Flash: Naked Truth

Rating Mature

Work dragged all day. Every single customer it seemed needed to be the absolute worst humanity could be. Bryan forces the door to his room completely closed. He would have a devil of a time opening the ill-hung door later, but right now he has some privacy to rant.

“I don’t know why my debit card isn’t working.” … “I don’t know, maybe because it has no money.” He strips his vest and throws it in the dirty pile in the crack of space between his bed and the wall. Stocking the meats had been an entirely different disaster. He’ll have to go through the pile later and see if any were wearable for tomorrow since he didn’t have the time to get to the laundromat today.

“I need to talk to your manager.” … “No, you need to shut the fuck up.” The shirt didn’t pass the sniff test; it joins the vest. Bryan eyes scans the pile of clean laundry just inside the front door. One work shirt left. The pants were fraying at the hem but serviceable. He just needed a clean-enough vest.

His full-size mattress was only a little smaller than his entire bedroom, but at least the room had a door. He had to “pay” his mom extra to get the oversized closet by himself, but whatever.

“It’s a service dog.” … “It’s a rat that peed on the cart and the floor.” Bryan turns in the small space and leans against the wall to step out of his jeans and underwear. He needed to put another notch in the belt; even on the fast food only diet, he kept losing weight.

“Did you get the money?”

“Fuck!” Bryan screams, jumping around to find a glowing naked woman on his rumpled bed. “Daffney?”

“In the flesh,” the brunette smiles up at him. “Well, not really, but as close as it gets now.”

“You’re a ghost,” he says grabbing his flannel jacket off the wall hook to hold it in front of him.

“Yes.”

“And naked.”

“Obviously,” She shook her generous top assets, the glow bouncing from pale blue to a brighter red, really bringing out the color of her nipples. “The zombies stripped me before eating. I think the rule is you appear in the clothes you die in. Enjoy!”

Bryan backs until he hit the door. Not a long trip. He schools his face to the normal retail dead reaction he spends most of his days displaying. “Thanks,” he deadpans, trying hard to not to enjoy. Those jugs though, damn.

“You did get the money, right?”

The man coughs, sliding the jacket higher, before speaking. Eyes up on those black pools. Weren’t they blue before? “Yes, all $3,248 of it.” A sad commentary that her 23 years of life ended with only that much saved. Even sadder that it was over double what he had managed to squirrel away. “Thanks.” How does one politely look at a glowing naked woman? Bouncing. Why is she bouncing? How is she bouncing? The mattress didn’t have any spring. Fuck. “You seem happy.”

“All part of that state-you-die-in I think.” Daffney tosses her longish hair over a shoulder. “Doc Woods had me on happy pills, then the zombie drugged me before eating, and, you know, that relief of finally getting out of my home. I’m feeling very positive, even with the whole being dead thing.”

Bryan nods. “Good. That is good, right?”

“Wonderful!” Daffney rises to kneeing, the thread-worn blankets previously tangling her legs and hiding her choochie passing through her as she moves to pool below her body.

Damn, that woman was all that. Some rippling on the thighs, a few rolls across the stomach, but it just made her even bigger than life with her glow.

She frowns, considering. “It’s a bit of a downer, not having people see me other than other dead. And it isn’t even the undead, so I can’t haunt the zombies who ate me. Not that I should, they only did what we agreed to.” Daffney rises to stand on the lumpy mattress. “The biggest slap is I can’t mess with Beth or hurt Curry. I tried to punch him several times and nothing.”

“Now that would suck.” Bryan comments on autopilot, while arguing with himself. This is Daffney. Stop thinking about her that way Little Bryan. Don’t you dare. The glow rocks, says the less sane part of his head. Fuck, says the sane part realizing that it is losing the battle. The jacket fortunately hid most sins, like it did back in high school when they escaped to his room.

“Yeah. The only people who see me are other ghosts, and they don’t do much.” She stops her bounce-walking around on his mattress. “Wait … you can see me! That is so cool.”

