The Unleashing

The Unleashing (Call of the Crows #1)
by Shelly Laurenston

Genre:  Paranormal Fantasy; Mythlogy
Publisher: Kensington on 31 March 2015
Thank you NetGalley

Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.
In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.
But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

My thoughts:
I have to admit that I was afraid to start this one.  Shelly Laurenston is my favourite (auto-buy) author but I was nervous that somehow her new series would not live up to THE PRIDE series which I love.   I should not have hesitated.  This new series features the same feisty, kickass women and the same humor all wrapped up in a new package.  

This is Kera and Vig's story but I can tell some of the other women's stories are going to be awesome.  There are lots of friction between the girls as the story starts but by the end of the book, they are a tight unit that would do anything for each other.

Even thought the sub-plot of the story are Kera and Vig's relationship (which I loved), the romance is light and does not take over the book - which is what I enjoy in my books.

The Unleashing is almost a guilty pleasure as the all male characters were automatically the supporting cast.  This book was all about the women - The Crows.  I am sure we will learn all about all of them and I can't wait.  

Review: Bite Me

Bite me
by Shelly Laurenston 


Series: Pride Series #9
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Humor
Source: NetGalley 
Release date:  25 March 2014
Date Read: 12 March 2014

Livy Kowalski has no time for idiots. When you shapeshift into a honey badger, getting through life’s irritants is a finely honed skill. Until she gets stuck housing her nutso cousin and dealing with her dad’s untimely and unexplained demise.

That’s where Vic Barinov comes in—or his house does. Vic can’t step outside without coming back to find Livy devouring his honey stash and getting the TV remote sticky. It gets his animal instincts all riled up. But he’ll have to woo her at high speed: all hell is breaking loose, and Livy is leading the charge…

My thoughts:
I was just ecstatic when I received the eARC of book 9 of the Pride series by Shelly Laurenston.  Her books are my most anticipated book every year.  I just cannot wait for the release dates to come around.  And once again, I was not disappointed.

We met Livy, a honey badger shifter, in the last book, Wolf with Benefits.  What a wonderful surprise she is.  She is the definition of snark in a world full of crazy characters.  Unfortunately her dysfunctional family's reputation means that she is not the most loved in the shifter community.  After all, she comes from a family of thieves  and crooks . . . very successful thieves and crooks. 

Our story starts with Livy at her father's funeral.  It should be a tough time for Livy but her father's death is not the reason for her unhappiness (after all she hated him).  Her distress is all about the way he died.  A way no shifter should have to die.   Pretty soon almost all of the shifter world are involved and it is all about the good guys against the bad (shifter and human).

Off course there is also a lot of romance.  Livy and Vic are made for each other - their personalities are so far apart that it just works.  After all who else would keep their anger in check when their home is constantly raided (okay damaged with badger holes everywhere) and their honey stock erased.  It could only be a soft spoken white tiger/bear hybrid that enjoys finding a little honey badger in his cupboards.

We usually get a sense of who the next book's "happily every after" couple will be, but this time, Shelly has kept it close to her chest.  There are a few possibilities and we have a whole year to digest and debate this. Personally I hope it is one of the beta characters who do not usually have the opportunity to let their personalities shine.  I have a little soft spot for a certain kaolo bear shifter.

This is one of my favorite series and has been from Book 1.  Shelly Laurenston has a gift of making you want to cringe your teeth in some parts and in others, she makes you spit out your drink laughing.  It is just a wonderful combination as you never know what will come next.   The story is always important but it is more about the way it is delivered that makes this a win for me.  I think it is time for a re-read of the series.

  

Audiobook Review: How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
by Molly Harper 

Series: Naked Werewolf #1
Publication date: 22 February 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: my own copy
Date Read: 10 January 2014
Narrator: Amanda Ronconi
Length: 9 hours 14 minutes 

Northern Exposure 

Even in Grundy, Alaska, it's unusual to find a naked guy with a bear trap clamped to his ankle on your porch. But when said guy turns into a wolf, recent southern transplant Mo Wenstein has no difficulty identifying the problem. Her surly neighbor Cooper Graham, who has been openly critical of Mo's ability to adapt to life in Alaska, has trouble of his own. Werewolf trouble. 

For Cooper, an Alpha in self-imposed exile from his dysfunctional pack, it's love at first sniff when it comes to Mo. But Cooper has an even more pressing concern on his mind. Several people around Grundy have been the victims of wolf attacks, and since Cooper has no memory of what he gets up to while in werewolf form, he's worried that he might be the violent canine in question. 

If a wolf cries wolf, it makes sense to listen, yet Mo is convinced that Cooper is not the culprit. Except if he's not responsible, then who is? And when a werewolf falls head over haunches in love with you, what are you supposed to do anyway? The rules of dating just got a whole lot more complicated. . . .

My thoughts:
Romances was always great fun reads for me and when I discovered Paranormal Romances, I was thrilled. I could not get enough. I just loved a happily ever after. In the last few years, my reading preferences have begun to shift and I have begun enjoying stories that have a bit more to the bones but a love story is still a huge attraction.

Going through some personal problems in the last few months, I just wanted a little fluff. I needed some over-the-top sweetness and two people making googly eyes at each other with none of the crime solving that I usually adore. And this is what I got with How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf.

There is no pretense of any snippet of reality in this story and I loved it. 

Grundy, Alaska is the ultimate small town with no evil person in sight (except for the bad guy which you meet far into the book off course). The characters are all super sweet and likeable and Mo, our heroine is the best – loved her! 

