Review: Broken Moon: An Urban Fantasy Wolf Shifter Series (Kait Silvers Series Book 1) by Laken Crane

Broken Moon: An Urban Fantasy Wolf Shifter Series by Laken Cane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Compelling Urban Fantasy

This is the first book in a continuing series. It does not end on a cliffhanger but hints towards future issues to be resolved.

Kaitlyn is a hobbled werewolf. When she was 14 her father attacked their pack alpha and when her father was killed she attacked the alpha in desperation. As punishment, she was hobbled and she and her mother were exiled into the nearby town.

In constant pain from being unable to manifest her wolf, it reaches intolerable levels at the full moon where she has to run to exhaust herself so she can eventually rest. As a werewolf she is stronger, has heightened senses, and she heals faster than a human, however all of those benefits are reduced because she cannot shift.

Not only is Kaitlyn a werewolf, she can see spirits, something she shouldn’t be able to do. She has trained herself to become a paranormal hunter and sort of an exorcist for humans. She is very good at what she does.

She’s so good she has gained the attention of a detective, Rick, who believes in spirits and demons and that Kait can see them. She’s also gained the attention of the other alpha in the area and he offers Kait a job. In exchange, as well as financial reward, he’ll set her wolf free.

This is such a good book and is completely compelling. I couldn’t put it down once I started to read it. (No sleep for Chrissy again!). The characters are so well thought out and described they practically step off the page. You believe they are utterly real because they have very real and nuanced behaviour and speech patterns.

In addition to the fantastic characters, the world-building is fascinating. it’s incredibly well developed and you know there will be much more information to come in future books.

The plot is intricate and captivating. You get pulled along by the story until the very last page. This is such a promising start to a new series by this author that I can barely wait with excitement at the prospect of the rest of the series.

Borrow Free From Kindle Unlimited

Buy From Amazon UK

Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson Series Book 12) by Patricia Briggs

Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This Series Is Still Fantastic

I bought the first book in this series in 2006 when it first came out, when I still bought paperbacks. Therefore, I have a great deal of loyalty towards Patricia Briggs and Mercy Thompson Hauptmann. This loyalty does not alter the reality of how good this book is. It keeps up the standard of the series as a whole and holds it own in terms of quality even if you disregard the previous books. You do really need to read the previous books to enjoy this book though, as there is so much history before this book starts, and the history is not necessarily explained.

Mercy and Adam are having troubles that they are studiously avoiding talking about. They have a deadly fae wandering around the Tri-Cities that escaped from Underhill and on top of that, there appears to be a strange group of werewolves trying to take over the pack.

As always the story has many layers and poor Mercy and Adam never seem to get a breath to take a moment for themselves. They are so constantly running around protecting other people that they sometimes forget to fix their own problems in a timely manner. One of the things I like about this series is that Mercy and Adam have a very real relationship, considering he’s an alpha werewolf and she is the daughter of Chaos. They both work really hard to make things work and show appreciation for the other. But even when you work hard at your relationship, life sometimes gets in the way and things can slip a bit, especially if you are dealing with life and death situations on a daily basis.

The plot is incredibly tight, everything hangs together perfectly and takes you on an emotional journey from start to finish that ends with a smile on your face. The characters are always fascinating and the supporting characters often change in importance from one story to the next, as friends and allies do in real life.

I feel like Mercy still has lots to tell us and I hope that the author agrees because I could read about her and Adam for years to come.

Buy From Amazon UK

Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth Series Book 6) by Lisa Edmonds

Heart of Vengeance by Lisa Edmonds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic Venture into Other Realms

I love this series. It’s fantastic. It’s inventive, nuanced and filled with convincing emotion. It’s pretty much an ideal Urban Fantasy book.

This book is the sixth in the series and instead of doing a straight continuation of the plot, there is a big side trip into another realm, for Alice. Valas had been dangling the journey through a mirror into another realm for several books now. Alice agreed to make the journey in order save Sean a while ago and Valas decided now was the time to make the journey. Still filled with the dark magic from the sorcerer she fought in the previous book and accompanied by Malcolm the ghost and her golden wolf, the manifestation of her shifter magic, and loaded up with spells from her witch friend, Alice sets off into the unknown.

When Alice arrives she meets Lucy a Guardian, or someone who fights the nasties that inhabit the realm. Her wolf also manifests and stays manifested. The realm is broken and the magic is strange but it seems like her wolf knows where to go and Lucy is willing to give them a ride in the right direction. This however is the easy part of the journey.

This was an epic journey in the grand style of fantasy novels of the past. Alice found companions, dug deep into herself, faced the temptation of darkness and battled the big bad monster. It was fabulous.

Though I missed Sean and the other members of the pack, in a way it was nice to take a sideways trip into uncharted territory and the Alice of book 6 is a much more amenable character than in book 1, and accepts help with a lot more grace. I love how this series has shown Alice changing and growing through her experiences. She isn’t static and predictable which makes her far more interesting to spend time with.

I can’t wait to see what happens next, as her story seems to get more and more interesting as she has more to lose. I’d also love to see a companion series that delves into life in the Broken Realm and follows Lucy, Ronan the bounty hunter and the alternate version of Charles. I think that would definitely be a series worth reading.

Borrow Free From Kindle Unlimited

Buy From Amazon UK

Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Redemption of a Wrangled Spirit (Shifters and Six-Shooters Series Book 1) by Liddie Cain

Redemption of a Wrangled Spirit by Liddie Cain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Paranormal Reverse Harem done Western Style

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

I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit different from the run of the mill paranormal RH. The book is set in Texas and written as a ‘western’ with bounty hunters and six shooters.

Eva is 24 years old and lives with an abusive alcoholic father. Her mother died when Eva was young but she has lots of memories of her, including sharing her ability as a Spirit Shifter, which Eva inherited. This is one of the more unusual aspects of the book. A Spirit Shifter is someone who can shift from the physical world into the spirit world where they can communicate more effectively with spirits and become intangible on the physical plane.

Eva’s father is trying to escape bounty hunters, when they finally catch up with him. What he doesn’t know is that the bounty hunters are also shifters, but they shift into animals. They understand what Eva is and try to help her escape from her father.

I liked how innocent Eva was. She was kept isolated and her father didn’t really talk to her. Her mother died when she was young and therefore had no one to explain the birds and the bees. She understood the general principle because of reading science books and I imagine living on a farm but that is very different from understanding the reality.

I also liked the way the emotional relationships developed at different rates and that not all the bounty hunters were destined to be her mates.

The characters were all really interesting. They were all distinct with hints of interesting pasts to go along with their current emotional states. I get the feeling that these characters will all be built up over coming books. I don’t know how long the series will be, I just know that they have been given a really solid foundation with this a first book. I can’t wait to find out more about them all, and not just the main characters but those that surround them too.

I was really impressed with the world building in this book and the way the author created this interesting distinct shifter society that runs parallel to but secret from human society. Placing the book in a historical setting makes it lots of fun and enhances the story.

The plot is interesting but not so overwhelming it overshadows the development of the characters or the world building in this first book of the series. The pacing was really well done and kept me reading without feeling dizzy at how quickly everything was moving.

The book doesn’t have a cliffhanger. It leaves off at a good place to finish so you don’t go crazy waiting for the next book, but also intrigues you enough to be excited about when that book will be released. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series.

Borrow Free From Kindle Unlimited

Buy From Amazon UK

Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Black Dog Rising by Kat Caulberg

Black Dog Rising by Kat Caulberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Surprisingly Subtle and Complex

This book is slow and subtle crawls underneath your skin. It lures you onwards just as you think you might give up because the whispers of what goes on underneath the surface start to drive you mad with frustration. I needed to know what was going on and it made me continue to turn pages even when I felt like nothing was happening. Only it was happening, it was simply too subtle to see it moving until you looked away and then back again.

Emma is an American who has lived in the UK with her boyfriend Shane for 6 months. It was a rocky relationship but it got worse when they moved to the UK. We first encounter her in Ninestone Downs after running away from a dangerous encounter with Shane’s deceased wife (yes I did say deceased).

Toby the local landlord takes pity on the American woman and lets her stay in a tiny room because the village is packed with tourists, there for the Midsummer Festival. Toby is more than he seems, a protector who is tied to the landscape of the village. Toby and Emma are drawn together despite themselves. At the same time Emma has captured the attention of dangerous forces.

I have to be honest here, I read this book because I was approached by the author. I probably wouldn’t have seen it otherwise. If I hadn’t said I would review it I probably would have given up at around 20% because it felt like nothing was happening, but I’m glad I stuck it out because it got increasingly enthralling as it progressed.

