Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Jumping in Puddles
SERIES: No series name, but Bloodline comes next
AUTHOR: Barbara Elsborg
PUBLISHER: Loose-ID
LENGTH: 213 pages
BLURB:
Jago doesn’t just inherit a title after the death of his parents, he’s saddled with the crumbling money pit of a mansion that’s been in his family for centuries. With his medical career on hold, he struggles to secure the future of Sharwood Hall, trudging uphill with no finish line in sight.
The sins of a past generation fall on faerie Ellie and her family, and each year they must trek to the exact center of the UK to recharge their energy. Until they find the Kewen, treasure guarded and lost by their ancestors hundreds of years ago, they’re banished from Faerieland. Ellie’s father has spent fifty years searching, now it’s his eldest child’s burden.
As a stunning woman sweeps into Jago’s world in a thunderstorm, he can’t stop thinking she’s too good to be true. For little reason other than her sweet and generous heart, Ellie is helping to put Sharwood to rights and leaving him more and more suspicious she wants something other than him. When family and duty clashes with trust and love, it’s debatable whether a perilous leap of faith, directly off a bridge into treacherous waters, will keep lovers from being swept apart.
REVIEW:
Jumping in Puddles is a straight romance novel, I do read a few of those! The new book Barbara Elsborg has released, Bloodline, is a gay romance novel and follows one of the characters from Jumping in Puddles. I am reviewing both.
Wow. Jago is a mess! His life has fallen apart, along with the nasty old mansion he’s responsible for. His father ran the family estate in to the ground, then had the nerve to die, along with Jago’s mother. His drug addict brother continued to destroy the old place, spending money and selling items, until Jago goes home and discovered what was happening. He ships his brother off to South America, quites his job and moves back home. He doesn’t understand what compels him to try and save Sharwood Hall, but every time he decides to sell it something bad happens and he changes his mind. The only thing good going for him is Henry, the caretaker of Sharwood Hall. Jago gets a letter from his brother and has reached the end of his rope about the time Ellie shows up…
Ellie and her family are faeries that due to an ancestor losing a collection of jewelry called the kewen, they have banned from their homeland and are stuck in this realm. The first child of each generation has to spend 50 years searching for the jewelry. It’s Ellie’s turn now. Ellie repairs jewelry for a living and keeps an eye out for pieces that are part of this missing collection. She sees a ring at an auction that is part of the jewelry, learns were it came from and heads on out to Sharwood Hall, where the ring came from, to see what’s what. Ellie show up on Jago’s doorstep in time to see him lose what little grasp on his sanity he has. She realizes he’s the potential love of her life, and has a moment of panic. Jago acts like a jackass, and takes off. Ellie settles in with Henry, and begins to work.
That is the set up to get our two main characters together. And where I began to have issues with the plot. There may be some spoilerish stuff here… So Ellie wants access to Sharwood and sent Henry a flyer advertising herself as a life coach. Henry calls her, she convinces him to invite her up, and she offers to help Jago for no money, only asking for a reference. She moves in with Henry and takes over Jago’s life. Finding people to do free work on his house, setting up this whole open garden thing with no money invested and all sorts of help donated, all while sneaking around the house looking for jewelry. Jago and Henry occasionally question things, but not seriously enough, and she keeps at it. All while sleeping with Jago. She also uses her faerie powers, and no one question’s that either. Jago notices, but never seems to really think it’s odd that she does these things. Eventually it all falls apart, as you know it is going to, but it does have a good ending. I know this is a fantasy novel, but I had a really hard time accepting this plot for probably the first half of the book. As I continued to read, I relaxed, suspended my belief in reality, let go of my issues and did enjoy the book.
Overall it was a good book. The plot was goofy, but quick and fun, the sex between Jago and Ellie was hot and flirty, and I liked the additional characters. The background stories of both Jago and Ellie were interesting. The ending was very nice, although what occurs in the epilogue was so very predictable. The writing was good, clever dialogue, a quick moving plot, good characters, and good sex. I liked it!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: Loose ID Amazon Are
TITLE: Bloodline
SERIES: No series name but it follows Jumping in Puddles
AUTHOR: Barbara Elsborg
PUBLISHER: Ioose-ID
LENGTH: 219 pages
BLURB:
No one can tattoo better than Inigo, a two hundred year old vampire, who works on human and supernatural skins. But he’s never tattooed a faerie and when a bunch of them insist he comes with them to tattoo one of their kind, saying no proves not to be an option. His skin is Oberon, the faerie king, and Inigo fears this will be the last tattoo he’ll ever do.
The moment Micah lands in the faerie king’s bed chamber, he knows the guy is trouble. But if he’s to save his sister and his family, let alone the job he’s paid to do, he has to stay in Faerieland and endure Oberon’s sadism. When he’s thrown into a vampire’s cell, covered in blood, he fears this day will be his last.
REVIEW:
Bloodline picks up just before Jumping in Puddles ends, but follows Micah, Ellie’s brother. We see a scene between Ellie and Oberon from Micah’s perspective, and it makes Ellie look like an even bigger idiot!
Inigo, a vampire tattoo artist living in London, seems to be a bit lonely. We first meet him as he’s picking up dinner he’s found on Grindr, having a quick bite on his way to work. He is bored by the whole experience, although the dinner was tasty. He heads off to his tattoo shop, expecting another night of tattooing. But in walks a fairy posse, and Inigo’s plans for the evening change!
Then there is Micah. Ellie and her big mouth have gotten Micah in a really bad situation. Oberon the fae king is one nasty bastard, and he’s gotten ahold of Micah, who knows secrets about Oberon’s family. Oberon is about to be crowned, and has some issues to take care of. He needs a tattoo like all of the kings before him have had, and he needs to shut down the information that Micah’s family knows. He sends his hench-fae out to get the best tattoo artist (Inigo) and begins to amuse (torture) himself with Micah.
Micah is roughed up a bit and dumped in a dungeon cell. Inigo is having his own issues tattooing Oberon, and earns the right to a night in his nasty dungeon as well. And…. our boys meet. There is licking, and frotting, and their adventure to save themselves and Micah family from the wrath of Oberon begins.
And an adventure it is! There is torture, a talking horse, a werewolf, a zombie, fire, water, secrets, and sex. Lots of sex! Hot, vampire and faerie sex… This is a fairly detailed plot, involving things that happened with the fae a generation ago, and a bunch of what we learned in Jumping in Puddles. The Norwood family is right in the middle of the mess, which turns in to a contention over the throne of Faeryland. It all comes to a breaking point, and there is a nice bit of drama. The ending was good, and I loved the epilogue, loved seeing the outcome for everyone.
The connection between Micah and Inigo was well done, the sex was certainly hot, but they got along very well aside from that. They were both goofy, but smart, focused on getting the job done and solving this big mess. Then there is a big thing that happens, and their love really comes out. They stay together throughout the story even though they know they shouldn’t, fighting against the king, the overall issues, their natures, and Micah’s obnoxious father.
I liked this book better than the first one. It may be that it is m/m which I prefer to read now. I liked Jumping in Puddles just fine, but got the plot better in this one. It made more sense to me somehow. The writing was good, the story kept my interest, the characters were great for the most part, and the sex was hot. It was a fun, quirky book!
RATING: