Shifters

Alpha’s Blood by Renee Rose and Lee Savino

Posted on by DragonSusie

Fun yet predictable read

I haven’t read any other books in the Bad Boy Alphas series, Midnight Doms neither, yet it’s not necessary – this book certainly works as a standalone and, as far as I’m aware, all the other books in the two intertwined series do, too.

We start off with a slave auction, where wolf shifters are set to be auctioned off to a vampire master. They’re known as “sweetbloods”, generally for the fact that adrenaline makes their blood taste sweeter, and with shifters, it’s apparently more potent. These slaves are either forced, or are sold off by their families. They receive training, to make sure that they can please their new masters, but this one female wolf is neither a slave, nor truly willing.

Selene has been trained in warfare since the massacre of her family, and trained in submission since she turned twenty-one, by a vampire who apparently wants to help her get back at the vampire who conducted the slaughter: the Vampire King. Her goal – to be bought by the King, so she may have a chance to end his life in turn. Although things don’t quite go as planned, and her attraction to this vampire means that she’s going to have a hard time fulfilling her half of the bargain.

So then, enter Lucius, the infamous Vampire King. He knows something is up when he’s not only enticed towards the auction, which he isn’t particularly a fan of, but is shown a werewolf that is just to his tastes. She reminds him of someone, so of course he presumes it’s a trap. Yet how can he possibly resist? And how can he tame this defiant she wolf, so unafraid of him?

There’s plenty of fun back and forth. Indeed, the training sessions are as steamy as they are fun. Selene is so stubborn, yet can’t resist the lure, each new scene bringing something unexpected to her, despite her previous training.

Yet, somehow, once they appear to “fall in love”, things start to fizzle out, as they both start to settle and become “domesticated”. There’s a twist, which can be seen coming a mile off, and the ending is pretty unsurprising. Once you get into the final third, apart from a couple of little pieces, it becomes quite predictable.

Although, despite the ending, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read. Maybe I will pick my way through the rest of the two series…

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Secrets and Sorcery by Lori Whyte

Posted on by DragonSusie

When everything you believe in is wrong

Avery, a cat shifter, has grown up believing that her magic is rare and that she should hide it at any cost. When her brother is recruited by the so-called Dark Guards because of his strong gifted and inherited magic, Avery is forced out into the open, something which she’s always been terrified of. Can she keep her secrets, and her sanity?

Mike is initially drawn to Avery wanting to uncover what she’s hiding. But he doesn’t expect to be drawn to her in other ways, too. When Avery’s brother goes missing in a surprise attack, it takes some time for Avery to trust Mike, but before long, they’re not only sharing a mission, they’re sharing a bed.

The connection between Mike and Avery is sizzling! This story has a “Fated Mates” edge to it, which can be seen as the dynamic between the pair increases. Not that Avery really wants to believe, let alone have anything to do with that. She’s grown up as one of “Castor’s Kind”, aka “human”, and was always taught that she should never mingle with the rest of WaW (Witch and Warlock) society, as she would be caught and tortured.

But the true secrets come out, turning Avery’s world upside down. Because, as it turns out, she’s not the only shifter around…

What I also found great about this book was the glossary at the back. I bookmarked it, and referenced it several times. Even though the terms are explained as the story goes along, having a list of them all in one place definitely helps if you forget a little! The entire story is based in the modern world with elements of Greek mythology thrown in. Everyone in the WaW world is gifted a magic by one of the Greek gods, and inherits a second, weaker, magic from one of their parents. Quite an interesting concept!

Although I must admit the ending disappointed me. It was weaker than the rest of the story. I understood that it was a lead-in to the next book, but I wasn’t so enamoured on it. However, it will be interesting following the stories of the other characters, definitely, and this book was more than enough to want me to read further.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Feline The Heat by Lacey Carter Andersen, L.A. Boruff, and Laura Greenwood

Posted on by DragonSusie

Too much fun!

