RELEASE DAY - DUAL REVIEW: Unknown - Rath & Rune Book #3- Jordan L. Hawk

Title: Unknown
Series: Rath & Rune Book #3
Author: Jordan L Hawk
Genre: Witches, Wizards, Paranormal Romance, Gay Romance
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: August 11, 2023
Format: Kindle
Pages: 245
Source: Amazon

Librarian Sebastian Rath and his lover Vesper Rune continue their search for the evil Books of the Bound. But in the meantime, the young men in Sebastian’s social circle start dying.

Though the deaths look like self-administered poisonings, Sebastian soon comes to realize a killer is at work. And not just any murderer, but one wielding the dark power of the Book of Bone.

To stop a madman, Sebastian must choose whether or not to embrace the unsettling powers gifted to him by the previous Books. Because if he fails to stop the killer, Ves could be the next target.

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DUAL Review By Gloria Lakritz

Review Chair for the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

Jordan L. Hawk has kept her series of the mythical town of Widdershins alive for her fans. We began this series back in Widdershins where we fell in love with Wyborne and Griffin. We certainly had many harrowing stories in that series, as the two met and fell in love at at The Ladysmith. This new series Rath and Rune is later in years. Here Librarian Sebastian Rath meets a new hire for the library, Vesper Rune who has come to town with his brother Nocturn.

Sebastian and Vesper become close working together and and become serious as well romantically. They have joined with Nocturn and Elizabeth Endicott. Elizabeth from the ‘ founding families ‘ Endicott’s. Each one of the four has specific powers and of course is not quite human cause ya know this is Widdershins. Think Tentacles…

This book continues our search for four deadly magic books made by horrible sorcerers many years ago. Sebastian and Ves now have secured two of them, and have them bound safely. So, when young men in Sebastian’s circle of friends have been dying in the same way; strangely with cyanide it feels like another BOOK is causing this.

This story again is full of who dun its, and we follow the leads to find a serial killer and THE THIRD Book….This was a masterful mystery, very scary moments with the dead, and some very tender moments; all I expect from this talented author.

I did feel as I read this, our author has given us another band of four, felt so like the old four with Whyborne, Griffin, Christine and Iksander. I will be excited to see what the next in the series holds…Widdershins was almost destroyed in the first series….Evil still lurks there….

Review By Ulysses Dietz

Member of The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

The third of the series, set in the mythical city of Widdershins, somewhere west of Boston, “Unknown” continues the adventures of unorthodox librarians Sebastian Rath and Vesper Rune. Their relationship is the emotional driving force of the series, but the stories are not all about them. Not remotely.

Together with Vesper’s brother Nocturn and Sebastian’s colleague Irene Endicott, our fearsome foursome are on the trail of the third of four sinister, magic-soaked books made (literally) from the bodies of four nasty, powerful sorcerers. Each of these books has the power to corrupt and kill, and they were hidden in various places in Widdershins sometime in the last century, under the erroneous belief that it would keep them safely out of reach of the typical power-hungry citizen. Well, partly erroneous, since they only began to surface recently. That’s when people started to die.

Aside from the page-turning paranormal adventure, there is a rather kinky romantic side to this series. Vesper and Nocturn Rune, you see, are the misbegotten and abused offspring of a very powerful sorceress, who planned to use them to rule a world overrun by magic. Well, if you read the Whyborne & Griffin books, you know that didn’t happen (although it was close). Plus, Vesper and Nocturn ran away, looking for a new life far away from their appalling mother.

Oh, Vesper has tentacles, when in his true monstrous form. He can pass in the human world, however, which is how he caught Sebastian’s eye. Nocturn, however, cannot disguise himself, and he has a lot of tentacles. Tentacles play an important part in the romance between these two brothers and their paramours. That might take some getting used to.

Thus what we have is a clever detective whodunnit, deeply immersed in a perverse blood-magic saga, set in a city itself barely covering a swirling vortex of magic dating back 300 years. Oddly enough, most of the citizens of Widderins are largely unaware of the dark underside of their otherwise quaint and bustling burg.

You do need to read this series in order, and if you have time, the whole Whyborne & Griffin series will give you a full historical grounding on Widdershins itself. I’d recommend it. And book four is on the way.

LGBT/ROMANCE/PARANORMAL/FANTASY/DEMONS & DEVILS & ANGELS/WITCHES & WIZARDS