Tag Archives: audiobook

Marked by the Werewolves

Book Review of Marked by the Werewolves, by Meg Ripley

I received an Audible credit for a copy of Meg Ripley’s Marked by Werewolves box set.

Description from Goodreads:
I never imagined the drama that would ensue once Dwight stepped into my life. 

All I wanted to do was to make a name for myself–to claim my little piece of the pie–and buy the neighborhood bar I’ve been working at for the last few years. Little did I know that I’d be attracting the Wolf Brotherhood into my life. 

They want to stake their claim on my bar, but just because they’re the most feared werewolf biker pack in Portland doesn’t mean that I’ll just roll over and let them have what they want–not without a fight. 

Well, I went a little too far one night and really ticked them off, and now Dwight has this twisted plan to stage my death to get the ‘Brotherhood off my back. He’s my maker, and my lover, so I should be able to trust him–and God, there’s just something about the fire in his touch that makes my troubles melt away; something about his deep, alluring gaze that pulls me in every time–but Dwight also happens to be a member of the ‘Brotherhood…

Now my sister Sera is getting roped in on the drama, and they’d better not lay a finger on her. Rumor has it, she’s teamed up with a rival pack to get to the bottom of my “death.” 

They’ll stop at nothing to take me out, but I’m tired of being their victim; the Wolf Brotherhood has no idea what’s about to hit them. 

They’ve messed with the wrong chick this time.

This box set contains all three stories in Meg Ripley’s werewolf romance series, Packs of the Pacific Northwest: 

Book 1: Claimed By The Wolf Brotherhood 
Book 2: Werewolf Baby Daddy 
Book 3: The Wolf Pack’s Revenge

Review:
I don’t usually use star ratings on the blog, though I often begrudgingly  assign them when I cross-post to other sites. But for this one, I think I need numbers.

Overall, I’d give this compilation a 2.25. But I’ll discount the first ‘book’ and its rating and round up to 3. Below you’ll find my thoughts on the individual books. Veronica Holly did a fine job with the narration. I noticed a couple hiccups toward the end, but not enough to really bother me.

Claimed by the Wolf Brotherhood
1*
Not a story, barely even a prologue. If I was incline to rate it on its own, as opposed to part of the boxed compilation of books 1-3 I have, it would be very low indeed. It’s basically useless on its own.

Werewolf Baby Daddy
2*
Not an abysmal showing, and not outside what you’d expect from a fated mates werewolf novella. But full of shallow, undeveloped characters, insta-love, sex=relationship, no world-building, a shadow villain that you won’t even know at all if you haven’t read the useless-on-its-own-but-apparently-vital-this-book-so-why-is-it-seperated-out 30 page prequel, Claimed by the Wolf Brotherhood, and a cliffhanger. So, not a real winner but again there is a whole sub-genre of just this sort of pared-down stories that some people seem to like. I was pretty meh about the whole thing and bitter about the 30 page “book 1.”

The Wolf Pack’s Revenge
2.5, round up to 3*
Better than the first two “books.” I put that in quotation marks because “book 1” isn’t a book by any definition I can imagine and I’m irritated by this trend authors seem to be developing of publishing teasers without accurately labeling them as such. But none of these stories stand alone, so I can’t just pretend it didn’t exist. Either way, The Wolf Pack’s Revengeis an improvement. The writing is better and it was a more complete story than either of the previous stories. The characters were still shallow, though I have to admit to liking how caring the heroes are (no alpha A-holes). The plot was still thin. But it is still only a novella, so what can I expect. All in all, ok if you like this sort of pared down story.

Land of Gods

Book Review of Land of Gods (Falls of Redemption #1), by Justin Sloan

I received an Audible copy of Justin Sloan‘s Land of Gods. I believe I requested it when the author was offering codes for free.

Description from Goodreads:
In a world where men believe they can become gods, Narcel searches for his missing brother while trying not to let the girl of his dreams slip away to his older cousin. Evidence for his brother’s disappearance points to the rival warrior clan, the Mawtu, a viscous group of warriors… which could mean only one thing: war on the horizon. 