Ooooh, now this one happened to hit me in just the right way. I mean, naked firemen? Who don’t notice you ogling because you’ve shapeshifted into a cat? Ha! And best of all, because your changing into a cat is part of a curse, they don’t even notice that you’re a shifter!

This was extremely fun, funny, with definite laugh-out-loud moments, but also with a bit of seriousness. And of course, Callie wanting to find out the source of her curse and if someone can fix it is most definitely going to get her into trouble, whether she’s in cat or human form. Let alone the firemen who have taken a very definite liking to her, in both forms!

With an interesting little mini cliffhanger, this is definitely going to be a series to follow.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Wolf by Chris Fenwick

Posted on by DragonSusie

Needs time to grow on you

In the beginning, I was bored. The constant one-sided POV, with no intermittent dialogue, just dragged. What made it worse was that there were tense inconsistencies: moments of internal monologue in italics written in past tense, or a mixture of the two; moments when the tenses were confused amongst the rest of the story. As the story is all told from Cassidhe’s POV, you have to get used to her voice, and it didn’t warm to me at all in the beginning. Even when the first dramatic event happened, it was near impossible to empathise with her.

Things appear to change when she meets the wolves. The story starts to gain more depth, Cassidhe herself appears more interesting, as well as others that she meets. Although, even then, it takes time for the characters to appear more than one dimensional. The best part of the whole story, for me, was the final dramatic event where, even though Cassidhe was completely on her own, she finally had more character than she had had for the majority of the rest of the book. It’s for this reason alone that my rating finally reached four stars, rather than the two to three it was struggling with at the beginning.

An interesting upcoming point is how the pack is going to deal with the sexuality of the heir, when a key part of pack dynamics is based on the ability to produce children and secure the pack’s future.

Also, a side note is that the cover doesn’t really reflect the main characters, with their described colouring being different from what is shown. A minor niggle, if any, but I do like it when a cover helps to assist me in how to imagine the characters.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Death’s Choice by Laura Greenwood

Posted on by DragonSusie

Another great Paranormal Council standalone.

This is another standalone set within the greater Paranormal Council universe. It’s quite an interesting universe, as the magic within it works in a specific way, whether they be necromancers, witches, or shifters. Living within the human realm comes with its many dangers, but the characters here manage to adapt and find their place within it.

Kali is a necromancer whose job is to kill whoever her guild assigns her to. Unlike some of her peers, she doesn’t actually relish in the killing part at all. So when she receives an assignment to protect instead of kill, she is all for it, especially when it brings certain men into her sphere who turn out to be far more than they seem. Kali adapts well to the new situation, loving the fact that she doesn’t have to kill. Well, not on order, anyway – only to protect. She makes some good friends, and even stronger enemies, in her new life.

The characters have interesting dimensions to themselves, and some are more accepting of the unchangeable situation than others. Most notably, jealousy, until it becomes obvious that the emotion is completely pointless. The dynamic once she has found all three of her mates becomes really interesting, although one of them should have been expected, really.

I was actually slightly disappointed that the “clause” wasn’t used to protect Kali, like expected, instead of the more extreme setting, but all works out well in the end.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Unicorn Truth by Laura Greenwood and L.A. Boruff

Posted on by DragonSusie

A too-soft ending

This final book in the Valentine Pride trilogy was a little bit of a let-down, especially after the “wow” of the second book in the series. I’m not quite sure what it was, but it felt like it was not as “solid” as the second book.

Yes, there was big drama in the book, that needed to be resolved – who was truly behind the Pride murders and the murder of Leola’s parents? I was expecting it to be more dramatic, but it felt a bit too rushed and somewhat disconnected.

