Spells and Bananas (Midnight Matings, #9) by Joyee Flynn

Spells and Bananas (Midnight Matings, #9) Reviews

• 
  Aղցela W.

  Spoiler Ahead Read At Your Own Risk This was a really good book and one of my favorites in this series. At the Great Gathering held by the UPAC. When Kirby Saxon a fun-loving spider monkey shifter is hit on by a woman who isn't taking no for an answer Amery Goddard a witch comes to his rescue they decide to mate now learn about each other later. This was a good book and had some funny scenes in it after they have mating sex Kirby learns that male witches and get pregnant and faints. This was a really good book and very heart breaking as Kirby and Amery get to know each other Amery tells Kirby about his past and his parents who practiced black magic and took humans to sacrifice and how the coven that he was in used and raped him. Amery who is thousands of years old had problems with trusting people and has low self esteem. Amery is CNO at the hospital that he works at although he is a licensed doctor who became a nurse to be closer to the patients. When Amery comes out to his job about being a pregnant male witch he is fired because they accused him of stealing Kirby will do anything to help his mate although he is upset because Amery didn't tell him about his ex-boyfriend and his wife working at the hospital. I loved reading this book it had hot sex scenes with sex toys and humor also. Kirby decided to write about Amery's life and the UPAC decided to help him open up a clinic for paranormal's to get medical treatment. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to reading more books in this series.
• 
  Bubbles Hunty Honest & Direct Opinions

  I don't know what to say but this book was crazy. like all over the place crazy. I laughed at the whole book. It had some funny and disgusting jokes (mostly about monkey shit) but most of my laughing was at the absurdity of the book. Roll my eyes funny
  
  My favorite was how time seemed to work differently for these guys. Like 6 hours after meeting they were mated, in love, and knocked up and moving in together. I was thinking wow they move fast but later in the book when they are celebrating their huge one week anniversary i caught on that one week for these guys is like really five years...
  
  Overall it was an enjoyable read since i was laughing so much...
• 
  Serena Yates

  This book gets a lot of points from me just for being very funny. I mean, a spider monkey shifter and a witch? A pairing that just asks for trouble. Then add the element of male pregnancy - as always a huge surprise to anyone other than the male carrier himself - and you're ready for some real adventure.
  
  What bugged me a little was the slightly overdone sentimentality of both main characters, but that was a personal issue. On the whole, the storyline was well paced, fun and had a few nice twists that kept my interest up. Both characters are very impulsive as well, so that made for some fun situations and interesting tension points.
  
  If you like fun, light reads with characters who get into more trouble than is good for them, you will probably like this book.
• 
  Kelly H. (Maybedog)

  1.5 stars
  
  From the blurb, I had no idea if I'd read this or not. It sounded familiar as I skimmed it but then something didn't quite fit. But I can imagine myself abandoning it at this line:
  

  "Fuck off, cunt,” I snarled, turning only my head to face her. And then she bitch slapped me. I shook it off and narrowed my eyes. “I don’t have a problem hitting women."

  
  More on the misogyny, in spoiler tags since it's kind of a rant--okay, no kinda about it:
  
  I'm so sick of misogyny in M/M romance and it's always by women. It's disgusting and pisses me off. Saying,
  

  “No, but I am a guy after all, and I think there’s some genetic predisposition that just makes us have our heads up our asses sometimes.”

  doesn't make it okay. One is an attack, the other is a self-deprecating joke.
  
  There was one positive things regarding women that was unusual. Although female nannies were mentioned where their personalities were "reflected in their beauty," it was said,
  

  They were two nineteen-year-old vampires who were thrown out of their closeminded coven because they wanted to go to college. They had IQs off the charts and might be the most tender-hearted girls I’d ever met.

  But seriously, tender-hearted? Would this and beauty be the primary adjectives for a male? No, he'd be resilient, strong, focused, dedicated, driven, succeeding, etc. But later the narrative said,
  

  ...They both wanted to be doctors one day in different fields. They even volunteered at the clinic on days when Amery and I took the kids out for a family day or on weekends when we were there to watch them.

