Mar 27, 2018 | fantasy, reviews, romance
When the great war between the Redwoods and the Centrals occurred three decades ago, the Talon Pack risked their lives for the side of good. After tragedy struck, Gideon Brentwood became the Alpha of the Talons. But the Pack’s stability is threatened, and he’s forced to take a mate—only the one fate puts in his path is the woman he shouldn’t want.
Though the daughter of the Redwood Pack’s Beta, Brie Jamenson has known peace for most of her life. When she finds the man who could be her mate, she’s shocked to discover Gideon is the Alpha wolf of the Talon Pack. As a submissive, her strength lies in her heart, not her claws. But if her new Pack disagrees or disapproves of fate’s choice, the consequences could be fatal.
As the worlds Brie and Gideon have always known begin to shift, they must face their challenges together in order to help their Pack and seal their bond. But when the Pack is threatened from the inside, Gideon doesn’t know who he can trust and Brie’s life could be forfeit in the crossfire. It will take the strength of an Alpha and the courage of his mate to realize where true loyalties lie.
Tattered Loyalties, by Carrie Ann Ryan
I’m doing a very good job of jumping into these paranormal romance series at the wrong spot. In this case, I picked up the first three books of the Talon Pack as a bundle on Amazon when they were on sale. Unfortunately, it turns out that they are the sequel to the Redwood Pack series. If I’d realized that, I might not have started here since, as is frequently the case, there are some world-building aspects that are not fully explained because the assumption is that the reader is familiar with them from previous books.
That said, this is the first book in the Talon Pack, which is apparently set about 2-30 years after the events in the Redwood Pack series. This at least means that the protagonists from the first series play minor roles. Instead, we focus on the Talon Pack — particularly its Alpha, Gideon Brentwood. His Pack is divided, in part due to the events that resulted in him becoming Alpha, and he’s struggling to unite them. When he catches his first glimpse of Brie Jamenson at a meeting with the Redwood Pack, he’s shocked to realize she’s his fated mate. She’s submissive, and he believes there’s no way a submissive wolf is what he or his Pack needs as the Alpha female.
Brie, on the other hand, has known that Gideon was her mate since the first time she saw him years ago. Since she also believes there’s no way she can be what he needs, she’s done everything in her power to avoid him. It’s only when her presence is directly required by her Alpha that she ends up in the same room as him.
When events in his Pack come to a head, Gideon is forced to admit that he has met his mate in order to buy some time. Now they have to learn how to make the relationship work, not just for themselves but also for Talon Pack. That will take time, and time is one of the things they might not have, since those who would rather not see Gideon as Alpha are finally ready to strike and see a submissive mate as an excellent way to hurt him.
I think if I was a bigger fan of the genre (rather than being a fan of select authors), this would probably be a more enjoyable read. As it was, it was solid, if rather one-dimensional. There was a lot of angst about the fact that Brie was submissive, and the book got rather repetitive in parts. Some of the overarching story that’s being played out over the entire series felt a little one-dimensional as well. Still, I enjoyed watching Brie finally show her inner strength and seeing Gideon finally realize what he had gained. I just wish I had a little more background into the different parts of the world.
Mar 20, 2018 | fantasy, reviews, romance
The daughter of a Warrior King, Lara was trained as a healer. With her father dead and her incompetent half-brother on the throne, the kingdom is in danger of falling to warring Firelanders. Unable to depose her sibling or negotiate peace, Lara serves her people by healing the warriors—on both sides of the conflict—who are injured in battle.
Lara finds herself educated in her enemy’s language and customs in return for her attention and compassion. She never expects that her deeds, done in good faith, would lead to the handsome and mysterious Firelander Warlord demanding her in exchange for a cease-fire. To save her land and her people, Lara trades her freedom to become the Warprize.
Warprize, by Elizabeth Vaughan
I read a lot of fantasy growing up. Well, I shouldn’t put that in past tense, because I still read a lot of fantasy. Which means I’m always happy to find a new-to-me fantasy romance, especially when it’s as well written as Warprize.
It’s clear from the beginning that Lara’s world is under serious pressure. As a healer, she works to save lives. All lives, no matter what her half-brother the king would prefer, and so she defies his will to treat the prisoners of war. That also means she keeps her silence when she discovers one of the prisoners is a high-ranking general for the opposition — because she knows her half-brother would kill him if he knew the truth.
What Lara doesn’t realize is that her actions will bring her to the attention of the Firelander Warlord, who demands that she become the Warprize in exchange for a cease-fire. With his army nearly at the city gates, Lara agrees to give up her freedom and her body in order to save her land and her people.
What comes next is the meeting of two cultures — a meeting that doesn’t always run smoothly. There are more than a few occasions where Lara nearly does something out of ignorance of the Firelanders’ ways and it takes a while to clear up all the misunderstandings between her and Keir, the Firelander Warlord. Both of them make mistakes as a result, but it is clear why Lara falls in love with Keir over the course of the book and vice versa.
