Another entertaining read in Laurenston’s Magnus Pack series. Go Fetch features Miki, the hacker/bar owner bestie of wolfshifter Sara. Sara now lives in California with her Alpha mate. But Miki has unresolved issues with Conall Víga-Feilan , who knew he was hooked as soon as he laid eyes on his Alpha’s best friend, the pint-sized Miki Kendrick in Texas.
Their chemistry and dynamics are hilariously different from the previous couple but it’s so good that it keeps the reader happy and invested in their relationship.
The drama and ongoing storyline of pack issues is not well defined or given enough foundation here. It seems to carry over into the third book. But there’s little framework for this intense plot and species plotting.
Had the author laid out a trilogy wide storyline that encapsulated this arc and events this would have been a more compelling and well grounded series and novel.
It’s still highly entertaining and recommended.Just wishful thinking on my part.
How much trouble can one small female be to a modern-day shapeshifting Viking? Well…it really depends on local gun laws.
Conall Víga-Feilan, direct descendent of Viking shifters, never thought he’d meet a female strong enough to be his mate. He especially didn’t think a short, viper-tongued human would ever fit the bill. But Miki Kendrick isn’t some average human. With an IQ off the charts and a special skill with weapons of all kinds, Miki brings the big blond pooch to his knees—and keeps him there.
Miki’s way too smart to ever believe in love and she knows a guy like Conall could only want one thing from her. But with the Pack’s enemies on her tail and a few days stuck alone with the one man who makes her absolutely wild, Miki is about to discover how persistent one Viking wolf can be.
I’m continuing my journey through Shelly Laurenston’s catalog and started in on the Magnus Pack trilogy as it’s focused on three closely knit girlfriends. Each has her own story, only one of which is a shifter but there are shifters in each connected story.
Things to consider first. These are sexy, sexy tough women and the stories are full of scenes that flow accordingly. If you’re looking for sweet content, you might want to look elsewhere.
Considering my favorite series is Laurenston’s honey badger series I really enjoyed it. IYKYK.
The first character and girlfriend is a heavily scarred, damaged, pain-filled woman, Sara Morrighan. With scars across her face and a limp from a badly damaged leg when she and her dad were attacked by mountain lions and she was left for dead.
Sara, along with her best friends, Miki Kendric and Angelina Santiago, keep an eye out for each other, keeping each other safe and supporting them. Especially Sara, raised by a crazy grandmother and has an employer/surrogate father, Marrec, owner of a local motorcycle shop.
But the small Texas town has secrets. Sara’s life is about to change, she’s getting aggressive and her leg is still full of pain.
Then a group of people on motorcycles rides into town. Zack, one of them, shows an immediate reaction to Sara. One that’s returned.
This is a very good fast paced story about someone who doesn’t know what she is. And is about to find out the hard way. There’s shifter battles, tons of great sex scenes and wonderful chemistry between characters that makes the instant lust realistic.
The three women are hilarious together. The sisterhood is alive and well and relatable here. We absolutely believe these women grew up together and know each other inside and out. The dialogue is amazing.
Some world building feels under explored as does the shifter universe here. But on the individual level, it’s exciting and sexy storytelling.
What’s an Alpha Male to do when he meets the Alpha Female of his dreams? Step one, hide all sharp objects.
All Zach Sheridan ever wanted was to become Alpha Male of his Pack and to be left alone. What he definitely didn’t need in his life was some needy female demanding his attention. What he never saw coming was the vicious, scarred female who not only demanded his attention but knew exactly how to get it.
Sara Morrighan knew this was the best she could expect from her life. Good friends. A nice place to live. And a safe job. But when Zach rode into her small Texas town with his motorcycle club, Sara knew she wanted more. She knew she wanted him. But after one sexy encounter with her dream biker, everything is starting to change. Her body. Her strength. That new thing she’s doing with the snarling. Even her best friends are starting to wonder what’s going on with her.
But this is only the beginning. Sara’s about to find out her life was meant for so much more. And Zach’s about to find true love with the one woman who makes him absolutely insane.
Family and Honor (Jacky Leon, #2) by K. N. Banet is another example of the second book in the series moving forward with character development, overall depth of series foundation and plot structure in such an exciting and fast paced way.
I honestly loved it better than the first for many reasons. Banet brings Jackie back into her territory, her home base where she’s comfortable. So we see a different aspect of the character. Right before the author begins to shake Jackie’s base and hard won stability up again.
An impulsive contract made because, once again the human child Carey is involved, will be the one thing that will pry open the solid isolation from werecat politics that Jackie’s maintained.
