Category: Shifters, Weres

An Ashez Review: An Erie Collection by V.L. Locey

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
This was surprisingly funny.  I didn’t know what to expect going in but this turned out to be an extremely entertaining book.
Templeton – a skunk shifter – honestly, so original I had never read anything like this before – if the traits hold true to skunks it’s quite a fascinating read.
Mikel – kind of run of the mill wolf shifter, though more entertaining in wolf form than I would have thought.
You follow each as they get to know each other with a bunch of action plots and betrayals thrown in – such an easy read due to the excitement and fast paced nature of the book.
I think all of the novellas could have been combined into one pretty epic book – I found myself losing focus after the first book – I loved reading more of Templeton and Mikel, but I also wished they were all one cohesive story.
It stayed true to the action adventure and humour aspects but it fell flat in character development, Templeton and Mikel felt static as the stories progressed and more people were introduced and more action was had.

That being said, reading one story every few months would actually be preferable than binging the collection in one sitting!

Cover Design: Meredith Russell.

Buy Links: 

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 408 pages
Published October 22nd 2018
ASINB07JLVM37V

New Releases Tour for Shadow Voice (Blackwood Pack #5) by Mary Rundle (excerpt and giveaway)

Shadow Voice

Mary Rundle has a new MM paranormal mpreg book out: Shadow Voice.

The Blackwood Pack saga continues…

This is part of an on-going series and reading the previous titles is advised. Readers of the past books will enjoy meeting old friends once more as the pack does what it does best ̶ caring for each other.

Slate, one of the last Dire Wolves, has carved out a life which suits him fine—plenty of traveling to exotic locations and an abundance of one night stands to handle his needs. While he’s happy for his brother, who has found his Fated Mate, Slate isn’t interested in finding his—at least not for a long time. That is, until his body betrays him. Seeking his mother’s help—who is an Oracle—Slate pays a visit to the Blackwood Pack where he finds the Fates have once again, messed with his life.

Dakota, the chef for the Blackwood Pack, fell in love with cooking as a young child and ultimately the kitchen became a place of refuge for him. Suffering with a ‘curse’ through much of his childhood, he relied heavily on his mother’s help to deal with it. After the massacre of his mother and siblings by their greedy uncle, Dakota barely survives, but finally forges a life for himself, content to stay home and take care of the people he loves.

About the Series:

Blackwood Pack

Join the journey of the Blackwood Pack, seven brothers who are gay wolf shifters in search of their fated mates – stories about love at first sight with twists and turns, angst and humor, romance and adventure. Each book has two main characters who meet, fall in love, mate and achieve an HEA but the stories also chronicle the continuing saga of the Blackwood Pack. The series is best appreciated by reading the books in order.

A long-hidden secret, rejection of a mate, acceptance of rare gifts, and a brutal kidnapping are just some of the obstacles Dakota and Slate must battle together to save their relationship. As the pack rallies around them, both must learn to trust the other before they can find the happiness that the Fates have ordained for them…

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon UK | QueeRomance Ink | Goodreads

Giveaway

Mary is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card with this tour. Enter via Rafflecopter:

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Excerpt

Meme - Shadow Voice

Slate ran down the hall, scenting his mate’s cum, determined to find him. Fuck! I don’t even know his name.Down the stairs he went, into the great room, then to the front door. Nearly tearing it off its hinges, Slate stepped out on the porch and saw the torn clothes scattered about. Just as he was about to shift and follow his mate, his father took hold of his arm and using his Alpha voice, forced Slate to stop.

“Dad, let go…my mate ran off and I have to find him!”

“Son, your mother wants to speak to you first.”

Slate fought his wolf, finally gaining control and, as the tension left his body, he slumped against the house. He stared into the woods, hoping to see his mate and when that didn’t happen, he shifted his gaze to his father. “Why did he run off? I thought a mate would rather die than abandon the one the Fates had chosen. I don’t understand it. Why didn’t he like me?”

“Slate, your mate is safe. Talk to your mother. She can help you.” Maximus gently pushed his son into the house to see his mother.

Exhausted, Slate walked to his parents’ suite. He was numb, unable to comprehend what happened and how it went wrong. Never expecting to find his mate so soon after the onset of his first toirchigh, he was confused at his need—the overpowering drive to claim his mate. All Slate knew as he entered the sitting room was that somehow he had fucked up badly. Even his wolf knew it as he keened for his mate.

