Hey Y'all, today we have a great post for Author Michelle Notaro to celebrate her new MM urban fantasy, The Magi Accounts book 2: The Shackles That Hold Us. And there's a giveaway as well as Cat's Reviews of all the books and an Exclusive excerpt.

The Shackles That Hold Us - Michele Notaro

As if crushin’ on a shifter wasn’t bad enough, I had to go and date one.

A mage and a shifter walk into a bar… No, that’s the whole joke.

Magi and shifters don’t mix, and yet I find myself in a relationship with Cosmo, a lion shifter. And on top of that, Cosmo, and all his pride members, consider my brothers and me to be a part of their pride. Three magi in a shifter pride. Who would’ve ever thought?

Navigating our connection while trying to figure out what’s going on in the world isn’t easy. Trusting that Cosmo means forever when he says it? Even harder. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since meeting the Ono-Nais, it’s that taking a risk with my heart will be worth it to be a part of their lives.

The Shackles That Hold Us is a 113K novel and the second book in the MM urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts. It’s recommended to read the series in order because it has an ongoing storyline.

*Intended for adults only. Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this novel.

Amazon | Universal Buy Link | Goodreads

Cat gives The Scars that Bind Us 4 Meows with a 2 purr heat index...

I really loved this story, there are lots of intriguing characters. It starts out a bit slow and repetitive as we learn about the world, the characters, and meet the new team. Once we learn more about Jude and Madeo, it really gets better, but I just didn’t feel like this was a book one as there were other characters mentioned we never really meet. That was my only issue.

Now having said that, I loved the real issues of this story. It’s so like today with the hate among races. My heart just aches for Madeo and Jude. I love Cosmo and his pride and how they take in Jude and Madeo. There is some violence. Also, it does mention abuse and rape (all off page).

Cat gives A Kiss that Revives Us 5 Meows...

This is in Cosmo’s viewpoint, after some events that happen in book one I can't discuss (spoilers!). You do need to read these books in order as the events follow each other.

Cosmo wants Madeo to move to the pride house and also Jude and Logan. They would all have more freedom there, but he can’t get Mads to budge and he feels a bit worried about the connection of Jude being his Dyad. He does finally get Mads to let him help save some Maji in a very covert, dangerous mission.

This just gets better and I want a Cosmo for my very own. Again, there is lots of violence and mention of abuse and things happening off page.

Cat gives Shackles that Hold Us 5 Meows with a 2 purr heat index...

Remember you must read this series in order or nothing will make sense. Bonus though, they get even better!

This one starts off attention holding then grabs your heart and melts it. You will need tissues, more than once, consider that a warning. You meet more characters, want to torture and kill some old ones, and fall in love with the cast more and and more. I don’t think I can choose a favorite.

There are lots of things going on. Several plots, as more shifters are found murdered, larger rips in the veil with more Tarragons coming in. There seems to be new witch covens popping up, each stronger than the last.

I loved the story, the romance is growing, and I will admit I read the book in one day, and it’s not a short book. I love the kitties big and small and now we have cute kids. Awe!!!!!

Sorry to be a broken record, these reviews will be listed separately on review sites, so I have to give another trigger warning. There is torture and some is on page this time, talk of abuse, both physical, emotional and sexual (the sexual is off page) and there is claustrophobia if that’s a trigger.

But for me, everything is a balance and the possible triggers within the well written, strong storylines, gives them grit.

Michele is giving away a $20 Amazon Gift Card with this tour:

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The Shackles That Hold Us

Exclusive Excerpt

Dare finished telling us a silly story about when Charlie was a kid that had us all laughing, and when I calmed, I said, “Now you have to tell us something embarrassing about Cos.”

Dare shot Cos a smirk, and Cos said, “Uh, no. No, you don’t have to do that.”

I turned a grin to my boyfriend. “What are you afraid they’re going to tell us, huh?”

His eyes were wide as he shook his head, and it only made me laugh harder.

Zara said, “Oh, I have a good one.”

“No,” Cos whined, making everyone laugh.

Zara ignored him. “When Cos was about fourteen-ish, I think, he had a huge crush on the mailman.”

Cos groaned loudly and buried his face in his hands, muttering, “No. Anything but that one. How do you even remember that, Z? You were like seven.”

She shrugged. “I laughed so hard the memory was burned into my mind forever.”

