The Priest (Original Sinners #9) by Tiffany Reisz

Publisher: 8^th Circle Press

Pages: 432

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Blurb

New Orleans, four months after the events of THE QUEEN...

Søren has been suspended from the Jesuits for a minimum of one year after confessing to fathering a child. To say he's struggling with his newfound freedom is an understatement.

Kingsley is about to be a father again and is convinced something very bad is about to happen. Nerves? Or is he right that the time has come for the Sinners to pay for their sins?

And if things couldn't get worse, a handsome private detective shows up and tells Mistress Nora that a priest has just committed suicide, and she was the last person he tried to call. He would like to know why...

She doesn't know, but Nora and her new detective friend will turn over the city to find out, meeting liars, vampires, and witches along the way. When she finds what she's looking for, she may wish she'd never stepped foot in New Orleans.

Review                     

“They were more like a spiderweb, all of them, made of filaments so fragile and fine nothing could put them back together if one of them was torn away…”

… and Nora decides to help investigate a suicide that may well cause those filaments to shrivel up and die.

Oh my God, what a book. I’m not sure how I’m going to put my thoughts and feelings into words, especially since I want to avoid spoilers, but … WOW. Not that I’m surprised. Tiffany Reisz is yet to let me down. But I’m not sure I was ready for this story. Then again, maybe I was. Maybe I’d been waiting for this story ever since I first read the Siren.

I’m sorry, I’m reviewing in riddles, and I can’t promise that’s going to get a whole lot better as I go on. I want to say all the things, and I don’t want to risk spoiling even the tiniest of details.

As always with Tiffany Reisz, this is a story with many layers; quite possibly more than I managed to discover on a first read. There’s the mystery Nora gets pulled into after a priest commits suicide. The last number he called before pulling the trigger was Nora’s old number and when Cyrus, the private detective trying to find out why the priest took this drastic action, approaches her, he pulls her into the case. A case which will bring them into contact with fascinating characters, vampires, and witches (well, what would you expect in New Orleans?). A case that will show Cyrus a way of life he barely knew existed, and a case that will turn two people who, at first glance, have very little in common, into friends.

But there’s more…so much more. There’s Søren and Nora and their complicated, fascinating, scary, and stunningly beautiful, yet fragile relationship.

“Twenty-three years together, and he could still make her toes curl and give her goosebumps and scare her down to the bone.

It was a sacred thing to be loved by a sadist like Søren. Sacred like a sacrifice, like a vestal virgin offered to a god. What was a god, anyway, but one who held the power of life and death in his hands? By that measure, surely Søren qualified, if only when they made love.”

And there’s the thing I don’t want to mention except to say that it answered something I’d been wondering about for as long as I’ve been reading the Original Sinners’ books. I approve of the way that ‘issue’ was resolved. It made sense and I had been anticipating it. And it was a wonderful illustration of how we sometimes don’t allow ourselves to see the full picture of who we are and how we reached a certain point in our lives until something from the outside forces us to open our eyes.

Again, I’m sorry. I’m being horribly mysterious but, if you are still to read the book, you wouldn’t thank me for saying more.

There was so much to love in this book. Kingsley, Juliette (expecting her second baby), and Celeste are delightful secondary characters. I adored Nora’s dog, Gmork. But I think I loved the developing friendship between Nora and Cyrus best. These two have little to nothing in common and Cyrus is definitely not a part of Nora’s kinky world. But their differences allowed them to be exactly what the other needed at various points in the story and I can’t help hoping that we’ll see more of Cyrus and his fiancée Paulina in future books.

I’m going to leave it here. Nobody is going to get anything out me making more vague yet gushing statements. Just go and read the book. And if you’ve so far managed to miss the Original Sinners’ series (what stone have you been living under?), all I can say is, pick up The Siren and start on a journey that will mesmerize and captivate you. Nine books in, and all titles still feature at the top of my ‘extra-special list’.

“If anything in the world was truly a sin, it was letting one’s own mild discomfort interfere with someone else’s healing.”

The Interrogation – a Hunter Dane Investigation by Adira August

196 Pages

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Also available in Kindle Unlimited

Blurb

Hunter’s most twisted killer. Cam’s most dangerous case.

---

“SO WHO GOT DEAD?”

Twee asked, taking a pastry. Merisi pulled the plate away from her and closer to himself.

“Three little boys," Hunter told them. "The fourth went missing this morning. If this killer’s M.O. hasn’t changed, the boy’s not dead yet.”

