Get Started On The Magpie Lord (A Charm Of Magpies, #1) Drafted By K.J. Charles Presented As Paper Edition

books strike me right from the start with the uniqueness of their worldbuilding, the vividness of their characters, or the pleasure of the writing style, This story did all three,

This is about a Victorian England in which the practice of magic and warlockery is an ominous undercurrent to life, Against this imaginative backdrop, the author brings together two wonderful MCs, Stephen Day is a magician, small in stature and unassuming in appearance, but powerful enough to take on warlocks and wreak justice upon them, Unless they turn out to be unusually strong, . . Lucien Vaudrey is now Lord Crane, an inheritance from his deceased loathed father, and subsequently deceased even more loathsome brother, After years in China, he intends to be back in England just long enough to wind up the affairs of his estate, Unfortunately, it appears that someone is trying to kill him by magic, And Stephen Day, his one hope of survival, is the son of a man ruined by Lucien's father,

Lucien's dry wit is one of the joys of this book, There are so many great lines in his comebacks, with comments scathing or trenchant or selfmocking in wonderful ways, I would like to quote a dozen, but will refrain because they have the most impact in context, His manservant, Merrick, is a great foil for him, And Stephen is honorable and strong in most ways, and weak in some interesting ones, The sexual attraction between Lucien and Stephen smolders nicely, and occasionally flames, while their gradual meeting of the minds is satisfying, This book isn't perfect for instance, I lost the action thread slightly in the climactic moments but it is damned good, I'll buy the sequel as soon as it releases, and will happily reread this before plunging on in the adventures of these characters, This was my first M/M Romance and I cant believe how much I enjoyed it, I would never have tried this genre or this author it werent for myGR friends MsSmartarse and Roxana who convinced me to give The Magpie Lord a try after praising this series like two teenage fangirls.
After I read it I understood why and I think I might join the fanclub, I am not usually a fan of romance but if you throw in some fantasy and a set the novel in Victorian London then I might catch the bait.
Which I did.

Lucien Vaudrey returns to London from his forced exile in Shanghai in order to assume his role as Lord Crane after his father and brother died in suspicious circumstance.
Soon after his return he starts to have suicidal tendencies and is stopped in the last moments by his loyal valet, Realizing something unnatural is going on, the new lord hires a local “shaman” to help him survive, Magician Stephen Day hates Lord Cranes family for food reasons and struggles to put his duty first and deal with the supernatural threats, To his surprise, his client does not resemble his despiteful family and will realize with surprise that they are start to become very attracted to each other.

I enjoyed the relationship between the two of them and the smut, I appreciated that there was a good balance between the plot and the love story, The length was also perfect, A guilty pleasure to which Ill come back to,


OMG tardiness is my pet peeve and I'm SO LATE to the party!!!!! I've seen you all read and rave over this book and I really wanted to read it.
. . I swear I did. But, you know I just don't love historicals. And I don't love paranormal, And and . all this other fluffy stuff was calling out to me,

boink ltthat's me hitting myself upside the head,

Silly girl. Silly, silly girl!!!!

What a FUN read! And not just fun, but CREEPY, And not just fun and creepy, but HOT, And not just fun and creepy and hot, but HILARIOUS,

I loved the story premise,

I loved Crane, . . Crane, he makes me laugh, and he's sexy as all getout, but there's something, . . sad about him that makes me want to shower all my affection onto him,

I loved Stephen, . . the little man ok, honestly, I could have done with a few less "little man" descriptions, It made me feel defensive for him, This guy is STRENGTH and POWER personified, And his "I will not leave you" / "I won't let anything happen to you " declarations make me SWOON!

I loved Merrick, Scratch that. I LOVE Merrick. Mine. He's mine. And I wish I could get more of HIS story,

I felt the mystery portion of the story did a fantastic buildup but I was slightly disappointed at the resolution, It felt a little out of left field, and I was slightly confused, But, me not so smart, So, it's my issue.

I'm so excited to find out there will be booksandin the series! There's such a charm to this book and to the characters.
What a treat. Oh and speaking of treats Crane and the tattoo reveals HOLY MUTHER OF ALL THAT IS SEXY AND YUMMY IN THE WORLD!!!!, . .

Ami reviewed this for the blog along w/ a great interview of the author KJ Charles, Check it out here:
sitelink

riotously funnyand also hot,

bless my molly littlethis was hysterical,

the joy i found in this pulled me right out of my hermithole and onto a keyboard to go write things,

gingerly.

because this one passage had me chortling so hard the cat sleeping on my belly had to stab me in four places at once to keep from being undulated right off the bed.


twice.

these characters are marvelous, dialogue like oscar wilde on absinthe,

never mind the sexual congress always being interrupted by the inconvenient appearance of some random crofter or parson or hedgewitchthe sexual tension was offthechain.


my sex drive goes to hell when i'm down, but with this

i sprung a boner for the first time in, like, hundreds of years.


so recommended i can't even

just go, quickly. enjoy.

it's AUvictorian ridonk madness, and i loved every word,




hours, and it was wicked haaad, too, Real Rating:.of five

Yep, Big winner, this book. Big. Liked everything about it. Yeup. Everything.

I'll come back for a normal, articulate review soon,

NOTSOON

Careless of me to lose sight of this really very enjoyable tale, The problems I still have with books featuring majgickq are lessened when, like Author Charles, one goes to the trouble of thinking the actions and reactions necessary to make the manipulation of the world work consistently.
The Magpie Lord, ancestor of Lord Crane, our main character, is never explicitly described nor is his codification of majgickq's workings explored, I nevertheless was convinced by the fussiness and sticklerishness of Day, the judiciary of magical crimes hired to deal with the Magpie Lord's various magical issues, that the system of this world was well thought out and believable enough for me to move on.


And move on I did, I enjoyed the sexual heat between the men, I approved of the sheer unbothered indifference of Lord Crane to social disapprobation, Day's history with Crane's family lends this story a lovely enemiestofrenemiestolovers dynamic that more often than not works well for me, It affords me the opportunity to size up characters in their rounded,D being, which is an index of how well I will respond to a given author's thought processes.


Author Charles, in this outing, comes through my maze of mishegas and misanthropy with nary a hair out of place, Another series to follow with eager gratitude for the pleasures I am confident I will receive,

PS it's a laugh riot on top ! of everything else, Everyone! Get your butts over to Amazon and get this gem for only,todayoff,! sitelink amazon. com/dp/BCZTNAU/r, . .

Started off slow but just got better and better! No time for a proper review, must keep reading on! I like m/m.
I like fantasy. I like Victorian Gothic. I wrote an m/m Victorian Gothic fantasy, Well, someone had to.

If you're wondering what's the deal with the magpies, . .

British people count magpies, There's a rhyme everyone knows, of which the most common variant starts, 'One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, ' This book began its life when I pointed to three magpies in the park and told my daughter, 'Look, three for a girl,' and she said, 'But how did they know I'd be here' Which got me thinking about what would happen if the magpies did know, and what magpie magic would entail, and what sort of things might happen to a man haunted by magic he didn't understand, and where he might turn for help.
Because there are some fairly creepy magpie rhymes out there, . .

One for sorrow
Two for mirth
Three for a wedding
Four for a birth
Five for rich
Six for poor
Seven for a witch, I can tell you no more.

Eight for a babe buried in the earth
Nine for a feasting
Ten for a dearth

I hope you enjoy it! Crane and Stephen's story continues in sitelinkA Case of Possession.
Actual rating:,stars.

Okay, let's get a few things straight before we begin:

① YES, I did read this book semiwillingly.


And

② YES, I nearly almost practically rated it bloody shrimping,

And

③ YES, I am actually going to read the next book in the series,

So please go ahead and do all the gasping and fainting you need to do right now, so that we can move on and stuff.
Thank thee kindly,



Nicely done! A question, though: what's

with the feathers, my Little Barnacles I mean, last time I checked arthropods didn't look like chickens and stuff.
You're a weird bunch of decapods, you know,

So, I didn't DNF or hate the fish out of this book because:

① It's a delightfully improbable mix of paranormal stuff, Victorian stuff, mystery stuff and M/M romance stuff.
All things improbable are slightly awesome, ergo slightly awesome this book is Logic is me, you say Yes, I am well aware of the fact.


② It's light but deliciously entertaining and fun and enjoyable and delectable and stuff, It's also fastpaced and there's magic and ghosts and villains, oh my! Okay, so the mystery isn't of the perplexingly baffling kind, and I'm sure my old pal Hercule would have solved it in less time it takes to say "unleash the crustaceans, Fleet Admiral DaShrimp!" BUT.
One cannot read ALL sitelinkprofoundly deep material ALL the time, One has to let the little grey cells rest and relax once in a while and stuff, Otherwise they might viciously retaliate by going all "we've had it! We're on bloody shrimping strike!" on your ass pincers and stuff, So this book is the quite perfect destination when an Over Heated Little Head Holiday OHLH is in order,



Yes, this book is definitely the ideal candidate for days when you feel a teensy little bit like

③ Ha ha bloody HA.
I'm not the smiling type, Much less the laughing type I find the habit to be quite repulsive, to be honest, But this little book right here had me chuckling and giggling and snickering and cackling and chortling and guffawing and snorting in the most elegantly gleeful way.
Yes it did. The Positively Edible Lord Crane PELC is exquisitely sarcastic and witty and funny and stuff, He jests and quips and gibes so lusciously it makes my pincers click uncontrollably, Not to mention the Outrageously Rambunctious Heating Effect ORHE his mere presence has on my exoskeleton, TPEMC is a lord with the body and mouth of a sailor, you see, Hence lots of yummilicious swearing to be expected, And tattoos. Lots of, um, intriguing tattoos, And a hot body, too, But it's his titillating mind I'm in love with, undeniably, I couldn't care less about his physical appearance, Or the fact that he can get quite creative with desks, walls and rose gardens, And I certainly don't give a fish about his undying charm, Or his take no prisoners attitude towards flirtation, It's his brilliant intellect is what I'm lusting after here, So Poof, Gone, Harem PGF and stuff, Obviously.



Sorry, what Lord Crane is gay, you say So what I'm an equal opportunity kind of girl and I don't judge, I don't share, either, Not sorry, Tiny Stephen! Besides, I'm pretty sure he'll embrace his bisexuality with merriment the moment he meets me, so there, Problem solved and stuff.

④ No, I did not kill this book dead despite the Disgusting Romance of Doom and Oblivion DRoDaO, No no no no no, my Little Barnacles! Lose consciousness on me again you shall not! We're done with the fainting epidemic, remember Now get a grip and stop interrupting me, will you So.
Since finishing this book, I've been trying to figure out why to this romance wasn't quite as allergyinducing as its colleagues, A fact that is most puzzling indeed, you have to admit, The following conclusion finally reach I did: M/M Romance is not as ridiculously lovey dovey as M/F Crap, Also, slooooooooow burn, Also, also, bloody shrimping hot sex,

And the moral of this No Need to Contact GR Support The Fluffy Siberian Bunnies Have Not Hacked My Account Again and This is Really Nefarious Little Me Writing this Crappy Non Crappy Non NNtCBRSTFSBHNHMAAaTiRNLMWtCNRCNRCNR is: magpies sitelinkKaldar YUM.
QED and stuff.

Book: sitelinkA Case Of Possession



Prereview nonsense

Don't look at me, the MacHalos forced me to read this.
And threatened to put a bullet in my lovely little head if I didn't rate it more than,stars. What a cunningly vicious little bunch they are,

Historical Paranormal Mystery M/M Romance, Yes, that is a thing, And quite a scrumpalicious one at that,



My thoughts exactly,

Full Magic and Magpies and Tattoos and Champagne Fingers and Hahaha and Well that Was Slightly Hot Oh My Crappy Non MaMaTaCFaHaWtWSHOMCNR to come.
.