REVIEW: 'Sleight of Heart' by Aisling Mancy
Title: Sleight of Heart
Series: Morality of Magick Book #1
Author: Aisling Mancy
Published: March 14, 2016
Publisher: CoolDudes Publishing
Genre: Erotic Romance; Paranormal Romance
Length: 194 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; HEA; Fantasy; Adventure; Paranormal: Vampires, Fairies, and Mages
BLURB: A vampire mage, a Romani young man, and a forbidden love that won't be denied.
Lord Taliesin Solitaire was born albino, cursed mute by the fey, and betrayed by a vampire lover. For two hundred years the vampire mage has vowed never to love again and has only used sex as a means to a meal. Until a palm-reading gypsy finds himself in peril and Taliesin can’t resist rescuing the beautiful young man.
Pesha is the eldest but smallest son of King Vaida Sinclair, the oppressive ruler of the Kåle Romani Compania. Deemed impure by his father, Pesha is shunned and mistreated by his band and six half-brothers, and one brother in particular wants him dead. His pale, silent savior gives him safety, security and a love he never could have imagined. As Pesha falls in love with his handsome white knight, his half-brother does the unthinkable.
Can Taliesin rescue Pesha from the cruel clutches of his half-brother a second time?
Read Complete First Chapter
4 HEART READ
REVIEW: In Sleight of Heart, book one in the Morality of Magick series, Aisling Mancy stole mine – heart that is. This is my second Mancy novel, and, yet again, I may have growled when interrupted.
In this tightly-packed tale, readers encounter multiple cultures: the Rromani, vampires, fairies, and yes, even a dragon. We learn bits of a new language, are charmed by mythology, and all within a plausible plot. Wow!
Taliesin is a 236-year-old cursed albino vampire. Lord of his lands, he has been lost in grief for two centuries, until spying Pesha, a palm reader. The oldest child of the Rromani chief, Pesha is disregarded because he is small, gay, and the only child of the chief’s first wife. Yet he embodies the optimistic liveliness the vampire has forsaken.
When Taliesin rescues Pesha from abuse at the hands of his half-brothers, their cultures collide. Both men honor their traditions, but to respect one another, each man must question his highest values. Can Pesha, in turn, rescue Taliesin?
Their gap is brokered by charming sex scenes, which combine sensuality, and fun, with compassion and interpersonal connection. Sexuality is portrayed as the universal civilization.
Mancy has created an enchanting, thinly veiled parable. Like Pesha and Taliesin, this is a time of rapidly intersecting cultures, when we are called upon to define and redefine our values.
Like a sociologist, Mancy’s attention to cultural details made me hungry to live in his plots. In fact, my only complaint is that I wanted to ask the characters more about their beliefs and choices.
For those who need a momentary escape from today's battles, the author creates two delectably magical creatures, in Sleight of Heart, who entice one to grow into their best possible selves. And thus they inspire us to take up the good fight once more.
It’s easy to see why this novel was selected as a 2016 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention. Mancy is fast becoming one of my favorite erotic adventure writers. Thank You for a great read.
A copy of Sleight of Heart was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Aisling Mancy, in exchange for our fair and honest opinion.
Ash is an author who lives, most of the time, on the West Coast of the United States. Ash writes adult fantasy, science fiction, adult romance, and fiction for gay young adults as C. Kennedy.
Raised on the mean streets and back lots of Hollywood by a Yoda-look-alike grandfather, Ash doesn’t conform, doesn’t fit in, is epic awkward, and lives to perfect a deep-seated oppositional defiance disorder. In a constant state of fascination with the trivial, Ash contemplates such weighty questions as If time and space are curved, then where do all the straight people come from? When not writing, Ash can be found taming waves on western shores, pondering the nutritional value of sunsets, appreciating the much-maligned dandelion, unhooking guide ropes from stanchions, and marveling at all things ordinary. Ash does respond to emails because, after all, it is all about you, the reader.
