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Club Raven #1
Happy Medium
Andrew is out to debunk Max as a medium, not make love to him...
A Club Raven Novel
Max Bellame is working his way through 1870s Baltimore as a medium, even if he knows nothing about spirits. He uses the power of his mind to move objects, convincing his clients he's the real thing.
Andrew Meechum works for Club Raven, a gentleman's club that doubles as a paranormal research facility. He sets out to debunk Max, only to be fascinated by the man. Can Andrew convince Max to take a chance on love, and to find his true calling as a medium, or will their personal demons force them apart?
A Club Raven Novel
Max Bellame is working his way through 1870s Baltimore as a medium, even if he knows nothing about spirits. He uses the power of his mind to move objects, convincing his clients he's the real thing.
Andrew Meechum works for Club Raven, a gentleman's club that doubles as a paranormal research facility. He sets out to debunk Max, only to be fascinated by the man. Can Andrew convince Max to take a chance on love, and to find his true calling as a medium, or will their personal demons force them apart?
- GenresHistoricalM M Romance
186 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 3, 2017
10 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Julia Talbot
307 books267 followersJulia Talbot lives in the great Southwest, where there is hot and cold running rodeo, cowboys, and everything from meat and potatoes to the best Tex-Mex. A full time author, Julia is a hybrid author, and has been published by many presses as well as self publishing. She believes that everyone deserves a happy ending, so she writes about love without limits, where boys love boys, girls love girls, and boys and girls get together to get wild, especially when her crazy paranormal characters are involved. Julia also writes as Minerva Howe. Find Julia at @juliatalbot on Twitter, or at www.juliatalbot.com
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 26, 2023
4.5 stars 👻I had to auto click this one since it had all my favourite themes. I’m kicking myself I hadnt seen/read this years before.
A good beginning as max puts a good show pretending to be a medium in a seance gathering. He wasn’t expecting a stranger, Andrew to attend given they both had a feeling of being a shank.
Andrew was a member of the paranormal club with talents of his own. Andrew connected with Max with also having real powers.
This is a historical story set in the 1870s in Baltimore, a time when Men were forbidden to be with other males.
Sexy scenes included with a little BDSM play of that time.
Told in 1st person for both characters, this includes other characters from other authors books in the series. I really liked this book as its a bit different with the medium aspect. Humor in a couple of scenes had me laughing, Max was a dear not having a glue who and what he was.
Dramas and dangers live within Club Raven for a brilliant finish.
I’m curious about Lionel and Nate’s story to read next since Nate was blind.
A good beginning as max puts a good show pretending to be a medium in a seance gathering. He wasn’t expecting a stranger, Andrew to attend given they both had a feeling of being a shank.
Andrew was a member of the paranormal club with talents of his own. Andrew connected with Max with also having real powers.
This is a historical story set in the 1870s in Baltimore, a time when Men were forbidden to be with other males.
Sexy scenes included with a little BDSM play of that time.
Told in 1st person for both characters, this includes other characters from other authors books in the series. I really liked this book as its a bit different with the medium aspect. Humor in a couple of scenes had me laughing, Max was a dear not having a glue who and what he was.
Dramas and dangers live within Club Raven for a brilliant finish.
I’m curious about Lionel and Nate’s story to read next since Nate was blind.
May 15, 2017
Series review written for Boy Meets Boy Reviews
Reviews for all Books 1-3 can be found here https://boymeetsboyreviews.blogspot.c...
Set in 1870’s Baltimore, the first book in the Club Raven series follows Max Bellame as his business as a Medium is intercepted by Andrew Meechum, who works for Club Raven.
Club Raven is a gentlemen’s club that caters to men with paranormal gifts. Andrew is sort of a psychic ability debunker. His own talent is knowing when someone is using a paranormal gift. This is why he has been following Max, but instead of simply calling Max out on his lack of Medium ability and trickery, he is intrigued by the perceived gift Max has, and brings him to Club Raven to find out more about it.
I liked these two men together. I found Max to be a pretty gentle character. While he wasn’t exactly honest about his ability, he still had a moral code of honor. They fit well together, and had lots and lots of sex. (Lots!).
The mystery surrounding Max’s gift, and the passion Andrew and he share opens up a whole new world, and life for Max. Club Raven seems to have an endless supply of weirdly gifted men to be in the company of, and I have to mention Giles, because I heart him so hard.
While only a secondary character, Giles was pretty fascinating, and someone I would love to get a story. He was one of those weirdo’s I absolutely needed to know more about. Completely outrageous, and apparently a reclusive scatterbrain, the interactions with him were a joy for me.
