Review: Make Me Yours (Bellamy Creek Series Book 2) by Melanie Harlow

Make Me Yours by Melanie Harlow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Heartbreakingly Sweet

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

Cole is a single father to 9 year old Mariah. Mariah’s mother was Cole’s high school sweetheart and she died in childbirth. Since then Cole has been alone. He’s strong, self-contained and a police officer. He moved in with his mother when his wife died and has stayed ever since.

Next door to Cole lives Cheyenne. Cheyenne moved back in with her mother a couple of years earlier to try and save some money. Cheyenne has loved Cole since she first understood what longing for a boy was. Her brother is Cole’s best friend and has been since they were in nappies.

Over the last few months Cheyenne and Cole have been getting closer and closer and things are on a tipping point for them. Only, Cole is scared of how Mariah is going to take him becoming involved with anyone and it has him holding back.

This book tells of the journey Cheyenne, Cole and Mariah take in order to reach their HEA. It’s a story of taking walks in the snow, girls’ night’s in and sneaky kisses and phone sex. It’s a story of learning to let go of the past and have faith that this time it will last and you’ll get the HEA, and if you don’t, then at least you’ve have had happiness for now.

There are some really poignant moments in this book, interspersed with hot and steamy and really sweet. It’s a lovely slowly unfolding story with very real emotions being worked out. I loved the characters with Cheyenne being loving and sweet, she’s a kindergarten teacher, Cole being strong and silent, typical police officer, and Mariah being funny and supportive. The surrounding characters are all very believable. In fact the you can imagine the whole book happening to someone you know. I like it when you can relate to the subject matter as well as the characters and this book is definitely relatable.

A really enjoyable read. 

 

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Review: A Family for the Alien Warrior (Treasured By The Alien Series Book 4) by Honey Phillips and Bex McLynn

A Family for the Alien Warrior by Honey Phillips and Bex McLynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet and Steamy

There’s just something so warm and comforting about this series. The Cire warriors are so loyal and gentle, whilst being ferocious in their defence of their loved ones.

This is the fourth in the series and is very loosely connected to the first three, but there is only one character from those books and he is a tangential character at most. However, the theme remains the same; a woman is kidnapped from earth by the evil slavers and rescued by a Cire warrior.

On this occasion the Cire warrior had a bit more of a mixed bag to rescue. Mganak is a salvager. He lives alone on his space ship, except for his pet/companion Sagat. Sagat is a kind of dog/cat/alien creature and is intelligent and loyal. Mganak picks up an escape pod and is surprised to find it filled with women and children.

Wanda is a librarian from earth. She is also 4 months pregnant from a sperm donor. She was picked up on Earth 3 weeks prior and held on a ship with Alicia, a widow, siblings Darla and Davey, who had no parents, and another pregnant woman, who is further along and a Vedeckian (the race of slavers). Unsurprisingly Mganak is attracted to Wanda and vice versa.

This is another story of two people coming together from different cultures and finding their previous content existence could use some improvement. I really liked the family dynamic in this book. Mganak’s relationship with Darla and Davey, who is neuro-atypical, is so sweet and loving and really added to the warm and fuzzy nature of the book.

Obviously there is a pattern to these stories that all end in a HEA, but I like that there are definite differences in the dynamics between the characters, and with this book the dynamics are definitely altered by the family nature of the rescued individuals.

I really hope that this series continues because the books are a perfect bite sized pick me up, when we are all in need of one!

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Review: Heart Of The Hounded (Eden Academy Series Book 0) by Grace McGinty

Heart Of The Hounded by Grace McGinty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Enthralling Story

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

After recently reading the story of the set up of Eden Academy from the side of the people funding it, hearing about the Eden organisation made for fascinating reading.

Layla is used to be thought of as the ‘crazy’ in the small town she grew up. She played up to her reputation after she was attacked by wolves and ‘saved’ by a monster. After the death of her mother a naked bleeding man turns up at her cabin door and he seems to know her. This starts Layla’s journey into the unknown world of the super and preternatural.

The naked man is Micah and he eventually leads her to Eden to keep her safe from the men who hurt him on the night they met. When meeting the rest of the organisation she learns more about Micah, his friends and herself.

There’s so much more I could say but I really don’t want to ruin this story because it’s just so interesting reading as it all unfolds. The characters are all wonderful and unique and there are some really genuinely funny bits. There are also some tender and sweet parts. There is passion and anger and friendship and loyalty. It covers all the emotions!

A lot of the world building has been done in previous books, but there is still some construction of supernatural and preternatural abilities/beings, which keeps things interesting. This whole book makes me excited for the Eden Academy series because the characters are definitely going to be in appearing. Some of the younger characters are bound to be in the Academy!

All in all, a book I dove into and didn’t reappear from, until the last page had been turned. A really great story with fabulous writing and enthralling characters. What more could you want?

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Review: Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound Series Book 11) by Jennifer Ashley

Midnight Wolf by Jennifer Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On The Run From Shifter Bureau

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

In New Orleans a wolf shifter, Angus, works as a bouncer. He used to be second in command until his crazy brother, Gavan, decided to start a revolution and got himself killed along, along with Angus’ mate, who’d run off with him. Luckily Angus had managed to get his son, Ciaran, back to safety before it all went wrong. He still got tarred with the brush that his brother so gleefully plunged into the can, which is why he lost his position.

Tamsin is a shifter who has never been collared. She’s always managed to evade detection from the Shifter Bureau, leading an exhausting life, but a free one. She managed to get sucked in by Angus’ brother, but ran away before they were caught by the Bureau, after she found out what he was up to. Now everyone wants to get their hands on her, because she knew about Gavan’s plans. In order to get their hands on her, a ruthless agent with the Shifter Bureau decides to use Angus, a gifted tracker, to capture Tamsin. He kidnaps Ciaran to manipulate Angus.

I really liked this couple. Angus is stoic, determined and kind. Tamsin is joyful, mischievous and loving. Ciaran is Angus’ world and his love is clearly demonstrated early on in the book. Ciaran is funny, exuberant and sweet.

The plot in this book was fairly complex and interesting. It involved the help of several others to make the plot work and I had no idea how they were going to do it. I was kept guessing right to the end on what they were going to do. This made it really enjoyable to read and get sucked into. The world building was fairly sparse because this is the 11th book in the series and most of the heavy lifting has already been done, but the character work was, always, deftly handled and believable.

It’s been a long time since I dove into this series, but this book reminded me of why I loved it enough to get to book 11. I think I might download book 12 now, whilst I still remember how good it is!

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Review: Lost and the Hunted, Book Two by Grace McGinty

Lost and the Hunted, Book Two by Grace McGinty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Setting Up The Next Series

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

This is the second part of prequel. The first part is available in the anthology Wicked Souls. This book will make little sense without reading the first part of the story.

We left the last part of the story with Celeste kidnapped and Lincoln shot. So a pretty big cliffhanger. You’ll be pleased to know that there is no cliffhanger at the end of this book.

As this is a novella there isn’t a lot of space to discuss plot without giving away spoilers, which I don’t want to do. I’ll just say that the plot moves pretty rapidly with some changes in direction to keep you interested. It was also nice to see the connection with Dark River Days.

This story sets up the next book up nicely with Eden Academy (the next series) being explained in this book, but on it’s own it is a great book (well it feels like the second part of the book). I love the characters and how they all change and grow through the book. The relationships are complex for a short book, and yet they aren’t rushed. I hope that we see much more of these characters in the Eden Academy series, and knowing this author, there will be at least some cameos, if not full on participation in the storyline.

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