One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: M/M Historical Paranormal Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 260 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Dreamspinner Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.



A year earlier it had become notorious, London's East End district of Whitechapel forever linked with the hunting grounds of a vicious serial killer known only as Jack the Ripper. For the poor and wretchedly unfortunate, the criminals, prostitutes, gangs...and dispossessed lycanthrope Alun Blayney...it was home.

Flush with winnings from a recent card game, Alun is on his way to a doss house to rent a room when the unmistakable scent of blood, death, and werewolf washes over him. Following his nose, he finds the body of an eviscerated young woman, slain by one of his kind. Not by fang or claw, however, but by blade.

Police Constable James Heron is walking the beat on his shift in Whitechapel. As he turns a corner late that night, he's rocked by the scene before him. A tall, rangy man is leaning over a body on the ground. Before he can blow his whistle to call for assistance, the man has him pressed against the brick wall, swearing he wasn't a killer. That if he had been, James would be as dead as the woman whose blood was even now spreading across the cobblestones.

While that logic is just enough to relax James a little, it's the look in the eyes of the dark, brooding man that stirs something in James, despite the vicious circumstances.

Two men from vastly different worlds, one human, one lycan, both outcast. Together they discover a tentative, fragile happiness. It's a feeling Alun can't trust to last, not with the secrets he holds, or the situation in Whitechapel. There are no happy endings for the werewolf who has sexual congress with men, and no possibility of a human mate, even if James could accept his existence. And as the body count in the East End continues to rise, the grim, unalterable fact is that happiness is a luxury when survival alone is in doubt.


What a fantastic read this was! The depth and scope of the plot impressed, and Pattskyn imbued the tale with a dark, rich sense of decaying desperation that perfectly accentuated the world and its inhabitants, setting the tone of the story and providing the framework for the often deeply conflicted emotional landscape of the characters. And speaking of the characters...wow.

Alun and James just absolutely slayed me. Their story sucked me up, slammed me down in their world, and dragged me along for the whole ride. I adored them. I loved them even when I wanted to grab Alun by his shaggy hair, shake him senseless, and kick him in the kneecap for his stubborn, jaded cynicism, feelings of inferiority, and doubt in the face of James' absolute commitment to him. Oh, sure, I totally understood where those feelings came from, they were absolutely organic to his personal history and his circumstances. I still wanted to kick him.

James was both Alun's diametric opposite and his absolute match in every way. His ability to love, his temperament, the determination in him to live with love in his life despite huge social and legal opposition, his commitment to Alun, even his concern for Rob, all made him yang to Alun's yin. I  both respected him as a man and loved his character.

Both characters were so well drawn, so perfectly conceived and executed, that they lived and breathed on the pages - to the point that they made me hyperventilate. I did not want their story to end. I was completely caught up in the traumatic angst of their relationship, the suspense of the crimes that impacted them both, and the frustration with Alun's relentless negativity. Though he'd call it realism.

And they weren't the only characters of note in this book. Pattskyn was brilliant in the judicious creation of unforgettable secondary and ancillary characters. I absolutely fell in love with Robin and would love to see him in his own book, and though she was only featured briefly towards the end, Gwenyth was a fantastic character. A slightly darker and more ancillary character that intrigued me was James' boss, Inspector Lamont.

None of these characters would have had as much going on for them if the storyline hadn't been so great. Pattskyn could give lessons on creating a multi-layered, complex tale with a wealth of internal and external conflicts to drive the plot-driven story elements even as they were adding gravitas to the character-driven elements. Between the mystery surrounding the murders, the perplexing connection between the crimes and the local pack, the fact that werewolves exist and Alun is one, James and Alun's sexuality, the class difference, and a sundry of other tribulations and trials they must weather, there was just so much damn story in this book that it could have easily been twice as long.

I do wish Alun had been a little less persistent in mentioning again and again that James was human and therefore couldn't be Alun's mate. That got repetitious and became a little one-note as a conflict, especially when there was so much else inherently working against them.

