Nix MM Review- Mercury Rising by Daisy Harris (4 Stars)

Mercury Rising by Daisy Harris
Published by Literary Partners Group Inc Genres: Male-Male
Pages: 126
Format: eBook
Goodreads

Take a sexy romp with the gods in this hilarious and hot ménage!

Over-extended - and closeted - charmer Mercury the Messenger struggles to accommodate all the factions of the Deities International Conference and Kibbitz. However, his skills at diplomacy stretch to the limit when the object of a chance tryst turns out to be his assistant, and his arranged fiancée arrives at the scene!

Warning: contains male-male loving, male-female loving, male-male-female loving, male-male-male...well, you get the idea!

Mercury Rising was a complete surprise to me. I completely expected to like it; I just didn’t expect it to be as thought provoking as it was.

The Mercury in the title is Mercury the Roman God, son of Jupiter. Mercury is the main organizer of DICK (Deities International Conference and Kibitz), which is an event where all the major deities, from each religion, gather. This time it’s on a cruise ship and Jupiter has decided to make this twice as hard on poor Mercury, by bringing along his future fiancée Vesta, the Virgin Goddess. Problem is that Vesta and Jupiter have never met, but an even bigger problem is that Mercury is gay and has no interest in marrying a woman.

After a particularly difficult day of trying to keep the Gods from offending the humans that are to staff the ship, Mercury runs into the little hottie that is Dillon. A frank exchange occurs, after which follows a rather sexy blowjob in a little alcove in the ships corridors. Neither knows who the other is, just that they are attracted to each other. Imagine the surprise when Mercury finds out that the supposedly sexy waiter is actually his assistant, and that he can’t seem to control the urge to want to bump nasty’s with him all the time.

Meanwhile Vesta is getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of attention she is getting from her future husband. Wondering around the ship in very little doesn’t seem to attract the attention of the aloof Mercury, but it does attract the attention of Loki, the God of Chaos, and Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Unable to choose between the two very different men, Vesta embarks on a hot and steamy tryst with the two of them, sometimes at the same time. Vesta can’t help but fall a little bit in lust with them, but it can’t last. If Jupiter finds out she is no longer pure, and has cheated on Mercury, she will be cast out of the Godly ranks. When the ship is attacked by a bomb wielding Vampire, all the major players become separated into their relative pairs. Will the time together, away from the stressful situations of their everyday lives, allow their burgeoning romances to grow into something stronger? Or will pesky reality start to intrude, reminding them of the impossibility of their situations.

My favourite bit of this book is the relationship between Mercury and Dillon. Mercury is terrified to anger his father and even more scared that he won’t love him anymore if he discovers his “secret”. Unable to deny his sexuality, Mercury has lots of meaningless sex with men, including Dillon, to satisfy himself. He is used to getting his own way; as a God, people pretty much bow before him and agree to all rules he sets, including to complete secrecy. Dillon is different. When he meets Mercury, he refuses to bow to his will, automatically arousing more than Mercury’s interest. Dillon is happy to hook up for a bout of meaningless and satisfying pleasure, but when it becomes clear that Mercury wants to do it again, Dillon very firmly tells him where to go. He is sick of being someone’s dirty little secret. He has had to come out, and has already dealt with all the prejudice and discrimination that comes with that revelation. He just wants to be able to be in a relationship that is open and honest because he has earned that right.

The attraction that fizzles between these two is incredibly potent, especially when they find themselves alone in various hotel rooms after the bomb. Soon it becomes clear that one of them needs to give in. Either Dillon allows himself to be someone’s secret plaything or Mercury gets the courage to come out, because a permanent separation will make no one happy. I admired Dillon for risking everything for his own belief system; it was satisfying to see a character that had morals that were that strong. I pitied Mercury so much it made me want to cry in parts. He was so scared of what everyone would think of him, he allowed himself to get draw into an untenable situation. He felt incredibly guilty that Vesta would be shackled into a loveless marriage, but felt powerless to stand up and tell Jupiter what he actually wanted, for fear of being rejected by him. I loved Dillon a little for the way he tries to help Mercury because he could have just walked away from him and his plus sized issues. The sex scenes between them were smoking hot; it was obvious from the start that this was meant to be more than a fling!

The side plot between Vesta, Thor and Loki was charming and sexy. I really felt for Vesta; she wasn’t pure by choice, more by necessity. When she had her chance to become free of that pesky title, the man she was promised to all out rejects her. I didn’t blame her for her choices; in fact, I all out applaud them! Loki was awesome. A sweet talking mischief-maker, he went out of his way to make sure she knew that she was wanted. Thor was the complete opposite. He wanted her, but he had no idea how to tell or show her that. She needed Thor’s strength and power to make her feel like a Goddess, and worthy of a God, but she needed Loki to make her feel appreciated as a woman. I loved them together and I hope we see more. The side plot with the Vampire was a little weird. I can only assume that the consequence of that particular storyline will feature in future books. I think I found them odd because those characters didn’t feature a lot in the story, so it all seemed a little disjointed to me.

This book is about accepting who you are and learning to play by your own rules. It was funny, charming and mind-blowingly sexy. The mythology that features throughout the plot creates some very entertaining moments as ancient Gods and modern day America collide. Highly recommended read.