BLURB: One surly bear and one bunny boy…what could possibly go wrong?
Jagger Osterman is having a bad day. In fact, he’s not the slightest bit impressed with 2015 at all. His job is on the line, and it’s not like he loves being a marketing wunderkind, but he has to do something to pay the bills. If he had his way, he’d just vanish into the mountains and live out his life as the black bear he yearns to shift into. Unfortunately, Jagger doesn’t have the time to let his beast run. He has responsibilities that he can’t walk away from.
Kevin Kelly could tell Jagger a thing or two about bad days, bad years, and just out and out bad luck. He made the mistake of smarting off to a curandera years ago and hasn’t been able to shake the curse she put on him yet. There’s not an area of his life that hasn’t been screwed up in one way or another. As a pronghorn shifter, he’d be okay on his own in the wild. Sure, there’d be predators, but Kevin had come to realize the worst predators were the human kind.
But he can’t shift. He’s been solidly bound to human form since being cursed.
Two men, both trapped in their own ways. They’re about to find out that freedom comes in many forms.
REVIEW: This is book # 1 in Bradford’s City Shifter series and I must say that it’s off to a great—and hilarious—start. Here, we have Jagger, an overworked and stresses out bear shifter. He has so much on his plate, you’ll wonder how is it the poor shifter doesn’t have an ulcer with all of the stress.
An office birthday celebration comes in the form of a pronghorn shifter/dance-o-gram named Kevin. There is an instant sexual chemistry between the two. This is when things take a turn for the hilarious. It would appear that poor Kevin is under a curse thanks to him pissing off a witch years before.
The storyline strikes the perfect balance of heat, romance and comedy. The characters are absolutely lovable. Kevin has a great disposition despite the fact of him being under a curse and his constant stream of bad luck and series of unfortunate events and I absolutely fell in LOVE with Jagger’s family. His sister Syn and their crazy old uncle’s dialogues kept me in a constant state of mirth throughout the entire story. You can see the overwhelming love Jagger and his family have for each other.
Jagger and Kevin are perfectly paired. Sure, Kevin’s under a curse and his life sucks because of it but he’s tough, full of life and funny. His when-life-throws-you-lemons-make-lemonade attitude is exactly what Jagger needed.
I appreciated the entire package; the editing and cover art is lovely and the storyline, characters and dialogue made this a truly enjoyable read. This series is off to a promising start.
BLURB: DeMatteo Santiago is the Alpha of one of the largest prides in North America. He is a young, successful lion shifter, surrounded by a large family and his devoted lover. By anyone’s account he has more than any one man can ask for, but his lion cares of nothing except finding their mate.
An unexpected business trip pits DeMatteo and his long awaited mate on opposite sides of the courtroom. But when challenged by ex-lovers, nosey siblings, and crazy hunters, DeMatteo realizes that finding his mate was the easy part. The real question is whether they will live long enough to be together.
This release is an M/M paranormal shifter romance. This series will contain, graphic violence, graphic language, and Mpreg. What it will not be is an instant mate fairytale, as forces set out to destroy everything and everyone.
REVIEW: Alright, now we’re finally getting into the story of Matt’s life after his parent’s deaths. Now, as I’ve stated before, I love shifter stories in general, lion shifter in particular because I’m one of those crazy cat ladies that love all things feline. I will also admit that I like Mpreg stories; they fascinate me. So, put both of those elements together and of course I’m in.
Matt is a alpha lion of a large pride. I like the fact that he’s not just a lion shifter. He’s a highly successful and sought after attorney in the human world so I like how the author wrote him to be able to balance interacting in and with the human world as well as the paranormal world.
The human world is where he finds his true mate, Sean. Sean’s the opposing attorney in a very messy human divorce. Matt is ecstatic that he find his mate but there’s just a few glitches in the program. One, Sean’s human so there’s the how-in-the-hell-am-I-going-to-explain-this aspect to this mating. Two, they’re both with other people—Sean has a girlfriend, Matt a boyfriend so there’s the how-in-the-hell-am-I-going-to-make-a-clean-break aspect of those situations. Sean’s breakup was painless compared to Matt’s. I felt so very bad for Hugh! It was to the point that I didn’t care for the Matt’s character at all. Even though Matt made it clear that whatever they had was just sex, I still felt that he could’ve handled it with a lot more grace than he did. The way that he did it was a bit foul. It was like he told Hugh and then reminded him that he was just something to play with until the real thing comes along. It was sad. I understood that he made it clear in the beginning what type of relationship it was to be but fifteen years…I felt he could’ve at least given the poor guy a week or two before just tossing him out of the house. And Matt’s sisters didn’t make the situation any better. I actually loathed them for they way they treated Hugh. I felt like they were all rubbing salt in a cut Matt inflicted. It’s like Hugh has been mistreated all his life and were aware of that but didn’t care. They acted like insensitive bitches. And I didn’t care what happened to or with them for the rest of the story.
