shifter

Be Were by Eliza Gayle

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Be Were (Southern Shifters, #5)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Southern Shifters #5
Genre-Paranormal
Reviewed by Kay
175 pages

What was supposed to be a one night stand so they wouldn’t have to be alone on Christmas turned into a mating for life. Dean sees Niki in his bar and she’s about to punch a human who is drunk and trying to hook up with her. Dean steps in and stops Niki from hurting the human and they go back to his place. They have a hot night and Dean senses she’s his mate. During their interlude, he bites her. Afterward he calls her mate and she runs out.

Dean finds out that his mate was kidnapped and he goes to get her. Oh, and she’s pregnant. And she’s a rare hybrid. A white cougar. It’s a miracle Niki got pregnant since they were supposed to be infertile. That’s what Niki thought anyway. She was led to believe that by her captors in the laboratory she was raised in and experimented on in. The real focus of the story is who masterminded the kidnapping of Niki.

This was a decent read. It flowed easily along. I liked the characters and the premise well enough. The sex was fantastic. I wanted to like it more but wasn’t terribly disappointed. I’ve read another book in the series and enjoyed it as well. Very good humor too.

Britton by Abby Niles

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Britton (The Awakening, #3)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-The Awakening #3
Genre-Paranormal
Reviewed by Kay
200 pages

I was very unsure of this book when I started reading it. The blurb sounded good but with paranormal being my least favorite genre, I was cautious.

In Carnal Ridge, yes that’s the name of the town, they have a shifter police department. Val is a half-shifter, meaning she can’t shift. That power is only for the males of the species. She inherited the position of being in charge after the leader at that time was demoted. His name is Britton and he is a full shifter. Oh, and they hate each other. While he flirts with every woman in the department, he saves his hatefulness for Val. That’s okay with Val because she can’t stand him but wonders what she has done to make him hate her. I know hate is a strong word but his reactions to seeing her are described with words like cringing and revulsion.

These two are assigned a case together when things are needed that go beyond what Val’s abilities are. This is where it gets interesting. See, Britton has had his beast forced into dormancy because of a decision he made that allowed him to be seen as a shifter in front of humans. A twenty year sentence without his beast. But for this case he will get a serum injection that allows his beast to come forth so he can track a child shifter that has been kidnapped by a possible extremist group. With his full capabilities, he is able to track down leads to this case. He also notices that Val isn’t as bad as he thought. She’s even attractive he notices as he checks out her ass one day.

This was an interesting read after the reason he was repulsed by her was explained. The kidnapping plot made sense but was overall kind of weak in my opinion. I may catch up on this series later but not right now. Abby Niles has a good voice and I would like to read her again but preferably in a non-paranormal genre.

                      


Rocky by Bianca D’Arc

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Rocky (Tales Of The Were, #3)
Grade-D
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Tales of the Were #3
Genre-Paranormal
Reviewed by Kate
158 pages

Maggie is pregnant and has been on the run from an all powerful demon mage since he killed her husband Tony months ago. She heads to childhood friend Rocky’s house because she promised Tony she would go there when she was ready to deliver her babies. Rocky, like Tony, is a were-bear shifter, and will be able to provide the leadership that Maggie’s cubs will need. Rocky is more than happy to take on the role of alpha for Maggie and Tony’s cubs, but he wants the role of Maggie’s husband as well.
 
I’m trying to cut Maggie some slack because she’s obviously emotional and hormonal throughout the entire book-despite being magically healed after her labor by her magical cubs. But I got really tired, really fast of her waffling between Tony and Rocky. It starts off right away with her comparing everything Rocky is with what Tony was. Then suddenly, she becomes certain that Rocky is the one that she’s always been supposed to be with, her true soul mate. Next thing you know, she’s always loved them both, and Tony (in spirit form) is approving of her relationship with Rocky.
 
But it was the all powerful evil demon mage that was the final straw for me. This demon mage has been hunting Maggie and her super magical, über-rare, twin were-bear cubs (who always sleep when the story calls for it) since he killed her husband. Seriously. Tony was a strong mage himself, so this demon mage must be extra powerful. There’s a lot of suspense built up around this evil demon mage. So in my mind, I’m picturing some kind of cross between Darth Vader and Hannibal Lector. But when the mage finally appears (in the very final pages of the books), Rocky is able to quickly defeat him and only walks away with bloodied knuckles. Such a let down. And makes me question how strong a mage Tony really was if he was defeated by evil demon mage, King of the Wusses.
 
I need to be up front and admit that this is the first of the Tales of the Were series that I read. And I can’t help but wonder if I would have liked the book more, had I had the world building knowledge that has to be present in the first two books. As it was, I just couldn’t connect with the world that Rocky was a part of. It was just fill with a lot of WTF moments for me.
So, what was your last total fail of a book?