Dark Alpha's Claim by Donna Grant - Reaper #1

Dark Alpha's Claim is the first in an exclusive new series from New York Times bestselling author Donna Grant!

There is no escaping a Reaper. I am an elite assassin, part of a brotherhood that only answers to Death. And when Death says your time is up, I am coming for you...

My whole existence is based on taking what Death wants. Born to eliminate Fae guilty of unforgivable crimes, my reckless, wild nature makes me the perfect assassin to carry out Death's bidding. I've seen more sinister and violent dealings than anyone could ever imagine. But it was the sight of her face that stopped me cold. I've never wanted a woman-never mind a human-so badly; never felt my heart, hardened by death, burn brighter and hotter until it burst into flames. She is everything I desire. The kind of woman that compels you to stake your claim on her, to let the world know that she's yours. A Reaper saving her life will only attract danger, but I vow to protect her at all costs from the Fae that hunt her, and keep safe the woman who has claimed me, body and soul.

Good start for this new series of Donna Grant.

I love her writing and her characters. I would call it more a spin-off derived from her Dark Kings series.

In this series the protagonists are the Reapers, a select group of Fae, either Dark and Light, who are real killers, their tasks is about  completing the sentences from Death, against other Fae guilty of  terrible crimes.

The Reapers are chosen by Death herself - yes she is a woman and a beautiful one - and they must follow a strict set of rules to be part of the group, if they fails they're condemned to death.

An enemy despite the absolute secrecy surrounding the identity of Reapers and Death decided to enact his revenge against them, involving them in a real war.

The story is fascinating and well written as always, with characters sometimes somewhat mysterious, compelling and you want only to know more about their past.

In this story the mani character is Baylon, and because of the deep attraction he feels for a female half human and half Fae who must protect, Jordyn, he goes against one of the strict rules of Death, but the bond they feel between each other is too strong to deny it.

A story  very hot, full of action, twists and magic.

To appreciate it fully, I think readers should know and have read the Dark Kings, because somehow they are sides of the same coin.

Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the book.

RATING: 3.5 STARS

Bound by Sin by Jacquelyn Frank -Immortal Brothers #3

From New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Frank comes a blazing-hot novel in her thrilling new series featuring four immortal warrior brothers whose fate lies with themselves as much as with their stars.
 
After being chained to a star to burn endlessly as punishment for stealing immortality from the gods, Jaykun has been unshackled to wage war alongside his brothers, in the name of a goddess. But his freedom comes with a price: Each night Jaykun must still suffer—his body burning from the inside out. One early morning, recovering from his torment, he encounters a beautiful stranger on the beach. Naked from her midnight-black hair down to her sandy toes, she approaches him with starry-eyed innocence and the unmistakable full body of a woman.
 
Soon Jaykun is swept up with the force of a comet, his desire for her hotter than any sun. His brothers fear he is blinded by her radiant beauty, that she has been sent by their enemies to seduce and destroy him. Jileana is indeed from another world—one Jaykun cannot begin to imagine. But will their passion burn brightly enough to light their way through the darkness that threatens to consume all in its path?

Bound by Sin is the third and penultimate book in the series Immortal Brothers by Jacquelyn Frank, which tells the story related to four brothers who dare the wrath of the gods by drinking the water of a fountain that made them immortal. They must face a terrible punishment: each of them is condemned for eternity to a different kind of torture from sunset to sunrise.

The protagonist of this story is Jaykun, the youngest of the brothers. He has no wish to further infuriate the goddess Weysa, who holds in her hands the fate of his brothers, and he agrees to take the command of the army led by the brothers.

Their mission is to conquer new cities, where they could build temples in honour of the goddess of the conflict to keep alive her cult.

This is perhaps the book I liked a little less than the other.

The setting is charming and particular, between mythology and fairy tale , since the female protagonist Jileana is a sea creature, a selkie.

I loved her character for her spontaneity, her adventurous spirit, which causes it to cross a portal between her world and the humans' one. She wants to try to experience the freedom that is denied by her family. She is a creature very open and artless in a way, but at the same time stubborn.

She is fascinated by Jaykun and having witnessed his greatest secret, seeing him as he turns into a human torch, she becomes one of the few people capable of giving him comfort with her company.

Jaykun devoted himself body and soul to his task as a fighter, and for once he decides to let go and live this adventure "with borrowed time" along with Jileana, before returning to his mission of conqueror.

