Genre: Paranormal, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Bi
Reviewer: Aethena, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
With a serial killer on the loose, the baffling mystery of Aiden’s past, and their tenuous budding romance, Aiden and Fouchard tread through a world of magic and myth on padded shoes, terrified to stir up something neither can control or defeat.
Aiden Mercer’s life now centers around lounging on the sunny beaches of his adopted country with a beer in one hand and a coffee in the other while admiring the local male population. After a rough life as a respected detective in DC, playing it cool shouldn’t be too hard, right? With the magical community on his case and dead bodies piling up around town, the responsibility of finding their killer seems fated to fall on him and deny him of his easy living.
Then there is Naël.
Cantankerous merman Naël Fouchard’s life is focused on bringing up and protecting his little sister. When DNA found at the scene of the murders mark him as the prime suspect, Naël seeks out the help of Aiden, whose reputation as a detective grossly belies his lazy lifestyle and apparent lack of ambition.
The chemistry between the strong, stoic Naël and the easygoing Aiden is undeniable, no matter how many walls Aiden builds.
If this unlikely pair can’t come to terms with their feelings for each other long enough to catch the killer, their emotional turmoil might yet allow the murderer to kill them instead.
The Review
Of Magic and Scales is one of those books that makes me feel like I am on vacation at the beach. The author beautifully showcases the charm and atmosphere of Portugal. Every time I opened this story, I was looking forward to spending time on the beach with the main characters, Aiden and Naël. In the beginning these two have rather antagonistic interactions triggered by their contrasting personalities. Aiden has a laid back approach to running his business and his romantic life. Naturally, Naël has differing opinions on how Aiden should be running his business and possibly his romantic encounters. I enjoyed the humor resulting from the clashes between these two while they are compelled to work together to solve a series of murders.
The core of this story is about Aiden and Naël getting to know one another while they try to solve the murders. The author does a wonderful job of including a moral story that has an impact on Aiden’s perspective of his own life. Throughout the story, Natalina Reis, kept me turning pages quickly by dropping tantalizing tidbits about Aiden’s past. The main plot of this story has a satisfying wrap up, but the author leaves enough hints about uncovering more of Aiden’s past that I was reaching for the second book of this series as I finished the first one.
I recommend this book for anyone in need of a beach vacation and a charming romance story about opposites attract that is mixed in with a murder mystery that borders on being cozy but has one too many steamy scenes to qualify.
Four stars.
The Reviewer
Lives in the Pacific Northwest and vacations in the desert as often as possible. She is allergic to garlic, sleeps during the day whenever possible, and breaks out in an allergic rash when exposed to excessive sunlight. She has a degree in engineering, works at a comic book store, and goes for long bike rides at night during the full moon because of the sun allergy. Aethena was forced to switch to mostly e-books and audio books when the last floor to ceiling bookcase started to overflow. She is on her fifth e-reader, and is contemplating using her engineering degree to design an e-reader that can withstand her capacity for destruction.
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