Review: Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles Series Book 3) by Shelly Laurenston

Badger to the Bone by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’d probably give this book 4.5 stars if I could.

I love this series so hard. Shelly Laurenston is a brilliantly inventive comic writer. I read this on audio and I will repeat with this review, as I stated in other audio reviews of this series, whilst I really enjoy the narrator, she cannot carry off a Scottish accent to save her life. It drifts between Scotland and Ireland with alarming regularity. However, other than this one lack, her narration is excellent. Her differentiation between the numerous characters is very clear and her acting is very convincing. She’s excellent at drawing you into the plot and helping you bond with the characters.

Aside from the narration, this is a very well crafted story, as are all the others in the series. It’s got great pacing and plot twists galore. There are so many cameo appearances from characters that were in previous books in this universe you might get a little lost, but it’s all part of the charm of this series.

One of my favourite part of the Honey Badger Chronicles is that relationship between the sisters that veers between the homicidal to loyal to the core. The banter is hilarious as always, and the various romantic relationships aren’t a huge part of the story, with the exception of Max’s relationship with Ze, which is the new romantic focus of this book. I also like that the men in their lives know to stay well out of the way when the sisters begin arguing.

As always, the plot revolves around the mess that their father makes of the girls lives and it takes all their ruthless ingenuity to extricate themselves from his chaos. However, Ze and Max meet because of the mess Max’s mother made, this time. Max allows herself to be kidnapped in order to take out the person threatening her and Ze is an inside agent trying to take out the mercenary team that were hired to kidnap her. Max creates a bit of a mess when she decides she has to tell Ze that he’s actually a shifter and they end up killing everyone, not an uncommon event in the lives of these women. When Ze is injured Max decides to take him home, which requires crossing the Atlantic, and help him through his transition to shifter life and along the way their sociopathic tendencies seem to sync rather than clash. It’s a rather unusual romance, but it works for Max.

I would suggest that you do not read this book unless you’ve read the previous two in the Honey Badger Chronicles, if not The Pride and The Pack series, because the stories of these Honey Badger sisters is very tightly woven together and the richness of the story will be lost without all the background from the first two books.

This really is an excellent escapist novel and though it comes across as light there is very tight plotting and writing done in order to make it work. I highly recommend it.

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Review: A Pack of Blood and Lies (The Boulder Wolves Series Book 1) by Olivia Wildenstein

A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Werewolves in Boulder

Ness is nearly 18 and her mother died a few months ago. She’s been working several jobs to try and make ends meet as she continues to live in her old apartment with only her neighbour Evelyn to look out for her. She returns to her apartment and finds her uncle, aunt and cousin waiting for her, to take her back to the pack she was rejected from at age 11, after the death of her father. She was the only female wolf born to the pack in generations and was treated like an outcast.

The old alpha was pretty horrible, but now he is dead. There is to be a new alpha sworn in and there is no one contesting the old alpha’s son. Ness decides that she will contest the position in order to prove a point, that female wolves are a force to be reckoned with.

I feel like I should be raving about this book and I can’t work out why I’m not. It’s well constructed, the characters are interesting and believable and the world building is good. Somehow though, my heart isn’t engaged enough to rave about it. I don’t know why, I suppose sometimes you just don’t click with a character and that’s what I look for in a book. I want to really believe in the main character and really root for them to be happy and do well, the way I would a friend. However, I didn’t really click with Ness for some reason. I think it’s because she was so young and acted like it at times. I think if the book was about the same character in 5 years time I would find her much more interesting to me personally.

However, despite not clicking with main character, I did enjoy the book. It was well written and the world building was interesting. I think the next book will be worth reading too.

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Review: Rising West (Turner Artist Rocker Series Book 1) by Alyson Santos

Rising West by Alyson Santos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Beautiful Rock Romance

I haven’t come across anything by this author before, but a Facebook ad really sucked me in. I knew I had to read this book because the premise sounded so different from the usual Rock Romance books you see.

Mason is a single Dad. His beautiful fiancee died a few months after giving birth to his gorgeous daughter Brooklyn. When she died he was 19 years old. He had to give up his fledgling rock career and get a job to pay for his little girl. For four years he’s been working construction and barely making ends meet, being helped out by Brooklyn’s grandparents and babysitters. He still plays the odd gig and is thinking about giving up the music forever because he’s just exhausted. Then he gets a booking, he thinks might be his last and plays his socks off. A manager is in the crowd and asks him to audition for an established rock band that’s lost it’s lead singer.

