Bitchie's Books
Avid reader, part time gamer. I read and review books for other readers, not for authors. I review mostly M/M books, so if that doesn't float your boat, well, there are other boats in the sea, other reviewers in this great blogosphere!
Spooky Good Fun!
This book was not exactly what I expected. It was a historical, without being mired down by the fact that it's a historical. It felt a bit like an AU England, where Shaman and "practioners" of magic are known to the public, and Lucien Crane is in desperate need of a Shaman, as he keeps trying to kill himself behind his own back. He has no interest in dying, so obviously, some curse is making him try to take his own life.
So he sends for a Shaman, or practioner, and gets Stephen Day, who has quite an ax to grind with Lucien's family. Determined to tell Crane to go to hell, Stephen is just too good of a person to let the guy die this way. As he gets to know him, he is forced to realize that Lucien, who was banished to China by his father when he was 17, is NOTHING like his awful father and brother.
This book was very creepy, with grave robbing, ghosts, magic, murder, blood, and a huge flock of magpies. I usually prefer more focus on the romance, but I didn't miss it much in this story, because the characters and the world building and plot was so good. I will definitely be checking out more in this series as they come, hopefully following Lucien and Stephen as their relationship grows. We got a nice HFN ending, with no grand declarations, hopefully that will come in book two.
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