Fiction Friday

It's time to show some love for the books I've been reading these last few weeks.

Let's start with an audio. 

Borrowing Blue (Made Marian #1) by Lucy Lennox - Audio. This was my first book by both Lucy Lennox and Michael Pauley. The story was well executed and cute as hell, utilising one of the age old tropes of romance, the pretend boyfriend. Told in first person, alternate chapters, this can sometimes be a tricky writing style but here the characters were different enough to carry it off, especially as read by Michael Pauley. The story flowed easily and the romance progressed in that same fluid way, with just enough angst to make me feel as though the characters had needed to work for their HEA. The overall tone was mostly joyful as Tristan came to terms with his sexuality in a positive way and Blue, well, Blue is one of those upbeat characters. There was shedloads of sex in this one, and I do wonder if I would have grown bored of those scenes if I’d been reading as opposed to listening, however Michael Pauley reads those scenes (and every other part of this book) with such gusto that it was hard to begrudge the lads any single moment of each of those earth shattering orgasms. While I’m on the subject of narration, MP was excellent, with each character getting a distinctly individual voice. Thoroughly enjoyed. I followed that with the free short story Brad (Made Marian #1.5) by Lucy Lennox. The instafreebie link for this one is dead. I'd have liked half as much again to give a more coherent story and less page time for the lesbian grannies and groupie. But the pair was cute and I'm pleased Brad got his HEA.

This cover is just perfect for Curtis
in both look and feel.

Trust with a Chaser (Rainbow Cove #1) by Annabeth Albert - Self Published. Available in KU. Read in KU. MUST have a copy for my permanent collection. I loved this book. Nash is the sort of character I adore, gruff and stoic, but I loved Mason too. 
The small town community is well fleshed out but not too intrusive and I'll definitely be heading back to Rainbow Cove for Logan and Curtis' story. 

Tender with a Twist (Rainbow Cove #2) by Annabeth Albert - Self Published. Available in KU. Read in KU. MUST have a copy for my permanent collection. Oh, look, I'm back in Rainbow Cove. 
In both books characters are manipulated by their families, even dead parents and lovers, but I was set not to like this as much as the first. I was wrong. My heart was breaking for Curtis half the time and Annabeth did a lovely job of showing Curtis blooming from the grief he'd been using as a shield to protect himself from further hurt.

I really liked this cover.
It's what drew me to this book. 

Darkling (Port Lewis Witches #1) by Brooklyn Ray - Ninestar Press. Love this cover. Ultimately this is a friends to lovers story, just with far more obstacles in the way than you would normally expect. Ryder has secrets, many many secrets, and worry if Liam, his best friend and the person he's been in love with for the last two years, will accept Ryder once he discovers he's trans is probably the least dangerous of the secrets he's keeping. The writing is lusciously descriptive, I could almost feel the dark magic swirling around me with every page I read. But that same quality gave the book an edge that meant I could never truly relax while reading. Some of the blood letting and knife play had heart in my stomach. Ryder's not the easiest person to like, but he's the only narrator and I think an unreliable one at that, because he is scared about the development of his magic and tries to cover that fear by distancing himself from the people he loves. The world building is excellent and I could easily imagine this world of witches and necromancers.



Doesn't seem like I've read much considering the last FF post was a month ago, but I did spend a fair chunk of my reading time on a massive comic book story line, DC's Forever Evil and all of the connected side stories. I really enjoyed seeing the villains become the heroes if only for a while. I'll leave you with my favourite panels.