I also felt there were some emotional elements that were glossed over towards the conclusion of the book, the paradigm shift that Alun has about his relationship with James addressed almost subtly. The doubt was such a big part of Alun's makeup for so long that the moment he started to have faith would have been more satisfying had it been better defined. There was a brief acknowledgement, but I felt it lacked the emotional impact necessary to balance out the negativity and doubt that drove Alun for most of the book.

Still, my sincerest appreciation goes to Pattskyn for this debut. It was a fabulously written, complex, and gritty tale. The historical elements seemed authentic, the paranormal elements were original and fresh in their setting, and both the romance and characters were divine. I hope she doesn't make readers wait too long for the sequel in the works. I'm dying to revisit these beloved characters and their dark, gritty world.

Genre: M/M Urban Fantasy
Series: Section Thirteen, Book 2
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 265 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Dreamspinner Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




It's only been a month since exiled sidhe Tuulois MacColewyn agreed to join the police department's newly reappointed Section Thirteen, the section dedicated to investigating crimes by or against paranormals. Though time with his new lover and partner, NYPD Inspector Joss Vallimun, is definitely one of the perks, the workload is intense and resources are few. Cole's life is becoming barely recognizable.

Not only is Section Thirteen horribly overworked and wretchedly understaffed with only Cole, Vallimun, and Cole's erstwhile best friend, Detective James Corhagen to handle the caseload (everyone else keeps fleeing in terror when slimy things rise up out of the sewers - the cowards), but the cases themselves are getting more and more disturbing. Even for a sidhe who's seen, done, and snarked his way through as much as Cole has.

The burned and partially masticated bodies of several young boys have turned up in the morgue, and Cole has to use his abilities to question the victims. Disturbing as that is, there is also the brutal slaying of a private school teacher by what appears to be a pack of fey wolves on Staten Island. And they're not the only fey to be acting in a way that's against their nature, either, and they all have one thing in common: a suspicious black collar somewhere on their body and tales of enslavement to a new lord and master.

It's a complicated, dangerous, stressful time to be the only full-blooded sidhe cop in NYC. Good thing he's pretty.


Sometimes it's the story, sometimes it's the characters, ideally it's a combination of both. There are a myriad of different reasons that a book or a series of books appeals to me. In this wacky but weirdly wonderful series, it's the combination of Cole as a main character, the utter charm and likability of several of the secondary and ancillary characters, and the author's writing style that have made me a fan.

The first book was campier than this one, more flamboyantly wicked and generally bizarre. I embraced the flighty storyline, ignored most of the camp, and accepted the chaos in the writing because I adored the insouciant, irrepressible, irredeemable Cole. He was a delight of a character. He still is, but this installment offers a slightly more serious, darker version of the sidhe.

His character, intentionally or not, actually seemed to perfectly reflect his situation and the tone of the book. It was as if even the immortal Cole is feeling the strain of the amount of work Section Thirteen is dealing with and he's worn out enough to mute some of the natural incandescence of his personality. Or maybe he's just more relaxed now that he's having sex on a regular basis thanks to the big and brawny Joss.

Whatever it is, I liked this version of Cole very much. He's still a wellspring of sarcasm and sardonic humor, but he's not quite as persistent to the point of annoyance with Corhagen (who I still avidly dislike), and his actions in this book evidence a more accurate reflection of his emotional investment in the people he cares about than they did in the first book. All very good things.

The storyline was a bit more complex than that of the first book, yet ironically easier to follow. There seemed to be more going on as far as sources of external conflict, and while I think the plot lacked a little of the emotional intensity that the first one had, I also think it was better constructed overall. Plot points and story elements were added as the book progressed, all building on a solid foundation, and it provided an increasing level of danger and intensity throughout the read, as well as bulking up the narrative with depth and dimension.

