Today, I’m hosting author A.K. Nevermore’s latest release Darker, book two in the Maw of Mayhem MC series, a paranormal, erotic romance. Be sure to read my reviews of the first three books. And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.
“Nine lives might not be enough…”
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Title: Darker
Series: Maw of Mayhem MC, Book 2
Author: A.K. Nevermore
Genre: Paranormal MC Erotic Romance
So much for sanctuary.
Blurb: Kit Parson doesn’t feel any safer than she was before she first stepped into the Maw of Mayhem, and things are going from bad to worse. Something big is definitely going down in the paranormal community… and inside Kit. Now that her inner beast has awoken, all it wants is out. The only thing Kit wants is Grim, but he’s got issues of his own.Fingered for a crime he didn’t commit and injured by the witch’s spell, his cat Darke has control of their form. He doesn’t play well with others, and tensions with the crew are at an all-time high.
With the witches’ elite assassins on their trail, can Darke and the crew put aside their differences to keep Kit safe and get back to the MC? And as the clock ticks toward the vote with Grim’s reputation in shambles, will there be an MC to go back to?
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Shades of the past tore through the consciousness Darke shared with his man, threatening to swallow Grim whole. He fought against their poisoned bite, but the witch’s spell had weakened the big cat’s skin-brother and freed the memories from their fetters. They lashed at Grim with inky black tentacles of torment. His agonized screams rose within the crescendoing squall, raging through their split psyche. A growl welled in Darke’s chest, ruff bristling at their assault.
— Mine! — he snarled, lunging into the fray. Sharp claws and teeth rent the shadowed memories of the bad time from his man, scattering them back into the depths of their mind. Grim was his. Him. A self separate, yet one. His skin-brother. Darke nuzzled him close, tongue rasping over Grim’s flickering light.
— heal —
Kit… his man whimpered, curling into a ball. His light dimmed, giving up control of their form to the big cat.
— ours — Darke rumbled, shifting their body and sending Grim what strength he could. Fur sprouted, limbs cracking and reforming. Two legs became four, and a tawny gray mountain lion lay sprawled on the bed where the others had lain his man to recover.
Within, his skin-brother’s light strengthened, its low glow holding steady.
Darke ran a paw over his face, licking at his pad. He sneezed at the scent of old blood, the room thick with the patina of its tang and the decaying musk of the undead. A low growl rumbled in his chest, his pupils dilating to take in the room’s blend of muted color.
Heavy furniture dominated the space, its angles stark amidst the gloom. Tendrils of scent threaded through the room, age and linseed seeping from the wood to twine with the rest of the civilized rot assaulting his nose. He pushed off the bed, padding across the thick carpet. His shadow grayed the fingers of scant moonlight streaming in from long, amber-tinted windows.
Darke paused, his lip curling over his canines, disdainfully eyeing the city spread out below him before turning his face to the bulbous moon.
Had Grim’s female changed and released her animal?
Clay’s cat had promised Darke a mate. Teased him with her scent, captured within the weft of the afghan on Grim’s bed. The desperate longing it evoked proved the connection. The tip of Darke’s tail twitched. He’d trusted it would be so. Waited for so long. Too long. Kit’s scent matched the afghan’s. That meant the beast within her was his.
Darke chuffed his frustration. Sensing his mate without being able to claim her was torture. He paced the breadth of the room, eyes narrowed at the heavy oaken door leading out. Beyond it, faint voices pricked at his ears. Part of his skin-brother’s pride was near. His crew. Darke growled at the snippets of the MC’s inner cats’ near-unintelligible murmuring punctuating the two-legged babble. That he could understand the crew’s stupid yapping better than his own brethren’s yowls irked.
A pang of loneliness shot through Darke’s chest. He missed Clay. When his father’s inner lion had spoken, his deep rumble was clarion. The lynxes out there? Yowls and hissing. Darke could pick out maybe one hard-won word in six, and they couldn’t understand him at all. It had been the same with his littermates, Grapple and Shiv, leaving Darke to rely on instinct when forced to interact.
It got him into trouble. Lynxes were shady and the two-leggers lied. Said things they didn’t mean, then hurt you. Clay had been different, but he was dead while his murderer walked free.
Reaper.
Darke shivered, ears flicking back, remembering the bad time. The man who called himself their uncle needed to die, and Grapple and Shiv with him.
Darke’s temper spiked, his tail swishing. Keenly feeling the loss locked within his mind again, in this stinking place of undead. His skin-brother shared his sorrow at their father’s murder, but not Darke’s isolation.
And now Grim had left him, too.
