Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Smoking Teacup Books

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: PNR, Weretiger & Fae, Alpha, Multi-author Series

Length: 246 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza 

Purchase At: amazon

Blurb:

Out of money and down on his luck in a city that promised him a run of both, Tony turns to the one asset he knows he can sell: his honed, toned, dangerous alpha body, which looks surprisingly good covered in glitter.

Well, not sell, exactly—that’s a line Tony won’t cross. Display? Gyrate? Flex? Whatever. It pays his bills, and that’s all that matters.

But one payment comes due sooner than expected, and when a slim, unearthly fae customer who can’t seem to take his gleaming eyes off of Tony’s…assets…presents him with the timely opportunity to make a little extra? Tony finds that he’s willing to cross that line after all.

The golden coin Raven offers is enough to settle Tony’s debts. And the way Raven takes what Tony gives him in return is enough for Tony to wish he’d offered himself for free.

But when the sun rises, Raven’s gone—along with the coin.

And Tony isn’t the kind of guy to let things go. Especially not when they belong to him…

This book takes place in the same universe as the Mismatched Mates series. Cameos may occur, but no previous reading is required. There is referenced domestic abuse, but it takes place off page and is not between the main characters. HEA guaranteed!

Lucky or Knot is a part of the multi-author series, Fortune Favors the Fae. From spicy to sweet, zany romps to epic adventures, there’s something for everyone in this mystical series. Discover destiny and true love and follow the coin on its fickle journey to the next world and a new magical adventure.

Review:

I’ve only read one other book in this multi-author series that centres around a gold coin. The other book was so-so. This is Eliot Grayson, she’s never so-so.

But then my laugh turned into a choke as he reached in his pocket, whipped out a shimmering gold coin, and said, “I want you to give in to your instincts and knot me thoroughly, and I can offer you this in exchange.”
“The fuck you do,” I wheezed, and then sucked in a deep breath, only to immediately double over coughing again as I got a whiff of the coin between his fingers.
It absolutely reeked of magic. Strong magic.
Fae magic, in fact, of the most wild and inhuman kind.

Thus begins a rollercoaster ride for Tony the Vegas stripper, who is an alpha weretiger, and a fae who belongs to someone powerful, but who offers Tony a gold coin for a very alpha naughty knotty night together. Right from the get go, Lucky or Knot was interesting and pure entertainment.

As per the blurb, this book is adjacent to the original Mismatched Mates series via The Alpha’s Gamble. I say adjacent because they don’t have the original pack – the Armitage pack or even the Kimball pack in The Alpha’s Gamble. You don’t have to have read any of the other series books to enjoy this book, but if you haven’t read them and you are a devotee of gay romance PNR, then I’m asking, why not? Honestly, it’s one of the best PNR, fated mates, alpha lovin’ series out there, start with The Alpha’s Warlock, I’ve lost count of the times I’ve re-read it. I cannot get enough of the snarky banter, mayhem, and brilliance of the original series, and this book felt comfortable within that world but stands well and truly on its own.

Tony, or The Hammer as he’s known at the Lucky or Knot strip club – best name ever – works as one of their alpha strippers, gold glittery chest and all. He’s got a few things going on, and as my granddaughter often says at the funniest times, ‘he’s rethinking his life choices’ – loans owed, student monies not used for college, etc, and a loan shark has his nuts in a vice. Now a fae wants to offer him a gold coin for a night. A real gold coin could end his problems BUT there has to be a catch because the fae are shifty with their deals and their wording around deals. This probably isn’t gold but the paragraph I led in with indicates the magic coming off it, and this fae is particularly gorgeous, complete with attitude, and he offers himself in such an interesting way that Tony figures it might just be a good time with a payday at the end. And, as Frankie Valli sang, ‘Oh, what a night’ it’s not something Tony can get out of his head. To top it off, not only is the fae gone afterwards, but so is his gold coin. As Gomer Pile was known to say, ‘surprise, surprise’.    

At first Tony fights the magic that permeates his skin and bones and makes him feel lost after that night, but he also wants to know what the hell this shitty double deal is and why the fae wanted to be knotted by him, he doesn’t buy the reason he was given, he’d lost a bet. They meet several times because Tony manages to facilitate it even if there are emotional roadblocks, because the magic isn’t really just going one way, and Tony knows what he wants even if Raven throws out things that have major attitude from day one. 

“Don’t. I mean it. It’s not about that. Fuck and knot me. You shouldn’t even have kissed me, but that’ll wear off, I think.” He shook his head. “Keep your mouth to yourself and do what I hired you to do.”
That’d wear off? He thought? The fuck did that even mean?

I loved this book. Eliot Grayson has a distinct style, I know this as I have read every single book she has written. It’s pathos juxtaposed against awesome humour that walks a well balanced line. There can also be one, uh… overly passionate character and another seemingly more aloof, or sometimes more complex character. Tony is the sole narrator, also a style that Grayson uses a lot – one person POV. Leaving Raven more enigmatic definitely added to the dilemma Tony was having, what does this ethereal but frustratingly unreadable fae want with him? The fae’s body says one thing but his words are mixed messages, and he can be abrasive.

Underneath there is something Raven’s hiding and it isn’t just about that gold coin, although the coin is a smart but subtle overarching plot that figures into this story really well. Tony decides after a couple of sexual encounters with Raven he wants to find out what that something Raven is sitting on is exactly, and he still can’t stop thinking about him. He’s under his skin and it’s not just the fae magic. He feels it. And the sex, the sex was holy-mother-of-freaking-god H.O.T.

He squirmed on my knee, riding me, spreading his legs, and that forked tongue curled around mine, and that was it. We crashed down onto the bed, his hands clawing at my back. One of mine wrapped in his long tail of hair, with the other working under the hem of his shirt and splaying over the softness of his skin.

So, what’s a weretiger alpha stripper who needs to know to do? Tony gets a tad stalkery, that’s what. He believes Raven is in a bad relationship somehow with someone very powerful. He eventually learns that he’s right, the gorgeous fae is in the hands of a Vegas doyen of club and casino, another alpha who isn’t known for his kindness or his desire to share what’s ‘his’. There could be punishment metered out to Raven if Cunningham found out they’d been together. Tony can’t stand the idea of Cunningham possessing and ill treating Raven. This is going to be a dangerous game, and Tony’s alpha side is here for it all.  

Tony calls in favours, cajoles, growls, he is a tiger after all, and generally thinks of ways to murder, eviscerate, destroy, and rip the throats out of those, definitely meaning Cunningham, who stand in his way to be with who he increasingly feels is his. So we do get a ‘mine’ used, and oh, how I love ‘mine’ in PNR romance – what can I say? I’m a traditionalist.

Overall:

Lucky or Knot is pure escapist fun. It’s sexy. It has action. It has humour. A push-pull between the characters. It has PNR ‘mine’. It’s quality writing that is perfectly edited. I thought the MCs were good for one another in this paranormal world, complete with alpha temperament and fae trickiness. I also enjoyed the glimpse I got of Blake’s devilish side, that he was doing well, and that he still loves cheesecake. I mean, cheesecake, a given, right? I read this quickly, had a laugh, appreciated the song choice of Closer by NIN at one point – the song suits the book – because animalistic. All of it building to a really good ending. Can’t ask for much more. Bring on the audiobook. 5 Stars!