This still isn't a book that's flawless in concept and construction. There is still a good dose of camp, and there are scenes and story threads that get a bit chaotic. The humor is certainly very subjective, and I wouldn't recommend it for romance-only fans. There is a thin thread of romance in this book, as Cole and Joss seem to be building an actual relationship as opposed to just occasionally having hot (very hot) sex, but this isn't at all a romance series and that thread stays ancillary to the plot-driven story elements.

I just think this book and this series is a hell of a fun read. In fact, I have such a good time when I'm reading, and I love Cole's character so much, that I get swept up in what's happening and forget to think about the book critically. Maybe that makes me a bad reviewer. All I know for sure is that it makes me a happy reader.

Genre: M/M Urban Fantasy
Series: Infected, Book 1
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 376 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for review. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




In Infected: Private investigator and werecat Roan McKichon is called to the scene of an ex-cop's mauling to sniff around for clues. His infected status is no secret to the police force he once served, and he's gotten called in on a few "kitty crimes" in the past. In this case, though, Roan knows the prime suspect may just be his lover and business partner Paris Lehane.

If that worry isn't enough, their two-man firm has just picked up a new client, and Roan is on the trail of a missing teen. When he discovers that the kid is a werecat wannabe, the investigation points Roan towards one of his least favorite people and places, Eli Winters and his Church of the Divine Transformation.

Roan can deal with the small-minded fear and bigotry of the ignorant, those who hate him because he's gay...or infected. It's the ones who worship as gods those who are infected that seriously wig him the hell out. After all, the infection is a disease. A painful, life-shortening disease that brings physical agony once a month, steals your dignity and your identity, and threatens the general population. And he'll tell the kid that. If he can find him before he ends up as cat food.

In Prey: Roan and Paris are approached by the last person they'd expect to request their services. The venerable Eli Winters, leader of the Church of the Divine Transformation (or, according to Roan, werecat-worshiping nutcases), informs Roan that several young werecats from his congregation have been murdered and he wants Roan to find out who is responsible.

While Roan tries to find a cold-blooded killer, Paris works his own angle on the investigation, curious as to why Eli has brought this case to them. It's not like there are any warm feelings between the man and Roan. What they find will call into question everything they thought they knew about the zealot and threatens to push Roan into a situation that could more than ruffle his fur. It could end his life.


I enjoyed my introduction to author Andrea Speed and the two stories that kick off this series, Infected and Prey. It bears mentioning that this isn't a romance series, though the relationship between the main character Roan and his partner Paris plays a major part. While the two love each other, sex is glossed over or mentioned only in passing, and there are certainly no romance novel tropes in the storyline. Romance-only fans should be warned.

While I have a preference for romance in my reading, these two stories really worked for me. The world, while not expansively explained, was a big high point. It's got a real-world feel that appealed to me. Take away the paranormal elements and the plots of both stories could just as easily have fit in any hard-boiled detective novel.

The paranormal elements, though, were another high point. I loved the concept of a population of werecats created by a virus, with that virus spreading like any sort of real-world virus. And these aren't socially acceptable werecats, either. For five days of each four week virus cycle, the infected transform into one of several cat species, depending on the strain of their virus. They lose their humanity and become the predators. The rest of the time they are no more or less human than they ever were.

Hey, I'm a beast five days out of the month, too. I can relate.

The absolute best part of both stories and the most compelling element of the read for me were the characters. I loved Roan. He's a rough, complex, cynical bastard who edges towards bitter, especially when he allows himself to think about the future. In many ways, Roan is the quintessential jaded private investigator, grim and determined but a touch humorless about life. He's also a wounded loner, a sarcastic reprobate, and a closet White Knight.

Paris is definitely the more charming of the two of them. He's everything tall, gorgeous, and yummy, with a sensitive soul and a gentle nature. Fairly ironic considering his strain. His sense of humor is sharp and he's not afraid to use charm, humor, or his stunning good looks as shamelessly as he needs to to get what he wants, for himself or to help Roan.

Together they fit really well, though, each offering an essentially needed piece to the other. A fact that makes certain elements of this story just damn heartbreaking, actually.

While executed very well, the plot-driven investigative elements of both novellas weren't as satisfying to me. They were okay, but I found them more interesting for the information they provided about the world and the effect the werecats have in that world. I also felt the pacing in the middle of both novellas slowed, getting bogged down as each investigation languished. Then evidence would pile up or pieces would start to fall into place, and the pace would pick up through to the end.

I did find it odd at first, then distracting, then bordering on annoying, just how often the fact that Roan is gay is mentioned, referred to, brought up, thought about, or discussed throughout both stories. By basically everyone, but especially by Roan himself. It seemed more of a major story element than even him being a werecat, and that just struck me as peculiar and one of the few things that niggled me as seeming unrealistic.

Realism. Seems an odd word to use in reference to a piece of fiction with a fantasy theme. It's fitting, though.

Speed hasn't pulled any punches in this debut, not when it comes to what it's like to be a werecat, or gay, or...whatever, exactly, Roan is or will be. And frankly, from the very first chapter it's clear that this series is not likely to be heading in a direction that's going to assure the characters any sort of a fairy tale ending. There is definitely a sense of realism in all that, and a sort of hopeless desperation. It's compelling reading, very well-conceived and executed, and I can't help but wonder what comes next.

Quotables from Infected:

"You just cursed him out?"
Reluctantly, he shrugged. "Guy was drunk. Kinda clumsy."
Paris stopped massaging the back of his neck and gave him a mock-stern look. "Clumsy how?"
"He may have walked into a wall while I was trying to handcuff him."
"Just the once?"
"Repeatedly. But he honestly did fall down the stairs all by himself."
"Repeatedly walking into walls can do that to a person."
"So I hear."

"You just can't keep from being a smart-ass, can you?"
"Snarky is my default setting."

Quotables from Prey:

There were so many good reasons for hating people on an individual basis that mass, generic hatred seemed idiotic. Hate a person for who they were, God knows he did, but for what they were? Moronic and lazy.

Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance

Genre: M/M Urban Fantasy
Series: Gray Zone, Book 2
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 220 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Dreamspinner Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.



There's nothing Liam wouldn't do, nothing he hasn't done to protect and care for his two younger brothers. His stepfather is a drunk, sadistic bastard and Liam is all that stands between him and the tattered remnants of their innocence. His own he traded to insure Chris and Kevin keep theirs as long as they can.

Liam does what he can to assure his brothers don't hear, even as his screams echo in the shadows along the broken streets of the Gray Zone. He's been brutally raped, beaten, cut, burned...his body sold over and over to feed his stepfather's perverse hungers and seed his vices. He's been used and abused by sick, brutal men. And he'll keep taking it, knowingly, for as long and as often as it takes to keep Chris and Kevin safe.

It's not like there are a lot of choices in the Gray Zone, that colorless, hopeless strip that's stuck between the shimmering lies that humanity still tells itself and the gritty darkness of the Dens of the Kin, more honest but infinitely more dangerous. It's not a happy life, it's sure as hell not a good life, but it is life.

The night Liam first sees the Lesser-Bred Jericho is the first time he feels a spark of sexual need and hunger. What he can't fathom, what makes no sense to him whatsoever, is how Jericho looks at him. Not like he's a freak, scarred and ugly, or that he's dirty and over-used, shattered and alone, though Liam knows he's all those things. But with an unearthly beauty, Jericho stares at him as if he's...precious, special, and deeply, deeply desired.

It's a gift Liam doesn't trust but once felt, can't escape, and it hearkens a change that will alter every aspect of the desiccated life Liam is struggling to live. It will change...everything. And in so doing, will threaten the two children Liam has worked so damned hard to protect.


