Title: Stone Wings
Series: The Gargoyles of Arrington: Book One
Author: Jenn Burke
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 200 Pages
Category: Contemporary Fantasy
Rating: 4 Stars
At a Glance: Stone Wings hits all the romantic beats and offers the truth that sometimes love is a lightning strike, and sometimes it sneaks up like a thief of hearts to turn life inside out and upside down. If you’re looking for a late summer read that’s a bit lower on the angst scale but still delivers some nice suspense, this one fits the bill.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: His curse can only be lifted with true love, but can true love come from a fake date?
Being the personal assistant to a trio of cursed gargoyle brothers who sleep for a hundred years and wake up for twenty-five wasn’t a career proposed by Josh’s high school guidance counselor, but it’s a job that he’s eminently suited for. Not to mention a job his family has been doing for generations. The brothers are truly excellent bosses, but Josh is surprised when Drew offers to pretend to be his date for his high school reunion. And even more surprised by a supposedly fake kiss that feels as real as a kiss can get.
Drew and his brothers owe Josh and his family for watching over them each time they turn to stone for a hundred years, and for helping them reintegrate into the world when they wake up. The least he can do is pose as Josh’s boyfriend for a night. Even though true love can break his curse, he knows he won’t find it with Josh. Nothing that real can come from a lie. Or can it?
When the fake boyfriend situation stretches into two nights, and then more, Josh and Drew can’t fight the attraction blazing between them. There’s no harm in exploring it, right? No expectations. But when paranormal danger comes to Arrington, Josh and Drew are going to have to battle for every moment of peace…and maybe a real happily ever after too.
Review: Jenn Burke’s newest release is a modern day fantasy/fairy tale set in a world of shifters, humans, gargoyles, and a curse that can only be broken by true love. The plot of Stone Wings is centered on the romance, and the conflicts—both the internal and the external—begin with a fake date and culminate in the kind of epiphany that strikes fear in the heart of Drew O’Reilly. The sort of fear that stems from risking said heart by falling for a mortal.
The O’Reilly brothers’ lives are not their own. Theirs have been dictated by a centuries-old curse that means they become gargoyles for one hundred years before awakening to start life all over again for a short twenty-five years, only to slip into their dormant state for another century. Members of the Pallesen family have served and watched over them for generations, the current guardianship belonging to Josh. His job consists of organizing and taking care of all the brothers’ day-to-day business, and helping them adjust to the myriad changes wrought by the last century of progress, but it’s Drew, specifically, who is the target of Josh’s unspoken affections.
Trouble strikes when a group of paranormals arrives in Arrington to cause general mayhem and threaten Drew, his brothers Teague and Rian, and the much easier target, Josh, putting him in danger. The mystery behind who is coercing the shifters and enlisting their help to wreak havoc increases the threats exponentially when revealed, but that’s not the end. This character remains at large, as the long arc of the series, and their total defeat will be the brothers’ only option.
Stone Wings hits all the romantic beats and offers the truth that sometimes love is a lightning strike, and sometimes it sneaks up like a thief of hearts to turn life inside out and upside down. It’s the story of a beauty and his beast and fulfills the promise of true love overcoming obstacles, also setting things up nicely for Rian’s quest to break his curse, though I can’t help but feel it’s Teague who is in the greatest jeopardy. If you’re looking for a late summer read that’s a bit lower on the angst scale but still delivers some nice suspense, this one fits the bill.
You can buy Stone Wings here:
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