Captain Xavier Hobbs, a decommissioned combat engineer, was chronically lonely in the Army. But once he is back to being a civilian, with no family and nothing to ground him, he drifts. All he wants is a real home, a real life, and love—but that is easy to wish for and hard to make happen.
When he meets Andrew Landry, a high school English teacher, Xavier thinks he has found everything he has ever wanted, maybe even someone he can trust with his scars—the ones on his mind and body. Andrew’s quick wit and outgoing personality reel Xavier in slowly but surely. But he isn’t certain which way Andrew swings, and doesn’t dare to do more than hope the friendly man is actually flirting.
Then, on what Xavier idly wishes were their first date, disaster strikes in the form of Duncan McNeil, a fellow Wiccan and Andrew’s fiancé. Xavier’s hope is smashed to pieces, but Duncan and Andrew may have a different point of view. All they need is a little magic, some hope, and a lot of love to put everything back together.
Review
My first impression is that I wish this had been released in the fall. With the storyline and the wiccan stuff – it felt like a fall novel. But – that didn’t detract from my enjoyment too much, and I did enjoy this very much.
I really enjoyed the characters. Each man in this triad is unique with their own special contributions to be made that together forms a more perfect union. That is always the hard part for any ménage/romance – to convince the reader that the three is better than the couple. In this case Duncan and Andrew are 15 years into their relationship and are not showing any real sign of trouble but when Xavier shows up, Andrew’s longing for a slightly different love-making experience is the initial crack that allows them to explore the idea of a third.
Duncan is solid, dependable, easy going and … surprisingly sexy in the bedroom! There is more to him than meets the eye and when we start to see the dynamics of the triad it is clear that Duncan is far more of the leader than anyone else and it’s his strength that holds the three together.
I enjoyed the wiccan information/storyline. I think it was perhaps important to show how they could open their relationship and still be consistent with who they are as a people.
All in all I really enjoyed this (new to me) author and this triad love story.
Brute leads a lonely life in a world where magic is commonplace. He is seven and a half feet of ugly, and of disreputable descent. No one, including Brute, expects him to be more than a laborer. But heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and when he is maimed while rescuing a prince, Brute’s life changes abruptly. He is summoned to serve at the palace in Tellomer as a guard for a single prisoner. It sounds easy but turns out to be the challenge of his life.
Rumors say the prisoner, Gray Leynham, is a witch and a traitor. What is certain is that he has spent years in misery: blind, chained, and rendered nearly mute by an extreme stutter. And he dreams of people’s deaths – dreams that come true.
As Brute becomes accustomed to palace life and gets to know Gray, he discovers his own worth, first as a friend and a man and then as a lover. But Brute also learns heroes sometimes face difficult choices and that doing what is right can bring danger of its own.
Review
(From previous site)
Aric “Brute” is a giant of a man living in a place and time where magic is common but uniqueness is often linked with superstition and thus feared. He is orphaned early in life and forced to live with an abusive uncle. He grows and grows until he towers over all the people around him, and his face will never win him any beauty prizes. Forced by fear into a life without education or training, he is goes to work to do the only thing he thinks he can to survive: carry heavy things.
One day the Prince travels through Brute’s town and has an accident. Brute saves him but gets injured in the process. The Prince rewards Brute with a special job and takes him to live with him in the palace.
At the palace Brute is placed in charge of a special prisoner, Gray Leynham. Grey has a terrible and sad story to tell and lives a life full of misery, chained to the walls in the palace, fore-seeing people’s deaths.
Together, Brute and Grey form a fragile alliance that blossoms into something earth shatteringly powerful.
Kim Fielding has written an amazingly beautiful and heart-wrenching story that will have you reaching for your Kleenex with both extreme happiness and sadness.
This has the flavor of an old-time fairy tale, mixed with a smidge of sex – really, just a smidge – to spice things up. It is a deeply touching love story full of hope and forgiveness.
I truly loved this book and look forward to re-reading it time and again.
Audio
KC Kelly does a fantastic job of narrating Brute. He does all the voices quite well, and I found myself making comparisons with it and The Princess Bride. (Where the grandpa is reading the his grandson…) The pacing is well done and the stuttering of Grey is just perfect.
