Reviewed by Sarina & Jenna
TITLE: Lead Me Into Darkness
AUTHOR: Santino Hassell, J. R Gray, Kris Ripper, J.C Lillis, & Roan Parish
PUBLISHER: Self Pub
LENGTH: 32,000 words
BLURB:
Lead Me Into Darkness: Five Halloween Tales of Paranormal Romance
All-Hallows-Eve brings out the wicked in even the most reserved among us… and the lure of romance is the keenest incentive to follow a beloved into the unknown. Lead Me Into Darkness is a compilation of original tales of queer paranormal romance by five of the hottest authors of contemporary romance.
Take You Farther by Santino Hassell
Brian Watts’ boyfriend is a newly turned vampire, and he’s shouldering the blame. Watts would do anything–including offering up a vein, stripping for cash, and demanding answers from other creatures of the night–to redeem himself and save the man he loves.
Memory Hill by J.C. Lillis
Billy Hartigan’s been dead for ten years, and it’s really pissing him off. Stuck in Memory Hill Cemetery due to “unfinished business,” he fritters away the long days playing monster movies in his head, reliving the glory days of his indie band, and mourning his missed chance at love with his best friend. Then one Halloween he gets a visit from troubled teen geek Todd Racklin, the last living fan of Billy’s old band. Todd needs some beyond-the-grave help from his idol–and his visits might hold the key to Billy’s release from Memory Hill.
Grave Circumstances by J.R. Gray
Secret agendas collide with guns, ghosts and confusing erections, on a tour through a haunted graveyard. Jesse’s been carrying a secret and needs a night alone with George. But George has his own agenda, leading Jesse into darkness, the fright of his life, and a blinding release he won’t soon forget.
Boyfriends in the Boneyard by Kris Ripper
In a perfect world, Truman Jennings would be spending Halloween with both his husband and his boyfriend; alas, in this one he’s on a ghost tour with his husband, and his boyfriend is probably watching scary movies and eating pizza rolls.
The cemetery is appropriately creepy, their tour guide weaves a good yarn, and Hugh’s in a very odd (but utterly delightful) mood. When Hugh leads him away from the group Truman doesn’t know what to think, but considering his husband’s filthy, kinky mind, he’s more than willing to find out.
As usual, Hugh has both tricks and treats up his sleeve.
Mayfair by Roan Parrish
Jocelyn has been secretly in love with her best friend Bethany for a year. And it’s hell. But there are other things—dark, creeping, illusory things—that are tormenting Jocelyn even more. They’ve been appearing more and more lately and Jocelyn is starting to doubt her sanity. But a Devil’s Night ritual in a Detroit cemetery may reveal more than she ever imagined…
REVIEW:
Take You Farther by Santino Hassell — Reviewed by Jenna — 5 stars
I am so glad I discovered this story. Take You Farther is actually a side story that takes place after Stygian. Since I read Stygian, I had the advantage of having some background to the characters and their situation. Despite being a side story, I’m sure Take You Farther can also be read as a stand alone. The story begins with Watts and Quince who are holed up in New Orleans. They are lovers, but ever since Quince was turned into a vampire, he’s been slowly slipping away from Watts. Their only source of income is from Watts working as a stripper. When Watts goes to work and finds a way to get answers to help Quince, Watts jumps on the opportunity without any regard to his own safety.
Though this story was extremely short, I loved having a window into the lives of some of the Stygian characters. Quince is slipping into darkness, and though Watts doesn’t seem like he cares about anything anymore, it’s clear that he cares about Quince. After reading this, I’m curious about whether Stygian will have a sequel. I recommend this story to anyone who loves dark M/M fantasy and vampires.
Memory Hill by J.C. Lillis — Reviewed by Sarina — 4 stars
This was my favorite story in the anthology. Todd is a really sweet boy with quite a few problems when he stumbles into Billy Hartigan’s afterlife but since Billy hasn’t found a way to move on yet, he decides to give helping Todd a try. The story takes place over about 16 years though it progresses in mainly 5 year clumps at a time. I enjoyed seeing how Todd grows up and changes over the years and how Billy keeps waiting for him to come back, even when it takes a while. One of the best parts of the story for me was Billy’s side of the dialogue, however; his reactions were really amusing to me at times. I found the ending a bit bittersweet though; Todd got his HEA but while Billy was given some closure, I still felt bad for him at the end.
Grave Circumstances by J.R. Gray — Reviewed by Sarina — 3 stars
This was probably the most amusing story in the anthology though it was a little confusing at first. The way things were spoken about with slaves and cravats made me think the story took place in a much earlier time period than it actually does. The reality is that the main characters are in a BDSM relationship and once I realized that, I was better able to understand what was going on. I thought George’s ‘surprise’ was entertaining and it seems like something that would be a lot of fun to do. I did find myself a little confused with all the talk of Jesse’s various ex’s, however; I also did found out that this is a side story for the author’s Bound series after the fact and that would probably make a difference in how much someone understands about character interactions and conversations in the story.
Boyfriends in the Boneyard by Kris Ripper — Reviewed by Sarina — 2.5 stars
This turned out to be side story from the Scientific Method Series and I hate to say I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. I’ve read ménage books before but none where you have a married pair with a boyfriend on the side; that’s fine, I guess, but the entire thing just seemed unequal to me. The majority of the story takes place between Truman and Hugh, the married couple, with their boyfriend, Will, thrown in at the end. What kind of turned me off to it was that the interactions between Truman and Hugh was mostly talking while Will is the only one you get to see having any kind of sexual gratification. Maybe I’d feel differently about the entire thing if I had any experience with the rest of the series but from what I’ve read of it, the series doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either.
Mayfair by Roan Parrish — Reviewed by Sarina — 3 stars
I liked this one even though during quite a bit of the story I had no idea what was actually going on. Jocelyn has a thing for Bethany, which I got, but she’s also seeing things and apparently has been for a while. I thought the glimpses of what Jocelyn was experiencing was interesting and really got me into the Halloween vibe but I thought a lot of what I read about the trio hanging out was kind of superfluous and took away from the overall story. I also would’ve liked to get more information about Ruby; she’s there are the beginning and the end of the story but those were really only glimpses when I thought she should’ve had a bigger part to play. (From when she was introduced, I expected to see her more and was disappointed when I didn’t.) Still, the story was interesting and a bit mysterious so that’s a plus.
RATING: 
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