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J.R. Mabry has done a great job creating one of the most interesting collection of characters I've come across. The main characters are a group of Friars, who are part of the Old Catholic church - an independent group of churches that have separated from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholics - but they're not what you'd expect for Catholic clergy.

For starters they're decidedly not celibate, and there are a couple of rather explicit scenes involving gay sex. They swear, drink, smoke weed and will do pretty much whatever they need to in order to fight the very real demons that creep into our world - including learning practices from non-Christian faiths including Wicca, Enochian and Goetic magick and shamanism.

No, they're not traditional Friars, but the story makes it clear that there's no doubting the sincerity of their faith.

There's a lot of humour in the book and a lot of tension. Between the disappearance of all the avocados in the world, demonic possessions to dispel and their very human vulnerabilities, the Friars keep busy. I enjoyed just how real the characters come across. I found myself laughing, crying, celebrating and mourning with them - cheering them on and getting mad at them.

This is the first book of a trilogy and the next two parts are due to come out in the first half of 2018. I'm looking forward to seeing what they get to handle with next.

I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book.

This is a nIfty collection of novellas set in London and covering a range of genres. Because of this, how much any reader will enjoy any given story will depend on how well the reader likes that particular genre. Personally, I tend to like Urban Fantasy and Paranormal stories best, so I was impressed with how much I liked some of the others

My favorite novella was the first one - "Sticks and Stones" by Sarah Buhrman, which happens to be set in the same world as a series of hers I've been reading called "The Runespells" - and which I whole-heartedly recommend if you enjoy urban fantasy. (The first book is "Too Wyrd" if you're interested.) While the story in this collection is set in that world, however, the urban fantasy elements are almost negligible and you don't really need to know anything from the other books to understand and enjoy what's happening here. The characters are well developed and the heroes are relatable. The action is tense and written clearly enough to follow what's happening.

I also really liked the sweet BBW romance, "Postcards From London" which is the next story. It's short, but I liked the characters and how well we got to know them and see them grow even in such a compact tale.

"Rippling the Sheets" is a bit of a thriller. I found the story interesting, but a bit confusing at times. Because all of the stories are set in London, there are a lot of "Britishisms" in the writing, so I'm not sure if the mild confusion was from the use of unfamiliar idioms or if the writer just writes oddly, but I still enjoyed reading it.

In all honesty, I'm not really sure what I thought of the next story, "Mistaken Identity." It's hard to explain my ambivalence towards it without spoiling it, but the interaction between some of the characters under the given circumstances was rather uncomfortable to me. That said, it's well written, and the author managed to surprise me by taking the story in a different direction than I'd expected.

The only real clunker I found in the collection was "The Life and Death of George Weeks" which, while certainty topical, was heavy-handed and obvious. It is also the shortest offering in the collection so I don't feel it diminishes the overall value of quality of the book.

I'm not a fan of explicit sex scenes, so I ended up skipping both the next story "My Partner, The Brit" and the last one, "Destination Wedding."

The remaining tale, "The Cave" also has some sexually explicit scenes, but I was far enough into the story and so captivated by what I was reading that I just skimmed over them so I could enjoy the rest of it - and enjoy it I did. It's a sweet paranormal romance and full of feels. Interestingly, the author chose to include an alternate ending which I personally liked much better, though the actual ending she used is quite touching.

Taken as a whole, I found a lot to like in the anthology and a couple new authors to check out. I recommend checking it out.

I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book.

This is the second book in Holly Evans "Ink Born" series and picks up right where "Stolen Ink" left off, with Dacian and friends moving to a new city in hopes of staying ahead of those who'd like to use his special skills for their own ends.

One result of the move is that he is no longer able to be his own boss, and getting used to working for someone else isn't easy. Plus there are, of course, the emotional ramifications of such a sudden move and the stress it can put on any relationship, and new relationships to be forged. Worse, Kieran is faced with a family tragedy and needs the support of his friend. With all that already on his plate, when Dacian is drawn into a new mystery and the ink network tries to force an even tighter bond, he finds himself struggling to keep it all together.

The only complaint I had with the book is that the author had a few phases that, to me, were overused, and on a couple of occasions, it seemed like a brief passage of dialog was repeated almost word for word. Still, the story, characters and the world they exist in are compelling and quite enjoyable

This book is *really× good

I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book.

There are several different kinds of magic in this alternative Earth. The main kind used here is tattoo magic and it is easily of the more interesting ones I've come across in my reading. It's kind of tricky to try and explain how it works without giving an example of one being done, and I know how much I hate spoilers, so I'll just say this: It's really creative and sounds exceptionally cool. I kinda wish I it was real!

Dacian is a tattoo magician and is quite good at his job - perhaps too good. He's worked hard to keep the extent of his abilities under wraps because if it were known it could put him in danger. However, when someone starts stealing people's tattoos - causing them to die in agony - he realizes he may have to risk exposing himself to prevent more murders.

The book had a moderately large cast of characters who are introduced to us over the course of the story, which I really liked. The pacing of the introductions allowed the characters personalities to stand out before becoming part of the enable.

There's a sweet romance that develops and I really appreciated that it wasn't an "instalove." By going at a slower pace I get to see how the guys grow together as a couple and how their interaction changes them both. I feel more invested in their relationship and it makes me want to see them succeed that much more.

I also really liked how vivid the descriptions are.I often felt like I was almost more watching the story than reading a blook.

I have high hopes for the rest of this series based on this start.

I received a copy of this book at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Stop me if you've heard this before: An orphan who's parents died in a magical calamity goes to a magic school, quickly makes enemies with an arrogant blonde and discovers a number of secrets have between withheld for many years. Actually, don't stop me, keep reading - because as familiar as that may sound, it's where any similarity between this story of new students attending a magic school and the rather well known other such story ends.

In "Trials of Magic" we meet two orphaned sisters who are trying to get into the Hundred Halls, the only magic university in the world. Finally living on their own after years bouncing through foster homes, they're short on money - and one sister is short a sponsor for the Hall she wants enter - and have to pass the entrance exams to get in. But these girls are determined to get in, even if it might mean taking dangerous risks to do so.

This is a really great book and a good start for a series. The characters are complex and while the girls do tend to run headlong into dangerous situations, they are capable of learning from their mistakes and show a lot of growth through the course of the story. The writing is clear and the author does a good job of making it easy to keep track of who's who so that I didn't have to keep looking back at what I'd already read to figure it out (something I run into far too often!) It's definitely a series I plan to continue reading.