I highly recommend the book giving it a 6 out of 5 hearts and the audio version a 5 of 5, for a total of 5.5 of 5 hearts!
Rise of the Revenants by Poppy Dennison
Vampyres are on the loose in Detroit, and novice hunter Taz Cohen is on the job. The mission seems simple: stop the vamps. But Taz knows nothing about the mythical creatures, so he’s in for the fight of his life. Then he meets insanely attractive construction worker Darren Foster, who jumps into the battle with both feet. Sparks and bullets fly as they struggle against the vampyre horde and their attraction to each other. Avoiding gruesome death from the undead might be easier than shielding their hearts from each other.
Legacy of Blood and Death by Rhys Ford
For Javi Navarro, Detroit will become another blood-splattered city in his rearview mirror after he puts its dead back into the ground. Expecting an easy hunting job, Javi instead finds a kiss of ancient vampyres on the hunt for a descendent of their long-dead creator.
Reclusive Ciarnan Mac Gerailt abandoned his family legacy of blood and death magic after it nearly destroyed him. Unfortunately, the Motor City can only be saved if Ciarnan resumes his dark arts and joins forces with Javi Navarro, the hunter who brought the vampyre apocalypse—and hope for the future—straight to Ciarnan’s front door.
Review
(From Previous Site)
Rise of the Revenants:
Taz is a hunter of werewolves (not shifters) and now vampyres (kind of like zombies but with more reasoning ability). Some old and powerful witches made these vampyres and now it is up to Taz (and later Javi) to clean up the mess.
Darren is a construction worker who happens to be working on sites that these vampyres are haunting. We find out there are no such things as coincidences, and there’s a reason for the vampyre’s location choices. Darren has lost a friend to their attacks so he is devoted to the idea of taking them down. It helps that he and Taz are super attracted to one another and that by chipping in he gets to help keep Taz close and safe.
This story “bleeds” into the next and at the end Darren and Taz have won the battle if not the war and are headed toward a future together.
Legacy of Blood:
Javi is a hunter of vampyres and is hot on the trail of one of the descendants of the witches that created the monsters. When he meets him he finds a powerful witch who no longer practices because he’s afraid of what his power can do. He convinces him to help as a layman and the two plan a trap for the “ticks”. Along the way, the two manage to find lots of common ground and chemistry together. When the final battle occurs, our boys are victorious and Javi and Ciarnan plan on sticking together to fight for Detroit’s future. We also find that Taz and Darren are still together and planning a future in Detroit as well.
Both stories were pretty detail oriented, laying lots of back-story, and focused a lot on the battle/action. I am hoping this is because there is a series planned? (Would be awesome!) The ending certainly leaves it wide open for such an occurrence.
Taz and Darren’s story isn’t as sweet or loving as Ciarnan and Javi, but you definitely feel their feels, and trust that they have a future together.
Rhys, in the way that she does so well, manages to throw the Kincaids (Hellingers) into her story and maybe we can see a cross over in the future.
There are also lots of “hunter” references, both boys drive Chargers and Javi can’t understand why anyone would drive an Impala unless it was to get busy in the back seat.
Both stories are funny, full of action and some hot sex and all around fascinating tales.
In eighteenth-century Egypt, falcon shifter Con’s parents died attempting to keep powerful, ancient scrolls out of the hands of a monster. Now it falls to Con to keep the scrolls hidden and lead the hunter away so their sacrifice isn’t for nothing. But he isn’t quite fast enough, and he finds himself helpless in an unfamiliar English countryside village. That is, until a beautiful man with a limp carries Con to his manor to tend to his wounds.
As an alpha wolf, Quincy’s compassion is not valued by his pack, which leads him to nurse the falcon in secret. A bond quickly forms between Quincy and the mysterious raptor, so he’s concerned at Con’s reaction to the arrival of another visitor, the Countess Blackburn.
