Category: Shifters, Weres

A Caryn Review: Cutie and the Beast (Fae Out of Water #1) by EJ Russell

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I LOVE fairly tale retellings!  And of course, Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorites because I am such a sucker for that hurt/comfort trope.  I also think that a fairy tale retelling is a good way to showcase an author’s creativity – being original while still following the basic skeleton of curse and redemption and attraction to the inner beauty is hard to do when it’s been done so often! 

This retelling brings in a lot of Celtic folklore, combining the Irish, Welsh, Scots, and British fae in the Unified Seelie Court, as well as adding the more modern paranormal elements of vampires and shifters, and then throwing in some Druids just for fun, to create the world of the “Supes”.  Dr. Alun Kendrick is the “shrink to the supes” – an exiled Sidhe warrior who is now a psychologist  in Portland, catering to the mental maladies of the supernatural, as well as treating humans who have been accidentally exposed to (and traumatized by) supes.  His is a very specialized, and private, practice and he intends to keep it that way.

David Evans is an earnest and enthusiastic young man who works at a temp agency.  He’s been intermittently going to nursing school which is his passion, but in the meantime is working to support his terminally ill Aunt Cassie.  David tries, he really does, but every job he lands ends up in disaster as things just seem to happen around him – that riot in the dentist’s office?  Totally not his fault.  Besides, he’s done some transcription for Dr. Kendrick, and his voice is so swoon-worthy, he just has to meet the man.  So when the office manager position came open, it only took a little prevaricating to get it, and David just knew that he would do a fabulous job.  It was fate, it was right, and damn it, he was going to make it work.

The first day, however, didn’t go as planned.  Dr. Kendrick’s voice is just as smooth and dulcet as David remembered, but that face? 

He looked like the victim of a failed experiment on the island of Dr. Moreau who’d tried to get the results fixed at a cut-rate back-alley plastic surgeon.

But David is nothing if not determined, and even in that initial hostile meeting he noticed something more, something worth putting up with all of Dr. Kendrick’s glares and attempts to get rid of him in order to break through to the man beneath the ugly.  David’s irrepressible cheerfulness, his sublime coffee, the color he brought into the sad grey office, and his uncanny insight into client’s problems did catch Alun’s attention, but his dancing clinched it.

Stubborn, impudent, maddening, human David, with his wildly colorful office accessories, constant challenges, and the worst dancing Alun had seen in over two millennia.  Goddess strike him blind, but the man was bloody wonderful.

Thus the two men become a unlikely partners drawn into a conspiracy that could destroy the Unified Seelie Court and endanger all supes, in both fae and human worlds.  In the process, they finally solve the mystery of a centuries old murder that led to Alun’s curse, and both men find out there is more to them than they believed.

I loved the entire wild ride, from the dull, lifeless office to the magical, glittering world of Faerie.  I loved the secondary characters, the clients, the druid aunties, and especially Alun’s brothers Mal and Gareth (who will be getting their own books in the future, yay!).  We have an exciting plot, character growth, great dialogue, beautifully described settings, and it was also freakin’ hilarious.  What more can you ask from a book?

I didn’t really have a place to put it in this review, but must include this last quote:

“What about that poser guy?  Jackson.  What’s he?  Demon?  Troll?  Were-jackal?”  “Worse.”  Alun’s voice dropped to a husky whisper.  “Lawyer.”  David gulped…

Regarding the cover art by Lou Harper:  before I read the book, I have to admit I thought it was a little annoying, and I didn’t like the model’s smirk.  Now that I’ve read it, well, that is David!

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 283 pages
Published July 24th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleCutie and the Beast
ISBN 1626495998 (ISBN13: 9781626495999)
Edition LanguageEnglish
URLhttp://riptidepublishing.com/titles/cutie-and-the-beast
SeriesFae Out of Water #1

An Alisa Review: Burning Now by A.R. Moler

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

What do you do when the body in the burned building turns out to be alive?

 

Fireman Gideon Sato stumbles over a man oddly still alive and in remarkable health in the ashes of a warehouse fire. A strange connection runs between Gideon and the man, Vanya Stravinsky, despite Vanya’s confusion and loss of memory.

 

Vanya, a chef, gets mugged after work one evening. He wakes up, nude, in the ashes of a fire. He doesn’t remember much of what happened, but he can guess how he got there. He too feels that connection with his rescuer, but he’s got to decide how much to tell Gideon. Not to mention, the cops think that Vanya was up to no good in that warehouse fire.

 

Somehow Vanya and Gideon have figure out what’s really going on and also prove Vanya’s innocence. Life just got complicated!

 

This was a nice story.  Gideon feels a strong connection to Vanya when he finds him in the rubble of the fire and can’t help but keep thinking of him.  Vanya tries to remember how he got into the building but at the same time needs to keep his secrets.

 

We see both characters’ points of view in this story and can see how they feel throughout the book.  It seemed strange that Vanya didn’t know too much about his heritage or shifting while at the same time trying to explain it to Gideon.  While I liked Vanya finding the one and Gideon finally finding the relationship he has been looking for I just felt as if something was missing.

 

The cover art by Kris Jacen is nice and goes well with the story.

 

Sales Links: MLR Press | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 85 pages

Published: June 7, 2017 by MLR Press

Edition Language: English

A MelanieM Review: Werecat: The Sim Ru Prophecy by Andrew J. Peters

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

The final installment of the Werecat series, a finalist in the 2016 Romance Reviews Readers’ Choice Awards.

A fugitive from two murder investigations in New York City and a bizarre, big cat attack at a bank in Barbados, Jacks Dowd flees to South America to find the ringleader of a shifter terrorist organization deep in the Amazon. The world is on the brink of all-out war between shifters and humans, and Jacks needs to somehow broker a deal for peace.

But a special U.S. intelligence agency emerges as a new, possibly even more dangerous enemy. Both the terrorists and the U.S. government will stop at nothing to get an arcane codex that could unleash an unstoppable threat to mankind or exterminate werecats everywhere.

While Jacks dodges danger from both sides and decodes the ancient book, he’s left with the impossible choice of how to use it.

Final installment?  Hmmmm, maybe…..

I say that because when I finished the story, the first thing I did was write the author asking if, surely, there was another story just around the corner because you couldn’t leave Jacks and the Werecat series like this.  No, there wasn’t a cliffhanger. But there was left open the possibility that Jacks still had a huge task to accomplish, one I very much wanted to read about because this is a wonderful series.

Werecat: The Sim Ru Prophecy takes up right after the last story, The Fugitive ends, with the threat of interspecies warfare, Jacks trying to track down the head of the murderous werecat splinter group called The Glaring and the world on the edge of exploding.  Peters continues to build his intriguing mythology here, bringing in more ancient history and god elements.  As Jacks investigates how the werecats came into being in his search for the werecat leader Tepe in the jungles of South America, the reader gets pulled deeply into the mysteries the author is constructing.  There are more murders, increasing mystical elements and of course a government/military conspiracy worthy of any major action/adventure movie.

Throw in Jacks and his human lover, Farzan, still trying to steady their relationship, and Jacks realizing the reality of the human/werecat age span, and still have a romance /love affair and this story has oodles to offer.  That is if any of them get out of this alive.  The odds are definitely not in their favor!

I gobbled up this book in one quick read, I couldn’t get to the next scene fast enough.  So much action, so much  suspense and yes, a ton of surprises here.  And I can’t talk about any of them because everything is folded in together, melded like one great riveting mythological tapestry, that to give out one fact, just points to another spoiler and that’s just not going to happen.  Wonderful writing and great storying telling here.  It made me want to smack all four books together for one continuous read.  I just may do that.

The characters are real and believable, the settings vivid and authentic and the situations tense and suspenseful.  Trust me it’s a white-knuckle ride most of the time.