  But then the story went on to talk about fashion and shopping in relation to them and how they were adjusting from their long sleeves and floor length skirts but no skirts shorter than mid-thigh. Criminy, there's a happy medium.
  
  And there's more:
  

  "We could have a little girl with curly black hair and caramel eyes! Or a baby boy who would grow up big and strong like Amery."

  Of course the girl will be pretty and the boy strong. Why isn't it important that the girl be strong? Why isn't a desire ever expressed to have a good-looking boy? I recently saw a display with this special little gift package of clothing, bib and shoes for a baby. The boy's had something like, "Hero" in big lettering. The girls' said something along the lines of "Pretty as a posy," or something else equally vapid. Why can't a girl be a heroine? It drives me crazy.
  
  The only females were a bitchy evilwife, a doting mother, a black magic wielding woman in the past, no jobs assigned, the mother able to leave her life for an unspecified period of time to help with the babies. Bitchy wife did work at the hospital, but nothing was said about her occupation. Her husband was a doctor, though. Even the gynecologist was male. I know there are male ob/gyn's but none that worked in either of the large clinics my daughter went to. I'd normally love the gender change but seriously, the author couldn't have made one professional a woman? Oh, and did I mention that bitchy wife was evil because she was allegedly infertile?
  
  There was one other semi-positive thing wasn't amazing, but it was better than bad: the evil wife apologized for her behavior and had good reasons for why she was so upset even though I think it repellent that it anyone would behave that way in the first place. It didn't outweigh the other stuff. All of the women were caregivers or evil and were the recipients of charity. The men were the givers and doers.
  
  
  But I'm reading the series and I always read in order, and I've already skipped the menage book so I'm trying to avoid skipping anymore. At least for once the story is directly addressing the fact that this forced bonding is rape because the people are drugged and unable to give consent, highly illegal, definitely immoral, etc. All the other books have people whining that it wasn't fair, but this addressed the issue head on. Then they weren't afraid to talk back and even give the elders hemorrhoids. All this despite the fact that they were happy with their mating. Kudos for that. But then, instead of reporting them to the human authorities as threatened, the pair decided to blow it off as a "prank" with the hemorrhoids supposedly getting even and later:
  

  All the Elders of UPAC deserve a round of applause, but especially Elder Rice for getting the ball rolling and his constant advice.

  Seriously?? All is forgiven? These men are forced to have sex once every 24 hours with a mate they had 24 hours to choose or they're going to die.
  
  This one was in first person, which I believe is a first for the series, at least not usual. I like first person better. It was cool that the big guy preferred to bottom. The little guy also acknowledged when he was being a little immature at one point and he talked about how he felt right away rather than expecting his mate to just figure it out. But they both got angsty and hurt over the dumbest things like one of them saying something along the lines of how them bonding so quickly was crazy. The other guy assumed the first guy was calling him crazy. Geez.
  
  It's good for pregnant women people to get exercise and work their bodies like normal. Being coddled, sitting down all the time, especially in the beginning, is actually bad, will contribute to water retention and too much weight gain and possibly gestational diabetes and isn't good for the baby at all. Exercise is critical and having the mate say it isn't is asinine. (And I am someone who never exercise, so it's not like I have an obsession or anything.)
  
  The real conflicts were over so fast it was ridiculous and everything worked out perfectly and everyone were heroes except the very evil villains. This line was rather funny when referring to the main villain:
  

  The idiot went right back home after I escaped. Really, the guy needed to read some mysteries or watch some TV. He was the worst criminal ever! He so failed Evil Villain 101.

  It was nice that twice it was mentioned that there were ways that gay couples could get children without being pregnant, which is a refreshing change from how often in these books a man laments not being able to ever have kids because he's gay. Kids usually come from heterosexual relationships or parents who have died. It's so rare for a baby in a gay relationship in M/M to be intentional.
  
  Of course the narrating MC was perfect, and wonderful and came up with brilliant ideas and was a take-charge solve it in an hour sort of guy who donated tons of money and started programs, etc., etc. I need an occasionally fallible hero.
  