The man who walked in was in pain, that much Oracle could see. But it was going to get worse before it got better. How much worse depended on her son and what he decided to do. Taking his hand, Oracle led Slate over to a chair, pushed him down in it, then sat beside him. Holding his hand, she began. “Sweetie, tell me what happened.”

Sitting next to Oracle, Slate, remembered all the times during his childhood when his mother was there for him, comforting him when he fell, and chasing the demons in his nightmares away. Drawing in her sweet scent, he confided that he’d found his mate but had been rejected. Rubbing his heart, Slate hated even saying those words, because it made the pain there more intense, so much so, he was sure it was breaking in half. Finally, when he admitted he didn’t even know his mate’s name, the tears began to flow.

Oracle put her arms around her son, gently rubbing his back as he cried. She could feel the sadness enveloping Slate, but she had no quick fixes to make it better for him. Only he could do that and she wondered, for the thousandth time, why her youngest son always had to travel such a hard road in his life. Together they sat, one trying to find the strength to continue, the other giving love and support.

When the tears had finally stopped, Slate took stock of himself, trying to find the hidden well of strength he always seemed to have. Wiping the remnants of his tears away, he looked at his mother. “Mom, I fucked up big time but I don’t know what I did wrong or how to make it right.”

“Let’s see if we can sort it out, okay, sweetie?”

“I’d appreciate it.”

“What are your intentions? Do you want him?”

Slate thought it over and much to his surprise—considering his feelings just a few hours ago—said, “Yes, I do, but I don’t even know who he is.”

“His name is Dakota and he is Jackson’s brother.”

Dakota…Dakota…oh I know him.“He’s the chef, right? Colton told me about his cooking when we were in Mexico.”

“Yes, he is and he loves it. Right now, he is teaching Theo.”

“Maybe I can share some of my recipes with him. Colton said Dakota is always looking for new recipes.”

“That might be a good way for you to get to know him.”

“Good idea, Mom,” Slate exclaimed, but then his face fell. “But first I have to find him and see if he wants me. He ran away from me. What did I do wrong?”

“May I give you some advice?”

“Sure. As you can see, I need all the help I can get.”

“Before you claim Dakota, take some time to know him and let him learn about you, Slate. His story is the key to who he is and will help you understand why he ran.”

“Okay,” Slate said, “I promise I’ll talk to my mate before throwing him down and biting him.”

“That would be a good thing to do sweetie,” Oracle said, smiling gently. “One other thing. I must talk to Dakota before you claim him to explain the gift the Fates have for him.”

“I understand, but first I have to find my mate, Mom, and I’ll bring him back here so you can tell him what you need to.” Slate stood, extending his hand to his mother and helped her up. “I don’t think we’ll make it back for lunch, so will you make my excuses to Jackson?”

“You can do that after you tell him Dakota is your Fated Mate.”

Author Bio

The first book I ever wrote was Dire Warning in 2017 and, much to my delight, it became an Amazon Best Seller. Readers loved it and I was on my way to chronicling the Blackwood Pack, seven brothers who are gay wolf shifters in search of their fated mates– stories about love at first sight with twists and turns, angst and humor, romance and adventure and, of course, happy endings.

Now, five books later, Shadow Voice, another Best Seller, has just been released to critical acclaim. I love the M/M paranormal genre because it gives my imagination a lot of territory in which to roam. My mind can really run wild and come up with some amazing stuff when it doesn’t have to stay inside the box.

My readers tell me they feel like they’re a member of the pack as the stories unfold. As if they’re right there in the middle of the action. Others tell me it’s like watching a fast-paced movie. My writing style pulls no punches– readers love it and are always clamoring for the next book.

Stories come to me as if they were being channeled by my characters, all of whom I love (except for a few villains). They are eager to recount their lives, loves and adventures and are not inhibited when it comes to revealing steamy details.

I currently live in the Northeast and love the beautiful change of seasons, my husband, and our quirky calico cat, though not necessarily in that order. I’m always happy to hear from my readers throughmy website or on Facebook!

Author Website: www.maryrundle.com

Author Facebook (Personal): www.facebook.com/maryrundle69

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/mar

LOGO - Other Worlds Ink

A Caryn Review: Single White Incubus (Supernatural Selection) by E.J. Russell

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I am soooo happy to read and review another book from EJ Russell set in the universe of the “supes” – the supernatural, from all realms.  And as a bonus, this book had cameos from David and Alun of Cutie and the Beast, as well as Mal from The Druid Next Door.  The dedication is to the readers “who fell in love with the Kendrick brothers and wanted more stories in their world”, and all I can say to that is YES! And MORE!

This is the story of Ted Farnsworth – your average lumberjack kinda guy, who also happens to be a bear shifter.  But unlike most bears, he’s generous and actually enjoys being social and interacting with humans, and that desire has gotten him into trouble with the shifter councils and the secrecy pact.  He also seems to have a bit of ADHD, with impulse control and difficulty thinking through to the natural consequences of his actions.  He’s staged a few “sightings” while mid-shift, because the photographer is his friend and down on his luck, and Bigfoot photos pay well.  When the council started threatening him with more severe consequences if he didn’t settle down and act more like a bear, he decided the best way to behave was to get married to a solid, steady kind of guy.  So he contacted the matchmaking service Supernatural Selection which guaranteed marriage to a perfect partner.  Rusty, a beaver shifter with his own construction company, was ideal.

This is also the story of Quentin Bertrand-Harrington, an incubus with a conscience who didn’t want to ever take a lover again after feeding off a boyfriend to the point of near death.  His family was pushing him to marry a human, and he figured the best way to make sure that never happened was to choose a husband from the undead – zombies are gross, but Supernatural Selection found his perfect match with a vampire.  He’d been taking suppressants to tamp down his urges to feed on humans for decades, and they left him weak, and unfortunately, a little bit mentally fuzzy – too impaired to truly pay attention…

With the contracts sealed in blood, all Ted and Quentin had to do was meet their fiancees – but that is when the comedy of errors began.  Turns out they both didn’t pay enough attention to the final drafts of the contracts, and neither noticed that the names were changed in the final contract, and it matched the two of them.  They were married!  And when you sign a contract in blood with the witches council, getting out of it isn’t easy.

There was a delicious slow burn to their romance.  Not quite enemies to lovers, but they both had to overcome a lot of preconceived notions before they were able to really and truly see each other.  And it turned out that a clumsy but good hearted bear was actually a perfect foil to a jaded and withdrawn sex demon.  How they got to that point was the majority of the book, and it was funny, well written, and made me fall in love with both of them.  Both men learned to see their strengths and weaknesses in a different way, and learn that they were indeed valuable and worthy of love.  Their unlikely pairing really brought out the best in each other.

I took off half a star because the final part of the book was a bit rushed, confused, left a lot of strings hanging, and I felt was a little too easily resolved.  The mystery to be solved in the rest of the books in the series was introduced (just who was that sneaky AI and why was he smirking?), but it seemed a bit sudden, and I thought everyone should have been questioning how Ted and Quentin’s first contracts had different names on them in the first place….

Cover art by L.C. Chase is great – clearly defines the book as a comedy, and the bear paw was a great representation of Ted.

Sales Links  Riptide Publishing  |  Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published October 20th 2018 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleSingle White Incubus
ISBN139781626498501
Edition Language English
Series Supernatural Selection

A Caryn Review Fireworks and Stolen Kisses (Lijun #1) by Angel Martinez and Freddy MacKay

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This book had tremendous potential, and I’m sorry I could not give it a higher rating, but as I’ve seen with some of this author’s other works, I felt that there was a lack of editing that could have made it a truly great read.

The setting of the book is an alternate reality where the lijun – beings who have an animal and human spirits and are thus shape shifters – coexist with humans, but secretly.  Although it is not entirely clear, it seems the societal origin of the lijun is Japanese, although the American lijun have native roots.  The world building was a bit incomplete in my opinion, and though there was a fairly extensive glossary at the beginning of the book, I found the necessity of its existence detracted from the book – I would have preferred either fewer Japanese (or perhaps they were made up specifically for this story?) words, or that they would have been introduced in an organic way where the glossary was not necessary.  I am also assuming that a lot of the societal norms of the lijun were Japanese, but again, it is not clear if that was Japanese or specific to this world.  It felt to me that the authors were assuming a greater understanding of Japanese culture than the average reader would necessarily have, and I found myself either a little confused, or just glossing over those sections.

Haru Tanaka was a satislit – a “bride-son”, raised to be bartered in marriage to a different clan for financial and social prestige.  They (Haru is agender) were from Japan, whose lijun community was very traditional and sanctioned outdated ideas like arranged marriage.  Haru was absolutely opposed to what they felt was essentially a family intent to sell them into slavery, and their rebellion broke out in various mischievous ways, culminating in drunkenly leading a group of children and teenagers to completely trash the buffet and hotel pool during an important international conference of lijun.  What should have been complete humiliation to their clan was averted when a wealthy American lijun, Tally Bastille, saw and spoke to Haru and fell in love.  He recognized Haru as his em’halafi, his soul-mate, the destined love of his life, and he approached Haru’s family to arrange a match.

A huge complicating factor is that Haru is an otter lijun, known for being playful and social, and Tally is a serpent lijun, frightening to just about every other clan.  The fact that Tally is wealthy, and is the leader of the Wisconsin lijun (all animal types) is also intimidating to Haru, even though they were raised to be the co-leader of a clan – there were a terms for these positions but I think those would be superfluous for a review.  Haru willfully saw only the negative aspects of Tally, despite all evidence to the contrary.  It wasn’t until after the marriage was legally consummated that Haru told Tally how they really felt – financially and legally obligated to do everything Tally wanted, including sex, and that Haru would never feel equal to Tally, nor would they reciprocate the feelings of em’halafi.  Tally was devastated.

Despite all my frustrations with the world building, the lack of explanation of some of the attitudes of the Japanese lijun (and also the occasional inconsistencies with Haru’s gender – “he” and “him” still snuck in there despite his agender status, another thing that careful editing would have corrected), I still found myself drawn into the building relationship between Haru and Tally.  Tally’s unfailing patience and selflessness eventually convinced Haru of his sincerity, but it was certainly hard won, and the outside challenges – especially the mystery of the murder during the engagement party – were actually very well done and pushed the story as well as their relationship forward.  The book started slowly, as I was bogged down in an unfamiliar culture without adequate explanation, but once I caught up, I really enjoyed it.  Despite the drawbacks, I would still recommend the book, and I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Cover art by Emmy@studioenp is a really lovely representation of the human forms of the two protagonists, but I think it would have been nice to have a hint of their animal forms as well.

Sales Links:

Pride Publishing | Pride Publishing (print) | Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Kobo | iBooks | QueeRomance Ink | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

 

Book Details:

ebook, 1st edition, 246 pages
Published June 26th 2018 by Pride Publishing
ISBN139781786516701
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Lila Review: Rebuilding Hope (Kindred #1) by Jessie G.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Holden Bancroft was born with a better than average brain and not much else. Often described as strange and sickly, his attempts to conform only made him look foolish and a life-long diet of pills hasn’t provided a cure. Deciding to strengthen the only tool in his arsenal was liberating and learning became his greatest joy. But each episode is another reminder that his time is limited, and Holden intends to use everything he’s learned to help the small town of Hope before he dies.

Alpha Crowley Lomond, Zenith of the Americas, isn’t exactly happy with his ascension. Leading isn’t the problem, it’s acting like he’s somehow better than every other shifter that chafes. But while living and working beside them may seem noble, Crowley is more than just an alpha. As Zenith, he’s their example, their teacher and guide, and the one they will turn to when their way of life is threatened.

Meeting changes them in ways they never could have predicted and unveils a web of deceit that began long before they were born. Together, they will have to unravel the lies and reconcile the consequences if they are to protect the shifter way of life. Along the way, Crowley will become the Zenith his Kindred was born to love and their enemies will learn that there’s nothing more dangerous than fated mates.

Rebuilding Hope is a refreshing take on shifters and fated mates. I had trouble following the start of the story but after re-reading the first two scenes it was easier to follow. There’s a lot of new terms and background information that can be confusing too. And the timeline is a bit murky.

I enjoyed Crowley’s and Holden’s first meeting on how taken with each other they were. It was truly a sweet hook-up. It was interesting to see how the fates brought them together, and how they worked as a couple.

The story has a great set of supporting characters and a world build that would take more than one book to understand. There’s a lot more to learn and discover about these characters. It’s definitely a good start to a new series.

The cover by Andrew Reyna matches the author’s styles, but it takes away from the series individuality. I guess it’s a good issue to have when the reader has to stop to see if it’s a new book to an older series. The models do match Crowley and Holden.

Sale Links: Amazon | Nook | iBooks

Book Details:

ebook, 200 pages
Published: September 24, 2018, by Jessie G Books, Inc.
Edition Language: English

Series:  Kindred
Book #1: Rebuilding Hope