Reading Fanatic Reviews
Paranormal RomanceSoulshift by Laura Greenwood
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Soulshift*
Soul Swapping from Arya’s Perspective
In this book, we get to see Arya’s and Tate’s soul swapping through Arya’s eyes. Arya is a vampire who has never like blood. Something always felt off to her about being a vampire and about her relationship with Sian, even though she loves her. When the soul swapping starts, Arya thinks it’s just a dream, but soon she realizes it’s real. At first, she feels like she is betraying Sian, but her relationship with Devon is giving her more of what she needs but never got with vampire lover.
Will the soul swapping continue? Will they be able to control it? Will Arya continue to fall for Devon? What’s going on with Tate and Sian? (Of course, the answer to that last one is in Soulswap!)
I’ve read all the books in this series, and I loved seeing Arya’s and Devon’s relationship from her perspective. She’s quite different from Tate. Honestly, Devon should have realized that, even though the body looked the same, the woman inside was quite distinct from what he knew before. Arya’s and Devon’s love story is sweet to follow, even though Devon has a hard time adjusting once he finally is told what is truly going on. I love that Arya/Tate could now experience life in dragon form, which Tate has never been able to do. The author did an excellent job lining up events in the two books of this trilogy that were concurrent, this one from Arya’s perspective and Soulswap from Tate’s perspective.
There were a few issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, but that didn’t detract from the story.
Protectors of Poison: Scorpio by Laura Greenwood
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Protectors of Poison: Scorpio*
Ancient Egyptian Deities . . . and a Poisoned Osiris
The Egyptian goddess Serket is alive in modern times (known as Sera) and working as a veterinary technician. Known for her healing, Serket’s powers are on the wane because Egyptian gods and goddesses are largely forgotten. Sed, a jackal god, appears to her as a wounded jackal, and she rescues him, not knowing of his divine state. Soon, he lets her know and also asks her if she is involved in the poisoning of Osiris, as the venom appears to have come from one of her scorpions. She is not involved in this, of course, so they join forces to try to figure out what exactly is going on.
Will they figure out the source of this poisoning? Will they be able to save Osiris? Will Serket regain any of her power?
What an interesting, quick read. We don’t often see ancient Egyptian mythology in paranormal stories. Sed and Serket are ones I haven’t heard of before, so it was fun to see them in action and learn a little bit about them and their myths. Even though this book was short, the author had good pacing and characterization. I’ll be interested in reading more of this.
Spring’s Dragons: Withered Rose by Eva Brandt
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Spring's Dragons: Withered Rose*
Complexities in The Realm of Eternal Youth . . . and Beyond
In this first book of the Spring’s Vampire portion of the newly renamed Soulmates of the Seasons series, we first meet Queen Eiar—Eranthe (private name), Lady of Spring, and ruler of The Realm of Eternal Youth. This is a land that has unicorns and leprechauns; there is a dreamlike quality to Eranthe’s descriptions. Vampires are forbidden in the Land of Time, which encompasses all the realms of the seasons, because of some past wrong actions by their predecessors. So the queen is surprised to find three show up in her realm. What are there vampires doing there? What are their plans?
This queen comes across as more naïve than her sister Cassia, though—I have to say—the kitten does have some claws. She lives in a charmed world very different from The Realm of Eternal Ice. As in the Winter’s Dragons portion of this series, this book is narrated by both the queen and the men. Eranthe’s sections have a childlike quality to them, which is very different from Cassia’s in the earlier part of the series. The vampires come across much more forcefully and aren’t quite as distinct as I would have hoped. The dragon shifters in the Winter’s Dragons books definitely each had their own voice. We get to meet the queens’ mother for the first time in this book.
Even though I read all previous books in the series, I found this book to be confusing. There are lots of names of places and worlds (and most places and important people have two names), and these don’t use variants of common English spellings; they are unusual names, so they can be a little hard to wrap your mind around. There also seems to be a complicated history between these different worlds that isn’t fully spelled out, so you have a lot to keep straight in your head as you reading this. An added complexity is that many of the magical beings in this book actually come from the myths of different cultures, some of which are familiar and some of which are not. It’s a little taxing to keep track of and detracts from the enjoyment of the story. The author does have a small guide to the realms in the back of the book, listing the queens and the other essential characters and beings in each realm.
I enjoyed the Winter’s Dragon’s portion of the series more than I enjoyed this installment of the new next part of the series. I will still check out the next book and hope that I will get and keep my bearings better in it than I did in this one.
Easter with Her Bunny by Josie Walker
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Easter with Her Bunny*
Rabbit Shifter Romance? LOL!
Hard-driving Latina marketing whiz Lily is taking time off to participate in her friend’s wedding in Scotland. As the wedding party mingles before the big day, she has an instant attraction to the tall, dark, and handsome best man. She’s not interested in a man, marriage, or a family; it’s all about the career for her. Harry, the best man, feels this instant attraction as well, and because he is a shifter, her pheromones are telling his inner animal that she is interested even though she is denying it.
Will Lilly take a chance on Harry? Will she be surprised that he’s a shifter? How will she react to his sister animal?