I liked that Lara wasn’t content to simply sit on her hands but instead insisted that she be allowed to use the skills that she had worked so hard to master. There were a few occasions where I wanted to shake my head at her naiveté but she grew past much of that over the course of the book so I could forgive her. (Hopefully there’s not a reversion in the second book, which I’m looking forward to.)
If I have any quibbles, it’s that the resolution (and motivation) for some of the events in the last third of the book are a little lacking. Some of that might be to allow space to build for the sequel, but at least some of it felt like it could have (and should have) been resolved there. The motivations of the main villain were unclear and it came across as a little flat as a result. Still, I really enjoyed the book and do plan on reading the sequel. I highly recommend you check it out if you’re a fan of fantasy romance.
Mar 14, 2018 | reviews, romance
A widow with a past… The last thing Victoria Barrett, the Viscountess Waters, has any interest in is romance. When the only man she’s ever loved was killed she endured an arranged marriage to a cruel man in order to survive. Now widowed, her only focus is on clearing her son’s name from the charge of murder. That is until the love of her life returns from the grave.
A leader of a once great agency… Nathaniel Archer, the Earl of Exeter and head of the Crown’s elite organization, The Brethren, is back on British soil. Captured and tortured 20 years ago, he clung to memories of his first love until he could escape. Discovering she has married whilst he was captive, Nathaniel sets aside the distractions of love…until an unexpected case is thrust upon him– to solve the murder of the Viscount Waters. There is just one complication: the prime suspect’s mother is none other than Victoria, the woman he once loved with his very soul.
Secrets will be uncovered and passions rekindled. Victoria and Nathaniel must trust one another if they hope to start anew—in love and life. But will duty destroy their last chance?
The Spy Who Seduced Her, by Christi Caldwell
Where to start? Well, this says it’s the first book of a series. This is true, in that it is technically the first book of what is I believe the third series set in the same world by Christi Caldwell. I’ve probably even read other books in the other two series …possibly. Things do start to blur together after a while.
Which means I’ve managed to continue my current trend of jumping into a series with characters who are already established and having no idea of what’s going on. Whoops. I didn’t mean to do that. And while you can technically make it through just fine without having the backstory (I mean, I did), I think this book probably loses something in the experience when you do it that way.
Victoria Barrett and Nathaniel Archer have been characters in other books. Victoria is the mother of three grown children and is finally free of her abusive husband – a man she married when she was left with no other choice following her lover’s disappearance. Now, however, her son is suspected of murdering his father. (Her daughters are both happily married.) She is desperate to protect him and shocked when her former lover shows up to lead the investigation.
Nathaniel Archer had lost everything and so made the Brethren his life, but when he learns that the lady he’s always loved is connected to an ongoing murder investigation, he takes matters into his own hands despite the rules he’s lived by since becoming the leader of the Brethren. It tears open wounds imperfectly healed on both sides but offers them both a second chance at something they thought lost to them: love.
I liked that both the hero and heroine in this story are older – that’s not something you see a lot in romance novels in general and certainly not in Regency-era stories in particular. But Victoria has three grown children and it’s been over twenty-two years since they last saw each other. They’ve both changed as people from the young lovers they were, and a lot of this book is about moving past the regrets and pain to find forgiveness and the chance for new growth.
That said, some of the emotional responses felt a little flat to me, and I think part of that was because I wasn’t invested in the characters as much as I could have been. It’s pretty clear from the references that many of the side characters are couples whose stories were told in other books, and so this provides an opportunity to catch up with them – but it also means that for those of us who haven’t read the stories, there’s very little there to build our understanding off of. I feel like if I had that background, the characters would have been a little more rounded and it wouldn’t have felt quite as rushed.
So if you’re already a fan of her various series, you probably don’t need my review to tell you to pick this up – but if, like me, you’re new to Christi, it might be worth starting elsewhere, where there are fewer established characters to negotiate around.
Mar 7, 2018 | reviews, romance
She’s not who she seems…
On her 25th birthday, Charlotte Appleby receives an unusual gift from the Faerie godmother she never knew she had: the ability to change shape.
Penniless and orphaned, she sets off for London to make her fortune as a man. But a position as secretary to Lord Cosgrove proves unexpectedly challenging. Someone is trying to destroy Cosgrove and his life is increasingly in jeopardy.
As Charlotte plunges into London’s backstreets and brothels at Cosgrove’s side, hunting his persecutor, she finds herself fighting for her life—and falling in love…
Umasking Miss Appleby, by Emily Larkin
Take Regency England. Make magic real, but so rare as to be secret from the majority of the population. Add one young woman, desperate to escape her fate as an unpaid half-maid in her aunt and uncle’s house, who is granted one gift of magic from the Faerie godmother she didn’t know she had. With some quick thinking and advertisements for paid positions in hand, Charlotte chooses shapeshifting and promptly becomes Christian, a young man who applies to be Lord Cosgrove’s secretary.
