Tag Archives: werewolf

My Lord, My Master

Book Review of My Lord, My Master (The Three Kings Series,#1), by Scarlett Raynes

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My Lord, My MasterAuthor, Scarlett Raynes, sent me an e-copy of her novella, My Lord, My Master for review. I was super excited, because I’ve been really in to M/M lately and this is the first M/M I’ve received for review.

Description from Goodreads:
A King set on ruling with absolute power no matter how cruel or high the cost. 

A fierce warrior who’s loyalty is tested when forced to confront his lust for an enemy. 

A rebel, intent on claiming the throne and willing to destroy anything and everyone to get to it. 

In an Ancient Kingdom, King Solveig rules with an iron fist. Those who are loyal, sacrifice their lives for the pleasure of his service. Those who are not- die. When his loyal right hand man, Gunnvor goes missing on a routine hunt, all hell breaks loose. A routine hunt for his King, turns into a nightmare as Gunnvor is captured. Forced to submit to his captor to survive, the line between lust and loyalty becomes painfully blurry. 

Tired of his people being persecuted under the tyranny of the sitting king, Torhild is determined to conquer the land he believes is rightfully his. The unexpected intruder challenges not only his plans but also his self control. 

Review:
OK, I’ll get this out of the way to start with. I might have been more pleased with this book than I was,  except that it is a totally cliffhanger with absolutely no resolution. I consider such books a waste of my time and tend to avoid authors I know make a habit of it. Especially considering it’s only 73 pages long. Surely the whole story could fit in a single novel if it’s being broken into chunks that small.

Beyond the cliffhanger issue, I would consider this a decent Porn With Plot read. Certainly it’s nothing more. The two characters meet, try and kill each-other, somehow (while still trying to kill one another) their feelings change from homicidal to erotic. Then the whole rest of the book is the two men raping and humiliating each-other and apparently falling in love (or something). There is no real character development, no real progression of plot, not really even much of a story. That’s not really my bag, but some of it was hot.

The editing could use a bit more attention. There were a few typo-type mistakes, the POVs jump around, and a new 1st person POV character is introduced at 80%, as is a supernatural element that hadn’t even been hinted at up until that point. The whole thing was just rushed, inelegant and abrupt. Oh, and the series title kind of gives away how the whole thing is likely to resolve itself.

So, if your just looking for something to fap/paff with and you’re into the dub-con, pick this up. But if you’re looking for a deeper read, you’ll probably be disappointed.

The Shadow Revolution

Book Review of The Shadow Revolution (Crown & Key #1), by Clay & Susan Griffith

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The Shadow RevolutionI received a copy of The Shadow Revolution, by Susan and Clay Griffith from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
They are the realm’s last, best defense against supernatural evil. But they’re going to need a lot more silver.
 
As fog descends, obscuring the gas lamps of Victorian London, werewolves prowl the shadows of back alleys. But they have infiltrated the inner circles of upper-crust society as well. Only a handful of specially gifted practitioners are equipped to battle the beasts. Among them are the roguish Simon Archer, who conceals his powers as a spell-casting scribe behind the smooth veneer of a dashing playboy; his layabout mentor, Nick Barker, who prefers a good pub to thrilling heroics; and the self-possessed alchemist Kate Anstruther, who is equally at home in a ballroom as she is on a battlefield.
 
After a lycanthrope targets Kate’s vulnerable younger sister, the three join forces with fierce Scottish monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane—but quickly discover they’re dealing with a threat far greater than anything they ever imagined.

Review:
Really quite enjoyable. There was a lot of action here and two subtle romantic subplots…ok, one subtle romantic subplot and one hint at a future subtle romantic subplot. Either way, I liked knowing it was there but having it never come to the fore. I liked that the women were strong, ingenuitive, action-takers and I liked that the men let them be agents of their own destiny, never insisting they stay behind where they’d be safe and protected.

I suppose I could argue that this same acceptance and admiration for Kate and Penny’s outspoken, take charge attitudes (not to mention the women’s behaviours itself) was completely anachronistic to the Victorian setting, But since I enjoyed it, I’m willing to roll with the inference that since they’re all outsiders of one sort or another that explains it. It doesn’t really, but I’ll take it.

The book did get bogged down in endless fighting at times. I’ve no problem with violence or even gore, but at times it went on so long it began to feel redundant. Along the same line, there seemed to be an endless supply of mindlessly violent werewolves to fight through, despite being told they were rare. Which also led me to wonder why it was only little Charlotte who wasn’t in a beserker rage and therefore available and willing to side with and assist the ‘good guys.’

All-in-all, a fun start to a new series that I’ll be more than happy to continue.

