"The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA" Review

Let’s move from one book by A.J. Sherwood with a super-long title to another: “The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA”. This one, too, is a comedic male-male erotica book which was originally a collection of shorter stories which bring the two main characters, human Ross Young and vampire Glenn Reagan, closer and closer together as all progresses. It’s just as much fun to read as the last of her books I wrote about (“How I Stole the Princess’s White Knight and Turned Him to Villainy”), even if it’s more urban fantasy than high fantasy. It’s just as weird, just as fun, and just as re-readable, at least for me.

According to the foreword of the book, the whole story was originally written as a series of shorts for the author’s newsletter recipients. As A.J. Sherwood never really intended to publish the story in book form — despite now having done so —, she felt free to dive deep into all kinds of fan fiction ideas and all kinds of references, be it the ‘Aunt May’s’ gas station where Ross works in the first story or titles like “This Isn’t the Dog You’re Looking For”.
When the author compiled the stories for publication, she added a few extra stories, describing certain events from the stories from Glenn’s perspective (as the main story is strictly told by Ross, not changing viewpoints between chapters as in “How I Stole…”). Like this, we get some fun extra stories.

Now for the story as a such. Ross Young is a college student who works the better-paid night-shift at a gas station. He’s taken some time off college to be able to build up some savings for the rest of his classes and that’s why he has taken the job in the first place. While working there, he’s already realised that there are some strange, supernatural creatures coming in. He’s grown used to it and deals well with vampires, werewolves, fairies, and many other beings in the same way he would deal with regular customers. To him, they’re nothing else, and he’s all about customer service — and deadpan reactions, which also endears him to quite some of them. He’s unshakeable, but doesn’t try to use the knowledge to blackmail anyone, which endears him even further to the supernatural community.
One night, a vampire comes in and offers him a new job. Glenn Reagan, the clan master of a clan made up of different supernatural beings, needs a new Function — a human PA or secretary who can organise things for the clan and make sure all runs its course in daylight as well as at night. Not to mention that there’s a lot of shenanigans to get clan members out of. Ross is hesitant about it — after all, he wants to finish his education, so how could he take a job like that? After a fire elemental destroys the gas station, though (and Ross only escapes through luck, prior achievements, and a vampire carrying him out of the still hot building), Ross takes the job he’s been offered and becomes the new Function to the clan. Glenn promises to support him through college as he, too, has an interest in Ross being even better at his job.
From there, more shenanigans happen, some lighthearted — like the werewolves of the clan adopting all the dogs from the local shelter —, some less so — like Ross being kidnapped by one of Glenn’s old enemies. Yet, all of these stories also serve to deepen the relationship between Ross and Glenn, leading to a well-developed romance in the end.
The clan is made up of many weird, yet friendly members who represent different supernatural species: there’s a full pack of werewolves, there’s kobolds who man the garage, there’s dwarves who do construction work, there’s a witch and a wizard (not just a difference in gender, but in magic use), there’s different mythological beings from all over the world.

Ross feels drawn to Glenn — and not just for the other man’s looks, either — from the very beginning, yet he fights the attraction for quite a while, worried first about a relationship with a vampire, then about a relationship with his boss (which could turn horrid, no doubt about that). Both can be intimidating, but both can also be good. It’s only well into the stories that they start dating (unsuccessfully at first, thanks to the clan) and only at the end when they get serious about their relationship.
The relationship also doesn’t feel forced. Glenn cares for Ross as he’s caring for all in his clan and Ross is caring for Glenn as a PA and as a friend, not just because ‘he’s hot’ — although Glenn is. As they grow closer, their relationship shifts, as it would for everyone.

There are some stories which include more bloody scenes, but they do not take the stories as a such out of their ‘comedic and comfy’ zone. Nothing is described in too much detail, the bloody things happen, but they’re not in the main focus (again, very much as in “How I Stole…”).
For me, the book has made its way on my regular rereading list, it’s a good one to curl up with at the pool or on the couch on a rainy day with a beverage of your choice. I have read into it again several times, choosing the stories in the order in which I wanted to read them after having finished the book once. They’re still fun, Ross’s internal comments on the situation are still hilarious, and the developing relationship between him and Ross is still just so sweet.
There’s actually only one sex scene in this one, so it’s much easier to skip if that is what you want to do. Of course, you can also read it, it’s good. It is, at least nominally, an erotica and not a romance story through this, but it also makes for a great romance story if you’re more into those.

On the whole, A.J. Sherwood’s “The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA” is a really fun book to read. It has an urban fantasy setting which doesn’t take itself too seriously. It has good and sometimes outright weird characters. It has a nice, slow-burn romance. It has some bloody bits which do not erase the humour in it. If you enjoy more ridiculous stories, you will definitely enjoy this one, so give it a look if all of this sounds interesting to you.

"How I Stole the Princess' White Knight and Turned Him to Villainy" Review

The title of the book I’m reviewing here today is pretty long: “How I Stole the Princess’s White Knight and Turned Him to Villainy” by A.J. Sherwood. The book itself is also long in a purely page-count-defined way, but not really — it’s made up of six smaller stories (referred to as ‘Miracles’ in the book) which form the full narrative (with a last short story which was written for the collected works at the end to give the readers a nice ‘happily ever after’). The book itself is an easy and funny read and has already found its way onto my short list of ‘comfort reads’ I return to when I just want to relax and have some fun. That alone should tell you how much I’ve enjoyed it.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure how the book ended up on my list of suggestions from Amazon in the first place. I do read fantasy, though, especially more lighthearted and funny fantasy, and I am also a fan of male-male romance and erotica. The book falls in both categories, if more so into ‘erotica’ at times, so that might have been the reason. It might also have been a strange glitch in the matrix, but the end result was positive for me in any case.
At first, I just looked into the book in the catalogue and thought ‘well, looks interesting’ and put it on my wishlist. Many books from the wishlist just disappear from it again after a while, so it doesn’t say too much. I put them there so I can find them again, but that doesn’t mean I’ll eventually buy them. A few days later, I decided that I was going to give myself a little present and I bought it to enjoy. Enjoy it, I did.
Afterwards, I dipped into it and read the first three stories in quick succession, then I was lured away from the book for a while, came back, dug my teeth in again, and went through the rest of it in one go, even going to bed much later than normally. Then I started out at the beginning again and went through it again more than once.

The book starts out with surprisingly high stakes — the lives of about 1.100 people are at stake because the supposedly ‘good’ princess has decided to sacrifice a city to destroy a barbarian army. Devan, one of the two main characters, simply can’t allow for that to happen. After all, softening the hard blows of the princess’s decisions is his job as the First Knight of Goodwine. His only chance is the Black Sorcerer of Grimslock, the most powerful magic user he knows — and one who might listen, if the plea for help is phrased well enough, even if he has forgotten the customary kitten as payment. Tan, the aforementioned black sorcerer, definitely is prepared to listen to the man on whom he’s had a crush for fifteen years. He also is delighted to help — Tan is a black sorcerer because he had no other choice after training, not because he loves doing evil. Not that he doesn’t like to torment a few newbie adventurers every now and then, but he doesn’t harm them. Neither does he harm the kittens — they join his army of spies and guards all around the property and get ample pets and snacks.
From there on, the story takes off for real as Devan himself feels pulled towards Tan, too, and has found an ally to help him mitigate the damage Princess Serenity can do, at least for the time being, even if that can’t be the final solution.

Even though the story has many high-stakes encounters (with vampires, sirens, and other creatures as well as a magical weapon gone wild), there’s constant humour in the bantering and teasing between the two main characters, balancing out the darker parts.
It’s a surprise to a degree that a book which features the possibility of a city being burned down with everyone inside in the first story can at the same time keep everything light enough to be enjoyable and relax the reader to a degree. Perhaps it’s the fact that the reader will assume from the lighthearted ways of Tan’s and Devan’s interactions that everything will go well. Perhaps it’s just the constant humour from the teasing and bantering which takes off the edge.
On the whole, between vampires, sirens, and even murder, the story still stays rather bright and comfortable, which is not an easy feat. Partially, it is the very close third person perspective which comments everything that is happening from within the viewpoint character’s (both Devan and Tan get to be viewpoint characters) own thoughts and feelings. Partially, it’s the way everything is handled, making it clear that between them, Devan and Tan have all it needs to get things under control. There’s still the question of ‘how,’ but not the question of ‘if.’
The stories are further lightened by the clear chemistry between the leads and the way they grow closer and closer together. With them, it’s not a question of ‘if,’ but a question of ‘when.’

It should be noted that the story is also full erotica and includes several scenes of hot, steam sex between men. Yet, I’ll be honest, I mostly simply skip those on my rereads, because I’m more interested in the teasing and the building of the relationship as a such. For those who are looking for this kind of content, though, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it a lot.

On the technical side, the book shows a little that it has been made up of different parts which were out on their own in the past, such as story bits being doubled by being repeated at the beginning of the following miracle again. This makes sense for stories published independently of each other, but not so much for stories all published in the same book. There also were some editing mistakes and wrong words, but that is something you can find in every kind of book — including mine and many others from large publishers. Such things happen, no matter for how long you hunt for those mistakes. Some always hide too well until the book is out in the world.
On the whole, the story develops well, though and works out nicely. The technical weaknesses don’t take too much out of the enjoyment, at least not for me.

As I’ve already written in the introduction, I have enjoyed the book very much and have already read through it several times. It’s easy to read, the language is flowing well, and it’s a lot of fun, even once you know what happens next. Knowing that nothing of the dark things will come to pass, makes the story even more enjoyable, of course. If you like fantasy and erotica (or are prepare to just skip the latter), this might definitely be a book to look into.