I had read the short story prequel to this fantasy/paranormal/LGBTQ romance (“Witch City Rift”) which helped clarify a bit of this book and introduces some of the characters (like Remi Gatti, the villain/love interest in the male/male romance), but Rifted Hearts is easily read as a standalone novel. I appreciated Guglielmo’s use of contemporary terms such as ace, demisexual, pansexual, allosexual, etc. I enjoy animal shape-shifting books, and this stands out by not limiting the shape-shifters to the usual wolves, bears, etc, but going way beyond that with dragons, jellyfish-type creatures, even the “villain” of the book is a shape-shifting chinchilla. Set on a dude ranch/animal shelter for creatures from the “Rift,” where a series of doorways have opened between Earth and other worlds, bringing in bizarre creatures, some of whom are capable of interbreeding with humans. In fact, the two male love interests are hybrids: Kaveh is an earth dragon/human cross while Remi is a rat/human cross whose only shape besides human is that of an oversized chinchilla. The romance is cute, and the sex scenes are relatively understated. There’s lots of drama as the Rift Zone is expanding out of control, Kaveh is searching for his true love, assigned by “the Matchmaker,” and a spy is out to steal the dragons’ secrets on controlling the Rift.
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Rifted Hearts (Merit Ptah Press, March 9, 2024) is available through:
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