Oh, my gosh! What a hilarious book! If you’ve read shifter romance before, you are familiar with the sometimes very serious tropes that are common to the genre. This book is a total send-up of the shifter romance. I might go so far as to say it’s a parody of it, which makes the reading a lot of fun. So long as you don’t go into it thinking that it’s a serious shifter romance and you have a good sense of humor, you will appreciate the funny moments that keep coming in this book. Even the way that they describe each other seems to be lampooning the overblown way in which heroes and heroines in romance describe each other. One of the first bits of parody happens when we learn what Harry’s shifter animal is. He’s a bunny shifter! He’s a little envious of the polar bear and unicorn shifters that he knows. LOL!
I don’t want to give too much away because this book is just fun and funny to read. If you got a sense of humor about shifter romance oh, you will love this send-up of the genre.
Blood & Holy Water by Joynell Schultz
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Blood & Holy Water*
Delightful Tale of Angel Trying to Earn Her Wings
Ava is a fourth order angel who is trying to get her wings by being part of a miracle which she believes requires a vampire ER doctor name Fin. She angel-stalks him, and he can see her, which he isn’t supposed to be able to do. He doesn’t believe he is worthy of a miracle. He murdered his wife twenty years ago and has been repenting by trying to save human lives as a doctor; he has even distanced himself from other vampires. But Ava believes that the miracle that will get her her wings involves him. She slowly starts to break down his walls, and they get to know each other. Then strange things begin to happen with murdered angels and murdered vampires.
Will Ava get her miracle and her wings? What sort of miracle might Fin need? What is happening with the murders of angels and vampires?
What a fast-paced, immersive read! Ava is such a sweetheart and a little naïve, but she has good intentions. Fin is complex with his challenging past and his desire to do good now; he cannot appreciate his own kindness and compassion. I enjoyed what went on in this story between Ava and Fin as well as within the greater paranormal community of vampires and the angels. I love the romantic aspect of this as well, as Ava and Fin would seem at the surface to be such different entities that they couldn’t have such an attachment. The love story aspect of this is sweet, with just a little cuddling but no explicit sex.
If you enjoy stories about angels and vampires with a romantic twist, you might enjoy this book.
An Untouched Witch by Liza Mitchell
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
An Untouched Witch*
Wolf Pack RH with Possessive Alpha
I usually like to start my reviews with a brief, partial plot recap. The plot for this book is secondary; it seems to be just a framework for the erotic scenes. Beyond the erotica portions, the story is about Grace, who is a witch who was attacked. She’s wanting to know who is harming witches in her town. But for safety, she retreats to the woods to live under the protection of the Wildwood wolf shifter pack. Let’s just say that most of the wolves there don’t mind sharing…everything.
Will Grace figure out who she is in danger from? Will she and the wolf pack be able to do anything about it? Will she choose polyamory or the Alpha, as he wants?
If you like short steamy shifter erotica, this book could be up your alley.
Dragon’s Aria by Kendal Davis
Dragon's Aria*
Disruption in the Horse Shifter Community
Lyric was a castaway in the foster care system, intentionally acting off so she could keep moving, but she’s now an adult living on her own. At a truck stop, after being abandoned by her friend, a rambunctious toddler bowls her over, and Lyric is able to calm her. The mother, impressed by the effect Lyric has on the young girl, promptly hires her as a nanny. Being in and out of foster homes, Lyric is comfortable with small children. She finds unexpected kindness with this horse shifter family. Soon, however, a celebrity research scientist shows up wanting to spend time on the boss’s property because he feels like there is something strange going on. Julian is genuinely surprised to hear that lyric has never heard of him. He is so wrapped up in his own celebrity that he has a hard time believing it she has no clue about him.
The scientist is right, though; changes are happening in this secluded community, and they are all threatened. Julian knows some secrets about this horse shifter community, and he even knows secrets about Lyric that even she doesn’t know about herself. What secrets are this community hiding? Why are they being threatened? Who has something against them? How does Lyric fit into all this? Will Julian and Lyric help or harm the situation?
The author did an exceptional job in the alternating viewpoints of Lyric and Julian. Often, when there is more than one narrator, there isn’t enough distinction between their voices and perspectives. It is more used as a device to see the actions of the plot from different angles. Here, though, the author has actually made these two voices completely unique. When are you read Julian’s sections, you can get a sense of his arrogance and narcissism, which makes him a fascinating and sometimes funny, although not intentionally, narrator. I enjoyed seeing this story from two very individual experiences. Lyric is a strong woman who’s lived a difficult life, but yet she still sees beauty in the world through music.
Hers From the Start (Multi-Author Anthology)
Hers From The Start*
Collection of Mostly Paranormal/Fantasy Starters of Reverse Harem Series
This is a delightful collection of reverse harem prequels or first in series books. I love anthologies like this that contain work by both authors I’m familiar with and ones who are new to me. Two of the books were by authors whom I know well, but I hadn’t read these particular works, so those were particularly fun finds.
