S.W. VaughnRecensioni

A brutal but very good beginning to what I hope is a worthwhile series. I enjoyed Cobalt and Will thoroughly and even got wrapped up in their angst as both men are damaged. I was surprised by Uriskel toward the end. Well plotted, with a good flow and enough surprises to keep this quick read interesting.

I did not enjoy this installment as much as I did Skin Deep. Uriskel drove me crazy with his need to carry everything on his back. Trystan is the hero of this story in my opinion with his up beat attitude and his love that finally changed the burden for Uriskel. Prince Braelan's visit to New York opened his eyes to what a misled putz he was but not before he tortured Uriskel. It was nice to visit the gang at The Grotto again and see how the royalty and the banished mingle. Nicely written and an easy read, this book is definitely worth one's time.

Julia ♥Duncan♥ wrote a review that I completely agree with.

The story is full of plot-chasms.

I'll add one or two more things to the list...

First off, I cannot believe that nobody would have believed Will had he gone to the police. I get that the police department is a close-knit group, but had he shown just an inch of his back skin and said one of the cops did it, no one would be able to ignore that with a clear conscience.

Second, Lyle was clearly unstable. Don't they do psych checkups regularly?

The third thing... and this really really pissed me off...
A cop from another precinct comes specifically for you to pick you up, drives off with you cuffed in the back of his car, carrying a gun registered to your best friend (for which you were arrested in the first place). Then he tortures you for at least an hour or two. And then he ends up with his neck broken. And you leave the gun, and your DNA, and your prints all over the car.

And nobody from the PD reacted?! Yeah, right...

But even if they did, and he tried to claim self-defense (since he can't exactly tell them a Fae diquised as Cobalt did it), he wouldn't be able to prove anything because Cobalt healed him completely within an hour of it happening!


All that, plus the things Julia pointed out, but I still kinda liked this book. I got more pissed while writing this review than I was while actually reading it.
So I'll probably read the next installment in the series (Uriskel gets a story!)

3.5 stars. Nothing wrong with it, I simply like the first two much much better. And while "Skin Deep" is my favorite book, Uriskel/Trystan is my favorite couple =) Weird. I know =D

1. There is not a hint of m/m in this book whatsoever.
Ok, maybe there is a ghost of a hint, but it's abuse, not a true m/m relationship. On the bright side - there is only one female character with a very telling name Lillith, need I say more...

2. Lots of hurt, very little to no comfort.

3. Pronoun obsession. I got confused between different "he" quite a few times and had to reread whole paragraphs to figure out who did what to whom.

4. The ending is a bit predictable. Sorta-kinda spoiler: Everyone was conveniently popping up and everything falling right into place at the right time. HFN.

Overall - 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5.

Read it for the third time. Yep, still favorite :)

Not as good as the first one. Jenner comes off as a big (well, skinny, but...) teddy bear, yet the author tries to convince us otherwise - cold and ruthless and terror-inducing. I haven't seen it, though. Not in this book and very little in the first.

I would have liked to know more about Shonen. What the heck was his problem? It's all hush-hush and not very informative. Why did he turn on Harada? There is little to none on that in the story.

There are some other minor issues, but on the whole I liked the book. Wonder if Angel will ever end up with Jenner =)

3.75 stars.

The ending of is rather vague where police is concerned. But otherwise I loved the book!

As one of the group who worked on editing and proofing these stories and helped put the anthologies together I might be considered biased, but these anthologies are definitely worthy of the 5 star rating.

3.5

As I said before, I was actually really looking forward to reading this book. I love Urban Fantasy, and especially enjoy stories with fairies in them. Combine that with M/M and we have a winner.

Vaughn's take on the Fae is the quite traditional one with the Seelie and Unseelie, the good and the bad. The Fae have the usual trait of using glamor to hide their true form, and in Cobalt's case he can use his magic to heal. He's also a well-known tattoo artist, and it's this that leads Will, the radio talk show host, to first meet him.

Will is relatively famous and his show is popular. His on-air persona is witty and strong. In his private life he seems to be everything but: there's a long string of abusive ex's in his past, the most recent of whom beats him to near death more than once. I liked Will, a lot, but I'd liked to see more of his assertive side. Most of the time he came off as a bit of a weakling. I get the why of it, but it felt like there were two Wills: on-air will and private life Will. They didn't seem to blend together.

Cobalt and Will's romance was very sweet. The way Cobalt cared for Will from the moment they met came off the pages very clearly. The chemistry between the two of them was the strongest on an emotional level. Apart from their first sexual encounter the sex scenes were a bit dull and monotone. True, the sex wasn't a huge factor in the story, and it was a hell of a lot better than just fade-out, but I would have like a bit more steam.

