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Elemental #1
The Bond
Four men are about to discover things are definitely not what they seem ... including themselves.
Declan Makavoy, small town farmer and single father, finds out it isn’t just his thumb that’s green. Ivan Soresceau, a local reporter, who always plays with fire in life and love, is about to discover what it means to be burned. Chester Silberglocke, the ailing but sage chiropractor, finds his death is only the beginning of an atmospheric afterlife. And Vinny Pirelli, the local swimming champ, may make waves in the pool but has no idea he is the last piece in a dangerous and life-changing puzzle.
Seduction and unearthly occurrences are only the beginning in what proves to be a race against time as Declan, Ivan, Chester, and Vinny are pitted against a dark force and face unthinkable horrors as they rely on their friendship to destroy an evil beyond imagination.
Declan Makavoy, small town farmer and single father, finds out it isn’t just his thumb that’s green. Ivan Soresceau, a local reporter, who always plays with fire in life and love, is about to discover what it means to be burned. Chester Silberglocke, the ailing but sage chiropractor, finds his death is only the beginning of an atmospheric afterlife. And Vinny Pirelli, the local swimming champ, may make waves in the pool but has no idea he is the last piece in a dangerous and life-changing puzzle.
Seduction and unearthly occurrences are only the beginning in what proves to be a race against time as Declan, Ivan, Chester, and Vinny are pitted against a dark force and face unthinkable horrors as they rely on their friendship to destroy an evil beyond imagination.
- GenresM M Romance
651 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2022
1 person is currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Xavier Axelson
15 books127 followersAbout Xavier Axelson: Xavier Axelson is a writer and columnist living in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 13, 2022
An arrival, a departure and a transformation. Three things that changed everything for a man who believed himself a simple farmer.
At the beginning of autumn Declan’s world is turned upside down. He’s managed to secure a comfortable life for himself and his daughter after he lost the love of his life.
But after a toxic boyfriend heads his separate way only to turn up dead or is he? His car crashed into a tree but there’s no body and for some reason the authorities believe he was eaten by coyotes.
Then things get weird when a goblin appears in Declan’s pumpkin patch. He enlists the help of his best friend, a shaman and they’re soon joined by a frenemy of sorts who apparently is turning into a vampire.
You’d think things would even out after they destroyed the goblin but after losing his shaman friend to aids, ghosts are now haunting his daughter.
Seriously, there’s a lot going on and I’m not even halfway through. The writing is excellent, the world building is descriptive, painting the perfect picture. The characters are original but at times confusing because there’s just so many.
This one suffers from too many ideas and not enough concentration on what really matters. We don’t need everyday details, it only takes away from the gorgeous story that you have to whittle away mounds of unnecessary extras.
At the heart of the story seems to be a prophecy that brings together 4 men to create balance. There’s a darkness that does everything in its power to stop that from happening so that chaos remains and the hope that the four will destroy each other.
While I stand by this being too much of pretty much everything, I can appreciate the breadcrumbs that led up each individual puzzle piece. I just wish it had been a 300 piece puzzle rather than 5000.
At the beginning of autumn Declan’s world is turned upside down. He’s managed to secure a comfortable life for himself and his daughter after he lost the love of his life.
But after a toxic boyfriend heads his separate way only to turn up dead or is he? His car crashed into a tree but there’s no body and for some reason the authorities believe he was eaten by coyotes.
Then things get weird when a goblin appears in Declan’s pumpkin patch. He enlists the help of his best friend, a shaman and they’re soon joined by a frenemy of sorts who apparently is turning into a vampire.
You’d think things would even out after they destroyed the goblin but after losing his shaman friend to aids, ghosts are now haunting his daughter.
Seriously, there’s a lot going on and I’m not even halfway through. The writing is excellent, the world building is descriptive, painting the perfect picture. The characters are original but at times confusing because there’s just so many.
This one suffers from too many ideas and not enough concentration on what really matters. We don’t need everyday details, it only takes away from the gorgeous story that you have to whittle away mounds of unnecessary extras.
At the heart of the story seems to be a prophecy that brings together 4 men to create balance. There’s a darkness that does everything in its power to stop that from happening so that chaos remains and the hope that the four will destroy each other.
While I stand by this being too much of pretty much everything, I can appreciate the breadcrumbs that led up each individual puzzle piece. I just wish it had been a 300 piece puzzle rather than 5000.
October 28, 2022
🔥 Paranormal
🔥 MM & MF
🔥 One POV
🔥 Goblins, vampires and many more
🔥 Nightmares
🔥 Dark fantasy
🔥 Magic
Rating
🌟🌟🌟🌟
Review
✨ Since Halloween is right around the corner this is the perfect read for these days.
✨ This is a BIG ole book but those who love fantasy along with dark elements will definitely enjoy it!
✨ This story is about Declan and his daughter Antonia. They both live peacefully at their farm, along with their family and friends. Declan though, realises that something starts shifting in him and around him. Is it because his wife died and still experiences all the emotions? Who knows.He starts seeing things, illusions and hearing voices. It certainly doesn't help that his boyfriend mysteriously dies after they “break up” and that his body is not found!
You think that was crazy!?? Wait until I tell you that a goblin appears to his fields and starts devouring all his pumpkins. Yes this shit literally happened. Also because I'm a spoiler bitch #noregrets I'm gonna tell you that poor Declan will have his hands full because not only he has to deal with a goblin and a dead boyfriend.. but he also has to deal with his own “powers”, his friend that just happened to turn into a vampire and also his daughter that as it seems.. is a necromancer or sth.
Did I mention that there is some kind of darkness that is after all of them as well?
No? Well now you know. These characters have literally no time to even take a piss.
If it's not the goblin that's after them then it's the dark shit. If it's not the dark shit then it's the dead. If it's not the dead then it's certainly DEATH itself because people are dying. And then they come back or communicate with them or sth.. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm telling you.. ALL THE CRAZINESS 😳
✨ As I mentioned above this is a great read for these days but also for all year round. I did like the spooky vibes and the whole haunting/dark background. I'm not a fan of big books but somehow i got through this. Also.. I'm not a person who reads non romance books but once in a while.. when the book is right, and the story is interesting then I go for it. And this book was definitely it. ❤️
October 6, 2022
In terms of both style and content, I found this book fascinating— there’s the prose style (succinct, occasionally enigmatic to the point of opacity, yet also at times evocatively descriptive), and the setting (not even sure how to start describing this, but well worth the experience) and the narrative (again, hard to describe, but easy to sink into). I’ll definitely be thinking about this book for a while, for any number of reasons— a recommendation in and of itself.
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
November 6, 2022
This book was intense and absolutely perfect for a SpookTober read. It had mystery, horror and fantastic super natural beings.
The unique writing style made it feel like a movie script or a play, giving it a very visual reading experience. 🖤
There were so many deeply emotional scenes🖤
Loved it.🖤
The unique writing style made it feel like a movie script or a play, giving it a very visual reading experience. 🖤
There were so many deeply emotional scenes🖤
Loved it.🖤
October 10, 2022
I have all kinds of feelings about this book as it runs the gamut from warm friendship to horror. The descriptions of the environment are integral to the story as nature plays a huge role in the proceedings and peaceful, serene locations will gradually start to give you chills as characters make observations about light, darkness and atmosphere. The writing can be quite matter-of-fact and then almost haiku like. This is a world of both dream and nightmare that needs to be experienced a savored. Not a book to be read quickly, but enjoyed leisurely with a favorite warm beverage nearby.
October 8, 2022
Mixed thoughts with this book after kindly receiving an advance readers copy from the author.
This was a first read from the author and I didn't know what to expect.
I was intrigued with the story of these 4 men's story entwining with their lives.
It was rough going for me getting into the story as the POVs were hard to sort out in the way it was written especially with the nicknames I got lost a few times in the story.
It follows a story of Declan, and his best friend, Ivan. Chester and Vinny join in the story further after the music festival and Clara and her snake Jett. The story progresses with their tales of mystery with lots of other things happening to recall.
This was a first read from the author and I didn't know what to expect.
I was intrigued with the story of these 4 men's story entwining with their lives.
It was rough going for me getting into the story as the POVs were hard to sort out in the way it was written especially with the nicknames I got lost a few times in the story.
It follows a story of Declan, and his best friend, Ivan. Chester and Vinny join in the story further after the music festival and Clara and her snake Jett. The story progresses with their tales of mystery with lots of other things happening to recall.
October 25, 2022
This is a brand new author to me.. I was honoured when Xavier reached out to me and asked if i would review his book. I did receive a readers copy in exchange for my honest review. So here goes….