There's something about this series that just levels me. In fact, I hadn't actually planned on reading this book after the first left me feeling so shaken and disturbed. I like dark fiction well enough, but this series goes beyond such tepid terminology. It's a gut-clenching, brutal peregrination through a land stripped of anything recognizable as humanity, desiccated, devastating. Horrifying.

And then there are characters like Liam. His unwavering concern for Chris and Kevin and the conscientious care he provides them in the face of the wretchedness of their home life made for some truly captivating reading. I fell in love with him and his siblings, felt every ache and pain that the trio suffered throughout the book, every bloody, caustic wound inflicted.

Liam's life in the Gray Zone leading up to his becoming is the driving force of the plot, and it is so damn heartrending. The nightmare he endures to protect the brothers he loves is inconceivable, and the layers of betrayal he faces are enough to leave grown men blithering like idiots. How his heart and soul stayed as pure as it did is a mystery, but it made for some damn compelling storytelling as the tension and unrelenting sense of impending doom grew larger and larger.

I love the world that Wilder has created for this series. It's gritty, deadly even, but brilliantly imaginative. The Kin, a dragon race that serves as the impetus behind the existence of the Gray Zone in Atlanta, hasn't had an active role in the series to date, but their Lesser-Bred children have been more than enough to carry the series so far.

Make no mistake, the Kin aren't human in thought or deed, and neither are the Lesser-Bred once they've transitioned. They feed on sex, blood, and flesh. Period. Their needs and their habits are often...uncomfortable when viewed through lenses colored with human sensibilities and morality.

On the other hand, children are valued highly by Kin. They don't smell of sex, so they are not used for sex, and they are never victimized by Kin or Lesser-Bred. Ask Liam how he feels about that particular fact. Holding that up against the life Liam has been forced to lead, and I can't help but feel the monsters of this series aren't the ones with scales. The dichotomy makes for a powerful and intriguing theme that's being threaded through the series.

This isn't a series for the faint of heart, and it's not one I'd recommend for romance-only fans. Though the it's listed as M/M romance, I disagree with that categorization. Dark urban fantasy, yes. Very, very dark. There's a lot of sex (warning: not all of it consensual), but this book has even less "romance" than its predecessor, and neither book ends in anything resembling a Happily Ever After for its main characters. It's just not that sort of world.

Frankly, I'm utterly and completely addicted to it. The writing is strong, the world is complex and the characters reach in and claw out a nest for themselves in my heart. At this point, I can't not read it. I can't wait to see what Wilder comes up with next, even though I'm fairly confident I'll feel nearly gutted and disturbed by parts, if not all of it. Personally, I'd like a closer view of the Kin than we've gotten so far, but whatever story it is, I'm in. I'm absolutely all in.

Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 200 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Dreamspinner Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




After three years, Detective Kurt O'Donnell knew that he and his partner wouldn't be starring in any buddy cop movies any time soon, but he thought he knew the man, trusted that Ben was a good cop and had his back. Then a tip Ben gets goes as bad as a tip can go and the building they are entering explodes, killing Ben instantly and sending Kurt to the hospital. He's lucky to survive.

It isn't until Ben's funeral that Kurt starts to realize just how little he knew about his stoic partner, including the fact that Ben may have been gay. When Kurt reaches out to Ben's family and goes to his house to speak to the person he suspects he'll find, he comes face to face with the broken and grief-stricken Davy Broussard. Ben's other partner.

Upset not only because his partner of three years had kept so very many secrets from him, but because of how wrecked the poor young man is over his loss, Kurt reaches out to Davy and slowly befriends him as he pulls him back from the ragged edges of despair. In so doing, Kurt doesn't just learn more about his partner, a man he is no longer sure he would have liked had he known who Ben really was, but he learns so much more about himself than he had ever bargained for.

As time passes and Davy slowly heals, a strong friendship forms between the two men. A friendship that starts to unsettle Kurt when thoughts of Davy start to invade his dreams and his fantasies. And when Kurt realizes his body isn't responding to a very blatant sexual invitation by a very gorgeous woman, but the thought of Davy stirs him in all sorts of carnal ways, he gets very nervous.

Kurt has lived his whole life believing he's straight. But what if he's wrong?


This was a very sweet, if relatively uncomplicated romance. Kurt is the focus of the story, and the journey he takes from beginning to end is fraught with life changes and personal angst. A lovely depth of character adds solid definition to Kurt as he goes from feeling content with his life and job and secure in his partnership with Ben at work to having the ground yanked out from under him and everything he thought he knew about himself brought into question.

It wasn't a sudden transformation, and kudos to Burn for taking it one step at a time throughout the story. Kurt has to deal not only with his own injury on the job, but the death of his partner, then the realization of every piece of information that Ben had kept from him. The hits just seem to keep piling up and knocking Kurt down, drawing his own judgement into question.

More than any of the romance elements in the story, Kurt's evolution into the man he truly is was a plot-driving tour de force. I found his calm caring for Davy, the solid, steady presence he becomes in his life, and the deft concern he showed for Davy's grief was very appealing to me. It seemed organic to the character and the situations Kurt gets into and the life he'd led to date. Being the baby of a large family has had an effect on Kurt, and the comfort he gets from assuming a caretaker role for Davy had psychological implications that were nicely addressed.

I wasn't nearly as fond of Davy as a character or a romantic interest, though that's no fault of Burn's. When we first meet Davy in more than a passing fashion, it's over three weeks since Ben was killed and Davy is still so devastated he's barely functioning, not eating, and looks dangerously close to potential suicide. He hasn't shopped for food, hasn't paid bills, hasn't looked through Ben's paperwork or answered any of the letters or phone calls from Ben's lawyers. He just unplugged and caved to his desperation.

It's a long time before Davy really starts to get his feet under him and be his own person. Kurt takes care of him for a while. That level of weakness, spread over weeks, then months, was a problem for me on a very intrinsic level. It's not only that Davy is less masculine than I prefer in my M/M romance, though that's an issue. It's his abject helplessness, however, that bothered me the most.

Damsels in distress and other weak personalities, be they male or female, are a personal bugaboo of mine and always cause me trouble when I'm reading, even when they're well written or the characters have some cause. That is especially true when they are a main character or one half of a romance relationship whole. Davy's initial helplessness could be forgiven for the grief, but after almost a month he should at least be able to shower and get himself to work or feed himself. Maybe help his struggling sister, who has health problems because of her pregnancy. There were just too many things about his character that bothered me too much to be able to really like this story, even with as happy as I was with Kurt.

The story as a whole was well written, though, with enough emotional complexity to appeal to me. I'm certainly interested in other books by Burn. Personally, I'd love to see Kurt's brother Ian given a turn to star in his own book and find his HEA. I liked him, and his revelation at the end needed further discourse. Here's hoping Burn gives it to us.

Genre: LGBT - M/M Urban Fantasy
Series: Section Thirteen, Book 1
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 220 Pages
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: A copy of this book was provided to me by publisher Dreamspinner Press. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




Exiled from Faerie for almost a century, full-blooded sidhe Tuulois MacColewyn is working in New York City, minding his own business and taking the occasional enforcer job whenever his funds start getting low or he's feeling a bit of ennui. He is, in fact, just washing off the effects of a job when an old friend grabs Cole's attention...and Cole himself...right out of the shower, and yanks him through a portal straight into an active crime scene.

It's been a year since Cole last saw Detective James Corhagen. A year since the end of a friendship and loose working partnership that Corhagen decided was too intensely complicated to continue, and a relationship that the detective, intent on having a family, claimed he no longer wanted. Now Cole is standing, naked and wet, in a summoning circle Corhagen drew, at the command of a spell that the detective had cast.

