Category: M/M Supernatural Fiction

Review:  The Witch’s Wolf ( Fated Destinies Book 1)  by Heather K. Carson

Rating: 3.5⭐️

Spoilers ahead. 

While I enjoyed this book, it’s not without some issues. Here’s the good things about The Witch’s Wolf and those elements I thought were less well executed. 

Spoilers ahead. 

The characters are engaging. A two person perspective until the very end , when a third is unexpectedly introduced, it’s easy to see each character in their mindset(s) and how they are handling the various, often chaotic, situations. 

Sage, the oldest sister is only vaguely gendered until further into the story. I’m not sure why some readers have problems with this.  What is more important is the lack of world building and personal history of both characters. I’m not sure if this is intentional on Carson’s part and will be addressed further in the future books, but its lack is a hole that’s felt here. Especially where their father is concerned. 

Further aspects I found explored or otherwise not well executed surround the characterizations, especially the main characters. 

Sage’s character as well as that of her young sister, Coral,  lived for their entire lives in a sterile, rigidly governed and controlled environment that constructed a false history of the world built on narrative necessary to control its inhabitants. 

But when dangerous events prompted them to flee outside the city, and to a place where they find a new truth and life among those who are like themselves, do they feel deeply traumatized, as one might, by the fact that their previous lives were total lies? That everything they knew was false? Not really.

I kept waiting for a believable, grounded response from Sage, a emotional breakdown or show of shock that she’d been living in a life of lies. And  not getting any believable responses. 

The author did write her other emotional responses in scenes and events that felt credible. But there should be a detailed depth of understanding to get that energy and emotion throughout her personality and character from start to finish. At least not without the necessary narrative explanation here for her storyline. 

Then there’s Maddock, the brother to the crazy Alpha. Maddox is the fated mate to Sage. His inner wolf is treated like a separate entity, an element I’ve seen before, and it works pretty well here.  A interesting but under-explored storyline is the plot of the pack has always been lead by a 3- sibling male line. But due to a “self-inflicted” tragedy, this pack no longer has one, and is failing. 

This storyline should have been more a part of the book but instead it was shoved down and only mentioned rarely. 

Instead the drama was between Maddox and his “broken” drunk Alpha brother. It’s a nonsense plot because as any reader can see , that Alpha is the villain and should be dealt with by the very beginning. So the conflict that goes on nonsensically for 481 pages with this “made up conflict “ well its not realistic within the storyline.  It’s become an element that removes the reader instead.

It does end on a cliffhanger. And introduces the voice of the younger sister, as she’s got the next story. 

My thoughts ? It’s enjoyable.  It’s got faults but the characters are fun enough that I’ll probably be going through to the next story. 

But it’s on my TBR list. And that’s a pile. 

Like the cover.

Published by Blue Tuesday Books Cover Design by Fay Lane

Fated Destinies (3 book series)

The Witch’s Wolf #1

The Broken Mate #2

The Alpha’s Curse #3

Buy link

 Book 1 of 3: Fated Destinies 

Blurb 

Fate doesn’t exist.
But try telling that to the growling wolf shifter who thinks I’m his mate…

This is not my week.
Or month.
Or year.

My now-ex-boyfriend cheating on me with my best friend?
I’d get over it eventually.
Pretentious chefs who looked down on me because I never went to culinary school while I was raising my little sister?
Screw ‘em.
Finding out my sister has Lycan wolf DNA and I have hours to get her out of the city before she’s locked away in a government research facility?
I definitely didn’t see that one coming.

To save my sister’s life, we take off in the middle of the night following cryptic instructions from our late father to what was supposed to be the toxic wastelands.

Imagine my surprise when we stumble into a fairy tale civilization of wolf shifters where magic is real and a frustrating, but ruggedly handsome pack enforcer has serious plans for me.

The big, bad, and hungry wolf thinks I’m his fated mate and he’s not taking no for an answer.

That’s just the icing on the metaphorical cake.
But this isn’t some magical bedtime story.

Real danger exists in the Cerberus pack. There’s a poison in the ranks. Shifters are leaving. My sister isn’t safe.

And a blood-thirsty Alpha murders anyone that challenges him.
Which I may–or may not–have accidentally done…
Did I mention today is not my day?

Each book in the Fated Destinies series is a full length novel told in dual POV where the main hero and heroine get their HEA. This steamy series offers spice without sacrificing the plot. Warning: These books do end on a slight cliffhanger once the individual plots are resolved. Scroll up now and start reading to find out how these fated destinies are interwoven into the overall series.

Tropes:

  • Humor
  • Grumpy/Sunshine
  • Growling Alpha Males
  • Touch her and die
  • Spicy M/F
  • HEA
  • Fated mates
  • Slow burn
  • Publication date: March 1, 2023
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 481 pages
  • Book 1 of 3: Fated Destinies

Review: Breaking Badger (Honey Badger Chronicles, #4) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Books 4 through 6 (to date) focus in on Max’s childhood friends and basketball teammates. These females are also dangerous honey badgers and have been a part of a tight knit group of friends that have run their own small time operations since their school days. It been Max, Streep, Mads, Nelle, and Tock. Through crime and punishment (often with Charlie as backup and safety for the younger girls). 

This is Mads book, and along with the other teammates, get hooked up with the Malone brothers, Keane, Finn, and Shay ,Siberian Tigers, who are searching for the people who killed their father. These Tiger shifters are also related to Max, Stevie and Charlie  as Nat, their younger sister turns out to be half honey badger and a half McKilligan.  Complicated relationships introduced as well as some awkward dynamics  during the last fantastic story .

Laurenston weaves tightly packed, violent action scenes and densely layered storylines into developing new found family bonds and growing group relationships. The “Black Malones” tigers start out emotionally stunted and reactive yet during intense interactions and small one to one conversations, each Malone exhibits surprising emotions and hidden depths. 

And while the focus is on Mads, and her interactions with her awful family and the growing one with Finn, the strengths of this series, the MacKilligan sisters (Charlie, Max and Stevie) still have impactful moments and roles to play here. 

As do others. So many new and familiar characters here , beautifully detailed and engaging in their own personalities. It just one more reason I can’t get enough of this series. 

There’s an overall plot and mystery that seems to be going through the next section of books. It’s a really great one. I can’t wait to see how it’s explained. 

Remember these books are gory, violent and murderous. Blood and body parts everywhere. FYI.

Highly recommended. 

I really like the covers for the series. Great work. Eye catching and character related. 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

  • Hot and Badgered #1
  • In A Badger Way #2
  • Badger to the Bone #3
  • Breaking Badger #4
  • Born to Be Badger #5
  • To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

 Book 4 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles 

Blurb 

It’s instinct that drives Finn Malone to rescue a bunch of hard battling honey badgers. The Siberian tiger shifter just can’t bear to see his fellow shifters harmed. But no way can Finn have a houseful of honey badgers when he also has two brothers with no patience. Things just go from bad to worse when the badgers rudely ejected from his home turn out to be the only ones who can help him solve a family tragedy. He’s just not sure he can even get back into the badgers’ good graces. Since badgers lack graces of any kind . . .

Mads knows her teammates aren’t about to forgive the cats that were so rude to them, but moody Finn isn’t so bad. And he’s cute! The badger part of her understands Finn’s burning need to avenge his father’s death—after all, vengeance is her favorite pastime. So Mads sets about helping Finn settle his family’s score, which has its perks, since she gets to avoid her own family drama. Besides, fighting side by side with Finn is her kind of fun—especially when she can get in a hot and heavy snuggle with her very own growling, eye-rolling, and utterly irresistible kitty-cat . . .

“Filled with high-octane action, some serious snark, and a plethora of humor.. the resulting madcap adventures are sure to please series fans.”

—Publishers Weekly 

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: August 31, 2021
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 370 pages
  • Book 4 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review:  Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles, #3) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Badger to the Bone, the 3rd in the MacKilligan sisters “group” of this series. Now we get to Max, the middle sister and the only full blooded honey badger of the three sisters. 

Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan’s Asian honey badger mother is in prison doing hard time for robbery after their father left her and others caught in Russia after the theft went wrong. She’s been with Charlie since she was young. 

Her personality has been described as family first and psychopathically dangerous. 

She smiles a lot. Apparently that goes with her being a honey badger. They are a violent, vicious breed despite their size.

This takes Max on quite the journey, one that sees her saving someone unexpectedly, taking on a new albeit temporary career, and chasing down criminals, her father and family alike with vicious zest and a ton of weaponry. 

Max is unapologetically who she is. Violent, often aggressive, naked and even murderous. And the author has created her in such a way that it meshes absolutely perfectly with her animal instincts and shifter side. She is a honey badger, no matter what form she is in.  She’s not human and that realistically tracks here. 

And while her other two sisters might be ambivalent at times about parts of their own shifter instincts and abilities, Max has none of those here.