  I guess I should have skipped this after all.
• 
  Zee♥

  I’m really enjoying these Midnight Matings stories. This mating of a witch and spider monkey was a fun light hearted read. Amery, a witch who’s thousands of years old was such sweet character but I couldn’t understand how someone so old could still be so naïve. I would have liked to have seen Amery stand up for himself, I mean he’s supposed to be a powerful witch and he let mere humans push him around. I liked Kirby’s forceful personality and how he dealt with Amery’s insecurities. He was also a funny little monkey with a lot of attitude. He and Amery made an adorable couple right from the start and the hot monkey sex was a plus too.
• 
  Christy

  This installment in the Midnight Matings series was a whole lot of fun. Not necessarily the funny HA-HA kind, more the funny you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me way. I mean what woman doesn't like reading about a man being pregnant? That's the greatest funny ever! Kirby and Amery were really good together and it was nice to see Amery finally being treated the way he deserved after all those millennia. An enjoyable read!
• 
  Mona

  My Rating System
  3 stars - Good book. I enjoyed it.
  4 stars – Struck a chord, made me think or question
  5 stars – Something about it haunted or stayed with me long after I finished it. Unforgettable.
  ***********************************
  While the story was interesting for the most part, but the characters were a bit cliche. Except for the part about the pregnant male witch. That was entertaining. :)
• 
  Shannon

  This one was barely a 3 star read for me. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the others I've read in the series. The writing style wasn't nearly as engaging. That said, it didn't suck. Kirby was a cute little spider monkey and his mate Amery was a big ole witch with serious self esteem issues. That part did get a little annoying. We had us some MPreg, which I love, and lots of sex and shifters and trouble and typical stuff for this series.
• 
  Meggie

  Now this story was chaotic and full of comic. I really loved this story. Gosh Kirby was a character.... you simply have to love this monkey, I sure did. He was amazing. Amery was sweet, warm giant full of love. And both made an excellent mated pair.
• 
  Caroline Brand

  Light hearted fun!
• 
  Ada

  ***zaterdag 27 augustus 2022***
  I know I've read this series before because once upon a time I was on binge and read almost everything by these authors. Like everything.
  
  But I also didn't logged it back then and that is bugging me now so I'm adding them based on the one review I did wrote:
  Fur And Flightless by Joyee Flynn
• 
  Jeniver

  This is a very sweet story. This couple has a equal relationship. No one is dominant and submissive eventhough Amery is bigger than Kirby, he was sweet and like to be bottomed or vice versa. On the other hand Kirby always suppport and be there for his man.
• 
  G.M Cantave

  2.5 stars
• 
  Phaney

  2012 Review:
  ** Some spoilers. **
  
  I am not sure if tackling this (after my preceding bad experience) makes me brave or stupid. Maybe just lucky. Yeah, I’ll run with that. Cause this one I actually had some fun with. Go figure.
  
  One interesting aspect of this particular book lay in the fact that the huge, strong guy wanted the small guy to top and mildly dominate him. Yes, seen that before (remember the Christmas elves by the same author?), but something like that still feels like a nice shake-up after all the stories that take the reverse as a given. The fact that Amery also could and wanted to get pregnant? Well… I’ll take it in stride, I guess. They just messed up with the description of Amery’s extreme lack of self-esteem, as well as with the narrator’s responses to it at first. Pity, since it’s a topic I like when done right.
  
  Even so, the book still remains better than the one I read earlier today. Much less whiny, thank god. Kirby, the narrator, sometimes was a little too touchy and self-absorbed in his immediate reactions but he was of a practical and fair bend and that helped the book hugely. Also helped that this was written before the author started doing multiple first person.
  
  Of course, historically this thing is about as stupid as they usually get. :P
  
  Same old, same old, too, in the sense of, where did Amery get his condoms from during most of those several millennia of age he claims? And why the fuck condoms at all if he can cast a simple spell to prevent pregnancy? (Moreover, I have to wonder if he knew that spell already when he was being raped for two years some two-thousand years ago. Jeez.)
  
  Also, general realism? Continuity? Hell no. And all of that’s forgivable because, again, hardly any whiny! XD
  
  My priorities? Got ’em straight.
• 
  Sally

  Second time I'm readind this and I noticed I didn't write a review the first time around..
  