“Fuck, my charm!” Bryan focuses on where he had kicked his jeans off. Was it in there or his wallet?

Daffney’s head tilts to the side, her black curls cascading. “Why do you need a charm, Bryan?” her voice deepening, echoing, as she asks the question.

“Um.”

“Are you a naughty boy?”

“No?”

“No?” The ghost of his only high school friend closed the space between them. “You were always good in school for some craziness but scared to go out at night.” Daffney drags a finger down his slim chest. “Now why is that?”

“Fuck.” Bryan reaches behind him to jiggle the door.

“What are you hiding?” she whispered, pressing closer, her breast flattening against his chest.

“Fuck.” the young man sighs as Daffney grips his hands to remove his jacket and tossing it behind her. It landed in the mostly clean pile.

“Well, that is definitely something that shouldn’t be hidden.” Her eyes turn completely black staring down on his dick.

He had been teased for a lot of things in the locker room but not his dick once puberty hit. Daffney gently grabs a hold of hardening member and pulls. Her touch goes beyond cool to downright icy, but his dick has never minded the cold before. In fact, her touch makes it harder than he had ever been before with anyone.

Looking up again to meet his eyes in wonder as she continued to stroke his dick, driving his lust to try to break up the debate between his sane and not-sane parts. “I can touch you. Isn’t that interesting?”

“Ye…muph” his response drowns when Daffney grabs his head with her other hand and pulls him down for a kiss.

After a few moments, he opens his mouth for her questing tongue and closes his eyes against her glow. It was everything he dreamed about during high school and never acted on, only better, because both of them knew what they were actually doing. He moves his hands to her broad hips and up to her thick waist, the right hand traveling further to find her heavy breast and starts kneading it. Daffney moans in approval. Bryan takes a moment for a deep breath before plunging back in.

She’s a ghost, the sane part of Bryan’s brain pokes in. You’re kissing a ghost.

“Shut up.” Bryan mutters as he spins Daffney around and presses her against the door.

A threshold. The not-sane part of his mind notes. The one he normally tells to shut up. The one that started talking to him when he turned sixteen. That is going to be solid for her, not like the wall. Keep her here.

Will do.

“No way,” the woman moans as Bryan lifts Daffney up to nibble at the blushing nipples. “Not if you keep that up.”

He didn’t know what she was talking about but took her words for approval, working harder at the task, sucking with his mouth on one nipple, plucking the other one with his free hand. His sanity wondered how he was holding this big woman up with one hand so easily, then she wraps her legs around him, freeing up both hands.

Sanity gives up the argument when Daffney guides his dick into her channel.

The not-sane shudders, giving way to emotion, feeling, and non-thought.

Need. Want. Moist. Cold – make warm. Ah, warm. She so warm. Good. Deeper. Push. More. Stabilize. Door. Press in harder, harder. She is screaming. Good. Come on. Come on. Go over girl. YES! More. More.

Mine, the not-sane claims. They fall on the mattress together as the second organism hits them both.

(Words 1,409; first published 2/27/2022)

Series – No Regrets, All Dead

  1. Prepping a Meal (Zombie Version) – Link to 1/25/2022
  2. You Have Mail – Link to 2/6/2022
  3. Naked Truth – Link to 2/20/2022

Book Review (SERIES): Love Language

Amazon Cover

Love Language Series by Reese Morrison

  1. Love Language
  2. Love Lessons
  3. Love Limits
  4. Love Unlimited

Love Language is an erotic series set within the deaf community, the characters vary in their kinks from sub & dom, to daddy play, to puppy play. Some are aces and others gender queer. Below are my reviews for Books 1 & 3. If you read to explore other words, including those here on earth, this is an excellent series to explore.

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR LOVE LANGUAGE

A younger Dom. A grieving sub. Two men whose kinks don’t align (or so they think) connecting in sign language.

