Ami's Hoard

3.75 stars rounded up

"You deserve what everyone deserves. To be with someone who you care about, who cares about you, and neither of you makes each other do things you don’t want to do."

Well, this is definitely different than what I usually read. First and foremost, for me this falls into gay fiction (or gay historical fiction) rather than my usual MM romance read. The relationship between June and James Kelly was moving slow, we had no explicit sex-scenes, and the ending was more of a hopeful note, much like ending in ‘fiction’ rather than ending of ‘romance’. And yes, that is IMPORTANT element for me as a romance reader, okay? So I need to point that out.

Having said that, I really enjoyed this book. Mainly because I fell hard for Junius “June” Thompson, malak-ha satan, among the first fallen. June is a very sympathetic character. June is kindhearted, he is good with babies and children, he cares for his plants and pet cat … and as a fertility demon he has the deep need to care for things that produce life.

His loneliness, his yearning for love and companionship… all of this just spoke volumes for me. I cared for him deeply. I wanted June to be happy. I wanted to hug him, gave him the companionship he needed. Hey, I’m an asexual woman, June only wanted to be with men … I could be a good roommate for him, right? Cause we won’t have sex *lol*.

James Kelly, on the other hand, was more difficult for me to connect with. He was rather fucked up, in my opinion. Yes, I could somewhat grasp his internal emotional battle: James Kelly was a black man in the 50s, struggling with his sexuality, and he was turned into vampire and then had to live against what he wanted (his maker wanted James Kelly to kill people). But I felt that he kept hurting June with his rejection and his perception about how wrong and unnatural it was being with men.

Which was why I wasn’t really sure about the relationship; it wouldn’t be an easy one for sure. At least, both men are basically immortal so June has forever to gradually work on James Kelly’s personal issues about same sex relationships.

I liked Ackerman’s writing though – this is my first experience with him. I liked the Manhattan atmosphere that he created, alongside the paranormal creatures that roam the street. I liked that he wrote characters I could emotionally care for. If Dan Ackerman writes another LGBT fiction, I will give it a try for sure.


A Guest Review for The Blogger Girls



The ARC is provided by the publisher for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.