“You’re talking about the Wilderness Killer?” Diane Natani asked. “That’s McCauley’s case. How is our unit getting it?”

“The victim is the governor’s nephew. McCauley and his team haven’t gotten anywhere in a year. The governor requested us, and we’re taking over.”

“Well, that shouldn’t cause any resentment.” Merisi dunked half a doughnut into his coffee.

“It’s a recipe for a clusterfuck, Boss,” Twee said.

"True. It’s also exactly the kind of case this Unit was created to handle."

Natani tossed down her pen. “We have political interference, departmental incompetence, personal resentment, and a boy who will die within eight hours. Somewhere.”

"No problem. We find the killer and get him to tell us where in the 1200 square miles of Colorado wilderness he staked out the governor’s nephew.” Merisi punctuated this with an eyeroll.

“The first part got done about an hour ago.”

Assistant District Attorney Natani perked up. “We have a suspect?”

Hunter nodded. "We do. Now I just have to get him to talk.”

“Just get him to talk?” Merisi tilted his chair back. “He’ll lawyer up before you can say ‘You have the right’ and a keyhole satellite couldn’t find this kid.”

“You're forgetting the Boss’s cardinal rule.” Twee pulled the plate back toward herself and Merisi’s chair came down with a sharp bang.

“Yeah? What's that?"

“Never assume.”

---

If you like a master gamesman for a detective and a few twists in your criminal cocktail, you want to read this.

A STAND-ALONE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

 Review

Unless you’ve never seen one of my reviews before, you probably know I’m a HUGE fan of Hunt & Cam. I’ve been with them from the very start and eagerly await every subsequent book. These two men are glorious together. Made for each other, Hunter Dane and Camden Snow come to life on the pages of these stories, and worm their way into your heart and head…well, they did for me.

But, if you’ve read the previous stories, you probably need to know that this book is different from the earlier titles. Where the older stories focus on the relationship between Hunt and Cam and their D/s dynamic with Hunter day job taking a (growing) backseat, The Interrogation is a pure and simple thriller. While the feelings they have for each other are still vivid, there are no on-the-page sex scenes to be found in this story.

As for the crime? When a young boy disappears, Hunter is put in charge of the case. The kidnapper is soon apprehended, but there’s no sign of the boy. He’s been left, somewhere in the wilderness to die a slow and horrible death in a blizzard that’s about to strike in a matter of hours. In a race against time, Hunter must get the man to talk while Cam is out searching for his victim. As the snow starts to fall, more than one life is at stake.

I have to admit that before I started The Interrogation I wondered if I would miss those extremely enticing scenes. Would Hunt & Cam be able to captivate me as much without getting their clothes off, without their ever so imaginative sexual encounters?

I’m very happy that I’m able to answer that question with a whole-hearted ‘YES’. The investigation in this story, the search for the young missing boy, and the tension during the interrogation were so intense that I didn’t have time to miss the sex. In fact, the timeline in this story is so tight that any time-out for private escapades would have felt wrong, contrived, and shoe-horned in. And yet, even without describing any explicit intimacies, the reader is never in any doubt how much these men mean to each other, how they live and breath for and because of the other.

This is one of those stories that forces the reader to pay close attention. Nothing is exactly what it seems. Nothing unfolds as you might expect. And you’ll find yourself torn between wanting to read slowly, just to make sure you don’t miss anything, and the urge to rush along and discover how it all ends. Between a manipulative perpetrator, policing politics and rivalries, an innocent young victim, a race against time, and a heroic dog, there really isn’t anything in this book not to love. But, best of all, as always, are Hunter and Camden: two heroes so perfect they shouldn’t work and yet manage to be memorable and incredibly more-ish.

Can I have the next book, please?

Third One (Those Other Books #3) by Roe Horvat

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Blurb

It could have been just an innocent crush. Something guiltless and fleeting. But Luke spends every day with Marcus; they talk, touch and dance together, they create and perform together. They know each other inside out. As a consequence, Luke has been in love with his very much taken choreographer for years. Seeing Marcus and his partner Liam together has become increasingly painful, and Luke needs to leave. His dancing career is nearing an end anyway. He will start university, reinvent himself, forget Marcus and find happiness elsewhere.

Except Marcus loves him back. And Liam knows. Liam’s dark eyes and his imposing silhouette begin haunting Luke’s dreams. Drowning in both lust and sadness, Luke is swept into a passionate triangle with two men who couldn’t be more different. Suddenly, instead of fear or caution, there’s just a mind-numbing desire for more.