The reason this book is so different is that is really three love stories in one. Mason’s first love is and always will be his daughter. She is everything to him. The second love story is in the diary we read that his lost fiancee wrote about their relationship. The third love story is about Mason and Liberty and their shared passion for music.

This is a layered and subtle book that is moving and beautiful in equal parts. I was really blown away by the lyrics written for the songs that were intermingled with the dual points of view of Mason and Liberty.

I really loved this book. I now want to read all of this author’s other works because if they are as good as this one, I need to have them in my life. You need to read this if you love beautiful stories about vulnerable people trying to live the best lives they can.

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Review: Survivor; Planet Athion (Survivor's Heart Series Book 3) by Debbie Cassidy

Survivor; Planet Athion by Debbie Cassidy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Running The Gauntlet

Stuck on a space station, Rogue is hiding in their quarters as her men work around the clock to try and raise enough money to buy a ship and make a full escape from both the Trads and the Athions. Rogue knows there is no time to waste and feels that only she can move things forward as she isn’t afraid to fight dirty to survive. She’s probably not wrong.

Investigating during a brief window of being left alone she finds a series of fights that will earn them a reward and a ship to get away from the vulnerable station.

Once again the plot moves quickly, there is plenty of action and hot and steamy sex scenes and very little character development. This is pure escapism at it’s best.

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Review: Rebel; Planet Athion (Survivor's Heart Series Book 2) by Debbie Cassidy

Rebel; Planet Athion by Debbie Cassidy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Making A Choice

On their way to Athion, Rogue and Vex have no idea what lies in wait for them and Xavier is spending the journey back to try and convince the other two Athion’s that handing over Rogue to be experimented on is wrong. When he fails to make headway with them he hatches his own plans.

This series of books are like chapters of a serial rather than full books. The story is good and the pace is excellent, along with the sex scenes, however there is little information given out about the characters, they are simply sketches. However, I can’t stop reading. This is Debbi Cassidy’s superpower, she writes great stories, you can’t help but want to know what happens next.

I think if I didn’t have Kindle Unlimited I would have walked away from the series, because I’m not sure I would think the price worth the number of pages. However, as I do have KU, I’m happy to enjoy the pure escapism of this series.

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Apologies

Well, it appears that my counting ability needs some work. It seems that when I scheduled my posts for May I went straight from the 17th to the 28th. I apologise. I didn't realise that there wer no new posts appearing on the blog over the last 10 days. I will endeavour to do better in use of the calendarm, in the future.

Please forgive me, and tomorrow we will return to our normal daily reviews.

Review: Rogue; Planet Athion (Survivor's Heart Series Book 1) by Debbie Cassidy

Rogue; Planet Athion by Debbie Cassidy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fighting For Survival

Rogue makes my heart hurt. She’s been through so much, she doesn’t even have her own name anymore. We are thrown in at the deep end with her as she fights for survival in a gladiator pit, her House’s team fighting against another’s. Her team may be victorious and she may be alive but she still lives in a cell, living on gruel and tortured by her captors.

Rogue was kidnapped from Earth and dispatched to a rock at the end of nowhere to entertain the masses. No longer fertile due to a drug she has been transformed into a berserker. She still has friends who make her life bearable, but she is tormented daily as the lone woman in the fights.

The author builds a world cleverly bit by bit as the nature of Rogue’s situation is revealed. We learn about the different species she is fighting against and with and hear more of her personal story. Then she is thrown at the hardest House Team to beat and she knows her days are numbered.

This subject matter is handled well and the horror and banality of Rogue’s situation is conveyed to the reader. We cannot help but empathise with her situation, an ordinary girl from England suddenly out amongst the stars fighting for her life.

There is a cliff hanger but the next book is already available.

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Review: Night Season (World of The Lupi Series Book 4) by Eileen Wilks

Night Season by Eileen Wilks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Adventures with Cynna and Cullen

I really enjoyed this book, though I really wanted to read more about Rule and Lily. Once I started reading though I couldn’t stop and I remembered why I really like Cynna and Cullen as characters. They are both strong independent characters, who have been made that way by life. They are both lonely for family and friends and have been drawn to Rule and Lily and the Nokolai Clan because of that.

