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An atmospheric dark fantasy by the award winning author of Silk & Steel and The Final Masquerade.
After the suspicious death of Jacapo, the well-loved toymaker, criminal investigator Valentine Anzio returns to his hometown of Minerva to help solve the suspected murder. He'd hoped never to go back. Perhaps things have changed and the nightmares won't plague him. Perhaps Devere, the toymaker's son, won't remember what Valentine did all those years ago, and perhaps Valentine will keep the pieces of his fractured mind intact…
But it soon becomes clear, little has changed in Minerva. The powerful lord who's paying Valentine desires more than the truth, and the toymaker's son isn't as guilty as the whole town appears to believe.
If truth and justice are to prevail, Valentine must discover who killed Jacapo the toymaker, or the lonely, brilliant, and enchanting Devere, will hang.
***
Content warnings include but are not limited to; drug use, child abuse (mental abuse, not shown, historic), attempted rape, homophobia, lynching, suicide.
[I received a digital arc for an honest review]
The Toymaker's Son by Ariana Nash is a new standalone dark fantasy MM romance. Valentine Anzio should have never returned to his hometown of Minerva but the investigation into the murder of the town's toymaker, Jacapo, was too alluring. Being back puts Valentine back in the sights of Jacapo's strange son, Devere, the main suspect in the murder. Valentine and Devere's history is murky with attraction and betrayal so when the two are faced with each other after so many years the reunion is anything but ideal. But Minerva isn't what it appears and someone is pulling the strings in a town that never changes. Valentine hopes he can escape town with his mind intact but the puppet master has other ideas.
Oh man Valentine and Devere. Usually I would go into the details of their experiences and history but I refuse to spoil the chaos that is watching their story unveil itself. Let's just say you feel some serious love for these two and some absolute hate.
"You've set me free, Devere."
His sudden, tiny kiss shocked me, like a slap to the face, but a pleasant one. My lips tingled and something bright and sharp surged in my chest.
"I have?"
"You brilliant, beautiful man." His eyes held so much warmth that it had always been easy to fall into them, like the warmth from an open fire or the feeling of coming home.
Well this book was an absolute mind maze. I enjoyed getting both Valentine and Devere's perspectives as knots unraveled into more knots somehow. You definitely think you have a grasp of what's going on, only to find that you knew nothing. The dark twists and turns leave you needing to keep reading because there has to be an answer to the never ending list of questions. Like almost all of Nash's romances there is an underlying layer of darkness that never really lifts. You experience highs with the characters but also drown in the lows.
5 stars for Valentine and Devere's collision into an unsure reality.
---Written by Amanda--
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