Author: A.J. Sherwood

Genres: Mystery, MM Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Format Read: Kindle Unlimited

“The first time I laid eyes on your son, I forgot how to breathe for a second. I’ve never seen someone glow as brightly as he does. It was like seeing a supernova, it was so intense. Trust me, Mrs. Havili, I know exactly how good of a man Donovan is. I don’t want to be the ruin of him.”

OVERALL REVIEW:

Rating: 5/5 Healthy Relationships

Ok so, I’m going to start with a disclaimer. Sherwood’s books have become my safe space. In one word Sherwood’s books are Healthy. Her works aren’t stressful or dramatic, they’re funny, sweet, and sport some of the most healthy relationships I have ever read about. (Even when her main characters may not have the healthiest careers (see: The Unholy Trifecta)). I absolutely adore all of AJ Sherwood’s works, but Jon’s mysteries are my absolute favorite. 

Jon’s Mysteries were the first works of Sherwood’s I read and I am writing these reviews after re-reading them for the second time (it’s better late than never fam – don’t drag me). 

The story centers around Jon, a powerful psychic who works mainly as a police consultant, and his new work partner Donovan, ex-military police who is essentially the equivalent of a giant teddy bear while simultaneously looking like he kills people for fun. I must say I enjoyed that psychics were seen as a norm in this series and I especially loved Jon’s ability. I find the idea of seeing chakra lines that tell the story of one’s life fascinating and creative and man is it now my dream superpower. I also really enjoyed Jon and Donovan in general, both were so cute, funny, and grateful for one another that they were just a joy to read. 

“Also, I really don’t care who knows we’re together. If they have a problem with it, that’s their problem. If they take that problem to you, I become theirs. Clear enough?”

The mystery in the first book isn’t the most exciting. It wasn’t action-packed – I mean there was one moment where bullets were flying but – there weren’t any death scares, no one was betrayed: ultimately, it was a relatively wholesome mystery. I feel this was done on purpose to focus more on Jon and Donovan’s budding relationship. Which was a good move. You usually see crime romance novels focus a lot on the action, near-death experiences, possible betrayals, and other such outside stimuli to either push the two main characters together or apart. Sherwood breaks this mold completely. Keep in mind that I am a huge fan of the action-packed, dramatic, ‘someone-almost-dies-every-book’ romance novels (I know it’s not always healthy or realistic but it gives me adventure and excitement in my otherwise boring life), but Sherwood’s decision to take the drama out of the picture gave her more room to build, what I find to be, a beautiful example of a healthy relationship. Don’t misunderstand me, Jon and Don are not two perfect people who meet and fall in perfect love, both have insecurities and baggage, which makes it relatable and realistic. 

“‘He likes you. He adores you. Everyone can see it in the way he looks at you, the way he reacts when you’re in the room. I don’t think he’ll take this news badly. So why are you so terrified?’ 

‘Because he won’t be able to leave!’

‘I’m not following. Does he want to?’

‘Everyone leaves.’” 

Note: We don’t deal with much of the baggage and ‘downs’ of the relationship in this book since they spend most of it in the honeymoon stage, but they will be addressed in the following books (and it is a great example of how to healthy deal with issues, not just within a romantic relationship, but within a family as well), and I’ll go into them more when reviewing those books.   

I understand that it might seem like a bit of a cheat with Jon’s abilities, but even throughout her other books, the emphasis on communication, respect, support, and hard work in a relationship is something I think we should all learn from. (I also understand that it’s ‘easy’ to build healthy relationships in mostly healthy environments, but how many of us live with bullets flying everywhere?) Sherwood takes a relatively normal environment and showcases that a healthy relationship is something we can all achieve if we put in the effort and most importantly – the communication. 

“…We have to start the good communication skills now, or we’ll be screwed later.”

Communication, communication, communication. The theme of this book was definitely communication. There were some times the dialogue was a bit cheesy, or maybe they were just things we wouldn’t really expect to hear in a normal conversation, but I think that this was a power move. I will forever be in favor of normalizing somewhat cheesy communication when it leads to people having a better understanding of each other (and may I dare say it: healthier relationships). 

I could go on all day about Jon and Don’s cuteness/healthiness, but I’ll try and focus on other aspects of the book as well. 

My favorite thing in books and storytelling of all genres is character development. And while this book had some when it came to Jon and his fears regarding anchoring and trusting Don to not leave him dying on the side of the road, we didn’t see a lot from Donovan. Do not fret – we will see some in the next book. Honestly, most of the character development really comes into play in book 3, so I’ll give this book a pass since it was, as most first books are, a ‘set up’/baseline for the remainder of the series.

Last but not least: Support Characters. The side characters were definitely a huge part of the world-building (Sky is a national treasure – fight me). I enjoyed them and each of their impacts on the lives of the main leads’. I especially enjoyed how Sherwood set the stage for the complexity of Jon’s relationship with his mother. Most of us have very complex relationships with our parents and Sherwood made Lauren reflect this. Jon obviously loves his mother very much, but we see that at the heart of things she is the reason for most of his insecurities. He felt anchoring was never an option since his mother’s decision to anchor with Rodger ultimately caused his parent’s divorce and was, what Jon believes to be, the reason his father left. Jon also believed no one would ever be able to live with him since his own mother wasn’t even able to and his sister could only be patient with his ability to kill all electronics for so long. Parents aren’t perfect and they make mistakes, sometimes those mistakes affect their children while into adulthood. This is not to say Lauren is completely at fault, I think it was just a good representation of this sort-of dichotomy many kids face with their parents. I also found it interesting that Sherwood creates a kind of comparison to Lauren in Alani and Donovan’s parents, who’ve been happily married for 40 years. I won’t go into it here since I think this it’s something we get to explore a little more in the next books and maybe a bit in Brandon’s books as well. 

Overall, this series is like a balm on my soul. Sometimes the stressful, dramatic, heart-wrenching books are too much and you need something with just a little action, a lot of romance, and a reminder that healthy, happy relationships are not only possible but something you very much want. 

“I lost all sense of time for a moment. I couldn’t see everything, not from just the back, but I saw enough. His chakra points glowed strongly, the meridian lines telling me everything I needed to know and more. I had to remind my lungs to draw in air. I had literally never seen a human being as awe-inspiring and fundamentally good as this man.”