The FALLS OF REDEMPTION trilogy: A young man is forced to become the warrior he never wanted to be, attempts to earn the love of a woman he seems destined never to get, and struggles to find himself in a world of betrayal and intrigue.

Review:
Sigh, I think this was a case of wrong book for the wrong reader, because while I have no issue with the violence or even that the plot just kind of plodded along, the feminist in me couldn’t not notice the treatment of females in the story. I’ll grant that one of the leaders was female and that’s a plus. But she was virtually characterless. Other than her, every single woman was there to be sexually available. Maybe they were all meant to be prostitutes, I don’t know, but it was very noticeable.

Then there was Kaire, the love of the main character’s life. She was just an object, a prize for two men to fight over. But that wasn’t what sent me into a froth though. What got my goat was the way she was supposed to vacillate between two men. I can see what the author was TRYING to do. Unfortunately I cannot express how poorly he accomplished his goal.

The problem was that Sloan’s characters were as subtle as a sledge hammer, making one a “good man” and one a “bad man.” So, Kaire’s affections for the bad man made no sense. She’d have to be very, very stupid to honestly not see it and she wasn’t supposed to be. Sloan tried to do too much. She was supposed to love one man with all her heart, but still want the second guy. (I kept hoping that she was playing some deeper game, a spy or something.) It made no sense, was not believable and basically ruined the book for me.

It’s the same sort of dissonance Sloan created when he tried to convince readers a person would change national and familial loyalties and become a perfect warrior in six months, but also still be loyal to their homeland. You just can’t do both. So, this whole book was full of contradictions that made no sense to me.

I also lost track of the time line, so people’s ages. But none of them seemed old enough for what they were doing. And I felt quite a lot was left unexplained. Why, for example, did Narcel kill Jordan? What is the ‘room of contemplation’ (or something like that)?

The writing itself is fine and Hays did a fine job with the narration. I imagine guys (who are less likely to be attuned to the poor/stereotypical use of gender in the book) will like it a lot more than me. I gave the author a try and, while they’re a fine writer, they’re not for me.

choices

Book Review of Choices (The Seven Keys Saga, #1) by M.A. Brotherton

I received an Audible code from the narrator, David Loving, for a copy of Choices, by M. A. Brotherton. Or at least I think I did. In reviewing the email, I see that this is definitely the link I was provided, but the listed title (in the email) was Melt Zone. So, there’s a distinct possibility I’ve just listened to the wrong book.

Description from Goodreads:
Three years have passed since the war between the Six Orders, the ancient societies governing magic and nineteen-year-old Terry Howard, Acolyte of the Midnight Order is just trying to live a life as close to normal as possible. With the support of the few people in the world he hasn’t alienated, that almost seems possible. 

But when his ex, Carrie, asks him to look into a magic related suicide and his mentor, Stanley, announces his retirement, Terry is forced deal with his emotional baggage before everything he’s managed to build gets torn away.

Review:
I have to be honest, this was not a big winner for me. Mostly because I so often didn’t know what was going on. There was a huge cast of characters who were never fully introduced, let alone fleshed out. Terry seemed to develop skills and knowledge as needed in a very hand wavey kind of way. And though there was plenty of action, there was 100% no emotion. This in a character who was supposed to be suffering PTSD and encountering frightening experiences. It all felt very flat.

What’s more, I couldn’t really see Terry as 19 and, while he’s supposed to be super trained or something, how his friends had their power/skill or how they all met was not addressed. This is marked book one, but maybe there is a prequel out there or something? For sure, something is missing in this book, something important.

Lastly, I was not impressed with Loving’s narration. It was too fast. This didn’t bother me at first or when I listened to the sample, but it sure did as the book went on (and it sounded funny if I listened at .75x) and I just don’t think he did a very good job at sounding natural.

I did very much appreciate the diverse cast and mechanically the writing was pretty good. Others may very well love this. I didn’t. I saw how it could have been pretty good, but don’t think it quite managed it.