Hexbreaker

Hexworld, Book 1

By: Jordan L. Hawk

Narrated by: Tristan James

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

New York copper Tom Halloran is a man with a past. If anyone finds out he once ran with the notorious O'Connell tunnel gang, he'll spend the rest of his life doing hard time behind bars. But Tom's secret is threatened when a horrible murder on his beat seems to have been caused by the same ancient magic that killed his gang.

Cat shifter Cicero is determined to investigate the disappearance of one friend and the death of another, even though no one else believes the cases are connected. When the trail of his investigation crosses Tom's, the very bohemian Cicero instinctively recognizes the uncultured Irish patrolman as his witch. Though they're completely unsuited to one another, Cicero has no choice but to work alongside Tom...all the while fighting against the passion growing within.

Tom knows that taking Cicero as his familiar would only lead to discovery and disaster. Yet as the heat between them builds, Tom's need for the other man threatens to overcome every rational argument against becoming involved.

But when their investigation uncovers a conspiracy that threatens all of New York, Tom must make the hardest decision of his life: to live a lie and gain his heart's desire, or to confess the truth and sacrifice it all.

©2016 Jordan L. Hawk (P)2016 Jordan L. Hawk

Fun!

For a gay sexy, fantasy romance with witches & familiars (!) this was a fun listen. It took a chapter or two to understand the premise & landscape but once oriented this was well-constructed and written. As you know this genre can sometimes be too simple-minded and poorly produced; not this one. The narrator does a great job and has a deep, resonant voice. And the story is clever and complex and ... a fun listen.

An enjoyable read

A good story with interesting world building. Worth the credit. Typically top notch narration from Tristan James.

Greatly enjoyed the gay love story.

I kept listening. I couldn't help but find an excuse to keep driving to listen to this story

Fantasy, Mystery and some Sex

I fantasy like Harry Potter but I am a grown man who also likes other men. This book covered most of my needs. Fantasy, a good story, man on man and the narrator was very talented vocally acting out different accents. I can't wait to read The next book.
The only nit picky thing I have to say is everything is a hex. Just a little over used.

Great book, great worldbuilding

Awesome book with an interesting plot, engaging characters and great world building.

The only thing is that I didn't really like how Tom was voiced, that detracted a little bit from my enjoyment and it's the only reason why I won't be listening to this book again even though I really liked it. Also, one of the minor characters is named Dominic Kopecky. I am slavic and so is the surname, so the pronunciation the narrator used grated on me as it should be pronounced KopeTSky not KopeKy.

This is an enjoyable listen

I did like this book and really enjoyed the time and location of the events. Tristan James does such a wonderful job with his accents its always a pleasure. We have a new world where ordinary and magical powered police are working together to solve crimes. It's nice to have both worlds represented and not just a secret society of magic users. We have a few characters who are a little resistance to their witch and witch's familiar rolls but they do get it together and use it well when the time comes. It's a nice little M/M romance as well. I recommend this audio.

Interesting start

Welcome to the world of witches, hexes and familiars. It’s a world full of danger, secrets and a bit of intrigue. It’s a world created by the very talented Jordan L. Hawk – so you know it’s going to be entertaining – and dangerous.

Cicero, cat shifter and unbonded familiar is on a mission to find his one of his friends that vanished the same night another was horribly murdered. While on the trail he comes across Tom Halloran, a New York copper who rubs him the wrong way – or in the very right way depending on your perspective. The two join forces to the truth, but when they close in the danger to theirs and everyone else’s life is so much worse than they ever could have imagined. Well, Tom know that danger first hand, seeing as it caused the death and destruction of all of his friends and family.

Right off the bat I was invested in this book and Cicero and Tom. I wanted to know more. It was also refreshing that Cicero was a cat shifter – and not the lion or panther kind of cat, but a black cat that could be mistaken for any other housecat in the world. Then there was the familiar side of things, which is completely new to me so I immediately wanted to know more. Know more about the bonding, the feral familiars and just every aspect of it. I think it’s one of the things I’m mostly looking forward to explore in the books to come. Because the bond between Tom and Cicero promises great things.

Maybe this was just me, but I couldn’t quite get a grip on the time period for this book. To me it felt like this strange mix of the past and present. I mean the descriptions and feel of the book was late 1800th century, but some of the mannerisms and expressions were definitely of present day and didn’t quite fit with the tone of the rest of the book.

Another thing that really got to me were the superlong pauses between some paragraphs and between chapters. More than once I wondered if I’d accidentally hit pause on my phone. It might not seem like a big deal, but while listening you are soaked in this world, searching for clues – or even in the middle of some fight of some sorts. So these pauses take you out of this world and re-emerge you with reality again and shifts your focus. Other than that Tristan James did a great performance of this book. He captured the essence of the characters; who they were and their feelings and made you a part of this story.

I had a great time listening to this book and can’t wait to start the next one to see what troubles awaits my new friends. I kind of also want to see a lot more of Isaac and know what happens next for him.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

So good

Let me just preface this by stating that i absolutely love Jordan L. Hawk and Tristan James. having them both in one go? Heaven!
Hexbreaker is the first full length story in a new world from the insanity that must be Jordan's mind. I mean how on earth does she keep coming up with such great characters and stories?!
Anyway- I love love love Cicero. He's just adorable ( but please don't tell him I said that).
The story is full of action yet has enough tender, romantic and steamy scenes to satisfy any romance fan.
Adding Tristan's voice to the natration just makes it that much better. His ability to make the characters come alive with each having his or her own distinct voice and way of speaking is amazing and really adds so much to an already wonderful story.
Well done guys and I can not wait for the next one!!!!

Unlike any shifter book I've ever read

Now this is how you tell a good story.

The slow build world building made this book absolutely a delight to read. It was very easy to keep track of and understand the world that was being built up for the story. I found it fascinating and incredibly detailed. Just starting the book it was easy to visualize what was going on and how the world is navigated through thanks to the well described scenes. I am just beside my self with how unique this was and the amount of creativity it must've taken for the author to build this in their head.

The characters also followed this same approaches with slow introductions to them to not overwhelm the reader with info dumps. The characters naturally showed their personalities just by their doings and action instead of the route some books take by over explaining their traits for us. I loved this natural approach in introducing characters, it made them believable and felt alive.

All the internal dialog these 2 main characters had gave an incredible visualization on their personality and individuality too. They were so distinct and well thought out characters that it was so easy to fall in love with them. I was hooked into getting to know them and the fascinating world and relationship they were exploring.
I absolutely have a soft spot for the feminine. Cicero was so addicting to read about with his naturally twinkish demure being such a strong contrast to Tom.

It was well paced too with the tension and relief on the romance. The author obviously knew what they were doing as to not frustrate the reader. I think the Erotic moments were believable, sexy and absolutely worked perfectly at progressing the romance plot in a natural way that didn't distract from the main story but still gave relief for the incredible amount of tension.

The main story was believable too, easy to keep interesting and always progressing. I was very impressed with how silky smooth the story would shift from scene to scene. The romance and world I believe was definetly what the reader will be most impressed by but the main plot that is accompanying it really made me want to keep reading.

The heart wrenching moments were definitely dreadful and difficult to read. But for those that are soft hearted just know that there is light at the end of the tunnel with a HEA.

Super anxious to dive into this world again with the next book.

Excellent book!

Stellar world, stellar mystery, stellar characters, stellar romance, stellar narrator! This author is new to me, but if all their books are this good, they’ll soon be a favorite. This book was riveting the whole way through. I’m excited to read more of this series.

If you like a good mystery and fascinating world with your romance, read this book.