Review
(From previous site)
Quincy is a werewolf who is the guardian for his pack. He cannot shift and hunt with the pack because he was born with a bum leg, but he stands sentry and watches for danger. He has a soft spot for injured wild life (despite the pack’s view that this is a weakness) and finds and rehabs an injured falcon one day.
The falcon is really Con, a shifter himself, who guards scrolls that hold the secret for destroying all shifters. Con is on the run, injured by hunters who work for an evil witch. The witch wishes to rid the earth of shifters. Con realizes that Quincy is more than just a helpful wolf shifter, he might be his Mate.
Instead of flying away when his wing heals, Con shifts to human and tells Quincy of the danger headed his way. The witch who hunts Con is going to try to infiltrate Quincy’s pack and destroy it from the inside.
Though Quincy’s pack is reluctant to trust a stranger, they prepare for a confrontation. When the witch shows up she shows her true colors, Con is appreciated and war is waged. By this time, Quincy and Con realize they are Mates, despite all the odds against a mixed mating, and don’t want to be apart.
Quincy’s Alpha cannot admit Con into the pack and Quincy must choose between Con and the Pack. Quincy, of course, chooses Con and the two travel across the ocean to search for other lost or packless shifters. Together, with the help of another lone shifter, they start the shifter-town Haven, which is featured in the previous books of this series.
**
This is an absolutely lovely origins story for this shifter series by MD Grimm. I have not read the earlier books, but now I’m going to. The author’s style is fluid and fanciful. She stays true to the historical aspect and theme of this story and yet doesn’t bog the storyline down with needless details just to prove she knows her history.
The love between Con and Quincy is so sweet it’s almost painful. They are both so lonely (for differing reasons) and never thought they’d find love, so they treasure their relationship that much more. The tension between the Pack and the witch, the witch and Con, Con and the Pack, etcetera, is done very well. It is both exciting and realistic and acts to sort of make a statement about forgiveness and acceptance and diversity.
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the earlier parts of the series
I highly recommend this book and give it a 5 of 5 hearts.
In the secret city of Sobek, Domin Thorne is making his way as the newly chosen semel-aten, the leader of the werepanther world. He aspires to make sweeping changes – he’s set goals for himself and the people he chose to bring with him, modeling his reign after that of his friend, Logan Church. But Domin may have set too lofty a goal: His normal leadership style isn’t working.
While juggling a homesick Crane, a moody Mikhail, a bullwhip-wielding Taj, servants with murderous intentions, a visiting ex, and a mate on a dangerous goodwill mission, Domin has to figure out his new role alone. He also must determine how to deal with a conspiracy, all the while falling hard for a man who, for the first time in Domin’s life, reciprocates that love.
Whether Domin is ready or not, Fate has stepped in to teach him a lesson: Internal threats are just as dangerous as external ones.
Review
(From previous site.)
Most of this book is Domin learning about his new role as semel-aten and making wide spread changes to the way things are run. There are some pretty intense battle/kidnapping scenes and some moving relationship building between him and Yuri.
We get to see a bit of Logan, Jin and Crane, but most of the book is Domin, showcasing his growth as a leader, a man, and a mate.
There is no way you could understand or appreciate this book without having read the first three, and even having read the first three, it is tough to keep all the “foreign” phrases and terminology straight. I highly recommend reading all four books in a row to fully appreciate this book.
Before this, Yuri and Domin had gotten together, but it was a tenuous relationship. Some of the best, most emotional parts of this book are Domin and Yuri cementing their relationship with one another. Mary writes excellent sex and there are some scorching scenes in this story.
The politics of the changes Domin works toward are fascinating, but very complex. In many ways this is a departure from Mary’s works in that Yuri and Domin are not the exact center of this book, but an integral piece. This really feels like a book that ties up loose ends and focuses on Domin and the entire were-panther world more than anything else, his relationship included.
I loved this book as a giant epilogue to the series, but wished for more of the heart-wrenching, tender relationship scenes between Yuri and Domin.
While it is not my favorite Mary Calmes book, nor even the favorite of the Change of Heart series, I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to anyone who read the first three books.
Audio
Sean Crisden did a great job with all the “foreign” words, the dialects, the different characters… his voice for Domin’s doctor was fantastic!
