A Loving Nip series by Charlie Richards

A Paul B Review: Seducing His Reluctant Vampire (A Loving Nip #9) by Charlie Richards

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Seducing His Reluctant VampireAbyzou is a demon approaching his thousand year anniversary of service to the horseman Pestilence.  The time has come to find his amina, or the one who will bind his soul to earth.  With this he will also be freed from the daily task of spreading disease through the world and train new demons in their duty.  Instead of being called to new duties elsewhere, his instincts tell him to stay in his current area.  His last assignment was to give colds to some cubs at the rescued shifter pack.  There he finds Toni Bastille, a vampire enforcer whom he tangled with in the past.  Abyzou realizes that Toni is his amina.

Toni Bastille has been loaned out by his coven to help protect some longhorn steer shifters from their abusive inner circle.  However, the methods that he employed to obtain information from them did not please some members of the shifter council.  As a councilman is trying to take Toni into custody, Abyzou steps in and claims him as his amina.  Toni is horrified because he cannot believe that his beloved is a demon whose blood will kill him if he drinks it.  Fate cannot be that cruel can she?

Abyzou claims rights to bond with Toni take precedence over any attempt of the council to arrest Toni as he only has a short window to complete the bonding process.  If the process is not completed, Toni will die as he will not be able to drink from anyone else.  The councilmember leaves, silently vowing to arrest Toni at a later time.  Now all Abyzou has to do is convince Toni to do is share his soul with him over the next few days in order for the bonding process to complete.

This ninth book in the Loving Nip series continues to expand on the demons and their Four Horsemen that were introduced into the series recently.  As usual, there are some misconceptions about the different species that need to be cleared up before things work out to the happily ever after.  The demons featured so far seem to have some soul or heart for being soulless creatures.  Death’s demon from the previous book wanted the people he visited to relive happy memories before they died.  Abyzou knows that while what he does might lead to death, sometimes it is for the greater good of humanity.  I look forward to visits from demons of the other two Horsemen.

The cover art by Carmen Waters shows a well build shirtless dark haired man.  Not sure if it is supposed to be Toni or Abyzou is his human guise.  It’s a fairly standard cover for the series.

Sales Links:  eXtasy Books | Amazon

Book Details

ebook, 92 pages
Published April 15th 2016 by Extasy Books
ISBN 1487406975 (ISBN13: 9781487406974)
Edition LanguageEnglish

https://www.goodreads.com/series/142790-a-loving-nip

A Paul B Review: Curling Up With His Critter (A Loving Nip #7) by Charlie Richards

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Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 

Curling Up With His Critters coverGypsum Vereen , second of the Amarillo coven of vampires, is tasked to transporting a group of Angus cattle shifters to their new lodgings.,  They are headed toward a diverse pack filled with displaced and abused shifters who are trying to assimilate to a world without abusive alphas and pack members.  When they arrive on pack land, Gypsum is invited to lunch

Lucius and his half brothers have been staying at the pack for rehabilitating shifters since their rescue from their former alpha.  Kept as sexual slaves in cages, they are just now getting around to a normal life.  However, the damage done psychologically is still being healed.  After coming home from a pack run, Lucius goes through the dining room to get to the staircase leading to his room.  He notices the tall blond stranger who smells incredibly good to him.  When this man, who turns out to be Gypsum the vampire, informs Lucius that he is Gypsum’s beloved, Lucius goes into a panic as claiming a mate involves sex, which he has sworn off.

Gypsum must go about wooing his beloved.  First Gypsum must convince Lucius that the sex between them will be nothing like the past sexual abuse he suffered from his previous pack.  He must also explain to Lucius that a vampire needs his beloved to survive.  The next obstacle would be convincing Lucius that the vampire master (the vampire’s alpha equivalent) is nothing like his former alpha.  And knowing how close the brothers are, he has to show Lucius that the brothers will come with them back to his coven.  Just as things begin to go Gypsum’s way, the former leaders of the Angus cattle pack escape and head toward the rescue shifter pack.  Will they interfere with this new mating?