- paranormal
- Light erotica
- LGBT/ M+M/ + MF (all with the same MMC)
- dark Fantasy
- Single POV (I did see in a review someone said it was hard to track the POVs. This isn’t the case it is purely told by one.)
There is only one way for me to describe this read and it’s powerful!
At first I thought it was jumping times to quickly, one minute Declan is meeting Clara and the next they are married.. I was a bit frustrated thinking I was missing out on the moments they shared, watching their love grow into something so beautiful and powerful. I wished we got to see Declan grieve Clara more as she was an important part of the story. Though as we went on I understood why, these were things that happened to him that we needed to know but weren’t the main plot of the book. Would I have loved to have seen more Clara? Definitely! She IS beautiful, strong and a power to be known.
However this book is deeper than that it’s about the elements, air, water, fire and damn earth! So much trauma happens within these pages, yet there was still beauty too.
Chester (air) - his love and devotion to his friends. His airy energy that consumed me and protected them. I loved him deeply and was happy he was still there throughout it all.
Ivan (fire) - He seems selfish, damaged and cold. I personally think he was misunderstood most of his life, living with the unknowing over his head. Knowing and yet not, definitely took its toll on him.
Vinny (water)- a scared bullied boy, who is angry at the world. We didn’t see a lot of him but he is an important part.
Declan (earth) and our main lead of this story - He is no doubt a hard working farmer. It’s been bleed into him since he was young that the farm is life. He has this great love with his wife, they had a baby girl that she never gets to meet but is always there. Then he meets Adam a man filled with emptiness.. Declan starts to think he will always be left alone in the end. He was so strong, determined to keep his daughter safe and fight the unknown that he wasn’t sure he fully believed in.
Antonia (Declan’s daughter) - this poor girl has been through so much but with the love of her father, his friends, and her mothers sprit she will make it through. She can feel them, she doesn’t fully understand but has the strength of both her parents.
There is so much love of all kind in this book. So much heartbreak, so many emotions. Drama, the unexpected and well so much more.
I feel felt the pain with Declan through.
I will say even though it said ‘the end’ I am almost positive it isn’t, I will be on the look out for book 2.
I didn’t want to go into too much detail, as I don’t want to give anything away.
So if you are ready to be conflict, at first confused, inspired and totally captivated..
- paranormal
- Light erotica
- LGBT/ M+M/ + MF (all with the same MMC)
- dark Fantasy
- Single POV (I did see in a review someone said it was hard to track the POVs. This isn’t the case it is purely told by one.)
There is only one way for me to describe this read and it’s powerful!
At first I thought it was jumping times to quickly, one minute Declan is meeting Clara and the next they are married.. I was a bit frustrated thinking I was missing out on the moments they shared, watching their love grow into something so beautiful and powerful. I wished we got to see Declan grieve Clara more as she was an important part of the story. Though as we went on I understood why, these were things that happened to him that we needed to know but weren’t the main plot of the book. Would I have loved to have seen more Clara? Definitely! She IS beautiful, strong and a power to be known.
However this book is deeper than that it’s about the elements, air, water, fire and damn earth! So much trauma happens within these pages, yet there was still beauty too.
Chester (air) - his love and devotion to his friends. His airy energy that consumed me and protected them. I loved him deeply and was happy he was still there throughout it all.
Ivan (fire) - He seems selfish, damaged and cold. I personally think he was misunderstood most of his life, living with the unknowing over his head. Knowing and yet not, definitely took its toll on him.
Vinny (water)- a scared bullied boy, who is angry at the world. We didn’t see a lot of him but he is an important part.
Declan (earth) and our main lead of this story - He is no doubt a hard working farmer. It’s been bleed into him since he was young that the farm is life. He has this great love with his wife, they had a baby girl that she never gets to meet but is always there. Then he meets Adam a man filled with emptiness.. Declan starts to think he will always be left alone in the end. He was so strong, determined to keep his daughter safe and fight the unknown that he wasn’t sure he fully believed in.
Antonia (Declan’s daughter) - this poor girl has been through so much but with the love of her father, his friends, and her mothers sprit she will make it through. She can feel them, she doesn’t fully understand but has the strength of both her parents.
There is so much love of all kind in this book. So much heartbreak, so many emotions. Drama, the unexpected and well so much more.
