This collection contains two books; The Artist's Touch and Tested in Fire. I'll split the two so it's not confusing.

The Artist's Touch: Stephen Cobbe is a painter riddled with debts and homeless after the death of his lover. But when a new patron offers him room and board in exchange for his paintings, Stephen jumps at the change. The catch is he blacks out while he paints and awakens to completely dry canvases and no memory of creating them. As these paintings gain attention, Luke Morganstern is sent to investigate where they are coming from as the art is exactly like a painter who died many years ago. But when he sees the possible forger is his ex-boyfriend, Stephen, he can't believe Stephen's claims until they become too real to deny.

While this is a cute paranormal second chance romance, Stephen and Luke's romance comes off as too rushed to really get invested in since they go from some pretty deep mistrust to "ok, we're in love now" too quickly to form a real connection with them. However, their personalities are clearly written and real enough to empathize with them as they uncover some pretty serious ghost activity. The supernatural elements don't feel tacked on as a frame to bring our main characters together and held it all together to make the story as a whole pretty cool. There are some sexy scenes but they don't makeup very much of the book. 3.7 out of 5.

Tested in Fire: Having rekindled their relationship; Stephen and Luke are now rising stars in the art world. But Stephen's debts still haunt him and he is determined to pay them off without Luke's help. He wants to be independent and debt free so Luke will never see him as a burden. But after one argument, Luke seems to be acting very strange and the elderly stroke victim in the same building as Stephen is suddenly convinced he desperately needs Stephen's help.

Here's where the paranormal elements really start to take center stage. We have an awesome badass former cop turned psychic named Peg and villains who are body snatchers. The stakes from the first book are substantially higher and more detailed, even giving our characters some actual abilities. I would love to see the series continue and see how they handle various supernatural threats while also trying to live a somewhat normal life (particularly since Luke will absolutely have some major real-life consequences because of events in the book that I won't spoil). 4 out of 5.

Overall, I'm glad I read these back to back as they compliment each other perfectly.  The second, in my opinion, tops the first book in general so I'll average the two as a 3.9 out of 5. If you like paranormal romance, these are pretty good!

I’ve read and enjoyed several of E. J. Russel’s romances, but these two novellas weren’t quite as good as some of her longer works.

The problem isn’t with the characters or the basic concept of the stories. Each novella revolves around the same two characters: Stefan, a painter, and Luke, an investigator specializing in art. The two men were involved in the past, but their relationship ended badly. The first novella, The Artist’s Touch, is a story of possession; both Stefan and Luke are possessed by a ghost, which complicates their already painful history. In the second, Tested in Fire, the two men are back together, but their romance is interrupted by an even stranger kind of possession, when Luke’s body is taken over by another through the use of magic. (You’ll have to read the book to find out how and why.)

The only problem I had with the two novellas is that the author sets up these really interesting scenarios and then resolves them way too quickly. In each case, the story builds to a crisis, and then the problem is solved relatively easily. It was a bit of a letdown each time.

Maybe the author’s talents lend themselves more to longer books and less to the shorter form of the novella, because I haven’t had the same issue when reading her novels.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

The Artist's Touch
Stefan lost everything when his partner died, including the very thing that defined himself. Without his artistic inspiration, he was lost. The very last person he expected to see when he was at his lowest, was the man he walked away from.

Luke doesn't want to believe that Stefan is the forger he's after, but the evidence against him is so strong, it's hard to deny. The closer he gets to Stefan again though, the more he realizes that there's something else going on. Something that's not going to be easy to explain. Something that's going to be even harder to escape from.

Even though I liked the story and loved the mysterious ghost connection, I have to agree with other readers who expressed a need for more... The Artist's Touch was less than 150 pages, which was way too short to cover all the threads weaved through this story. I really would have liked to have gotten to know both Stefan and Luke a little better. *sigh*

Tested in Fire
I think I might have enjoyed Tested in Fire more than The Artist's Touch because I already knew Luke and Stefan. Their back story wasn't quite as important. They were both in a better place than they were in the previous book, plus the unique twists in Tested in Fire kept the pages turning.

I don't want to give a lot away, so I'm going to keep this review vague and brief. I will say that as much as I love a good ghost story, like the one in The Artist's Touch, the unique "magic" in Tested in Fire was what made this story my favorite between the two. It also reinforced the bond between Stefan and Luke that the first book was kind of lacking.

This is my first read by EJ Russell and it was worth the read. I enjoyed The Artist's Touch and Tested in Fire but did feel more connected with the second story. Luke and Stefan are well suited characters and I felt their connection grow over the two books. I enjoyed the interaction and the story concept and look forward to reading more by this author.

m/m with little to no sex
Two stories in one volume. Stefan Cobbe is a painter and Luke Morganstern is an art investigator.
The first story has Luke investigating his ex, Stefan, for forgery. But is it forgery if the original artist is inhabiting his body when the painting was created? A sweet second chance at love and an inspired paranormal mystery.
The second story has the guys trying to make a fresh start and this time Luke is the one who is caught up in a paranormal mess. It is going to take Stefans love to save him. I really got a kick out of this one. It isn’t often we get a look at ourselves the way Luke did.
I really enjoyed these two stories.