I enjoyed this seventh book in the Loving Nip series.  Lucius and his brothers have been beaten down for most of their lives.  The three have relied on each other in order to survive their ordeal.  I could understand Lucius’ reluctance to mate given all that he has been through.  I was glad to see that Gypsum took his time (at least in shifter mating terms) to convince Lucius that mates are nothing like what was done to him.  Seeing Lucius protect his packs brought home the fact that this man is a survivor.

The cover art by Carmen Waters depicts the blond Gypsum standing in front of a bonfire.  It is a serviceable cover for the story.

Sales Links:  eXtasy Books |  Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details

ebook, 85 pages
Published November 1st 2015 by Extasy Books
ISBN139781487405502
edition languageEnglish

Series:  A Loving Nip

A Nip of Good Cheer (A Loving Nip #1)

A Rose for Paul’s Protector (A Loving Nip #2)

An Unforgettable Bite (A Loving Nip #3)

More than Patient (A Loving Nip #4)

Sharing a Demon’s Blood (A Loving Nip #5)

Not a Line of Bull (A Loving Nip #6)

Curling Up with His Critter (A Loving Nip #7)

Paul’s Paranormal Portfolio ~ My Favorite Non typical Shifters

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Pauls Paranormal Portfolio Header

Welcome to another edition of the Paranormal Portfolio. 

While Halloween is fast approaching us, I would like to do something a little different.  I would like to discuss my favorite non typical shifters.  These would be those creatures that are not typically written about in shifter stories.  So no wolves, tigers, lions, or bears are in this list.  Dragon shifters have also been excluded.  This is a list of my favorites from books I have read.  So if yours is not in the list, please leave a comment so I can possible find another favorite.

Most of the nontraditional shifters I have found have come basically from two series that I have been reading.  The first is the Midnight Matings series.  This is a collaborative effort of Gabrielle Evans, Joyee Flynn, and Stormy Glenn.  The other series is actually a collection of series that populate Charlie Richard’s Wolves of Stone Ridge universe.  This includes the spin off series of Kontra’s Menagerie, A Paranormal’s Love, and A Loving Nip series.   There are others out there but these will be a good start.

Two shifters that inspire the aww factor are Casey the albino rabbit and Yuma the penguin in Charlie Richard’s universe.  Casey was Swimming with Penguins coverfound at one the labs that the wolves infiltrated and destroyed early in the series.  After being experimented on and losing some leg muscle to the scientists, Casey is deathly afraid of needles.  So naturally Casey’s mate would turn out to be a vampire!  Yuma is penguin shifter who likes to wear eyeliner and frost the tips of his hair.  He acts as the nurse assistant to Kontra’s group even though he is squeamish around blood.  So naturally he passes out when he is accidentally shot by his mate’s father while in his penguin form.

Two of the strangest shifters that I enjoyed also come from the Stone Ridge universe.  Lyle Sullivan is a detective that knows about shifters.  He is kidnapped by the scientists that are plaguing the area.  They perform experiments hoping to create a new type of soldier.  After his rescue by the wolves, the Stone Ridge doctors must complete the experiment to save Lyle’s life.  When he makes his first shift he turns into a monitor lizard.  The other shifter came about from a request to Ms. Giving Perrin Life coverRichards.  Kai Sudderson is swimming in the lake near his cabin when his tail gets stuck in a trap.  Yuma, the penguin shifter, sees Kai struggling and helps out the platypus.

A supporting character I would like to highlight comes from Eden Winter’s Naked Tales.  The story is of a man coming back to the town where his parents lived before they were killed.  He left with his maternal grandmother to live in Chicago afterwards.  HeNaked Tails Cover returns after his paternal grandmother’s passing.  Unbeknownst to Seth McDaniel, the town including is filled with possum shifters.  He is met by what he describes a Valkyrie.  The woman, whom he would find out is named Monica, detests Seth for abandoning his grandmother, especially near the end of her life.  However, when Seth is called upon to lead this town of shifters, it is Monica who trains him in all things possum and shifting to make it possible.

These are just some of the nontraditional shifters that I have enjoyed.  As I read more, I will write a follow up, which will include comments from my fellow reviewers.  If you have any suggestions for alternate forms of shifters that I and fellow readers might be interested in, please feel free to use the comment section.

