shifter

Light My Fire by G.A. Aiken

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

17731347

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Paranormal, Shifter, Dragons
Series: Dragon Kin #7
Published: 11/25/14
Reviewed by Anne
483 pages

This is why you need to be reading the dragon books by G.A. Aiken:

“You best go to him, sister, and soothe his hurt feelings.”

“Why should I?”

“You know how men are.  If you treat them nice and buy them gifts, they will suck your pussy like a champion.”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

Seriously, no one does over the top humor like Aiken.  When I need to read a foulmouthed book full of equal parts violence and humor along with some hot sex, the Dragon Kin series is the place to go.  I’ve got kids, and I’m a pretty polite person, but it’s such a wonderful release to read about these dragon shifters and their mates!

Elina is not unforgettable.  In fact, the Daughter of the Steppes is all too forgettable to Celyn the Charming.  He deposits her in the local jail in the name of keeping her safe and promptly forgets her.  Thankfully she’s still safe there months later when the queen requests to see her.  Events force the human (Elina) and the dragon shifter (Celyn) together and Celyn is shocked that Elina isn’t falling for his charm.  He’s pretty amazed by her self confidence, ferocity, and willingness to use him for sex.  For her part, Elina finds Celyn annoying and far to talkative, but quite convenient for sex.

There’s a culture clash between Elina and Celyn that is quite interesting and entertaining.  In Elina’s homeland, women are the warriors and worthy warriors marry and keep multiple husbands who tend to household and raise the children.  She’s only heard rumors about dragons before.  Elina’s life has been hard, and she’s amazed at the life of laziness and luxury she finds in Celyn’s country.  This made for some nice and humorous conflict between the two of them.

Full, disclaimer, this book is more on the sci fi side than it is romance.  There are quite a few pages devoted to politics and a story arc running through the series.  There are a lot of characters – you need to engage your brain to keep track of them all.  I still loved it!

With all of the characters, I think this book would work best read in order in the series.  That said, I skipped two books and read this one and did ok.  I think the book is must read for people who have enjoyed the series so far.  If it sounds interesting, you can start with Dragon, Actually.  I highly recommend the series.

Frozen by Meljean Brook

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

18045510
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Paranormal , shifter
Published: 8/28/14
Reviewed by Anne
131 pages

Olivia’s boss asks her to make a last minute delivery of papers to his son, Erik, on her way out of town for Christmas holidays.  She’s nervous about seeing Erik, who is not just the boss’ son, but also a co-worker of Olivia’s.  A few month’s ago, before Olivia was working for Erik’s dad, Olivia and Erik shared a kiss, and ever since that day, Erik has been very cold to her.  She doesn’t know what to make of his behavior, so she’s hoping to get in, deliver the papers, and get out.  Unfortunately, she stops by Erik’s place and finds herself in the middle of danger.  The danger comes from both from the shifter beings around Erik’s house, and, apparently, from Erik himself, who is, you got it, also a shifter.

The first half of the story dragged for me.  There was a lot of introspection and it wasn’t clear exactly what was going on.  Once everything was revealed, the story really picked up for me.  I also enjoyed the light paranormal feeling of the story.  There are shifters, but there’s not pages and pages of world building.  The story is pretty focused, and it didn’t need lot of world building, so that worked well.

As I expect with Meljean Brook, Olivia is a strong, intelligent, and self sufficient heroine.  She’s also smart enough to accept help.  It’s one of the things that brings me back to her books again and again.  Erik turns out to be self-sacrificing and considerate, as well as a raving beast. That was a nice combo.  His shifter form was not one I’d read before, so that was nice, too.

This story is written in first person point of view, which is not normally the style Meljean Brook uses.  She does it really well, though.  I sometimes get annoyed when reading first person, but that didn’t happen here.

I’d recommend this story for anyone who enjoys paranormal, and even for readers who generally read contemporary, but could handle a little shape shifting.

Desired by the Deep by Lyra Fawn

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22939374
Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: shifter, menage, serial
Series: Claimed by the Alpha Dolphins, Part 2
Published: 8/16/14
Reviewed by Kate

In part 2, Lucan and Dario (princes of warring pods of dolphin-shifters) have found Mona, the descendant of Neptune that they’ve been searching for.  Now they have to get her safely back to their homes.  Of course, she has to choose between them as well.  Her choice will bring an end to the war between pods, will bring one pod under the rule of the other.  But Mona is attracted to both of them, and choosing one prince means the other must be killed.  Can she find a solution to end the war and keep both princes?

My favorite character is Dario at this point.  His princely superior-to-everyone attitude had me cracking up.  He tells himself he has to quit referring to her as “the human” and start using her name.  He gets frustrated when she doesn’t just recognize his princely aura.  Poor Dario.

Mona has become quite a firecracker.  She’s been on the run with the princes for a few days and everything’s been overwhelming, but some of her spunkiness is starting to return.  It was great to watch her butt heads with Dario and Lucan.

And the ending!  Talk about a cliff hanger.  I find myself stalking the author’s website, waiting for the release date of part three to be announced.  Come on, Lyra Fawn!  Write faster, please!

Have you been won over by the trend of serials yet?  Do you read them as they come out or wait for all the installments to be released and then read them back-to-back?