She survived living with hippy parents that was not above breaking into her home to throw away her fast food and replacing it with organic foods.  Werewolves did not even make her blink.   

Off course, Cooper is drool-worthy even if he can't resist his wolf traits.  He is not above peeing on the porch to mark his territory :)

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf  is a fun bit of fantasy that will leave you smiling.

Excerpt from BITE ME

 

I cannot wait for this 2014 release . . . 

come on March!

 

Unedited/Unproofed

Unable to resolve how her life had come to this, Livy ended up where she felt most comfortable in her office—under her desk. It was a small space under there because of the desk drawers, so it gave her the illusion of being in a nice burrow.
And that’s where Livy stayed until the smell of roses, lilies, and some other annoying flowers filled her sensitive nostrils.
She tried to ignore the smell but it kept getting more potent as someone moved in and out of her office. Repeatedly.
She sniffed the air, trying to ignore the flowers and center on the person.
Vic. It was Vic in her office. With flowers.
Confused and curious, Livy quietly crawled out from under the desk and peeked around the corner of it to see Vic Barinov bringing in another giant flower display as well as a large fruit basket.
Getting to her knees, Livy asked, “What are you doing?”
Vic stopped and looked at her. “Were you under the desk?”
“Yes.”
“Are you always under the desk?”
“Not always.”
He shrugged, walked out, came back with another basket. This time filled with an array of cookies.
“Vic?”
“We couldn’t agree.”
“Who couldn’t agree…what?”
“It’s Shen’s fault,” he complained, which really didn’t answer her question.
“Okay.”
“First he said, you wouldn’t want flowers. Then today, he thought you might, although he had no empirical proof regarding the veracity of that belief.”
“Empirical proof?”
“Right. So I brought you flowers. And cookies.” He walked out of her office. “I also,” he said from the hallway, “got you a plant.” And he came in with a five-foot-tall standing plant that he put in a corner. Christ, Livy was only five-one.
“And,” he said, gesturing at two other baskets, “food.” He pointed at one basket. “Nuts and fruits, nuts being the emphasis of the overall basket.” He pointed at the other. “Fruits and nuts, with fruits being the emphasis.” Went back into the hallway and came in with another basket. “And meats and fish.”
He placed the baskets in front of her desk.
“And”—he walked out again and quickly returned with one more basket—“honey. European and American. They didn’t have any African bee honey.”
Glancing around the room, he finally settled on placing that basket beside the standing plant.
Resting back on her heels, Livy asked, “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you bringing me anything?”
“It’s what people do when a friend suffers a loss.”
“We’re friends?”
“I just bought you all these baskets, so we better be.”

*****

Vic had always found Livy…unusual. But why was she hiding under her desk? That seemed weird. Even for her.
Even worse, when he suggested they were friends, she just stared blankly at him. It kind of hurt his feelings.
“I brought you honey. You could at least pretend we’re friends.”
“Yeah. We’re friends. Just don’t know why you felt the need to buy me baskets of…stuff.”
“Because that’s what people do, Livy. It’s called empathy.”
“I’ve heard the word.”
Vic rolled his eyes. “Look, Livy, I know you’re this great photographer but—”
“Oh, yeah,” she suddenly cut in. “Great wedding photographer, maybe.”
“What?”
Livy shook her head. “Forget it.”
“Livy, what’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.” She suddenly dropped down and crawled back under her desk.
Vic, not sure how to deal with this side of Livy, walked around her desk and crouched down so he could see her.
“Do you want to go somewhere and talk?” he asked.
“Because I’m so chatty?”
“No. But I understand that after the loss of a parent—”
“We weren’t close.”
“As you’ve already said. Still, we could go get some coffee.” He glanced at his watch. “Maybe get lunch.”
“You asking me out on a date?”
Without thinking, Vic leaned back a bit. “No.”
“You don’t have to look so horrified.”
“It’s not horror. It’s confusion. You’re confusing me. Which,” when he thought about it, “may lead to horror. But I simply don’t like being confused. So the horror wasn’t directed at you, so much as the confusion.”
“Well, when you put it like that…”
Copyright © Shelly Laurenston 2013

 

Audiobook Review: Heart of Obsidian

 


Heart of Obsidian 

by Nalini Singh 


Source: my own copy 
Publication date: 04 June 2013 
Genre: Paranormal Romance 
Date Read: 20 November 2013 
Narrator: Angela Dawe 
Length: 13 hours 11 minutes 

Step into New York Times bestseller Nalini Singh’s explosive and shockingly passionate Psy-Changeling world… 

A dangerous, volatile rebel, hands stained bloodred. A woman whose very existence has been erased. A love story so dark, it may shatter the world itself. A deadly price that must be paid. The day of reckoning is here. (Goodreads)

My thoughts:
I have forgotten how much I enjoyed the Psy-Changeling series – it has been so long! 

I must admit that I love a strong alpha male in my stories and this book did not disappoint. Our hero is one of the strongest and most powerful Psy in the series.

Heart of Obsidian is all about the love between Kaleb and Sahara. They have known each other since they were young children. Sahara disappeared seven years ago and Kaleb has been on a mission ever since to find her.

Our story starts when Kaleb rescues Sahara and brings her to her new home. I don't want to reveal any spoilers but if you have been following the series, you are going to be shocked!  
But this is not only a love story. There are lots of action and the series moves along very rapidly in this book. 
There are some huge discoveries in this installment.

I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to Psy-Changeling followers. If you have not followed the series, you will not be able to find all the surprises that is in store for you.   So I would suggest that you start at the beginning.