Marco and Greg would both rather be anywhere than a kink club on Valentine’s Day. Marco doesn’t have the patience to speech-read in a hearing crowd. And Greg is still mourning his Sir who passed away three years ago.

But when Greg steps in to explain something in sign language, Marco can’t stop thinking about the light he sees in those sad eyes. Strong, older, fluent in ASL, and sweetly submissive, Greg is exactly Marco’s type. Even if Greg isn’t ready for another relationship yet, Marco isn’t ready to let him go.

Greg thought that he would never want to date someone again. But as painful as it is to admit, he’s starting to feel like it might be time. Marco is like no one he’s never met. Small, twink-ish, over a decade younger, and a Daddy, he isn’t at all what Greg imagined in a Dom. Yet he’s undeniably attracted to his care and control, even after Marco reveals that he’s transgender. Slipping into the language of his childhood, Greg wonders if he might have a second chance at love.

This book contains hurt/comfort themes, lots of heat, and a HEA ending. This is the first book in the Love Language series celebrating Dear characters and Deaf culture.

MY REVIEW FOR LOVE LANGUAGE

Some of what this book does, it does really well. It may have tried to do too many things at once, but I think by reaching for the stars the author has (at least) hit the moon. And I think what works and what doesn’t will vary by person – but at least something about this book should be incredible to everyone.

First off, the Deaf aspect of this erotica isn’t a kink, but just part of life and gives a nice insight to a community not usually represented within erotica. It is done very well. I loved how much I learned about living with a language barrier.

Second, dealing with grief and processing the difference between who you were with someone and who you can be with someone else, is layered – with backsliding and moving forward – with fear and bravery.

Third, transgender, BDSM, and other erotica items are explored in a manner more nuanced than a bam-slam-erotica.

Fourth, the cover does represent a scene in the book – nicely done.

So much to unpack from this well-written story, which also works as an erotica.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON FOR LOVE LIMITS

Ash is on a mission to find a Daddy. They know it won’t be easy; they’re proudly Deaf, intersex, and kinky, so finding the right guy might take a lot of dates.

But what happens when they meet the Daddiest Daddy ever to Daddy… and he doesn’t even know it?

Zhong loves packing Ash’s lunch and buying him presents. He loves playing board games with the playful sub, and even cuddling up with him at night. For Ash, he’d even go to a kink club on pup night to be Ash’s Handler.

But Zhong knows that his love has limits. He could never be what Ash is looking for. Could he?

Love Limits contains a caring ace Daddy, a genderqueer sub, age play, puppy play, and a HFN. This is the third book in the Love Language series celebrating Deaf culture, and it should be read after Love Lessons.

MY REVIEW FOR LOVE LIMITS

A kinky erotica featuring Deaf characters, one of whom is genderqueer and the other is asexual. Also, one of the leads is a POC, and a variety of “soft” kinks are explained and explored.

I really enjoyed the exploration of an asexual character within a romance; just because the physical aspects of a relationship are not primary, or even a secondary, consideration to a person does not mean they lack the need of human companionship.

Side note – I would, at some point, like to see an asexual character NOT feel the need to write everything down and observe sexuality like it is a wildlife experiment. But it does work here, especially when he shares his observations with his potential life partner and they respond by adding their own page of wants and wishes.

Flash: Blue Jeans Guy

Image from freedigitalphotos.net

Rating: Mature

Hmm. This virtual reality just got better. I wasn’t sure what I was getting when I picked up “Blue Jeans Guy” from the romance section. I mean, everyone KNOWS what they are getting from that portion of the romance section, but you never know if the AI … REALLY … understands your preferences when moving things into your recommended queue. “Red Hat Man” had been a disaster.

But Blue Jeans Guy, just what the doctor ordered, though I don’t think the Psych Doc shares memory storage with the Entertainment AI.

I guess they would, healthy mind starts with a happy mind and entertainment makes you happy.

