate how he can pull all the rough edges together and give a plethora of emotions in a few words.

Lavender starts out rough and sad. It’s set against an idyllic backdrop and the contrast made the heartache the characters were feeling more pronounced. Our MC, Law and his parents have made their lives on a lavender farm in northern California. The setting is intrinsically romantic and the bits of backstory about Law’s parents adds to the mood. When we meet Law and his mom, they are consumed by grief though following the death of Law’s dad. It was obvious he was the anchor for this small family and both Law and his mom are grieving hard.

His mom deals with her loss by escaping back home to France where the original lavender plant that started the whole farm came from. Law deals by fucking his way through every willing man he can get his hands on. His rage boning comes from a place of impotent anger where he’s either going to fight or fuck his way through his heartbreak. Both are equally dangerous and frankly, Law just doesn’t care. His interactions with other men are rough, dirty and desperate. He works his way from one to the next with complete disregard for anything other than releasing something and forgetting for a brief bit of time.

At the same time, he works his way through getting the farm back on track bit by bit while avoiding dealing with his father’s final wish to have his ashes spread throughout the fields. The whole mood in the book to this point is unsettling and melancholic. And while Law is not at his finest, I really liked the guy and my heart broke for his angry loneliness. Even if he did get more action than any man on a lavender field has any right to.

But then he meets Garbi and he starts to feel a little something beyond anger. Garbi is a soccer star traveling with his team through Law’s town. I wouldn’t call their first interaction anywhere near a meet-cute, because cute is not something that is done in Lavender, but Garbi does leave an impression and Law knows he wants more. The two don’t waste any time getting together, because waiting is also something that is not done in Lavender, but the two had a serious connection that neither one of them could deny.

The best part of the story is reading about the changes Law undergoes with Garbi. They’re subtle, but that’s how Law is. He’s not one for declarations and Garbi is a good match for him. He’s got that European sensibility about romance that Law needs. Garbi has no shame in enjoying life and he’s very good at expressing himself in few words. Law no longer feels the need to conquer and is ready to give, he needs to with Garbi and he loves every minute of it, even if he doesn’t totally understand it. He knows Garbi can change his life by showing him how to love, but he also know Garbi is only in town for a short time. It was a really bittersweet time and I loved and hated it in turn.

The author doesn’t leave his readers hanging though and the ending it easily one of the better and more optimistic HFNs. Don’t go expecting a book that matches the cover. While the cover is beautiful, it is a little misleading in that the cover fits an expected MM romance that is safe and lovely. Lavender is not safe and it is not typically lovely. It’s raw, tough and honest and I liked reading something outside the norm, it was refreshingly dirty and sneakily romantic. The ending is a little abrupt, but it fit with the mood of the whole story. So, while I wanted just a smidge more of the conversation and where it was going, where it ended wrapped up Law and his journey just right. 

Candles flickered super romantically. It may be corny, but I’ll admit, candlelight adds something to a bath. 

“Why are you smiling?” Garbi asked. 

He’d put his feet on my thighs and slid deeper, so water swirled around his neck. 

“No reason,” I answered, rubbing the arch of his right foot. 

“Is romantic” 

“I’m not romantic.” 

“I am,” he said, unashamed. “Why do men deny this?”

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

Review: Lily by Xavier Axelson

What does one say when they realize their child is gone? Better yet, what does one say when that child returns, but is different?

This is the question Pryor must ask himself after his daughter, Lily, is dragged into the woods by a wolf and her body is never found. It isn't until he sees a wolf in the woods with eyes that resemble Lily's that he feels hope. And then something is whispered from deep within the woods, a promise for him to see Lily again.

One day...

But which day and for how long?

And then Pryor meets Ned, a silversmith who brings out desires that Pryor hasn't felt in years and helps him hatch a plan to keep Lily with him.

Now the question isn't about how much time Pryor will have with Lily, it's about how far will he'll go to keep her with him.



