Ugh

Loads of self hate and physical abuse. I can't believe I was rooting for this relationship. Jake is a major a**hole.

Ugh

Loads of self hate and physical abuse. I can't believe I was rooting for this relationship. Jake is a major a**hole.

I reached the end of this and immediately bought books 4 and 5 of the series, trying desperately not to read the blurb, because I really didn't want to spoil anything. There are some pretty devastating moments in this story, but I'm still rooting for a HEA.

Until now I really hated Adrien's mother (started to like her in this book, but currently I'm 75% of the way through book 4 and I hate her again). I love Adrien English still - his dry, witty humour, emotional distance and vulnerability make his a wonderful, deep character with whom to sympathise, although he has many traits in common with my own protagonist (Josh Sandison - Hiding Behind The Couch series), which does sometimes throw me when I'm reading.

I'm motoring through Lanyon's books now, and find his style easy to digest, but there are some wonderful sparkles of literary genius in here. He's a very clever, talented author.

Here's the thing: I get why people are mad at Jake, but weirdly - I'm not, really? Mostly I feel sorry for him. For Adrien, too, of course, but - I honestly don't think it's fun to live a lie like that. And the fact that that aspect also is there for the reader to see is one of the many strengths of the series. Add to it a whole cast of likable characters and interesting cases, and you have something really good. If there'd anything I dislike it's the "rival love interest" in every single book. I get why they're there, but then they're not used to their full narrative potential, it seems. But it doesn't diminish my enjoyment.

Ugh, why do I have to work tomorrow when all I want it reeeeeead.

The third book in the Adrien English Mysteries really elevates the series from great to amazing, and it’s no surprise the book was a Lambda Literary finalist! Josh Lanyon really hit her momentum and groove with this universe and our star-crossed, sometimes lovers: Adrien English, amateur sleuth extraordinaire, and Jake Riordan, LAPD homicide detective. The plot delivers a chaotic, spooky, deadly web of occult-gone-wrong, blood sacrifices, dangerous red herrings, a closeted boyfriend reaching his limit, a new family, and oh yeah… the holiday season is among us!

Ho, ho, oh no…

It’s Christmastime, and Adrien’s used bookstore, the Cloak and Dagger, is doing pretty fantastic. With the exception of the anonymous threatening phone calls coming in for his assistant, Angus, that is. Adrien convinces the college kid to take a bit of time off and leave town, because demonic phone calls are “bad for business,” but little does Adrien realize how this one small decision becomes a catalyst that sets off a series of unstoppable events in his life—with a visiting author who goes missing, blood-painted Satanic symbols on the doorstep, very real dead bodies posed to incriminate those he cares for, there’s even tangible connections to Adrien’s surprise new stepfather and stepsisters. And to make everything all the more worse, more unbearable, more heartbreaking, the tenuous relationship with Jake is unraveling quicker than Adrien can stitch the seams back together.

I remember really liking the plot of The Hell You Say, but this re-read has given me an even greater respect for the romance angle and how Lanyon is able to frustrate me with both men’s choices, while also breaking my heart and feeling for their individual reasons that the relationship crumbles, despite both so clearly wanting each other physically, mentally, and emotionally. It’s just not the right moment. And that’s simply the hardest pill to swallow for any reader who’s just as dedicated to a romance as they are to solving a mystery, but if Adrien and Jake were to ride off into the sunset now, you know it wouldn’t last. Neither of them are in the right headspace, for completely different reasons, to love and respect what’s been building between them.

God, this really is just a fantastic book. I not only re-read it, but I listened to it immediately afterward another two times. The pacing, the sarcasm, the one-liners, the terror and sorrow and character growth—I could go on and on. Lanyon never delivers anything less than the pinnacle of writing, and if you’ve not begun this series yet, this is my promise that each title just continuously ups the previous!

As Adrien gets entangled with a Satanic cult, his fractured relationship with deeply closeted Jake reaches breaking point. I personally didn't enjoy this instalment for a few reasons. First, I thought there was some poorly researched/stereotypical conflations of Satanism, Wicca, witchcraft, and paganism. These things aren't interchangeable, and to my knowledge Yule has no associations with ritual human sacrifice so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Published in 2006, this is an example of a book has aged badly with regards to the cultural references. Mostly though, my issue was with Jake's arc. We know he's always been mired in self-hatred; we know he's queerphobic and despises himself for being gay (I swear he's bi? He says he likes women and men, so ... bi people exist, little reminder. I guess the bi erasure rubbed me up the wrong way too.)

But the great thing about Jake is that despite his internal conflict, he's good to Adrien - protective, kind, caring, gentle, even when he's sarcastic and grouchy. Where did that Jake go in this book? I can understand how the pressure of feeling like his secret is about to be discovered would get to him, but I hated how Adrien recognised he was frightened of Jake's violence and that he genuinely thought Jake might kill him, even accidentally. I get the impression these two are endgame but... there seems to be a lot of romanticisation of abusive dynamics that I didn't enjoy reading.

While it's important to demonstrate abusive relationships or even how loving relationships fall apart and into abusive dynamics, I prefer when the narrative perspective doesn't try to act like this is excusable, attractive, or just what you have to put up with in life. Adrien seems so depressed and basically like a battered partner in this book, and I'm wondering whether the next instalment will engage with his experience as a survivor of domestic violence or with his views on the kind of treatment he accepted from Jake. What I'm missing right now is the psychological experience of Jake and Adrien. I don't know how either of them really feel, because their internal landscapes aren't explored, so I have to fill in the blanks with my own projection, which in this case means I can't rate the book very high. I'm really hoping for a significant redemption arc from Jake in the final two books but...

cw: dubcon; domestic violence; murder; ritualistic killings; (constant) Harry Potter references

It's either that this series gets better starting from this book.. or that this book is the best in the series.
I liked every aspect in it.