Book source ~ Tour

Rune Jenkins and Grey Malteer have crossed over into Eon, a parallel world where all the things fantasy are actually real. They’ve been recruited by the Council because they are Venators, and Tate, a Venshii, is the one who retrieved them. Rune’s twin Ryker has also crossed over, but he’s in the hands of Zio. The Council hates Zio and that hate is mutual. But is one side really good and the other bad? Or is this world just totally fucked up? I’m forming an opinion, but won’t share yet.

Rune and Grey are knee-deep in secrets and politics of a world they have no idea how to navigate. It is nothing, I mean, nothing like Earth. Well, ok, the sneaky politics are the same, but think about if you could add magic and powers and otherworldly beings to our world and then you have an inkling of what Eon is like. Rune and Grey keep thinking they are back in Kansas (metaphorically) and this leads to serious trouble for them.

Ryker is another story. Man, I don’t know that this guy is going to be salvageable after staying with and believing everything Zio says.

When Grey’s dumb ass goes running into enemy territory and becomes the captive of Feena the Fae Queen, well, I can’t say I felt sorry for him. Rune also has me wanting to slap her around because seriously? How stupid do you have to be?

This book is at times frustrating and at others intriguing. I get that the characters are YA and in over their heads AND not by their own choice. But they are supposed to be smart. Not to say smart people don’t do dumb things, but after nearly dying in book 1, you’d think book 2 would see some epiphany billboards being lit up. However, the frustration is rewarded by character growth during the course of this book, so I’ll allow it. Every other character is fabulous. Every single one has an agenda and I don’t know what they are yet. I’m fully invested in finding out how all these pieces are going to fit together. Also? Beltran is perhaps my favorite character so far.

I will end this review with one thing that bugged the shit out of me. There is a moment, when Grey is off doing his stupid thing, that he leaves his boots by a river. Verida and Rune see those boots later. That’s how they know he did the stupid thing. But for the rest of the book, Grey suddenly has his boots on. This is the kind of thing I notice and it drives me nuts.  Other than that, I recommend this book. It has danger, action, sexual attraction, magic, and intrigue. Layer upon layer of intrigue. Bring on the next book!

Like the Ultimate Blog Tour for the first Venators novel, Venators: Magic Unleashed, back in March, I'm going to take what I posted last year when the novel was initially released and then add on some new thoughts, with a focus on the recently published audiobook.

So the ending of the previous book (Venators: Magic Unleashed) focused on a dragon being unleashed by the series' (apparent) Big Bad, the sorceress Zio. Not surprisingly, the series central characters survived the encounter. This book starts with a quick recap of that survival from the point of view of Zio—which is a great way to get the reader back into the moment and build on their understanding of what happened and Zio.

We quickly return to our Earthlings, Grey and Rune and the aftermath of their unauthorized excursion to rescue humans from a werewolf pack, which culminated in the aforementioned dragon attack. Rune's proving to be a quick study of Council politics and was able to turn things to their advantage and buy them some leniency from the Council.

The ways the two humans respond to and interact with Council members is pretty interesting and I suspect will be one of the more interesting developments from this point forward in the series. I suspect the Venator abilities that make these two the warriors they are in this world are in play with Rune's politicking—no one mentions mental acuity when talking about Venator abilities, but maybe they should. Watching Rune play the games (both successfully and less-so) that the various Council members throw her way is probably my favorite part of the character.

And she has to do a lot of politicking and game playing here because her co-Venator and friend Grey has found himself in quite the pickle. After their ordeal with the werewolves, the two Earthlings' need for training was even more apparent. They get just a little of it (a good, promising start) before getting momentarily side-tracked. Before they get a chance to build on that, Grey is lured into the one place the two have been told they absolutely cannot go. Because forbidding people from going somewhere always works out (how many Hogwarts students stayed out of the forest? How long did Belle stay out of the West Wing? Even the Federation had to know that forbidding landing on Talos IV wouldn't work for long).

Grey has found himself in the clutches of a powerful Fae, Feena. Feena will spend days/weeks/years sucking the life out of her prisoners to feed her own magics. Given that Grey is more powerful than your typical Eonian, you know she'll drag it out as long as possible. It's a torturous experience for Grey, but he does what he can to resist and fight back. On the one hand, watching him stupidly and blindly put himself in this situation was maddening. But after that, watching Grey endure what he has to and struggle in response is pretty cool. As much as I appreciate Rune's playing politics, I enjoy watching Grey in action.

So the book boils down to this—can Rune get permission to run a rescue mission—or at the very least, find a window in which she can pull off another unauthorized mission? Can Grey survive long enough for the cavalry to arrive? Assuming they do, how can Grey be rescued and the Venators get back to their training without causing a diplomatic incident that will shake up everything?

