INCUBUS.

Oh…do you need more? Okay, um, what about: incubus, witches, portal magic, and a pleasure contract? Yes? Still need more? Okay…

This, my friends, is Black and Silver by Gwendolyn Harper. Ivy St. James is in a bind. Even though she is a powerful witch, she cannot save her sister from an incurable, mystery disease that has depleted almost everything. She is very close to the end, so Ivy is desperate. And she does what only someone in this world could do, she turns to Silas Grey, a demon who has the ability to heal her sister…for a price. Silas proposes that Ivy works as his personal witch, to save his own people. And, because Gwendolyn Harper loves us and wants us to have nice things, Ivy also agrees to be his “food source”…aka “feeding him” in the only way an incubus needs, through pleasure.

Here’s the thing, I was only about 60% through this book when I started internet stalking, er, I mean, respectfully exploring the world wide web for this author. I’d never heard of her before and immediately needed to know why. By day, she is Lauren Devora, who writes books that her mother would approve of – her words, not mine. But by night, she is Gwendolyn Harper, a brilliant, endlessly creative imagination fairy, who has gifted us with probably the sexiest moment I’ve ever read in my entire life. No seriously. I actually messaged her to let her know. And she wrote me back. But, I cannot stress this enough: Ms. Harper…this scene not only lives rent free in my head, but it has moved in, painted, put up curtains, and settled in. I love it here.

“‘Slowly,’ he ordered. ‘I want you to kill me with it.’”

– Silas, about 23% through the book (you’re welcome)

This book is sexy and funny and violent. The descriptions of the way, in which Ivy channels her magic to open portals are crystal clear. I kept envisioning Bonnie from The Vampire Diaries because Ivy makes use of candles, placed in a certain formation, and chanting. She uses an anchor, though, which, if you’ve watched certain episodes of TVD, you would agree with me that Bonnie could have used an anchor. Perhaps she would have stayed in current time, instead of jumping to a past, pocket of time dimension. If you know, you know.

ANYWAY, this book is long, coming in at over 500 pages, but I didn’t want it to end. I consumed it within about 24 hours. The end, however, is mind blowingly good though. I won’t give it away, but if you have a problem with longer books, no you don’t. Or this is the exception to your silly rule. Geez, sorry, I’m confrontational today, aren’t I?

If you’d like to learn more about this author, there are several links to explore. You can check out her Lauren Devora website here and linktree here. Her Gwendolyn Harper linktree is here. If you read Black and Silver, let me know!