There’s threats from all sides, human hunters and other paranormals. Add in the mess from the breakup with Hugh and it’s not an easy walk for Matt and Sean. And you know what? They didn’t deserve one. I felt that they deserved every bit of drama and chaos that came their way; they deserved the karma over how their exes were treated.
I really enjoyed reading this book. You know the author did a great job when the reader has such visceral reactions to the characters and you’re absorbed in the storyline.
The only thing about the book that I didn’t quite care for was the tenses. I think it was told in a–I don’t know-narrative voice? I’m not sure if that’s what it’s called. It was like someone was telling you the story as opposed to you reading it as it’s happening…I can’t explain it properly but it drove me nuts. I tried to roll with it but after the first chapter I ended up substituting the tenses and the changing the wording in my head and that made it easier for it to click. It weird, I know but it’s a quirk of mine.
I usually hate cliffhangers but if the story’s really good, as this one was, I don’t mind it so much. Especially this time because I had the next book on hand so I was able to quickly get to it. In all, I think it worked out rather nicely.
BLURB: Eighty six thousand, four hundred seconds. One thousand, four hundred and forty minutes. Twenty four hours. One day. In his twenty five years of life DeMatteo Santiago had often taken for granted how much could change in a single Day. When DeMatteo crawled into bed at 10:30 pm on May 7th, 1980 there was no way of knowing how the next twenty four hours would forever alter his life. As a young Alpha lion shifter DeMatteo has left his pride, in search of his mate, and a pride of his own. But the fates have been conspiring for centuries to lead him to this precise moment in time. May 8 1980, 10:30 pm, a moment in time that will forever change the life of Matthew (DeMatteo) Santiago. Facing the challenges of being the new Alpha of the largest pride in the United States, DeMatteo must find a way to lead in the face of his own personal tragedy.
REVIEW: This is the prequel to the first book in the Doubt series which is pretty much a map of all the characters in the upcoming books and their lives. This novella reveals how Matt becomes the alpha of the pride after the death of his parents, his relationship with Hugh and such.
You definitely should read this novella prior to starting the first book because it actually gives the background stories to many of the characters. I made the mistake of reading the first book before reading the prequel and I must say that I was a little bit confused as to what was going on and who everyone was in relation to Matt. I stopped in the middle of the first book and went back to the prequel.
I liked how she mapped out each character’s life and gave us a feel of each of the characters. The only issue I had with the story was Hugh’s backstory. You read he’s experienced some abuses from his old pride but it’s mentioned in the vaguest of terms for most part of the story. It’s finally revealed but by this time, I had pretty much giving up on ever finding out. Now reading about his past makes me that much more sympathetic towards what his character goes through in the first book.
You’re not going to really connect with the characters because this prequel is simply a map into the character’s lives and personalities. You will get the full story in the upcoming books. In all, I think she did a good job. This book piqued my interest because I am a fan of shifter stories in general, feline shifters in particular. Because I am obsessively in love with all things cats, I feel that there’s not nearly enough books featuring feline shifters.
This is a nice novella acts as the appetizer before the main courses.
RELEASEDATE: August 6, 2016 (first published November 27, 2010)
BLURB: Josh the vampire hunter falls in lust with one of the enemy; Richard has secrets and might not be sane–oh, sure, this will work.
Josh hunts vampires with relentless, cold precision until the night he confronts a gorgeous hunk of vamp in the woods outside Ithaca. Richard destroys all of his prejudices about vampires in the first few moments of conversation and the sexual sparks between them ignite almost as quickly. Richard offers the stability Josh never had. Josh offers the healing Richard needs so desperately.
But it’s nearly impossible just to walk away from a life of violence. An attack one evening leaves a friend in the hospital, Richard with a bullet through his chest, muttering about strange creatures, and Josh fighting to piece together what really happened. Are Richard’s nightmare attackers real, or is Josh’s favorite vamp losing his mind? Is there a reasonable explanation or has the hunter now become prey?
This title has been previously published.
.
REVIEW: This story was an absolute joy for me to read. Josh and Richard may just be my new book boyfriends. More so Richard than Josh. I just adore Richard to bits! He was an interesting mix of fierce warrior, sweet, gentle, protective, kind hearted, heartbroken vampire. He’s experienced love and loss many, many times. He’s still in mourning and feel guilty over the murder of his last human lover, whose life was taken by vampire hunters.
Josh is a vampire hunter whose led a hard life. A life filled with violence, abandonment, anger, and pain. He spots Richard one night and just makes up his mind to kill him. But the funny things happened on the way to killing the vamp.
Josh found that he couldn’t do it. One look at the beautiful vampire was all it took and the two men makes a connection. And it’s more than sexual.