I really enjoyed listening to this book in audio format. I think, sometimes, the new words were hard to understand in audio format and I found myself sometimes looking to the book to see what he was talking about, but if you only ever heard the entire series then the words would make sense to you. Since I read the first three books, I had to look some up while listening to the audio book for book four.
I give the book a 4 of 5 hearts, the narration a 5 of 5 hearts for an overall 4.5 of 5 hearts
Called before the new king, Laird Artúr was shocked to see his old lover walking through the door. His anger ignites when the king commands them to mate and fortify his borders to the north. He is heartbroken when he discovers that his new mate has no recollection of their time together. Can he forgive Dainéal and let go of the past to build a future or will his resentment end what they could have before it begins?
Laird Dainéal balks at being commanded to mate, especially to a man he knows has to be insane. Despite how much Artúr insists that they have met before, Dainéal has no memory of the man. And he would have remembered a man that was so sexy he made Dainéal’s teeth ache.
Commanded by their king to establish a stronghold to the north, Artúr and Dainéal have to fight not only their past but those that want to keep them from their future. When betrayal comes from within, the bond between them may be the only thing that saves them.
Book Two: Eastern Embrace
Blurb
By the King’s Command… Daimyo Akihiro Shimada didn’t have the hatred for humans that many of his kind did. It was a known fact that humans were weak. Every dragon knew that. When the king commands him to take a human as a mate, Akihiro is instantly smitten with Isei but fully aware that he must treat his mate with gentle care, even if his gut instincts say otherwise. Isei Hironaka is a second son. He has no chance of ever being anything more than he is until he is forced to impersonate his brother at the King’s coronation ceremony. When the new king orders him to mate with a dragon, Isei is positive his ruse will be discovered. Mating to strengthen the bond between clan and clutch is one thing. Staying mated is an all together different story, especially when those around Akihiro and Isei believe dragons and humans have no business falling in love and they will do everything within their power to keep them apart.
Book Three: Southern Heat
Blurb
By the King’s Command…
Diego de la Vega is quite pleased with the king’s command to mate the dragon leader, Xavier Rodriquez. The man’s strength and bravery in battle were legendary, as were the scars that marred his massive body. But there is a vast distance between admiration and love, and despite Diego’s efforts, he’s not sure the two of them can find a middle ground.
Xavier Rodriquez is a man used to the rigors of battle and being alone to lick his wounds. Experience has taught him that the scars littering his body would disgust even the most indiscriminant of lovers. When Diego says he sees them as symbols of valor, Xavier is skeptical, growing even more so when Diego’s gorgeous ex- lover appears, claiming to want Diego back.
Trust is not an easy thing and neither is accepting a mate with all their faults. Stubbornness and the need to protect their hearts might be more dangerous to their mating than the mysterious foe bent on stealing their territory, and maybe even their lives.
Book Four: Wicked West
Blurb
By the King’s Command…
Prince Grigory Krayev is thrilled when the king mates him to a handsome dragon prince. His excitement quickly turns to uncertainty when he learns there are two of them. How could he ever hope to please two dragons that didn’t need him when they had each other?
Prince Konstantin Victorovich is angered when the king orders him to mate a human. He already has a lover. He doesn’t need another one. When he discovers just who the king wants to mate him to, Konstantin realizes he might have to rethink his objection.
Prince Mikhail Dubolazov has loved Konstantin for years, serving the man faithfully as his manservant just to be at his side. When the king orders Konstantin to mate, Mikhail sees his life slipping away. Even when his status is elevated to that of a prince, Mikhail worries he will never have what it takes to keep them.
When forces beyond their control threaten all they hold dear, they will need more than trust to keep them together. They will need the belief that only by standing with each other do they have a chance of beating a foe that works in the shadows.
Book Five: Mate Challenge
Blurb
By the King’s Command…
When the high council orders a mate challenge in his name, King Críostóir is furious. There is only one dragon he wants as his mate. But in order to have the man he’s loved for years, he’ll need to enter his own mate challenge as one of the contestants.
