Promised at the Moon, by Rebekah Ganiere

Book 1 of the Wolf River series.

Story teaser:

Twenty year old Natasha is awakened in the middle of the night and her mother hands her a bug-out bag and urges her to run.  Her ex-boyfriend won’t give up on her and now her family is under attack.  A voice through her headphones guides her along an escape route.  The voice belongs to Tate, from Night Shift, a shifter relocation service.  Tate and her contact Liam may be her only hope to get through this alive.

 

Liam helps get Natasha established in a new town and enrolled at a community college.  He and Cara, her new roommate, help her adjust to a new life, but she can’t help worrying about her parents and wondering if her ex is still looking for her.

 

Despite their plans, Liam and Natasha are attracted to each other.  But they’ve both been hurt before and don’t know if they can trust again.

 

Opinions:

I really enjoyed the book.  The plot had lots of action and suspicious characters so you didn’t know who to trust or what their motives are.  It was a good foundation to the series and I look forward to reading more.

I received a free review copy of this book.  My opinions, as always, are my own.

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Reign of the Vampires, by Rebekah Ganiere

Book one of The Society series.

In Reign of the Vampires, humans are a rarity and are slaves in an elaborate stratified society run by Vampires at the top, vampyrs next and vamps at the bottom. An outbreak 15 years ago turned most humans into vamps and caused human civilization to fail. Vampires took over and rebuilt society.

The book opens on a group of humans trying to eke out a living on the run. They are forced to steal to survive and are constantly pursued by slavers. Mason, one of the strongest in the group, has an anger problem. He’s not “just” human and has a raging beast inside that he must constantly calm to avoid others finding out about him. When his group is captured by slavers, they’re all at great risk, particularly Mason with his secret.

Danika is a vampire lord in charge of the Midwest area and her family’s corporation. She feels that her position is precarious because she is young, the only female lord, and unrated. In addition past mistakes have made some question her rule. As the book opens she is in poor health because she hasn’t been eating or sleeping.

When Danika tours an upcoming slave auction she meets Mason and plans to buy him and some others in his group. She’s intrigued by Mason, immediately realizing that he’s not not a normal human. Meanwhile, Mason’s beast awakens for Danica, despite his hatred of Vampires.

At first I wasn’t sure I would like this book because the tempo slowed after the capture of the humans as the Vampire world was set up and explained. This was intermixed with mysterious clues about Danika and Mason’s secrets so that it kept things interesting. After the backstory and world was established the plot really picked up and I was hooked. Once I got into it, I enjoyed the book very much and I look forward to reading other books in the series.

I would classify this book as a mystery/paranormal romance based in a dystopian urban setting. There was a lot of world-building, but that is necessary for the first book in a series with such a unique world.

I received a free review copy of this book. My opinions, as always, are my own.

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The Bone Hunter, by Thea Atkinson

Isabella has a big problem: she’s in debt to a fae for the magic protecting her house and this is not a good time to be unprotected. Several men from her past have come to town and she’d rather not be found. The fae’s price for the enchantment is retrieving something from lots of vampires and she knows from experience that she doesn’t like dealing with vampires.

However she finds that she has no real choice in the matter after another job falls through. Isabella starts investigating the fae’s task further and it leads her down a increasingly strange and dangerous path.

I really enjoyed this book. The plotting is intricate and the story is full of surprises. Small details become important in surprising ways. The prose is well-written and the atmosphere is well defined. Overall this was a thrilling book.

This is the second book is the Isabella Hush series but there is enough backstory included to make the plot understandable. (I do want to go back and read the first book though.). I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

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Saving the King, by Leilani Love

A tale of loyalty, love, evil and magic that will warm your heart.

After being spurned by the King in favor of the Queen, Morgana curses the unborn baby.

Katrina is a lady in waiting to her friend, now Queen. Katrina’s friend makes her swear to protect her baby, and just moments after he is born she is handed the baby and the chase begins. First, she goes to see Merlin and find the King with him, both make her promise to protect the baby, named Arthur. It’s not going to be an easy promise to keep, as Katrina soon finds. Alone and pursued by strange men, she flees through the snow.

Brian and his wolves see a woman being attacked and they intervene. Brian brings the nearly frozen woman, and the baby he finds tucked into a bag, back to his home.

So begins Saving the King by Leilani Love (Book 1 in the King’s Tale series). I really enjoyed the book and read it in one sitting. I just couldn’t put it down. The exciting beginning, mellow middle, and exciting ending left me anxious for the next part of the series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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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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