NYPD Detective Alec MacAidan has always been good with weird. After all, his life has been a string of the unexplainable. But when an injured man gives him cryptic clues, then turns to dust in front of him, Alec’s view on weird is changed forever.
Cronin, a vampire Elder, has spent the last thousand years waiting for Alec. He’d been told his fated one would be a man wielding a shield, but he didn’t expect him to be human, and he certainly didn’t expect that shield to be a police badge.
Both men, strong-willed and stubborn, are still learning how to cope with the push and pull of being fated, when fate throws them another curveball.
Rumors have spread quickly of turmoil in Egypt. Covens are fleeing with news of a vampire who has a talent like no other, hell-bent on unleashing the wrath of Death.
Alec and Cronin are thrown into a world of weird Alec cannot imagine. What he learned in school of ancient pharaohs and Egyptian gods was far from the truth. Instead, he finds out firsthand that history isn’t always what it seems.
Review
What a great new direction for a favorite author! NR Walker always delivers quality writing with well developed MCs and an entire cast of secondary characters that are three-dimensional and fully developed. I love paranormal books and I love NR Walker – so this was an excellent combination!
Since Alec and Cronin are fated lovers – another tick on my box of likes – we get to see the “insta-attraction” that makes vampire/shifter books so compelling.
In the nature of NR Walker books, I know that there will be more “lovey dovey” moments in the sequel – so I am holding off judging the overall “feels” for now.
Suffice it to say that this book sets up the back-story and puts our two MCs together and (I expect) book two will wrap up their love story and give us the ooey gooey happy ending I know NR Walker delivers.
New York City’s streets are more dangerous than ever with the leaderless Order of Adrasteia and the Ikelos Coalition, a newly immerged Therian group, at war. Innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire and although the THIRDS round up more and more members of the Order in the hopes of keeping the volatile group from reorganizing, the members of the Coalition continue to escape and wreak havoc in the name of vigilante justice.
Worse yet, someone inside the THIRDS has been feeding the Coalition information. It’s up to Destructive Delta to draw out the mole and put an end to the war before anyone else gets hurt. But to get the job done, the team will have to work through the aftereffects of the Therian Youth Center bombing. A skirmish with Coalition members leads Agent Dexter J. Daley to a shocking discovery and suddenly it becomes clear that the random violence isn’t so random. There’s more going on than Dex and Sloane originally believed, and their fiery partnership is put to the test. As the case takes an explosive turn, Dex and Sloane are in danger of losing more than their relationship.
Review
Chaos in THIRDS land.
The Coalition has a mole from inside THIRDS and some Therian is killing humans. And if that isn’t enough, things inside THIRDS are in chaos as well.
Dex and Sloane are navigating their budding relationship. Sloane is trying to get the rest of his team to pull it together and leave personal business at home. Dex is trying to help Cael with his feelings for Ash. Letty and Rosa are … okay, they’re fine. Taylor is sexually harassing EVERYONE. The new guy Levi might be hooking up with Lou, and Dex has to plan for his pre-birthday-party-party. It’s a lot to deal with.
In this installment we get to see a lot of Sloane and Dex and most of it is really, deliciously, ooey and gooey. Sloane even purrs! (Wait til you read that part – so fantastic!) They seem solidly on the forward track until… well… Sloane runs … again. Dex inadvertently moves the relationship forward and Sloane isn’t prepared for it, so Sloane takes off for a bit, but eventually, with the help of Ash (of all Therians) figures out what a good thing he has in Dex.
The sex is super hot and Dex and Sloane as a couple are hilarious. (My favorite is the closet scene: “This isn’t what it looks like. I dropped some change, it rolled under the closet door, and when I went to pick it up, my clothes fell off. True story.”)
Ash has something going on in his life that is making him distance himself from Cael and Cael is heartbroken and making potentially fatal mistakes as a result.
When the dust settles and the bad guy (for the moment) is disposed of, we’re left with a cliff hanger. We’re going to have to wait til next YEAR to see what happens – that Charlie Cochet, she’s naughty!
Now, we can all probably guess the outcome, but in addition to the main worry, we also have to worry about Cael and Ash – will Ash ever figure things out and get it together enough to be with Cael?
And, really, what is going on with Calvin and Hobbs? Inquiring minds want to know.
Overall, this was a wonderful third installment to the THIRDS series and I really enjoyed it. There was lots of Therian shifting which I like, Sloane acting like a happy kitty, which I liked and some tricky spy stuff, which I like.
Audio
Mark Westfield narrates this entire series and I love his work. I think it’s great how he augments the sound for microphone or telephone etc and his delivery is great.
Three months after losing his parents in a car crash, Denver weatherman Daniel Whitaker returns to Laramie, Wyoming. It’s bad enough dealing with the death of his parents and his failing relationship of fifteen years, but when he finds his childhood home full of clutter, Daniel is at a loss. He enlists Landon, his parents’ sexy neighbor, to help him sort through the mess. Landon Kushner is a study in contradictions. He builds wind sculptures out of scrap metal and loves the outdoors, but he also rides a mint-green Vespa and has an affinity for knitting and fortune-telling. He’s been friends with Daniel’s parents for years, and he’s more than willing to lend a hand.
Their plan is simple: clean the house so Daniel can sell it and get back to his life in Denver. But when a strange cookbook comes into Landon’s possession, Daniel begins to realize that the universe – and Granny B – may have other plans.
Review
This is not what I had been expecting! You should know that ¾ of this book sees Daniel in another relationship (with Chase) and slowly moving out of said relationship. Landon is there throughout and is slowly falling for Daniel and vice versa, but most of the story is Daniel’s relationship with his family and his lover of 15 years.
I really like Marie Sexton and her writing style so this was an easy read for me. Having grown up in Colorado and living in Ft Collins for years it was like a reunion for me. However, what I really liked was that she is able to take what could have been a crippling realization – Chase doesn’t love me anymore and I gave up my family for him – and turned it into a growth opportunity and so much more.
I loved Landon’s character and wish we had seen more of the couple as a couple – but it was still a very satisfying love story.
On the eve of his fortieth birthday, Ian Parker is looking for a reboot. He may be the proud owner of a trendy coffee shop in Austin called La Tazza Magica, but his love life has been MIA for years. During a trip to Denver with his best friend, Mark, Ian buys an enchanted chocolate from a mysterious candy store—then wakes up from a nap two decades younger. After the initial shock, Ian realizes a quirk of the universe has given him a second chance and, with Mark’s help, he devises a plan to start over.
With a new lease on life, Ian sets his sights on handsome architect Bartley James, a regular customer at La Tazza. He pursues Bartley as Ian’s twenty-one-year-old alter ego, Ryan, with decidedly unexpected results. Joining Ryan on his adventures are Matthew, the dreamy new barista, Jeremy, the geeky high-school math teacher, and Sam, the pizza delivery boy. Even as misunderstandings and expectations collide, Ian remains determined to right his past mistakes and find his off-ramp to happiness.
Review
I would strongly recommend that you read these books in order to fully appreciate the nuances. Brad does an amazing job of creating this “alternate” world with the Walsh brothers and laying out that time is very non-linear and to ignore all that history is silly.
Sure, technically this is a stand alone – but why? Just read the others – they’re great!
In this story we see – again – people making small decisions that have huge implications which can affect their lives (and other’s lives) and lots and lots of trivia.
I think that you are either a fan of the trivia – in this case old porn – or not – and the rapid-fire game-playing will either charm or repel you.
I find Brad Boney’s writing to be fascinating and I love his alternate world-view and though I wish he’d had a different game plan – one where our MCs spend some actual time together – I always enjoy the time I spend on his books.
This was not my favorite in the series – but still an excellent book.
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.
When a small action completely changes your life, you have to learn how to make the best out of it.
Jeremy’s life is centered on his three-year-old son, Adam, and his work. He’s a single dad, and as such he doesn’t have time for friends or girlfriends. Then he meets two brothers, and with them, a tall, silent man who fascinates him. But Jeremy isn’t gay…right?
Denver thinks he’ll soon be gone from Whitedell. He doesn’t have a family or friends and is with the pride only to do his job, at least until he finds his mate. He doesn’t want to claim Jeremy, but that choice is taken away from him, and he has to learn to live with a mate and a small child.
The two work hard on creating a life for themselves and raising Adam together, but someone from Jeremy’s past works against them. They will have to fight to keep their new family together and to keep Adam safe.
Review
As with books 1-4 Denver is a shifter, Tiger this time, and Jeremy is an unsuspecting human who is also a single dad.
Jeremy, in fact, identifies as straight but open to all types of love, before meeting Denver. Denver, however, is NOT in the market for a mate and tries to brush Jeremy off.
Jamie and his brother have other ideas and push the two together. When Denver accidently cuts himself, Jeremy accidentally ingests some, thus starting their bond. Now it is up to Denver to complete the bond, otherwise Jeremy could die.
In addition, Jeremy’s ex is now wanting the son she abandoned at birth and is giving the Pride trouble.
Luckily they all figure things out and find true love and a HEA.
**
Sure, the storyline is pretty similar, but this book stands out from the rest because of the GFY element, the child/parenting element and (unfortunately) the psycho female ex element.
Though I loved the first two, the last always makes me cringe. If only (female especially) authors would just give the crazy ex some sort of vulnerability and logic that would explain their craziness it would be easier to swallow. Basically we are left wondering how our sweet Jeremy ever hooked up with the psycho beyotch in the first place!
I loved the twist at the end with Adam and look forward to Ani’s story very much!
However… I really enjoyed this book, best of the 5 in my opinion, and I recommend it.
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.
Max Appleton and his mother Celia are are on the run, hiding from an abusive father and husband who’s also a notoriously bad pack leader. When Max hit puberty and it became obvious he’d never make an alpha wolf, his father turned the brunt of his anger toward his inferior son and his beta wolf wife for producing him. Max and Celia find sanctuary in a garden cottage at Holly Court, the sprawling estate where Celia’s oldest friend lives with her pack alpha husband, three daughters, and teenaged son Jonah.
Jonah Spellman has what seems like the perfect life. His family is close, his dad is respected by their whole pack, and he’s been groomed to take over for as long as he can remember. Everything is set, his whole life planned, and Jonah works hard to be exactly what everyone expects. He’s under enough pressure without a runaway from a bad pack complicating his life.
When two teenaged werewolves from very different worlds meet one snowy January day, both of their worlds get turned inside out. From the moment they meet, nothing will be the same for Jonah or Max ever again.
Review
(From Previous Site)
Max and his mother have to leave their pack because Max’s dad is physically abusive to both of them. They find shelter with one of his mother’s friends who lives a little ways away. Max’s father is an alpha, but a terrible and abusive one. They run to another Alpha, but he is awesome, kind and fair.
Jonah is the son of the new Alpha and he is a sweetheart. Everyone loves him, he’s student body president and all around nice guy.
When the two boys meet there is instantly an attraction that the boys can’t deny. They don’t name it for what it is, at least not right away, but they do know they can’t seem to stand to be apart.
Everything seems like a dream come true for Max, he’s left his abusive father to be welcomed into a new family and now he has a new…friend? (He has suspicions there is more to their relationship than friendship, but they are only 16 and boys after all, so a little bit of denial is natural.) This all comes to a crashing halt when school starts back up and Max realizes his new friend is already mated to Zoe and has been since he was 11.
The bulk of the book is Jonah and Max growing more and more close to one another while trying to figure out what to do with these feelings. Zoe senses that the boys are more than friends and she (predictably) begins to cause trouble.
Finally, in a very bloody and sad finale, the issue of mates is resolved, the evil dad taken care of and the very strong beginning for a happily ever after is in place.
I looooved this book!!! MJ O’Shea’s version of shifters is awesome.
This was such a perfect shifter book. I loved the instant, overwhelming attraction, dictated by smell and matched by total compatibility. True soul mates, born on the same day with the same eye color and tastes. It was instantly sizzling chemistry and it was fantastic.
I loved the twist with the omegas and though there were times when I scratched my head at some of the biology, I adored what freedoms it allowed the couple.
I thought that the way the relationship formed was really consistent with teen-agers: sometimes amazingly hot and heavy and sometimes slowed down to just cuddling and hand-holding.
The villains were properly villainous. Just bad enough to cause trouble, but not so overwhelming that they detracted from the love story. Perfect.
The family’s reactions to things was a little odd. But – hey – they’re shifters right? With shifter moralities and traditions. So though it felt strange that the boys slept with one another (just sleeping) every night from pretty much day one and that no one blinked when the two (one of whom was straight and mated to a girl) hung all over each other and no one said anything. It was nice to allow their relationship to unfold slowly even though they were under the strain of the soulbond attraction right from the start.
I loved the sexual tension caused by rut/heat. It made for some compellingly hot reading.
I have no idea if there are more books like this planned, but I really hope there are. MJ is a terrific writer and this shifter-universe she describes is fantastic.
(There were some future stories hinted at – Andy for one…)
I really recommend this book and give it 6 of 5 hearts.
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.
Blurb