In the end I was left wanting to know more about Cobalt's history and the whole Faekyn. Hopefully the world building continues in subsequent books.

3.5/5
I think, Shiro wasn't the best character for me to enjoy. I do love Gabriel aka Angel and Jenner, but Shiro was a pure contradiction in himself.



First of all, he is this stoic Japanese character determined to serve his master with honor. On the other hand he suddenly develops these inexplicable bouts of rage where he kills one fighter because he calls him a derogatory name, and nearly beats to death a homeless person for repeating the same offence. WTF? is all I can say.

The other confusing part of Shiro, was his split personality between lily white Shiro and demonic Akuma, which wasn't explained well at all. The character development wasn't helped by giving almost equal parts in the plot to larger than life Angel and a very scary and mysterious Jenner, so Shiro had to fight not to fade into the background with these two.

Otherwise the plot is straightforward and continues the story started in the book #1 really well. Devil's Honor is not the best instalment of the lot, but it still makes me want to continue with this unique series.

By the way, the book is shelved as MM Romance which is totally not what this is all about.

This is a mystery novel with a gritty feeling. You have ex-cons, an S&M club, and detailed descriptions of violence, abuse, and death. The characters are complex and stay true to character. There are no major plot holes and the grammar is fine.

This story starts out slow, but picks up speed after about a quarter of the way into it. The story is easy to understand. The plot is unique, I have never read anything similar to this.

I enjoyed this story, and the author had me guessing the outcome until the very end. Ozzy Stone is now one of my favorite book boyfriends. He is polite, tough, sure of himself, and wise. There were a couple of times that I had to reread a chapter to make sure I had read it right. I think some of the rereads were wishful thinking. This story toes the line between darkly descriptive and darkly disturbing style.

This is not for everyone. If you enjoy mystery novels and mind a story that delves into riskier topics, you will enjoy this. I look forward to more Stone and Blade thrillers in the future.

I won this in a giveaway.

ABR's full Broken Angel audiobook review can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

First thoughts about the cover of Broken Angel? Well, that’s a bit scary. The wall looks cracked, the door looks like it is in shadow. Is it a basement? Is it a dungeon? Is that blood on the floor?! It had my brain asking several questions before I ever started the book. Good way to draw the reader/listener in.

This story is about Gabriel Morgan. He’s trying to find his sister. He feels he is responsible for her, he must take care of her, save her. In doing so, he unwillingly ends up getting tied in with underground fighting. He fights to protect his sister.

The main ‘bad guy’ for most of this book is Slade. Honestly, this guy is an A-Hole to the max. Cruel, angry, narcissistic, manipulative… He sure makes a great bad guy for sure! I wanted to punch.

Troy Duran is the narrator for this story. I loved his voice. Troy Duran has a sort of throaty growl in his voice that I found lovely. I loved the accents he gave to some of the characters in the book. This book is 9 hours, 1 minute, and 40 seconds. Well worth the time.

There are several descriptive bloody fight scenes. Kinda mixes boxing, mixed martial arts, free style, and flat out brawling. If you aren’t into MMA or similar fighting styles, this book is not for you. It has a great story line about the five houses that run the fighting ring as well.

The one mistake the narrator made that I caught was at the end of chapter six. It was a small one word oopsie, but it still brought me out of the story. The word bow. He read it as bow as in bow and arrow. It should have been said as one would bow a head. As in bend forward or curve downward. Same spelling, but different. Over all I greatly enjoyed this story and am looking forward to the others in this series. They are on my list for sure.

When I finished this book it left me with the feeling that sometimes people are not what they seem. Even the best person has their dark side. There will always be people in your life that you think you cannot live without, but you might have to cut ties and walk away. Sometimes letting go is the only way to move forward.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator.

I loved this 35 chapter book. Homeless, Gabriel had just moved to New York City in search of his missing sister, Lillith. He’d do anything to protect her, and when i say ‘anything,’ that’s not an exaggeration.

My favorite lines: 1) A dark smile surfaced, and he said, “I’d kill you for free. But right now, you’re worth more to me alive.” 2) Fear pulled his senses into sharp relief. 3) The lie came easy. He’d had years of practice.

It was revealed pretty early that Marcus Slade was behind it all. The biggest mystery of the real reason why lingered until the end. It was fun trying to solve clues to figure it all out. There was a cool twist at the end that I wasn’t expecting at all!

Marcus knew that Gabriel was a good fighter, so he wanted to own and control him for underground fighting–no rules. Marcus wanted to make a lot of money off of him; he’d already turned Lillith into a high-end escort.

The author had a fantastic talent with creating the characters’ relationships. I loved that the dynamics were three-dimensional. No one truly trusted each other, even though some people got along there was still some tension. Heroes had faults while villains had positive qualities. I liked the moral gray aspect. The author also did a great job with plot. The action wasn’t stopped for excessive backstory or info dumps. Each scene was valuable for the plot to move forward.

My favorite scenes: 1) Jenner quit inside the limo 2) Akuma and Gabriel fighting in the ring

I RECOMMEND this book to read.

Ok. Thing number 1: make sure you have a strong stomach. There is a lot of abuse here, not sure if it was needed or not.

I really enjoyed this book, but I admit that I skipped some of the abuse scenes.

I loved this book. It was a big dark and violent and therefore not for everyone. The abuse scenes were brutal although the sex scenes were mild. (Actually, I think there may have only been one, the rest implied.)

The characters were interesting and I appreciated how Vaughn didn't think I was ignorant and assumed I had some understanding of the Fae. His was a unique take on them but it was well done. I loved the complexity of Uriskel in particular. He was so interesting and difficult to figure out. I really liked how Will's thought process was portrayed, although his celebrity as a popular radio show host with the self-assurance needed for such a job was a little hard for me to reconcile with how he was in his own life.

There were several twists and surprises that really made the book for me. I loved the juxtaposition of Will's situation compared with Uriskel's and Cobalt's handling of both.

The only thing I really didn't like was Cobalt's name, but that is obviously extremely minor.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 because I just love that "taking care of my severely injured true love" crap.

I loved this book. It was a big dark and violent and therefore not for everyone. The abuse scenes were brutal although the sex scenes were mild. (Actually, I think there may have only been one, the rest implied.)

The characters were interesting and I appreciated how Vaughn didn't think I was ignorant and assumed I had some understanding of the Fae. His was a unique take on them but it was well done. I loved the complexity of Uriskel in particular. He was so interesting and difficult to figure out. I really liked how Will's thought process was portrayed, although his celebrity as a popular radio show host with the self-assurance needed for such a job was a little hard for me to reconcile with how he was in his own life.

There were several twists and surprises that really made the book for me. I loved the juxtaposition of Will's situation compared with Uriskel's and Cobalt's handling of both.

The only thing I really didn't like was Cobalt's name, but that is obviously extremely minor.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 because I just love that "taking care of my severely injured true love" crap.

Aside from having a very hot cover, Skin Deep is also a very good novel. It’s the story of Will Ambrose and Cobalt, two men who have more in common than simple an odd name.

Will is a DJ for a night show on the radio. He is gay and out but that is not a free ticket for happiness; Will tends to attract people with violence issue, boyfriends who end to hurt Will and not only in a figurative way. And now Will is even more in danger since his boyfriend Lyle, not only is violent, he is also a cop, and so Will is scared to go for help. But one night Lyle goes way over a push and a bruise, and it’s the time that will realize that his life is in danger.

Cobalt is a hot tattoo artist with a successful parlour in Manhattan. His place is like a haven for people, and more than ordinary crow can understand. Cobalt is a banished fae, and he built a shield around his parlour to avoid unwelcomed guests. It was thought for protect otherworldly creatures, but it’s useful also to Will, he really needs a safe haven. And Cobalt is ready to give it to him, only that he fears that Will is not strong enough to also accept more from him. The previous three love relationship Cobalt had, all ended badly when his lovers discovered Cobalt’s true nature: they were not able to accept him, and refusing him, they refused also reality and lost their minds. Cobalt believes to be cursed and for sure he is not willing to start a relationship with a very fragile man like Will.

I like the intake of the author in the issue: there is no paranormal explanation, as Cobalt believes, he is not cursed at all. Like Will attracts bad boyfriends for him, since he is a fragile man bad boyfriends think they can treat like an object, Cobalt attracts fragile men; a fragile man sees in Cobalt a safe haven and they really need it. But there is fragility and fragility, and Cobalt doesn’t understand that Will is stronger than expected, and with a good man by his side he is able to face everything.

There is a good love story here, but there is also a good portion of violence; fortunately, the reader doesn’t witness it, but he has second-hand report. There is also rape, and again, you don’t read it, but you know it happened. So be aware, it’s not an easy story, but I like all the complex development. I think the author is planning more stories in the same setting, and so she spent quite a time in preparing possible scenario: there are too many supporting characters that have a strong personality to be confined only in this story, Nix and Malik, for example, but also Skelly and even Jared, Will’s neighbour who does only a little cameo, but who left me a strong impression.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1607374153/?tag=elimyrevandra-20