Let me tell you a little about each book. Wolf Blessed follows the adventures of a fae princess who ran away and her wolf honor guard (who recently found her) as they struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. A demi-goddess’s power finally comes to the surface in Winter Princess, but to understand it and get to her mother’s realm, she needs the help of her Guardians. A young woman feels cursed to feel the elements in a book called Cursed, but she finds fellow students with connections to the elements who help her appreciate this gift when she goes to college.
Riley, in the first of the Unseen series, still hasn’t moved beyond the tragedy of losing her spouse and child, in part because she has no answers about how it happened. Suddenly, her life is full of danger after someone claiming to be from the FBI shows up at her doorstep. Who can help her? Tricking the Beasts is a prequel involving a maid and royal princes in the Hybrid trilogy. Finally, the last book in the trilogy is the first book of the contemporary Redline series, which sets up the relationship between Kayla and her hockey-playing harem.
As you can tell, the book is mostly fantasy and paranormal RH. I found it fun to explore new series and some new authors. If you enjoy the RH concept, you might enjoy this starter pack as well.
Authors: Laura Greenwood, Skye McKinnon, Grace White, L. A. Boruff, Aleera Anaya Ceres, T. B. Mann
The Hunt: The Complete Edition by Liz Meldon
The Hunt: The Complete Edition*
A Bad Angel and a Good Demon?
This box set has all four books of The Hunt series, Prey, Predator, Stalker, and Killer. In this series, Meldon has created a complex world of angels and demons, and Heaven and Hell. Severus is an incubus who is working as an escort near a hell-gate. His world shifts dramatically when college student, Moira, becomes a client. Unlike other patrons, he is unable to take in her life force energy, which he needs to survive, yet his inner demon desperately wants to connect physically with her. Moira walks out before the end of their session, frightened of the change she saw in his eyes. Unable to shake her from his mind after the encounter, he stalks her until she confronts him. He senses that she is not wholly human, but he doesn’t know what exactly she is until they talk about her past and her parentage. Then it is clear; she is an angel-human hybrid, something that is not supposed to exist. The warrior angels are on earth to protect the humans from the darkness, no matter what form it may come in, whether demons, vampires, or witches. But they aren’t supposed to mate with humans.
Though her angel father may want to destroy his mistake, Moira wants to find out more about him. She and Severus form a team of sorts. Though he fights becoming more involved with her life, he feels connected to her and more alive than he’s ever been. He also feels a strong need to protect her. After the first book, his need to protect only grows and becomes more complex as they face dangers in multiple realms.
What will happen with Moira and her father? From what evils–and in what realms–must Severus protect her? Will Moira become strong in the presence of dangers she never knew existed–or will her naivety get her into trouble? Will Severus and Moira fall for each other, or is an incubus only capable of lust?
I found this a surprisingly compelling read. The author has created a complex world about which she only gives us the relevant information as we need it. Reading about Severus’s existence before Moira scratches the surface of what it is like to live as an incubus in this story’s world. When Moira and Severus team up, we learn more about the world as Moira does. More and more gets revealed with each book.
The writing style is smooth, making the book very easy to get into. Severus was a fascinating character right from the start, and he becomes more interesting as he gets more and more involved with Moira. Moira is harder to get to know. When she relates the changes she has been going through, the reader realizes there is more to her than meets the eye; but as she doesn’t know herself early on, neither can we yet fully understand her. She sometimes did things in the later books that weren’t in her best interest, and I didn’t feel she came into her own until the journey to hell. By that point, though, both characters had such strength and purpose that the books were page-turners.
Goddess of Love by Fallyn Briggs
Goddess of Love*
What If You Shared Body and Consciousness with Aphrodite?
When Andra was a young girl, she loved the stories her mother told her about the ancient Greek gods and goddesses. Little did she know that those stories were real and would become her nightmare. According to the legends her mother shared, the Olympian gods were cursed to continue existing but only through human hosts, generation after generation. Andra’s family had often been host to these gods and goddesses. On her 18th birthday, Andra becomes host to the goddess Aphrodite. Being a goddess, Aphrodite wants to completely take over Andra’s life, which she very nearly does. Andra lives where Aphrodite wants, has the job the goddess wants her to have, and interacts with others as Aphrodite wants her to do (even, at times, making Andra black out so she won’t remember). She’s married to the host of Hephaestus; the god is kind, but his host is not. Her being the host of Aphrodite has strained other relationships in her life, particularly with her sister.
Will Andra ever be able to take control of her life from Aphrodite? Can she improve her relationship with her human husband, Kal? Is there any hope for her love life . . . and the rest of the problems created by her unique situation?
I liked the way the author introduced the mythical part of the book, having Andra’s mother relate the myths to the 8-year-old girl. The author does an excellent job of showing the mental battles between Andra and Aphrodite. She was able to show how Andra felt continually put upon by Aphrodite’s thoughts and actions. The author presented other gods and goddesses in ways that rang true to Greek mythology.
This is a very unusual book, but one that I found interesting to read. I like it when authors play around with fairytales and mythology, especially when they bring it into contemporary times. The author pulled that off very well.
I received a free copy of this book, but this did not affect my review.
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