Lord Cosgrove needs a secretary, of course, because his last one was injured in an attack aimed at him. He suspects it is because he is a fervent abolitionist, working in the House of Lords to encourage the end of the slave trade. His work has been made more difficult by the death of his wife, shortly after he discovered she had slept with his best friend. Rather than let him divorce her, she attempted to manipulate him with threats of suicide — and accidentally succeeded.
The physical attack is not the only challenge he’s facing; someone has been breaking windows at his London residence and leaving nightsoil on his doorstep. Lately the attacks have been increasing in frequency and finding the perpetrator consumes much of his attention. As his secretary, Charlotte is invited along to observe and give her opinion afterwards. This leads to some awkward situations for her, as she has no idea how to act in a brothel or any of the physical aspects of being a man. I really enjoyed some of these, as they seemed completely in character for a young woman of quality who all of a sudden had to figure out how to deal with having a penis.
Her ability to change shapes is also put to good use throughout the story. Cosgrove is happy to provide his somewhat hapless secretary with advice and Charlotte takes it on more than one occasion — particularly when it comes to scratching a physical itch in order to get over it. The scene where Cosgrove finally discovers Charlotte’s gift plays out in a completely understandable way, both for the time period and for what one might still understand happening today. Magic might have been real, but the reactions were all human.
In the end, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next in this series. The writing was solid, the characters interesting enough to hold my interest, and there were a few twists I didn’t see coming. I certainly recommend it if you don’t mind a spot of fantasy in your Regency romance.
Feb 28, 2018 | reviews, romance
I have to sell myself to the vampires. I know it’s not safe, but there’s no other option. Not for the amount of money I need. It’s either become a blood courtesan or watch my mom die while we lose the only home I’ve ever known.
So I leap before I look and soon I’m sharing a bed with vampire Kristos Anastos. He’s hot, rich and his fangs hurt so good. The courtesan thing is better than I thought it would be…until bullets start to fly.
Kristos believes he’s the target, but it soon becomes clear it’s not him they’re after. It’s me. And if I want to live, I’d better figure out why.
I thought I was just a college student, a good kid raised by a single mom down on her luck, but I have secrets even I don’t know about.
Blood is money and mine may be worth the most of all.
Reborn, by Michelle Fox
This is one of those reviews where I should start by saying I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book. For some reason, vampire books just don’t work for me. (The clear exception here is Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series but that’s because pretty much everything she writes is a win for me. So if you know any more like hers, please point me in their direction. Thanks in advance.)
I should also add that I’m not a fan of first person in writing. It’s not a hard and fast rule, of course — I’ve read a few books where it’s worked for me — but it’s an extra hurdle to my enjoyment of the story.
What this all means, of course, is that it shouldn’t be surprising that a vampire romance written in the first person with a heroine who more than once reminded me of Twilight was not exactly my cup of tea. Or even remotely close to my cup of tea. (I don’t even like tea. This is a silly analogy.)
Myra is a college student studying business. Her mom, her only parent, is ill with some sort of cancer and in order to pay for the drugs keeping her mom alive, Myra has decided to become a blood courtesan. One of her ‘friends’ recommended her to one of the top houses, although she lied about the fact that Myra is a virgin with no sexual experience. Because Myra is desperate for the money, she doesn’t clear up this misunderstanding with the Madam, who decides that she does clean up well enough and sends her to meet with Kristos, the vampire who gives each girl their trial encounter.
Of course, Myra is clumsy (this sounds very familiar) and completely fumbles her entrance. Rather than putting Kristos off, this intrigues him. Of course, dinner is interrupted by gunfire and Myra is injured in the process of escaping from their assailants. Kristos takes her back to his home to care for her injuries and they gradually discover that it is Myra and not Kristos that is the target. In the meantime, Kristos has a bad case of insta-lust (as does Myra for him) and Myra has trouble following directions. She’s also very conflicted about the possibility of becoming a vampire.
Credit to the author, the reasons vampires are after Myra are explained in this book, to the extent that anything is explained. There’s no cliffhanger and the story is resolved. On the other hand, my biggest complaint about this book is that it feels so shallow. None of the characters have any depth. I was intrigued by the concept of blood courtesans but nothing was really done with it. And, well, there was never anything to make me believe the insta-lust was anything other than that.
Like I said above, I suspect a lot of my disappointment with the book is because I’m not the target audience. It was reasonably well written, especially when judged against the yardstick of Twilight, so it likely plays well to those who enjoy this sort of thing. As for me, I think it’s back to Regencies for a bit as a palate cleanser.