Whilst Cynna is ignoring the elephant in the room, she asks Lily to help her choose a new wardrobe for work. They are out shopping when a gnome and two strange looking individuals drop into the middle of a mall fountain asking to open up trade and ask for help for their realm, Lily and Cynna being two of the people they believe can help.

In the end the government get involved in the negotiations without really understanding magic too well and that drags Cullen in to cast a shield spell. Only it’s not exactly a shield spell, more of a gate spell and they get pulled into the other realm, Edge. Cullen manages to push Lily out of the pull of the spell, as she and Rule couldn’t survive being apart, but the rest of them have to deal with the consequences of the lying gnome.

I love how through this book Cynna and Cullen start to admit to having feelings beyond lust for each other. It’s a slow and tentative journey into a relationship, helped along by the adventures they have along the way. I also really enjoyed the development of Gan, the ex-demon’s moral compass. Originally motivated purely by self interest and her surprising fondness for Lily, she is amazed to find herself actually becoming friends with Cynna and Steve, the FBI guy.

They all face many trials and the plot is great, pulling the reader along at a clip, but there are plenty of moments for pure character progression and relationship development. This author really is very good.

Again, I heartily recommend this book, as I have the rest of the series. You will need to read the earlier books first to make much sense of the characters and their relationships to each other, but as they are all of equal standard I don’t consider that too much of a hardship!

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Review: When He’s Dark (The Olympus Pride Series Book 1) by Suzanne Wright

When He’s Dark by Suzanne Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Banter, Jeopardy and Romance

I really enjoy Suzanne Wright’s books. She’s great at creating a paranormal world you can believe in. She also writes interesting characters and entertaining plots.

Moving away from the Mercury and Phoenix wolf packs and starting a new thread in this shifter universe was a good move. The last few books had characters who were related to the Olympus Pride so we were already introduced to the idea of Pallas Cat and Wolverine Shifters and had met some of the characters. As races both Pallas Cats and Wolverines are snarky, mean and vicious. This makes for some hilarious banter between all the characters as they just say exactly what they think all the time.

This book was about Alex a Wolverine, and nephew of the Alpha of the Olympus Pride, and Bree a Pallas Cat, who is also an Omega, someone who can sense and manipulate emotions and therefore function as the pack counsellors. Bree lost both of her parents quite young and her fated mate, Paxton, was a sociopath who she feared from an early age. Paxton left the pack 12 years ago and hasn’t been heard from in over 4 years, so everyone thinks he’s dead, except for his family, until some hyenas approach Bree to ask if she knows where he is. This starts all sorts of dangerous encounters and Alex, who’s fated mate died a while ago, and was someone who he felt no connection with, finally steps up and finally shows his interest in Bree, which she has shared since she was a teenager.

I like their relationship as it is pretty straight forward and there is very little in the way of hearts and flowers. It is, however, gritty and real and filled with passion. I also like how the Pride was a big part of the story with family and friends playing a big role in how things moved forwards.

There were lots of twists and turns in the plot and I had no idea who the bad guy was until it was revealed, which surprised me, as I usually have a good idea.

The characters are interesting and multi-dimensional and very witty. The banter between all the characters is laugh out loud funny and though difficult subjects are covered including violence and death, they are handled in a matter of fact manner.

The book is filled with passion and the sex scenes are pretty hot, which is usual for this author. However, the lust is secondary to the emotions of the characters and the plot.

I’m glad this author decided to branch out into a new group of characters, because I like these new ones and look forward to getting to know them all better in the books to come.

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Review: Silent Echoes (The Arcane Court Series Book 3) by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret

Silent Echoes by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There’s A Mighty Cliffhanger

I’d probably give this 4.5 stars if I could.

I hate that I’m putting that as a headline because I don’t want to put anyone off buying this book, because it’s great. However, I know some people loathe cliffhangers with the fiery passion of a thousand suns and would vow never to buy from that author again if they came across a cliffhanger without warning. Here is my warning, it’s a corker.

In this book Alyx finds her fifth guard, and I can’t say I was surprised by the reveal. However I do like that it isn’t all plain sailing with the mystical connections between princess and guards and there are still lots of emotional ramifications for how they are brought together.