I loved, LOVED this story. Josh was vulgar, rude, obnoxious, violent and a smart ass but that I felt was an armor he wore to block the pain of losing his twin sister years prior. Richard also was dealing with the loss of a loved one and these two finding each other at the time they did was perfect.
Martinez did a wonderful job bringing these characters to life. The author had an entire cast of background characters brought in and was able to blend their dialogues and storyline without losing the focus on the MCs. This was definitely not a run of the mill vampire story, believe me.
Every little thing about this book was wonderful. The plot, which has been done before, was done in such a way in this that it wasn’t tired or overused. The storyline was lovely and you will fall in love with the characters. The ending was so very sweet, definite must for those who, like me enjoys a good HEA ending.
I would love to see a sequel to this, maybe a novella just to see how these two guys are doing.
BLURB: Chief of Police John Dakota is in a world of trouble. His peaceful town of Seaside, Oregon, has been rocked by a wave of unsolved murders. The bloody deaths are eerily reminiscent of ones that occurred in Seaside years ago. Back then John worked hard to make sure the truth about the killer was never revealed. Now he’s afraid the past is coming back to haunt him.
Trevor English, the nosy reporter who occasionally shares John’s bed, is demanding information about the crimes. He also wants more of John’s affections. But John can’t afford to give in to either demand without risking the revelation of Seaside’s biggest secret: the town is a haven for shifters, and John is one of them.
To solve the crime—and prevent more victims—John must delve into the past. Many members of Seaside’s shifter community are involved, but it’s becoming harder and harder to tell which residents can be trusted. Even John’s family isn’t above suspicion. The body count is rising, and it looks like John is the killer’s next target.
REVIEW: I’m not a fan of mysteries in general, murder mysteries in particular but every now and then, one will pique my interest. This story just happened to have been one of them. This is due to it having one of my favorite things: shifters.
This is the second book I’ve read from this particular author and I must say that I really enjoy the way he tells his stories.
John is a bear shifter, chief of police in the peacefully little town in Oregon when a series of murders rocks the town.
Trevor is an ambitious and pushy reporter who determined to be the one to get the scoop as to who is exactly behind the murders and why. And because of this, he starts demanding answers.
I love the dynamics between the two men in this story. You have John who’s trying to balance trying to catch whoever’s behind the murders and keep the town’s secret while trying to keep his relationship with Trevor strictly casual. The relationship between John and Trevor intrigued me. Trevor clearly wanted more than just the casual set up they had and you know that John did as well but he was fighting against it so hard. After a while, John realized his feelings for Trevor ran a lot deeper than casual sex. It was just his secrets that held him back from opening himself up to Trevor completely. I actually like the fact that it wasn’t this Insta – love that you see in many shifter stories. Yes, they were mates however they had to build up to the love, the relationship had to develop between these two men. That to me, made it that much better. that to me felt a lot more realistic than the insta- love trope.
You get a bit of everything with this story: you get the paranormal, a murder mystery with a bit of romance thrown in. I liked that the author stepped outside of the box with this as it could’ve easily been a run of the mill murder mystery and I think Stone made a very wise decision adding the paranormal element to it. There were also added a wide variety of very interesting peripheral characters added. The dialogue, plot, storyline and editing were fantastic.
I really enjoyed this story. There were no plot holes and the story didn’t lag or or drag along anywhere. The pace was perfect; it grabbed and held my interest from the very beginning. The editing and dialogue was perfect. The author did a lovely job of developing these characters, plot and storyline. There were several times in the story that I thought I had it figured out who the murder was only to find out that I couldn’t have been more wrong. The culprit definitely wasn’t who I suspected! This book will keep you engaged and at the edge of your seat until the last page. This is a definite must read and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Blurb
The world ends not with a bang, but with a downpour. Tornadoes spin through the heart of London, New York cooks in a heat wave that melts tarmac, and Russia freezes under an ever-thickening layer of permafrost. People rally at first—organizing aid drops and evacuating populations—but the weather is only getting worse.
In Durham, mild-mannered academic Danny Fennick has battened down to sit out the storm. He grew up in the Scottish Highlands, so he’s seen harsh winters before. Besides, he has an advantage. He’s a werewolf. Or, to be precise, a weredog. Less impressive, but still useful.
Except the other werewolves don’t believe this is any ordinary winter, and they’re coming down over the Wall to mark their new territory. Including Danny’s ex, Jack—the Crown Prince Pup of the Numitor’s pack—and the prince’s brother, who wants to kill him.
A wolf winter isn’t white. It’s red as blood.
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
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In my novel Dog Days, ‘the world ends not with a bang, but a downpour’. It’s the opening days of a frost-covered dystopia, and I had so much fun with it. As a writer, I love dystopias. I think there is no better way to expose the architecture of a society than how it collapses under stress. It’s not the only thing I write, but creatively I definitely veer more towards the dystopian than the utopian. Let’s be honest, I’m Northern Irish and my family’s motto is ‘we laugh at bad things’, I wouldn’t know what to DO with myself in a utopia.