Initially, the story is pretty focused on their physical attraction and the enthusiasm of Jileana to find out all she can about the world of humans. Subsequently is Jaykun to venture into the world of Jileana, to try peacefully to convince the Empress of the selkie Island to build temples in honour of Weysa.

I cannot say  I didn't like absolutely the book, at the beginning I really enjoyed getting to know Jileana and see her reactions quite unusual, while living her adventure, but then I found the story a bit too repetitive and monotonous and I went on more slowly with the reading of the book.

I wasn't impressed very much with Jaykun as character, I preferred his brothers in the previous books.

I adored the first book in the series, the second quite so, this is a "ní".

I am however curious to read the final book, about the last of the four Immortals Brothers  to discover his story and his destiny and above all, see what the gods have in store for them all.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the book.

RATING: 3 STARS

Ruin & Rule by Pepper Winters - Pure Corruption #1

"We met in a nightmare. The in-between world where time had no power over reason. We fell in love. We fell hard. But then we woke up. And it was over . . ."

RUIN & RULE

She is a woman divided. Her past, present, and future are as twisted as the lies she's lived for the past eight years. Desperate to get the truth, she must turn to the one man who may also be her greatest enemy . . . 

He is the president of Pure Corruption MC. A heartless biker and retribution-deliverer. He accepts no rules, obeys no one, and lives only to reap revenge on those who wronged him. And now he has stolen her, body and soul.

Can a woman plagued by mystery fall in love with the man who refuses to face the truth? And can a man drenched in darkness forgo his quest for vengeance-and finally find redemption?

Amazing story that captured me and didn't give me respite until I finished reading it, although I didn't appreciate the cliffhanger at THE end of it.

It's an intense story, a great love story that has transformed the lives of the two protagonists in a real hell when fate gave them a terrible surprise.

In the eyes of Kill, Cleo, the girl he was deeply in love with was killed and his life since that day has known only one purpose: to get his revenge.

Arthur/Kill the dear and sweet boy who loved Cleo became the President of motoclub, unscrupulous, violent, a man filled with rage. The pain did change him and when he findinni self in front of a stranger woman without memory, but who reminds him of the girl he loved, he loses control of himself and the suffering almost didn't give him peace, his pain for Cleo's loss is untenable.

He's lead by anger, while he feels inexorably attracted to this woman, and he  is overwhelmed by guilt because he feels to be unfaithful to his beloved.

A story that, despite its tough, violent and explicit content in sex scenes, it remains for me a bittersweet story, full of romance.

It's a book with two faces.

The past of Kill and Cleo and the present, and who they have become because of what they have been through.

Because yes, the girl with no memory is Cleo.

A veil of mystery shrouding their entire story because there are terrible secrets that Kill conceals and does not have the courage to tell Cleo for fear of losing her again and this time forever, but theirs is also a fight against time and against their enemy who in the past attempted to divide them.

I say it's a romantic story because seeing the connection that binds them despite the weather, things happened and the love and heartbreak that feel and how deeply Kill is tormented is very moving.

I loved the beginning of each chapter with Kill's POV, on what he's experiencing and feeling, a sort of small diary that reveals what happens when Sara/Cleo comes to disrupt his life.

A book written in a unusual way, with many flashbacks and many mysteries to be discovered, but certainly nice and exciting to read.

A must read ASAP THE next book!

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever for the book.

RATING: 4 stars

Claimed by the Mate, Vol.1 by Kate Douglas and A.C. Arthur

FERAL PASSIONS (A Feral Passions Novel) by Kate Douglas

Welcome to Feral Passions, a luxurious private resort nestled in a preserve and staffed by dangerously sexy men, making it a haven for women who want to get away from it all. But Feral Passions is a front for a deeper, sexier secret-it's a hunting ground for these men. Men focused on meeting each woman's every need. Men who are also the beautiful wolves running wild...and who are looking for mates.

Chereza Dubios is more comfortable solving math equations than she is with her voluptuous body and meeting men. But when her younger sister and best friend trick her into vacationing at Feral Passions, Cherry finds herself attracted and torn between two men who find her curvy body and intelligent mind irresistible. Two men who share a secret-they want to share her.

But that takes trust-can Cherry open herself to love with two sensual and powerful werewolves?

THE ALPHA'S WOMAN (A Wolf Mates Novel) by A.C. Arthur

Kira Radney is all delicious curves and strong will and has no desire to be a subservient mate. When a member of her father's pack attempts to make her his mate by force, Kira has no choice but to flee. The last thing she wants is to submit to any male and their pack. But when her escape attempt leads her straight into the arms of an alpha wolf-a sexy, dangerous, protective alpha-Kira must fight against her need to be free, and her secret desire to be controlled...