I liked that the quest wasn’t the entirety of the book. It also had plenty of down time for the group to start to bond and for other parts of the plot to move onwards. Of course there is lots more sex and banter and cool mystical bonds with creatures of faerie. These authors are excellent at creating an image of magical locations for the reader to dive head first into. Their descriptive powers help make these books even more special.

Please don’t let the cliffhanger put you off, because these authors don’t hang about and the next book will be out in now time, I have no doubt. You’ll enjoy what you read, you’ll help pay the authors some money towards eating whilst they write and they will know you like what they are doing. Please buy the book, I want these authors to continue writing and not stop because no one is buying their books because of a few cliffhangers. It’s worth it to buy now!

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Review: Devil Inside (The Arcane Court Series Book 2) by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret

Devil Inside by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

New Guard and A Quest

In this book Alyx finds another guard. Eli, the daughter of Satan. She’s been around in several other books as a kind a guest star, so it was nice to see her find her own place at last. She joined up with Alyx at exactly the right time as she has just been given a new quest by a peaceful race of goblins who hid away from the world centuries before written history.

The quest is obviously a key part of this series as it relates to mending faerie and healing the damage caused by internal strife. The quest is important for the overall story arc and keeps everything moving plot wise in this particular series.

As always I enjoy the banter and sexiness of these books and the characters are always larger than life and fun in the extreme. These book are very entertaining and I love them for pure escapism. Can’t wait to read the next book!

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Review: Wicked Games (The Arcane Court Series Book 1) by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret

Wicked Games by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Grand New Adventure

Alyx is a princess who is starting to establish a court, however she also is a warrior and has been keen to take up the challenge to search the world, both human and faerie to find lost hoards of treasure. The treasure isn’t always gold and jewels, but also information, which is sometimes much more valuable. One such hoard leads Alyx and her men, Khalid and Scur to visit the faeblin prince, Abaxley. Abaxley is half fae and half goblin and can read the scroll they found. Abaxley is supposed to be part of Alyx’s court, but he’s been resisting.

This scroll is the start of a new quest for Alyx and as usual she jumps in feet first all gung ho.

I’ve always like the character of Alyx. She’s fierce and fun with a lust for life. Her battling her brother Quinn, a member of the Queen’s court always made me like her. This book also helps us to understand her men better than before, which is what usually happens with spin off series. I would say as always with these books, you probably won’t understand a lot of what is unsaid in this book unless you have read from the beginning of these books, ie Slumber (The Sleeping Court Series).

I will warn you that there is a doozy of a cliffhanger, and I’m just glad the next book is already out or I would be cursing the authors!

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Review: Vampire Bound: Book One by R A Steffan

Vampire Bound: Book One by R.A. Steffan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting Start To A New Series

This is sort of a new chapter rather than the start of a new series. The series features characters and continuation of events from The Last Vampire series with focused on Zorah and Ran. They are in this series but as supporting characters rather than main ones.

Vonnie is a single mother with a 14 year old son (she’s 30). Her dead beat ex has been borrowing money from the mob and then not paying it back. They have been chasing Vonnie for the money and she has ended up working a phone sex operator, but that money is still not enough. Her first job as an escort brings her to a club and a handsome man, Leonides is her first client. Only he’s not just a man, but a vampire and it seems she is resistant to being mind controlled, so she remembers him and the fae he argued with. He ends up offering her a job behind the bar and she takes it, with relief. She doesn’t know this will bring her even further into the supernatural world.

If you haven’t read the first series, this one still makes sense. I like Vonnie a lot as she is determined to look after her son, after an error of judgment when she was a teenager meant she selected a rubbish partner for her first attempt at sex. She was now stuck dealing with a dreamer who has no grasp on reality of idea of consequences, or that other people may end up paying the price for his mistakes. She adores her son and it seems that this is reciprocated by her son.

I also really like Leonides. He’s reserved and contains his emotions behind a high wall. However, he is compassionate and protective of his people and is always rescuing those in need.

There is an attraction between Vonnie and Leonides, but both seem scared to act on it. It creates a tension between them, but doesn’t stop their growing mutual respect either.

This is a complicated plot and I think it will get more complicated, but each strand is handled in a straight forward manner, so you don’t get overwhelmed with all the information. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next book in the series coming out in June 2020.

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Review: Succubus Sins (Blood Stone Series Book 1) by J R Thorn

Succubus Sins by J.R. Thorn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Intriguing and Dark Paranormal Reverse Harem

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got was a well written and thought out book, about darkness, desire and love.