Other than probably get kicked out for bad behaviour.
Dystopias have so much more scope to wallow in, so many more questions to answer. Is it survival to keep on breathing, or to hold onto the encultured morals of the world before? Can you justify morality in a world where those depending on you pay the price for your values? Flee to the hills to hermit your way through the bad days, or hunker down and go tribal in your suburbs?
Of course, part of the reason I love dystopias is that I am never going to see one. Not because I have any great faith in things turning out for the best, but because I’d be one of the first to die. Probably not in the first or second wave of deaths, but after that I’d be done for.
First wave of deaths in an apocalyptic/dystopian scenario are going to be down to trauma: zombie attacks, injuries, totalitarian soldiers, corn weevil bites. I live in a small town with no majorly attractive assets to seize, so it’s likely I’ll avoid that. I mean, I might not but I think the odds are in my favour as far as digging in and weathering the storm here.
Second wave is probably going to be medical. People with long-term medical conditions that depend on machinery or drugs to maintain their lives/mobility will start to die off here. Diabetics, for example, or people dependent on dialysis. As access to treatment/hospitals gets more difficult, they’ll fall by the wayside. I’ll still be ok at that point, but I will have lost family members (we are not a healthy people).
So, barring bad luck, I’ll more likely than not to weather the first few months. After that, though? It’s not looking good. I’m short-sighted to the point of being helpless if my glasses are stolen or damaged, I have asthma so a brisk run through a field might well kill me, and I have food allergies that will make scavenging more difficult for me.
Plus, I’m just generally not hardy. I have limited survival skills — I mean, I have a huge stash of survival hints and tips in the cloud, but can I depend on internet access at this point? — and I’m not good in stressful situations. You know the way people are meant to have fight, flight, or freeze instincts? I’ve just got flight. I was once caught rearranging a neighbour’s gnomes into a ‘signalling the mothership’ shape, and — despite the fact I was a: staring right at the man, and b: my house was right behind me — I ran down the street and hid in a bush.
That’s not going to cut it when the corn weevils come, is it? Inner gerbil instinct like that are great in the first wave, but eventually you need to stand your ground.
I figure I have a few months of dystopian experience in me, just the overture of it. Once things start to really fall apart, my general lack of fitness to survive in this situation will demonstrate itself. Unless it’s a very cosy dystopia, I will mouldering in a shallow grave before people even start debating the ethics of cannibalism.
Which kind of makes me feel like a bit of an under-achiever. At least two of my friends are probably going to be warlords at that point, through a mixture of organisational skills, the willingness to field dress dead things, and sheer bloody-mindedness. So I make up for it with my own controlled dystopias, spreading lurgy and ice across the world and writing characters that are far, far better suited to deal with it than me.
Trust me, Dog Days Jack and Danny are much better at dealing with the various indignities of the end of the world than I am.
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Bio:
TA Moore genuinely believed that she was a Cabbage Patch Kid when she was a small child. This was the start of a lifelong attachment to the weird and fantastic. These days she lives in a market town on the Northern Irish coast and her friends have a rule that she can only send them three weird and disturbing links a month (although she still holds that a DIY penis bifurcation guide is interesting, not disturbing). She believes that adding ‘in space!’ to anything makes it at least 40% cooler, will try to pet pretty much any animal she meets (this includes snakes, excludes bugs), and once lied to her friend that she had climbed all the way up to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, when actually she’d only gotten to the beach, realized it was really high, and chickened out.
She aspires to being a cynical misanthrope, but is unfortunately held back by a sunny disposition and an inability to be mean to strangers. If TA Moore is mean to you, that means you’re friends now.
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Chief of Police John Dakota is in a world of trouble. His peaceful town of Seaside, Oregon, has been rocked by a wave of unsolved murders. The bloody deaths are eerily reminiscent of ones that occurred in Seaside years ago. Back then John worked hard to make sure the truth about the killer was never revealed. Now he’s afraid the past is coming back to haunt him. Trevor English, the nosy reporter who occasionally shares John’s bed, is demanding information about the crimes. He also wants more of John’s affections. But John can’t afford to give in to either demand without risking the revelation of Seaside’s biggest secret: the town is a haven for shifters, and John is one of them. To solve the crime—and prevent more victims—John must delve into the past. Many members of Seaside’s shifter community are involved, but it’s becoming harder and harder to tell which residents can be trusted. Even John’s family isn’t above suspicion. The body count is rising, and it looks like John is the killer’s next target.
Guest Post
Thank you for visiting me on my Wild Retaliation blog tour. Below is an exclusive excerpt. At this point in the story several murders have already taken place and Sheriff John Dakota, a bear shifter, is expecting more because the deaths are matching ones that took place years before. In this scene he and his friend Jonas Murphy, a wolf shifter, transform and head into the woods to find a man and his twin sons to warn them of possible danger.
