Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Black Magic Glitterbomb
AUTHOR: Sage C. Holloway
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: 91 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2017
BLURB:
Benji Seung is not one of the good guys. He commands dark magic; he looks out for himself before all else; he kills rival mages and steals their coffee makers. Life is good–or at least as good as it’s going to get for a guy whose soul grows more tainted with every passing day.
Everything changes when he accidentally rescues Kit, a wide-eyed young man down on his luck and living on the streets. With serious reservations but no better options than to leave Kit at the mercy of the elements, Benji takes him in and then can only watch as ominous events around them gain traction.
With an unknown adversary gunning for him, and Kit in the line of fire, the last thing Benji should be thinking about is romance, but he finds it impossible to resist the carefree troublemaker. Together, these two fight for their lives against black magic, diabolical schemes, and evil cupcakes.
REVIEW:
“I need revenge,” I growled. The need for it was pulsating through me with my blood, the power calling out for it.
“You need some scrambled eggs and toast.”
“And then revenge,” I acquiesced.
“And then sleep.”
“And then – “
“Yes, then you can have your revenge. Jesus H. Christ.”
Benji is an atrumancer, and don’t you dare make the mistake of confusing that with a wizard, or he might decide to kill you. He deals with dark magic, and other dark magic users, and it’s over the bodies of two such users that he meets Kit. And don’t you dare make the mistake of calling him Kid, or he may throw a frozen TV dinner at your head. Or chase you with a broom. Or even just pout really hard. Kit has plenty of weapons of his own, they just aren’t as flashy as Benji’s. Benji might consider himself “the big bad” but even he can’t resist taking a homeless Kit home to look after him. However things take a dangerous turn when it appears that someone is out to kill Benji and Kit has been placed directly in the way of that. The only way that Benji can see to keep Kit safe is to turn to some of his black magic “frenemies” for help.
This story wasn’t really what I was expecting. I picked it up, firstly because I loved the title and couldn’t get it out of my head, and secondly because I love a story where one of the main characters is more bad guy than good guy. I was expecting Benji to be evil. But he really wasn’t. He badly wanted to be bad, and sure, he was no angel, but it came across as more comedic baddie than anything else. The whole story had a comedic slant to it, rather than anything dark and dangerous, and I was really wanting more evil deeds. Although, having said that, the author got the balance of humor just right. Well, in my opinion. Humor not done well can just be irritating.
The highlight of this story is easily the interaction between Kit and Benji. While Benji is trying to be all badass, Kit is over the top adorable. He’s dangerously naïve, and ridiculously cute, which of course makes all the evil magic users want a piece of him. There’s no intense love story between them. Even the romantic element is infused with humor, and is fun and easy.
This reads like the first book of a series. There isn’t any cliffhanger, but certain threads of the story are left open, and Benji and Kit are only newly committed to being in a relationship. There’s still much that I feel needs to be explored, and I hope the author intends to continue Benji and Kit’s tale.
RATING: 
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