Why not five stars?  Because of that little nudge towards another story.  Peters would only say it’s not in the works yet.  Argh!!!!  We need to know what Jacks is going to do next…the future awaits him and us.  Andrew J. Peters, are you listening?

Until he does, grab up all the Werecat stories and read all the way through to this one.  What an amazing saga!  It’s a series I highly recommend.

Cover art works, especially with that wall in the backdrop.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 287 pages
Published June 27th 2017 by Vagabondage Romance
ASINB072WT8PPN

An Alisa Review: Different Dynamics by Tamir Drake

Rating:  4.25 stars out of 5

 

Richard doesn’t mind being an omega; all he cares about is playing good hockey, even though it means ignoring the media that tries to rip him apart for it. They don’t think omegas should be allowed on the ice, but he gets along fine. He’s team captain. He can play with the best of them.

 

The one sticking point is his heats; Richard might be on suppressants, but he’s one of the unlucky ones who still gets a heat every four months or so. They suck to deal with, especially alone, but seeking out a heat partner isn’t an option. The PR nightmare alone keeps him from any kind of hook-up. He can’t risk it. Hockey is all he’s got.

 

When Richard’s heat comes early while his team is on a roadie, teammate and best friend James helps him out of a bad situation. Tired of hurting, Richard decides it’s better not to go it alone. And James is safe and warm; he’s a great alpha who knows just what Richard needs. When Richard also imprints on big, bad rival player, Dmitry Sokolov? There’s sweet comfort in a three-way with lots of knotting and dirty talk.

 

Richard might be on cloud nine.

 

I really liked this story.  Considering Richard is an omega he knows next to nothing about his own biology other than the fact that he still gets heats even with the suppressants.  He has never had anyone to help him through his heats before and isn’t sure what to do about how he is feeling but with James and then also Dmitry they are able to take care of him.

 

Richard has always had to keep his guard up and protect himself from the nay sayers, but watching him finally have the opportunity to give up his control and let James and Dmitry take care and protect him was wonderful.  This story is told from Richard’s viewpoint so we can see his confusion and helplessness when it comes to how this heat reacts to his medicine and hormones.  James and Dmitry make it clear that they want to be there for Richard in the future in which Richard is hopeful for, but there is mention about both of them having to be there for heats and Dmitry doesn’t live near Richard and James.  I’m not sure if it can change by heat or if he will continue to need both of them if they continue their relationship.

 

Cover art by Natasha Snow is great and gives us a great visual of Richard.

 

Sales Links: Nine Star Press | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 63 pages

Published: June 26, 2017 by Nine Star Press

ISBN: 9781947139329

Edition Language: English

A MelanieM Review: The Werecat Trilogy by Andrew J. Peters

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The first three installments of the Werecat series: The Rearing, The Glaring, and The Fugitive, in one eBook or paperback.

Twenty-two-year-old Jacks is on a mission to drown his past in alcohol when he meets the handsome drifter Benoit on a lost weekend in Montréal. It’s lust and possibly something more. Jacks never suspects that a drunken hook-up will plunge him into the hidden, violent world of feline shifters.

Benoit traps him in an arcane ritual to be joined as mates, from which Jacks emerges with fantastical abilities and a connection to Native traditions that were buried by his family. But his new existence pits his human instincts against his wild animal nature. When Jacks meets the young medical student Farzan, who wants to be with Jacks no matter what or who he is, Benoit’s feline jealousy rages like an inferno.

Jacks must figure out how to survive with his dual nature and a boyfriend who will kill any threat to their relationship. When a secret society called The Glaring shows up with a plan to exterminate humankind, Jacks will have to work quickly to gain command of Benoit’s magic before the world shatters into a war of man against beast.

WereCat: The Trilogy is the first collection of stories I’ve read by Andrew J. Peters and I’m impressed by his writing.  Peters did a splendid job of building a mythology for his werecats, creating a universe complete with a division within the werecat community that’s building towards all out war, and yet he doesn’t miss out on the smaller details needed to pull you back down into the immediate lives of his main characters and the drama/mating that is derailing all of their lives.