I’ve enjoyed the series as a whole. Seeing Leola as a mother and a mate was great. The sex scenes weren’t as good as in the previous two books, though, but the interaction between the main characters was still good enough, as well as the introduction of April from the other short story in this series. Yet overall it was definitely lacking somewhere. Maybe I’ve read too many of these books of late, but whatever the reason, it was still a somewhat disappointing end to the series.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

*I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Reluctant Dragon Mate by Laura Greenwood

Posted on by DragonSusie

Stubborn Dragons!

Yep, you heard that right – this book contains one very stubborn dragon, who is so caught up in his own world and what he believes a so-called prophecy might actually mean for him, that he refuses to see what’s right under his nose.

His “distraction” he found by accident on a Paranormal dating app, a distraction in the form of a witch called Dakota. She works out quite quickly that there is more to this dragon than meets the eye, but this damned stubborn dragon just refuses to play ball.

A quite fun back and forth ensues, before both finally accept what their fate actually means.

My only disappointment is that the book description doesn’t completely match the content – we are led to believe that it’s Achilles business that’s the reason he’s holding back, but we barely hear anything about that at all! Anyway, despite this little niggle, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

The Platypus and Her Wolves by Laura Greenwood and L.A. Boruff

Posted on by DragonSusie

A platypus shifter?! Rarer than unicorns!!

This was a nice, fun, quick-burn short read, based in the Valentine Pride universe.

The shifters on the mountain have been looking for lone shifters living amongst the human population, monitoring for strange web searches, to try and bring them back to the pride and their families, where they belong. One of these shifters is April. Her adoptive parents are unaware of her shifter capabilities, so she’s been trying hard to find others like her. When a pack of three male wolf shifters suddenly appear on her doorstep ready to give her all the answers she’s been looking for, plus turning out to be her fated mates, suddenly she’s not so sure if she’s ready to give up the human world that she’s lived in for so long.

This is quite an interesting story, with a platypus shifter! Well, I guess the paranormal universes allow for any type of shifter you may be able to dream of, but this is the first platypus that I’ve come across. Unusual animals, once believed by Victorian scientists to be a “fake”, like many other samples that had returned their way, this animal is unusual in more ways than one. And what I do love is that this story played upon that.

Quite a nice addition to the universe.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Fifth Soul by Laura Greenwood and Arizona Tape

Posted on by DragonSusie

Gaming Dragons…? Totally awesome!!

Fifth Soul

I’d actually read a preview of this after reading  Torn Soul, another book set in the Twin Souls Universe. So it was a bit awkward reading again through drunk Lola’s antics, although it was nice to have some context to it finally.

Lola is running away from everything to do with Fire Dragon tradition. Fated Mates, Mating Ceremonies, she wants none of it. But what she does want is to support her friend, a misfit who’s been outcast by the Fire Dragon community, and gaming. She loves gaming! Unfortunately for her, gaming appears to bring along the very things she’s been avoiding most of her life…

I loved the interaction between the characters, and all the gaming elements in it (I was an “almost” gamer at one point, but never quite got into it seriously). Lola cares about her mates once she finds them, all of them, and truly does try her best to please them all. In the end, everything works out for them. But it appears to have gained them a few frowns from the Fire Dragon community… I’m looking forward to the next book and finding out what happens!

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

Amazon

Goodreads

Unicorn Luck by Laura Greenwood and L.A. Boruff

Posted on by DragonSusie

Moving up a notch!

This is a great second book to the series. Although, it was a bit confusing at first, as there was a ten-year jump at the end of the first book, which meant that this book goes “back in time” to straight before the jumping epilogue (I am aware that this has now been corrected and that there is a new epilogue).

But, in this book, we get far more dynamic, far more character development, most notably from Leola. She is forced to confront an element of her past that she was too young to remember. The decisions she makes based around this show how much she has grown in just the few weeks that she’s been around the shifters.

We are introduced to a few new characters, who just add to the fun. And, of course, the relationship between Leola and her three lions is just growing!

Lots of fun, love, and sex in this book. A great continuation to the story.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

Amazon

Goodreads