Review:  The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf (Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala Book 3) by Michele Notaro

Rating: 3🌈

The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf (Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala Book 3) by Michele Notaro is a perfect example why I’m finding it hard to continue reading this series.  I enjoyed the first book but it’s gotten more difficult to stay connected with each new release. 

The Tales From Gauhala series is a crossover from the Brinnswick series and is deeply rooted in the universe. It’s characters and their relationships are intertwining with each other’s relationships in each other stories, so it’s often hard to remember these complex family dynamics. Thousand year old mates claiming hundreds (or more, I can’t keep track) of children and their children’s children lend towards a seriously over populated universe. 

Yes, many outlying characters from other the series show up here in ways that add nothing to the plot. They are just references for the reader. Look, so and so, the ancient powerful mages are here. I’m not that invested in them here. That’s part of the issue as I see it. 

The story, about fated mates werewolf Dain, and shy Yeti Avalanche ā€œLancheā€ has its own issues. The characters are cute. But the author has included a dramatic storyline that’s seems underwhelming, or not well written. After all the work going into the suspense of the climax and drama behind the villain, there’s a huge letdown and considerable lack of foundation laid down for this aspect of the story.  Makes little sense because there’s no solid narrative behind it.

That whole icicle thing itself was problematic. 

Every other element feels hastily assembled. Let’s give the Yeti family cute names and throw them together in an ice palace.  Ok, but where’s the natural history? Any real grounding? Absent.

When a reader is distracted from the story, even the smallest detail or aspect in a scene can make the reader look again at the story a different way. 

Example:

ā€œI didn’t blame him for it. It wasn’t his fault that the people under him who were supposed to carry out his will had been lying to him for so long.ā€

Talking about the King here who while grieving, abdicated all responsibility for his Kingdom and ruling to those below him, not checking for decades, to see what monstrous things were going on.  Up in his tower, while horrifying acts and events were being carried out in his name. 

Whose responsibility? It’s his. The fault is his. 

Something even the author isn’t saying.  SMH. 

So this clearly isn’t the book for me. Cute . But too many things I find problematic. 

If you’re a fan, I’m sure you’ll like it. 

Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala :

The Witch’s Grumpy Dragon #1

The Vampire’s Delicious Fae #2

The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf #3

The Dragon’s Devoted Defender #4-March 17,2026

Buy link

 Book 3 of 4: Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala 

Blurb 

Being shy sucks. Being shy and having a crush sucks even more. But I can’t get the grouchy werewolf out of my head, so I need to do something… as long as it doesn’t include talking… 

Step One: Leave my crush a gift. Check. 

Step Two: Wait for him to open it. Check. 

Step Three: Try to convince him we’re meant to be. Ugh, I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Dain caught my attention the moment I walked into the bookstore. Tall. Broody. Growly in that definitely-a-werewolf way. The more time I spend near him, the more certain I become of one impossible truth:

He’s my viramore. My soulmate.

Too bad I can barely string two words together in his presence. 

When I finally tell him about our connection, he doesn’t believe me. But he does agree to a date. Hopefully I can turn one date into two, then three, and then maybe, just maybe, he’ll see that I’m right. We’re viramores, and no matter what trouble comes our way, nothing will change that.

The Snow Yeti’s Grouchy Werewolf is Book 3 in Brinnswick: Tales From Gauhala, an MM urban fantasy romance filled with grumpy/sweet energy, fated mates, gentle humor, and cozy found-family vibes. The series follows a new couple in each book with a guaranteed HEA. It takes place in the Brinnswick world, but you don’t need to read the other series first, although there will be familiar faces along the w

Review: My Dragon Mate: (Mages of Ravenshire 1.5) by Stella Rainbow

Rating: 3.25🌈

When I was skimming through various titles, looking for a new author and quick story to read, I came across My Dragon Mate by Stella Rainbow, listed as a standalone Bi-awakening Fated Mates Romance. No reference to a series. Not in the title I was looking at.

New author, fantasy romance with a found family. I’m in.

What I noticed immediately is the author’s note , inside, that says this story is part of a connected series and should be read in order and as part of that universe.

Hmmm, ok. That needs to mentioned in the description. Because it’s absolutely true. For several reasons.

The child, Cam, is one of the three POV narrations here, and recovering from cancer. Her storyline is a major element we don’t completely understand as it’s part of the last series. Here she’s done, apparently recovered. All good except for a dad who isn’t recovered from that.

We aren’t given her history of her illness, her recovery, or what happened to her mother. All in the other series and necessary reading. It’s assumed we know it. Pop up characters? No idea who they are. What they are. What their relationships are.

It is obvious that this story alone can’t be enough to form a idea of what Stella Rainbow is as a author in terms of writing, although a reader gets a definite understanding of her preference for low angst and very happy, sunny romances.

There’s absolutely nothing as far as real emotional drama. Anything that starts to swerve into that territory is then quickly taken back into the comfort, sweet zone. A slight argument between the adults is remedied by the adorable daughter and dragon and father are back , happily, on the path to HEA.

Sweet, low angst romances with a found family element, such as a Interfering child, make for endearing stories. My Dragon Mate is that short Bon Bon of a tale, with several things that will make you seek out its previous stories.

Honestly, though, that description needs revising. Not a standalone by any standards.

If you’re a reader who wants a quick tale of love and family with a fantasy take? Try this. If you’re looking for lots of depth or storylines with complexity, this probably isn’t for you.

You know which reader you are.

Note: There is one element at the end with regard to Cam. I won’t go into it here as it’s a spoiler. But I’m still trying to decide if the way it’s handled (very much in keeping with the happy, poof, anything that’s realistic or anguish causing is eliminated manner) is disrespectful to those who make that life changing decision or something they would wish they had the ability to do themselves. I really don’t know.

Probably tells me stories like this are too sunny for me and even my fantasy books needs a darker element.

https://www.goodreads.com › showMy Dragon Mate (Mages of Ravenshire #1.5) by Stella Rainbow – Goodreads

Synopsis:

A human single father. A 2000-year-old storm dragon. A nine-year-old who wants them as fathers.

William
When I stopped the gray-eyed investor from leaving my home in the middle of a storm, I had no idea I was playing right into Fate’s hands.

Raiden
When I stepped into William Hawthorne’s house for a meeting, I did not know I was stepping into the home of my fated one.

Camille
When my dad rejected his fated mate—a man who didn’t just seem like the sweetest person I’d ever met, but was also a dragon—I knew I needed to take matters into my own hands.

Tags:
William is a single-dad, Raiden is way too old for first love flutters, we’re talking like 2000 years too old, Raph calls William an idiot (He’s a DRAGON, Will!), Cam is a little matchmaker, Raiden can be anything you want baby,_ Bi-Awakening, dragons are SO COOL, age gap for days, fated mates, Raiden makes the sky go boom, low angst, lots of fluff.

My Dragon Mate is a 24k words novella starring a slightly confused human; a sweet, 2000-year-old dragon; and a nine-year-old girl who’s determined to make sure they get their happily ever after. It’s a spin-off to Stella Rainbow’s Mages of Ravenshire series, and can be read as a standalone.

Note: Revised in Dec 2021. No new content was added.