Is he just going to stand there, fists ready to unsnap his jeans, a set of abs I want to climb like the Rockies?

(By the way, if you haven’t tried the Rockies Sim, and you like hiking and rock climbing, highly recommend – five stars. I don’t know if those towering monsters are real, but boy are they beautiful.)

As beautiful as this boy.

“Hey, do you want to take those off, or put on a shirt?” I ask the virtual.

Whatever you want sweetheart. It says back, the voice sounding distant.

Oh, crap. I’m still thinking too much. I haven’t fully immersed.

What can I say, it had been a rough day.

Reaching up in the VR suite, I tell it to drop some critical thinking blocker into the IV so I can better experience things. Can’t be too on my toes if I want to enjoy having them sucked.

(Quick check, no, Blue Jeans Guy is not set up for foot fetish. Drat.)

“I would like them off big guy.” I lean back on … I look around … a bed covered in pillows. Soft as a dream. Literally.

The author programmed the pillows for a pretty good mix of colors…oooo, nice colors, the fabric just went from soft to exquisite.

I look over at the man in the bedroom with me.

“Hey hon.” I crawl to the edge of the bed. “Come here.”

He approaches, kicking off his shoes and pulling off his socks.

Good, I love a man in bare feet.

I spend too much time in clothes and shoes … and I don’t need to be thinking about that with … “Hey hon, you got a name,” I say, gripping his shoulders as I kneel tall on the mattress to start tasting his neck.

“What sort of name do you like?”

Ah, hell no. I hate it when someone is lazy programming and doesn’t bother supplying a name.

“Whatever you want hon.” I draw his face over for a quick kiss. “Be imaginative. I need something real today.”

The virtual freeze, his eyes glazing over. Well, on a normal human the eyes stopping tracking and the face not moving would be considered a glaze over, here it just means processing. Basic writing should be able to search for a name with the parameters I just gave, if the writer had any skill.

One time a blue circle appeared, replacing the face. I exited that VR so fast, electrons burned. I told the algorithm never to send me anything by that author again.

“Randy.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Really?” I say dryly.

“Randall.”

“Better, I can work with that.”

I reach for his pants and unsnap them.

“I rather you work with this.” He takes my hand inside his pants.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to work with everything you got.” I start falling backwards on the sheets, pulling Randall the Blue Jeans Guy with me. “Tell me you love me.”

“I love you Officer Bahn.”

“Sh, sh.” I press my finger against his generous lips. “In the bedroom, I’m K.B., think you can handle that?”

“Yes.” He cups my breast, his mouth covers my nipple, causing me to arch into the sensation.

It seems I’m already naked. Okay then.

(words 650; first published 11/22/2023 – created during two ten-minute writing sprints (then a proofing pass) – total actual time about an hour including upload)

Flash: Queen Invites Wizard (Duty Calls Part 1)

Photo by Laine Cooper of Unsplash

Being thrown against a wall, an arm against her throat was unexpected, but Ezra just lifted an eyebrow, staring down her attacker. Behind the dark eyes and thick black hair of the tall male, she heard her guards shouting, “My Lady” and “Your Majesty” but she did not break eye contact before he turned his head to the side as those guarding her rushed forward. The wizard used his other arm to reach out, green ropes of eldritch energy sliding off his fingers to wrap her guardsmen, lifting them even higher than the six inches he easily held her above the ground with one arm.

After two children and over five years on the throne playing politics and its countless state dinners, intimate crony teas, working lunches, and late-night emergency-solving with snacks instead of needed sleep, her weight was no small thing and she shivered at the strength Malik showed. Still, it was time to end this. “Enough,” she croaked, lightly tapping two quick taps then gripping for a slow squeeze against his arm. Malik turned his head back toward the queen, his lips peeling back from white, perfect teeth in a snarl. “Enough,” she repeated with the little air she had left, spiting the soft word, her eyes narrowing.

His head twitched to the side with annoyance, but he let her and her guardsmen down to the marbled inlaid floor, her descent far more gentle than the quick cut off of magic which sent her men and women tumbling. When her red-suited guard moved to close, Ezra lifted her hand, palm out. “No, leave us.”

“Your Majesty!” Venold protested, as was proper for the deputy of shift. According to law, Erza only could be left alone in her quarters, and even then, they were to be searched every two hours.

She gathered her dignity, tucking her gray streak behind her left ear. “You, my council chambers,” Ezra commanded, pointed at the black clothed man and then to an elaborately carved door further down the corridor. Then she softened her voice to speak to the shift deputy, “Two on the door, plus one runner. No more than that.” The queen snapped a finger of her gloved hand against the dark red cuff at her wrist. “I am safe. This one is sworn to me.”

Malik barked a laugh but could not deny the truth.

Venold’s sword hissed as she sheathed it before drawing blood, the magic angry. The guard’s face was masked in expression equally angry. “He wears the mark of Oodom.”

“That he does.” Ezra snapped her jacket in place over her skirts. “As he should.” She raised an eyebrow hoping the young woman, recently raised to shift deputy could do the simple arithmetic of two plus two. Only one wizard who wore the mark of Oodom swore fealty to the House of the Mountain Knives.

Understanding did not light her eyes, but her head did bow in obedience. The older woman turned and swirled her skirts past the black robes, the fabrics touching a moment, blood red silks and silver embroidery against black linen and gold thread. The wizard smirked and winked an eye at the guard before following the queen. The guard gripped the silver-skull pommel of her naazeen blade.

If Malik had returned, Ezra would need to reacquaint her guards with their duties in relation to the crown’s wizard.

Mostly, just keep the hell out of his way.

She entered the council chambers, leaving the heavy wooden door open behind her and circled the octagon table to her seat, the furthest from the only official door into the chamber. The other one hidden by the tapestries behind her would have a guard shortly, likely Venold herself. But that didn’t matter to her as much as the young-appearing man gliding into the room. She pulled out her chair, it’s size and carvings as elaborate as the other seven around the table except for the delicate gold enameling on the crown on the backpiece, and sat on the hard seat. Her grandfather had all the padding removed from the seats to shorten council meetings, and her father and her hadn’t changed that particular discomfort after reading about just how long and often the now two-hour weekly meetings used to last.

Ezra studied the wizard as he closed the door and sauntered over to the chair with the heraldry for the crown’s wizard carved into its backpiece placed on her left side. Malik pulled it out, dusted it off, and then leaned into a causal sit on its sturdy armrest. His black eyes met her brown.

“You look well,” she said, her fingers tracing the worn track along the rows of crops carved into her armrest, “going up or down?”

“Down.” The wizard reached at a hand and moved her head to better see it in the light of the magic orb he had set in the ceiling soon after Ezro’s Keep had been built four hundred years ago. Her eyes closed a moment as she leaned into the soft touch. “You, on the other hand, don’t.”

Erza pulled her head out of his hand. “We can’t all be immortal, old man.”

“That much is true.” Malik sighed as his eyes roamed over her face.

She let him have his moment of nostalgia before asking, “Why are you here?”

“You invited me.” His black eyes became ice as he pulled out a small white piece of parchment that looked like it had been crumbled, smoothed, crumbled again, and resmoothed. He tossed the abused piece of paper on the table between them. “Bad form that.”

Ezra leaned forward and rotated the paper so the words faced her, a sly smile crossing her face. “I invited all my advisors and high-ranking nobles to the nuptials.”

“And how many of your ex-lovers?” he growled.

“All of them, of course.”

He leaned forward, his feet braced on the chair seat and his hand covering hers on the paper. “How many, princess?” His face was close enough Ezra felt his warm breath, mint, clover, and cloves carried on the angry words.

“You don’t get to ask that question, Malik, and it is queen now.”

“I get to ask all the questions I want, little girl.”

