Hidden Gem LGBT, Gay, Romance, Shifter
Lissa Kasey
June 14, 2019
248
The sparkling jewel of the Hidden Gem, City M’s most renowned brothel, Misaki “Aki” Ito is living the good life. He’s not subjected to torture for his psi abilities, he has a roof over his head, food to eat, and all the sparkly shoes he could dream about. He also has one particular regular he can’t get enough of, Shane McNaughton, even if Shane occasionally asks for Aki’s help on a case.
Shane is a cop specializing in missing persons. He’s good at finding people, not just because of his years as a seasoned detective, but because he survived the Third World War and resulting plague with a few supernatural abilities himself. Mutated by the virus that wiped out two thirds of the world’s population, Shane no longer considers himself human. Which is why he limits his visits to a very breakable psi companion when not working a case, no matter how much he might want Aki.
When a high ranking official’s daughter goes missing and feared dead, Shane has no choice but to ask Aki to use his abilities to help him track down the kidnapper. The case opens a door to a past Aki thought he had escaped. Will Shane’s love be enough to save them all when something dark is awakened inside of Aki?
Note: Re-edited, but content still the same. Short fiction added to the end.
Available at Amazon.
Reviewed by Marie Loring
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
This is a very good book. It took me a few chapters to begin to like the characters. Kasey writes about her protagonists using harsh terminology and dark scenes, which distanced me and kept me from immediately getting inside their heads.
Not being a huge fan of dystopias, I nearly gave up after reading the prologue and first twenty pages, but I’m glad I didn’t. Once the author began a deeper development of her people, the world of Aki and Shane came to life, and I began rooting for them. There is a fair amount of darkness and back story packed at the beginning that might have been introduced throughout several subsequent chapters, instead of loading it up front. There are horrors in the world and a plethora of character names. But I urge you to hang in there and I defy you to put it down once you start it.
The mysteries that are woven throughout the story―the missing persons’ conundrum as well as the secrets Aki, Shane and several other of the characters conceal―are well constructed, confounding in a really good way, and satisfying in their complexities. The love story becomes more and more believable as it unfolds, and the chemistry between Aki and Shane, by the middle of the book, is heart “poundingly” palpable.
Kasey spares you nothing and leads you on a wild, journey, you will find yourself wrapped in the tendrils of gripping action, waiting to see if there will be heartbreak or a happily-ever-after in the end.
All in all, this was a magnificently written book, and nicely edited. If not for the trouble I had getting into the story, I would easily have rated it 5 stars. Pick this book up and enjoy it. Believe me, it will hook you, and you will want to read the next book in the series.