Review: A sinfully cute Christmas tale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2014
An angel and the nephew of Santa Claus meet in a bar...sounds like the opening for a joke, but when these two meet there is no joke, just sizzle. Zephariel is the Angel of Vengeance; Nick Kauson is the nephew of Santa Claus and is tasked with investigating areas that hold pockets of residual despair, so the big man can do his job. Just when the two decide to get to know each other a little better, Zeph is summoned to the scene of a zombie “problem” at the school of Sam and Bob’s adopted daughter.At the same time that Zeph is getting information about the zombie issue, Nick gets that sinking feeling that something bad is happening, and he needs to deal with it now. Zeph and Nick find themselves together again, this time back to back fighting zombies. Welcome to the world of Sam Enderson, owner of The End Street Detective Agency and his vampire partner, Bob. Sam and Bob find themselves up to their elbows in zombies, necromancers, angels, demons, werewolves, familiars with attitude, grumpy gargoyles and Santa’s helpers.Once again the duo of Kell and Scott skillfully take us into the world of fantasy, erotica and humor with a little bit of Christmas magic thrown in for good measure. We’ve met Sam and Bob in previous novellas and fell in love with their give and take. Each new book takes us a little deeper into their world, introducing us to new characters and giving us new insight into old familiar ones. These two authors write as one, and if the reader didn’t know better they would swear they were hearing the story from one person.I love the play between Sam and Bob, poor Sam trying so hard to be “just human” while everyone he meets asks what are you. Bob is the perfect partner to Sam, he protects him, loves him, knows when to humor him and when to let him have the lead. Some old favorites return, Smudge the cat who is Sam’s familiar is just a hoot, talk about a cat with an attitude. The demon Danjal is back, along with his lover alpha werewolf Hart. Sam and Bob’s adopted daughter Mal, makes an appearance and a few new secondary characters are introduced.  Zeph and Nick give us some great moments of humor and some really sizzling scenes of hotness between them.I love this series of novellas. Ms. Kell and Ms. Scott are experts in giving us just the right mix of heat, humor and mystery and this book is no different than the rest in that department. I dare you to read this novella and not look at good old Saint Nick differently afterwards. The usual warning applies, there are some explicit M/M scenes but they aren’t over the top and aren’t out of place with the story. Can’t wait for the next installment; wonder if we will ever learn just what Sam is?Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild  Dual Review Team