Sure As Hell by Naomi Valkyrie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jaru Fane is an Imp, he used to be a contract companion, but now after a horrible experience, he has decided to create his own contact companion company which will employ and look after companions in a safe environment, something which he missed out on and his best friend is Larkspur, a pixie with an unhappy past and a penchant for mischief and playing pranks.

As Jaru is setting up his business, he didn’t quite realise how little time he has to spend with Lark between meeting, interviews, looking at contracts and making the decisions he needs to, but decisions are not the easiest thing for Jaru, he struggles to make them without help and it is
getting him down. Meanwhile, Lark is feeling left out and bored and when he gets bored, that is when the pranks start, nobody is happy when that happens, so he decides to sneak into the office with Jaru the next day. As he has his first interview of the day, he senses that something maybe isn’t quite right with the person he is interviewing, but he seems a good fit nevertheless,
afterwards, he ponders his decision making ability while Lark is planning his way to get to Jaru’s office the next day. While there, Jaru is looking over some more profiles for the business and thinks about getting some breakfast, however, he is startled when he sees some on his desk, this is when Lark shocks him further as he makes an appearance and spends the rest of the morning helping Jaru with the profiles, then just before he leaves the office he receives a strange phone call, but thinks no more about it.

A couple of days later, Jaru goes to his office as usual, but unusually, he finds a note on his desk saying that contract companions have been going missing and that his are next in line, so he tries to think of a solution himself and decides to call a friend for some advice and he agrees
that it is a warning and to call if anything escalates, so when Jaru receives another phone call, this time containing a definite threat, he hires his friend so that he can arrange security for himself and his boys. Jaru has asked not to keep his other friends in the loop, however, Lark ends up hearing what is going on and decides to take matters into his own hands when he realises that Jaru is keeping secrets and confronts him the next day when it looks like Jaru is going a bit off the deep end and slipping back into old habits. During this confrontation, Lark ends up revealing one of his abilities without thinking and this starts a trail of new experiences for him and when Jaru discovers this, he is drawn to Lark in a different way, but when the danger takes a turn closer to home, Jaru starts to believe that he cannot be what Lark needs and encourages another to get close to him instead.

Will Jaru be able to keep his employees and Lark safe as the threats against him and Lark escalate, or will this be the end of something which hasn’t even had the chance to start? Will Lark be able to stay safe, or continuing to take matters into his own hands put Jaru in even more danger as well? This is a story of companionship, danger, revelations and realisations as
the ties that bind are in danger of being ripped away and more problems appear than solutions, but when mental health issues and increased worry are added into the mix, you will have to read to the end to see whether they can be untangled and fixed back into place.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

View all my reviews