Title: Murder Most Actual 

Release Date: 9 Nov 2021

Author's links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 5 Stars

Genre: Alt-history, queer romance, cozy mystery

Author's links:

Website / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 3 stars

This is the final book in m/non-binary alt history romance series that I have greatly enjoyed. Over the books I have come to care greatly for the MCs and their loved ones and I was happy to see them happy and settled long term in the end of this book.

This story gives us a great ending to the series, though it read more like cozy mystery than proper romance to me. I felt the focus was mostly on investigation and courtroom drama with complicated family relations thrown in and the romantic relationship between Damiskos and Varazda took a back seat. This not a complaint by any means, just not what I expected initially but I adjusted quickly as I read on.

I would have liked more development of the intimacy and long term commitment and trust between the MCs. I truly believe that they are perfect for each other and wanted to see more of it on page.

That said, I did like seeing their fiends and foes getting what they deserve. I like the rich world and complex characters the author has created. It was all very engaging for me.

There is a focus on secondary f/f queer relationship and I loved seeing it. We also see a neuro-divergent secondary characters, I believe, the first one the series. I liked the representation but I am no expert so I would advise checking own-voices reviews for a better assessment.

The ending was perfect, the magical fairytale both MCs wanted with their found family.

This has been mostly a cozy, heart-warming queer romance sprinkled with some crime/murder investigation though nothing too explicit.

This is a paranormal contemporary romance and that's a thing I didn't expect going in and sadly, did not work that well for me.

I loved the story as a contemporary romance - a writer heroine is a difficult past and undiagnosed and untreated anxiety, a kind and caring hero who is her best friend's brother. He has his hands full with keeping the family business going and his family together and no intention or time for falling in love. They seem like an unlikely couple of the surface over the story we see how they actually make a perfect fit. There is a lot of internal conflict to their relationship which is my catnip in romance and I enjoyed reading about it. 

At the same time the story has a strong paranormal element that didn't work for me at all. Gaia has magical dreams related to her writing which I admit I didn't fully understand  how they worked. And thny because of her romantic connection she has with Jacob, he gets to share and participate in her dreams. It was all very weird for me and felt it didn't add anything to the story for me, only made me confused and annoyed. I think this would have been a great contemporary romance with out the paranormal aspect. I definitely would have enjoyed it more. 

I really liked how Gaia's anxiety, mental health struggles were presented, we get to follow her on her journey of realising she has issues, through defining them and seek the proper way to deal with them. At the same time Jacob's support and care for her was phenomenal while coming face to face with  some hard truths about his own life. It was the happiness they felt when they were together that helped them realise how unhappy and unfulfilled they have been up to that point and it acted a catalyst for them to be more daring and to reach out for the things they wanted.

Some plot points seemed too much and overall they served just as a distraction from the main story. I was not happy with the resolution of her magic in the end. There is also a spoiler for the next book right on the final pages and it left me baffled and once again asking my self "Why, Why go there at all?"

The writing is great, as I have come to expect from Therese Beharrie, the sense of place is tangible (Cape Town), the slow burn romance and the complex family relations round it are awesome. I would have absolutely loved it if it wasn't for the magic bits, as it is it I have mixed feelings about it and would only recommend with the caveats mentioned in my review. 

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads

My rating: 3 Stars

When another scandal lands Alex in major hot water and costs Lauren her job, she’ll have to choose between protecting him and offering him what he really wants—her. But he’s determined to keep his improbably short, impossibly stubborn, and extremely endearing minder in his life any way he can. And on a road trip up the California coast together, he intends to show her exactly what a falling star will do to catch the woman he loves: anything at all.

I have complicated feelings about this book. I generally like Olivia Dade's writing and sense of humour that comes through in her books. I haven't read the first in this series and went in not knowing anything about the characters.

I have to admit the first half was rather difficult for me, I was close to giving up in the middle but then the story turned around and I really enjoyed the second half.

I was not sold on either of the MCs initially though Alex was the real thorn in my side. I could see how he was under immense pressure, how his ADHD really complicated things for him, how sarcasm was his modus operandi, yet none of this could excuse the way he treated Lauren initially. He was rude and dismissive, consistently presented both her physical appearance and character in negative terms.

She was closed off, distanced from everything and everyone, completely burnt out because of her previous job. She came off as bland and boring but it made sense to me and his attitude to her felt even worse considering how caring and good-natured he was in fact. 

Once their relationship turned into romance things changed completely for me. It was tender, sensual, fun. We see them both dealing with their baggage, giving on the feeling of guilt they carry over things from their, reaching with both hands for the love they finally feel worthy of. 

Yes, there is a third-act break up and dark moment that was very dark but they got through it (with some outside help, I loved seeing the support systems they had and trust). I loved how they finally got to be completely honest with each other and opened themselves to possible rejection in order to find a way to make things between them work in the long term.

On the negative side, on top of my issues with the MCs in the first half, there are also a couple of thier little things here and there that annoyed me. There is a fanfiction element which I, someone who is not very knowledgeable of fandom/fanficiton, found weird and in my opinion was not necessary and didn't add much to the story. I found the stalking incidents to be cliched and trite, only serving to show Alex was a good person which was not necessary at all, we have already seen this on numerous occasions. They revealed a violent, incontrollable aspect of his temper which I considered worrisome. I wish there had been more focus on him getting help for these issues, rather than him becoming calmer and more stable thanks to his relationship with Lauren. 

Overall, I didn't like the first part but I am glad that persevered and finished the book. It made me angry and happy and it made me think over different issues it explores and I am grateful for this. 

CW: hero with ADHD, fatphobia, insults on physical appearance, unsupportive families, domestic violence (side character, in the past), actor stalking

Add to Goodreads / Buy on Amazon