I chuckled again, and Cosmo’s sister ignored him entirely, continuing as if he hadn’t interrupted her. “Every afternoon, Cos would set up some kind of obstacle course in the front yard that he’d go through as soon as the mailman came to our street. I guess he was trying to impress the guy or something, but Luce and I thought it was really funny because Cos would always turn bright red and stumble over his words if he actually got up the courage to speak to the guy.” She let out a laugh, and she and Charlie shared an amused grin.

Luce said, “So we used to watch him from the front window every day so we could tease him at dinner.”

Dare said, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

Luce added, “How could you forget that little mating dance he used to do?”

“Why haven’t you ever done a mating dance for me?” I asked, and everyone cracked up.

Cosmo groaned. “Oh my god, no. It wasn’t a mating dance. And there will never, ever, ever be one. For fuck’s sake.” He groaned again, making me chuckle.

“Guess he liked the mailman more than you,” Zara said, and Cos flipped her off.

I couldn’t stop my ridiculously amused grin if I’d wanted to.

Charlie groaned. “I wish I could remember this, but I was too little.” He smirked. “The story is always hilarious, though.”

“Shut up, asses,” Cos murmured from behind his hands.

I was already laughing pretty hard, and I knew they hadn’t even gotten to the funny part yet.

Zara laughed. “So this one time, Cos had done a really complicated course in the front yard, and he took so long to set it up that he didn’t have time to practice ahead of time. Luce and I sat by the window and watched, like usual, and when the mailman finally made it to our sidewalk—” She trailed off, giggling like crazy. Her laughter making me laugh.

Luce looked amused, and since Zara could hardly breathe, she picked up the story, saying, “So the dude turns down our sidewalk, and Cos starts his little course, running around the yard, jumping over stuff, and when he gets to the front porch, he climbs up on the outside of the railing and picks up this rope.” Now she started laughing, too, but she managed to keep talking through it. “He’d tied the rope to a branch on the tree in the front yard, and I guess he thought he was going to swing across the yard like Tarzan or something, only when he jumped off the porch, the rope just came down immediately—” She cut off with another laugh.

Zara kept the story going. “It looked like he just purposefully faceplanted on the ground. Like he was trying to dive into a pool.”

“It did!” Luce said, cracking up.

Their amusement made me laugh harder, and Cosmo’s groaning was making it worse.

Zara said, her voice higher than usual, “But that wasn’t the worst part.”

Luce picked up. “The mailman had seen the whole thing, and he rushes over to Cos—”

“And has to peel him out of the mud.”

“The entire front half of him, including his face, was just absolutely covered in mud.”

“And the mailman… he was trying to make sure Cos wasn’t hurt, and when he managed to get some of the mud off his face, he thought Cos was bruised, but he wasn’t. He was just really red from embarrassment.”

Luce laughed harder. “I’ve never seen him so red in my life.”

Jude laughed and said, “Please tell me you have pictures.”

Cos said, “No, you can’t—”

“Of course we have pictures! What kind of sister do you think I am?” Luce asked, pulling up her HID.

“Oh my goddess, you really have some?” I asked, laughing hard.

She nodded. “I wish I would’ve turned my recorder on, but I only thought to take some pictures when the mailman was helping him up.”

Dare said with a huge grin, “Cos made a point to be in his bedroom whenever the mailman came after that. He was too embarrassed to see his crush again.”

“Oh my god, make it stop,” Cos said with a groan.

I laughed, and when Luce moved closer to me to show me the pictures, Cosmo’s hand shot out, covering my eyes. “No. You can’t look at that. You’ll never see me the same.”

Chuckling, I pushed his hand away and looked at Luce’s HID. It was hard to see him under all that mud, but I’d recognize those golden eyes anywhere. He was a lanky kid, but somehow still had some muscles—not surprising considering his alphaness—and what I could see of his face was definitely really red.

“You’re so cute,” I said, trying not to laugh too hard.

“Shut up,” Cos murmured.

That made me crack up.

Michele is married to an awesome guy that puts up with her and all the burnt dinners she makes—hey, sometimes characters are a bit distracting, and who doesn’t plot when they’re supposed to be cooking? They live together in Baltimore, Maryland with two little monsters, three-legged and four-legged fiends, and a little old man (aka their two sons, their two cats, and their senior dog). She hopes to rescue another cat soon, and if her hubby wouldn’t kill her, she’d get more than one… and maybe a few more dogs as well.

She loves creating worlds filled with lots of love, chosen family, and of course, magic, but she also likes making the characters fight for that happy ending. She hopes to one day write all the stories in her head—even if there are too many to count!

Author Website: https://michelenotaro.com/

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