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Jonas was already at Compton’s field when I arrived. It was a large plot of land near the woods that shifters used to change before letting their animal free. Basically, it was our safe haven.
I strode out into the pasture, and he nodded at me before stripping so he could shift. I watched his transformation because I thought it was a beautiful sight. The way the muscles stretched and changed amazed me every time.
As a wolf, Jonas’s transformation took slightly less time than mine. I didn’t know why it took longer to become a bear, just one of the mysteries of Mother Earth. I’d spoken to regular people who know about the paranormal world, and they always asked what it felt like to transform. And I always said the same thing—it’s hard to explain. There is pain, but it’s not intense and doesn’t last long. And the feeling of being free once my animal is out is amazing. It’s a second part of me, at least half, which I have to force down most of the time. Finally allowing him out is a sensation I can’t begin to describe.
One trouble with shifting is that once you’re an animal, you can’t speak to the person you’re with. Jonas and I were left with strictly nonverbal communication, mainly body movements. Jonas sniffed the air, and I did the same, though I doubted we’d catch the Aguirres’ scent so near to town. They were no doubt much farther away. We’d have to check the usual trails and hope to catch their odors.
Jonas lifted his snout, then gestured toward the woods and took off. I followed him, and he soon disappeared from sight. I could move quickly as a bear, but not as fast as Jonas, especially when he was running at full speed. He’d go out scouting and circle back to check on me.
Being a bear opened my mind, because I no longer had the concerns of the human world. As an animal, it was about the scents and sounds around me. It was simple desires like hunting and climbing and… fucking. Yeah, my bear was a horn dog. I guess because sex was a basic animalistic desire. I’d never had sex while shifted, though I knew some people who did—sex with other shifters while transformed, not sex with wild animals.
Trevor came to mind, most likely because I was focused on sex. Damn, the previous night together had been so hot. More passionate than I’d ever been with another guy. We had a strong connection, and I enjoyed the bond. I just wished he’d stop pushing for more than sex.
My bear didn’t only want sex, though. It also wanted love—a mate. I tried to ignore that desire, but it was strong, extremely strong. I wondered if every shifter felt the same pull to discover their mate. I couldn’t believe what an intense desire it was. One problem was that I had no idea how I’d know when I met him.
Some friends had known their mate the minute they met them. One even claimed he knew his wife was the one for him strictly based on her scent. Was that really possible? Others said it took time for them to realize who they were supposed to be with. My mate wasn’t necessarily a shifter, though that would make it easier. At least I wouldn’t have to explain what I was and hope he didn’t freak out.
Jonas returned, and I focused on the task at hand. He shook his head, telling me he hadn’t found anything yet. I lifted a large paw and gestured toward a lesser-used trail. He nodded, and off we went.
It took several hours and copious amounts of backtracking, but we did finally locate the Aguirre men in a small clearing. The boys were sitting around a campfire laughing and joking while Freddie scaled a fish. Most people would freak out if a wolf and a bear strolled into their camp, but the Aguirres were mountain lion shifters, so they recognized us as some of their own.
Jonas transformed first, and I quickly followed. Calvin and Cameron had blankets waiting for us so we didn’t have to speak to them in the buff.
“What’s going on, Chief Dakota?” Freddie asked.
I was torn over how much and what to share. Freddie didn’t know the truth about the previous killings, so I couldn’t be completely honest. I decided something between the truth and a lie was the best option.
“Do you remember the feral bear nine years back?” I questioned.
Freddie nodded.
“There have been two recent deaths that match the first two from back then.”
He scrunched his eyes. “Animal attacks?”
“Truthfully, Freddie, I’m not sure if it’s animal or not. There are just too many things in common.”
“So what are you thinking?” one of the boys asked. I wasn’t sure which one because I didn’t know them well enough to tell the difference.
“It could be some sort of copycat,” Jonas answered. “A sick bastard who gets off on this type of thing.”
“What does this have to do with us?” the other twin questioned.
“Well,” I answered, “the third and fourth victims of the bear assaults were—”
“Twin boys,” Freddie interjected. “Are my sons in danger?”
“I don’t know for sure,” I replied. “But according to what I know, there are no other sets of twins in Seaside.”
“Shit!” Freddie paced a few steps, rubbing his face. The boys went to their father and put their arms around him.
“Don’t worry, Dad. We’re safe. No one’s coming after us.”
Freddie eyed me. “What do you think we should do?”
I answered, “The farther away from town you are, the better. How long were you planning on staying out here?”
“A couple days at least, but we can extend it.”
“For how long?” I asked.
Freddie shrugged. “I work from home, and I can do that just about anywhere.”
“Then why don’t you three get out of Seaside for a prolonged vacation? Get to Highway 101 and take it as far as you can. Tell your girlfriend where you are but no one else. Have her get in contact with me and only me.”
“You don’t think this guy will come after us, do you?” one of the twins asked.
“I doubt it,” I replied without going into detail. “I think you guys skedaddling will do the trick.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Freddie faced his kids. “Let’s pack up and get out of here.”
“I’ll stay with you until you get out of the woods,” Jonas said. “That way you all have an extra set of eyes.”
I thanked Jonas for the offer, became a bear, and hightailed it back to Compton’s. On the way, nature summoned me, and I wanted nothing more than to follow my animal’s desires. If there weren’t so many things to take care of back in town, I’d locate a stream to play in and catch fish. It had been too long since I allowed that to happen. When all this was over, I’d have to take a weekend off and let my bear out to play.
Bio
Ethan Stone
Romance on the Edge
Ethan Stone doesn’t write your typical boy meets boy stories. With a combination of love and suspense he makes his characters work hard for their
HEAs. If they can survive what he puts them through, then they can survive anything. He enjoys Romance with an Edge.
Ethan has been reading mysteries and thrillers since he was young. He’s had a thing for guys in uniform for just as long. That may have influenced the stories he writes.
He’s a native Oregonian with two kids. One of whom has made him a grandfather three times over; even though he is way too young.
When Finn Ryan’s family moves from Austin, Texas, to quiet Woodland Park, Colorado, the summer before his senior year, Finn struggles to adjust. Even the altitude is hard to get used to. But when he meets Ivan Dubovasky at a farmers’ market, all that changes. Finn begins volunteering at Ivan’s family business, High Mountain Wolf and Wild Dog Center, where he forms a bond with both Ivan and the wolves they protect.
Soon Ivan’s best friend, Adrian, who’s asexual, joins their small pack, and the three of them become inseparable, even after Ivan and Finn begin dating—until a bully’s torment of Adrian goes too far. When Adrian disappears, Ivan and Finn will do anything they can to rescue their boyfriend, including relying on a special wolf to bring Adrian home.
Reviewed by A. T. Weaver
I read an article online after finishing this book about how you sometimes don’t finish a novel for various reasons. Had I not been reviewing this book, it would have been one that I put aside after a chapter or two. However, I’m glad I didn’t give up on it.
It starts rather slowly, but then gets better. Drama builds when Adrian disappears and the families of the three boys learn of the bond they have with each other. The families’ acceptance of the bond is to be commended.
Two things bother me about the plot. The rapid turnaround of Channing, and the fact we are to accept that three seventeen-year-olds will spend the rest of their lives together. Of course that may be cynicism on my part as a senior citizen who has seen too many such dreams be dispelled.
SUMMARY: Life for Dexter J. Daley has never been easy, but he’s always found a way to pick himself back up with a smile on his face. Taken from his home, and the arms of his boyfriend and THIRDS partner, Sloane Brodie, Dex finds himself in a situation as mysterious and lethal as the Therian interrogating him. Dex learns what he’s secretly believed all along: his parents’ death wasn’t an accident.
Discovering the whole truth about John and Gina Daley’s homicide sets off a series of events that will change Dex and Sloane’s lives forever. As buried secrets rise to the surface and new truths are revealed, Dex and Sloane’s love for each other is put to the test, with more than their relationship on the line. If traversing the waters of murder and secret government agencies wasn’t enough, something inexplicable has been happening to Dex—and nothing will ever be the same.
REVIEW: This is the seventh book in this wonderful, action packed series featuring Destructive Delta. Dex is taken and his kidnapping unlocks the mystery and revealed the truth surrounding his parent’s murder. This revelation not only changes Dex and Sloane’s loves forever but strangely gives Dex and Maddox a bit of closure.
We learn quite a bit more about who’s behind the kidnapping, more about the facility where Sloane, Ash and other First Gen. Therians were experimented on. As the story unfolds, even more secrets and plots are revealed. There is so much that goes on in this book, basically a lot of Dex’s questions are answered and the truth of it all hits him hard. But I think that deep down, Dex on some level knew that the story surrounding his parent’s deaths was a lie.
This book is tamer than the six previous books. Tame in the way of seeing Dex and Sloane in their home; their everyday home life. This is a side of Sloane that I truly enjoyed. Yes, these men are constantly out fighting crime, being shot at, being attacked, explosives and being the super elite team but there’s more to their lives than that. You see the more domestic side to these two. You can tell that Sloane and Dex are extremely happy together.
You also get a glimpse into the love lives of the other team members: Seb and Hudson (I am most eager to read their story) and even Sarge. I am also looking forward to Austin and Zach’s stories.
There’s not a lot of sex in the books but that is totally fine as the storyline, dialog, plot and character development more than makes up for it. This book, this series is absolutely magnificent and will keep you enthralled from the very first page to the very last. Oh, and the covers are to die for!
