Review: The Jasper Soul by Bailey Bradford

An ancient evil stalks the earth, seeking to finish what it started… 

Matt Callaghan is pretty sure he’s just an average guy. His tragic past haunts him, and the only comfort he finds is something he’s not willing to explain to anyone else. The jasper stone he found as a child had been with him for over half his life, and he can’t be parted from it.

There’s more to the stone than Matt knows. Thousands of years ago, one man, the last of his people, was cast into the stone, his soul protected when his body could not be saved.

The evil that hunted him is still alive, still waiting for a chance to destroy the jasper stone.

Reader advisory: This book contains scenes of violence and physical assault.

The premise for The Jasper Soul is a set up for a great story and the author delivered with the characters, but the world building was lacking for me. When you’re talking about paranormal worlds and a time traveling plot, the world building has to be tight from the beginning. The Jasper Soul started that way and quickly sucked me in the Matt’s world. Unfortunately, once all the characters were revealed the story lost its focus.

We first meet Matt, an average guy with a tragic past (that we don’t learn about for a while, but we know it’s there) getting by but not living his best life. After a near drowning when he was younger he found a jasper stone that has been his most prized possession throughout his life. He had no real reason to be so attached, but his draw to the stone was undeniable. I liked Matt a lot, he’s a sympathetic every-man with a fun sense of humor that kept him relatable when he could have been a depressing hot mess.

Matt’s connection with the stone becomes stronger when he meets the man whose soul resides there. Andulin’s people were slaughtered by Evil millenia ago and he’s been trapped in the stone every since. Basically there’s a bunch of magical shenanigans that happen and we learn about the gods and goddesses that are at the root of all the trouble that happened way back when. This is where the story lost me a bit. There are soooooo many gods and goddesses and then there are layers of them and holy cats, it was a lot.

The overcomplication of the backstory took away from Matt and Andulin’s time so I had trouble buying into their relationship as much as I wanted to. I could see why Andulin would be in love with Matt, he’d “known” him most of Matt’s life. But Matt doesn’t know Andulin from a magical rock, so the insta love was tough to believe. I would have loved to have more page time with them connecting and a healthy reduction in gods and goddesses that bickered their way through the story.

The Jasper Soul is an overall enjoyable read with likable MC’s and an interesting story arc. While it got in its own way a little too often, I still liked meeting Matt especially and his HEA was hard won and satisfying in the end.

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

Review: Lovers Entwined by Lillian Francis

Ewan Matthews is one of Boston’s leading genealogy experts. When a would-be bridegroom comes looking for confirmation that there are no skeletons in his ancestral closet, Ewan considers turning the job down. Trey Capell is a jerk of the highest order and yet Ewan experiences an infuriating attraction that’s easy to justify. Trey’s exactly his type—a carbon copy of the man Ewan’s been looking for his entire life.

Harder to explain is the sense of recognition that leaves Ewan speechless the moment Trey steps into his office. Or the stomach-churning sensation at the thought of casting the job aside.
Trey gets more appealing by the day, leaving Ewan struggling with forbidden desire for his client. Desire not helped by strange voyeuristic dreams that have started to haunt his sleep. Dreams that appear to be an echo of the past.

I wanted to like this book. I even read the blurb and me + destiny trope/historical =

Unfortunately, the blurb leaves out a rather critical piece of information. Trey is engaged when he meets Ewan. I'm not diametrically opposed to cheating, but this just makes Trey look like a capricious douchewaffle. This isn't an arranged marriage or a shotgun wedding. He asked her to marry him. LIKE A WEEK AGO! AFTER 4 YRS!

I cannot abide that sort of fickleness. Every time he slighted her or avoided her in favor of being with Ewan made me hate him just a little bit more. If you're going down this road and trying to sell me the 'they belong together despite any and all obstacles' bridge you have to build it out of something sturdier than willow wood and zip ties for me to consider buying it. 

Don't make her the bad guy and try to sell me that she's made all these drastic changes OVER THE COURSE OF A MONTH. Also, don't try to sell me that he never noticed what a cunt she was until he met his true love. NOPE. Not buying that bridge either because capricious douchewaffle AND unobservant. Neither of which can be blamed on her.

I'd buy something in the vein of The End of the Affair with an I love him more or The Horse Whisperer with an I've loved him longer, but don't make her the villain. That weak plot device only served to taint the rest of my experience with this novel.

The whole long story (and I do mean long; it could easily be cut by a third) of different versions of Trey and Ewan and their affairs over the centuries is told through flashbacks. I'm fine with non-linear stories, and actually the flashbacks were the most enjoyable part for me. What I still am having trouble reconciling is why only Ewan was having the dreams and daydreams and not Trey. Every once in awhile Trey blurts out an old pet name, but cannot put it into context.

So... it's just muscle memory? Of the tongue?

Fair enough.

The last version was clearly done to introduce yet another historical depiction of these forever entwined and oft ill-fated lovers. Because two, evidently, wasn't enough to drive that point home. Also, I'm not sure how they both glossed over the ill-fated part and decided to tempt the fates. Again. The only conclusion I can come up with is a rose colored glasses syndrome which led to a belief that a marriage license will act as a talisman against tragedy.

Then again I couldn't make heads or tails out of either one of these characters half the time so what do I know? Ewan got all bent out of shape when he first meets Trey because Trey sat in the chair "insolently"?

Stuffy much? 

Then proceeded to be a class A prick to him. A client! A paying client!

Trey wasn't much better with the cheating, blaming the fiancée, capricious douchewaffledom and weird misdirected anger at Ewan toward the end which actually makes me think they are perfect for one another.

Lovers entwined indeed.

I couldn't be more disappointed this didn't work for me especially since I actually read the blurb in an effort to avert these sorts of occurrences. Thus far reading the blurb vs. not reading the blurb isn't exactly netting a whole lot of difference in outcomes.

A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

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