How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life: Disaster #1

Princes of Mayhem #1

by Jocelynn Drake

Disaster #1: Fun With Family

Nolan is the hot but grumpy goth boy who lives across the street from perpetually sunny necromancer Sky.

Nolan wants nothing to do with Sky.

That is until his older brother is on the run from a local vampire clan after he failed to deliver on a promise.

Nolan is about to learn that vampires, shifters, witches, and magic are very real. He needs an expert to guide him through this dangerous world.

It's Sky's time to shine!

And just maybe he can win the heart of a grumpy introvert. (Assuming he doesn't scare the man to death first.)

How the Necromancer in the Gold Vest Saved My Life is a serial comprising four novellas that follow the insane adventures of necromancer Skylar Wallace and his next-door neighbor Nolan Banks. This book contains vampires, werewolves, witches, underworld minions, danger, surprises, sassy corpses, and some pretty amazing sandwiches.

Genres: M M Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Magic, Vampires, Urban Fantasy, Romance

117 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2023

About the author

New York Times Bestselling author Jocelynn Drake loves a good story, whether she is reading it or writing one of her own. Over the years, her stories have allowed her to explore space, talk to dragons, dodge bullets with assassins, hang with vampires, and fall in love again and again.

This former Kentucky girl has moved up, down, and across the U.S. with her husband. Recently, they’ve settled near the Rockies.

When she is not hammering away at her keyboard or curled up with a book, she can be
walking her dog Ace, or playing video games. She loves Bruce Wayne, Ezio Auditore, travel, tattoos, explosions, and fast cars.

She is the author of the urban fantasy books: The Dark Days series and the Asylum Tales. For gay romance, she has completed The Exit Strategy and Shadow Elite series, and is now working on a spin-off of her MM paranormal series, Lords of Discord. She has also co-authored with Rinda Elliot the following series: Unbreakable Bonds, Ward Security, Pineapple Grove, the Weavers Circle. In addition, she has co-authored with AJ Sherwood the following series: Scales 'N' Spell and Wings 'N' Wands. She can be found at JocelynnDrake.com.

Reviews

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Though my tendency is to avoid serials, it seems like lately I just can’t help myself. This is a spinoff from Drake’s Lords of Discord, a series I haven’t read and thankfully, I wasn’t lost.

Per the blurb, necromancer Skylar has a crush on his neighbor, an antisocial grump who he’s been pining over for forever.

One night, at a local vampire bar, Sky spots his crush having a bit of trouble, and he sees this as the perfect opportunity to help Nolan out and to get to know him better. Seems like Nolan’s wayward brother is in a heap of trouble, and Sky is just the witch to help Nolan navigate his new normal - that vampires, witches, shifters exist!

Just know that Sky is a wonderful breath of fresh air, the complete opposite of what you’d think of as a Necromancer. He is just sunshine and optimism all the time and of course, Nolan can’t help but be charmed. I suspect you will be too as these two flirt their way across shady vampires and dangerous situations.

I liked this enough to spur me to check out the next installment!

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF ~47%

Another freebie I had low expectations on, but still couldn't manage to finish. Crack!fic but without the charm needed to sustain it, and shoddy characters and world-building.

[Cadiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to this spin-off

3.5*

I'm going to review this serial together at the end as it's a continuous story written in chapters.

Not my favourite type of narrative to be fair but the author is definitely one of my auto-buy writers and I'm sure, taken as a whole, it's going to be a fab tale.

[Saimi Vasquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sky esta tomándose un pequeño descanso saliendo con sus amigos a un bar de "sobrenaturales", cuando se da cuenta que su vecino (el hombre totalmente humano, por el que se siente atraído) esta en problemas, no con uno sino con 2 vampiros bastante poderosos. Así que tiene que ayudarlo, sacarlo de ahí antes de que ocurra una desgracia. Y el problema no es pequeño, pero Sky sabe que puede ayudarlo, si solo logra que tenga una cita con él y se de cuenta que son el uno para el otro (jijijiji). Pero podrá realmente ayudarlo? Como reaccionara cuando sepa que el mundo sobrenatural es real? Querrá realmente salir con él después de todo?

Es un libro divertido, donde nos encontramos con dos protas no tan serios y un mundo sobrenatural tradicional. Me divirtió mucho Sky, es lo que llaman un "Sunshine", siempre alegre, siempre dispuesto a ayudar, y aunque me molesto un poco Nolan, creo que puede ser un personaje que crecerá en el transcurso de la serie.
En fin, me gusta por donde va la historia, y quiero ver como van a hacer para estar juntos esta parejita, así que seguiré la lectura de esta serie.

[ivanareadsalot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee what 🫣

[Jude: The Epic Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute but mostly boring and uninteresting. Maybe if it was a novel instead of four novellas it would have kept my interest better. It took me way to long to read 115 pages. I did like the characters but they were not in-depth at all.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved getting to know Sky better and seeing what it is that a necromancer can do.

Nolan is grumpy in a cute way, and he's in totally over his head but for someone who seems pretty smart, he's incredibly stupid at times!

Loved the cliffhanger ending though and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next - and hopefully more Varik appearances!

[Alix Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très intéressant spin-off de la série Lords of Discord dans lequel nous croisons quelques visages familier😉 mais qui est surtout centré sur l’un de mes types d’utilisateurs de magie préférés, un nécromancien! (Je remercie Sheena Jolie (S.J. Himes) pour ça).🤣

Dans ce monde où chaque branche de la communauté surnaturelle applique le principe du chacun pour son groupe (vampires, loups-garous, sorcier.ères…), il existe néanmoins une règle commune à tous: se méfier des nécromanciens.

Sky est pourtant un gars super (même s’il lui arrive parfois de rendre les occupants de son potagers vivants et dotés de dents). Il est gentil, serviable et veut désespérément prendre soin de son voisin gothique survivant de malbouffe sur qui il a un énorme crush.

Le pauvre Nolan est dépassé par les événements, en même temps il existe de meilleures moyens d’entrer dans le monde surnaturel que d’enquêter sur la disparition de son frère et d’être presque tué par des vampires dans le processus.

J’ai adoré replonger dans ce monde et j’ai été d’autant plus ecstatic d’apprendre l’existence d’un second spin-off: Kings of Chaos avec encore plus de nouveautés et de cameos au programme.😍
Pour ceux qui comme moi suivent l’ordre de parution, on avait déjà croisé Sky dans le tome 6 de Lords of Discord : Visiting the Variks.
J’ai beaucoup aimé la dynamique sunshine necromancer/taller gothic human love interest. Mais cette fin en cliffhanger…😭!

[SC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was AMAZING. I was ensnared by Sky the first time he made an appearance. I thought he was the coolest freaking character I have seen in a while, well him and his minions. Go Frank !!! He's a little adorable, reminds me of Jaclyn Osborn's characters a bit, and the fact that he's a necromancer makes his story even more delightful.

Nolan was so funny, I loved how freaked out he was by it all, especially by the minions. Let me tell you, I am so unbelievably excited and nervous and just eager for the next book, because that cliffhanger? COME ON !!! This is definitely a solid start to this series.

[Maraya21 (The Reading Dragon) · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ P30 (33% - Ch.3)

[Sibil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a nice palate cleanser, it is funny and nice and it is a good choice if you just want to take a break for a couple of hours. Sky is an adorable Necromancer, and it is a sweet sunshine meet grumpy story, and yes, the Necromancer is the sunshine in the pair.
But it could have been more. We have interesting characters in there beside Sky and Nolan. I mean, Sky's friends sound amazing, and it would have been amazing to see them in these pages too. Also, the nicer vampires were intriguing. I am not dissatisfied with the reading per se, but it is that it could have been so much more, and it wasn't.
And the ending wasn't good. I mean, it is a cliffhanger of a sort, and I so hate those! So I don't know if I'll continue the series, because I am not so impressed, but for a couple of hours it was good company.

[Tracy Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
A Freebie short to start a spin off series from the Varick family books. It was a great start, funny and twisted a little, Sky was sweet and a flirt, Nolan was okay for a bit then I started to like him, his brother , not so much. Now Nolan is in trouble because of him and the book ended, Gah… I need more ASAP. Thank Goodness the Varicks are willing to help!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this first book in a serialized story. In this book we meet Sky, a necromancer and his human neighbor Nolan. Nolan has just discovered that vampires are real and, after Sky saves him from a potentially deadly encounter, that witches and monsters are real as well. Now Nolan needs Sky to help him try to save his brother.

Sky is a great character. He appeared in one of the stories in the Visiting the Variks collection and that incident is referenced in this story. The ground is laid for what appears to be some interesting future stories. It also seems likely we will be seeing more of the Varik clan which is always a good thing. This book is a bit lighter and has more humor and snark than Drake’s usual but that doesn’t take anything away from the storytelling or the world building.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and I can’t wait until part 2 comes out.

[Sunaina · Rating 2 out of 5]

One-Dimensional Characters. Bland Romance. And a whole lot of internal dialogue.

I started this book with not a lot of expectations, and I’m glad I did so.
Although this book is not terrible, it’s not that good of a read. The main characters seem quite one-dimensional and cardboard-like. The author tries really hard to make the Necromancer like-able and partly succeeded in doing so, but he’s almost too much to bear sometimes.

Also him saying phrases like wanting to “gobble up” the other character weirded me out while also kind of infantilizing him. Maybe it’s just my personal preference.

Also the romance was quite dry and didn’t really have any sort of a build-up. The characters talked to themselves more than they talked to each other to be honest. I found myself yawning in multiple parts of the book and put it down many times out of boredom. Barely anything seems to happen in this book, and the lead character is a NECROMANCER! I don’t know how you can have that character trait and not write something exciting.

I was disappointed as the story had a lot of potential if it had been executed properly.

[Jacqueleen the Reading Queen♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this not knowing it was a serial. Usually I would have waited until all 4 installments were out if I had known. I'm not mad though because this was super cute!!! I mean there are some uh oh moments, but mostly, it's flufftasticly sweet. I'm looking forward to the next disaster!!!

[LauraSt · Rating 4 out of 5]

So we finally get the start of Sky’s story. And I’m in freaking love. I adored Sky, he was funny and sweet, adorable and caring, but also strong as f’ and kickass!!! Nolan just needs Sky, simple a that. LOVED! Cannot wait to the next book!

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not very good with serials so I am so happy that this come in box-set (so I can read them all one after another).

After having fun with my first Jocelynn Drake's in I Destroyed the Elf Prince's Harem, I decided I wanted to have another taste of her works. Most of them are series (or spin-offs) and I don't know if I want to commit to them all now. This one is sort-of spin-offs from her Lords of Discord series but since they are all novellas, I thought it would be perfect fit.

Well, I enjoyed it!! Yes, it ended in cliff-hanger sort of, but I already had the next novella lining up, right? Most important thing was that I immediately drawn to these two characters - goth-guy Nolan who TOTALLY needed Sky's help with his missing brother and problem with vampires. Sky was precious!! Necromancer with sunny dispositions? Who cook well too? Yes, Nolan would be lucky to have Sky on his corner. And Sky was powerful too!!!

Yes, I'm ready for the next titles...

[☾⋆⁺ Nurse After Dark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The paranormal world could be boiled down to a few simple rules: Vampires stick to the vampires. Shifters stick tot he shifters. Witches stick to the witches. Nobody trust the necromancers. Whatever. Losers feared a little death. No big deal.

I started this story on a whim from some recommendations on KU, and I was pleasantly surprised that it exists in this author's Varik universe!

"You're human, making you a very delicious, very easy target."

I really liked Sky and his powers. Frank, Bob and Kevin were great, and the approach to his necromancy felt fun and fresh. It was fun when he laid on the 'helping the hot neighbor' schtick to score himself a date after all was said and done - but you knew he would help Nolan even if his hot neighbor wasn't interested.

Who didn't want to have a tiny taste of danger with their wild night out? The problem was when danger caught you looking and smiled.

Nolan has himself in quite the situation at the cliffhanger end of this story. I really look forward to Disaster #2 to see how Sky helps his hot neighbor face this next challenge!

[Elyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

”Little sandwich-eating underworld creatures were very fucking real.”

It was Frank that first won me over. The minute I realized Sky had some sassy minions working for him I knew I was going to love this story. Not only was there Frank, but also other minions that were just as sassy and adorable. Their first thoughts when coming out of their dark pools of magic on the ground was that they wanted to play with Sky. Oh how they missed him.
I’m a sucker for some lethal creatures being the cutest.

I can’t just say the minions were the best, because that would be a lie. All of the characters are lovable in their own right. Sky the necromancer and his introvert of a human neighbor, Nolan - they were precious as well. I loved their little flirtatious banter. Their opposites being perfect for attraction. They were a great team in trying to find Nolan’s brother and going up against the vampires.

I loved this first part of the serial. It ended on a wild cliffhanger and I can not wait to go and start the second. I have a feeling we are going to see a dark side of Sky 😈

[Acious · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always in love with Jocelynn Drake’s books and this one did not disappoint. I started to read it just because of the author, without realizing it is a Variks spinoff. Then I was ecstatic! It is the story of the necromancer that played a large part in Gideon and Ryder’s story in Visiting the Variks. A fun read and I’m looking forward to more to come. It reminds me a bit of AJ Sherwood’s serials (which are amazing) in case that is helpful.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a fun first adventure!

This is a paranormal romance, the first in a four-part series that must be read in order. Nolan has a problem with vampires that he just LearnEd exists; his neighbor turns out to be a Necromancer who wants to help! What a fun first adventure for this pair but the tale ends in a cliffhanger I’m eager to resolve in the next disaster tale!

[Terri · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 26%. I thought I might get to read this, but the completely out-of-place "squeals and giggles" showed me otherwise.

A character can be a ray of sunshine without being entirely inappropriate for the scene.

[Jacquie Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Serial

A fun new serial with a necromancer and a human. A spin-off of the Variks, though those don't need to be read first.
Bit of a cliffhanger but not long to wait until the next part

[Luz Rivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t realize this was a short story.

It was funy and easy to read.

[Saskia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the premise of the sunny necromancer. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed by the ending. Nothing much happens in the book, everything just kind of bumbles along and the characters are kinda cute. Then a surprise cliff hanger happens that's more dramatic than any other thing that's happened in the whole book? :/

[Jenny Blackburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute 3.5

Didn't realise it was a spin-off from another series, which doesn't need to be read first, but would be an advantage. A few small things kept it from being a 4 star or 4.5, particularly the ending. A lot of the world building required had probably already been done in the other series and leaves this story lacking a little.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ends in the middle of the story

I would have given this a higher rating but it ends in the middle of the story and you have to wait for an unreleased book to find out what happens next.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

kinda cute but pretty short and not much of a storyline

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read : October 12, 2023
Rating : 3 Stars

I liked it well enough, but I'm not sure if I'll read the others, I really didn't like the cliffy.

The cover is nice though.

[Kaylee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was... Well, it was to fill the H spot for my A-Z. I'd noticed it before and thought it had potential. It was okay. Mostly, the humor really just wasn't for me. Sky wasn't for me. It was way too OTT and made no sense in many spots throughout.

Sky was this bubbly necromancer who was shunned for being a necromancer. We don't see too much of that here, we just have to take his word for it. There are a few allusions but not really. It really seems like Sky takes advantage of it too with Nolan.

Well, Nolan all around really since he wasn't aware of the supernatural community beforehand so when he's all like, Nobody trust the necromancers. / Whatever. Losers feared a little death. No big deal. and then continues to push himself...

I didn't like how much he pushed himself on Nolan. Especially as we get further information about how hard he'd been trying. Get the hint. There are soo many examples given.
As Mad and the rest of his friends had stated on numerous occasions, Sky had been drooling over Nolan since the poor man moved into the neighborhood two years ago. But no matter how hard Sky tried, he couldn't figure out how to make friends with him. Or even if he was straight.

Okay, so maybe he could count on one hand the number of times he'd talked to Nolan, but he'd given no sign that he was prone to drunken outbursts or starting fights. - On one hand.

I guess, at least he admits:
Okay, fine. Why he ever tried to filter his words to be palatable for the world was beyond him. "Fine. I'm doing it because you're hot. Even dead exhausted, you're still hot. And even if I can't date you, this gives me the chance to get a closer look at you, to talk to you, right?"

But then more things are said and then he literally "boops" Nolan on the nose. Gah.

A lot of Nolan and Sky's "playful" banter felt forced and/or out of nowhere. Then Nolan was suddenly super jealous. The scene could have been sweet/endearing between Nolan, Sky and Rafe, and was for a minute before the jealousy was brought up. Maybe it was a precursor for events to come in other books, but... I'll not be checking them out (despite the ending).

Also... Pet peeve, but so often writers should not have a writer as a main character in their story. There was a whole shpiel about how "Nolan" felt about self-publishing and scheduling and deadlines and taking care of oneself (or lack thereof) and just... It didn't add anything.

I get that Nolan was new to the supernatural world and portrayed as... stubborn originally. Especially since he was having to take care of his selfish, reckless brother but the way things played out between them, I really didn't appreciate. And not even just the two brothers. It was also the supernatural parts to begin with. Nolan was new to it, new to vampires he doesn't tell Sky about being bitten 'cause he's embarrassed, shamed, afraid...? Afraid makes more sense than anything but you'd think that he would mention it because of that instead. It just felt thin. Everyone also ignored the fact that Nolan was really out of it that night, Sky (even though he truly had nothing to go off of thought that Nolan wouldn't pick fits) thought it was out of place, and there were vampires present. And Nolan was truly able to hide his neck the entire freakin' time...? Okay. Maybe if he'd actually spoken to Sky about shit, ya know, supernatural shit that he knew shit about, they could have done more than "scribbles."

Back to the bros. Nolan jumped so quickly to be all "That's for putting me and Sky in danger, you selfish tool!" and "Not the first time you've put my life in danger, but now you've put Sky in danger, too. I'm just...I'm just done with you." He'd literally just met Sky. Ugh.

Sorry. This turned more into a ranting fest. Had no idea it was going to be quite so much. A lot of this rubbed me the wrong way. I had a suspicion from the title alone (crack normally doesn't play well with me and this title seemed likely for it to be crack) but I've been surprised before.

I have read another by Drake and truly enjoyed it. I think I just need to stick with her more serious stories.

2.5* rounded up. I had to take a break while reading this due to my book club. But I don't feel anything was really lost between that time. Might have even been good to have that break between...