Reviewed by Sarina

TITLE: Beholden

AUTHOR: Kris T. Bethke

PUBLISHER: JMS Books

LENGTH: 124 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2018

BLURB:

Julian Thomas made the unpopular decision to become Beholden and focus his magic only on scrying. Because of it, he’s the best at his job and the top scryer for the Department of Extranormal and Magical Affairs. Which why Investigations Agent Wes Caldwell goes right to Julian for help locating a missing person.

When Wes needs to use his magic to boost Julian’s, they find a magical resonance between them that quickly leads to more. Julian doesn’t want to move too fast, but Wes knows Julian is it for him. He’s fine with waiting, as long as Julian stays close as they work through it.

But then Julian falls ill, and it’s clear there’s a magical reason. Wes will stop at nothing to find out what’s plaguing Julian, and when they realize just how deep the plot goes, they have more questions than answers. Magic is increasing in the world, and no one can figure out why. Julian and Wes have found love, but will it be enough to get them through what’s to come?

REVIEW:

Julian is used to having people look down on him; choosing to bind his magic into just one discipline instead of using it for a variety of different applications is considered ‘low class’ by quite a few, his sister included, but its what Julian enjoys, what he’s good at, and he’s never regretted it.  When his talent brings Agent Caldwell to his door, Julian finds himself hit hard and fast with a serious case of lust but after helping with the other man’s case he figures he’ll never see him again.  Besides being Beholden Julian is bookish and easy to overlook so it should be easy to forget all about the agent that makes his blood rush.  Wes doesn’t just disappear after getting what he needed, however, and seems determined to prove to Julian he wants more than just a casual fling.  When Julian’s magic appears to be draining faster than he can replenish it, Wes becomes even more determined to keep Julian by his side; especially when it becomes clear that without his help Julian may not survive.

I really like this one!  I fell into the story really easily and enjoyed the heck out of it to boot; the characters were fleshed out enough that I found myself really liking them right away and you learn more about them as the book progresses so I was kept interested in them the entire way through.  The plot kind of had two branches to it: one that will continue farther along as the series progresses (because regardless of a series not being listed, there’s no possible way this will just be limited to one book) and the other dealing with the problem Julian is facing with the loss of his magic.  Both plot lines were interesting and I have a feeling that even though Julian’s issue was dealt with (as much as it could be anyway) that it will be connected back to the overall magical problem that was still being investigated in the background.

Also, Julian and Wes together just felt right to me.  I didn’t have a hard time imagining them together both in the story and further down the road, which made reading about them together even more of a pleasure.  Things do move a bit fast on the feelings front between them both but while Wes was pretty much all in right from the beginning, Julian does take a little longer to catch up.  I liked that Julian was a bit of a hold out on the feelings/relationship front, to be honest.

I just really enjoyed this one; the world building, story and characters were all interesting to me and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the author takes this.  If you enjoy Urban Fantasy stories or law enforcement/paranormal stories, I’d highly recommend giving this one a look!

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

JMS Books

Amazon