I don’t want to give too much away because it’s the way things are revealed that make it a good book. Stick with it, because it’s well worth your time.

Borrow Free From Kindle Unlimited

Buy From Amazon UK

Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Heart of Shadows (Alice Worth Series Book 5) by Lisa Edmonds

Heart of Shadows by Lisa Edmonds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Alice Loses Her Memory

Alice is found wandering along the side of the road, compelled to walk forever, by Sean and Ben. She has no memory of who she is, neither does she recognise anyone else. She also has no magic.

This story is told through flashbacks, jumping between the past and present as Alice’s story is told, filling in the blanks of how she got into that state and how she is to get out of it. The story is also told from two POV, that of both Sean and Alice. It’s a different way of telling the story from the previous books in the series, but I think in this instance it makes sense, filling in all the missing parts of the narrative.

The plot in this book was even more complex than the last one, but it was no less intriguing. Alice’s loss of memory is very interesting as it allows her to see who she would be without all the past trauma clouding her personality. She is vulnerable without magic, but her personality is intact.

There is some very clever storytelling going on in this book and I could rave about it forever, but I don’t want to spoil anything. So all I can suggest is, read the series, and read this book. Now all I have to do is wait until Autumn when the next book is due out!

Borrow Free With Kindle Unlimited
Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Heart of Stone (Alice Worth Series Book 4) by Lisa Edmonds

Heart of Stone by Lisa Edmonds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such A Good Book

Alice is given a new case when a 12 year old boy goes missing. He is a null, someone able to destroy magic. Alice suspects a cabal has got their hands on him and will do anything to free a child from the kind of life she experienced before escaping. This case is the first step in a journey that will lead to her facing her greatest fear, and she gets to decide how she faces that meeting.

I’ve been an Urban Fantasy fan since before it was labelled as such and had it’s own shelf in the bookshops. I remember when it was all lumped in with the horror section! This series is a shining example of why I love Urban Fantasy. The world building is incredibly well thought out, with a magic system that makes sense, but is no less magical for it’s logic. I like that in this book we are introduced to the witches magic system too.

This book is all about Alice’s growth as a person. She is learning about herself on a daily basis and she has Malcolm the ghost, Sean and the Pack and her other friends, old and new to thank for that. For a woman who spent the first 20 years of a her life fighting for survival alone, it’s taken a while to understand that people want to help her and accept that help.

I have always loved Sean as a character and this book proves to me why. He is patient, loving, loyal and fierce. He is at heart a protector and nurturer, which is why he’s such a good Alpha. He needs everything he’s learnt as leader of a pack to help him deal with Alice’s insecurities and fears.

There are plots within plots in this book, and I loved getting sucked in by the great writing. I especially liked the introduction of Carly, a witch who dated Sean when he and Alice broke up for a while. She’s an amazing character and a great catalyst for Alice to change. I like that she introduces Alice to a more gentle and nurturing side to magic, even if it’s not magic she uses.

This series is brilliant. It’s articulate, well constructed and the characters are all gems. The plot is fantastic and whips along at a good rate, but allows the characters and the emotions to breathe at the same time. Everything is exceedingly well paced. This really is a great series, and I wish more people would read it.

Borrow Free With Kindle Unlimited
Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Sin & Chocolate (Demi-Gods of San Francisco Series Book 1) by K F Breene

Sin & Chocolate by K.F. Breene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Demi Gods and Ghost Whisperers

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

I’ve read a few KF Breene books before and have enjoyed them, so thought I’d give this one a punt. It’s a bit different to what I was expecting, but very enjoyable.

Alexis is magical, but it’s in useless field, talking to ghosts doesn’t really pay the bills, especially if you have no contacts or training. She’s worked a series of dead end jobs in the Dual-Society Zones, where both magic and non-magic alike can live and work. She is also raising two teenagers her mother found on the streets, and brought home. Her mother died a few years ago and she’s struggling to keep enough food in the house to keep them all alive.

Kieran is a demi-god. His father is a son of Poseidon and Kieran has inherited his father’s power. He nearly runs her down in his car and he is stunned by her less than deferential attitude. He decides to follow her and soon becomes both captivated and intrigued, especially when she seems to have so much more power than she should have.

This book is a battle between someone trying to do the right thing the hard way and someone who has enough power to run right over anyone he chooses to. It’s interesting watching them both trying to get what they want whilst holding onto their sense of self.

I loved the two teenagers in this book. Daisy and the very sick Mordecai are both gems of characters. Their banter and belligerence conjures up every teenager on the planet, whilst at the same time retaining their unique individuality.

The book is really well written and the plot tugs you along nicely. I’ve been left with lots of questions to be answered, but that is the purpose of the first book in the series, to intrigue you enough to read the next book. That has succeeded in my case.

Borrow Free With Kindle Unlimited
Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Boundary Haunted (Boundary Magic Series Book 5) by Melissa F. Olson

Boundary Haunted by Melissa F. Olson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent Book and Superb Performance

This review is based on listening to the audio book available through Audible. The narrator is Kate Rudd.

I have become a great admirer of Kate Rudd’s narration and this series has been part of that. She is an incredibly skilled actor who clearly differentiates between characters at the flip of a switch, which is not an easy task. It’s easy to forget that it is only one person reading the book sometimes. I found it difficult to stop listening to this audio book because her performance was so engaging.

The book itself was superbly constructed. This author never fails to deliver an excellent piece of fiction. Her world building is always fascinating and her characters are wonderfully engaging. I really love Allison ‘Lex’ Luther, a former Sargent in the Army. She is also a Boundary Witch, a witch who’s magic relates to the boundary between the living and the dead. It’s a very specialised type of magic and the witches who perform it were hunted down and killed over the centuries because of the nature of their magic being distasteful and because they have the ability to control vampires in the same way vampires control humans. This magic also means that Lex is someone who can see ghosts and help them move on to where they were originally supposed to go when they died. This is why she is called in to help the Cardinal Vampire of Atlanta, Beau. Beau is well known for eccentricities and he requests help to find his ‘missing’ ghosts. This have disappeared from all over Atlanta and Beau doesn’t want them to be gone as he is able to see them, unlike most vampires.

Lex is reticent to travel to a city packed full of ghosts after her recent run in with a tunnel filled with aggressive wraiths. However, her sister tells her to go to help her get over her fear. When Lex arrives she finds a much more complex situation than some missing ghosts, and she digs her heels in to find out who is stealing the ghosts and why..

There were several points during this book that I was sure I knew what was going on, only to change my mind a chapter later. This author is very good at dropping breadcrumbs that lead to a dead end, only to reveal a trap door hidden under the rug. The reader is kept on their toes all the way through as the plot is a complicated dance through vampire and witch culture in Atlanta. Lex is on her own as an investigator because her normal partner in these sorts of matters, Quinn, was unable to go with her. It meant that Lex’s character had a chance to grow and challenge her own capabilities.

One of the things I love about these books is that Lex is not an all powerful magical being. She has very real limitations and her magic is incredibly specific. In a narrow set of circumstances she is extremely powerful, but nudge one of those circumstances out of alignment and she’s forced to rely on her training as a soldier and her friends and allies. Lex nearly always works with a team and I love that, because her limitations force the author to plot creatively. It also adds extra dimension to her relationships with other characters.

I really hope that this author continues to write about Lex, because I think it will be a very long time before I get bored of this character and the wonderful world in which she lives.

Borrow Free With Kindle Unlimited
Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Boundary Broken (Boundary Magic Series Book 4) by Melissa F Olson

Boundary Broken by Melissa F. Olson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoy these novels. They are particularly entertaining as an audio book and the narrator, Kate Rudd, is an excellent choice for stories with Allison ‘Lex’ Luther at their heart. Lex has a mature voice. She is a woman with combat and command experience and having a voice with depth and conviction is necessary for the novel to be read with the right degree of authority. Kate Rudd has that kind of voice and acting ability.

This is the fourth book in this particular series but there are other story strands to the ‘Old World’. You really do need to read at least the other books in this particular series for this book to make much sense.

Lex has been working for Maven, the Cardinal Vampire for Colorado, for a while now and is happily settled with Quinn, her vampire boyfriend, who also happens to be Maven’s right hand man. Maven has been pretty busy of late and not really using Lex for anything particularly useful that utilises her skill set. Lex is also a little worried that if Quinn was forced to lie to Lex because Maven told him to, he would be forced to, due to the magic of his oath. She knows he loves her but it is a nagging worry.