Norse mythology, actually most kind of mythology, has been a subject that have been close to my heart for most of my life. I am by far the least religious person you can find but the myths and lore about the vikings and Norse Gods, bloody as it may be has always put a thrill in me. And in a way I guess it is just the fact that it is more lore and folktales than religion that suits me. Because lore and folktales are more commonly known as tales, unlike religion that is taken as a fact and truth even though there’s nothing that proves that it is anything else but 95% lore too.The idea of turning Norse mythology and Native American lore into one well-oiled series was never really the plan, Haven was at the start, a Native American were
The idea of turning Norse mythology and Native American lore into one well-oiled series was never really the plan, Haven was at the start, a Native American were hunter who was going to have no other passion than traveling the roads like a nomad. His only mission in life that of killing off the entire shifter race because of what one crazed shifter did to his family and tribe. He was never meant to have a lover, a group of men and women who he considered his family, no his story was at the early stages of my brain’s development of this story a very solitude and dark life.
It wasn’t until I started plotting out his story that the idea of Norse Mythology and the Fenrir Ulv, being the ultimate father of all shifters, started to creep into my mind. First, the Fenrir Ulv was going to be the Ultimate shifter, as he still is, the father of all creation when it came to were shifters. He was meant to have been Haven’s ultimate challenge, who Haven, in the end, was meant to die from trying to kill, and who know’s he might just still do that, but all in all no matter what happens the path Haven went down was nothing like I first anticipated or planned.
Native American lore and history have is another subject that has always been something that has fascinated me. Native Americans being the only real natives of the continent of North America, it’s always surprised me how little we see of that history there. They were there, living the earth, making homes and a living long before Columbus discovered the Americas and were and are a huge part, the essential part of North American history and still “the white” man’s minute long presence is what dominates our history books. With Haven’s Revenge, I wanted to change that, I wanted to make Native American history and lore a main part of the story.
Those who have read my books, and I guess especially those that have read my books and knows me, know’s I favor the underdog, the oddball, the grumpy goodhearted bastards of society who everyone else has lost faith in, those are the men and women I prefer since following the stream of political correctness has never really been my cup of tea. I can honestly say I despise political correctness for the sake of it because way too many people hide behind it and are allowed to act like cowards because of it.
Planning Haven’s Revenge, at the beginning, was fairly easy because his cause his reason was just going to be that of revenging his past with his acts of devotion to killing of every shifter till all of them were dead. It wasn’t until I reacquainted myself with the Fenrir Ulv and Norse Mythology, and my love for it came back to live that I started playing with the idea of making it part of the heart of my story. I mean killing the Fenrir off when he was such a cool myth and when it would be so much more fun and interesting to have him stay alive and for once being one of the good guys!
It is funny when it comes to Norse Mythology and Vikings, most people get it wrong, Thor and Odin, and even Loki always somehow become heroes like Superman or Batman. Bad boys with good guys heart when in reality all of them were if you read the Edda or other sources of Norse Mythology information, they were all evil and selfish bastards. And as for the Viking, there was nothing gentle or loving about them, they were all brutes. Barbarians.
Being pretty familiar with Norse mythology researching it I knew what I was looking for and really just needed to look up details such as how the Fenrir Ulv was captured by the Asa Gods, where exactly he was held and how they drove that sword through his giant jaws. The point was to keep as much of the original lore as possible, to keep the realness of what most people know or what is known as the “truth” so that you would get that familiar feeling as you read the story. Besides the most complicated story keeps to the facts, when you start swaying out too much and you need to explain in too much great detail that is when the story is lost. At least in my eyes it is.
So, what happened between Haven being a pissed of forever lost were hunter with nothing else on his mind than prowling the land of the United States killing shifters and ending up as ranch hand training horses, being the candy of a farm boy’s eye and becoming the key to that farm boy’s future as the King of Wolves?
It is fairly stupid to call me romantic, because in reality I am not, I am way too cynical to be called romantic but I guess there’s a part of me, even if that part is fairly small, that still likes the idea of love like no other kind of love. The kind of love that will make you break all the rules, even your own, the kind of love that will get you through that long and dark tunnel and out into the light, the kind of love that makes you a possessive son of a gun and makes you wait forever and a lifetime just to be with that person for no other reason than that you have no room for anyone else. I guess a small part of me that exists out there at least for some people.
Mind you now I say love, not being in love, because even if the idea of being in love and the idea of that one perfect mate/lover/partner/second half (call it what you want) is something a lot of people hope is true, love can be any type of love it doesn’t have to be boy meets girl or boy meets boy. It can be the love between a parent and child, grandson, and grandfather and so on and so forth, and I think that you see all those kinds of loves all through Haven’s Revenge, that love is what love is and come in all different shapes and colors and none is better than the other just different.
