Lust and other Drugs - Mytho Investigations 1 (PAPERBACK)

Thank you for the ARC read, I voluntarily give this book an honest review. A knight and a human police officer working together! Is it wrong to laugh about Edra going invisible at the worse of times? What happens when not just bliss but satin comes out to play?  Will it push a certain dragon over the edge? Man some people can be so brain dead, humans for earth really? It wasn't the mythos fault here, as things are forever changed after the collapse, scientists have done what they do best like meddle with the unknown and claim's no responsibility. Now that two different worlds have collided, it leaves everyone displaced.

Edra is just one of the displaced mythos that have to work out the new human/mytho environment. Working with the humans is going to test him more than he realised as he new a secret of the detective he was now forced to work with. With the up and coming new elections, hate/fear mongering groups was on the rise.

Unaware that the dragon knew things, just coming off one undercover case Jordan is pushed to take on the cases of the mythos. With the liaison from the Mythological service department. Shame eats at Jordan even while he craves to indulge in his desires,  The Anti-groups was making life harder for the mythos, along with the setting Mayor. Now the impossible happens death by bliss.

I loved the first book in this series, and am looking forward to reading more. I enjoyed the mix of urban fantasy, interesting layered characters, slow burn romance, and intriguing plot.

I liked the duality of the MCs Edra and Jordan. Being a dragon shifter, Edra might appear as human on the surface but isn’t. Jordan also has different sides to himself, one of which he keeps hidden at work. I loved their connection and that they need to take it slow or risk losing what they’re building between them.

The twist on mythology is nicely done especially how the two worlds colliding have impacted both, and the mythos now stuck in our world. I liked the thinly disguised social commentary of the story too. Bigots and religious fanatics are still alive and well unfortunately. I also liked how political the stories are, and how that impacts Jordan and Edra’s ability to solve crime and bring justice to those responsible.

The supporting cast are interesting, and I like how the different societies interact while trying to keep their cultures alive. The details give the worldbuilding a rich layer of realism, and make a lot of sense.

Although there is some closure within the story, there’s a lot of open threads along with Jordan and Edra’s relationship, which left me wanting the next book ASAP.

5 out of 5 stars.

I can’t say enough good things about either the world building or the character development in this novel. Let’s start with the premise, which has a whole host of supernatural beings, “mythos,” who’ve been forcibly relocated into the human world, a world that regards them with suspicion, distrust, and discrimination. They’re suddenly less than second-class citizens, cut off from their original homes, and the results can be pretty devastating. It makes for a sometimes gritty but always intense landscape and some tense interactions, which is how our two protagonists, human cop Jordan and dragon-shifter Edra, the Mythological Services Liaison, end up working together on a case that will have huge ramifications for the relationship between their two communities. I loved the dynamic between Jordan and Edra, which is always, always complicated by the fact that they come from different factions that have different agendas-- Edra protects his community at all costs, Jordan feels the tension between what he thinks being a cop should be and what it often is. They’re from different backgrounds (obviously) and have different pasts and things that drive them, and yet they still manage to grow closer together, and that’s kind of everything. I like Jordan, but I absolutely loved Edra: he’s smart, he’s driven, and he has some wickedly funny insights into human behavior. He’s very clearly dragon, not human, and seeing the world through his eyes is sometimes poignant, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes humorous, and always super interesting. It’s clear from where this story ends, with the central mystery resolved but the connection between Edra and Jordan still very much in progress, that there’s more to come for these two, and I could not be happier about that. *I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.