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.