Sonya is a succubus. She loves her muse girlfriend and for her she refuses to feed on men, but gets no nourishment from her girlfriend. Slowly, over time, she begins to get close to death and her incubus nature snaps and forces her to live by seducing a human man. This moment forces her to start down a path that will lead her to her destiny, one that was prophesied by her now deceased mother. She is covered in runes that link her to four men who share in her destiny, she just needs to find them and then work out what her destiny actually is!

This book is intriguing as the author doles out tiny tidbits of information about the overarching story as we see how Sonya and the people around her are reacting to the immediate situation. It’s very cleverly and subtly done. The characters are equally intriguing as they are complex and layered.

Sonya, herself, is a moral person who hates that her need for sexual energy causes men to lose themselves and their life force to keep her alive. She shies away from her power and is deeply conflicted about her own existence. Other characters in the book are equally interesting and multifaceted. I don’t quite yet feel a connection with the characters and I think that might be because I’m not sure who the good guys and bad guys are yet, and there was so much information shoved at me I need to work out how I feel about it all.

There are some quite dark moments in the book with some torture scenes. They weren’t too explicit or grisly but there a few moments that made me flinch.

This is a series with several books, and I’m interested to continue reading it, but not straight away as there was so much to digest I think my brain needs to sort through it all before moving on.

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Review: Here Kitty, Kitty (The Magnus Pack Series Book 3) by Shelly Laurenston

Here Kitty, Kitty by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ties Everything Together Nicely

The third book in the Magnus Pack series is very funny indeed. I know I say this every time I review anything by Shelly Laurenston, but the woman knows how to construct a plot well. She’s also fantastic at writing madcap characters, with banter up to your eyes.

In this book Angie, Sara and Miki’s best friend from home is attacked by hyenas and then kidnapped in the scuffle by two tigers. The tigers thought they were doing the right thing be getting her away from harm, but they forgot to ask permission, so when she woke up the alway fierce Angie fought back with some surprisingly effective tactics. Like Miki, Angie is a full human, but she’s been aware of the shifter world for a little while now because of Sara. Despite her knowledge of shifter strength, she is fearless and this captivates the brother of her kidnappers, Nik.

Whilst the rabidly independent Angie and Nik both fight their growing desire for each other, Angie is also trying to broker a peace treaty between the Pack and the Pride, whilst finding a way to deal with the hyenas. This book ties together the story arc that started in the first book of this series very nicely and answers all the questions that had been left hanging.

I love how both Nik and Angie fight their feelings as neither wants to give up their independence, but they know they are fighting a losing battle. Nik’s family are great fun too and I loved hearing about their history and seeing how they all related to each other.

It was a good end to these three books about three friends. I love this shifter world this author writes about and can’t wait to find another book to read about these characters.

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Review: Dark Hunt (Shadow and Light Series Book 1) by Kim Richardson

Dark Hunt by Kim Richardson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really Good Start To A New Urban Fantasy Series

I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.

I got this book free as part of the ‘it’s horrible because we are all scared of the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s give our books away’ spate of giveaways last week. I’d not read any books by this author before but the blurb looked interesting. I’m really glad I decided to give it a try because it was a very well written urban fantasy book.

Rowyn is a Hunter. She is Angel-Born, a being with angelic blood flowing through her. She was born to fight demons and half-demons to protect the human race. When she was 18 her parents died in a horrific fire and her home was destroyed. When she challenged the Council about their deaths not being an accident she was thrown out of the system that trains Angel-Born Hunters and had to make her own way in the world.

Now when she’s starving and dressed like a homeless person a gorgeous and beautifully dressed Angel-Born offers her a job worth $10k to find out who is murdering Angel-Born and stop them. She doesn’t want to work for the Council, but she needs to eat. When she finds out the name of the last victim it becomes personal.

Rowyn and Jax, the handsome Angel-Born, and long with Rowyn’s cat/Baal demon Tyrius, they try to track down the murderer before they kill the next victim.

It was a well paced book with enough action to keep you whipping through the pages. There was plenty of tension between Rowyn and Jax without it distracting from the plot. I loved Tyrius, a demon who chooses to live with mortals rather than go back to the Netherworld. He is loyal, intelligent and wise.

