Song of Love and War

Title: Song of Love and War
Author: Jay Di Meo
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Allure
Buy Link Amazon:
Genre: Fantasy/M/M Romance
Length: Novella/25k words
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

A guest review by Sirius

Summary: This novella about how the relationship between the elf and human started was beautifully written, but it progressed to a bond and everlasting love way too fast for me to really believe in their connection.

Blurb:

In the war against the androids, humans have only one hope: elf magic. But few elves will risk their lives for the humans. When the elf responsible for protecting Thane’s squadron allows all comrades-in-arms to die, Thane is crushed. Sent from the horrors of war to a luxury spa resort to recover, he meets Suresh. Suresh is beautiful and brave, but also hides painful wounds. The fact that he is also an elf doesn’t escape Thane’s attention. When Suresh is attacked time and again by humans and androids, Thane comes to his defense, drawn to the haughty elf

Suresh is suffering from the effects of poisoning from iron bullets, and the poisoning seems to be getting worse instead of better. He is grateful for Thane’s help, but also wary, as humans don’t much appreciate the elves’ aloofness. What is more, the news of his failure to protect a squad of human soldiers paints him as a traitor. Yet Thane’s nearness stirs the dormant desire in his body, and in its wake, powerful magic.

When Suresh’s identity is revealed, Thane must decide whether he believes in the elf and questions his nascent affection. Suresh, meanwhile, must discover who threatens his life and decipher his feelings for this handsome, fearless human who risks himself repeatedly to save him.

Unfortunately, time is running short. Unless they trust each other, they might not have a chance at a future at all…

Review:

First off, I really wish Amber Allure blurbs would be less descriptive (as a rule anyway, because as one of my recent reviews showed me that exceptions do happen), especially for the shorter tales, because this one pretty much gives you the whole story.

I was really not sure how to grade this one. I really loved the writing, but in my opinion, it is a very good example of a story that would have benefited from longer page count.

I liked how, with basically few brushes, the author shows the pain that both Thane and Suresh carry from the war, and I thought they also had great chemistry. Having said that, they go from being very defensive to being madly in love super fast, and it is not just the tentative connection that promises the start of something great and makes you smile and believe that it will grow stronger and stronger. It is already the everlasting everything and of course we have the coincidence that makes such connection possible. I really think a longer page count would have helped to slow it all down and allowed an exploration of this aspect of the story.

I also think that whatever danger threatened them also was resolved very fast and I wished for more detailed world-building as well. Again, a longer page count may have helped

I also have to mention that whatever happens between them during sex made me roll my eyes and not in a good way. It was way over the top in my opinion. Other readers many feel differently, of course.

I may take a look at this author’s other works. I did like the writing style quite a bit.