“No,” Ezra said firmly, pulling back to sit properly in the council seat, jerking her jacket into straight lines over her soft curves, “You don’t. You left eleven years ago, didn’t even come back for the King’s funeral. Thank you for the fire flowers though.”

“As I said in the letter with the flowers, I needed time to realign the magics in the land to the new royal.”

“And I remember my training when you had a white beard, it takes less than a month.”

“You actually paid attention during your lessons?” Malik moved back, sliding off the arm rest into the seat proper, then propped his feet up on the table. The black robe fell open to reveal brown heavy-linen dungarees tucked into calf-high mud-stained boots.

Ezra couldn’t help it. Her eyes slid up the revealed shape, his young thighs, thick with muscle, pressed against the stretched fabric, they stopped at the tied off fabric square at the top hiding something she had no business wanting to see again, anymore than she wanted to see anything else he had other than his face. She forced her eyes to skip the flat stomach and broad chest one expects from a working man in his mid-twenties. She met his smirk. She remembered that self-satisfied expression every time he had made her scream, “Sir!”

“I don’t know why I am surprised.” Malik eyes flashed. “You paid attention to all your lessons, such a good little princess.”

“You!” Ezra snapped her mouth closed, and breathed through her nose deeply, before putting on her state smile. “I take it you are staying for the wedding next month?”

“If you plan on going through this façade.”

“Again, you don’t have a say.” Ezra tilted her head sideways and lifted a finger. “Except, to tell you true, I am just following your advice.”

“What now?” Malik’s voice deepened as hers became stately.

“You said, if a royal is not married when they are crowned, they should marry promptly, to solidify alliances and remove questions of succession.”

“You have an heir already, if I heard right, without want of a husband. How does marrying this,” Malik turned the paper around to read the name he had already memorized, “debutant Prince Machell Leavend Roget Audaci of Spear Fields, favored of Jhu-oosh, help you other than a cute bedwarmer. He is what, half your age and a fifth son? He is cute, right?” Malik raised his eyebrows in interest.

“According to the portrait sent, and confirmation by two ambassadors who made the trip, yes.” Ezra shoved the paper at Malik.  “If one must marry, and one has a choice, marry for beauty. It’s not like royals have personalities. They only have duties.”

“Ouch, that sounds like one of my quotes from when the bunions are acting up.”

“As opposed to the hormone-driven monstrosity in front of me.”

Malik smiled running a hand down his muscular, thin form. “But it’s hot. Tell me you don’t like it.”

“I liked it just fine when I was equally hormone driven, but I’m thirty-four, been the effective ruler since dad fell, or was pushed, when I was twenty-five, and the crowned head since twenty-eight.” Ezra’s state smile thinned. “I no longer have the personality to care about hot or liking. I only have duties.” She pinched her nose. “Is this a fast cycle or a slow one?”

“In other words, how long before you can trade hormones for bunions?”

“I think I might like the bunions more at this point in my life.”

“The last cycle up and down has been fast; I should hit bottom around the time of the wedding.” Malik lifted a leg to press a foot against the heavy table. “Then we will see about the pacing of the next cycle.” He black eyes sparkled. “It’s about time for a slow cycle.”

“Meaning?” Ezra raised an eyebrow.

“Normal aging. I get to stay young and,” Malik’s teeth gleamed as his voice dropped, “badly, badly hormone driven for eight or so years.”

Ezra leaned forward covering her eyes, pushing back her mostly brown hair, except for one gray streak on her left side. She swallowed before asking quietly, “And how long are you planning on staying?”

“Oh, you have an heir to teach the rules governing magic, and governing those that do magic.” Malik dropped his feet off the table and pulled the wrinkled sheet of paper to him. “That never takes less than five years.”

Ezra shuddered before lifting a state frozen face from her hands. “I have two heirs.”

