The Magpie Lord

Nope, nope, nope. I loved A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske and was hoping this would be similar. But the one character immediately starts being sexually aggressive towards the other in a very rapey way. And then the second character is like ‘well, if everyone thinks we're having sex, I guess you might as well just have me, so do it' and he doesn't act at ALL like he wants it, like he's interested, just “might as well” and it's not an act he PARTICIPATES in, it's a thing that is done TO him. Shades of rape. I couldn't make it past that scene. Maybe it gets better? Maybe it turns into a healthy relationship? But I'm not going to make it that far.

I haven't read very much paranormal romance - in my mind (unfairly), it's all dudes shifting into odd animals and that's just not my thing. Anyway, hooray for romance bingo and KJ Charles, because this is not something I would have picked up on my own, but I'm so glad I did, because this was fun and unexpected. The plot was a little overstuffed and I had a few problems with the pacing, so I almost wish this were longer, because as it is it's kind of like "Remember all those characters you barely met three chapters ago? They're all EEEEEEEEEEVIL and working together and also all their names start with the same letter, so good luck keeping track of them!" I do like how this wasn't super-heavy on exposition - I don't know if it's an offshoot of an earlier series or something, but the world feels very lived-in, in a good way. The short story/epilogue at the end is also a lot of fun. I didn't expect to like this nearly as much as I did, but now I want to read more in this world.

(2019 summer romance bingo: queer paranormal; probably wouldn't fit anywhere else, except the free space/HEA or maybe “assassins,” but that's a stretch.)

This was the first m/m romance novel I have read and I have to say I enjoyed it. I finished this in one evening. The writing style was very fluid and compelling. The characters were also well done, there was enough there to explain their behavior but still leave room for mystery and growth. The development of the characters apart and together was the most compelling part of the story. The final resolution of the mystery that brought them together felt a little lack-luster to me. Fortunately by that point in the story I was much more interested in how they dealt with things rather than what they were dealing with.

2 stars • Well, unlike everyone else in these reviews, I wasn't a fan of this one :(

I love the premise- Victorian M/M with magic, lords, warlocks and more! But I just couldn't care for the plot and all of the supporting characters. I liked the interactions between the leads, the smut was alright and the magical victorian setting was cool...but the mystery plot. It just failed to capture my interest and I was forcing myself through the pages, sorry to say.

I have so many things I want to say about how truly bad the ‘romance' between these two is and how it feels like dubious consent at best sometimes. (Because, honestly, it feels awfully close to rape a lot of times, ESPECIALLY in the delightful [/sarcasm] bonus short where one of the guys actually tells the other ‘stop' and it is ignored and we are NEVER told that they already discussed it. I'm sorry, but if someone tells you to stop and you aren't in a consensual non-consent scene with a safeword, it's rape.) But how I thought without the unpleasant sex scenes this book would have been a blast - and ignoring the horse torture and the strange turn to straight-up horror - I could have like it. I have a couple of pages in Word with my half-formed thoughts and complaints, but, you know what? I finally have gotten over the bad mood this book put me in - only took two of the sweetest, fluffiest romances ever - and I don't want to.

Suffice to say, I have now read four books by this author, liked each one less than the last, and am probably done.