Fiction Friday

So, as I finished the post two weeks ago I mentioned that I was reading the Charmed and Dangerous anthology and would give you my thoughts next time I posted (I actually said it would be last week but we'll ignore that shall we).

That is one long book. It is also quite excellent. My favourites (and there were a lot of them) were:
Swift and the Black Dog by Ginn Hale - Excellent world building that evolved naturally as the story progressed. Quite dark in tone and more of a fantasy with a sliver of romance than a fantasy romance. The story was gripping but could have been better served in a longer format, certainly with regard to the romance. 4*
A Queer Trade by KJ Charles - Excuse me while I squee. Set in the Magpie verse but with no knowledge of the other books in the series required. Full of Charles' rich well-rounded characters, humour and horror in equal measure (and often both at the same time), and a beautifully paced love story that could have been called insta-love in a lesser author's hands. 5* (NB. A novella staring these two characters is in the pipeline. YAY!)
Magically Delicious by Nicole Kimberling - Enjoyed this sequel to the story in the Irregulars anthology. 4*
Everyone's Afraid of Clowns by Jordan Castillo Price - My first outing with Psycop. Don't know why. Another series to start reading. 4*
The Thirteenth Hex by Jordan L. Hawk. Loved this. Fell easily into the world without needing a complicated build up and the characters were gorgeous together. 4.5*
One Hex Too Many by Lou Harper - I like Lou Harper's writing and enjoyed all aspects of this story, although I'd have liked a bit more made of the relationship. 4.5* (Plotbunnies have taken hold of Lou Harper for this world. We will see more I'm pleased to say.)
The Trouble With Hexes by Astrid Amara - Second chances story with a real sense of urgency. I loved both characters and I thought the in depth details on hexes were excellent. I guessed the bad guy early on but you know I wasn't in it for that, I was in it for the relationship and that was perfectly pitched. 4.5*

Now, Magically Delicious by Nicole Kimberling is a sequel to a story that originally appeared in the Irregulars anthology (which I own but had never read). Naturally I had to read this first so I started the Irregulars anthology while halfway through C&D. I'm glad I did as it had backstory that helped me appreciate her story in C&D more. I've not finished Irregulars yet so you'll have an update on that next time out.

What else have I been reading? To be honest, not a lot. Really, that anthology was very, very long.

Deadpool comics but you don't want to know about that.
Some okay reads and some bloody awful, delete off my Kindle immediately reads.
Oh, and Demon Dog by Ally Blue. I have quite literally just finished this book moments before writing this post. It's good. A very good paranormal mystery, in fact. It's established couple and a spin-off from the Bay City series by this author. I have to confess I didn't realise this when I started to read but it didn't have any bearing on the enjoyment of this story. There are characters from the other series in this but at no point do you feel like you are missing anything. Now I can't decide whether to go on to book 2 in this series or start the original series and discover everyone's backstories first.

Apart from the books that are already queued up to read on my two Kindles I'm going on to free reads for the rest of the month. Expect me to have very few recs next week and less books on my Kindle if the two I read last night were anything to go by!