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- Acsquidentally in Love, by K.L. Hiers
Acsquidentally in Love, by K.L. Hiers
Book Info
Private investigator Sloane sacrificed his career in law enforcement in pursuit of his parents’ murderer. Like them, he is a follower of long-forgotten gods, practicing their magic and offering them his prayers… not that he’s ever gotten a response.
Until now.
Azaethoth the Lesser might be the patron of thieves and tricksters, but he takes care of his followers. He’s come to earth to avenge the killing of one of his favorites, and maybe charm the pants off the cute detective Fate has placed in his path. If he has his way, they’ll do much more than bring a killer to justice. In fact, he’s sure he’s found the man he’ll spend his immortal life with.
Sloane’s resolve is crumbling under Azaethoth’s surprising sweetness, and the tentacles he sometimes glimpses escaping the god’s mortal form set his imagination alight. But their investigation gets stranger and deadlier with every turn. To survive, they’ll need a little faith… and a lot of mystical firepower.
Editor review
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.
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.
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.
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.”
“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!”