This isn’t overly heavy on the historical detail or language. It is easy enough to read if you’re someone like me who isn’t particularly excited about historical romance. It was enough to read as authentic in a way that isn’t pinned down by stuffy details. I don’t really care about those, as long as it feels real enough to me. For someone who is more of a history buff, well, I don’t know how they would feel about it, because like I said, details aren’t really important to me (unless they are wildly inaccurate and I know it).
Maybe I’m not the best person to recommend this story to die hard fans of historical romance, so I’ll just say, for people like me, this was fun with the seance, pompous rich folk, and erotic content (there was a lot - did I say that already?).
I would recommend this to people who enjoy paranormal in their historical romance.
A review copy was provided for an honest opinion
Reviews for all Books 1-3 can be found here https://boymeetsboyreviews.blogspot.c...
Set in 1870’s Baltimore, the first book in the Club Raven series follows Max Bellame as his business as a Medium is intercepted by Andrew Meechum, who works for Club Raven.
Club Raven is a gentlemen’s club that caters to men with paranormal gifts. Andrew is sort of a psychic ability debunker. His own talent is knowing when someone is using a paranormal gift. This is why he has been following Max, but instead of simply calling Max out on his lack of Medium ability and trickery, he is intrigued by the perceived gift Max has, and brings him to Club Raven to find out more about it.
I liked these two men together. I found Max to be a pretty gentle character. While he wasn’t exactly honest about his ability, he still had a moral code of honor. They fit well together, and had lots and lots of sex. (Lots!).
The mystery surrounding Max’s gift, and the passion Andrew and he share opens up a whole new world, and life for Max. Club Raven seems to have an endless supply of weirdly gifted men to be in the company of, and I have to mention Giles, because I heart him so hard.
While only a secondary character, Giles was pretty fascinating, and someone I would love to get a story. He was one of those weirdo’s I absolutely needed to know more about. Completely outrageous, and apparently a reclusive scatterbrain, the interactions with him were a joy for me.
This isn’t overly heavy on the historical detail or language. It is easy enough to read if you’re someone like me who isn’t particularly excited about historical romance. It was enough to read as authentic in a way that isn’t pinned down by stuffy details. I don’t really care about those, as long as it feels real enough to me. For someone who is more of a history buff, well, I don’t know how they would feel about it, because like I said, details aren’t really important to me (unless they are wildly inaccurate and I know it).
Maybe I’m not the best person to recommend this story to die hard fans of historical romance, so I’ll just say, for people like me, this was fun with the seance, pompous rich folk, and erotic content (there was a lot - did I say that already?).
I would recommend this to people who enjoy paranormal in their historical romance.
A review copy was provided for an honest opinion
February 7, 2017
I quite liked this (3.5 rounded up).
In Baltimore in the 1870s, Andrew attends a séance given by Max planning to debunk him as a medium, but between the fact that Max does have a psychic talent (albeit a different one) and his attraction to him, he somehow ends up not exposing him. When Max runs into some actual trouble with spirits, Andrew takes him to Club Raven, an exclusive gentleman's club in Baltimore for those with special abilities (who also like having sex with other men). And then they have a lot of fairly kinky sex and fall in love, duh, and eventually with the help of some of the other club members, they sort out Max's talents and fix his spirit problem.
There was in general in this book more sex than I prefer for the amount of plot, but the relationship was convincing, and the sex scenes well-written. But it verges out of romance into erotica; n.b., the two other books in the series are *much* more heavily tilted towards erotica with considerably less story. I wish the other two books had pursued the world-building more that this book did better.
In Baltimore in the 1870s, Andrew attends a séance given by Max planning to debunk him as a medium, but between the fact that Max does have a psychic talent (albeit a different one) and his attraction to him, he somehow ends up not exposing him. When Max runs into some actual trouble with spirits, Andrew takes him to Club Raven, an exclusive gentleman's club in Baltimore for those with special abilities (who also like having sex with other men). And then they have a lot of fairly kinky sex and fall in love, duh, and eventually with the help of some of the other club members, they sort out Max's talents and fix his spirit problem.
There was in general in this book more sex than I prefer for the amount of plot, but the relationship was convincing, and the sex scenes well-written. But it verges out of romance into erotica; n.b., the two other books in the series are *much* more heavily tilted towards erotica with considerably less story. I wish the other two books had pursued the world-building more that this book did better.
