Review: Siren's Battle (The Seraphine Thomas Series Book 3) by Erin R Flynn

Siren's Battle by Erin R. Flynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Emotional Stuff

Trigger Warning: In this book there are explicit descriptions of sexual assault and child abuse. If these subject matters could cause you emotional harm, please skip this book. Know that the subject matter is handled with delicacy and understanding, and those reading this book may gain understanding and empathy for things the characters experience, that could translate into helping them understand survivors in the real world.

In this third book of the series, there is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. There are so many peaks and troughs, it’s amazing that Sera is still standing at the end of it.

Sera discovers some rare and sought after shifters and takes them in for protection. When word gets out, an ancient vampire from the vampire council arrives and tries to gain access to the shifters through Vlad.

On top of dealing with the scary vampire, Sera is dealing with politics and trying to build up her pack to be safe and secure for all it’s members, which means dealing with the people who want to take over the pack. She is constantly having to watch her back, and it’s taking it’s toll. However, it does show her who her true friends are, those who love her without condition, rather than possessively.

Once again this book is a well written, the plot is well paced and constructed with sophistication and artistry. The emotions are convincing and heart rending at times, which makes the happy moments more uplifting. It’s another really good book in this series.

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Review: Camden (The Casanova Club Series Book 13) by Ali Parker

Camden by Ali Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Get Your Tissues Out

This episode of the Casanova Club had me a bit teary eyed. Camden is the last bachelor that Piper was staying with and he was based in New York, Piper’s home town. She loves Christmas and wasn’t looking forward to spending it away from the family she loves, but Camden hates Christmas with a passion. Having Piper stay with him, was the worst possible timing and he couldn’t bring himself to connect with her when he was feeling depressed and out of control.

Piper was also coming to the realisation that time was running out for her and she would be forced to make a decision that would hurt people she cared about deeply.

Basically this book put both Piper and Camden through the mill emotionally and we are there to witness it all.

I can’t wait to read the final book and see what decision Piper finally makes.

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Review: Rival (The Aces MC Series Book 1) by A J Macey

Rival by A.J. Macey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

MC vs The Mob

This is quite a violent book, and the one perpetrating most of the violence isn’t the retired assassin it’s the thief.

Keira, is also known as The Cat. She started stealing when she was 9 years old from her father’s friends. Her father happens to be a mob boss and he didn’t treat his only daughter well. Over the years her stealing had one object, to get enough money and power to destroy her father.

Keira is arrogant, prickly with a hot temper and an abundant sex drive. She won’t tolerate any kind of control or disrespect and will often lash out violently when it happens. We don’t know what happened with her father, but from everyone’s reactions, including hers, we know it’s bad.

Six months previously she met Chase. He was an assassin sent to kill her. Instead he fell for her and moved in, teaching her everything he knew. Her step-brother is in The Aces MC, an officer of the club. Her best friend is also married to a member, so she has connections. When a club Old Lady is kidnapped, her step brother Garrett suggests that they hire The Cat to steal her back. That’s when she meets the President, Boss, and the the enforcer, Stone.

I really enjoyed the strength of Keira. She is fearless and angry and determined. She is badly damaged, and it shows in her behaviour, but I can’t help but like her. She is intelligent and ruthless and goes after what she wants. I also love Chase who is ridiculously enthusiastic about everything and a vegetarian to boot, because humans usually deserve to die, but animals don’t. He adores Keira and will do anything and everything to keep her happy, including accepting her sleeping with other men, in fact he quite enjoys watching if she does.

This reverse harem is unusual and violent and convincing. The characters are multi-dimensional and intriguing. There are lots of more back stories to come, I’m sure.

The plot is complex and fascinating and held me in it’s grip from start to finish. This is an excellent MC book and I can’t wait to read what comes next in the series.

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Review: Happily Undead In Dark River (Dark River Days Series Book 2) by Grace McGinty

Happily Undead In Dark River by Grace McGinty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent Follow Up Book

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

I really enjoyed the first book in this series so I looked forward to the follow up eagerly. I am not disappointed. Grace McGinty has written an engaging, sexy and interesting book. I love the concept of a small town of vampires who don't feed from live humans, but only drink bagged blood.

Raine is enjoying living her new little cottage and is working for the Sheriff’s office now her friend has closed her shop. Raine’s maker, Alice, was a popular figure in the town of Dark River and they are making her feel guilty for her execution, despite her being the victim.

Raine has plenty of affection from her mate Tex, Brody the alpha shapeshifter, Judge the ex-vampire enforcer and Walker the Vampire Sheriff. She is hoping the town settles down and accepts her once again, but until then, she has her men and a couple of other people who don’t blame her for something that is not her fault. Then X, Judge’s friend from his enforcer days, turns up in the diner injured and bleeding with news that the Vampire Council is coming.

There are several strands to this story, with problems from the Vampire Council, but also the shapeshifters, as there are consequences for Brody spending so much time away from Pack Lands, however all these problems give us more insights into the current and past lives of the men in Raine’s life.

I like the pace of this author’s writing. She mixes up the light hearted with the emotional and serious, with a deft hand. The characters are well thought out and though consistent aren’t necessarily predictable.

I can’t wait for another book in this series as there was an interesting peek into what’s coming next in the last chapter.

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Review: Souls of Steel (Chimera Academy Series Book 1) by Eva Brandt

Souls of Steel by Eva Brandt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Imaginative And Darkly Inspired View of a Dangerous Future

This book is incredibly innovative in it’s construction of concept. Selene is the daughter of the High Priestess of Gaia in North America. Sadly Selene has no magic of her own, and is instead drawn to the Chimera, the giant mechanoid constructions that house the souls of mythical beasts. The constructs were gifted to them by Tartarus, God of the Underworld to aid in destroying their foe, the Sun-Dwellers, or apsids. These foe nearly destroyed the Earth until the torment of the planet woke Gaia and Tartarus and they restored their magic into the world to save their planet.

Two hundred years after successfully fighting off the apsids Earth society has fractured into the Gaians who work Earth magic and healing and help rebuild Earth, to one day make it completely habitable again, and the Chimerans, who live in space on a asteroid where they live and train to fight the apsids in space. It also seems that only women can work with Gaia’s magic and only men can work with Tartarus magic. Until Selene. In an incident on Earth, Selene ends up bonding with a Chimeran, and they are forced to accept her for training at the Chimeran Academy, where she is thrust into a dangerous and unfamiliar world where women are treated as objects.

It’s a fascinating book, and I loved Selene, who felt she was very normal and ordinary, but she actually has a loving heart and a spine of steel. She was raised by a powerful woman, who had wisdom that she shared with her daughter, and an influential man, who taught his daughter all about Tartarus, and how to fight. She is unusual both on Earth and in space.

There is a lot unspoken in this book about the motives of the characters, but enough is revealed to tantalising. I couldn’t stop reading, because I wanted to find out what was going on.

I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

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