The actions of the Venators' guides, teachers, allies confuse me. They've got these two kids in a world they clearly don't understand, with abilities they don't understand and then expect them to react appropriately in new situations. Even worse, all of them are keeping things from Grey and Rune—telling them half-truths, deflecting legitimate questions, and delaying explanations. It's maddening. It's bad enough that the Council, who are clearly only using these two for their own ends do that, but the people who supposedly are looking to them to change the world? A little honesty, being a little forthcoming, helping them to avoid the minefields they keep running into rather than saying "oh, you shouldn't have done that"—it would make it a lot easier for this reader to stomach them.

The Council? I need to see more of them. I have little patience for them as individuals or as an entity at the moment, but as individuals and as an entity there's great potential for something interesting to happen. Feena's a good villain—she's not worth several books, but for one novel? She's a good opponent. The Fae? It's simple—any universe, any world, any author—when it comes to Fae politics, Fae dealings with other Fae, Fae dealings with non-Fae? It's complicated, tricky, and messy. It's good to know you can count on something.

So much is happening in a very short period of time, it's hard to know what kind of impact the events are having on anyone—it's been less than two weeks since these two jumped into this world, leaving St. Louis behind. It's hard for them—or a reader—to really take it all in. We do know that already both Venators are changing because of their abilities (as well as the experiences in this new world)—both are self-aware enough to see how it's happening (at least in part) and are both resisting and embracing the changes. Both are, naturally, deluded about how easy it will be to resist this kind of thing—denial's not just a river on Earth.

I'm enjoying these books—I do hope that under the new publisher, they're able to come out pretty regularly, it'll help sustain my interest (and, I'm guessing, the reading public's). I know that Walls has several more books planned, so it makes it okay that I'm still on the fence about the series as a whole—there's a lot of potential to the series and these characters and she has time to help them reach their potential. There are aspects of the books (the prospective—and lingering—romantic entanglements, for example) that I'm withholding an opinion on until more happens. And I'm not sure if I should appreciate how little we're getting with Zio and Rune's brother, or if it should annoy me. Is Walls building suspense, or is she simply being obfuscatory? I'm hoping that after Book 3, I'll be more settled with my expectations about these books—I know I'm enjoying them, I'm just not sure if I should wait on them getting better.

May's narration is as strong as it was last time. He captures the emotion and characters and tone with both skill and art. He's doing the narration for another series due to be released in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles that.

This time through, two characters really stood out to me: Ryker and Tashara (a succubus who sits on the Council). I'm not sure if Walls is setting Ryker up for a major redemptive arc or if she's going to cause an irreparable rift between the twins (or both). I guess this ties into what I said above about him and Zio. As far as Tashara, she's a complex character—May does a great job of depicting that—and I'm intrigued by both her and her relationship to Grey (her incubus counterpart, on the other hand, just annoys me).

One last thing. This is just a personal hangup, I'm sure, but I hate Arwin's name. Last year, when I got to ask Walls some questions, I talked about how much it reminded me of a certain Lady of Rivendell. This year, when I listened to the books, it kept making me think of Lloyd Alexander's Arawn Death-Lord. He's hands-down my favorite Council member (I'm waiting for Walls to pull the rug out from under me and reveal he's a turncoat or more Machiavellian than the rest), but his name trips me up in print or audio.

Again, I find myself rating this a tad higher in audio than in print. I'm not sure where that comes from, also not sure if it matters. Walls and May are a great combination. An interesting world, great characters (even if they frustrate me), good action—and a fast-moving plot. This YA fantasy is a crowd-pleaser, I'm sure of that—you should join the crowd.

but this time it’s not the God and Day’s world that we’re visiting. This time we get to see more of the Bounty Hunters. We first met Judge back in “Nothing Special #4: Don’t Judge” and we’ll see him a bit here as well but he’s not the focus of this story, he’s had his day in court so to speak.

However, those who read that book may also remember Duke, the owner of the bail bond company that Judge works for and Judge’s occasional no strings attached lover. Having said all that, you now basically know the connection between ‘Nothing Special’ and this series or at least this book. So, you don’t have to read the previous series but there’s some good stuff there so you might want to consider it.

For those who enjoyed Ms Via’s series ‘Nothing Special’ on audio if you enjoyed the narrator as much as I did than you’re in for the added treat of once again being able to enjoy the narrations of Aiden Snow. I was more than a little happy to know that Aiden Snow was the narrator for this first book of the series and I admit my fingers are crossed that he’ll be continuing with the rest of this series as well.

Just to be clear Duke is one of the MCs in this first book of the series ‘Promises, The Bounty Hunters’ and his love interest is none other than Vaughan Webb, classic gentleman with an old soul who’s just returned after 7 years from studying abroad with a newly printed law degree in hand as part of his plan to prove himself worthy of the man he loves…that’s right he’s set his sights on none other than Duke Morgan…his daddy’s best friend and if you didn’t see that coming than all I can say is you should have read the blurb.

