A thrilling supernatural novel that also engagingly investigates the nature of fandom.
After a fatal car accident, a young man becomes a psychic in this gay paranormal romance.
Mari’s novel has a killer opening line: “The world around Adrian Sinclair was dead.” It’s the middle of winter, and Adrian is still reeling from the loss of his best friend, killed when their car was hit by a drunk driver two years before. Around the time of the crash, Adrian developed psychic powers, allowing him to see and communicate with ghosts, demons, and other paranormal entities. Enter the Crossroads Paranormal Research Society, a team of young men who investigate hauntings for a popular YouTube channel with a huge fan base. They take Adrian on as their new trainee, hoping to hire a psychic to join them full time. While Adrian spends much of the first third of the novel attempting to keep the fact that he’s gay a secret, romantic tension builds as he develops feelings for Yukio “Yu” Gaetz, a stoic-seeming demonologist and CPRS team co-founder. Bad news for Adrian: Fans of the show have shipped Yu with the other co-founder, Lukas Kessler, under the ship-name “Yukas”—and rabidly defend their favorite pairing. Even worse news: There’s a supernatural entity out there that seems to be targeting psychics, so joining CPRS could put Adrian in its deadly line of fire. Mari skillfully handles a sometimes-tense, other times swoonworthy romance that escalates as Adrian becomes more involved in the team, learning more about his incredible powers and developing deeper relationships—all while otherworldly danger looms. The burgeoning relationship at the novel’s center keeps the drama fresh and lively, aided by dynamic character development. One of the best elements of the book, however, is the inclusion of text from an online fan forum, which makes CPRS feel like a real, popular team of supernatural investigators. Likewise, the large fandom—with thousands of interactions on the forum and conventions with packed audiences—allows Mari to investigate themes involving toxic parasocial relationships, such as the negative impact of shipping on real people.
A thrilling supernatural novel that also engagingly investigates the nature of fandom.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9798986829814
Page Count: 508
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
This slightly smutty monster romance feels more like a spectacle than a deliberately paced story.
A woman travels to Scotland to unravel her late father’s past and meets a grumpy Scotsman with his own secrets.
Keyanna MacKay was brought up by a single father who was always tight-lipped about his upbringing, so when he dies, she’s left with no family. Key decides that learning about his life before he left Scotland would be a good way of keeping his memory close and perhaps connecting with long-lost relatives. She discovers a grandmother and other extended family in Scotland, but they’re hardly welcoming. “I know who you are....And you shouldn’t have come,” are the first words her grandmother says to her. Lachlan Greer has little patience for the American he’s already written off as clueless. When he witnesses Key’s snubbing by her family members, his grumpy demeanor gives way to begrudging pity, and he starts helping her navigate the local community and try to build a bridge to her grandmother. At first, this book seems to be a contemporary romance with light magical undertones involving a family’s mysterious curse, but it quickly devolves into a monster romance heavy on shock value. While monster romance can be fun, it doesn’t work here. Key and Lachlan’s chemistry is bumpy, and the pace of their relationship as they go from disastrous first impressions to a happily ever after is all over the place. Ferguson tries to combine too many elements—including a grumpy-meets-sunshine pairing, a mystery with sensitive family dynamics, and the complicated logistics of falling in love with a cryptid—leaving several threads not fully resolved. The setting is the most positive element, with Scotland’s lush greenery providing the perfect whimsical background for hunting down long-buried family secrets.
This slightly smutty monster romance feels more like a spectacle than a deliberately paced story.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593816851
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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