Book Review of Beneath the Veil #1 & 2, by Aimee Roseland

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I downloaded the first and second novella of Aimee Roseland‘s Beneath the Veil series (A Taste for Moonlight and A Kiss Beneath the Veil) from the Amazon free list.

A Kiss Beneath the Veil Description from Goodreads:
Daphne is working as a medium in a world altered by the lifting of the Veil, when the monsters drew back the curtain and revealed their true nature.

The worst part hadn’t been finding out that her gorgeous new boyfriend was a vampire, it was finding out that Daphne herself was one of the monsters.

Now she’s a ghost whisperer, trying to track down a serial killer while hiding from her ex and his proclamations of everlasting love. Because when a thousand year old vampire says “everlasting”, he really means it. And Daphne is afraid that true love is a myth. Of course, the newlywed bogeymen next door would beg to differ.

Review:  **spoiler alert**
The writing here was fine and I didn’t notice any problematic editing. For those seeking a guaranteed HEA, this is probably a great book to pick up. Unfortunately, it was a little too squinky for me.

The whole premise is that a woman finds out that the guy she’s been dating for two weeks is a vampire, so she bolts. He then stalks her as she moves several times, such that she is afraid to leave her home after dark, for 5 years. Yes, that’s two weeks dating and five years stalking. And apparently she was smart to stay indoors all that time, because the first time she finds herself accidentally out at night he kidnaps her and whisks her away. Creeeeepyyy.

It must be true love though, because within roughly half an hour (if that long) they’re falling into bed and she’s thinking this:

“Yes! I dreamed of you every night.” She admitted softly. “Please, please, I need you,” she said, realizing then how much she’d missed him. How much she’d regretted leaving him, and how glad she was that the choice to return to him had been taken out of her stubborn hands.

Bergh! Then within 24 hours she’s in love and within 48 they’re getting married and converting her to vampirism so they can be together forever. Whiplash!

And her fear makes no sense anyway. Within three weeks of leaving him, all the supernaturals came out and she discovered she was a medium. So, if she’s a monster herself, why was it such a big deal that he was too?

Anyhow, Isaac was sweet (if you ignore the fact that he stood outside her home every night for five years–not particularly believable to boot) and I didn’t hate Daphne. The mystery was paper thin, all the ‘I love you, bla bla, bla’ got too saccharine for me and (being a novella) it was all too rushed for my preferences. But for those who are into this sort of read, I imagine it’s a pretty good one. It also really is a stand-alone novella, which is noteworthy in its rarity these days.

A Taste For Moonlight

Description from Goodreads:
Anne knew she wasn’t the kind of girl a hot werewolf would go for. After all, she wasn’t a fresh-faced twenty-year old. (How long ago was that birthday, again?)  She wasn’t a virgin. (Yep, those two gorgeous boys were definitely hers.) And she wasn’t shopping in the junior’s section at good ol’ Tar-jay. (Real women have curves though, right? Um…right?)

But even after all her helpful pointing out of these very obvious reasons why he shouldn’t fall for her…that’s exactly what happened.

Thomas is working at the Red Wolf in the hopes of finding a woman willing to overlook the fact that he’s “other”, and what better place to search than at a werewolf strip-club?

Review:
This was ok in a sweet kind of way. It had some admirable points. I liked that Thomas, despite being a huge werewolf, was unquestionably a nice guy—no alpha assholes here! He wooed her by doing things like taking her kid’s fundraiser packet to work and selling cookies for him. That was super refreshing.

And honestly, the whole book is worth reading for this passage:

Oh well. She actually liked all the other Anne’s she’d become. She was a darn good mom and one hell-of-a baker. Chubby Anne…well, she was nice to hug, as her guileless sons often said. So she was okay too.

I love that Anne accepted herself. I did think that the book compromised this same self-acceptance theme by hinting that it’s ok or Thomas to love Anne for Anne, despite her body, but if he’s attracted to her for being heavy (as in that’s his preferred body type) he’d be a ‘chubby chaser’ and that would be insulting to her. That still makes ‘fat’ shameful, even if it simultaneously says ‘fat people get love too.’ But the sentiment is nice.

So, the story is sweet. The characters are mostly sweet. Unfortunately, the book is so rushed that it’s almost a waste of time. It’s insta-love, insta-relationship, insta-everything really. Even after having her children kidnapped, forced into the horrible position of being a prize in a breeding contest (which ran completely counter to the whole idea of mates and made little sense in the story anyway) and being turning into a werewolf, Anne instantly forgives. Bah! There is no time for anything to progress or develops and it would have been significantly better as a novel than a novella.

As a plus, I didn’t realise that this was a second in a series and read it first. Until I went to review it, I never suspected it wasn’t a stand alone, so it would be fine to read as one.