Anthology which contains stories about werewolves written by two different authors.

FERAL PASSIONS

It's a Nice story and very very hot. Werewolves thought a unique way to promote the meeting with their possible mates: they created an exclusive resort that accepts as clients only six women at a time. The activity is managed only by werewolves males dealing with guests' needs and meanwhile they try to discover whether any of them has affinities with the wilderness of the land of the Pack and especially to study their reactions compared with the wolves.

In this case, the heroine is a beautiful young woman, Cherry, who is courted by two werewolves who discover in her the mate they always dream about, a true ménage.

On this holiday Cherry decides for once to indulge with their passion, without fears and complexes for her body full of forms, but she allows to   be seduced by the two men who seem to have eyes only for her.

It's a nice story, sensual, full of eroticism but also very sweet. An enjoyable fast read.

RATING: 3.5 stars

THE ALPHA'S WOMAN

This story intrigued me more than the previous.

Kira is an alpha female who decides to escape the fate held in store for her by her father, who wants to force a mating between Kira and one of his betas, for pure interest. Sick of being considered merely as a pawn, without anyone showing for her the slightest consideration, Kira escapes, only to find herself trapped by another Pack of werewolves.

It's a story full of mystery, tied mostly to the past of Blaez, this pack's alpha, which is part of an enemy faction of Kira's father.

Between him and Kira there's a strong pull toward esch other, but for this the girl wants to run away even more, while the rest of Blaez's Pack believe she's a spy, sent to kill their alpha.

A real battle of wills between two alpha, Kira and Blaez,  which involves them in a very hot story with a pinch of BDSM.

Mythology and tales about werewolves come together to form a fascinating short-novel, as Blaez, the compelling and broody alpha of this pack.

I would have liked a longer story for this novel.

 Rating: 4 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the book

Beware of Me by Cynthia Eden

Criminal. Killer. Monster. Ethan Barclay has been called many things in life, and he usually doesn't care what people say about him. He's tough, hard, and brutal when he needs to be. But even the most dangerous of men can have a weakness. Ethan's weakness has—and always will be--Carly Shay.

Their pasts are tied together—twisted and melded by blood and death. Walking away from Carly was the hardest thing that Ethan ever did, but it was also his one good deed. He knew Carly deserved far better than him, and he wanted her to have a perfect life, a life that didn't involve paying for Ethan's sins.

Only now the secrets from their past have been revealed, and Carly's life is on the line. Ethan's enemies, Carly's enemies—the predators are closing in on them. But Ethan isn't going to let Carly be threatened. He will move heaven and hell to protect her. He won't lose Carly, not again, and for those foolish enough to try and take her from him...they are about to see just how deadly Ethan truly can be.

Author's Note: BEWARE OF ME is a complete, stand-alone story. All of the books in the Dark Obsession series are stand-alone titles.

"Beware of Me" is a really good book. 

The story is well written, full of mystery and suspense, passion and two wonderful protagonists, Ethan and Carly, who are joined by a unique and intense bond.

They grew up together on the streets, they faced the worse that could happen since  they were so young, but they survived it, overcoming the things in different ways, carrying scars for it, but they survived.

Ethan left Carly, trying to protect her, he's no prince charming or a knight in shining armor , his world is dangerous, violent, dark, a reality in which people who love each other can become pawns and victims of the enemy and Ethan has a lot of them.

Carly tried to erase the horrors of the past, but the memories still affect her life and when she finds herself in front of Ethan she is afraid to have struggled in vain.

Ethan is a dangerous man, cunning and ruthless , he wouldn't hesitate to do anything to protect Carly from a mysterious enemy that has them targeted. Yet I loved him for this, for how he wants to protect her at all costs, and how he manages to make her feel safe.

Their bond is unique and special and although initially Carly  tries to dismiss and deny Ethan, then she cannot resist him.

The plot of the story is really good, full of twists and until the last pages it's hard to see what will happen.

I loved even the secondary characters, who were able to leave their mark in the story, enriching it and in the case of the FBI agent by creating a great counterpart to Ethan.

I didn't read the previous books in the series, but I found no problem at all in reading the book, which could also be considered as stand alone, except that I liked it so much that I want to read the other books.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hocus Pocus Publishing for the book.

RATING:  5 STARS

TITLE: Beware of Me

AUTHOR: Cynthia Eden

SERIES: Dark Obsession #4

PUBLISHER: Hocus Pocus Publishing