I loved how this book started as a contemporary romance and then bit by bit the holes are filled with magic, this was a gripping book with fascinating main characters whose secrets I enjoyed learning.

Fantastic LGBTQIA+ urban fantasy read! (Bambi) Laurence works at his mother's flower shop in San Diego's Gaslamp District. He's a lonely drug addict, praying at the altar of Cernunnos, the God of the Green, in his pagan religion. When he succeeds in summoning this god, he feels the whole trajectory of his life begin to change, but not toward the better. Cernunnos reveals that Laurence has godlike powers too, which explains the psychic vision that came to Laurence in the midst of his last overdose. The God of the Green devises several nasty plans to grow and shape Laurence's powers, involving lots of sex and debauchery. Laurence would have agreed to such plans a few months ago, but a blooming romance with Quentin, Lord of Banbury and self-exiled British royalty, shows Laurence that their might be a different way to use his powers.

So, I was really excited for this book! It was pitched a fantasy mlm romance. I was deeply disappointed that it had very little romance and lots of violence. The opening scene was poorly carried out, and extremely triggering. The magic system was lacking and it seemed to be over steeped in lust. As a member of the lgbt community I felt it was down right insulting and fetishizing. This book had an excessive amount of swearing, to the point where it felt like there was a limited set of swear words being recirculated throughout the book. I hope other readers will see this review and tread carefully before deciding to read!

(I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.) This book had a very interesting premise. I liked how the characters didn't instantly fall in a relationship when they first met. I always perfer a slow build romance. The pacing was a bit slow, and the characters do seem like they are still growing. But being the first book in a series, it felt like it was laying the ground work for the other books. I think once the world is more flushed out, it will be an interesting read.

I tried to give this book a chance. I really did. The plot seemed very intriguing. I read nearly 70% of it...and expected something different i guess.
I'm sad that I wasn't feeling it...

I can't believe it opens with a scene where the dude is about to do heroin?!?!

Another case of the cover is beautiful and the description sounds so interesting. But the writing quality isn't there. The voice just doesn't draw me in and make me want to learn the secrets of the characters. It's boring and makes me want to skim.

2* This was a DNF from me, about 4 chapters in, as I still couldn't figure out what I was reading, and, the leads were not engaging. Quentin was the most unlikely toff I've ever heard speak, and that says something, given that I work with that genre of client daily, and no one, gentrified or not, refers to themselves as 'one/oneself'. Where did the author do her research? And, the L guy, whose name I can't even recall a day later, came across as an utter loser of a character, without any charisma or anything to make me want to give him a chance. To be so manipulated by an ex like Dan just wasn't believable, sorry.

Back to the drawing book with this one, I think.

I did experience a minor reading slump in the middle of the month and I didn't want to read anything from my shelves so I decided to request this book on Netgalley which was very different to the books I typically read. We follow Lawrence, a florist with a troubled past, drug addiction and magical abilities with plants. We also follow Quentin, the earl of Banbury, who has mysterious untapped and uncontrolled magical abilities of his own.

I liked the premise and the inclusion of Celtic gods as well as how quick and easy to it was read but...it was just incredibly cheesy, ridiculous and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and cringe throughout it. I hoped it would get better and I never like to DNF books, especially if I've requested it from the publisher, but I wish I had DNF'd this one.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an intriguing and promising beginning to the series. I enjoyed the developing relationship between Laurence and Quentin the most (the pace their dynamic moved at was wonderfully done) as well as the scenes with Laurence's mother. The plot took a little while to get going but I liked how it aligned with the development between the main two characters as well as allowing time to learn about them individually. The incorporation of the magic into the world was interesting too, though I'm hoping to see more of it later in the series. I'm looking forward to the rest!