  I really enjoyed this book.
  
  “Do you bite me?”
  “No,” I grunted, not slowing down our rhythm. “I’ll shift and throw feces on you.”
  “What!” he gasped as he tried to get out from underneath me.
  
  This part killed me, I laughed so hard. 😂😂
  
  "So I did what any monkey does when threatened…I bared my teeth and threw poop at her. She screamed as if I’d stabbed her instead of launching shit at her face. Okay, fine, it wasn’t really poop. It was mud. But she didn’t know that. All she was seeing was me reaching
  behind my back and launching brown stuff at her." 😂😂😂
  
  I loved that I could relate to the characters. Amery was this tall and muscled guy that everyone expected to act a certain but he was so wonderfully real, vulnerable, insecure and o loved watching how he climbed out of the she'll his tough life had forced him into. I loved that regardless of how sensitive he could be, he was also fierce and protective when the need arose. I admire him..
  Kirby is a monkey shifter and though he's a rather small shifter, he's very fierce and loyal to Amery. I just love that he doesn't let his size hold him back after all dynamite comes in small packages..
  
  And can I say, I just looooove Isabel.. 😍😍😍
  Over all it was a sweet and short story and I loved it.
  
  
  I have two (2) quotes in this book that I just loved, the first is “Fuck your family. I mated you, and you are your own person. Nothing they did changes who you are or reflects on the person you are.” and the second being "The way people thought of vampires cracked me up. Just because they drank blood didn’t mean they’d attack anything with blood. I mean, humans ate cows, but did they take a bite out of them any time they saw one? Stupid stereotypes."
  They just make so much sense..
• 
  CoffeeTimeRomance andMore

  Spells and Bananas is a wonderful story that turned the dynamics of what I had come to expect from a relationship between what could have been a strong, big, muscular alpha male and a cute twink right on its head! However, this was in a good way and really made me love this story. It becomes clear right away that though Amery is big and strong, he is really the more soft hearted of the two. Kirby who shifts into a little spider monkey may not have physical strength on his side, but god help anyone who messes with his mate! The way that Kirby deals with Amery’s emotional issues and his secrets just made this reviewer’s heart swell. The lovemaking scenes are delicious and worth reading over and over again! All in all this is one hot tamale of a story and I highly recommend it!
  
  Regina
  Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More
  
  
  Official Review
  @ Coffee Time Romance & More
• 
  Raevyn

  3.5 stars
  
  This is the story of Kirby and Amery. Kirby is a spider monkey shifter and Amery is a witch. As with all of the Midnight Mating books, they are forced into their mating, but from the beginning, they are not upset about it.
  
  There are some hilarious scenes where Kirby is in spider monkey form and I have to say I laughed pretty hard at antics. This is also an M-Preg story. Amery, being a witch, is able to get pregnant.
  
  I can't say that this is my favorite, but I really liked the communication between the MCs and the angst was not as over the top as some of the other stories. Amery was the more 'broken' of the two but they seemed to work together well.
  
  Each book in this series can be read as a stand-alone because there are different couples in each one.
• 
  CB

  Such a fun series! There are currently 20 books in the series, each book is written by either Joyee Flynn, Gabrielle Evans or Stormy Glenn. They could keep writing more as long as they continue creating interesting characters who shift into all kinds of wonderful and different animals/mythical beings and coming up with unique stories full of romance, crazy drama, angst and let's not forget the very hot sex!
  
  You don't have to read them in order, very rarely are other characters mentioned, but each story is very different and engaging and together they make for a fun few weeks of entertainment.
  
  There is a spin-off series by Joyee Flynn with 8 books out so far called "Unmated by Midnight." I have not read those yet but they are on my to-be-read list next.
• 
  Candice

  Kirby and Amery. First off, I would have liked to have seen Amery use his magic more. What's the point of being a witch if you don't use your powers? I was bummed.
  
  Then I was SUPER bummed when Amery turned into a puddle of goo. I mean, he was SO emotional. COME ON get a grip on yourself.
  
  Then there's the fact that Kirby is a spider monkey, how is that threatening? He says he defended his mate, but really he threw something at 'em. What would happen if the baddie had a gun or knife? Not seeing the monkey being real helpful there. But, maybe I am thinking that even though Kirby was so much smaller than Amery he was the stronger one, since he wasn't in tears and needing constant reassurance throughout this story. It got tiring.
  
  
• 
  T Silver

  My first 5 stars in this series. This book actually felt complete. I liked the ending. I don't mean the last chapter but the last few paragraphs. It is not often that I read a book with a good ending. They usually get really goofy and cliché (which I HATE). This one was actually fun, even if it came up following a really obvious cliché moment...
  I really liked this book. It was not always sweet, it was not always easy, but I think that was why I liked it so much. When I read that Kirby was a monkey shifter, I was not hoping to get much out of this book. And not just any monkey, a SPIDER monkey at that (those monsters - spiders, not monkeys). And then I Googled "spider monkey" and they are just SO cute!!!!
  Any ways, great book.
• 
  Rachel

  This is a funny light hearted book with interesting characters. A witch and a spider monkey is not a match that you read about every day, oh and the male witch can get pregnant? Wow. Although one thing did bug me, the spider monkey gets kidnaped the day the witch goes into labour and yet he just shakes it of like nothing happened wtf?
  
  I feel that the story line is paced well and the characters are funny and well thought out. This book was fun to read and and kept me interested which a lot of other books by this author fail to do.
  
  I recommend this book to anyone that likes a light read, with funny characters than get into more misunderstandings them is healthy for a new relationship.
• 
  Tamela

  Another fun book for this series. If I want a laugh and a heart warming story I know I can open one of these Midnight Matings books and find just what I'm looking for. I loved Kirby, who would have expected such a cute little monkey to be such a badass :). Sure helped when he needed to escape from the bad guy. I also enjoy seeing how the whole para-community is coming together now after the mating meeting :)
  
  Recommended
  ===============================
  1st read - Sep 10, 2011
  2nd read - Jun 21, 2012
  3rd read - Oct 24, 2016
• 
  Barb ~rede-2-read~

  This is a story of the forced mating of Kirby, a spider monkey shifter, and Amery, a witch. Neither is upset about the forced mating, in fact they bond pretty quickly and fall in love within a few weeks. I liked the humor and some of the wit displayed by the author, as well as the way the characters committed to having open communication to head off problems. The mpreg was a bit unbelievable but then again so was some of the plot surrounding Amery's former lover Jake. The monkey antics were cute and there was lots of "monkey sex". Overall, good read for a lazy afternoon.
• 
  Heather

  I have to start this off by saying how much ridiculous fun this series is turning out to be.
  I'm loving all the odd shifter mating pairs.
  
  I liked this one I just did love it. I wanted the fun sex-escapades.
  This mine was just a bit heavy on the feelings. So emotional, lots of I'm sorry.
  
  Plus, my witch only did two muttered spells the first was pretty funny and then in the last pages of the book and it was birth control. I wanted to see more magic!
  He's centuries old and powerful, but his emotional highs and lows were of a teenager!
• 
  Lynn

  I'd like to start with that I'm really enjoying reading the
  Midnight Matings Series, the books are a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn't really enjoy this one.
  
  There was a lot of telling rather than showing and it was a bit too sickly sweet for me. So far the other books I've read have had a fair bit of humour in them mainly because each MC has had a strong identity to the shifter side of them which the author has had fun with. It felt lacking in this one.
• 
  Tiferet

  The Midnight Matings series is a delightfully silly thing, and Joyee Flynn is definitely my favourite of the co-authors. The increasingly ridiculous types of shifters and other supernatural creatures might make you shake your head but hating the whole concept seems plain mean when the books are so funny, sexy and engaging, while providing all the comforting tropes we like. Also, this one has particularly likable characters and develops the world nicely, tying it with other books and characters from this ‘verse.
• 
  Amanda

  I've been gobbling these up, some are great, some are ok and then there is this one. I disliked book #3 and this might bump that book out of that spot. I thought there was inconsistency in the characters, I didn't even like the characters and although it was mpreg and I appreciate the last chapter, I really wanted more about the actual pregnancy.