Darke shouldered through another door into a smaller room lined with tile. It smelled faintly of excrement and strongly of fabricated pine, the water in the bowl stale and chemical-laced. Darke shook droplets from his maw and chuffed his distaste, returning to the window.
Soft footfalls approached from the beyond the oaken door.
Darke slunk into the deep shadow of an armoire as the heavy slab canted open, then closed. Kit limped to the center of the room, favoring a leg. Her arm was splinted, the opposite hand bandaged in gauze. A ruddy stain marred its whiteness. She wrapped her damaged limbs around herself with a low sob, the scent of fresh blood perfuming the air as she moved. Darke’s nostrils flared at that thread of wrongness twining within the delicate tendrils of citrus, cinnamon, and female musk.
His mate was presenting as wounded prey.
Darke bit back the growl building in his chest, fury pounding through his temples. His claws extended and retracted from the carpet’s thick pile. Healthy, she’d be a tempting prize for any predator. Injured… He was going to kill —
No. Darke’s ears flattened against his skull. His man would think before spilling blood.
But Grim thought too much.
Kit scanned the room, then dashed a hand across her face, stumbling to the bed. Her feet froze at its foot, head snapping toward the bathroom, then away. Another low sob eked from her throat, and Darke’s ruff stood on end. He would destroy them. Destroy them all. Starting with those who had failed to protect —
— Hey! Boy Vengeance! You really just gonna let her think her think he’s gone? —
Darke jumped, fur bristling at the syrupy censure. He backed deeper into the shadows, eyes wide and pulse pounding.
— Aww. Here puss, puss, puss… I don’t bite —
His lip curled over a canine, and a female’s mocking laughter flitted through his mind as clearly as the gravelly chuckle of Clay’s beast had. Darke’s heart leaped, his ears pricking forward, saliva pooling in his maw.
He could understand her.
The beast inside Kit, his promised mate — when she spoke, her words were clear, and she wanted to play.
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Darker continues where Grimdarke ended. I must say I really enjoyed where the author steered this novel. There is more world-building and a deeper look into the war between the various paranormal societies. And poor Grim is public enemy number one.
The chemistry between Grim and Kit is off the charts. They are a great couple, trusting each other after only meeting. Kit also must trust her inner-cat, something she fears. I enjoyed the look into her thoughts about what shifting meant, and how she did her best to avoid it at all costs. But when a cat wants its way, there is no stopping it LOL.
Even with all the action happening, the author does a great job of blending the romance into the external plot. Everything hinges on them being together and working as a team. And they are not only great in bed together, they are great out of bed, too.
We also get a great look at the secondary characters. I’m still rooting for a romance between Deuce and Triss. I adore them.
It’s a short read. Only 125 pages on my e-reader, but the author does a great job of making me feel as if I read a full novel. She’s great at packing so much into such few pages. Well done!
Do yourself a favour and grab a copy. The author’s created a great world with a bunch of wonderful characters.
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Title: Grimedarke
Series: Maw of Mayhem MC, Book 1
Author: A.K. Nevermore
Genre: Paranormal MC Erotic Romance
Blurb: Out of options and on the run after her psychotic father’s released from prison, Kit Parson heads to the only place she might be safe from him, the Maw of Mayhem MC. The unexpected move buys her time, but also puts her at risk. Surrounded by shifters, her inner cat begs to be released, and after witnessing a brutal attack on her mother as a child, she refuses to let the monster out. Totally doable, provided no bodily fluids are ever exchanged.
That takes the MC’s hot-as-hell VP, Grimdarke James, officially off the table. Mourning the recent murder of the club’s alpha and struggling to control his inner cat, the tattooed Viking god is on thin ice. If he goes feral again, he’ll be put down. Which makes his cat’s insistence that Kit belongs to him problematic, upsetting the delicate balance of the MC’s internal politics, and the woman blackmailing Grim.
But when Kit’s father catches up with her, Grim has no choice but to trust his cat, and Kit can’t deny their chemistry. Can they hold on to each other when everything is trying to tear them apart? After a gruesome triple murder propels them deeper into the paranormal world, they find themselves with unlikely allies, even as their enemies threaten to destroy everything they hold dear.
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Mind if I join?”
She glanced over, then away, all dismissive.
Yeah, she remembered him. Challenge accepted, baby.
A scarf held back hair so dark it shone blue where the light hit it, and those almond eyes—Okay, those were pretty much telling him to fuck off, but he could smell the lie. She was into him. He grinned, fingering the memory of her fist hitting his jaw, and she flipped a long ebony lock over her shoulder.
