Fiction Friday is still playing catch up

Unfortunately last week I didn't get a chance to finish telling you guys about my favourite reads for March and April.

The God Game (Dan Sharp Mystery #5) by Jeffrey Round - This is not a romance. It's a political mystery with a gay hero. It's also very good. The mystery had me stumped for much of the story. Also, although this is book 5 I never once felt like I'd missed out on background info. Can definitely be read as a standalone. Word of advice, don't be put off by the writing style in the prologue, the rest of the book is nothing like this.

Murder Takes the High Road by Josh Lanyon - This is excellent. Classic Josh. Look out for a post on release day. But you can preorder now.

Office Romance Box Set by J.M. Snyder - 22 short stories in one volume.Yes, 22. Most were first meetings, some sweet with no sex, others little more than hook ups. A few involved existing couples but they were in the minority. Several involved multicultural pairings and I had some issues with the way POC were described in the stories. I understand some of the stories were originally written several years ago, however this is a new anthology and it wouldn't have taken long for the author to address this matter in the required stories. As is often the way with shorts it's hard to get a HEA without making the whole thing seem rushed and unrealistic but the author leaves all the stories on a positive final note that allows us as readers to envisage a happy ending for the couples. As you can imagine I enjoyed some stories more than others, some because the story just wasn't to my taste, some because they had obviously been written several years ago and the style felt slightly dated. My favourite stories were:
Maintenance!
Knocking Boots
Speed Trap (Working Man #9)
Easily Addicted (Working Man #3)
Cafe de l'Amour

The next book might surprise you...
Wolf & Bunny by Tara Harris - On Kindle Unlimited. Yes, I'm reccing an MPREG book. If you follow these posts regularly you'll know MPREG isn't normally my bag, but this one took me by surprise. A fairy tale with fated mates, a prince, the wicked villain, a wedding, and a nick of time rescue.

Kelpie Blue (Out of Underhill #1) by Mell Eight - This is a lovely N.A. paranormal tale of a broken boy and the kelpie who decides not to eat him. I loved the way this was written with the narrative interspersed with diary entries, mostly from Rin with Blue adding comments. I enjoyed it immensely.

You're My Everything by Lily G. Blunt - On Kindle Unlimited. A single author anthology of 6 stories. In case you missed the post on this one, you'll find it here.

Between the Lines by J. Scott Coatsworth - An urban fantasy set in the seedy world of politics. I'd have liked some more interaction between Sam and Brad earlier in the story to base their eventual relationship on. But overall a enjoyable way to pass an hour or so.

Fairytales Slashed 3 (Fairytales Slashed #3) by Megan Derr,  A.R. Jarvis, Remington Ward, Mara Ismine. -  This is an excellent anthology. I'd be hard pressed to pick my favourite. Unfortunately I'm doing something that I hate to do, because the anthology is no longer available and only one of these stories is actually still in print. I did try to contact the authors of the missing stories on your behalf but only had one response.

• Rasnake by Megan Derr - Banished brothers, dragons, magic, mad kings and missing princess. All written with Megan Derr's excellent fairy tale panache.
• Pretty by Mara Ismine - this was cute but it finished too abruptly, wrapping up what I thought was a major issue in a couple of paragraphs.
• He Shall Go To The Ball by Mara Ismine - this was a sweet take on the Cinderella story. Unfortunately it ended without a proper resolution.
• Greenwood by Remington Ward - A magic loose reworking of the Robin Hood story. I adored this.
• Moth To The Flame by A.R. Jarvis - Ninjas, people. Do I need to say more? It's well written and funny with a passionate (although low steam) pairing. And ninjas! I managed to get a response from this author, unfortunately though there are no plans to re-release this story at the current time. But I've included the link to several of her books on Amazon. 

To decorate the post I had a varied collection of covers this time around. Only one had the m/m standard naked torsos and was discarded straight away (although the cute bunny almost made up for it - kidding, I preferred the wolf). Two are featured else where in this blog recently (or in the future). I chose two that I felt were atmospheric covers. Let me know which cover you think should have appeared.