Jon and Mack's Terrifying Tree Problems by A.J. Sherwood

Title: ⟫ Jon and Mack’s Terrifying Tree Problems

Author: ⟫ A.J. Sherwood

Rating: ⟫ 4.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ It’s like a bad game of Telephone.

Grant locates a murdered teen in McMinnville. He calls Jon.

Jon locates the girl’s ghost. He calls Mack.

Mack talks to the ghost who leads them to more ghosts. Who lead them to even more ghosts.

And why are all the murder victims buried under trees?

The boys are ready for this game to end, please. (Donovan especially.)

Tags:

Jon’s World crossover, hail hail the gang’s all here, oh look we meet Grant, trees are not to be trusted, according to Donovan, ya’ll pray for Donovan, there’s so many ghosts, the ghosts have some WORDS to share, car sex, bondage sex, Mack has plans, so of course they get ruined, BAMF female cops, Jon and Mack are ready for this case to be over, please and thank you, serial killer(s)? running amok, people get tombed, literally, Eli’s mad she missed the fun, Mack would like to say: Don’t use Jon as a battery, seriously don’t do it

Review: ⟫ There is not a chance that you’ll be able to follow this story unless you’ve read the other ones in the series so don’t even try!

As a fan of Jon, Mack and all of the others, it was really fun to dive back into this world. I did get lost a few times and had to remind myself of who was who and who did what, but once I’d got my memories back, it was full steam ahead. I loved how this story showed new sides to the powers these guys had (who even knew it was possible to use Jon as a battery even if it was a supremely bad idea), whilst solidifying what you already knew about them.

I wouldn’t say there a was a lot of romance in this book, although there were a few steamy sex scenes. It was more about the mystery they find themselves in the middle of, and how they all came together to figure it out and solve the crime.

I thought Jon and Mack were complete idiots a few times, especially towards the end, but they did so good in the end that I forgave them. The reason for the rating of 4 instead of 5 is because the book did get confusing a few times, and as I haven’t read the previous books in a while, I felt a little lost and I wouldn’t be surprised if other people felt the same.

It was brilliant to be back in this universe, and I look forward to reading more about the adventures of our guys – maybe a little recap/glossary in the beginning of the next book?

A Mage's Guide to Aussie Terrors by A.J Sherwood

Title: ⟫ A Mage’s Guide to Aussie Terrors
Author: ⟫ A. J Sherwood
Blurb: ⟫ One ghost from the past.

Two unknown Australian monsters eating people.

Three men who won’t let either problem win.

Tags:
Familiars of choice, healing old wounds, Australian mythology, yes Nico and Wicky are in Australia, that goes about as well as anyone expects, giant amphibians of unusual size, even the MAD research department is stumped, Wicky may have summoned Godzilla, in his defence he was left unsupervised, conversations via air guitar, the next time they have to travel to a different continent Bel is drugging Nico first.

Review: ⟫ I don’t remember thinking that the first book was this silly. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it – the banter was on point, the snark and jokes were brilliant but this time I almost felt like it took away from the story? Despite what they were facing eating people and the real possibility of death, there seemed to be a lot of jokes/banter and general silliness that felt a bit much.

Spencer came across like a complete and utter child, and in a way this dragged me out of the story. I get that he was the ‘villain’ (apart from the giant lizards), but would someone so completely and utterly incapable of acting in a mature fashion – at any point in time – have made it so far in his career? It just felt like in order to make him the bad guy, it was almost taken to parody levels.

Nico and Wicky together are always funny as heck – the names for their light sabers made me laugh for far too long. The monster fighting was also good, especially the way the team worked together – it almost made me wonder why they bothered having the marines along!

We see a bit more of the relationship between Garen, Nico and Bel which was lovely, and the sex scenes were satisfying. Whether it’s because I just wasn’t in a light enough mood or not, this didn’t quite hit the spot as well as other AJ books, but I will definitely be tuning in for Wicky’s book. And, yes, I may be on the Wicky/Grandpa bandwagon just a little!

Worth a read, but be prepared for shenanigans, silliness and a fair bit of sexiness! 3.5/5 rounded up to four from me.