This is an uneven urban fantasy mystery told through constant info dumps, time jumps, and outta nowhere MM humps. It’s written and narrated with jazz hands enthusiasm, so if an MC who refers to himself as “the twinkiest twink that ever did twink” sounds too Fruit Loops sugary-sweet, then you may want to pass.
The romance is even clunkier than the mystery and features an it’s-on-like-donkey-kong one night stand in the beginning and one more frantic get together years later (after a five year, and then multi-month time jump). Other than Sam lusting after him, I’m not sure there was anything written to demonstrate why Gideon and Sam would care about each other. Because I didn’t feel any chemistry or romance, the sex wasn’t sexy and I was glad it was so limited.
For all the info dumps, however, there were also huge gaps that could have upped the story. For example, Gideon is a demon and yet barely does anything demon-y. There’s a single mention of teleporting and his horns and large size are mentioned in relation to sex. But, I was hoping to see some demonic strength or fight scenes. Same for the vampire and other creatures.
I also found the cover art and narration for Gideon at odds with the story. Gideon is written as a centuries old, big beefy guy, with a craggy, broody face, yet the cover makes him look like a twenty something hipster. Gideon is narrated with an accent that makes him sound like a sweater wearing Grandpa Gunther. I was having flashbacks to AJ Sherwood/Drake’s Scales N Spells MM dragon romance series, in which Mr. Leslie uses the same pair of grumpy groomer and chipper twink voices for every couple.
Ultimately, this worked just fine as a zippy sale purchase. It was fun, even if clunky, and I appreciated that it didn’t run overlong. For a better written and narrated MM urban fantasy, however, I recommend the Demon Magic series by Alice Winters.