I absolutely howled in parts at certain scenes, and they were both when Max was all honestly and truly honey badger. And deadly. 

The next story starts with side characters and they are great. I’m sure I’ll enjoy those greatly. But Max? She’s fantastic.  And I look forward to seeing her and Zé Vargas, the cat shifter again in upcoming novels. 

Another winner!

I really like the covers for the series. Great work. 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

  • Hot and Badgered #1
  • In A Badger Way #2
  • Badger to the Bone #3
  • Breaking Badger #4
  • Born to Be Badger #5
  • To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

        Badger to the Bone (The Honey Badger Chronicles Book 3)

    

Blurb 

She’s the woman he’s been hired to kidnap. But ZeZé Vargas has other ideas . . . like getting them both out of this nightmare alive. Just one problem. She’s crazy. Certifiably. Because while he’s plotting their escape, the petite Asian beauty is plotting something much more deadly . . .

Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan has no idea what one of her own is doing with all these criminal humans until she realizes that Zé has no idea who or what he is. Or exactly how much power he truly has.

But Max is more than happy to bring this handsome jaguar shifter into her world and show him everything he’s been missing out on. A move that might be the dumbest thing she’s ever done once she realizes how far her enemies will go to wipe her out. Too bad for them Zé is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her alive . . . and honey badgers are just so damn hard to kill!

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Publication date: March 31, 2020
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 418 pages
  • Book 3 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review:  In A Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles, #2) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.5⭐️

A 6 book series, stories 1 through 3 focus on the foundation family of the three MacKilligan sisters.  All three have the same criminal loser and absentee father a honey badger shifter who goes finds female companions like he does trouble, often leaving behind his children (from different mothers). Who then have to deal with his problems as adults. 

The first book centers around the oldest, Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan, a wolf/honey badger shifter who has been the caretaker for her sisters since her mother died.  Now they’ve settled into a sort of normality (for them) in a bear shifter neighborhood in a rental house. And Charlie’s got a bonded relationship with a grizzly bear shifter. 

But all the events in that book sets off a ripple effect that continues here in Stevie’s story. Stevie is the youngest, and the one who has the most issues. She’s brilliant, a certified genius. She’s got mental health issues, starting with extreme anxiety and depression that can cause her to spiral and lose control of her shift.  A concern when she’s a honey badger/tiger shifter hybrid.  The weird mixture of her father’s genes adds to her ability to do some pretty spectacular stuff. 

And for , honestly , some of the best scenes in the book, as well as in the last. 

Laurenston plays with the juxtaposition of how superficially Stevie’s perceived against the reality of what Stevie actually is. Or is capable of. This happens over and over. With multiple people. And I love it. That expectations are often wrong when taken on a simplistic level. 

Of course, this is the MacKilligan sisters, so we get all three and their often hilarious dynamics, fast paced and brutal action, and powerful scenes with full on snarky, clever, and often engaging dialogue. 

Shen, the Panda bodyguard who’s the love interest is vastly different and great in his unique role. He grows throughout the book and into the next. 

If I had an issue, it’s that Stevie kept making excuses for the father, a vile being.  I hope it doesn’t take six books to bring him down. 

This is a definite pleasure to read. And one I’m happy to share. 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

Hot and Badgered #1

In A Badger Way #2

Badger to the Bone #3

Breaking Badger #4

Born to Be Badger #5

To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

        In a Badger Way: A Honey Badger Shifter Romance (The Honey Badger Chronicles Book 2)

    

Blurb 

Petite, kind, brilliant, and young, Stevie is nothing like the usual women bodyguard Shen Li is interested in. Even more surprising, the youngest of the lethal, ball-busting, and beautiful MacKilligan sisters is terrified of bears. But she’s not terrified of pandas. She loves pandas.

Which means that whether Shen wants her to or not, she simply won’t stop cuddling him. He isn’t some stuffed Giant Panda, ya know! He is a Giant Panda shifter. He deserves respect and personal space. Something that little hybrid is completely ignoring.

But Stevie has a way of finding trouble. Like going undercover to take down a scientist experimenting on other shifters. For what, Shen doesn’t want to know, but they’d better find out. And fast. Stevie might be the least violent of the honey badger sisters, but she’s the most dangerous to Shen’s peace of mind. Because she has absolutely no idea how much trouble they’re in . . . or just how damn adorable she is.

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: March 26, 2019
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 418 pages
  • Book 2 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review: The Wolf Vs The Dragon: The Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth #7) by Lauretta Hignett 

Rating: 3⭐️

This is yet another review I found myself editing due to my exasperation with the main character, particularly how, at the penultimate book in this series, the author is still continuing to have Daphne’s character remain in the same place as it was at the beginning of the series. 

Hignett has previously promised some growth for Daphne, especially with her annoyed “2 personality” inner dialogue, an element of the story and character that was highlighted prior as an issue. 

Those constant ongoing conversations between violent‘brain Daphne’ and the other kind, naive and frankly, TSTL Daphne are an element that are repetitive, slow down the narrative, and honestly, irritating at this point. I thought the two halves were reconciled but ,no ,here we are, still with the same ongoing arguments that were old several books ago.  

Brain Daphne: let me stab whoever. Emotional Daphne: No it’s wrong. Brain: stabby Stab! 

ED: no, we must carry on with our internal dialogue while there’s some poor soul watching us stand here. 

Just no. At 23 percent. Well the entirety of the book. Then it gets worse when one part of her calls the other part an idiot. And I’m agreeing. 

Myf, the tortured alcoholic dragon shifter is now an enemy. Guess who is whining about that betrayal after Myf stayed locked in cabinets, soused after drinking binges with Dwayne, for ages, while Daphne deals with other drama? Daphne. SMH. 

There’s multiple side storylines. The ones with Dwayne , which I’m sure will have ramifications in the finale, still feel like literal fluff. 

By the end of the story, while there’s some good stuff here with Myf’s rescue, and a revelation, Daphne’s still such an oblivious, whiny character that I just can’t care about her anymore. 

Daphne has gotten to be unreadable. Dwayne,her companion Chaos god, as well.  

I’ll probably get the last one just to see what happens. But characters like Daphne? Are only interesting to me when they evolve and develop as the series progresses. By book 7, she shouldn’t be the same person as she was in the first novel. Now she’s just one more uninteresting trope.

Too bad because there is interesting mythology and world building going on, and some fascinating concepts here. Those got the rating points. 

Book Cover by Atra Luna Graphic Design

Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth:

The Wolf Vs The Vampire #1

The Wolf Vs The Warlock #2

The Wolf Vs The Shifter #3

The Wolf Vs The Witch #4

The Wolf Vs The Monster #5 

The Wolf Vs The Shadow Fae #6 

The Wolf Vs The Dragon #7

The Wolf Vs The World #8 – Nov 15,2025 – finale 

The Wolf Vs Santa: A Little Christmas Mystery

Buy link 

        The Wolf Vs The Dragon: The Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth

    

Blurb 

I don’t want to hurt her… but she definitely wants to hurt me.

Betrayal doesn’t sting. It hurts worse than that; it feels like a rake over coals, a disembowling, a slow, agonizing stretch on the torture rack.

Myf is hurt, and she’s found someone to blame. She’s focused all her pain on one target.

Me.

The Wolf Vs The Dragon is book seven in the Hidden City Supernatural Sleuth, a hot new Urban Fantasy series by bestselling author Lauretta Hignett.

Review:  Hot and Badgered (Honey Badger Chronicles, #1) by Shelly Laurenston

Rating: 4.75⭐️

“‘So let me sum up-we’ve got one vote for total annihilation and one vote for forcing them to join the hockey team. Am I correct?’ “Yes, “ both females replied.”

Author Shelly Laurenston, who’s quoted above from this hilarious and highly entertaining book, has written many popular novels and series, none of which I’ve read until now. After reading this, I’m going to start through this writer’s inventory like a cat in a catnip patch.  I’m mean there’s a porcupine scene that can have me giggling in crowded places just thinking about it. 

You don’t have to have read any preceding books or series to understand what this is about. It’s so great, the characters are so vividly written, the plotting and locations are written with detail and a eye for creativity that makes this a book that you can’t put down and full of characters that are rich in family love while being absolutely crazy and dangerous. 

I’m talking about the MacKilligan shifter family of honey badgers, which spans the world. From their base in Scotland to the USA where the MacKilligan sisters are, and further out, this wild, often criminal family is the most enduring, entertaining and enterprising group of shifters I’ve met in a long time. 

The core group is the three sisters of the MacKilligan family, oldest Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan who is a honey badger/wolf hybrid, then followed by Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan who is all honey badger and perhaps psychopathic killer, and finally the younger sister, the unstable uber brilliant genius who has certain mental health issues, Stevie. Stevie who’s honey badger and tiger.  A found family with an absent loser criminal father who has repeatedly gotten them into deep debt and international criminal troubles and with their hybrid status a lack of respect and support elsewhere. 

They have been brought up learning to take care of themselves, fighting for their lives in every way possible. I’m talking arsenals. 

They, due to criminal shenanigans by their father once again, end up meeting with a grizzly bear shifter family. The Dunns, a triplet set of siblings into protecting and honey. 

Honestly, it’s fabulous. There’s an entire bear shifter town that’s amazing. I want to go there.  There’s jackals, a shady wolverine pal sort of, and more relatives than anything. 

It’s hilarious, imaginative, the action sequences and battles are fierce! Bloody fun and paranormal wild in the extreme. 

But the core family love is locked in, the family dynamic is believable and compelling. And the dialogue is sparking intelligent and downright entertaining while also making the reader understand the characters and what’s driving them emotionally. 

Honestly, why am I so late to all this? 

Another 3am in the morning read and fabulous finish. Highly recommended! 

Honey Badger Chronicles:

Hot and Badgered #1

In A Badger Way #2

Badger to the Bone #3

Breaking Badger #4

Born to Be Badger #5

To Kill a Badger #6

Buy link

        Hot and Badgered: A Honey Badger Shifter Romance (The Honey Badger Chronicles Book 1)

    

Blurb 

The “hot and humorous” debut of the action-packed shapeshifter series from the New York Times bestselling author of the Pride novels (USAToday.com).

It’s not every day that a beautiful naked woman falls out of the sky and lands face-first on grizzly shifter Berg Dunn’s hotel balcony. Definitely they don’t usually hop up and demand his best gun. Berg gives the lady a grizzly-sized t-shirt and his cell phone, too, just on style points. And then she’s gone, taking his XXXL heart with her. By the time he figures out she’s a honey badger shifter, it’s too late.

Honey badgers are survivors. Brutal, vicious, ill-tempered survivors. Or maybe Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan is just pissed that her useless father is trying to get them all killed again—and won’t even tell her how. Protecting her little sisters has always been her job, and she’s not about to let some pesky giant grizzly protection specialist with a network of every shifter in Manhattan get in her way. Wait. He’s trying to help? Why would he want to do that? He’s cute enough that she just might let him tag along—that is, if he can keep up . . .

  • Publisher: Kensington Books
  • Publication date: March 27, 2018
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 434 pages
  • Book 1 of 6: The Honey Badger Chronicles

Review: License to Curse (The Merlin Mysteries, Book One) by Kim Richardson 

Rating: 3⭐️

I have written and rewritten this review several times.  And finally decided to try and keep it as concise as possible. 

This was a DNF multiple times for me for many reasons but ultimately I finished it and enjoyed it. But I won’t be going further with this series. 

Main issues revolve around the characterization and plot issues. Things and elements that repeatedly occur throughout the story or seem to be a part of the main character makeup which makes any credibility of a magical law enforcement officer impossible. 

Arcane witch Rhea Morven is a newly credited Merlin. That’s a Magical Enforcement Response League Intelligence Network. Basically they’re the magical law enforcement agents who police the paranormal world. Rhea’s got a sketchy family history and wildcard powers. And she’s a newbie. But still an agent with a badge. 

And she’s sent out to an equally sketchy town, Gallows Gate, where a fellow agent disappeared and 3 teenagers have gone missing. 

Should be a great mystery and law enforcement storyline. 

However, author Kim Richardson gives little insight or foundation into the political structure or powers here. So instead of the Merlin coming into town as a powerful magical force or police officer, there’s nothing to this aspect of the plot. 

The agency has given no resources and dumped her. Might as well be a civilian. And she’s whiny. When the Council (and parents) blame her for certain crimes/events that have happened in her absence and without an investigation, she immediately agrees she’s a failure. She’s been there one day. 

People refuse to listen or talk to her. Fine. Off she goes. No procedure. What training? Zero credibility as a Merlin for me as a reader. 

Rhea’s personality too is lacking. Absolutely gullible as written, especially for a trained agent and magically powerful person. Rhea who listens to the person who’s got “big bad Villain“ stamped on their forehead while suspecting the person who’s saved her repeatedly and reeks of ancient great being.  Let’s do that. 

While there are some funny moments and engaging characters, like the ghost who’s attached to the dilapidated house that called the local Merlin office/ home, they’re swamped by scenarios and situations that are frankly eye-rolling. 

The narrative continues to grow less credible as events unfold that the reader recognizes aren’t well developed mysteries but rather easily explained events.  But the author keeps insisting that Morven can’t have the intelligence to guess immediately who and what is going on. 

Example: The previous Merlin who was investigating several cases disappeared ten days ago. Now a new body of a man has been discovered. Looks like he’s been there a while. Week, maybe ten days . Oh no! Whoever could it be? Not like there’s a missing person or something. SMH. 

Then in the dramatic climax and battle, a character turns into a well used trope. Why not. No foundation laid but ok. 

For me this became a kitchen sink paranormal narrative, with little cohesion thrown together with some likable characters but not enough to make me go forward. 

Read it if you’re a fan of this author. 

Cover design by Kim Richardson

The Merlin Mysteries:

License to Curse #1

Witch on Probation #2 – Oct 31,2025

Magical Misconduct #3 – Nov 30,2025

Buy link:

 Book 1 of 3: The Merlin Mysteries 

Blurb 

First day on the job? Missing teens. Dangerous magic. Zero backup.

I’m Rhea Morven, rookie Merlin agent, walking magical anomaly, and proud owner of a cursed bloodline no one trusts.

My first case dumps me in Gallows Gate, a hidden town full of secrets, politics, and creatures that bite. The assignment? Find three missing paranormals before the town tears itself apart. The twist? They’re not just anyone. They’re the children of the ruling council.

Now I’m stuck navigating vampire egos, witch rivalries, and suspicious council members who’d rather see me fail.

Good thing I’ve got a sharp tongue, a dangerous kind of magic, and a very low tolerance for bullsh*t.

Also, there’s a broody shifter with eyes like gold and a tendency to save my life. Not helpful for focus.

They sent me here to fail, but I’m not leaving without a fight.

Love found-family, magical suspense, and snarky witches who bite back? Welcome to The Merlin Mysteries, where a cursed bloodline meets a case from hell.

  • Publication date: July 22, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 281 pages
  • Book 1 of 3: The Merlin Mysteries

Review:  Shift of Morals (Shifter Lords Book 2) by S.E. Babin

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Shift of Morals was another good story, fast paced and action packed. There are new terrific characters, added fascinating story threads, and further exploration of this character’s back history and traumatic experiences that led to this situation and her evolving physical status, whatever it may be. 

I liked Shift of Morals better than Shift of Heart. Evie is growing more multi dimensional and relatable as she faces ever greater challenges and personal dangers. Especially when her worst enemy comes to town. 

Highlights are scenes that include Seymour, the sentient venomous flycatcher plant with major personality, and more fantastic magical powerful elements, especially those of plants where they exhibit the ability to move and think for themselves. Toxic plants are everything!

I’m still not sold on shifter lord, Caelan. He’s still a bit problematic, especially when the author has such other strong good male characters available. Caelan is still being reactive, obsessed, secretive, non communicative, violent. And a bit dimwitted at the end. 

Sigh. Why, why do authors love to write these main characters so much?SMH. 

Still, so terrific writing and elements here. Heading forward! 

Check it out! Especially if urban fantasy or paranormal romance is your thing.

Cover design by Covers by Christian

Shifter Lords :

Shift of Heart #1

Shift of Morals #2

Power Shift #3 – Oct 26,2025

Shifting Winds #4 – Feb 10,2026

Shifting Resolve #5 – March 31,2026

Shift of Rule #6 – May 26,2026

Shift of the Wild #7 – July 28,2026

Buy link

 Book 2 of 7: Shifter Lords 

Blurb 

What do you get when you mix one hot shifter, one angry god, and an absolutely zero chance of keeping things low-key? 

A whole bunch of trouble, that’s what.

Life was so much simpler when Evie’s problems consisted of picking the perfect peony. Now she’s got the gods on her tail and shifters trying to sniff out her secrets.

Then there’s the smoking hot Shifter Lord who has never once thrown a party, hiring her for all kinds of pack events and doing his best to convince her to trust him. But he has an agenda of his own, and Evie is far too smart to let her guard down.

On top of that, there’s a new god in town, one who’s way too good at identifying bloodlines and scenting out lies. She’ll have to dig deep and muster up some of her rusty acting skills to escape his notice, while trying to keep her identity hidden from the rest of the world so intent on finding her.

And if that wasn’t enough, someone is trying to kill her, and they’re getting close to succeeding.

Surviving will require placing her trust in the unlikeliest of allies and deciding just how long she can keep pretending she’s only a demure little florist who has an unfortunate black thumb for drama.

Evie is still a florist. Still a fraud. And still trying to pretend she’s not falling in love.

  • Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
  • Publication date: September 2, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 256 pages
  • Book 2 of 7: Shifter Lords

Review:  Shift of Heart (Shifter Lords Book 1) by S.E. Babin

Rating: 4.25⭐️

S.E. Babin is an author I’ve read before with mixed feelings. Some series I’ve really connected with and others not so much. 

Shift of Heart, the first in Babin’s Shifter Lords paranormal romance series, is one I’m excited about and currently enjoying. 

The description of this book drew me in but, now headed to the next book in the series, I feel that it’s a bit misleading. And needs clarification to begin with on an element that should come with trigger warnings. 

Here’s the lead in.

“In-hiding hedgewitch florist by day. Powerful demigoddess by blood. Shapeshifting immortal by accident.”

That last bit? No accident but a horrifying assault, vividly captured, and for some, as it’s a reoccurring part of the story and a traumatic experience for the character, a element I think should have a trigger warning.  Assault and potentially death. FYI.

Onto the other aspects of Shift of Heart.  The world building is one that’s being assembled as part of the process of storytelling. So we don’t know how humans and nonhumans cohabitate separately as well as they do. Especially as humans aren’t supposed to know about the paranormal beings. And readers just get an understanding of otherworldly politics and governance as events happen. 

It’s a characters that make the story. Especially the found family that exists around the main character of Evie Quinn, a Flouromage who runs a flower shop with her best friends, a vampire, a banshee, and a dryad. With a main goal of being successful while trying to stay hidden from the horrors she’s fled from. As well as her Mother. 

The best friends, are beautifully crafted. Each one has a unique personality as well as fascinating otherworldly qualities due to their species and history. And they’re all very close to Evie. They know her secrets, her past. 

For me they are fantastic and support the story even when I feel that the author has Evie being self destructive and close to a TSTL character. 

Most of that is due to her involvement and interactions with the Alpha of all Shifters in her area.  Toxic relationship is how most people would describe it. 

Although it’s a staple of some romance tropes. Outlooks are changing. 

The Alpha is all “everything/everyone is mine” rawr! If I don’t like it or get it. Let’s destroy it.  So of course, things around Evie are destroyed. 

He fixes it. She tries to or pays for it. Pattern says that it continues. 

To be fair. Caelan, the Alpha, recognizes that there is a problem with his approach. And her friends and a mentor are the ones who will tell Evie that she’s jeopardizing herself and them in this situation. 

But it’s that relationship and story so it’s going to continue on this path. If you find it as frustrating as I did be warned. 

What is worth continuing forward is the multiple mysteries, the mythology and the interwoven relationships between the gods, current events and the characters. That’s intriguing and suspenseful. 

And it’s got me fully engaged in the series and process, and this group of characters. 

Check it out! Especially if urban fantasy or paranormal romance is your thing.

Cover design by Covers by Christian

Shifter Lords :

Shift of Heart #1

Shift of Morals #2

Power Shift #3 – Oct 26,2025

Shifting Winds #4 – Feb 10,2026

Shifting Resolve #5 – March 31,2026

Shift of Rule #6 – May 26,2026

Shift of the Wild #7 – July 28,2026

Buy link

 Book 1 of 7: Shifter Lords 

Blurb 

In-hiding hedgewitch florist by day. Powerful demigoddess by blood. Shapeshifting immortal by accident.

After a terrible divorce left her blindsided, all Evie Quinn wants is a relaxing girls’ trip to Scotland, not a fight for her life with a Chimera shifter—an ancient, secretive enemy with the power to shapeshift into anything with a pulse.

Surviving the attack is a plus, but her goddess mother drops a bomb on her: Living will change everything.

And…it does.

Now she’s hiding out in a small town running a popular flower shop, doing her best to resist the urge to gnaw on raw meat every chance she gets, and badly pretending she’s the same ol’ lovable hedgewitch she always was.

Except, spoiler alert: She’s not.

When a foraging trip reveals a dying shifter in the woods, Evie breaks all the rules to heal him and vanishes before he wakes up. Cue immediate panic when that dangerously attractive shifter walks into her shop a few weeks later, and she finds out he’s the Alpha of every single shifter in the state.

Eep.

Fortunately, he’s only looking for a florist, not Evie. Not yet. But divine magic brews in the skies, and the wild gods are on the prowl, searching for the source of a long forgotten ancient magic they sense stirring once again.

As Evie’s secrets claw their way to the surface, she realizes she may have to team up with the one man who can save her life.

If he doesn’t destroy it first.

For fans of dangerous supernatural tension, enemies-to-lovers romance, and reluctant heroines, Shift of Heart is the beginning of a dangerously addictive and magical new series. 

  • Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
  • Publication date: July 29, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 278 pages
  • Book 1 of 7: Shifter Lords

Review:  How to Trust a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls Book 4) by Shannon Mae 

Rating: 4🌈

How to Trust a Hellhound is the fourth book in the Hellhounds of Paradise Falls series by Shannon Mae. A terrific interconnected series with Mae’s preceding work with crossover characters, here we’re watching an adopted family of Hellhounds find their fated mates, often from a similarly small group of found family of humans friends, starting with a paranormal author next door. 

The humans have, for the most part, damage and horror in their past or present lives, which meshes well with hellhounds intent on delivering justice and dark souls to the underworld. 

How to Trust a Hellhound focuses on adoptive Hellhound father, Wilder, who has returned to his “boys” and the town of Paradise Falls only to find someone who needs him.

That’s human Josh, close friends with Toby (the author and now hellhound mate). It’s been obvious for several books that Josh has been in dire trouble, mostly due to his controlling boyfriend. But here Mae shows us exactly what Josh has been through. The emotional and physical abuse, and the damage it has caused. 

This particular situation and how the characters, especially Josh and Wilder, as well as the various other characters, handled it, was well written.  Multiple reactions, including shock. Anger, withdrawal. Everything reads realistic and painfully true. 

Along with the development of Josh and Wilder’s relationship, which is slow, given the current situation, there’s also the fact that Josh was unaware of the otherworldly beings around him. Hellhounds being number one. That’s was very funny. 

The only aspect of this story I felt was underdeveloped or not as well explored was the big dramatic climax which sets up the next relationship and novel to come.

There’s no foundation for it. Any of it. You could say it was all meant to be a surprise but there should be some kind of narrative shoring up of the plot and aha moments but instead it feels muddled and confusing. 

The author states that originally another couple was to have the next book but she changed her mind because these two were speaking up. I get that. But it feels rushed. 

Especially since it looks to be a very intriguing relationship.  Can’t wait to see how that plays out. 

Recommended! 

Cover design by Morningstar Ashley

Hellhounds of Paradise Falls: (Paranormal Romance) 

How to Flirt with a Hellhound 

How to Hack a Hellhound 

How to Tame a Hellhound 

How to Trust a Hellhound 

How NOT to Kill a Hellhound (Coming Soon)

Linked series:

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures: (Paranormal Romance)

Buy link

 Book 4 of 4: Hellhounds of Paradise Falls 

Blurb 

Wilder 

Angels, demons, hellhounds, Nephilim, and a whole host of other non-mortals—my pack of adopted hellhound sons sure knows how to pick a place. And yet somehow, the most interesting one of all is the sad, quiet human who’s become friends with the pack. Helping people heal and learn to trust is a specialty of mine, but I don’t see Josh as someone to adopt—my hellhound sees him as a mate. The problem? Josh doesn’t believe in anything supernatural. Plus, there’s the vicious and oddly hard to track ex-boyfriend, the meddling but strangely helpful sheriff, the delicate side project I’m working on, and the immortal evil rich guy running around. As I said, my boys sure know how to pick a town. 

Josh 

I’m the boring one. No imagination. No fun. In control. My ex-boyfriend taught me how to let loose and explore things, but then he changed… or maybe I just realized who he truly was. I want someone who cares for me, not someone who controls me, but I don’t think Rick will let me go easily. Everyone is willing to help, though, including the handsome dad of my best friend’s boyfriend. My inappropriate feelings for him aren’t helping matters, though. Not to mention that the more I hang out with everyone, the more my writer friend’s supernatural stories suddenly don’t seem so far-fetched. Something is strange about Paradise Falls, and I can’t help but think that Wilder is more involved than he lets on. 

Tags: It’s always the quiet ones (wink, wink); Josh doesn’t believe in hellhounds, but they believe in him; Wilder is just the hellhound to give Josh all the comfort and healing he needs; Helene is the best therapist for someone who’s been wronged; the entire pack gets involved (of course) and chaos ensues; abusive ex-boyfriends always get what’s coming to them; there’s torture and death (but only of really bad people); hellhounds have tails, and they know how to use them.