As soon as I started to toy with the idea of making Thor and foremost Odin into the bad guys of my story and the Fenrir Ulv (and his siblings the Midgard Snake and Sleipnir) together into the good guys everything just sorts of fell into place all on its own. Coleman and Vojin they were the first characters to take form in my head, Vojin immediately being the key to the Native American lore of things.
To me, Native American culture and lore is a lot about self-discovery, about finding you inner strength, personal spirituality, and sacrifice. That you are willing to give up a lot of your own things to bring pleasure, happiness and safety for your people/family/tribe and at times that ultimate sacrifice is death itself but it is not feared because you are always protected by the spirit you made part of you. In Haven’s Revenge all of the Caddo community are a proof of this Zacharias, Haven’s father, death, Vojin being the link between the Caddo community, the Fenrir Ulv, and the Shifter council with the original eleven (twenty) cubs that were the children of the Caddo man who was the first man to ever be possessed by the Fenrir spirit and who managed to not go crazy.
The Caddo Norse story is the lack of a better word, a complex story, and I think that show’s in the criticism the book get both from people who love it and hate it, because the most common criticism it, or I have gotten, from readers and reviewers is that there’s “things” that doesn’t make sense like who the hell is Viktor and Hawk, the pop up and disappears and we don’t really great a grip on them, Vojin is essential to the story but we don’t see him enough, and this was supposed to be Haven’s and Alex’s story but it is stolen away because of all those other characters or their story was rushed (which I personally don’t get because it was dragged out to the point of almost becoming too much) but all these criticisms and others have answers.
The M/M Romance community is very used to, or spoiled (winks) with HEA’s with stories that start and ends with boy meets boy and then they live happily ever after. They are used to series where the MC are the main focus and there’s a new couple in each book and the couples from the past book or books only, if at all, makes small guest appearances. Not in mine, they don’t.
I don’t, only, write traditional romance stories, I obviously don’t mind them, but all my stories (with one exception of Finding Home) the main plot of the story isn’t love and getting the two MC’s together as a couple, they are a sidekick to the bigger picture, the red thread, the moral of the story which as in the Caddo Norse Novels is the war between the Asa Gods and the Fenrir Ulv/ Paranormal and human world. It is the war between good and evil, look and you shall find a lot of my own personal views on things all the good and all the evil represents real situations or people. What is the moral of the story? Characters pop up in Haven’s Revenge and disappears for a reason, we are shifted back and forth in time to show the reader historic events that have a purpose for the future.
And as for Haven and Alexander, whatever possessed you to think that their story was over to begin with? (Grins) There are load of things still going on with those two and their fate, their story, together as well as apart has only just begun (and that goes for Vojin too.)
Luca is a first year med student at the University of Gothenburg. He is following in his father’s footsteps, something he’d been programmed to do all his life. He lives a sheltered and still life, with no real friends. Luca would love to change that but doesn’t know how, since he always feels so odd around other people, like he doesn’t quite fit in. There’s so much inside him that wants out, like wanting to become a veterinarian more than a doctor. And the fact that he likes boys and not girls. But he doesn’t tell anyone about that—not even himself.
In comes Kai, an American cowboy in Gothenburg. He’s doing his thesis overseas to broadens his horizons before he does what he has always wanted to do, which is to go back home and run the family ranch. He just happens to see Luca one day leaving class and can’t stop watching the shy guy as he waded his way through the crowd with quick, silent steps, and his head down to avoid eye contact with anyone. For weeks Kai watches him from a distance, trying to figure out how to approach him.
Had he known that spilled coffee and slippery, awkward book bags would have gotten him close to the guy, he might have physically bumped into him a long time ago.
Finding Home is a book with star-crossed lovers meeting and the evil mind of the wicked witch in the west threatening to crush young love’s every dream!
Phetra often refers to herself as the odd man out, the dorky book nerd who rather spend her time with a good book or making up fantastic stories with even more fantastic characters, than live in the real world dealing with real people. The real world is strange, in a very non humorous way, and people in it complicates it to the point of wearing you out. In the world of the written word, no matter if it is in someone else’s words or that of her own things might get busy, complicated, and sometime even plain painful, but somewhere along the line there is always a hero on the horizon. He might not be prime or proper, a church going pretty boy since the author prefer rebellious men and women who don’t follow the protocols of society. One of her favorite saying are that only dead fish follow the stream and well she ain’t no dead fish. Phetra live together with her family, two children, a domestic partner and their two cats in Gothenburg, Sweden and when reading her books you will notice that she always finds a way of bringing her on culture into her books. The joy of writing and reading comes from her childhood and is something she has always loved, something she is passionate to share with others. Phetra loves hearing from her readers even with ideas of what they want to come next. If you are looking for her, the best place to start looking is at home in the quietest corner of the house, where she’ll be curled up with either her Kindle reading or with her laptop typing away.