I feel felt the pain with Declan through.
I will say even though it said ‘the end’ I am almost positive it isn’t, I will be on the look out for book 2.
I didn’t want to go into too much detail, as I don’t want to give anything away.
So if you are ready to be conflict, at first confused, inspired and totally captivated..
October 12, 2022
Declan/farmer extraordinaire, having loved and lost both a woman and a man, alone, his brain conjuring up strange things he doesn’t understand. His daughter his reason for being. Chester, best friend, slowly dying. Ivan, friend and general pain, then something scarily creepy.
This was an eerie, at times horrifying, bloody, confusing and convoluted at times. The use of the land as an entity was well done and the coyotes, goblin, birds and snakes added in made for an interesting mix. Full of nightmares, dreams, and more nightmares, it felt dark and heavy most of the time. But even with the dark there were moments of lightness and happiness, portents perhaps.
Definitely not a one sit reading. Very long book. I had to keep taking breaks to digest. I’m confused as to what I want to rate this book. Guess I’ll have think on it a while.
Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.
This was an eerie, at times horrifying, bloody, confusing and convoluted at times. The use of the land as an entity was well done and the coyotes, goblin, birds and snakes added in made for an interesting mix. Full of nightmares, dreams, and more nightmares, it felt dark and heavy most of the time. But even with the dark there were moments of lightness and happiness, portents perhaps.
Definitely not a one sit reading. Very long book. I had to keep taking breaks to digest. I’m confused as to what I want to rate this book. Guess I’ll have think on it a while.
Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.
October 23, 2022
This read a bit like abstract art -
Fluid but scattered - we get small glimpses, almost sections of his life - though not complete we can see the whole picture.
Think pieces of broken colored glass reflecting in the light
Beautiful alone - but when pieced together?
It can create something magnificent
The Bond was one of the best horror/romance reads of 2022
It had love, loss, hope, family, friendship, mystery, suspense, horror, and paranormal ... all tethered together in an evocative and captivating tale
With each new chapter, I was drawn deeper into the story
The characters were easy to connect with - I cried, I shivered, I cringed, I even shouted a couple of times
The story was told from Declan's POV in a ... think of old black and white moving pictures - how they flashed from moment to moment to create the movie - I can't think of any other way to describe the scenes
Definitely recommend
I am excited to see what comes next
Fluid but scattered - we get small glimpses, almost sections of his life - though not complete we can see the whole picture.
Think pieces of broken colored glass reflecting in the light
Beautiful alone - but when pieced together?
It can create something magnificent
The Bond was one of the best horror/romance reads of 2022
It had love, loss, hope, family, friendship, mystery, suspense, horror, and paranormal ... all tethered together in an evocative and captivating tale
With each new chapter, I was drawn deeper into the story
The characters were easy to connect with - I cried, I shivered, I cringed, I even shouted a couple of times
The story was told from Declan's POV in a ... think of old black and white moving pictures - how they flashed from moment to moment to create the movie - I can't think of any other way to describe the scenes
Definitely recommend
I am excited to see what comes next
November 7, 2022
After reading a friends review, I decided to delve into this story as I was intrigued.
This book is set around a guy called Declan and everything that happens to him that completely upheaves his world. I have to say I have not read anything like this before, it’s got so many different aspects from love, loss, supernatural, craziness and appearances of other worldly creatures.
This is a heavily blunt story, no lust and romancing so don’t expect any steam, just a twist and turn of a book with a lot of “wtf” moments. It was just crazy in the directions it suddenly took you, but in a good way.
I’ll just say keep an open mind, and if you love out there stories with a supernatural element, a hint of creepiness and a dash of emotional moments then this will not disappoint. It’s a story to remember.
This book is set around a guy called Declan and everything that happens to him that completely upheaves his world. I have to say I have not read anything like this before, it’s got so many different aspects from love, loss, supernatural, craziness and appearances of other worldly creatures.
This is a heavily blunt story, no lust and romancing so don’t expect any steam, just a twist and turn of a book with a lot of “wtf” moments. It was just crazy in the directions it suddenly took you, but in a good way.
I’ll just say keep an open mind, and if you love out there stories with a supernatural element, a hint of creepiness and a dash of emotional moments then this will not disappoint. It’s a story to remember.
November 5, 2023
See my web site for a full review of “The Bond.”
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews