Naughty Victorian Days LGBTQ Humorous Fantasy Fiction
Bea St. Lee
May 1. 2020
Kindle
276
Amazon
What could make a woman weep forever?
The inhabitants of the teeming city of Landan are readying for King Victor's jubilee. But, away from the bunting and souvenir tea-towels, a conspiracy is brewing. People are killing themselves for no apparent reason. A man has gone missing. And Vividia Whistful, a rich heiress, is afflicted by a strange magic that has left her crying silently and ceaselessly.
Daniel Gleason and William Bumard, two down-on-their-luck clerks, are drawn into this mess. Joined by streetwise prostitute Sally, and an orphaned servant known as The Boy, the search pulls them into the hidden underbelly of the capital. They will discover dangerous mysteries, and they will all be forced to reveal secrets of their own.
This mystery adventure features graphic sex, queer romance, a touch of fantasy and intrigue.
Review by S.C. Principale
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
What an absolutely curious delight! Naughty Victorian Days by Bea St. Lea is a compelling, confusing, alternative historical romance-mystery. This macabre masterpiece will leave you scratching your head and thoroughly absorbed.
Enter a Victorian (as in King Victor and Queen Alberta) Landan (not London), a land rife with mysteries and manners. As the jubilee of the king approaches, our two dear heroes, Nop and William, accompanied by sidekicks Sal and The Boy must solve a kidnapping or two, settle an estate, solve a mysterious rash of suicides, and take on St. Lea’s incarnation of Jack the Ripper, Todger Slashman. Overwhelmed? Yes, you will be, but believe me, it’s worth it.
If Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, and Oscar Wilde had gotten drunk at a party and decided to write a novel together, this would have been their masterpiece. However, the brilliance of this work has some flaws. The world-building is beautifully woven and complex, but comes along in such a piecemeal fashion that you find yourself plagued by questions. The answers are a long time in coming. Thank goodness the story itself shines with such witty dialogue and prose. You’ll be entertained as you wait and muddle through. Once things really get going (about seventy pages in), you’ll fly through the rest and leave hungry for a return visit to Landan.
I honestly feel that this book needs to be pulled out of its niche and shared with every conceivable audience— there is so much to There’s so much is the first in the Sons of Lucifer series. She dropkicks you headlong into an action-packed world you never knew existed. Sexy retired witch/bounty hunter Eva gets a call from her old boss— who just happens to be Lucifer, as in the devil himself. He’s one handsome, charming guy that you don’t want to screw with, although he’s apparently done quite a bit of that himself, producing a host of smoking hot offspring. Damon, an FBI agent living a normal life happens to be one of those sons, and his life is about to get a lot more paranormal.
Eva wants nothing to do with the assignment to protect her old boss’s kid. For one thing, she’s got a grudge against Lucifer for letting her last lover die and for another, she’s afraid of the instant interest she feels for Damon. Sparks fly (literally and figuratively) when Damon comes into his powers as a Reaper and also finds out he’s the King of Purgatory. He doesn’t know how he’s going to navigate this new world or the sultry bodyguard he’s suddenly saddled with. As their attraction grows, sparks start to fly, literally and figuratively. Damon turns out to be one brutal ruler, taking to his powers easily, and that turns Eva on more than ever. She’s ready to let go of old dreams and be with the man who has a soft side for her and a commanding side for a world in chaos.
Hoffman’s world-building is compelling and incredibly well-developed. You’ll be immersed and hooked, thinking that you have a handle on what’s going on, before a thrill ride twist. Eva and Damon are only one line of defense in an upcoming supernatural war between the “Saints” and Lilith, whose evil nature makes Lucifier seem mild in comparison. Throw in that lost lover (with some seriously questionable loyalties) from Eva’s past and some blisteringly hot scenes and you won’t be able to stop once you start— so it’s a good thing there are more books to come in this series. I personally can’t wait to find out what happens next (and to see if all of Lucifer’s sons are as sexy as this one!)
LGBT/LITERATURE & FICTION/HISTORICAL FICTION/EROTICA/FANTASY FICTION