February 22, 2024
Love Julia's writing! There is a bit of D/s play but it isn't the real focus of the story. I liked that Andrew was there for Max from the very beginning. It doesn't take long for things to get steamy between them but the commitment is deep and real. The other guys at the club add an interesting layer. They jump in when Max and Andrew need them most.
March 10, 2019
Trop confus
September 16, 2023
3.5 rating The story was a little slow but I did enjoy and was hoping for more books but can't seem to find any more...
February 6, 2017
Set in 1870s Baltimore, this is a delightful story about Max, a young man pretending to be a medium only to find out that his paranormal ability to move things with his mind is not the only talent he has. What starts out as Andrew, a paranormal investigator, trying to prove Max a fraud, quickly turns into a heated affair, both men stumbling into a paranormal case they need help with, and a journey of discovery into the then-forbidden world of gay love for Max. With some wonderful historical details and written with an understanding of the era, this novella is slightly mysterious, suspenseful, and entertaining. It also sets up Club Raven as “home” to, hopefully, quite a few more paranormal investigations and adventures.
Max is trying to make a living by pretending to be a medium, setting up séances and telling rich families he will contact their dead for them. He uses his real psi talent of telekinesis to fool them, but he has his reasons. A few dark events in his past are revealed as the story unfolds, and I could certainly understand why he was doing it. Without an inheritance and lacking an education, there weren’t many choices for men to make a living in the days.
Andrew comes from money and is supposed to take care of some of his father’s business interests. Instead he works for Club Raven, although a lot of that work seems to consist of playing billiards, occasionally bedding his former-lover-now-friend, and having extravagant lunches and dinners at the club. Ah, the life of a gentleman of leisure!
Once Max begins to work for Club Raven, the relationship between him and Andrew builds steadily. It veers into some very kinky activity on a regular basis, and both men soon use their growing familiarity to deal with more than one paranormal adventure like a true team. With Andrew’s motto being “caution is boring”, you can imagine this novella is anything but!
If you like stories that are partly a humorous take on séances and paranormal investigations, part suspenseful mystery with some very strange goings-on, and part sweet romance in a time where men loving men was illegal, then you should definitely give this one a try.
NOTE: This book was provided by Indigo Marketing Design for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Max is trying to make a living by pretending to be a medium, setting up séances and telling rich families he will contact their dead for them. He uses his real psi talent of telekinesis to fool them, but he has his reasons. A few dark events in his past are revealed as the story unfolds, and I could certainly understand why he was doing it. Without an inheritance and lacking an education, there weren’t many choices for men to make a living in the days.
Andrew comes from money and is supposed to take care of some of his father’s business interests. Instead he works for Club Raven, although a lot of that work seems to consist of playing billiards, occasionally bedding his former-lover-now-friend, and having extravagant lunches and dinners at the club. Ah, the life of a gentleman of leisure!
Once Max begins to work for Club Raven, the relationship between him and Andrew builds steadily. It veers into some very kinky activity on a regular basis, and both men soon use their growing familiarity to deal with more than one paranormal adventure like a true team. With Andrew’s motto being “caution is boring”, you can imagine this novella is anything but!
If you like stories that are partly a humorous take on séances and paranormal investigations, part suspenseful mystery with some very strange goings-on, and part sweet romance in a time where men loving men was illegal, then you should definitely give this one a try.
NOTE: This book was provided by Indigo Marketing Design for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
February 7, 2017
**2.5 Stars**
Club Raven is a BDSM gentleman’s club set in the 1870’s and caters to men with special talents: magical special talent. When the story begins, we meet Max he’s holding a seance and portraying himself as a medium. Andrew was an invited guest to the seance with the expressed purpose of identifying Max as a fraud. When Max showcases his actual special power of moving objects with his mind, Andrew was impressed and decides to look into Max a bit more.
From there, the story has MANY different directions, which weren’t necessary and were pretty… eh. Max starts to learn how to use and manage his talent (although that was a bit glossed over) at Club Raven while staying with Andrew there and falling in love. The world building is a bit interesting, but it was missing some significant details that were never revealed – perhaps because the story is so short, there just wasn’t time. But along the way, Max uses his powers, joined with others, and then needs to (wait for it…) exorcise a demon. An actual and random demon. I have no idea why or where or any reason why that is an integral part of the story, but it was a significant part of the last 20 pages or so.
The redeeming quality of this story, was the love plot line between Max and Andrew. There was a bit of insta-love going on, but it was fun reading them coming together, especially with the historical setting and the BDSM twist (very light BDSM). Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this series (more on book two to follow) for anyone other than die-hard historical M/M readers.