Review

“This is how I look when I’m happy.” – Luke

Third One is the third book (but fourth story) in the Those Other Books series. In my review of One In Between I wrote: “I do hope there will be a Liam, Marcus and Luke story.” And what do you know? Not only did I get my wish, but the story I wished for surpassed all my (very high) hopes and expectations.

Like all of Roe’s characters Liam, Marcus, and Luke feel deeply, love fervently, and enjoy sex/make love with a burning passion. This author always takes his readers deep into his main characters. Not a thought is hidden or vague, every feeling is described in terms that awaken the same emotions in the reader. It’s impossible not to feel Marcus’s need, Luke’s desperation, or Liam’s occasional (and uncharacteristic) doubt. The language allows the reader to emerge themselves in the story, lose themselves there, and find some much needed and deeply appreciated relief from the real world.

Few authors I know write sex with as much depth, feeling, and eroticism as Roe Horvat. The words ‘this story made my Kindle steam’ are a cliché and yet, that’s the only way I can describe it.  Every touch, and the reaction it elicits, is vivid to the point where the reader can almost experience them personally. There is no shame, sex is never dirty. Quite the opposite in fact. Touch, penetration, claiming, surrendering, are so much more than a hot act on these pages. They describe the growing feelings between these three men with maybe more clarity than their thoughts and words do. In each other, in their shared passion and release they find each other as well as themselves and it’s a beautiful sight.

Not that this novella is ‘just’ a sex-filled romp. Becoming a throple is always going to be more complicated than two people coming together. When two of the three have been an established and happy couple for a decade before their third enters the relationship, it only makes things more fraught. And yet, while there certainly was some concern on Luke’s part about being the ‘odd one out’, when these three men come together it heralds the end of their angst rather than the start. Not that all concerns instantly vanished, as if by the magic of peen’, but once these men open up to each other (in more ways than one) and start talking, the stomach-churning disquiet, eased both for the characters and for me. And the moment Luke fully realizes he’s found happiness had tears stinging my eyes.

I could go on…and on…and on… But, in the end all that matters is that with Third One, Roe Horvat once again delivered a beautifully written story about men finding their perfect happy-ever-after. The fact that he also managed to push me out of my reading funk is a very welcome bonus. Not for the first time I highly recommend this book by a wonderful and favourite author.

“It all began and ended with Liam. Without Liam, his love for Marcus made no sense. By giving himself to Liam, he was redeemed.” – Luke

Related reviews: The Other Book | Adam Only | One in Between

More Than This by Alexa Milne

73 Pages

Pride Publishing

Release Date: 17 March, 2020

Buy links: First For Romance | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Blurb

Sometimes life gives you more than this.

Two years after whistle-blowing on irregularities in the company she worked for in the US, businesswoman Veronica Smith runs into Cassandra Forster, the woman with whom she had an intense affair back in New York.

Cass pushed all Ronnie’s buttons as well as her boundaries, and the relationship was becoming something more before Ronnie left without an explanation. When they pick up where they left off, Ronnie finds she still wants more…but does Cass feel the same?

Cass wants an explanation. Being with Ronnie had begun to mean more than great sex, but then Ronnie left her high and dry. Cass’ feelings haven’t changed, but can she trust Ronnie enough not to hurt her again? Can she trust herself to let someone into her life?

Over a weekend and a wedding, the two women finally talk and discover they have more in common than the ability to meet each other’s desires. But can they take this second chance life has given them to have more than this?

Review

More Than This is a wonderful ‘second-chance-at-love’ story. There really wasn’t anything about this novella I didn’t thoroughly enjoy or love. The story starts strong and very sexy, and continues that way until the very last page.

I loved that this wasn’t an angst-ridden story in which the two characters have to overcome their past in order to secure their present and happy ever after. Two years earlier, neither Cass nor Ronnie thought they were in or looking for a relationship and while Ronnie's sudden and unexplained disappearance left some unanswered questions, it didn’t cause (unnecessary) soul searching or recriminations. And what’s not to love about a story featuring two strong, independent, and self-sufficient women who come to the conclusion that together they are more than they could ever be on their own?

I loved the shifting power dynamic between these two women, and the ease with which they both accept their own and each other’s needs and desires. Ronnie enjoys a bit of pain with her sex, and sometimes craves to give up control to Cass, but she has no problem taking the upper hand either. It makes for fascinating and very sexy encounters.