When Lex gets a call from a werewolf alpha from the next state asking for help, as she owed him a favour, Lex doesn’t hesitate to help, because: 1. She owes him a favour, 2. It’s the right thing to do and 3. She’s bored. Two wolves have gone missing and the alpha suspects foul play. It turns out he’s right.

This is the start of some very complex and political plot writing, interwoven with great use of magic based on a huge resource of an already built universe that has been created over quite a few books. It also helps that Lex is a great character as are her friends and family. In particular I love the relationship she has with four year- old Charlie and hearing about their cute video calls reminds me so much of chatting to my own niece when she was four the same way.

I like that Lex has a difficult past but has forged a present that works for her, surrounded by her loved ones. She’s incredibly moral but at the same time she is pretty practical when she needs to be.

This author writes well rounded characters, based in a complex and real feeling universe with clever, interesting and entertaining plot lines. I always enjoy her books, and this one is a particularly good example.

Borrow Free With Kindle Unlimited
Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Borderland (The Sleeping Court Series Novella) by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret

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

Short and Sweet

This short story is packed full of sexy sweetness with Quinn. Quinn is making his sister, Alyx’s, life a little difficult. She is the new head of a new House, but she can’t get near her potential guard. Quinn is being over protective and no one is good enough for his little sister.

Verity seeks to distract Quinn with passion and then take him to the Borderlands to meet with someone who might set him on the right path.

This is definitely a short, and it isn’t essential to the story arc of The Sleeping Court, but it is interesting and fills in some important facts that you might not find elsewhere.

Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Wicked Wings (Lizzie Grace Series Book 5) by Keri Arthur

Wicked Wings by Keri Arthur
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such A Good Series

I’ve been a fan of Keri Arthur for a long time, but this is one of my favourite series of hers. I love Lizzie Grace and her best friend, and familiar, Belle. Their friendship is the centre of these stories, and I love that it’s more important than the romances that come and go. The two witches are aware of each other at all times and can psychically communicate and draw on each other’s strength in times of need. It may not be romantic love but it’s something almost stronger.

This is just as well because though Lizzie is with Aidan and has fallen for him, they both know there can be no future in their relationship, because as an alpha werewolf he has to marry and have children with another werewolf. This time limit gives a sweet poignancy to their relationship, despite their obvious feelings for each other.

In this book the dark danger facing the reservation is a demon that murders and then strips flesh from the bones. Throw in a White Lady ghost who wants to get revenge on the demon and signs of Lizzie’s husband getting close to tracking her down after 12 years of running from him and their forced marriage at age 16.

With a long standing series there are always multiple strands to tug on and weave in and this is where the strength of the writer comes into it’s own, with Ms Arthur’s craft shining through with each turn of the page. It takes real skill to take each component of a long running series and weave it around the immediate threat, without letting either part getting lost and becoming weaker. This book is a perfect example of a writer at the height of her powers creating a wonderful set of characters and weaving a gripping story around them.

Read this series, it’s brilliant.

Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

Review: Long Witch Night (Red Witch Chronicles Series Book 2) by Sami Valentine

Long Witch Night by Sami Valentine
My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book, in return for a review. All opinions stated below are my own.

This is the second book in the Red Witch Chronicles. I loved the first book, but this one blew the first out of the water, it was superb. I was completely enthralled in Red’s life and adventures, and I hated being disturbed whilst reading it.

Red and Vic are staying in LA for a while. Vic is in an electric wheelchair, but Red has some mysterious funds available so they found an apartment and are now working for Quinn as Hunters for Hire. During a routine call to exorcise a ghost for a Hollywood starlet, and her rapper husband, Red encounters an additional spirit that starts talking to her in her dreams. Is this spirit there to help or harm is the question that Red wants to answer.

There is so much in this book. There is all the push and pull of Red’s feelings for Lucas and for Kristoff and their feelings for Red being mixed up with their feelings for the woman who’s face she wears.

We find out more about Red’s doppelgänger and the warlock that killed her in this book, but there is still a lot of mystery surrounding Juniper St James, as well as Red's missing memories.

In this book we experience ghosts, possessions and alternative dimensions. There is never a dull moment, and I can’t wait for the next book.

Borrow Free With Kindle Unlimited
Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon US

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.