While Duke and Vaughn’s story is essentially contained within this book, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of them either. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work for me because of not just the age difference but the fact that Duke is best friends and business partners with Vaughn’s father. Surprisingly I ended up being ok with it and I think that due for the most part to the dynamics between the two men. This really wasn’t a case of ‘daddy complex’ if anything Vaughn was the aggressor in this pairing.

Vaughn's been in love with Duke for years, it was part of his motivation to travel and study abroad for his law degree. He wanted to put some time and distance between himself and Duke so that when he was done what he needed to do it would help Duke to see him not as a ‘boy’ but as a man who’s been out in the world making his way and experiencing life…Vaughn’s a man with a plan and the determination to make it happen. Vaughn’s 27 when he returns to his hometown ready to claim the man he wants. So while Duke’s a fair bit older than him that still doesn’t make Vaughn any less of a mature adult. I loved that this story never felt like there was an imbalance of power between these two MCs and believe the opportunity for this to happen was there on more than one occasion.

As I mentioned earlier, we first met Duke back in ‘Don’t Judge’ book #4 of the ‘Nothing Special’ series. What we see in this story is that Duke was far more hurt by what happened between him and Judge but even he conceded that he wasn’t the right person for Judge, but more importantly he also comes to realize that Judge wasn’t the right person for him and that his happiness is waiting in someone else’s arms.

Despite the fact that events seem to be conspiring against these two men Vaughn’s determination to have the man of his dreams will not be easily dashed and he is determined to succeed whatever the cost and the cost is, to say the least surprising but Vaughn’s up to the challenge.

Vaughn and Duke’s story may have had some over the top moments but at the end of it all, it was a sweet and enjoyable romance that I really enjoyed.

However, there was more than just Vaughn and Duke to this story. This is also the beginning of another story. One that’s about Vaughn’s father, Roman ‘Quick’ Webb and a certain adorable doctor that I really liked and to be honest I’ve got my fingers crossed that Quick has to do some serious grovelling on this one. When it comes to being a dad and a best friend Quick’s got it nailed. He was awesome to bad when it comes to just being a decent human being, he has moments filled with ‘fail’. I admit it I vacillated back and forth with him because one minute he had me gushing and sighing with how much I liked him and the next minute I was thinking someone needed to punch him in the junk…that’s right in the junk!!! He was that much of a jerk. So needless to say  I need this story because in my heart of hearts I don’t believe he’s as mean of a person as he was but I’m really curious to know what would make someone so nice act like such a jerk…what can I say inquiring minds want to know.

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An audio book of “Promises Part 1” was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

It seems whenever I see a story with her name attached, I’m right there with my grabbie, gimmie hands to get a copy to read and I have yet to be disappointed.

“Promise” is the third book in Ms Scott’s ‘Single Dads’ series. This is Leo and Jason’s story.  We met Leo for the first time in “Single” book #1 of this series and now that his roommates Sean and Eric have each gotten their HEA, it’s Leo’s turn and who better for a cop to fall for, than an ex-con who seems to have more than a couple of secrets.

We met Jason in “Today” book #2, when he saved Eric’s life. When Jason shows up on Leo’s doorstep looking for Eric after his release from prison. Eric’s told him if he ever needed help he could come to him and when Leo sees Jason tired, beaten, ready to drop in his tracks and holding on for all he’s worth to a sweet little girl that he says is his daughter Leo couldn’t imagine someone more in need of help and despite the caution that his instincts are telling him to exercise…Leo’s quickly becomes determined to protect Jason…consequences be damned.

I’ve liked Leo from the beginning of this series and with this book we get an even closer look at this character. Leo’s past isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, he’s got demons of his own that are driving him and as he becomes more and more involved with Jason, he’s forced to confront the past that he’s kept diligently locked away.

Both men are more than a little bit aware of the attraction they share for each other, and for their own reasons they are equally determined to deny it at first. But as Jason’s secrets come to light, Leo begins to see that Jason isn’t what he seems to be and that his story is more complex than any of them realized.

I’ve enjoyed all of the stories in this series and this is probably one of the few times that I can honestly say when it comes to a favorite pairing, at this point in the series, I’m hard pressed to say that I have one.  So far, I’ve found each couple to hold their own unique appeal for me.

I loved watching Leo and Jason try to resist the inevitable, these two men just worked the chemistry was right and as if that wasn’t enough there was Daisy…Jason’s adorable 3…going on 4 year old daughter who not only wormed her way into Leo’s heart without even trying but found a spot in mine as well.

This story also gave us a bit more of a glimpse into the family that helped to make Leo the man that he is and that was fun. I love stories that have those over the top, in your face, gregarious families and Leo’s family is one that I’d definitely like to see more of.

I had thought maybe since this all started with 3 roommates…Sean, Eric and Leo that this story just might be the end of things but this is not the case and I’m so pleased to know that there are more ‘Single Dads’ to come.

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An ARC of “Promises” Single Dads #3 was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.