I love this flavor of horror story, for me the subtle kind are the scariest. The kind that takes something that is good and perfect and makes it wrong. Wrong and completely out of a characters control. How does a man reconcile what he still wants to believe with all his heart to the horror of the reality he is now faced with? If you’re looking at the wolf on the cover and skimming the blurb you may think this is some sort of shifter story and you couldn’t be further from the truth. Those can be fun and sexy, but this? This is a story that will put you on the edge of your seat and tease you with hope that just isn’t coming.

Lily is a story of one night. In this one night Pryor waits for Lily to come home and waits to see what Lily has become. It also tells the story of the past year in a perfect “showing” not “telling” way. The moments are told so well and are crafted with such simple and subtle sentences that say so much. So much more than a multitude of mediocre paragraphs could have. Pryor is living a tragedy in a small town and as he says,

“Small towns are like quaint traps, everyone knows everyone’s business and my business was epic. I forgot how long memories are in a town like this.”

 If you have ever lived in a small town you know how very, very true that is. Pryor’s daughter, Lily has gone missing, dragged into the woods behind their home by a wolf. She was his life and he is both devastated by the loss and convinced she is still out there. She just isn’t Lily anymore and that’s the real heartbreaker when reading Pryor's thoughts.

Lily is there, she just isn’t Lily anymore. Pryor is in a committed relationship with Ned when the book begins and how they meet and come together is told through Pryor’s memories of the last year, the year since Lily was taken. Pryor is grieving heavily and Ned is everything Pryor didn’t even know he needed. The author captured all the thoughts going through Pryor’s mind so well. His thought processes are completely skewed as everything he thinks and feels now is in relation to Lily’s disappearance.

“My first memory of Ned is not a fair one. I wasn’t in my right mind. I wasn’t looking to see anything except my daughter, so when I first saw him, his back was to me and he was hunched over a long metal table. The only thing I remember thinking was how big he seemed to be. Size had become very important to me. I measured everything by how much room it took up in my life, how much stood between my lost kid and me.”

Pryor is overwhelmed by Ned when he first lays eyes on him. Ned is a silversmith in the small town jewelry store. He’s a big man with a gruff exterior and a kind heart. Being in a relationship with another man is pretty new to both of them, but I liked how the author didn’t make that an angst point in the story. The relationship was actually pretty simple and cleanly defined, much like Ned himself. Given ALL that Pryor had going on, Ned was a perfect match. I had to wonder if the two of them would have gotten together without the drama of Lily’s disappearance. Who knows, but I would sure hope so. The chemistry between them was off-the-charts hot and when an author can use the term “cock crazed” in a story and I’m all, “yeah, he damn well was, bless him and thank you”, you know there is some hot and sexy connecting going on. It did more than make for a tantalizing read though, Ned was what grounded Pryor and made him feel safe and centered amid all the turmoil. Ned’s kisses “had come to be a weapon against the unknown and no warrior takes to the field weaponless.”

As Father’s Day approaches, which is, not so ironically, the day that Lily is to return, the tension in the book is palpable. Both Pryor and Ned are on edge and throughout the story I could see Ned’s strength through Pryor’s eyes. Just by being his quiet and subtle self in Ned’s life. He never tells Pryor that he’s crazy or that Lily is never coming back, he just supports and loves unconditionally. But, as Father’s Day comes near even Ned is feeling it.

“The tension of the past few days strained Ned’s place in the house and confused him. He wasn’t a man used to living in the abstract, he preferred concrete and metal, not moonlight and shadows.”

This is the part of the story I loved the most and what made it a five heart rating for me. See, I LOVE being creeped out and stressed out by a book. I love when the story could go any direction and give me a happily ever after or horrify the hell out of me, I just don’t know. When Lily came home I really did not have a clue what was going to happen and it was great! Poor Pryor wanted his daughter back so badly and he had such hopelessly high hopes, he had “Belief in a lie as seductive as the lie itself”. Underneath it all was the dark atmospheric feel of what Lily had become and the whole time she was at home I was on the edge of my seat. The descriptions weren’t over the top and kept the whole meeting from being campy and kept it right in the creepy edgy place it needed to be.

There is no traditional HEA here. There is a solid relationship between two perfectly matched men, so you will definitely get that feel and it’s a good one. It’s the rest of the story that takes it to a whole new place and will make me remember the book and its characters for a long time to come.

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