books

Astrid Amara

Books: Fantasy | LGBT

Anthologies

Charmed and Dangerous: Ten Tales of Gay Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy (2015)

Charmed and Dangerous: Ten Tales of Gay Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy (2015) edited by Jordan Castillo Price

This is, like all anthologies, a variety of stories, some of which I enjoyed, one of which I utterly despised, and some of which were MEH. In other words, a good selection and variety.

"The Trouble With Hexes" (2015) by Astrid Amara

Tim shows up at his ex's place of work, because he really doesn't know where else to turn. Tim and Vincent broke up because Tim didn't quite believe in the hexbreaking Vincent was supposed to be doing, and really didn't like the damage Vincent was deliberately doing to himself for it.

Both had reasons to be unhappy with each other, but there was also a strong element of misunderstanding with that–Tim can't see why Vincent is taking drugs that might well kill him just because he thinks it's helping his aunt, and Vincent was hurt that Tim didn't believe that what he was doing was important.

If there were hexes, then there could be ghosts. Vampires. Hell, a weight loss pill that worked. Anything was possible.

I actually guessed pretty quickly who the baddie was in this story, but that's ok because I could also see why it was so difficult for Tim and Vincent to see that themselves. I also liked that both of them worked in their own ways to help people; Tim as a private investigator and Vincent as hex-breaker.

I'd definitely read more stories with these characters.

Publisher: JCP Books LLC

Rating: 8.5/10