Category: Shifters, Weres

An Alisa Review: Awakening the Alpha by Carolina Valdez

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

Awakening the AlphaBlaze Canis is doing what he loves best. As a shooting range instructor just outside Yellowstone National Park, the former Navy SEAL sniper is still handling firearms. When Shoshone Native Logan Swift Rider walks into his target shooting class one morning, the attraction each man feels for the other is swift and magical. Since Blaze’s SEAL teammates never knew he was gay, let alone a werewolf, he’s confident his new lover need never know of his two natures.

 

Logan opens his heart and body to loving Blaze in the most intimate ways possible. When he learns what Blaze has hidden of himself, Logan is shattered. Although raised in both the white and Native worlds, it’s Logan’s Indian heritage that tells him he may have fallen for a witch, a skinwalker.

 

Can Blake convince Logan there’s no evil involved in what he is or will Logan remain convinced he’s been making love to a monster?

 

Logan and Blaze come from very different backgrounds.  Logan’s Native American heritage and teachings give him a different view of the world from many while Blaze has always really hidden who he was from the world.  They both feel a deep connection to the other very quickly.

 

When Logan finds out Blaze is a werewolf, he begins to rethink everything he knew about Blaze because of teachings from his youth.  It takes some deep soul searching for him to be willing to talk about his concerns and see Blaze again.

 

It took a bit for me to connect with the characters, not quite sure why.  Chapter 1 is more of a preface to me and I kept trying to connect it to the MCs to it, but that doesn’t come until a bit later.  Once I really got into the story I could see how open Blaze and Logan were with each other while still holding a bit back.  I’m not sure they ever really resolve the problem, it’ more of both of them just saying okay we’re good.  I also didn’t like that there was never a real ending to the “relationship” that Logan had back in California and no mention of it to Blaze either.

 

Cover art by Syneca Featherstone is wonderful and perfect for this story.

 

Sales Links: Loose Id | Amazon | ARe

 

Book Details:

ebook, 110 pages

Published: June 7, 2016 by Loose Id

ISBN: 9781682521519

Edition Language: English

A Paul B Review: Delivered to Hope (Signed, Sealed, Delivered #3) by Caitlin Ricci and A.J. Marcus

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Delivered To HopeMorris is a rent boy for the Critters on Call escort service.  He has been working for the past six years after running away from home.  His one regret is leaving behind his brother Jeremy, who was put into a catatonic state after a beating from their father.   He has been saving money for the past few years in order to get his brother away from his controlling uncle, who is currently responsible for his brother’s well-being.  After finishing a job in Paris, a limo carrying his Uncle Ben pulls up.  His uncle informs him that is to be a mate to a shifter in the state of Washington in the United States.  The uncle threatens to move his brother to a lesser care facility where Morris knows his brother will die.  Morris agrees to the mating if he is given control of his brother’s affairs.  The uncle agrees on the condition that the mating lasts at least a month.

Harrison is an elk shifter that has been around the block a few times.  He’s had a series of one night stands at the bars but has been saving his “virginity” for his mate.  Though he knows that this loose definition is really a lie, he hopes that his future mate will accept him as he is.  He meets his mate at what is to be their future home.  He follows the blond haired young man to a pond on the property and they introduce themselves in a carnal way before the official meeting.  Relieved that his mate will not hold his not being a virgin against him, he tries to make things work with Morris.  However, Morris’s past catches up with him when they go out to the club one night.  He yells at Morris and raises a hand to him.  Morris flees and is not home when Harrison arrives.  Will he make things right with his new mate?  Did Morris just doom Jeremy in the process?

The characters in this third book in the Signed Sealed Delivered series started out kind of flat but by the end of the book seemed to round out a bit.  In the beginning it is mentioned that Morris left his brother behind.  It is not until later in the book we learn that he has been going to see his brother on the sly whenever he can.  Morris schemes to get out of his mating after the mandatory thirty days his uncle demanded.  He realizes that even after a short time he cares about Harrison.  Morris does what he can for his brother and that is his primary motivation for everything he does.  The ending of the book is a bit contrived and makes Uncle Ben even more of a villain.  The characters from the previous book provide a good support system for Harrison.   

Latrisha Water’s cover is reflective of the others in the series.  It has a picture of Morris in both his human and elephant forms on a yellow background.  It is a decent cover for the book.

Sales Links:   eXtasy Books | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 84 pages
Published May 15th 2016 by Extasy Books
ISBN139781487407049
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesSigned, Sealed, Delivered #3

Series:  Signed, Sealed, Delivered

  • Sealed with Honor (Signed, Sealed, Delivered #1)
  • Signed with a Heart (Signed, Sealed Delivered #2)
  • Delivered to Hope (Signed, Sealed, Delivered #3)

A Jeri Review: Wolf, en Garde (Wolf #2) by A.F. Henley

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Wolf en Garde Front CoverThree years ago Lyle made a mistake that cost him his freedom, and almost his life. Now, sick to death of watching his father love the man that Lyle wanted, Lyle accepts an offer to leave Wolf, WY behind and see what life in Washington, D.C. can do for him instead.

When Lyle comes across a seductive, attractive stranger with a fascinating yet terrifying view of humanity, he’s more than intrigued. It doesn’t take Lyle long to realize that Arius isn’t just playing games, though, and when Lyle runs across a secret in Arius’ lair he has no choice but to flee, even knowing his actions will enrage Arius.

On the run, with only a psychic’s second sight and his own instinct to help him, Lyle has nowhere to go but home. The only question is, will they have him when he shows up.This book is a follow up to Wolf, WY. In that book father and son shifters were vying for the same man- although that man was only interested in one of them. Fast forward a bit to this book.

Lyle and family head to Washington, DC to visit his dad’s boyfriend’s family. Lyle has never been out of Wyoming and although he is completely uninterested in the “family” part of the family trip- he is beyond excited to see a new place. Even though his father forbade him from shifting while there. But Lyle was never really one to listen. After shifting and sneaking out his first night, Lyle comes across an old vampire who is determined to woo him. Young, impressionable, never out of WY Lyle falls right into his spell. But the vampire has some dark secrets.

So when I started reading the story I assumed that Lyle and the vampire, Arius, were the couple to fall in love against all odds, yada yada. I was wrong. In fact, we don’t meet the man Lyle is going to fall for until about two thirds into the book.

Honestly, this book kind of felt like a super fleshed out outline that was basically just setting us up for book three. Tons of things were left up in the air, too many questions left unanswered. And the instalove between Lyle and BOTH guys (ok, instalust?) was just a bit much.

Why did Arius taunt Lyle about Randy? How was Randy’s dad so clueless about Randy’s mom? Why was Randy’s mom so incredibly cold toward her son?

Too many questions which beg for a book three, but I really don’t know if I will invest my time in book three.

The dark cover with only bright green eyes and a full moon visible is catching, yet not unique for a wolf shifter book.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press |  ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 254 pages
Published May 18th 2016 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN 1620047748 (ISBN13: 9781620047743)
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesWolf #2 settingWashington, D.C. (United States)