Trust doesn’t come easy for Kurgan. Only one man has ever held his loyalty. When a mate challenge is ordered, Kurgan is enraged until he arrives and discovers one of the contestants is the man he has had an on-again, off-again affair with, and then he is enraged. If he beats his lover then he becomes the king’s consort. If he loses, he loses the man he loves.
When an attack comes and the mate challenge canceled, the truth King Críostóir has kept from Kurgan for over twenty years is revealed. Despite the betrayal burning in Kurgan’s eyes, King Críostóir must depend on the dragon to help him save his kingdom and hope Kurgan will listen to him if they survive
Review
This is one of those “guilty pleasure” book series.
First, know that in each book the king pairs a human with a dragon (or two) and there is initially disgust by one or both at the pairing with another species. Second, the general theme of hate, insta-love, problem/separation, reunion is the same in all 5 books. Third, there are some pretty fun “differences” between human anatomy and dragon anatomy. Fourth, everyone ends up pregnant at some point.
That being said – this is a GREAT series. I LOVED it. The writing pair of Stormy Glenn and Olivia Black is an excellent one. Stormy (I think) tempers some of Olivia’s darker tendencies and Olivia seems to add some grounding to Stormy’s more fantastical nature. Both are great at hot male on male romance and so, so creative!
In book one the world is set up – sort of Medieval with a twist – where the King is magical and is protecting his boundaries by pairing up humans and dragon-shifters so that all the beings in the area will be on the same “side”. When the King mates the couple they have 24 hours to bond then they must go to their home to present a united front to their “subjects”. In this case the couple has previously met but there was a big misunderstanding and now they must see if they can find that love again.
In book two the human is not the actual leader of his people, but a stand in for his brother. He ends up being mated to the dragon and therefore the new leader by default – even though he is quite small and timid. It’s this timidity that makes his new dragon keep him sequestered away (at the advice of the evil midwife) which ultimately leads him to believe he is not good for anything and thus gets him almost killed. (This is my favorite of the series!)
Book three has a scarred battle hero mated with a gorgeous man whom the dragon has been admiring from afar for years. The dragon believes himself to be too ugly for love and the human has to show the dragon that love is more than skin-deep.
Book four is the first (and only?) menage in the series. A pair of lovers (dragons) must bond with a human. In order for the royal dragon to have his lover of many years become his mate, he must become royalty. The King makes the dragon commoner a prince, then binds the pair of dragons with a human prince. Of course the human feels like an outsider and the struggle here is for all three to accept their new roles and to truly believe that all three are necessary for the relationship to work. (This was the weakest of the series IMHO.)
Book five (hopefully not the last) is the King himself becoming mated to save the throne from being taken over. The King disguises himself as a competitor for his own hand in marriage and pairs himself with the lover he’s had over the years but never in public. When the competition gets called off after an attack, the King reveals himself to his lover and now must face whether or not his lover can accept his true status.
**
If you are a fan of shifter/insta-love/medieval type fantasy with dragons, sword fights, male pregnancy and lots and lots of sentimentality – this is the series for you. It’s very well written, well edited and though it does follow a similar trajectory in each book, there is enough of a difference to make each book well worth the read.
I highly recommend the series and give it 4.5 of 5 hearts
Thanks to his good-for-nothing brother, Andrew Hughes is up to his eyeballs in debt and needs a job fast. When a nursing position opens up in Myerson, Arizona, Andrew has no choice but to take it, despite a warning about how difficult a patient Caleb DiMartino can be. Andrew can deal with a little trouble—but Caleb’s strange family, the armed guards, and the unknown cause of Caleb’s mysterious illness may be beyond his skill set.
Landslide by Mary Calmes
For three years, paranormal courier Frank Corrigan has been working for incubus demon Cael Berith. Cael knows Frank is his mate, but Frank is pretty sure Cael doesn’t even like him, never mind want to spend the rest of his life with him, so their personal relationship is at an impasse. When Frank’s sister, Lindsey, gets bitten by a werewolf she’s sleeping with—and possibly witnesses a murder—Frank rides to her rescue. If he’s lucky, he might just save his love life too.
Review
(From Previous Site.)
Diagnosis Wolf:
Andrew is a nurse sent to the house of a shifter (not a werewolf) who has been possibly poisoned by enemies of their family. Caleb (the shifter) finds Andrew to be very attractive and it’s his protective instincts of Andrew that help him to start the recovery process. Andrew’s brother has gotten into deep water and is hoping to use Andrew’s connection to the rich DiMartino family to get out of debt. When push comes to shove, Caleb and his family manage to solve the medical mystery and defeat the bad guys (with Andrew’s help, of course.)
Landslide:
Frank is a special human, immune to most effects of paranormal power and as such acts as a liaison between the various “species”. On one mission he meets Cael, a demon of great power, who claims to be his mate. Frank doesn’t believe him and makes the poor demon wait 3 years before finally succumbing to seduction and finding true love. In the meantime they defeat some bad guys and mostly make you giggle.
**
This is the first time I’d read anything by Poppy Dennison and it was wonderful. It is a full story, richly detailed, and though it lacks the “fated mate” scenario in some shifter stories, it has enough of those elements to keep my sappy heart happy. The love was sweet and the sex was hot and the action exciting.
And then there’s Mary’s story… how can you NOT love a Mary story. Frank is hysterical. Ever the doubting Thomas, he thinks Cael (like the vegetable Kale) is “repulsed” because he’s not a twink and therefore not Cael’s type. Of course, Cael is ridiculously patient and let’s the misunderstanding go on for three years… three years! (Mary must have a thing for three years… remember Sam and Jory?!? ) But when they do get together it is sweet and sexy and very, very satisfying.
Audio
Jeff Gelder does a nice job with both narrations. The recording takes a minute to get used to, there is a vague tinny sound to it, but it kind of lends itself to the creepy nature of the stories and it blends into the background after awhile.
He didn’t do any over the top voices or any serious “acting” but he doesn’t distract from the stories themselves either and it was a nice listening experience.
I give the book a 5 of 5 hearts, the audio a 4 of 5 hearts and an overall 4.5 of 5 hearts. I highly recommend both the book and the audio version.
Gay teenager Hart could finish his fairy tale for class if his horrible stepsiblings would stop harassing him. Talia’s depression is like a sleeping curse and may kill her if she doesn’t ask for help. Independent, overweight bisexual Sienna deals with her “nice guy” neighbor while visiting her grandmother. When a mysterious girl climbs up Rachael’s fire escape, Rachael might finally break free from her overprotective mother. Transgender Amelia is bullied regularly for her identity, but she’ll show everyone exactly who she is. Princess Rellyn must face down a dragon since she’s seventh in line and battle her father since she’s not a boy, and she’s not sure which one is scarier. An adventurous knight whisks away genderfluid Noll when all they want is a quiet life on their farm. Mermaid Astrid wants revenge on the man who betrayed her, but is confused by her attraction to the one sailor immune to her song. Asexual Myka might love Princess Lysandria, but Myka must learn to control her inner werewolf before the king marries her off to “cure” her. With the help of a witch, blacksmith’s apprentice Malcolm must find his missing prince.
You’ve never heard stories like these at bedtime
Review
These are short – sometimes way too short – little LGBTQ takes on the old fairly tales. In each there is a character or character that falls into that community who takes on a more modern/unique role. Each story is a different set of people, using an old fairy tale as a template for a modern story.
The writing is good. The idea is magnificent. I really think that for the YA audience these will really ring true and find a home in the heart of the LGBTQ YA community.
However, for me, it felt like just as I was invested in the story – it ended. So it was a little off-putting and frustrating. I’d like to see these stories more fleshed out, I definitely think there is more that they have to offer.
I really liked that it wasn’t just gay or trans but a variety of gender roles/sexual orientations. There really is something for everyone in this anthology.
Overall, I give it high points for the attempt with a little bit taken off for brevity.
If you are a YA fan I’d give this a try, it really is remarkable.
Blurb
When Tanner moves to Chicago for a new job, he experiences his First Shift, a revelation that signifies he’s met his mate since the last full moon. The only problem? He doesn’t know who it is. To find his mate, he enlists his new assistant Jon to arrange a series of dates, but each one turns out more disastrous than the last.
With the next full moon quickly approaching, Tanner finally determines the identity of his true mate. Unfortunately, Jon has since disappeared, and Tanner must now begin a new search. Is it really Jon’s family crisis pulling him away, or is Jon just not that into him?
Review
Tanner moves to Chicago and immediately feels the pull of his mate. However, things aren’t like they are in other shifter-lore. He doesn’t have any extra-sensory abilities to perceive his mate other than a vague sense of “rightness” when they meet. So he does a little experimenting, knowing that only skin on skin contact with his mate had to have occurred on the day before his first shift, so he arranges to carefully meet with each male that he had contact with that first day.
Jon is Tanner’s assistant and he gets roped into helping Tanner arrange these meetings. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Jon is Tanner’s mate and eventually Tanner figures this out.
Unfortunately, by the time Tanner figures it out the clock is ticking and he has only a week left to claim Jon or else they will both forever forfeit their ability to fully turn into wolves AND Jon is missing AND Jon’s mother has been cursed by an evil warlock AND did I mention the clock is ticking?!
**
This is a very clever and somewhat unique take on shifter lore. There is some pretty hot pre-mate self-sexy times and then when the two do finally mate, it’s very sweet and plenty sexy as well.
The paranormal stuff was interesting – the Grimoire, the warlock, the rules, etc. I love when the shifters actually shift and act “wolfy” and they do that a bit in this book.
I was on pins and needles waiting for Jon and Tanner to finally mate, and was a bit confused as to the hold up… but they when they do figure it out it’s lovely.
I wish the story had gone on a bit longer once Tanner had figured out Jon was his mate and maybe a bit thinner in the before part, but that’d be my only complaint.
The story captures your attention right away and never lets up, definitely a good read for fans of shifters.
(As a side note, without sounding too judgemental… if I hadn’t read the blurb I’d have skipped this book based on the cover – it’s so cheesy! The name doesn’t really relate to the story AT ALL and that put me off at first, but the story itself makes up for these small issues.)
Excerpt:
M’lan knelt beside the assassin’s bronzed body. He placed his palm on Jamil’s chest and silently beseeched Salar to remove the deadly impulses instilled in Jamil ever since he began his training as an assassin. Jamil closed his eyes and seemed to relax, but as the warm energy of the god seeped through M’lan’s fingers, Jamil jerked suddenly to full alertness. Like a cobra striking he seized M’lan’s wrist and gave it a painful twist, eyes flashing. M’lan sat back, startled.
Jamil did not let him go. He let out a slow breath and lifted M’lan’s fingers to his mouth. He kissed the knuckles of a clenched fist. “The last thing I need is more spells to confuse this simple warrior’s mind.”
“A prayer is not a spell!” M’lan tried to pull free but couldn’t. He gritted his teeth, fighting back a rising anger. Jamil’s strength both entranced and infuriated him.
“Stop trying to weaken me.” Jamil said in a wretchedly calm voice. “You must stay here and do your duty, I must go away and do mine. Nothing has changed.”
M’lan inhaled slowly, breath catching. “Let me go.”
Pages or Words: 60,000 words
Author Name: Alexis Duran
Author Bio: Alexis Duran was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. At the University of Oregon, her fascination with people and relationships led her to major in Sociology, but her main love has always been creative writing. She’s worked in museums, fashion, finance and film production. Her favorite job so far was cataloguing the collection in a haunted Victorian Mansion. She’s had several short stories published in the mystery, horror and literary genres and is the author of the Masters and Mages erotic fantasy series. Her fiction has won several awards including the Rupert Hughes Award from the Maui Writers Conference. She lives with one dog and four and half cats. She is currently working on the next Masters and Mages novel and several other erotic novellas.
Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page:http://www.facebook.com/alexis.duran.18294
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlexisSDuran
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/alexisduran1177/
Other: My blog at http://alexisduranblog.com
Other: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8332457.Alexis_Duran
Blurb