Review Copy of Happy Medium provided by Evil Plot Bunny for an honest review. Reviewed by Mel from Alpha Book Club
Club Raven is a BDSM gentleman’s club set in the 1870’s and caters to men with special talents: magical special talent. When the story begins, we meet Max he’s holding a seance and portraying himself as a medium. Andrew was an invited guest to the seance with the expressed purpose of identifying Max as a fraud. When Max showcases his actual special power of moving objects with his mind, Andrew was impressed and decides to look into Max a bit more.
From there, the story has MANY different directions, which weren’t necessary and were pretty… eh. Max starts to learn how to use and manage his talent (although that was a bit glossed over) at Club Raven while staying with Andrew there and falling in love. The world building is a bit interesting, but it was missing some significant details that were never revealed – perhaps because the story is so short, there just wasn’t time. But along the way, Max uses his powers, joined with others, and then needs to (wait for it…) exorcise a demon. An actual and random demon. I have no idea why or where or any reason why that is an integral part of the story, but it was a significant part of the last 20 pages or so.
The redeeming quality of this story, was the love plot line between Max and Andrew. There was a bit of insta-love going on, but it was fun reading them coming together, especially with the historical setting and the BDSM twist (very light BDSM). Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this series (more on book two to follow) for anyone other than die-hard historical M/M readers.
Review Copy of Happy Medium provided by Evil Plot Bunny for an honest review. Reviewed by Mel from Alpha Book Club
February 2, 2017
I think this was my favorite of the three books, mostly because we get a better view of what Club Raven is all about, but at the same time it's balanced perfectly with the romance between Andrew and Max.
Andrew is set to debunk Max as a medium in a seance and quickly realizes there's more to Max than what he thought at first.
It was great seeing several members of the Club working together as they tried to find out more about Max and when something pursues both him and Andrew back to the club. I really liked Giles and I'm intrigued about him, so I hope there are more stories in this series and one of them is his.
The book was well-written and fast-paced, I loved both Andrew and Max and both the romance and the medium storyline kept me turning the pages. Definitely recommendable!
Rating: 4.5 Stars!
Andrew is set to debunk Max as a medium in a seance and quickly realizes there's more to Max than what he thought at first.
It was great seeing several members of the Club working together as they tried to find out more about Max and when something pursues both him and Andrew back to the club. I really liked Giles and I'm intrigued about him, so I hope there are more stories in this series and one of them is his.
The book was well-written and fast-paced, I loved both Andrew and Max and both the romance and the medium storyline kept me turning the pages. Definitely recommendable!
Rating: 4.5 Stars!
February 10, 2017
A Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.com review
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
For the full review, visit http://wp.me/p220KL-9yN
from that review: "Happy Medium is one of three Club Raven stories that center around a 1800's gentlemen's club that's actually a living structure that house men/beings who have paranormal talents. Its also a library, science lab, law enforcement branch, 'what have you' when it comes to the needs of the paranormal. Its also very, very, kinky. Think local dungeon in the 1890's. You only get enough knowledge about Club Raven to want to know more. Its fluid enough that each author (there are 3) can bend it according to the needs of her story..."
For all our reviews, author interviews, and all things books, visit us at http://scatteredthoughtsandroguewords...
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
For the full review, visit http://wp.me/p220KL-9yN
from that review: "Happy Medium is one of three Club Raven stories that center around a 1800's gentlemen's club that's actually a living structure that house men/beings who have paranormal talents. Its also a library, science lab, law enforcement branch, 'what have you' when it comes to the needs of the paranormal. Its also very, very, kinky. Think local dungeon in the 1890's. You only get enough knowledge about Club Raven to want to know more. Its fluid enough that each author (there are 3) can bend it according to the needs of her story..."
For all our reviews, author interviews, and all things books, visit us at http://scatteredthoughtsandroguewords...
February 12, 2017
Andrew goes to a séance to check out the medium and discovers both someone he is interested in and a true medium. As the story goes on, we find out more about what Max's true talents are. Andrew and Max get together as truly compatible personalities and desires. After Max is hired by Club Raven, he ends up helping fight a demon in a most unique club saving himself, Andrew and Lionel. I love the historical references given in the story.
January 20, 2017
Happy Medium was an odd paranormal romance between Andrew and Max. Personally I couldn't connect with either, this couple romance or with a paranormal part of this story. For me it was a boring and bland story.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews