Tag Archives: Shapeshifters

The Devil’s Due by Lora Leigh

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for enthralled lora leigh book cover

Title: The Devil’s Due
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #19.5
In: Enthralled (Lora Leigh, Alyssa Day, Meljean Brook & Lucy Monroe)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Erotica, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense
Dates read: 28th August 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novella
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: The first stroke of lightning-bright pain gave way to a steadily increasing inferno of pleasure Kate couldn’t fight and had no desire to escape.

Synopsis

#1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh returns to her sensual world of the Breeds…as a spirited female Wolf Breed finally meets her match, and can no longer deny her mate – or the fierce desires of her own heart.

Thoughts

Lora Leigh manages to do it again. Get your heart racing, your pulse jumping and leaves a happy little smile on your lips the moment you turn the last page. Even if you sometimes do feel like you need to smoke a post-coital cigarette when you’ve read some of her more sultry passages…

As with the other novellas I’ve read in this series, reading The Devil’s Due made me want to run straight to my shelves, grab the next Breeds story and sink my nose as far between the pages as physically possible. The romances and the passion that are ignited are thoroughly enjoyable. But it’s the underlying storyline and fight against injustice that really draws me in. The idea that just because someone is different, they must be evil and need to be used or exterminated. It makes you kind of sad, but it also makes you really look at your own action and hopeful that you too will find your happily ever after partner.

I’m not very far through the Breeds series, and this novella is much farther than the storyline that I’m currently immersing myself in. Which made it a bit of an annoying giveaway. One that hints a little too much at the future battles. Especially since it is talking about a next generation. But then, by the time I read the next eighteen books, I probably won’t remember much of what I’ve already read, and be excited by this storyline all over again.

<- EnthralledThe Curse of the Black Swan ->

Image source: Amazon

The Breed Next Door by Lora Leigh

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Hot Spell

Title: The Breed Next Door
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #5.5
In: Hot Spell (Lora Leigh, Emma Holly, Shiloh Walker & Meljean Brook)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Erotica, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense
Dates read: 7th July 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Novella
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2005
5th sentence, 74th page: He had been a man tormented with thoughts of losing the daughter he so obviously adored.

Synopsis

Lyra’s neighbor can’t be for real. A man who makes her hormones stand up and scream every time she sees him. And he’s breaking through her reserve to invade her dreams at night.

But Tarek Jordan is even more than he seems. A Breed Enforcer with a plan. First, find the Council Trainer he’s tracked to Fayetteville, Arkansas, and second, claim the woman next door as his own. She’s fated to be his and his alone. He can feel it in his blood. Until the danger that has shadowed his life suddenly casts a darkness over Lyra’s as well. Now Tarek knows that he can’t wait any longer to claim the woman his heart and soul burns for. He has to tell her who he is, what he is, and what he wants. And Lyra will have to accept him as he is, on his terms, and now. Her life depends on it.

Thoughts

We’ve all heard of the boy next door, but I’ve never read a story about the “breed” next door. Or really any kind of romance with a neighbour quite like this. Which of course meant that I loved it and didn’t want to put it down. Actually, I loved this novella so much that I went straight to my shelf to grab Tempting the Beast, the first in the series…

I seem to run the gambit of paranormal romance stories. Some which fill my shelves are sweet, innocent and more than a little cute. Some are a little darker, and then you find novellas like The Breed Next Door which are not so much dark as very erotic and intense. They’re definitely not the kind of stories that I would happily bring out in public. They’re the perfect way to spend the night in though, curled up under a blanket with a rom com playing in the background…

Some days I feel really domestic and reading a story which features a woman who is more that way inclined was really nice. Lyra bakes bread in exchange for her brothers’ help and is more than happy to start cooking for her new lover when she realises that he just can’t do it himself. This different form of showing love made me incredibly happy and I am really quite disappointed that her story was only a short novella, not a full blown novel.

<- Soul DeepMegan’s Mark ->

Image source: Meljean Brook

Tempting the Beast by Lora Leigh

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for tempting the beast book cover

Title: Tempting the Beast
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #1
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Erotica, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense
Dates read: 9th July 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Year: 2003
5th sentence, 74th page: Breathing hard, her fingers stilled on her flesh.

Synopsis

Callan Lyons is a genetic experiment. One of six fighting for freedom and the survival of their Pride. Merinus Tyler is the reporter who will tempt him, draw him, until the fury of the “mating frenzy” locks them into a battle of sexual heat there is no escape from.

Deception, blood, and the evil Genetics Council are hot on their trail. Callan will use his strength to try and save them both… and do all in his power to keep his woman in the process.

Thoughts

I’ve been meaning to get to this story for a few months now. It just seems to be one that I pick up, look at, and then put right back down again. Until now. When I read the whole book, cover to cover in one day. It was just the right level of intrigue and danger with passion and lust. Although, the passion and eroticism of the book definitely mean that this is a book to read at home… I can’t imagine how awkward it would be to have someone reading this over my shoulder on the bus…

Most of the shapeshifter / paranormal romance type stories that I read feature peoples’ who are just genetically different and a little more… evolved than the average human. The “Breeds” in this series instead are a government, genetic experiment. Talk about creepy conspiracy theories. It’s this that makes me seriously want to sink my teeth into more of the series. I love anything that has a more animalistic spin on humanity and passions, but the idea that there is a shadow government that is the horror of the series, there is just something uncomfortably intriguing about this story.

I love stories about love. But the idea of one in which you don’t actually have a choice or control over your passions and the person you end up tied to… well. That kind of scares me. And I love that it scares Merinus too. Although she felt tied to Callan before she even meets him, her inability to escape him and physical withdrawals terrify her. Into running. Again and again. This willingness to fight against something showed a level of characterisation that I found far more believable and relatable. After all, I wouldn’t want to just succumb to a man because there was a lustful attraction there…

I really enjoy reading about dominating and domineering men. But there is a line. Sometimes they go a little too far with their control issues. Callan flirted with this line, crossed it, but then luckily withdrew just enough that I didn’t find him overbearingly horrible. Even his issues of control and power were explained in a way that I found more pleasing and less want-to-throw-my-book-annoying. Which, again is why I read the whole book in one day…

<- More Lora LeighThe Man Within ->

Image source: Goodreads

The Claire Switch Project by Lynsay Sands

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for dates from hell book cover

Title: The Claire Switch Project
Author: Lynsay Sands
In: Dates From Hell (Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong & Lori Handeland)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Dates read: 4th July 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novella
Publisher: Avon Fiction
Year: 2006
5th sentence, 74th page: Her boobs were…well…her boobs.

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Synopsis

Claire, new shapeshifter, accepts dates for school reunion with crush Kyle and his sister Jill.

Thoughts

It only took me two pages to recognise something in this novella that links the story to Run, Rudolph, Run. Partly it was the mention of Jill, but mostly it was the creepy man zapping an unsuspecting woman with a ray and turning her into a shapeshifter… it’s basically what happens to Jill. Just five years later than the activities in this novella.

I love the romance and the cuteness of this novella. It’s ultimately about a couple who have been in love since high school, but unable or unwilling to do much about it. And then, when they finally decide to take that first step, supernatural complications get in the way to make things a lot more difficult…and a whole lot more fun.

What I loved most about this tale was the fact that it was not just about the romance, but also the high school reunion. My ten year reunion is due to happen next year, and I honestly don’t know if I want to go. I just didn’t like high school. But reading about one in which everything ends on a positive and karma seems to take part in the activities… it makes me wonder whether it might be worth going, even if I can’t shapeshift…

 <- Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil ReviewChaotic Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Speed Mating by Jessica Sims

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for novellas and stories meljean brook book cover

Title: Speed Mating
Author: Jessica Sims
Series: Midnight Liasons #2.3
In: Novellas and Stories (Meljean Brook, Carolyn Crane & Jessica Sims)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Dates read: 1st June 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Novella
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: “Or horrified,” Estrella said quietly, sipping her own iced coffee.

Synopsis

Estrella may be going into heat, but she’s determined to remain in control. Just because she’s ovulating doesn’t mean she has to settle for just any man (or his beast). Her sexy alpha’s determined to find her a tiger to take care of her heat and father her child… but no one seems to look quite as good as the man in charge. Will giving in to her need for her alpha ruin her tenuous relationship with her clan or be a match made in heaven?

Thoughts

I was a bit thrown by the first novella I’ve read in this series. But, after reading Speed Mating, I’ve decided that this is going to be a fun, sexual and slightly cute series to sink my teeth into. Actually, it was kind of funny in moments. Especially through the use of a speed dating event in which it is so obvious who the main couple is going to be. But a little fun in the construction of their relationship.

I haven’t read a shapeshifter romance for a little while. I just seem to have moved onto other stories and tropes. But, reading this story about dating services and wanting children, and a liger shapeshifter (which is an awesome first for me) made me itch to pick up one of the many shapeshifter paranormal romances on my shelves… there is just something so much more animalistic and intriguing about these stories. Something more primal than many other romances. Which you kind of need every now and again.

The smut level of this story was quite intense, but not overdone like in Vixen. For me, it was just the right level of happy, fun smutty storyline to get my pulse racing. But not enough that I would feel completely uncomfortable reading this in public.

 <- Out with a FangSingle Wolf Female ->

Image source: Fantastic Fiction

Dark Matters by Vicki Pettersson

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for unbound book cover kim harrison

Title: Dark Matters
Author: Vicki Pettersson
Series: Signs of the Zodiac #4.5
In: Unbound (Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson & Jocelyn Drake)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Shapeshifters, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 3rd May 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novella
Publisher: EOS
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: “Which means you think that ninety-six percent of what is up here is dark matter.

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Synopsis

JJ superhero has illicit affair with Shadow agent Solange.

Thoughts

I still haven’t yet had time to sink my teeth into the first Signs of the Zodiac novel. Yet, I seem to keep picking up the novellas and thoroughly enjoying them. And this one was no different. Taking the idea of love and polar opposites and twisting it into a story that was both fun and kind of tragic. Especially when JJ is left at the end, clutching a broken heart and forced to face an unhopeful future.

There is something fun about a tale where total opposites attract. And although mostly this is just slight personality quirks, in Dark Matters, it is actually opposites. Yin and yang. Dark and light. And although you kind of spend a lot of the time hoping that you’re not right about the darkness. That this is actually a story about love and destiny. There are so many hints that it’s not quite what you want, but enough that keeps you hoping. Which makes the crash at the end of the story all the more bittersweet and powerful.

I can’t wait to see where this novella fits into the rest of the Signs of the Zodiac world. And, well, sink my teeth into the novels that are sitting on my shelves, just waiting to be read.

 <- Reckoning ReviewThe Dead, the Damned and the Forgotten Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publisher

Vixen by Jessica Sims

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for novellas and stories meljean brook book cover

Title: Vixen
Author: Jessica Sims
Series: Midnight Liasons #2.1
In: Novellas and Stories (Meljean Brook, Carolyn Crane & Jessica Sims)
Rating Out of 5: 2.5 (Readable, but not worth reading again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Dates read: 2nd May 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novella
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: Her hips lifted at the same time, and his finger penetrated the lips of her sex, sliding to the hot valley below, and both of them sucked in a breath.

Synopsis

Miko’s denied her were-fox nature for far too long and turned her back on her vixen heritage. But when she meets two very sexy cat-shifters, she has to decide if she truly wants to give up on her frisky side, or embrace it. Because the were-fox in her doesn’t want to choose between both men… it wants them both.

Thoughts

I’m a little vanilla in some of my tastes when it comes to sexuality. Mostly in the fact that I like it to be two people, not three involved in a relationship. So this story made me really quite uncomfortable… it was a love triangle that, well, stayed a triangle. Which was disappointing, because up until that point, I was actually really enjoying this novella.

I’ve had kitsune appear a few times in my books lately. I don’t know why, but they’re a mythos that I definitely want to read more about. Tricksters and sometimes demons, they’re women who highlight a lot of what femininity is for people. Which is possibly why they’ve been designated demons in the past. Which meant that I really enjoyed the use of a Vixen (kitsune) in this story. Rather than a cat or wolf shapeshifter, like I’m used to, she was a fox. With attitude and a willingness to stand on her own two feet.

I may not have thoroughly enjoyed much of the sexual aspect of this story, but I still liked the entire premise. Enough that I’m curious to read another novella in this series, but not quite buy the first book… yet.

 <- Desperately Seeking ShapeshifterOut with a Fang ->

Image source: Fantastic Fiction

Wild Fire by Christine Feehan

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for wild fire christine feehan book cover

Title: Wild Fire
Author: Christine Feehan
Series: The Leopard People #4
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Animagus, Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Dates read: 19th December 2018 – 6th January 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Jove Books
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: His gaze was too focused, too absolute, making her feel as if she were the only woman in his world.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide
Synopsis

Called on a dangerous assignment, leopard shifter Conner Vega returns to the Panama rain forest of his homeland, looking every bit the civilized male. But as a member of the most lethal of the shifter tribes, he doesn’t have a civilized bone in his body. He carries the scent of a wild animal in its prime, he bears the soul-crushing sins of past kills and he’s branded with the scars of shame inflicted by the woman he betrayed.

Isabeau Chandler is a Borneo shifter who’s never forgiven Conner – or forgotten him. The mating urge is still with her, and when she crosses Conner’s path, passions burn like wild-fire. But as Conner’s mission draws Isabeau closer, another betrayal lies waiting in the shadows – and it’s the most perilous and intimate one of all.

Thoughts

It took me a very long time to get into this novel. I did start reading this last year, about six months ago, but it just wasn’t what I was completely in the mood for. But, this time, it was something that certainly tickled me fancy a little more. Even though it still took me a while to get into the first 200 pages. The last 200 I read in a matter of days, it’s just the pace of the book and the mood I’m in I suppose.

Conner and Isabeau start off this story with a past relationship, so rather than being a story about first love, it’s one about gaining trust. Although I do enjoy the stories about first passions, love at first sight, and the idea of that very first courtship, sometimes it’s a nice change of pace to read about another stage in the relationship. Especially when it is a somewhat fragmented one. Somehow, the idea of betrayal and regaining trust, finding out more about someone after that initial “honeymoon period” is more engaging. It’s more real. More intense and able to draw me in. Probably because I’m in a long-term relationship, so the issues I’m facing are very different to those of first love.

Although I enjoyed Burning Wild, I absolutely adored the setting in Wild Fire. After all, it’s set in some incredibly attractive lands of the rainforest. In Panama, a place I’ve never visited, but one my friend has assured me is absolutely stunning. The mystery of the land and the intensity of the wilderness add to the fast paced storyline as Conner and Isabeau not only fight to return to one another, but also take down a drug cartel and rescue innocent children. It’s certainly a dreamy and intense world in which Feehan transports you to.

 <- Burning Wild ReviewSavage Nature Review ->
Image source: Christine Feehan

Christmas Heat by Lora Leigh

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for the magical christmas cat book cover

Title: Christmas Heat
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #12.5
In: The Magical Christmas Cat (Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh & Linda Winstead Jones)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Christmas, Erotica, Paranormal romance,  Romantic suspense
Pace: Fast
Format: Novella
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: He’d been out of the labs for ten years, but it had been ten years struggling to aid the survival of the breed communities.

Synopsis

She’s just a librarian, but after overhearing a sinister conversation at a party, her Christmas is about to take a turn for the worse. Or… maybe, with the presence of Noble, things are about to get a heck of a lot better…

Thoughts

I keep having Breeds stories pop up in my suggested reads, but I’ve never actually had the chance to sink my teeth into one. Until I read Christmas Heat. And wow. I’m not really sure why it’s taken me so long to pick up this series. I loved the writing, I loved the brutal honesty of sensuality throughout the story, and I love the ideas of breeds being created, not born…

I was really expecting just another paranormal romance story that featured a cat shapeshifter. One that was enjoyable and full of passion, but not really anything spectacularly different to the other series I have read within this genre. Just this short novella taught me that this series isn’t even remotely what I was expecting. For starters, the background of the “extra” in the breeds was a far more intense experimentation. The sensual moments throughout were a lot more visceral and crass, in a way that I found more realistic than romantic candlelit dinners. And the unwillingness of Haley to completely submit and her consideration of what mating actually implied was far more realistic than being swept away in a fit of lust.

I loved that although you knew Noble and Haley were going to end up together, there is a lot more placed at stake, and a greater storyline going on than just a simple romance. But, ultimately, what endeared me so much to this story was the fact that Haley explains just why she loves Christmas so much. And it is her simple descriptions that truly made me remember what it is about the holiday season that melts my heart.

<- Mercury’s WarCoyote’s Mate ->

Image source: Amazon

A Jaguar’s Kiss by Lora Leigh

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for shifter angela knight book cover

Title: A Jaguar’s Kiss
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #11.5
In: Shifter (Angela Knight, Lora Leigh, Alyssa Day & Virginia Kantra)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Erotica, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense
Pace: Fast
Format: Novella
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: Were there emotions that had carried over from marriage that now hampered her ability to see her ex-husband as he was?

Synopsis

Natalie is about to get the job of a lifetime and escape her controlling and overbearing ex-husband. But, she might be in for a lot more than she bargained for when she meets an irresistible Cajun Breed.

Thoughts

I read Christmas Heat in a Christmas anthology not long before I started the Shifter anthology. When I realised that there was another Breeds story in it, I raced through the pages until I could sink my teeth into another of these stories. I have ordered the first few novels in the series… but I haven’t received them, so I was at a point that I’d do almost anything for my fix.

This is not one of those stories you should read where there are witnesses, or people who can read over your shoulder. It is intense and entertaining. But, what I love most about these paranormal romance stories so far is that it isn’t all romance and candles. Yes, love is about that… but it’s also about this weird, overriding passion. It’s not often pretty, and it is almost never like in the movies. Jaguar’s Kiss is like this – it is about this overriding sense and passion that is completely overbearing and more than a little terrifying.

<- Dawn’s AwakeningMercury’s War ->

Image source: Amazon