Review: Glamoured (A Kingston By Night Novel) by Joelle Greene

Glamoured by Joelle Greene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable Paranormal MC Reverse Harem Book

This was a fun, straightforward book. It was quite predictable but it was nice to read something that wasn’t too challenging for a change.

Cammy is a witch. She’s a single mother and a stripper to make ends meet. Her ex and father of her child is a senior member of an MC on the other side of town and she’s been running from him since she found out she was pregnant.

The club she works in is owned by a different MC, The Pride, and her best friend is mated to two of the members. All the members of the MC are cat shifters. It turns out there aren’t many female shifters and few male witches and witches and shifters are drawn to each other’s magic, so the tips she gets are pretty good.

Things are starting to change for Cammy because The Pride has decided to look out for her, which brought her to the attention of the President, Secretary and Vice President. All three are interested and she’s interested right back, but doesn’t want to draw them into her problems.

There is a lot of very explicit sex in the book, so if you are looking for escaping into an unreal world with lots of smut, this is probably a good book for you. The plot is straight forward with only a few twists, but it was still enjoyable. The characters were interesting but didn’t really have much depth and history to them which makes it harder to connect with them. This is probably what keeps it unchallenging.

If I’m in the right mood, I might read another book in the series at some point.

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Review: The TriAlpha Chronicles Collection (Books 1 - 3 of The Series) by Serena Akeroyd

The TriAlpha Chronicles Collection by Serena Akeroyd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great To Read In One Go

I’ve already read and reviewed the TriAlpha Series, but as there aren’t many reviews for this omnibus box set I thought I’d say why I liked it and also link to the reviews for the individual books. Plus I wrote the reviews before I had a blog, so reviewing the boxset with links to the original Goodreads review fills in a gaping hole in my reviews.

Trinity: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Triskele: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Triad: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

These individual books are fantastic, but reading them in one chunk is so satisfying. They flow seamlessly together and work well as a single volume. Having all the works together helps create momentum, and I know I’ll be downloading the 4th book in the series as soon as I’ve finished this review.

Serena Akeroyd writes incredibly well constructed books, that flow and capture your imagination. At the same time she is a deft creator of characters that feel believable and three dimensional.

I really enjoyed this volume and recommend it highly.

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Review: Bioluminescent (The Mimics Series Book 1) by Auryn Hadley

Bioluminescent by Auryn Hadley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Aliens Crash Land

I hate reviews that sound like they are written by obsessive fans, but I also want to tell the truth. Therefore, this review sounds like it was written by an obsessive fan, sorry.

I make no secret of the fact I love Auryn Hadley’s writing, and of course I bought this book the day it released and devoured it as quickly as possible. I’m pretty sure I’ll be re-reading it many times in the future, because at the back of the book the author states that this is the first in a 6 book series (YAY!!!!!) and I always re-read earlier books as new ones become available as a refresher.

Hailey Evans is a 29 barista who’s life’s ambition of living on a beach has been met. Wandering aimlessly through life suits her. She’s not unhappy but she’s not exactly skipping with joy either. Then she goes to watch an object due to burn up in the atmosphere and land in the ocean, and instead witnesses a space ship crash into the land near town. After watching as long as there was something to see, she wanders back home, passing a stranger on the way, little knowing that the meeting will change her life forever.

Tsij is a doctor on board a space ship forced to crash land on earth. He knows that the crash will cause the release of pathogens alien to Earth which will cause widespread and dangerous illness throughout the population. He needs to find subjects who are resistant to the pathogens to help him find a cure, to right the wrong their crash has inflicted on this backwards and primitive planet.

This is a wonderful story of two cultures clashing in dire circumstances. It reveals the best and worst of both as they are put into jeopardy. Working together as friendships and alliances are made.

Auryn Hadley has once more created a wonderful culture that is conveyed with a deft hand throughout the story. Each detail is well thought out before it is revealed. The culture of the ‘Mimics’ is rich and built around a single concept and from that concept everything flows. It’s intelligently and beautifully done.

We have a large cast of characters and they are all interesting. We meet people from all walks of life, both aliens and humans and the diverse backgrounds make this book even more interesting to me.

The plot is fantastic, everything moves quickly and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, wanting to know what happens next, what block is going to be raised and which way round it will they construct.

Basically this book has plot, characters and world building in spades and I loved every page. I know we are going to have to wait for the next book, but this book finishes well, with not too much of a cliffhanger. I know I’ll be happy to re-read it when the next book comes out because if I know Auryn Hadley’s work, the book will be even better with each read of it.

In short, read this book, you’ll enjoy it!

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Review: Dark Paradise (The Arcane Court Series Book 4) by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret

Dark Paradise by Dagmar Avery and K Margaret
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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

This final book in The Arcane Court closes a chapter for not only Alyx and her Court, but also the other characters we have met through this whole sets of series. Alyx's journey all over the world during previous three books has resulted in her final chapter, searching for the lost Island of Hybrasil, the fountainhead of the power of all Faerie.

The loss of Scur during the previous quest has had a massive impact on The Arcane Court and with Scur's family. Alyx is trying to function properly and taking Khalid down with her. She seeks comfort from the rest of her Court and gradually climbs out of her pit of despair, knowing she has this final quest coming soon.

Throughout this book Alyx grows closer to Hutch and they start to build a proper relationship. Her relationships deepen with her other guards too. As a bonus we get to witness the idiocy of Scur's brothers when his mother comes to mourn his loss with his Princess. They are good for some light relief in the midst of the grief.

These books are always good for adding levity when things get dark. They are actually very positive books, filled with joking banter and bouncing energy. The friendships are important and the banter between all the Princesses, The Queen and their guards is always lighthearted, but supportive. This as in all of the other books in the series is fun to read.

My only quibble with great ending to a great series, is there are a lot of typos in the book. Things like 'know' instead of 'now' and missing words from sentences. It's a minor issue, and it doesn't affect the quality of the story or my enjoyment, I just found it a little distracting and I know some people would hate it with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, so I like to add a warning, if that's you.

Despite my mental deduction of half a ⭐, I have no other complaints about this book. It was a tremendously enjoyable read and rounded off a lot of things for me, and I especially enjoyed visiting with the other Courts. I can't wait to read about The Ash Court and Senara Chaos in the next book, because the last few chapters of this book introduce her really well for the next series.

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Review: Close to Her Heart (Carrigans of Circle C Series Book 3) by C J Carmichael

Close to Her Heart by C.J. Carmichael
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Straight Forward Romance with A Tiny Twist

I’ve had this book ages and was only reminded about it by an advert so dug it out to give it a read.

Dani is a researcher at the University of Washington, researching childcare practices and loves her job with a passion. She also loves that she is far away from her Montana ranch beginnings. She has a nice boyfriend, who also happens to be her boss and she is happy with her life, though she wishes she got to see more of her boyfriend but understands that he is a widower with a young daughter, so his time is precious.

She has two good friends who live in her building, Miriam and Elliot. They get together at least once a week for drinks and board games and chat.

Everything is going well until Dani gets pregnant and then everything starts to unravel, and she starts to turn inwards rather than reaching out for help.

This is an unsurprising romance and goes in a predictable direction, but I liked the characters a lot. They were well thought out and their personalities solidly built. I also liked the way the author handled one of the main problems for Dani. It was handled with compassion and in a matter of fact way.

However, the story was a little plodding and I’ve found that books that don’t have lots of speech in them bore me a little. I think it comes from a background in theatre. I have no problem with lengthy paragraphs of internal debate or descriptions of the world, but I like the characters to talk to each other and to learn about each other and this book didn’t have very much of that.

All in all, an enjoyable book, but I didn’t enjoy it enough to read any more from the series. 

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