Paul

A Paul B Review: Not a Line of Bull (A Loving Nip #6) by Charlie Richards

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Not A Line of Bull coverCassium Jones is a vampire that has lived nearly 400 years. During his forced seclusion from society, he is tending to a small ranch owned by his coven. One day while he is riding checking the property, he notices that the fence line has been compromised and in need of repair. While repairing the fence, he notices blood around the area. He goes to check his herd of cattle to see if any of them have been hurt. When he reaches the heard, he notices an injured bull laying about the cows. When he checks on the injured bull, he discovers that not only is he a bull shifter but also his beloved.

Garth Omicron has been driven from his shifter herd. Having refused to mate with the mother of his second calf because he doesn’t love her and she is a terrible mother to his two children, Garth is beaten and gored by the inner circle of the herd. He wanders into a field some miles away from his herd territory and finds an Angus cattle farm. When the owner confronts him as to why he is vampire territory, he thinks things have gone from bad to worse. However, contrary to how he had been taught, this vampire seems to want to help him for some unknown reason.

While Cassium suspects that they might be mates, Garth has no concept of the idea. In his herd, people of paired together based on bloodlines to prevent inbreeding among the herd. Outsiders are rarely brought into the group, which for the most part live a self-sufficient life. The only people allowed to have contact with the outside world are the inner circle. When Cassium hears of the treatment of most of the shifters, he promises to help them out, especially Garth and his two children. The big question is whether or not Garth will accept Cassium as his mate despite all that his herd has been taught and accept the proffered help.

This sixth book in the Loving Nip series is another satisfying read in the author’s paranormal universe. Garth is an interesting character as he is a bull shifter but is not one of the dominant shifters in his herd. Having a somewhat submissive bull plays against stereotypes. I was somewhat surprised that the resolution to the herd’s mess occurred mostly off the pages of the book with one major exception. However, the resolution did provide a hint at one of Ms. Richard’s upcoming books in her universe.

The cover art by Carmen Waters shows Cassium as a well-built farmer in an open plaid shirt in front of a valley vista during sunset. It is another well done cover in the series.

Sales Links:   Extasy Books | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book details

Ebook, 89 pages
Edition: English
Published: September 15, 2015 by Extasy Books
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0477-2
Series: A Loving Nip
A Nip of Good Cheer (A Loving Nip #1)
A Rose for Paul’s Protector (A Loving Nip #2)
An Unforgettable Bite (A Loving Nip #3)
More than Patient (A Loving Nip #4)
Sharing a Demon’s Blood (A Loving Nip #5)
Not a Line of Bull (A Loving Nip #6)

A Paul B Review: More Than Patient (A Loving Nip Book 4) by Charlie Richards

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

More Than PatientGarner met his beloved at a holiday party months ago. Even the taste of bagged blood is not enough for the vampire. What will convince his beloved that they are meant to be together?

Brock Sanchez has a problem. Several months ago, he was at a holiday party that was hosted by a friend. The plan was to bed the two sexy female vampires he had been chatting with most of the evening. Instead he became fascinated with a male vampire by the name of Garner. Their night of lovemaking was the hottest that he had ever had. Since then, no matter how often he tries to get himself laid, nothing can come close to Garner. The only relief he can find is through pleasuring himself and thinking of the sexy male vampire as he does it. He cannot be gay. After all, his mother expects grandbabies from him and his wife.

Garner Vorzman has a problem. He has met his one and only beloved some months ago at a holiday party. Since he had met his beloved, blood directly from donors that live at the coven no longer appeals to him. He survives on bagged blood. However, even that is beginning to leave a sour taste in his month. He must convince his beloved that he belongs at his side. But first he must convince Brock that maybe he is not as straight as he thinks he is. He decides to use Brock’s reluctance against him. He decides to have Brock allow him to drink his blood on a regular basis or he will tell everybody what the two of them after the holiday party. If Brock still decides he does not want a relationship, he will leave him alone.

While I enjoyed the story for the most part, I tend to disagree with Garner’s solution to Brock’s reluctance. This is his beloved that he is trying to woo. What better way to start a lifetime commitment than to essentially blackmail your lover into doing what you need. Other characters in the author’s books have found creative ways to entice a reluctant mate/beloved in the past. Luckily, with the help of Brock’s friends explaining the need of a beloved to a vampire that Garner’s plan does not backfire. There had to have been a way to convince Brock to see with without the threat of outing, especially for beings who value their secrecy. So I deduct a half a star on that basis.

