A hit-and-miss erotic fantasy with sharp writing but underemployed characters.
Psychic lovers wrangle with each other—in and out of bed—in this paranormal period romance.
Piper Scott and Jules Alexander seem like perfectly matched English aristocrats with scruffy Victorian backstories. He’s the eighth Viscount Beauchamp, she’s the granddaughter of an earl; he fled his abusive father to live as a London street urchin, and she spent her youth accompanying her wastrel dad to gambling dens. However, Jules is also head of the League, a secret organization that shelters misfits with psychic powers at his country estate, and he has visionary trances that debilitate him; she perceives people’s auras and can heal mystic maladies with a touch. They’re also both so gorgeous that they spend half the book tremulously ogling each other. However, vague contrivances stymie their passion. Jules rebuffs Piper because he thinks his psychic gift might overwhelm her if they get close; meanwhile, she’s pursued by an unbalanced Frenchwoman with ESP who’ll use violence to access Piper’s healing touch. This first installment of Sumner’s League of Lords series is weakened by the fact that the lady isn’t trouble enough: Piper has a background in gambling but never gambles, and she enters the novel posing as a fake clairvoyant but never cons anyone; throughout, she’s mainly just a woman in love who helps people. She’s surrounded by potentially interesting supporting characters whose entertainment value is similarly wasted, such as her maid Minnie, a sex worker’s daughter who can throw knives with her mind but never uses her telekinetic powers in the narrative. The action set pieces are mainly in the bedroom, where Piper and Jules get up to intense, if slow-paced, antics: “He swallowed her moan as he captured her lips, his lids sweeping low the last thing she saw before she crested, her body bowing off the bed and into him.” Still, Sumner has a knack for snappy dialogue and Austen-esque drollery: “A week passed before Piper concluded that her rejection of Julian’s pitiable but heartfelt proposal might have been an unintentionally deceptive feminine ploy.”
A hit-and-miss erotic fantasy with sharp writing but underemployed characters.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-65920-208-3
Page Count: 420
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Compelling, evenly paced, and delightfully fun.
When her sister is accused of committing murder, Poppy Delamare returns home to uncover the truth and winds up in a fake betrothal to a duke.
Since she fled home two years ago so her stepfather couldn’t force her into a marriage with his private secretary, Lovell, Poppy has lived in London under the identity Flora Deaver. But when she discovers her younger sister married Lovell and is now blamed for his murder, Poppy doesn’t believe it and sets out to uncover what really happened. Joshua Fielding, the Duke of Langham, is taking a train in the same direction for his grandmother’s birthday party. He wants to help Poppy, so the pair make a pact: They’ll pretend to be betrothed so she’ll have more resources to help her sister and he won’t have to deal with Grandmama’s matchmaking attempts. At first, Poppy thinks Langham is arrogant and entitled, but her feelings change as she gets to know him. As they try to decide what to do about the very real chemistry developing between them, the case becomes bigger, twistier, and more dangerous. Like the previous titles in the series, this third installment mixes romance, murder mystery, and feminist sensibilities. The romance here is a simple slow burn that pairs well with the increasingly complex mystery providing most of the tension, and each arc has a satisfying, well-earned conclusion. The story bucks gender stereotypes with not just the obviously intelligent, fierce heroine, but more notably with a hero who’s learning to be vulnerable and imperfect.
Compelling, evenly paced, and delightfully fun.Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781538725597
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A bloated backstory makes this a “to-read” for die-hard fans only.
A lonely man gets a second chance with his shape-shifting boyhood love in this emotional paranormal romance.
Oxnard Matheson is only 12 when his abusive father abandons him and his mother, leaving the boy to quickly step into the role of provider. For a multitude of reasons, Ox lives a solitary life though he’s desperate for connection. His dad’s cruelty dented his self-esteem. He's bullied at school because of his slow speech, and working a full-time job before becoming a teenager doesn't leave much room for a social life. A bright spot comes in the way of new neighbors—the Bennett family—who show up when Ox is 16. He’s instantly accepted by them, finding a close friend in the youngest Bennett, Joe, who’s 10. They’re an odd group, but they take a liking to Ox and soon feel close enough to reveal their secret: They're actually a pack of wolf shifters. Ox hopes they'll become a permanent fixture in the Green Creek community, and they stay for several years. But nothing good lasts forever in Ox’s world, and a devastating murder drives the Bennett family away. It's only years later, when Joe reappears, that Ox can start to address the trauma he's experienced over his frequent abandonment. The vignettes telling the story of Ox's early life feel clunky compared to Klune's more lyrical fantasy offerings. For a large part of the story, Ox is a teenager in desperate need of guidance, falling in love with someone six years his junior. While experiencing Ox’s formative years and constant yearning for connection is undoubtedly important to the story, his adulthood makes for a more compelling (and comfortable) read.
A bloated backstory makes this a “to-read” for die-hard fans only.Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250890313
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