—want—
Yes, we do… Damn, what the fuck did MK have the heat set at in here? Grim pushed up the sleeves of his Henley, and she snuck another peek at him. Her gaze trailed the tattoos spiraling from his knuckles to his forearms, then jumped to the ink at his open collar, following it up his throat—
Eyes whiskey-dark caught his, her pupils blowing wide just like that night. He palmed across the growing wet spot on his thigh, nostrils flaring at the punch of her arousal in the air. Mmm. Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about… Grim stretched a leg behind her stool, juddering it closer.
“Hey! You mind?” She pulled away, wobbling. He shot out a hand to steady her, and she bit back a gasp at his touch. Fuck, she was just a little thing under that damned hoodie.
“Careful.” He grinned, releasing her to pour another. “I’m Grim. Didn’t expect you to follow me home. You stalking me, baby?”
Her eyes widened comically. “What? I—no… No! God, are you serious?” She shook her head, clearly flustered and pissed off about it, those lush lips of hers flattening to match her glare. “What kind of a name is Grim?”
A shitty one. He shrugged. “I’d ask my mama, but she’s thirty-two years dead. And you are?”
Color bloomed over cheeks and she winced. “Kit—I mean, Katherine. And my stool was fine where it was.”
Goddamn, she was fucking adorable on top of gorgeous. “Mmm. I like you close. Wouldn’t want you to cut out on me again.”
She snorted like she was daring him to stop her if she tried.
Oh baby, please try…
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This book is the start of the series after the prequel. Kit is given a bigger role in this one after meeting her in the Maw of Mayhem. I enjoyed her character as she flees the city in search of the MoM with a promise that MK will take care of her. Instead, she meets something awful that I won’t elaborate on or I’ll spoil it for the other readers.
This picks up where the prequel left off and it’s intense. And also gruesome at times. I felt for Kit. The poor young lady is on her own with nobody to turn to but people she must trust, but trust is a hard word for her to digest after all that she’s witnessed in her younger years.
Then there is Grim. I really enjoyed how he fell for Kit. He’s a protective man in deep grief after what he witnessed in the prequel.
Even worse, Reaper is on the loose.
The story was full of chemistry between the two leads, lots of action, plenty of suspense, and a cliffhanger ending that made me want to dig into the next novel.
This is a great series with a host of supernatural characters. I especially adored Triss, whom I met in the prequel. I do hope she gets her own story since she is my fave character. Do yourself a favour and get a copy. The author does a great job of building a paranormal world full of secrets, treachery, and violence.
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**FREEBIE ALERT!**
Get the Prequel story, The Maw of Mayhem FREE!
This is a short prequel that gets the series started. In this novella, we meet Grim, VP of the Maw of Mayhem. The story begins with plenty of action, and we’re introduced to Grim’s alter ego, his inner cat, Darke. I must say, I liked how the author gave me a good glimpse into Grim and Darke during this adventurous and dangerous scene. Right away, I liked both. Grim doesn’t have much confidence and worries a lot. As for his cat, it was cheeky and confident, ready to jump out and make an appearance at a moment’s notice, much to Grim’s chagrin.
We’re also introduced to the club’s characters without it getting confusing. I was able to remember who is who, and found each intriguing with their own distinct personalities.
Besides giving the reader a glimpse of what’s to come, the prequel sets up the introduction of Kit, who will become the heroine in later novels.
I liked how it made me want to read more since the author leaves a trail of breadcrumbs that you know will lead to chaos in the later novels. Yet the prequel also tells a story, the story of Grim, a sympathetic character I rooted for.
My only quibble is the way the author tends to use a lot of fragments. At first, I thought it was part of Grim’s POV. But I noticed Kit does the same thing. Anyhoo, the rest of the writing is solid, so I’ll chalk that up to her voice. She’s awesome with dialogue. I enjoyed the conversations between the characters.
Do yourself a favour and get a copy, because this series is off to a great start.
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AK Nevermore enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year. A Jane-of-all-trades, she’s a certified chef, restores antiques, and dabbles in beekeeping when she’s not reading voraciously or running down the dream in her beat-up camo Chucks.
Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes Science Fiction and Fantasy full time.
She pays the bills editing, wielding a wicked hot pink pen and writing a column on SFF. She also belongs to the Authors Guild, is a chapter treasurer for the RWA, teaches creative writing, and on the rare occasion, sleeps.
Follow A.K.: Website | Facebook | X | Instagram | Bookbub | Amazon | Goodreads
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Maggie Blackbird 
This looks like a great series. Thanks for sharing.
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