I’m in awe at how much (back) story the author managed to give me in less than 20k words, especially since there are no info dumps to be found at all. The story moves smoothly, revealing both the past and the present in a relaxed and very easy to digest manner. The reader is told exactly enough to be able to get to know and love the main characters, to understand their motivation, and to experience their feelings. I would go so far as to say there’s not a single wasted word in this novella.

This is a romance so I’m sure you can guess how this story ends. The occasion and setting where Cass and Ronnie declare their feelings are both inspired and magical.

To summarise: I adored this story. I read it in one sitting and while the length of this story is perfect, I was sorry to say goodbye to Cass and Ronnie. Should they ever get a sequel, I will be among the first to read it.

The Henchmen of Zenda by K.J. Charles

Publisher: KJC Books

232 pages

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Blurb

Swordfights, lust, betrayal, murder: just another day for a henchman.

Jasper Detchard is a disgraced British officer, now selling his blade to the highest bidder. Currently that's Michael Elphberg, half-brother to the King of Ruritania. Michael wants the throne for himself, and Jasper is one of the scoundrels he hires to help him take it. But when Michael makes his move, things don’t go entirely to plan—and the penalty for treason is death.

Rupert of Hentzau is Michael's newest addition to his sinister band of henchmen. Charming, lethal, and intolerably handsome, Rupert is out for his own ends—which seem to include getting Jasper into bed. But Jasper needs to work out what Rupert’s really up to amid a maelstrom of plots, swordfights, scheming, impersonation, desire, betrayal, and murder.

Nobody can be trusted. Everyone has a secret. And love is the worst mistake you can make.

A retelling of the swashbuckling classic The Prisoner of Zenda from a very different point of view.

Review

The Henchmen of Zenda was the most fun I had reading this year so far. This is a delightful tale of dastardly Daring Do’s, of secrets and betrayal, adventure, sexy times, and danger. And it’s all told by Jasper Detchard, who does his best to come across as cynical and aloof but can’t quite hide the fact that beneath the bluster hides a big heart.

I’ve never read The Prisoner of Zenda (although now I’ll probably have to get the book), but I’m not sure that mattered. I had no problem losing myself in this story, these characters, and this world. There really isn’t a boring moment in this story and the surprises come hard and fast. The villains are exceedingly (borderline over the top) bad and evil which makes reading about their demise all the more fantastic. I wouldn’t necessarily call their counterparts upstanding citizens. In fact, Jasper and his sex-interest Rupert have quite a few villainy traits of their own, but both of them happen to find themselves on the side of what’s right (or should that be ‘less wrong’) in this case and it’s impossible not to think that they’re comfortable there.

Sharp conversations between the principle characters fixed a smile on my face. The vivid descriptions of everything ranging from features, landscapes, to sword fights, brought the story to light, and numerous twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat. This is the sort of adventure story you should only start if you have a long stretch of reading time available. Because once you start The Henchmen of Zenda it is next to impossible to put the book down before you reach the final paragraph.

I neglected KJ Charles recently, and I have no idea why. It is an oversight I intend to fix over the next few months. Of course, the advantage of ‘forgetting’ about a great writer for a while is that there’s a good selection of new to me titles just waiting for me to find them.

Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen

Aisling #1

293 pages

Book Club Selection

Irish

Just a small-town girl living in a notions world

Blurb (from GoodReads)

Everyone knows an Aisling:

Loves going Out Out, but secretly scared of liquid eyeliner.
Happy to drink the bar dry, but will bring her own coaster if necessary.
Would rather die than miss a cooked hotel breakfast, but can calculate the Points in a Snickers at fifty paces.

Aisling's the girl with a heart of gold, but a boyfriend who still hasn't made a peep about their Big Day even after seven years.

But then a disastrous romantic getaway shows Aisling that it's time to stop waiting around and leave John behind for the bright lights of Dublin. After she's wailed her way through Adele's Greatest Hits, that is.

Between glamorous new flatmates, a scandal at work and finding herself in a weird love square, Aisling is ready to take on the big city. So long as she has her umbrella with her.

Review

I guess I’d better place this book under the heading ‘Too Irish for Me’. It happens occasionally that I pick up a book and have to conclude that despite having lived in Ireland for over 21 years, there’s still a lot I just don’t get. And considering the numerous five-star reviews and the rhapsodic peer write-ups it’s hard not to think this is a case of ‘it’s not you; it’s me’.