All the characters were well rounded with lots of hints of interesting backstories, which will hopefully come out more in the rest of the series.

This is a very promising start to the series, but the book stands alone as interesting in it’s own right. There aren’t any cliff-hangers, just an opening to invite the reader to find out more in the next book.

Well worth a read.

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Review: Princess Ninja Warrior (House of Garner Series Book 4) by Erin R Flynn

Princess Ninja Warrior by Erin R. Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

More Mayhem

This series continues apace as Inez starts work on the coven and tends her life tree, planted from the first seed she was given. She continues to rescue people enough for them to help rescue themselves, by giving them opportunities and old ones gravitate towards her.

There is more relationship drama and alliances with other princesses and fights with others. She wants to shake up the system and it’s working, but it’s dangerous for her and her loved ones.

One of the things I love about this author is that her series are a pretty seamless continuation of the story, however that means if a series isn’t popular she concentrates on something else and that means a frustrated reader who wants to know what happens next. I really hope that the author comes back to this series, but as this book was published in 2019 I’m not holding my breath. It’s frustrating when this happens because often people won’t start an incomplete series which means it won’t get reviewed and signal to the author that they want more of this series please.

So Ms Flynn, can we have more of this series pretty please with sugar on top?

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Review: Reaching for Home (House of Garner Series Book 3) by Erin R Flynn

Reaching for Home by Erin R. Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trouble With Other People

This book is all about Inez working out how to deal with other covens and shifter clans. As soon as she another vampire she was going to have to deal with other covens, because they all came from somewhere, unlike her. Being unknown and young, means that she is not taken as seriously as she should be, despite her power and the power of her nobles. She goes through a lot in this book to prover her strength and her ruthless intellect.

There are also a few relationship wobbles and misunderstandings That are hard to sort through, but she gains support from her knights and new allies.

Once again this book is interesting and absorbing and I can’t wait to read the next one.

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Review: Blood Lines (World of the Lupi Series Book ) by Eileen Wilks

Blood Lines by Eileen Wilks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A World in Flux

This book tells a story of a world about to change. Lily and Rule are back from Dis (hell) and have reached a much deeper understanding of each other, despite Lily’s missing memories. She can remember snippets from her other self’s time in Dis, but she doesn’t have complete memories. Whatever she remembers though, is enough to deepen her feelings for Rule. Rule has the memories of the Lily who sacrificed herself for him and sees the Lily who risked everything to rescue him and knows that her feelings are real. Those new feelings are tested as the world around them starts to change.

Magic is blowing through the world at levels not seen for centuries. It’s blowing out technology and people’s gifts are going crazy and Lupi are being forced to shift. On top of that demons are coming after the Lupi heirs and Rule is forced to deal with Leidolf, the clan who sent assassins after his father.

A lot happens in this book and there are many strands to follow with the action darting between Rule and Lily and Cynna and Cullen. The Lupi world and the world of demon riders come into collision and Cynna is the only one with the knowledge to help. I liked that the focus of the plot line opened up and encompassed different characters. It made it more interesting and gave more in depth insight into previously supporting characters, who are now being thrust into the spotlight. Cynna and Cullen are not taking over in this book but they are stepping front and centre alongside Rule and Lily, which makes sense because when you are fighting a goddess you need more that two people to do it!

There were a few moments where I wondered what on earth was going on and the explanation for it wasn’t great, but other than that small item I really enjoyed the book and will continue onto the next one in the series quite happily. I’ve very much enjoying this re-read of a gem I’d forgotten all about.

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Review: Mortal Danger (World of the Lupi Series Book 3) by Eileen Wilks

Mortal Danger by Eileen Wilks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Coming To Terms With Their Bond

This book follows almost directly on from the first book in the series. Lily is recovering from a bullet wound, but still has to attend her sister’s wedding as a bridesmaid, even whilst wearing a sling.

They are still missing the staff that Helen used to create such mayhem, and Patrick Harlowe, a charismatic leader of a strange cult, is very likely to have it. The power the staff holds is enormous and they desperately need to find it, in order to contain it and destroy it, no matter the government seems to want to hang on to it.

Then at the wedding Lily is attacked and no one seems to know who did it and why, only that she feels a sense of magic on her bullet wound. With no way of knowing what happened and why, they can’t defend her against anything that comes.