The cover art by Carmen Waters depicts a well build young man standing shirtless in either a study or library of a house. This is what I would picture Brock would look like and is well done. Ms Waters does the covers for different series for Ms Richards and has developed a unique style for each one.

Sales Links:  eXtasy Books  |  All Romance (ARe)  |  Amazon  |  Buy It Here

Book details
Ebook,: 89 pages
Edition: English
Published: June 15, 2015 by Extasy Books
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0416-1
Series: A Loving Nip
A Nip of Good Cheer (A Loving Nip #1)
A Rose for Paul’s Protector (A Loving Nip #2)
An Unforgettable Bite (A Loving Nip #3)
More than Patient (A Loving Nip #4)

A Paul B Review: A Rose for Paul’s Protector (A Loving Nip #2) by Charlie Richards

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

a Rose for Paul's Protector coverJaymes Martinez has been waiting for the last three months for his beloved, Paul Cosborn to come of age. Unable to claim his beloved until his eighteenth birthday, the leader of the Amarillo coven has been setting the stage for Paul’s arrival. Will someone from Paul’s past come between them before Jaymes finally claims his beloved?

Jaymes Martinez is the coven leader of the Amarillo vampire clan. Jaymes goes about preparing his coven for the arrival of his beloved, Paul Cosborn. During the three month since meeting his beloved, Jaymes has been showing symptoms of the separation. He is short tempered to his best friend and second in command. He exists on bagged blood that the doctor is preparing for him as drinking from known donors has no appeal to him. The bright spot in the past three months has been the constant emails exchanged between him and Paul. Jaymes is determined to have his coven and the dude ranch that the coven runs prepared for the arrival of his beloved around Valentine’s Day.

Paul Cosborn has recently turned eighteen. He has been living with his “Big Brother” Korbin for the past three month, having escaped his foster home after being falsely accused of molesting the fifteen year old son of the family he was living with. Korbin and his beloved Daystrum plan a vacation for Paul to a dude ranch near Amarillo where he can reconnect with Jaymes, who helped him out of the situation in the foster home.

Upon arriving at the ranch, Jaymes begins the task of making Paul his. Jaymes takes Paul on a personal tour of the stables, where he shows Paul his gift to him, an Arabian horse. Unsure why Jaymes would buy a gift for someone who is only staying a week, they share their first kiss. The next day, they share a ride through the ranch and a picnic lunch where Paul learns Jaymes is a vampire. Things begin to progress well between the two until Paul is found missing one morning. Jaymes is enraged that his beloved has been taken so shortly after the process of bonding has started. He must find the missing Paul and deal with those who have taken him in order to begin their new life on the dude ranch.

This is a nice first love paranormal story. Paul has just turned eighteen and is new to the world of love. He has been crushing on Jaymes for the past three months and the anticipation on both sides is palpable. Having had a terrible past with his mother’s drug abuse and the terrible situation in the last foster home he was in makes Paul want to be needed and cherished as Jaymes has promised to do.

The one problem I had with the book was an off page death at the end of the book. Deaths in the paranormal genre are regular and I usually do not have a problem with them. However, this death, while justified because of the actions of the deceased, still gave me pause because of his age.

This is the second book in the Nip of Love series by Charlie Richards. It is set in the same universe as her series The Wolves of Stone Ridge, Kontra’s Menagerie, and A Paranormal’s Love Story. The focus on this series is the various vampires and covens that have been introduced in the previous series. The characters from the other series do cross over from time to time. While the book can be read as a standalone, having read previous books in the other series will help the understanding of these characters and overall arc of the story.

The cover art by Carmen Waters shows the young Paul sniffing a rose with a rural Texas landscape in the background. It is a well done representation of the ending of the book and draws the reader in.

Sales Links:  eXtasy Books      All Romance (ARe)     Amazon       Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 94 pages
Published February 15th 2015 by Extasy Books
ISBN139781487402303
edition languageEnglish
Series A Loving Nip:

  • A Nip of Good Cheer (A Loving Nip, #1)
  • A Rose for Paul’s Protector (A Loving Nip, #2)