Love Bytes reads the Never Too Late Daily Dose from Dreamspinner Press!
For the whole month of June there will be a daily review featuring one of the stories from this new collection.
Make sure to let us know what you think of them to enter the amazing giveaways.
At the end of each week one winner will be selected to win their choice of a book from the collection and at the end of the month their will be one grand prize winner who will recieve the COMPLETE Collection!!
DAY 27
Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Lord Heliodor’s Retirement
SERIES: Never Too Late (Daily Dose 2015)
AUTHOR: Amy Rae Durreson
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 52 Pages
BLURB:
Unlikely hero Lord Adem Heliodor saved his queen’s life during the Screaming, a magical attack on his city, but his broken nerves have forced him into an unwanted early retirement to his country estate. Adem thinks his life is over, but retirement holds some surprises. First, there’s his new librarian, who turns out to be not just the first love he thought was dead, but also someone surprisingly knowledgeable about political intrigue. Then there’s the assassin in the orchard and the discovery that the Screaming was just the first attack on the city.
A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2015 Daily Dose package “Never Too Late.”
REVIEW:
I wasn’t sure about this one when I picked it off the list of the 2015 Daily Dose stories. I wasn’t at all familiar with the author, but the blurb sounded like it might be good. As you can see from the blurb, it is a tale of an alternate world with magic and evildoers. It is also a world apparently with no discrimination against same sex relationships.
Wow, am I glad I made the decision to pick this one. I really enjoyed this short story and the author’s writing style. The main characters were well fleshed out for a short story, and the background story was enough to keep the words flowing.
Lord Adem Heliodor survived a magical curse attack against his city which reduced the affected inhabitants to screaming, bleeding, monsters whose slightest touch spread the curse. Heliodor was forced to kill infected friends in order to save the young queen. But the strain of those actions has broken Heliodor and he is sent home to his country estate by the queen to a life of retirement.
But what happens when he gets there and finds a new librarian, the very man who Heliodor has mourned for thirty five years since he was killed in battle. Well, since he is there he obviously wasn’t killed in battle. How did he get here, and why does he know more than he is saying?
Is it too late for them? What will happen when a mage tries to set off a new curse against Heliodor himself on the estate?
I recommend this story. Definitely one that I would suggest you read from this collection! I know I’m headed off to research other books by the author!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Dreamspinner Press – Anthology Link
Great review, this is a new author to me but i really like the blurb. The cover is very nice to 🙂 I’ve added it on my TBR list.
Nice review, thank you, so many things to like about this one and a new author & books to add to my wish list. I wonder if there are any more books about this universe, or maybe there will be in the future?
I really like the combo of magic and historical in the blurb and review.
This looks intriguing. I haven’t read many historical fantasy romance stories =)
I hope you all like it as much as I did. I would also like to know if there is more from this author written in this alternate world.
Interesting! At first, it sounded a bit too much like the Scream in Megan Derr’s Prisoner, but as I read your review, it definitely was quite different. Thanks so much for introducing this to us.