Author: Kasey Briggs

Deception, by Laxmi Hariharan

Rage, a dragon shifter who can’t shift, and Pandora, an empath, are brought together by their captors. The attraction is strong, but Pandora has a mission: seduce Rage and save her brother. Can a their real emotions survive the secrets Pandora must keep?

I found this book kind of repetitive. There is a lot of push-pull on both sides with each so tempted to get close and so afraid of getting hurt. For me, this went on so long that I got lost once when my Kindle unhelpfully changed locations on me and read for quite a while before I caught myself. But even outside that, the back-forth was a bit too much for me. Aside from that I enjoyed to book when it did progress. The relationship is complex because it takes place both on the psychic plane and on the physical one, so you have to pay attention.

This is book 3 in the Dragon Protectors Series can be read out of order.

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Jayden (MC Bear Mates #9), by Becca Fanning

Jayden (Jay) and his twin brother Kon are sent after Leila, who embezelled a lot of money from the MC club’s accounts.  She only done this because her grandmother was ill and needed money for an experimental treatment, they can’t just let it slide.

When Jay and Kon catch up to Leila, two things happen:  They discover she is their mate, and Jay is badly injured when a jack fails and an engine falls on him. They convince Leila to stay with them while they recuperate, Leila was raised in a very fundamentalist religious sect, so adjusting to being mated to two shifters is going to take some time.  In the meanwhile, whe needs to find a way to pay back to club in some way.  Fortunately, they can use someone with her skills to help track shifter children who end up in the foster care system.

This is perhaps the least “MC” of the books in this series.  It focusses on the relationship between Leila and the twins and a few club members who are in contact with them.  As with many books in this particular series, there is a focus on the treatment of women and girls in both shifter and human societies..

I very much enjoyed this book.  It was not quite what I was expecting, and that was the best part!

As always, this is a voluntary review. I received an advanced copy of the book.

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Chris, by Becca Fanning (MC Bear Mates VI)

I usually don’t read books in the MC genre, but I read a sample of Chris and I was hooked from the beginning.  I had also read the first book in this series.

Most shifters spend decades, even centuries looking for their fated mates, but Chris and his mate knew each other from the moment 15 year old Ava reached maturity.  Unfortunately Chris is in his 80’s and he faces waiting years for Ava to grow up.  Even worse, Ava is the daughter of the club president and daddy is very protective of his little girl.

Over the years Ava has become impatient and bitter waiting for her life to begin.  Her parents are strict and she’s stuck in the clubhouse working on the family businesses and waiting on Chris.  At 25, she’s still considered a baby in shifter terms and won’t reach maturity until 40.

This story premise is unusual and it really caught my interest.  I read the book in one evening and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ava go from hopeless and helpless to strong once some hope appears.  The author allows Ava to mature on her own and not just because she has her mate.  This makes her a much stronger character in the story.

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True North #1: Birthright, by Kit Fawkes

Birthright is the prequel the the new True North series by Kit Fawkes.  The story is intriguing with lots of promise for further developments.

North Campbell was raised by her father in an isolated cabin after civilization collapsed shortly after she was born.  Or at least that’s what she thought until the day he suddenly passes out and she bravely takes him towards the unknown city in hope of finding help. However, as she approaches the city she sees no signs of the destruction and dangers her father told her about.

Unfortunately her father can’t be saved and after he dies she learns that everything she’s been told by her father was a lie.  Within 24 hours, she’s approached by two groups with different stories about her and she has to try to sift through the various stories while she grieves for her father/kidnaper and tries to figure out who and what to believe.

Although the prequel is tame, the story will be a reverse harem with North and her six bodyguards and potential mates.  So far she’s attracted to all of them and the future is full of potential.

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The Ex-pacifist, by Sarah K. L. Wilson (Matsumoto trilogy book 1)

In the world of the Ex-Pacifist, The Matsumotos run the largest empire.  All the Matsumoto cousins are trained as ambassadors and their number one rule is that they must not commit any violence, even to protect their own lives.  Vera and her guard are sent on their first mission but it goes very badly by the emperor’s standards and expects to be sentenced to death.

Instead, she and a new guardian, Roman, are sent off to see what happened to her cousin Denise, who disappeared while investigating odd happenings on a planet outside of the empire.  She is given two weeks to find Denise or the fleet will attack the planet and she face a death sentence again.

The book is very well written in a style that I would classify as dystopian sci-fi with young adult characters.  Since the teens have very adult responsiblities, it doesn’t completely feel like a typical YA book.

I look forward to reading other books in the Matsumoto trilogy.

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Maruvian Bride by C. J. Scarlett (Celestial Mates 5)

Maruvian Bride is book 5 in the Celestial Mates Series. It helps a bit to have read the other books, but most important backstory happenings are explained. As the book begins, 2000 Earth women are on a spaceship headed to one of the Krylon worlds. They volunteered to leave their low-status life in underground housing on Earth, where males are scarce, for a chance to be a treasured bride on the Krylon world, where females are scarce.

Sisters Cassidy and Carolyn are eagerly learning about the Krylons. Cassidy notes a group of Krylons that are different. They are unkempt and have long hair. She quickly learns the rules and orders a reluctant Commander Daron, to explain their appearance. She learns that they are “clanless”. Krylon is a clan-driven society, so if one is kicked out of their clan for any reason they are demoted to being clanless and their only hope is to try to buy their way into a clan someday so they can have hope for a future with a wife and family. Cassidy is attracted to Commander Daron but he discourages her because he has nothing to give her. She explains that she was not high-status before and doesn’t care about material things. She and her sister also spread the word among the earth women about the plight of the clanless, much to the Krylon commander’s dismay.

While on the way to the Krylons planets, the ship is attacked by an insectoid species. While freeing the other women, who were locked in their rooms with the insectoid Maruvians, Cassidy observes that the insectoids are killing the men, but not the women. She uses a dose of a translation serum to communicate with one of the Maruvians. He explains that they are looking for a female to be their queen. Cassidy quickly negotiates a truce; She will go with them and the Maruvians will stop attacking ships in the sector. They quickly agree.

On the way to the ship Carolyn intervenes and shoots her sister in the shoulder. She explains to the Maruvians that the old queen is broken but she will be their queen. Carolyn quickly takes over as ruler of the Maruvians and lets her sister stay with Daron

The Maruvian Bride is really the story of two brides and it is a really fun read. The writing is good and the banter is funny. The antics that Cassidy and Carolyn get up to before and after they find their mates are hilarious. I recommend this series to any fan of the alien romance genre.

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Demon Hero, by Jae Vogel (Dark Fae Hollow book 1)

Verdant, Vee for short, is a fairy living in hiding in a repressive anti-fae society. She works at a bar with Sol, who has always treated her as an equal. One night she hears one too many anti-fairy boasts from a group of drunken bigots and she gets angry and outs herself. Talon, another Fae, takes advantage of the situation to have his group fight the police and then help Vee escape the aftermath of the fight.

There are big things going on in the world and, after Vee experiences a few moments of freedom to be herself, she realizes how repressed and afraid everyone is. She finds out Sol has been hiding his own secrets and pain. The government is dealing with the “fairy problem” by offering “naturalization” a way to become human with an injection. Mass injections are scheduled for just a few days after the bar fight.

Demon Hero, as the start of a new series, focuses on the conflict and Vee’s exploration of the choices available to her and the philosophy and considerations about freedom, inter-species relations, government’s role and “human nature”. There is a lot of philosophizing in this book and at times it bogs down the story. There are great action scenes and the bones of an exciting world, but this is for the more thoughtful reader.

Demon Hero is book 1 in the Dark Fae Hollow series.

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Summoning destiny by Noree Cosper

A part of the Secrets and sorcery anthology.

An exciting mystery/adventure short story with romantic elements. When Dominic walks in to the magic shop where Ava works she knows she’s in for it. Something went wrong in a seance that she did recently and Dominic has come to investigate.  Soon they’re investigating a conspiracy.

I loved the world the story was in and wished I could spend more time learning about it. Ava is the sassy street-wise young witch and it’s fun to watch her interact with stuffy snobs.

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Syndicate Wars: First Strike, by Justin Sloan, Kyle Noe, and George Mahaffey

Syndicate Wars, First Strike starts out fast and keeps going.  My first inclination was to read the book quickly, but there were so many subplots that I purposely read a little at a time to savor the story.  I loved the story.  It’s a sci-fi battle with lots of complex character development.

As the story set some time in our future begins, Quinn and her band of marines are preparing to do battle with an alien force.  The marines are at the designated front lines of the battle, waiting for their enemy, the syndicate, to attack.

From the brief pre-battle pause the story moves very quickly from location to location as the first battle ends and the invasion begins.  Some are taken prisoner to the Syndicate ships and some are left on the ground to form the resistance.  We get to know the main character’s backstories as they fight battles and discover plots and counter-plots.  Meanwhile they try to decide who to trust and what’s worth fighting for in the quickly changing environments.

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The Shifter’s Hostage by T. S. Ryder

Lydia and Amber are late closing the restaurant.  They are busy dreaming about Lydia opening her own restaurant and hiring Amber to bake desserts. Their daydreams are cut short by robbers bursting in with guns and herding the girls into the walk-in freezer.  Worried about what comes next, they are alarmed to hear an explosion and then Ian, a regular customer they dislike because he is so picky about food and never tips.  Ian explains that the robbers were demons and he grabs the two of them and throws them in his car explaining that they aren’t safe unless they are under his protection.  That includes living with him indefinitely.

Ian is a dragon shifter–the last of his kind– and he is charged with making sure demons stay in hell. Frankly he hasn’t been doing a very good job lately (say, the last 300 years) because he is bitter that humans killed his family.  Lydia’s family was also killed when she was young and it turns out that she is a paladin.  Paladins are humans who hide the gates to hell.

Ian also decides now is the time to think about having an heir (or several) and to propose a loveless mating with one of the women.  Given that he has zero social skills, this doesn’t go well at all. Fortunately for him, Lydia stays around to be trained as a Paladin and help find the gate.  If she can manage not to kill him first, maybe with time attraction can bloom between them?

The Shifter’s Hostage starts off quick with action and then switches to humorous culture-shock sequences between Ian and Lydia due to Ian’s complete lack of social niceties.  Lydia is not afraid to call him on his rudeness, even if he is a dragon. Their by-play is amusing as they work together to train Lydia to use her powers and to find the gate so they can seal it.

I enjoyed the book.  I must say that the ending seemed a little abrupt as the story bogs down a bit when the action and banter stops.  Still, an enjoyable read. Currently comes with a variety of bonus stories.

 

 

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