Peters has also departed from most of the other shifter stories here in that this is not one of those meet/mate/instant love stories.  In fact, it’s as far from one of those as you can get.  Without giving too much away, the romance here is not where you will be expecting it.  What Peters does deliver is concise and realistic portraits of werecats/beings acting exactly how you would expect them to act under varying circumstances.  As individuals with their own powerful emotions,  with the bodies of huge cats to use as weapons or assert control if they want to or need to.  As you watch the dynamics shift between Benoit and Jacks, the stress and tension Peters creates becomes so huge that the reader is almost afraid to turn the page.

Farzan, the human medical student is another wonderful character.  Fragile according to werecat standards, Farzan has strengths that allow the reader to connect with him ways that maybe aren’t there with the other characters.  He is surrounded by family that loves him and has a further connection to the human race that’s missing from the werecats, an important element in the larger picture.

Each story moves the reader through an  ever increasing major storyline of global warfare against humanity by a splinter werecat group called The Glaring and Jacks attempts to stop it.  The Fugitive, the last story in the trio, sees Jacks on the run and ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. Although it brings some of the storylines to a completion, the main one is still ongoing, waiting to be fulfilled in Werecat: The Sim Ru Prophecy  which is coming up next.  That’s where I’m headed.  I can’t wait to see what I find.

Until then, if you love shifters, want a bit of a different take on the usual mating ritual, and don’t mind a departure from the romance path  (although there is one),  pick up Werecat: The Trilogy.  I highly recommend them all.  Great stories!

Cover is a dramatic and,imo, beautiful representation of Benoit in both his human and panther forms.  I love it.  The only thing is Benoit’s eyes never changed in both forms.

Purchase at:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 

 

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 250 pages
Published November 1st 2015 by Vagabondage Romance (first published November 15th 2014)
ASINB017HTCRPM
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesWerecat #1-3

A finalist in The Romance Reviews’ 2016 Readers’ Choice Awards, Action-Adventure category

An Alisa Review: Prise de Fer by A.R. Moler

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

Chemistry major Kelly Hendrick has lusted after his analytical chemistry professor Simon Randall for a several semesters. They share common interests in reading, fencing, and, of course, their chosen career field.

 

Now several semesters past being Dr. Randall’s student, Kelly finally dares to cross the line and pursue his attraction to the professor. He finds the feeling reciprocated, but there are deep, more than human secrets in Kelly’s life.

 

An assault on Simon forces Kelly to confront the idea that Simon needs to know more if they’re going to be together. Can Kelly own up to non-human genetics and still maintain his growing relationship with Simon?

 

This was an enjoyable story.  Simon has continued to try and keep Kelly at arm’s length in order to keep any feelings he may have at bay.  Kelly embraces his friendship with Simon and is willing to let that be all they have if Simon refuses to have more.

 

I felt as though I was watching this story from a distance and didn’t really connect with the characters.  Kelly struggles with the reality that he would need to tell Simon about his true nature but isn’t sure when that would be the right time.  Simon doesn’t put up too much resistance once Kelly really makes a move once he isn’t his student anymore.

 

The cover art by Written Ink Designs is nice and works well for this story.

 

Sales Links: JMS Books | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 47 pages

Published: June 3, 2017 by JMS Books

ISBN: 9781634864084

Edition Language: English

A MelanieM Review: Feral Dust Bunnies (Offbeat Crimes #4) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

An orphaned kitten may be the only witness to romance and the impossible.

Officer Alex Wolf responds to a lot of ‘paranormal’ calls that aren’t. Exotic pet birds aren’t monsters and unusual dog breeds aren’t aliens. It’s a good thing he likes the animal control officers, but he both yearns for and dreads those calls where he runs into ACO Jason Shen. Jason’s scent is so delicious that Wolf has a difficult time humaning around him.

Animal control calls take a disturbing turn, though, when Wolf and his lizard-man partner, Krisk, discover the impossibly mummified bodies of rats and an unfortunate mother cat. The rescue of the cat’s sole surviving kitten not only gives Wolf more time with Jason, which is both perplexing and wonderful, but also leads to dangerous discoveries. Something inconceivable stalks the city and its officers of the law. Wolf has to figure out what it is before it can attack and drain the life from the people and the kitten he loves.

I should know by now that the cuter the title the scarier the story with this series and Angel Martinez.  I mean we started at Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters which laid down the universe and characters (book 1) and with each story after, the author has been ramping it up!  The monsters have been scarier, the romances more heartwarming, the couples and their various backgrounds far more fascinating and absorbing than it might appear on the surface…it just keeps getting better and better.  Next came giant pills bugs in space (The Pill Bugs of Time (Offbeat Crimes, #2).   Trust me, that’s something that doesn’t bear thinking about too closely.  Great story though.  Followed by two of my favorites, animated clothing in love (Hunter Green Pea Coat (Offbeat Crimes, #2.5) and the truly remarkable, almost unimaginable verse spitting flying books and a vampire with blood issues (Skim Blood and Savage Verse (Offbeat Crimes, #3).

Then Feral Dust Bunnies showed up. Be still my heart!  If I was one of those people who used emojis in their reviews, I’d be throwing them everywhere. Hearts and stuff. Why?  Because I loved this story.  First of all.  That title!  Hooked!  I always knew those suckers were alive!  Next up.  The characters.  Wolf and his  lizard partner Krisk were always mentioned in the other stories as being good if strange and uncommunicative officers of the 77th Precinct, the one that handles the offbeat and downright weird crimes.  Feral Dust Bunnies gives us the real insight into their partnership and Wolf’s background, and such a sad one it is.  He’s an actual wolf, cursed as a pup and turned into a human.  The full story is actually poignant as is his continuing attempts to navigate the human world through a wolf mind.  Martinez does an amazing job of making Wolf such a believable being.  We’re in his head and heart as he tries to work through the simplest of things as a grocery list which can still confound him yet have the great skill set to solve the most difficult of crimes.  He’s given an amazing foster mother to help him work through daily life tasks and be his support as well as a great friend and partner in Krisk whose story we’ve yet to hear.

In one awful event, two amazing things happen for him and the readers.  Wolf finds an orphaned kitten and he calls on the services of ACO Jason Chen, who makes Wolf want to lick him.  I tell you, these two characters (and yes Audacity the kitten is a full blown character) are almost beyond description they are that good!  Wolf’s  interaction with them, I want to say Audacity, but you really can’t leave Jason out of any of it, is intimate, tender, believable and will leave you with a hurt face, because you’re smiling too much over each scene.

Of course, Wolf is never alone.  His ‘pack’ is the other officers at the 77th Precinct and they figure largely in this story too.  Martinez treats them with all the love and care you would expect.  They may not get a lot of time on the page but when they show up, it’s as the fully fleshed out characters we know and love.  And sometimes laugh at or with.

In Feral Dust Bunnies, a villain we’ve only been getting hints about further solidifies here.  The plot thickens as a famous detective says and becomes even more frightening for everyone involved.   There’s another story with Wolf coming out  ~ Jackalopes & Woofen-Poofs (Offbeat Crimes, #5).  I’m on that like hotcakes!    Where do we go from there?  I have no idea. Quite frankly the author’s mind is a wild, imaginative and scary place.  I haven’t a clue where she’s taking us but I can’t wait to hop on board.  I may need my blankie and a kitten.  Plus a broom.

New to this series?  Start at the beginning and meet all the detectives at the 77th Precinct.  Watch them find love while solving some of the wildest cases you will ever read about.  The writing is excellent, the pace as fast as rollercoaster and the imagination of one Angel Martinez?  Out of this world!

Cover art by Posh Gosh is nice and I have to admit how do you do Feral Dust Bunnies?

Sales Links:  Pride Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 115 pages
Published June 20th 2017 by Pride Publishing
Original TitleFeral Dust Bunnies
ISBN139781786515933
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Offbeat Crimes #4

Series: