The Laughing Game by AE Lister (Parlor Games Book #3)

TITLE: ⟫ The Laughing Game

AUTHOR: ⟫ AE Lister

SERIES: ⟫ Parlor Games Book #3

RATING: ⟫ 3.5/5

BLURB: ⟫ When people are placing bets, maybe you’re not so straight after all.

Angel Barnett always assumed he was straight. Sure, he’d had an occasional fantasy about sex with a man. But he’d never contemplated having sex with two men, until he met Gideon Foster and Vihaal Petrovsky.

Now he can’t get them out of his head, and the casual friendship that’s developed between them is heading into unknown territory. It seems like everyone he knows, including his aging mother, has known for years he’s ‘not so straight’. And it turns out that Gideon and Vihaal have been deliberately trying to seduce him.

But they’re married, and Angel isn’t sure about sex with men to begin with. It only takes a few instances of physical intimacy with Vihaal and Gideon, who seem to live a very kinky life with few boundaries, for Angel to finally accept and start to explore his bisexuality.

But can Angel be a third to Vihaal and Gideon’s twosome? They seem to want him. But the two of them are kinky as hell so not only is Angel embarking on a same-sex relationship for the first time, he’s also being initiated into the kinky world of dominance and submission. And since Vihaal is a die-hard Dom, it looks like Angel had better get used to submission—a mindset that comes surprisingly easily.

REVIEW: ⟫ This is the first book that I can recall reading by AE Lister and as this one is book number 3 in the series, I think I have done it a slight disservice. I haven’t read the previous books in the series and I don’t think that this works as well as it might do without all of that background.

That said, I found the dynamic between Angel, Vihaal and Gideon to be entertaining, sexy and on occasion, very sweet. Vihaal and Gideon are a married couple who occasionally indulge in adding a temporary third to their relationship. However, it becomes obvious that they have had their eye on Angel for a while and it quickly becomes apparent that this is not a temporary thing for any of them. Not least, because for Angel this is his first relationship with men.

I enjoyed the relationships and characters in this story, especially Angel’s mother who made me laugh a lot. The friendships were nicely written and the encouragement and acceptance was good to see/read. The sex scenes were hot and intense, and although I felt that occasionally there wasn’t enough attention paid to the fact that this was all new to Angel, the triad worked very well with Vihaal most definitely in charge with Angel and Gideon as his pets. I may see if I can read the previous books in the series.

I received an ARC from GRR.

Bloodlines by AE Lister

Title: ⟫ Bloodlines

Author: ⟫ AE Lister

Rating: ⟫ 3/5

Blurb: ⟫ A Hot Bite story

Can a bratty young vampire behave himself for the ultimate reward?

Benjamin Wilde has been around for four hundred years. Clove Noble has only recently joined the clan of the undead. But Clove has also joined Professor Wilde’s Egyptology class, and now the other students have begun to disappear, one by one.

Professor Wilde knows he has to do something to curb Clove’s youthful recklessness. And when the young vampire expresses an interest in Benjamin’s attractive bloodslave Sage, he thinks he might have a way to control him.

Or is Clove smarter than he seems? Will bringing Clove home to Sage be a mistake—or the way to a better future for them all? Because Clove is vulnerable to the other vampires out there, Benjamin wants to protect him as much as he wants to keep him in line.

And what about Sage? Can a human handle being with two hungry vampires, or will Sage make an offer that has been years in the making?

Review: ⟫ I truly wanted to like this story more than I did – in fact, I put it down several times thinking it was just that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read it and that I would enjoy it more later. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be – I found Benjamin patronising and annoying; Clove was arrogant and annoying and Sage was vapid and annoying. In short, I couldn’t find anything to like in any of the main characters and so the book fell short for me.

I loved the premise and the world-building/history was interesting, especially the long-term relationship Benjamin has managed to preserve with Sage. It made perfect sense that he wouldn’t want a young vampire coming along and messing everything up. I get the feeling Benjamin’s character was meant to be slightly stuffy and set in his ways, with Clove representing an influx of new vitality into him. But to be perfectly honest, I couldn’t figure out why Benjamin didn’t dispatch Clove as soon as he realised what an issue he was being – that would have made so much more sense to me.

In his time on earth, Benjamin must have witnessed great beauty so his attraction to Clove being based on how he ‘lit up’ the room seemed too exaggerated and shallow and my annoyance spread from there. I couldn’t understand why he would risk what he had for a beautiful face – especially as I found Clove’s personality so annoying! I also didn’t understand why Sage had allowed the status quo to continue for so long if he was unhappy and it made me feel like his relationship with Benjamin was more transactional than I think the author intended.

I have to think that this was a ‘me’ issue, as I have seen other reviews where people have been delighted by the characters and the story. The sex scenes were well written, and the gritty, bloody portions of the book kept me interested, but overall I would say that this wasn’t for me.