Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: First person from both heroes, alternating chapters

Should I read in order?
I’m going to hesitantly suggest yes? I didn’t and this one is okay as a stand alone but I wonder if I might have understood a bit more about the world and the lifestyle of the characters (cupids and santanas) if I read that one first? I will give it a try sometime and try to check back in!

Basic plot:
Pyro and Valentine meet up at a kinky masquerade.

Give this a try if you want:
- Monster romance? (or maybe fantasy?) Not 100% sure how to classify this one – it’s contemporary feel with a variety of characters (mains are a cupid and a dragon)
- Masquerade
- Shorter novel – goodreads has it at 168 pages
- M/M pairing – Valentine is a cupid and Pyro is a dragon
- High steam – 5 full scenes packed into this smaller novel
- Kink – praise kink, some levels of D/s and punishment, spanking
- Consent and safety are at the forefront

My thoughts:
Overall I think this is a pleasant, hot read that checks a lot of fun fantasy elements.

Pyro and Valentine have a burning instalust that comes into play at a masquerade. Tons of steam, push and pull, and a bit of angst wraps up their relationship. Valentine is definitely more apprehensive about love and that comes into play quite a bit with Pyro having to do the convincing and chasing.

Their relationship was great to me – what I struggled with more here was the world building. I felt like I didn’t really understand it the best (which is why I’m wondering if book 1 will help with that). I felt a bit thrown into their lifestyles and careers and wanted to understand that a bit better.

This was my first Maeve Black and I’ll definitely be trying more from them!

 Cock/Hero Stats:

Valentine is a lean cupid with strawberry flavored semen and a pierced cock.
Pyro is a blue, muscular dragon with cinnamon flavored semen and his cock is ‘ridged and twisted like a tree trunk’. He salivates and his incisors elongate when he wants to give mating bites.

Quotes/thoughts:

Leaning into my ear, his hot breath sent shivers down my spine. “Good boy,” he praised, and my entire body lit up at the simple words. “Ah, you like that.” He stroked my jaw with a look of interest flaring in his eyes. “Now, proceed.”
---
“You’re being so open with me, pet, I’m so proud of you.” His words caused a stir in my jeans. A pulsing throb straight to my dick. My physical reaction to his words only reaffirmed my need for praises within this arrangement.”
---
“You can touch me when you’re a good little pet and come for me. You’ll do that for me, won’t you, Valentine?”
---
His groan urged me forward, and I continued, laving at him, and making sure to dig my fingertips into his thighs. Knowing that tomorrow, when he was alone, he’d know it was me who marked him. Me who owned him.
---
The best holiday is and always will be Halloween. Anyone who argued could get fucked.
---
“Your punishment is coming down my throat without being able to touch me,” he explained, his burning eyes making me whimper. Pyro knew my need for touch would be an ample punishment.
---
“You’re mine, Cupid. Today, tomorrow, and every day after that. You will kneel for me again, and I’ll prove to you that running is fruitless.
---
Turning toward Pyro, humor lined his smile. Well, fuck him, and fuck his perfect smile. “I hate you.”
“Keep telling yourself that, pet. Maybe it’ll make fucking you that much hotter.”
---
“Yes, back. Because the moment you fell to your knees and offered me your freedom, I was yours. I love you, your petulance and subservience. I love the anger and sass. I love the kisses and every touch you offer me. I love your sighs and all the fucking moans you give. But most of all, I love your fight, your passion, and the love you pretended didn’t always exist right here.”

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

20% - 🔥 (Valentine’s POV) spanking for Valentine, hand job/blow job for Valentine followed by (Pyro’s POV) another blow job for Valentine while Pyro fingers him then it switches again to (Valentine’s POV) missionary with Pyro on top penetrating Valentine, then he flips him over for doggy
40% - 🔥 (Valentine’s POV) outside against a tree, Pyro gives Valentine a blow job while fingering him
62% (Valentine’s POV) kisses, (Pyro’s POV) Pyro gives Valentine a hand job and kisses in a store while glamoured to hide them from view
71% - 🔥 (Pyro’s POV) he asks Valentine to suck his cock while he’s on the phone. If he makes him come while still on the phone, he’ll reward him and if he doesn’t he’ll punish him. (he gets a reward ;), Pyro on top being penetrated by Valentine
89% - 🔥 (Pyro’s POV) kisses, mating bite, Pyro penetrates Val, then switches to (Valentine’s POV) to finish the scene.
96% - 🔥 (Pyro’s POV) –Valentine on top and switches (Valentine’s POV) to finish the scene