Gutsy by Ki Brightly

Title: ⟫ Gutsy 

Author: ⟫ Ki Brightly 

Rating: ⟫ 3.5/5 

Blurb: ⟫ A Tale of Horror and Romance. . . . 

The Rich City Slicker 

Journey Baral met Pious on a night out and was immediately interested in him, but after only one dance they had a fight that sent Pious stomping off into a snow-filled night. 

Journey found the whole encounter humorous, though he did feel a little bad for causing issues, but he brushed off the incident. Days later, a peculiar hunger strikes Journey, and his life quickly runs off the rails. 

The Farmer – And Hex Meister 

Pious Sturms hexed himself. 

He didn’t mean to stir up trouble, but a hex is the only explanation for the barrage of bad luck that has been following him around. Everything in Pious’s life has been going downhill since he got home from a visit to the city. 

One dark night, Journey, the man Pious has been thinking about non-stop since he met him, turns up on his doorstep, and Pious is horrified to realize he didn’t only hex himself, he hurt Journey, too. 

Will Pious be able to fix this magical problem before it is too late, or will Pious and Journey both be consumed by the hex in the end? 

Gutsy is a spooky horror romance, so be prepared for your heart to race with fear as Journey and Pious fight for their happily ever after! 

Review: ⟫ Firstly, I don’t know if reading the first book set in this verse will help or hinder your understanding – it will help you figure out the one-eyed guy dating a possessed person, so there is that. 

This book was – different. There was a bit of insta-love, although probably to describe it as inst-attraction, and then our two MCs separate and some really weird stuff happens whilst they’re apart. 

I still can’t figure out if I even liked this book, and I’m sat here several hours after reading it trying to figure that out. 

This book’s subject matter is dark and I would definitely advise heeding the warnings, but my heart didn’t race with fear and I was very much left wanting something more. 

The characters were interesting, if only from the perspective of their very different backgrounds. I struggled with Pious’s brother and his attitude throughout the book, and I couldn’t quite get a grasp on the community in which he lived but that might be lack of experience on my behalf more than anything else. 

I would have liked to spend more time with their Oma as she was introduced as someone who might be able to help, but that seemed to go to a dead-end. I don’t know how to express my feelings about the medical staff and law enforcement in this book – in what universe would someone slowly going green NOT be something that caused alarm? 

The sex was good – not overly hot, but caring more than anything? Which fit with Pious’s wishes so that worked quite well. 

As you can see from my review, I am just not sure how I feel about this book. I finished it because I really wanted to know how they made their way to a HEA, but even after putting it down, I’m still not sure if I can say I actively enjoyed it. 

Some of it was a tad gruesome, and it really did go a long way to making the thought of finding the way someone smelled ‘delicious’ take on a whole new meaning. 

Ultimately, I’ve gone with 3.5 rounded down and will approach any other books in this series with less expectations. I received an ARC from GRR.