This is actually a very clever plot line that helps Lily and Rule come to terms with their relationship, which was determined by The Lady (the Lupi’s goddess). When your choices are taken away from you, it’s much harder to accept those choices that were made on your behalf, even if in the end they work out ok. Rule and Lily like each other and have the magic fuelled passion, but they don’t love each other and they are tied together for the rest of their lives. This book helps them to handle this truth.

There are some sweet and poignant moments in this book. I really enjoyed it.

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Review: Broken Loyalty (Jacky Leon Series Book 3) by K N Banet

Broken Loyalty by Kristen Banet
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I Love This Werecat

Jacky Leon is awesome. I love her. She’s definitely one of my favourite UF characters at the moment. She’s strong, fierce, loving and kind, even if she is social awkward and prefers to be alone (mostly). During the course of the last couple of books we’ve seen loner Jacky begin to reach out to her werecat family and make friends with Carey and her family.

Jacky’s family has decided that she needs to free up her time to work on her Werecat duties and have sent her two humans to work the bar for her, that came from families who have been in service to her family for generations. On top of that she’s been getting strange werecats popping in and out of her territory and not hanging about. It’s all driving her mad, but at least she’s still got time with Carey and her family, even if she’s worried about their safety with the strange werecats around.

This feels like a transition book, where Jacky starts to come to terms with her place in werecat society. She has a place within her werecat family and it is at the top of the food chain. We also see her start to bond more with her family as she begins to deal with some of her siblings who have traditionally held themselves back from her.

She starts to look at her long life and how she wants it to look like. She needs to find ways of passing the years and learn ways of staying unsuspicious to the humans as she continues to stay the same age.

Jacky and Heath are also very drawn to each other. Their attraction has been building from the start and their friendship is starting to fray under the strain.

It’s a great book that deals with guilt and vengeance, violence and affection. It’s a book of contrasts and complexity and I loved every page of it. Ms Banet can write the heck out of an Urban Fantasy book and this story demonstrates that. I cannot wait for the next book in this series, but I’m probably going to have to because it’s not the only series she’s writing. Ah well, I’ll get to do a re-read when it comes out (yay).

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Review: Weakened Mountains (Artemis University Series Book 4) by Erin R Flynn

Weakened Mountains by Erin R Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyable and Entertaining Read

Tamsin is due to start her second semester at Artemis Academy and she has a lot to get through before it starts. Her responsibilities seem to increase every time she turns around and trying to do it all whilst trying to hide her nature isn’t easy.

When she returns to Artemis she is attacked by someone she thought was a friend and carries the wound of that misjudgement as well as the attack.

Tamsin faces many challenges in this book but there is no ‘great big bad’ that she has to deal with. It’s lots of little issues that crop up, that are important just not a single driving impetuous to the plot. However all these little things add up to show who Tamsin is and the challenges she faces as she learns more about herself as the last fae.

This series is tremendously enjoyable and I love how Tamsin fights against injustice and prejudiced behaviour, whilst rewarding the good guys. She’s an unusual character and I love how she finds out that some of her more interesting character traits are due to her fae nature.

A highly entertaining and enjoyable book, but you need to read the rest of the series first.

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Review: Finding Honor: A New Adult Reverse Harem Romance (The Searchers Series Book 1) by Ripley Proserpina

Finding Honor: A New Adult Reverse Harem Romance by Ripley Proserpina
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Intriguing Start To A Reverse Harem Series

This is the first book in the series and it’s an intriguing start. Nora is a 20 year old who aged out of the foster system and has spent the last two years struggling to stay afloat with several jobs on the go. She is intelligent but was unable to afford college. She is working as a substitute teacher at her old high school when there is a shooting incident. She wakes up in hospital where she isn’t told anything and questioned incessantly by the police. She asks for legal aid and ends up with a professor and his student Ryan.

Ryan ends up inviting her to stay with him and his four best friends and room mates. With nowhere else to go she accepts and finds herself adrift with no job, no home, no money, but with the support of five strangers, who want to help her.

This introduction to the characters is superficial because it’s the start of a longish series, and I understand that, but it frustrates me because I want to know who they are and why they behave the way they do. The way the book is written is so carefully constructed I’m sure that the information about the characters will be drawn out with maximum effect.

The plot is intriguing and well constructed. The book ends at a good point with everyone HFN, but there are a lot questions unanswered to make you want to read the next book in the series, which I will undoubtedly read soon.

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