Cole is just twisted enough to enjoy every moment of the turning worm, even as Corhagen informs him of the supernatural nature of the three homicides and kidnappings that prompted Corhagen's spellcasting. Cohagen has come to Cole...or summoned Cole to come to him...to ask the sidhe for the sort of help he once freely provided. With no clues and no way to stop a potentially supernatural killer with a taste for kidnapping infants, Corhagen desperately needs Cole's unique skills to have any hope of stopping these crimes before more babies are ripped from their parents' mutilated corpses.

Cole, being Cole, agrees to do what he can...for the right price...and if he just happens to get some personal pleasure out of the job, well, no self-respecting Fey wouldn't.


The Thirteenth Child isn't a perfect book. The plot is fast and packed with wild characters and wicked action, but the narrative is chaotic in places and some of the characters didn't get much definition. Character motivations and emotions didn't always translate well, which limited the emotional impact of some major scenes. The world-building and character backstory were unique and imaginative, but inconsistent, and at times seemed contradictory or lacking in clarity. The timeline, both for the past relationship between Corhagen and Cole as well as the current storyline, was hard to get a solid handle on and also seemed inconsistent in places. And Cole's abilities and powers seemed to fluctuate based on need and he came off as Mary Sue at times (I don't know the term for the male equivalent, sorry).

That being said, I sort of loved this book. It was delightfully campy in places, with Cold Hands of Death and pitchfork-imbued scarecrow constructs, power-hungry half-sidhe monsters with a Mommy fetish and teenage military-weapons hoarders, and Cole. I love Cole. He is an irreverent, insouciant rogue with a wicked sense of humor and nothing resembling shame. Despite any critical issues, I couldn't help being quickly drawn in and getting totally invested in his life and his story.

He really is the backbone of the book, but the supporting cast also included some spectacular secondary characters who I loved. Corhagen wasn't one of them. He was my least favorite of them all, in fact. His issues and his history with Cole were a point of contention between them throughout the story. It got a little old, especially as the rejection of his core needs and desires, as well as any lingering feelings he has for Cole annoyed me from start to finish.

Fortunately, there were a couple of other secondary characters who were real scene-stealers in their own right. I was particularly enamored with Robyn, who was the most kick-ass kid-sized weapons specialist and demolition...expert (she likes to make things go boom) I've ever had the pleasure to read. Inspector Vallimun, whose presence allowed me to deal with my dislike of Corhagen, also grew on me more and more as the story progressed. I ended up liking him far more than Corhagen.

The story has twists and turns that set up some truly great scenes of mass destruction. I love those scenes. There were also elements of mystery or at least secrecy shrouding Cole's past and those elements get woven into the present-day plot threads in pleasantly surprising ways. Not everything was explained as well as I would have liked, not all my questions got answered, but I got enough to keep me entertained.

M/M purists should be warned about one thing, though. Cole isn't exactly gay. I actually can't say that any of the characters I met in this book are. If labels are important, I'd broadly classify those who participate in the described sex scenes (which are all M/M or M/M/M) as bi-sexual. There are mentions of Cole having sex with, or thinking of having sex with, more than one woman in this book, though none of those sex scenes are described in any detail. That doesn't bother me, but I know some readers prefer their M/M stories to have no mention of hetero sex at all, so I wanted to mention it.

In Cole's case, he's sidhe, and in this world, the sidhe are a highly sexual race, just as likely to have healthy and frequent sexual relationships for everything from offering comfort to expressing friendship to procreating with mates, and they are just as likely to be with males as females, Fey or human, or any combination and number of one or all of the above. Personally, I liked the racial distinction and thought it helped define aspects of Cole's nature.

So The Thirteenth Child isn't perfect, but perfection is highly overrated. What it is, is a rousing good time with memorable characters and an imaginative story. It's a little wacky, a little corny, hella sexy at times, and not always completely clear. It's tongue-in-cheek and wryly sardonic. It's Cole, who can do everything from shape shift to freeze with a touch; who will work if you pay him but fight to the death if he cares. Who will taunt you and tease you and force you to see the hardest truths. Who you want on your side, and who you want to see again and again. I know I do.