And I’m still not sure what exactly an ‘Aisling’ is. Unless it defines a woman in her twenties acting as if she’s not a day older than seventeen. In fact, I’m almost tempted to call this a coming of age story, if coming of age is something you do in your late twenties after having commuted to and from Dublin for years and with a seven-year relationship under your belt. I’ve lived in Dublin and have been calling the Irish countryside home for the past 15 years or so, but if anyone challenged me to identify an ‘Aisling’ and contrast her with a ‘non-Aisling’, I’d be lost.

Then again, maybe Aisling’s belated awakening is the point of this story. Maybe, without me being aware of it, the dream of finding a partner, getting the church-hotel wedding, buying a house, and settling only minutes away from the mammy is still considered the be all and end all by numerous girls growing up in rural Ireland. If that’s the case it is a symptom I’ve been blissfully unaware of until reading this book.

This is very obviously an Irish book aimed at Irish readers. There are too many terms, expressions, and habits mentioned that wouldn’t make any sense to someone who hasn’t spent a significant amount of time on the Emerald Isle. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it seems a shame to limit the audience for what is obviously a very popular series in such a way.

But, having said all of the above, and before anybody gets the impression I actively disliked this book, I also have to state that Oh My God is a very easy and comfortable read and that it’s impossible not to like Aisling, regardless of how often she managed to make me roll my eyes. While there was very little in this story to excite me, there wasn’t a single boring moment either. The story moves forward like a high-speed train, rarely allowing either the characters or the reader a moment to catch their breath. It also manages to dive into several heftier subjects without making the story either preachy or pondering, which I’m all in favour of.

So, all in all my reaction to this book is rather two-sided. I probably won’t read the later books in this series but I’m glad I read this title. If only because it is such a hit in Ireland. I’m also looking forward to discussing the book with my reading group. I can’t wait to discover whether I really am totally oblivious to what’s going on around me.

Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson

244 pages

Book club read

Blurb

I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal. A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles.

How do you tell the story of life that is no one thing? How do you tell the story of a life in a body, as it goes through sickness, health, motherhood? And how do you tell that story when you are not just a woman but a woman in Ireland? In these powerful and daring essays, Sinéad Gleeson does that very thing. In doing so she delves into a range of subjects: art, illness, ghosts, grief, and our very ways of seeing. In writing that is in tradition of some of our finest writers such as Olivia Laing, Maggie O'Farrell, and Maggie Nelson, and yet still in her own spirited, warm voice, Gleeson takes us on a journey that is both personal and yet universal in its resonance.

Review

…and then there are those times when I feel totally unprepared and even less equipped to write a ‘worthy’ review. Never mind that I’ve been sharing my thoughts about the books I read for at least fifteen years. Maybe fiction is easier because it gives you a linear story to follow, but I think that’s not really the issue here.

For starters, Constellations and Sinéad Gleeson are in a league of their own when it comes to language—beautiful language, fluent language, descriptive language, emotive language, efficient language… I could go on, but you get my  drift. Every single word on these 244 pages has a purpose, and most of them left me in awe. The book as a whole left me in no doubt that my ‘second language’ English is just not up to the task of doing Constellations justice.

But it’s more than that. I recognised so very much in this book, despite the fact that my background couldn’t be more different from the authors. My (medical) history doesn’t compare to Gleeson’s but many of her thoughts and feelings about dealing with a chronic condition and its life-long consequences struck home. But despite all the ‘oh yes, me too’ moments, there were at least as many where my reaction was the almost exact opposite of what I found on the page.

I’m not sure I have ever taken as long to read 244-page book. Nor did I ever stick as many sticky notes between two covers or fill as many pages with quote after quote after quote. You’d think that those notes would make writing a review easier but most of those ‘highlighted’ paragraphs and quotes are strictly personal to me, food for thought that will keep me thinking for days, weeks, months to come and may even encourage me to write that book I’ve been thinking about for the past twenty-odd years. All of them are fascinating, while none are helpful when it comes to giving an objective overview of this breath-taking book.

January hasn’t quite ended yet, but I think that with Constellations I may have finished the best book I’m going to read this year. Thought-provoking, enlightening, and touching this deeply personal memoir resonated with me in a way other people’s experiences rarely do. I have no doubt others will go through the same process of recognition and reflection—about being female, about life and death, and about learning to live with a chronic medical condition—I experienced and for that reason alone I’ll probably never stop talking about this book and recommending it to anyone who asks for my opinion.