** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine
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Acsquidentally in Love
Sucker for Love Mysteries, Book 1
by K.L. Hiers
★★★★★
195 Pages
POV: 3rd person, one character POV
Content Warning: tentacles, knotting, possession, minor violence and gore
Acsquidentally in Love is a unique take on tentacle romance. With a dash of romance, mystery and suspicion, Acsquidentally in Love is a twist tale that delves deep into the main character, Sloane's past, present and future. It combines a chance encounter, a missed opportunity, two mysteries, a murder, and a cold case that spurs the characters towards their end goal.
With an ex-cop, magical anomaly of a Private Detective, a tentacled and snarky God in human form, and a back-up team of magical friends and a CSI tech, the book has a host of characters to bond with.
The main character – Sloane – has a dark past, having lost his parents to a magical murder when he was a child. Harbouring a special and rare magical ability, in a world that accepts, understands, and investigates magic like any other crime/use of power, Sloane became a cop in the hopes of solving his parents murder, but is sacked for misuse of police tech and becomes a private investigator. This gives him a broader range of freedom, using both magical and mental acumen to solve his cases. With a clever mind, a unique view of magic, and a friend in the CSI department, he has all the tools he needs to solve cases.
The God Azaethoth is our secondary main character. Looking to hire Sloane to investigate the murder of a dedicated disciple, he lands himself in Sloane's life, apartment, and heart, with an uncaring ease, offering snark and an alternative insight into his case.
Third place characters include Lynnette and Fred, Sloane's best friend Milo, and a host of minor characters who all have their place within the story. There are multiple suspects to the crime, with an equal amount of characters to provide help and hindrance to the investigation.
The world building was fantastic! This is my first book by the author, and I'm seriously impressed. There was a whole new world of magical Gods, magical abilities, and an entirely new belief system that was built from the ground up. The intensity of the world building was clear, as there was a new revelation at every turn and every aspect of the religion, politics and history of that religion was explored throughout the process of Sloane's investigation. I never felt lost in the details, but I never felt that it was incomplete or things hadn't been explained, either.
The mystery/crime investigation was also clever and intriguing. As a crime buff, who has read it and seen it all, and who usually knows the killer/culprit early on, I didn't actually see all the twists coming. There were a few where enough crumbs had been left that I could be suspicious, but I was never 100% sure of my theory until the end. And, for the first book in a series, I love that the entire mystery was resolved in the book, and we weren't left with a huge cliffhanger at the end.
This isn't my first tentacle book, but it was my first novel with that aspect. The sex was...intense. Not only was there lots of tentacle sex – and, no, there was no human appendage sex on page – there was also knotting and an implication of future mpreg, though only time will tell if the story will show that on page or not.
Admittedly, there was a lot of sex. Mostly, it was a scene here or there, but there is a HUGE block of sex between 52-61%. However, though I'm usually the first to complain about too much sex in a book with a plot this twisty and intricate – I prefer plot with my hot, rather than porn – but this chunk of sex had purpose. It was meaningful, interspersed by conversation, and provided a unique and different purpose and method than the previous and/or following scenes. So, while there was a lot of it, I never felt like it was a massive amount or that it was clogging up the story.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to reading more. I do have a slight hesitation over how the series will continue. The book would have made a top notch solo novel, as it ended on a perfect HEA ending, wrapping up every character's storyline. Everyone had found their happy, the case was resolved, and there was only one tiny aspect that wasn't explained and it wasn't really enough to imply further stories, so I'll be intrigued to see where the author takes the series, going forward.
Will it be the same MC's or new? That's hard to tell. Azaethoth certainly has enough siblings (50+) that there could be a new god to emerge in the next book, and I'd definitely be all for that. I do hope the unexplained sludge is resolved in Book 2, and that there's another intriguing case to be investigated, even if it's not with Sloane and Loch.
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Favourite Quotes
““Yes, it’s quite romantic,” Loch replied with a warm smile. “Abigail summoned a sword made of starlight and plunged it right into Halandrach’s heart to claim Zunnerath as her own.”
“Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a little homicide.””
“Milo suddenly came barreling over, frantic and babbling, “Real! It’s real! He’s really real! This, this is huge! Like, finding out Yoda is real!”
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