A rollicking blend of noir detective story and offbeat erotica with a twist of magic.
A bounty hunter who happens to be a dragon chases down demonic ne’er-do-wells in this erotic fantasy romance.
Wright, the author of Lucifer’s Daughter (2019), sets his tale in a world where legendary magical beings, appalled by environmental destruction, have emerged from hiding to put mankind in its place. As a result, humans are a marginalized underclass on the bottom rung of a society riven by class and ethnic conflict, featuring thuggish goblin gangsters, elf sex workers, and a ruling elite of bigoted fairies under the cruel Queen Velocity. Policing things is Sin, a San Francisco bounty hunter who looks like a 5-foot-3-inch, redheaded, green-skinned, attractive human woman, but she’s also a tough-talking dragon with unobtrusive wings, a 9mm handgun for when talking won’t do, and a relatively good heart, which is rare among “supernaturals.” Velocity hires Sin and her partner, Sebastian, a 6-inch-tall imp, to investigate the case of a murdered werewolf found in a sealed chamber. Their sleuthing leads to the succubus Aezriane, who enters the dreams of men to collect their semen; she does so by means so pleasurable that they don’t mind much when she offs them afterward. The paranormal investigators also uncover a plot to breed a race of superdemons and overthrow fairy supremacism. Complicating the case is Sin’s affair with Velocity’s son Fallon and the presence of Fallon’s fiancee, Rose, a haughty noble-fairy who tags along. Wright’s yarn feels a bit like a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as written by Mickey Spillane, with lots of grungy atmosphere, brutal but piquant characters, a beguiling femme fatale, and punchy dialogue, as when Sebastian says, “Oh gross. Dog meat. We could have gone to a nice place that served cat or even human.” Sin also gets explicit sex scenes—“I rode from one orgasm to another screaming out each one as he wrapped his arms around me, refusing to let me escape from the crests that racked my body”—in which her blithe wantonness clashes somewhat with her usual hard-boiled, wisecracking cynicism. However, Wright’s skillful prose and storytelling hold things together to deliver an imaginative page-turner.
A rollicking blend of noir detective story and offbeat erotica with a twist of magic.Pub Date: July 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-08-038384-9
Page Count: 221
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Epic stakes, palace intrigue, and plenty of magic: Stark’s newest series is off to a solid start.
A romantasy mash-up of Crave (2020) and Fourth Wing (2023) from the bestselling author of A Court This Cruel and Lovely (2023).
When an undead stranger shows up on Arvelle’s doorstep, he offers her an impossible choice: Agree to kill the emperor, or watch her brother die. The bad news is that the emperor is an ancient and very powerful vampire protected by an elite company of soldiers. The good news is that Arvelle is a champion fighter herself—or at least she used to be. And, left with a choice that is no choice, she sets out for the capital to do the impossible. This is, on the whole, an engaging read. The Rome-inspired setting is interesting, its magic system is well-defined, and the politics of the emperor’s court is a nice complement to the action in the arena. Arvelle is a complex but sympathetic protagonist and Stark surrounds her with characters who also feel real—most importantly, the boy who broke her heart and the emperor’s sadistic son. The pacing is a bit slow at the beginning, but readers who get past the first third of the book will be amply rewarded. Fans who come to romantasy mainly for the love story may be slightly disappointed that the romance elements mostly stay in the background, while other readers may appreciate the emphasis on the action (and, of course, there are more installments to come). Stark has been building a dedicated following since she self-published Speak of the Demon in 2021, and her Kingdom of Lies series has been huge on TikTok. This author clearly understands the demands of her chosen genre: She knows how to hit the tropes while introducing intriguingly novel details and maintaining suspense.
Epic stakes, palace intrigue, and plenty of magic: Stark’s newest series is off to a solid start.Pub Date: Dec. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780063436718
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
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
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