“The Beast of Callaire” by Saruuh Kelsey

Alright so I teased last month that the Great Ace DigitalBook Box might be suspended or something, but they have not! Instead, they are highlighting not one, not two, but four books you can get for free with Amazon Kindle. I’ll be reviewing and reading each of them, and here’s the first one!

The Beast of Callaire is the first of an urban fantasy romance series that centers on Yasmin, the daughter of a god (Venus) and a Manticore. She has insane powers that include being telepathic and transforming into a dangerous beast she can’t control once a month. She lives with a bunch of other people like her (termed Legendaries) who can also control Magick and/or transform once a month. But on top of all that, she meets this girl Fray accidentally after getting shot in the woods in her Manticore form. And somehow, they end up dating, despite Yasmin’s fears that she’s putting her girlfriend in danger or that she will see who Yasmin really is and leave her.

Honestly, it is a fantasy gay romance, so it does not get much better than this for a light read. While I did get sick of Yasmin’s angsty narration at times (she is just SO INSISTENT on pushing everyone away constantly) watching her struggle with herself and with loving other people is beautiful to watch. And she is a moody teen so I guess I can forgive the drama Yasmin is constantly speaking with. In fact all of the characters are really excellent, from the flamboyant son of a phoenix to a fortune-telling daughter of Apollo. And a trans water magick guy. Really big fan of him.

I will say that the book just throws you into this world and most explanations do not come until much later. I had no idea what mythology we were working with (I think it’s all of them) or what a lot of the terms mean until about halfway through when Yasmin has to explain things to Fray. Which makes for a bit of a disorienting read, but it also is not that long of a book so you get there alright. And there are a lot of minor characters to keep track of. They all have their own powers and relationships, credit to Kelsey for fleshing all of them out, but it is a bit much to remember.

Definitely give this book a read, did I mention it is free right now? And it’s part of a series, so plenty of reading there for you! We need more books like this with well-developed worlds and gay representation everywhere!