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Blood Moon Rising by Amelia Faulkner (Tooth & Claw #2)

A pack in turmoil. A ray of sunlight. A moon that demands blood... Randall Carter is in love. If only he could say it to Ellis’ face, but he’s been too busy - or too much of a coward - and now he may never get that chance. With the threat of a blood moon looming in the night sky his Alpha is on the warpath against both a new pack invading his territory and the vampire lover he ordered Randall to destroy. Ellis O’Neill’s problems are mounting fast. Randall’s Alpha wants to kill him, a vampire neighbour invites him to join some sort of coup, and his secrets are stacking up like firewood waiting for a single spark to set them ablaze. The last person he expects to betray his trust is the man he’s fallen in love with. Torn between love and obligation, Randall soon realises that he can’t satisfy both. He’ll have to choose, but the cost may well be more terrible than he can imagine. COVER ARTIST: Cover Design by Amelia Faulkner and Jen Fowler PUBLISHER: Ravensword Press YEAR: 2015 LENGTH: 268...

Life Minus Me by Sara Codair (Evanstar Chronicles, #0.5)

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

Life Minus Me is a short and ultimately hopeful story of a wingless half-angel trying to help other people when she's not quite all right herself. Featuring casually excellent nonbinary rep and many cute dogs. I want more so I'm glad there's another. 

This is a short book which implies a much more complicated world than could fit in novelette form. It eschews deep backstory except to sketch fairly complicated family lives for the POV characters. I mean that in the sense that we don't know how they got to be here, doing whatever they're doing, but we learn relevant tensions with family and friends and a particular family secret. It's a book about feeling useless and adrift, not quite good enough for whatever needs doing. It definitely gets dark in places, but it's also grappling with that darkness. It features some persistent suicidal ideation, but the reader is shielded a bit by rotating narrators.

I'm glad this leads into a larger series because my main thought is that I want more story. I like these characters, I care about what's happening to them. This book is a snapshot of a particularly terrible week but I would happily spend more time here. To me it's always a good sign for a series when I feel like I didn't get enough time in a book, especially when I'm discovering a world with sequels already published. 

This book is full of good dogs; clearly written by someone who loves dogs very much. I'm not a dog person myself but the care is obvious and provides some brightness in what could have easily been a very grim book. 

Book CWs for depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, self-harm, and mention of infertility and miscarriage.

A road lined with snow-covered trees, overlaid with a feathered wing.

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