“Two?” Malik lifted a hand to stroke a beard that wasn’t there. “I must say I’m impressed, princess. I could see one, a head turned since they didn’t know just how kinky you are. But two? How did you managed to get a second lover past the council and your guards after a pregnancy? We barely managed, and I had access as your old beloved tutor and your father’s faithful wizard. And even then half the time I had to use look-away or don’t-see-me charms.”

“They are twins.” Ezra said, standing. “I will send their care-keeper to your tower to arrange for training. Let me send a runner to have the staff prepare your rooms.” Circling the room on the side of the table opposite from Malik, she opened the door and sent off the runner, nodded at her appointment keeper, holding up one finger, before turning around to where Malik still sat. “I’m sorry I have to end this,” her lips pursed as she search her memory for the right word, “enchanting time together, but I do have duties.”

“And you are all duty, just like I taught you.” Malik rested his head above steepled fingers.

“As queen, I can be nothing else.” She gave him a state smile. “I’m sorry.”

“I am too. Tell your guard, I apologize for earlier.”

“My dear wizard, you always have an entrance as loud as your exit is quiet.”

He winced at the dig. “So how old are the brats, you know, so I can figure out what books to dig up to start.”

“They are ten,” she said as she closed the door.

(Words 2,074, first published 10/19/2023)

Series: Duty Calls

  1. Queen Invites Wizard

Book Review: Wicked Satyr Nights

Book Cover from Amazon

Wicked Satyr Nights by Rebekah Lewis

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Some creatures want to be found.

When Dr. Katerina Silverton travels into the Pine Barrens to make a documentary on the Jersey Devil, she doesn’t believe she will uncover any supernatural evidence. In fact, she only takes the job because it promises funding for future projects. So it is quite a shock to Kat when she finds herself face-to-face with the legendary beast she was sent into the forest to capture on film.

In ancient Greece, the god Pan made a terrible mistake which resulted in the creation of the Satyroi: a race of immortal satyrs. Centuries later, he lives secluded in the Pine Barrens, frightening mortals by taking the guise of an abhorrent local monster. When a beautiful woman shows up in his forest looking for proof of his existence, Pan can’t resist revealing himself to her.

Outside forces may be manipulating them both, pushing them together for nefarious reasons. Kat must decide if she could learn to love a satyr or if his appearance is more than she can handle. Can she resist Pan’s wicked nature, or will she give into the temptations beyond her wildest fantasies?

 

MY REVIEW

First off, I did a lot of growing up in New Jersey and camping in the Pine Barrens. I am well familiar with the Jersey Devil story and Ms. Lewis does justice to the folklore.

And combining it with Pan and Satyrs is pure awesome-sauce. Wow, the dovetail of the mythology with the folklore is great. Awesome, awesome worldbuilding.

Story only gets 4.5 stars because of some character inconsistencies early in the book. The longer the story goes, the stronger the characters and the conspiracy gets. In the first couple of chapters, some of the character descriptions are noticeably repeated and should have been removed or reduced by a line editor. (May have been fixed in later editions. The author self-published the book after getting her rights back.)

But as the story goes on, as mentioned, the characters get better. Everyone is far from one-dimensional and has multiple motivations. Kat, the main female protagonist, is awesome, both girly enough to want to shave her legs and butch enough to walk off a cougar taking a chunk out of one. She wants money to do research but realizes earning the money may mean no one will take her research seriously. Pan alternates between making good quick decisions and poor ones; thinking on one’s feet (or hooves) does not make every decision work. Every character has deep flaws worthy of a Greek tragedy waiting to happen, or one that already has. 

No one is truly an angel in the story, nor is the villain a complete devil. Dion faces a situation where his parents and family moved without giving him the forwarding address; his reaction is poor, but a person can understand how screwed up you would be if all your brothers, sisters, and parents just cut you off without explanation.

Don’t know if Ms. Lewis can keep this level of characters and worldbuilding going for the rest of the series, but book one worth the read if you like paranormal romance.