And ends up bringing her back into contact with her werecat family.
Banet has written a complicated, high paced, multi layered book. It has murder mysteries to investigate, multiple paranormal species involved, travel outside of Jackie’s territory, and further exploration into her family dynamics and history.
A real exciting, emotional thriller! Another late night finish! Just fantastic! Highly recommended!
I got away with it. Carey and her family are safe and I survived to tell the tale. Now I’m the only werecat in the supernatural community that can say a small family of werewolves lives in my borders. But, in the effort of saving Carey and helping her father, I had to begin shedding the secrets that kept me safe for years.
My identity is out there now. As one of Hasan’s children, more is expected of me and I had no idea what sort of repercussions would come from my decisions. Werecats are reporting problems all over the world and when two go missing, I can’t avoid the feeling of guilt.
My name is Jacky Leon and I am a child of Hasan, ruler of the werecats. I have to learn how to live up to the obligations and expectations of my family before more people die.
I’m reading a lot of strong women main character centric content, mostly urban fantasy and paranormal stories. Luckily there’s so much out there to explore from a multitude of writers as it’s a very popular genre, something I’m very excited about.
Oath Sworn, the beginning of the Jacky Leon series by K. N. Banet, is a strong start into the series, and really great take on this popular trope.
Banet is a new to me writer, and I’m unfamiliar with The Tribunal universe that this series takes place in. However, I don’t think that not having read other books from other series impacts on my experience here. The world building is slowly layered in as the events occur, giving them a solid foundation and putting the political and governmental system in place as needed.
What or should I say who really does it for me here is the main character, Jackie Leon. She’s a werecat. In this story one on a mission to recover a human child stolen out of her care by a werewolf gang. She’s tracked them down and is bent on retrieving the child, which means violating The Tribunal Laws.
It’s a terrific story with lots of storytelling and plot lines to develop and carry through to completion. It introduces Jackie, some of her origin story (part of which is an ongoing mystery). Her troubled dynamic with her werecat father, and current life. Then the father of the human child, Carey Everson , stolen from her. He’s the current Werewolf Alpha, and wolves and the werecats are vicious enemies historically.
There’s so many emotional undercurrents and unresolved conflicts between the species, so tensions are high, constantly threatening the tentatively established peace and process needed to search for Carey amidst rising enemies.
The story is extremely well written. The action is fast paced and often emotionally charged.
Each species is well defined and there no romantic relationship. But a hint of what might be developed in the future.
I liked that Banet wrapped up this story completely so we start fresh in the next book.
I’ve never been the type to find trouble. Owning a bar takes work and that was all I wanted. Serving cold beers and paying my taxes. Those were the responsibilities I wanted for the rest of my life.
I didn’t ask to be a werecat. I didn’t ask for the responsibility to uphold an ancient treaty. I didn’t ask to get pulled into the middle of a werewolf pack’s coup.
But Carey Everson, the very human daughter of a werewolf Alpha, needs me. Her father’s enemies are on her heels and I’m her last defense. And I’ll be that defense until my final breath, even if it means challenging the very Laws that govern the supernatural. I gave her my word.
My name is Jacky Leon and nothing is going to stop me from honoring my word.
The Jacky Leon series is an Urban Fantasy series with a slow-burn romance.
I loved Veiled Justice, the first book in this series but feel that this excellent story far exceeds my expectations for the second novel and character development.
Krieg, King of the Orcs and Detective Stacy and her companion caladrius, Loki are back in action in a fantastic new story. Stacy and Krieg are further along in their new relationship. They are getting to know each other, their history as Krieg continues to make himself a part of Stacy’s life, professional and personal.
This is happening, framed around several brutal murders. Each rawly heartbreaking that’s so realistically relayed by the followed investigative scenes to the next of kin.
Writing that shows it doesn’t have to be current fiction or fantasy for losses and brutality to hit hard.
This type of storytelling continues throughout this book.
As all involved, Stacy and her team, race to uncover the killer before another is kidnapped, the suspense is ratcheted up and the tension is heightened.
Towards the end, we see exactly the toll this case has taken on Casey, and a hidden part of her story is partially revealed.
There is also something going on with Loki that’s subtly disturbing. I don’t believe it was part of this storyline. So now I can’t wait for the next book to come.
Harris has a fantastic series here that’s complicated and getting better with each new story.
This might be my favorite series in a multi-series universe.
Highly recommend this and dive into this universe if you’re not familiar with it already. I’ve listed the reading order below.
Cover design by Christian Bentulan. Published by Hellhound Press Limited.
The Other Realm Universe: Should be read in order to understand the world and characters .Events and relationships build upon each other.
The Other Realm series
⭐️Glimmer of Dragons- Book 0.5 (a prequel story),
Glimmer of The Other- Book 1, Glimmer of Hope- Book 2,
Glimmer of Christmas – Book 2.5 (a Christmas tale),
Glimmer of Death – Book 3,
Glimmer of Deception – Book 4,
*It is recommended that you read The Other Wolf books 1 to 3 before continuing with
Challenge of the Court– Book 5,
Betrayal of the Court– Book 6
Revival of the Court– Book 7.
⭐️The Other Wolf Series
Defender of The Pack– Book 0.5 (a prequel story),
Protection of the Pack– Book 1, Guardians of the Pack– Book 2, Saviour of The Pack– Book 3, Awakening of the Pack – Book 4, Resurgence of the Pack – Book 5; and Ascension of the Pack – Book 6.
⭐️The Other Witch Series
Rune of the Witch – Book 0.5 (a prequel story),
Hex of the Witch– Book 1,
Coven of the Witch;– Book 2,
Familiar of the Witch– Book 3; and Destiny of the Witch – Book 4.
A drowned dryad. Ritual markings. A killer who isn’t finished.
They pulled her from the lake – young, beautiful, and very, very dead. As Chester’s only magical Detective Inspector, I get the cases the Common police can’t handle, and this one has Other Realm written all over it.
When the medical examiner discovers runes carved into the corpse’s bones, I know we’re in for a bumpy ride. Elemental runes. First victim drowned. My gut says there’s more coming, and my gut is rarely wrong.
Then a centaur drops out of the sky, literally, and my theory’s confirmed. The only link between the victims? Botany, a vampire-owned bar that serves the magical and the mundane… and never seems short of trouble.
I’ve got a new unit at my back, Unit 13, and we’re still figuring out how to work together. Add Krieg, the King of Ogres – deadly, smart, and far too good at getting under my skin – and things get complicated fast.
With a killer on the loose and the clock ticking, we’ll have to move quickly… or the next body that drops may well be one of ours.
Immerse yourself in The Other Detective Series – perfect for fans of supernatural crime, complete with a fierce heroine, gritty murder investigations, and a slow-burn romance.
My Kind of Town by Shelly Laurenston is a paranormal shifter romance that was previously written for and published in another anthology. I didn’t read that one. And it was the cover and the author’s fantastic honey badger series that drew me here.
I liked this but found that it’s the promise of its elements for future books the most intriguing. The main couple is engaging if not fully explored.
Thats primarily the issue with this story. Great ideas, an interesting storyline with fascinating magical characters and elements but none of those are really explained or given any meaningful foundation here. A coven with their powerful dark magic and found family ? Absolutely to know more.
A dying coven with different powers and magical abilities? Ok, so what happened to them?
The story offers up more questions than answers about the characters and never answers the original story plot about what brought Emma Luchessi, the Long Island witch down to the southern town of Smithville.
That gets forgotten totally.
So yes, I enjoyed it. Saw so much promise, and hope that the author ventures back to Smithville to finish what this story begins.
Pretty much instant sex, instant lust, well, you get it.
Emma Luchessi may be a witch from Long Island but she is used to her life being quiet. Some may even say boring. She doesn’t mind boring. Boring is safe. Calm. Peaceful. Like beige. One doesn’t get into trouble with beige. But a wrong turn off a southern highway is about to turn Emma’s beige life into everything but boring.
Kyle Treharne’s a good ol’ boy with a sheriff’s badge and a difficult population to manage. He wishes he had to worry about gangs and drugs and car-jackings. Instead, he has to worry about big cats fighting with wolves, bears fighting over honey, and hyenas fighting with everyone. And now, out of nowhere, he’s got a human outsider riling up all the locals by asking too many questions. She’s just so paranoid. And doesn’t trust Kyle a lick. These city gals. They just don’t know how to relax, do they?
Of course, Kyle is a big cat. He knows how to relax and he’d be more than willing to help Emma learn how. He’d be willing to help Emma do all sorts of things if she’d just give him half a chance.
But it turns out Emma coming to Smithville isn’t a simple accident. She’s been brought here and she’s bringing change and danger right along with her. Lucky for Emma, Kyle and the rest of the town like a bit of danger…
This story was previously available in the Sun, Sand and Sex anthology.
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
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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!
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.
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.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 