*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
After the incident with Joel, Renjaku wants Hana to quit his job and work at Renjaku’s firm.
I am not a fan of how Renjaku is behaving. He’s not being protective; he’s being controlling, taking Hana’s phone, hauling him off on a work trip… He’s heading into red flag territory. Hana seemed genuinely concerned about losing his autonomy. It’s why he wanted to keep his job and worked so hard to get a full-time position since the start of this series. At the same time, he just lets Renjaku undermine that? Why even set that up then? I dunno, it seems like a plot device to keep the coffee shop setting for some scenes. I sure hope Hana sticks to his guns on this. 2.5 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
While Renjaku is away for work, Hana’s mother moves to set up her son with another alpha, Joel. Renjaku did give Hana a collar instead of biting, but this publicly outs him as an omega.
What a toxic fucking family. This makes me even more annoyed that Hana didn’t make Renjaku more aware to better protect him from his mother’s machinations. It was also very predictable that whoever his mom would pick as a potential mate would be a jerk because everyone but Renjaku has to be an asshole. 3 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
Renjaku and Hana are living together as mates and as their relationship is more serious, their families get involved.
This volume focuses on Hana’s family and how they’ve treated him as an omega. Which is not great. It doesn’t really help that he’d not being honest with Renjaku about what’s happening and (spoilers???) with Renjaku leaving on a work trip, Hana can’t even go to him for comfort. The persistent smut doesn’t distract from how sad this is. And we’re just gonna have no hard feelings for your alpha brother trying to mate with you. Okay… 3 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
Despite helping with Hana’s heat, Kaoru still hesitates to take him on as his mate. Kaoru’s sister, Marika as well as Hana’s brother Aoba, come into the picture to interfere in their budding relationship.
This was okay, but I feel like a bunch of stuff was set up and not followed through. The stuff with the siblings was not really an issue. Hana’s mother tries to set him up with a guy who’s a creep, yet is also involved with the coffee brand Hana works for. There were some really interesting ways for the plot to go, but we just get some smut and a shrug at the conflict before we get our happy ending. I don’t dislike it, but I gotta give it a 3 out of 5 for what could have been.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
Feijin is half demon, half human, and lives in a heavenly realm with his master, Sage Gaochun, who had taken Feijin in after his family died. Fejin is obsessed with his master, but if they were to do anything, it is Sage Gaochun who would suffer grave consequences.
Spoiler: I don’t care if this all turns out okay; Feijin drugs Sage Gaochun in order to finally sleep with him. That’s irrideemable in my book.
The man tiddies in this book are fucking insane:
If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was just a tall buff woman with a boob window.
There is plenty of plot with this smut, and while rushed, it can be intriguing. It’s hard for me to get past how the plot was touched off (see spoiler above). That makes me want to put Feijin in jail, not root for him to get with his crush. I’ve read other series where the main relationship starts with these shady circumstances (like Don’t Be Cruel), and that’s always in the back of my mind. No amount of man boob or tender glances is gonna fix that. All I remember is that complete violation of boundaries, and this book also has some shades of incest and power imbalances. 2 out of 5 because the art is pretty.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is for mature readers only.
Detective Kuroiwa and his subordinate Minami work tough murder cases using Minami’s unusual ability to see and feel the victim’s thoughts and manifest their injuries on his body. When Kuriuwa’s ex wife, Mari, is murdered, they work together to solve the case but Minami is unsure if his feelings for Kuroiwa are his own or the lingering echoes of his dead ex wife.
The implications of Minami’s powers are sad and frightening. His introduction is – trigger warning – reading the memories of a rape/murder victim and him dealing with feeling the violation in parts of his body he doesn’t have. In addition, he could die if he feels this shit too long. I like the art style; it can be ethereal but maudlin. Not what I’d think to use for a police procedural or murder case with how soft it is but it’s pretty. There are some spicy scenes. 3.7 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
Now that Coyote knows who Marleen really is, Marleen is put on house arrest to keep him away from Coyote while the wolves and wolf hunters conspire with their respective groups behind the scenes. Coyote takes a huge risk to try and rescue the man he loves.
While Coyote and Marleen are sweet and they have their spicy scenes, I am all about what is going on with the wolves gearing up to take on the mafia family that’s hunting them down. I am super excited to see all this come to a head (no dirty pun intended) in the next volume. 4 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
This graphic novel is a collection of stories of m/m relationships in a variety of different genres; including pirates, spies, knights and more.
Each story is pretty short but they pack a punch. I didn’t end up feeling as if the stories were incomplete or poorly paced. And you get so many different types of stories; ghosts, heroes, regular guys, all different races are represented; the works. The art styles are also varied and it all comes together in a very enjoyable anthology. If you like gay comics you will enjoy this collection. 4.7 out of 5.
And that help comes in explicit sex. This is an adult comic.
I thought this was going to be a typical alpha/omega story but then we have Hana’s brother drop in and my jaw dropped. I did NOT expect that. I can’t say I like this twist but it does give Renjaku added motivation to help Hanna other than the inevitable coming to terms with the idea of a fated mate. 3.5 out of 5.
*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
This book is a collection of short stories set in the same universe as the other Beings in Love books.
The first one is “The Firebird” set in France in 1934, where a firebird, Kazimir, becomes enamored with a writer named Jacob. Kazimir is used to being the center of attention and having admirers begging to be inspired by him. But Jacob sees Kazimir as more than just an object. It’s a sweet story about finding someone who really values you.
Next is “The Warrior’s Sacrifice” set in Mexico in 1947. Mateo is a “muxe” a person assigned one gender at birth but behaves associated with the opposite gender and he gets beat up for this and left as an offering to the jaguar who protects the town; named Carmelo. Carmelo is home from WWII and keeps Mateo safe, revealing he has been watching Mateo for some time. This is a really touching story with low angst.
Next is “Hyacinth on the Air” featuring a fairy named Hyacinth, who loves to push the boundaries of what he’s allowed to say on air. Seeing as this is set in 1961, there are some pretty strict standards so he causes no end of trouble for Walter, a human who’s in charge of cleaning up after the messes Hyacinth makes. Being a fairy, Hyacinth doesn’t understand why humans are so uptight and why Walter would resist their obvious attraction. This one’s cute but out of all of them this one I found the least impactful.
The next story is “A Giant Among Men.” Set in 1982, Vietnam veteran, former police officer, and troll, Tank, is determined to make sure his friend Simon, an elf, gets home safe after the bar where Simon works is vandalized by people who hate Beings. Simon resists the help because he doesn’t want to be seen as weak but comes to realize Tank sees him as much more than a pretty elf bartender. Pretty enjoyable for what it is.
Next up is “The Imp for Mr. Sunshine.” Set in 2005, Rennet – an imp – has a crush on John, the deputy mayor. Since things tend to go wrong when an imp is present, Rennet believes this bad reputation will keep him from this crush developing into anything more. Little does he know that John has been protecting him for more than just friendly reasons. The parts where Rennet is dealing with his nature and what that means to the people around him are the best in this story.
Next, we have “A Wolf in the Garden.” Miki is a human who loves to work with exotic pants so his job in a greenhouse that’s also in a magic shop is where he’s most comfortable. One day a werewolf named Diego comes into the shop and Miki is smitten, but he knows Diego had a mate, and she tragically died of cancer. Miki does see Diego wants him but believes a wolf only gets one mate in their lives and that a man like him who’s been abandoned by his family and has strange hobbies. These two make an adorable couple and I really enjoyed this story and it was cool to see previous characters like Kazimir reappear. It makes the world feel so much bigger.
Lastly, “The Dragon’s Egg” featuring Arthur and Bertie from “A Boy and his Dragon”. Here Bertie discovers an egg that is their child and Arthur goes into full nesting mode.
This is a pretty decent collection but I have to say “A Wolf in the Garden” and “The Warriors Sacrifice” are my favorite. The others just didn’t grab me as much and made the book feel SO much longer. To get the full experience, you really have to make sure you read the previous four books so don’t just hop into this one. 3 out of 5.
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