Wolfhaven
by Jay Shaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
In an isolated area of the country, far away from society in general live two groups, that long ago used to be one. Wolfhaven and Silver Ridge, over in Silver Ridge they detest their human side and avoid shifting into it, staying in wolf form at all times, living in caves and living a completely rigidly controlled life by a powerful alpha. In Wolfhaven, they embrace the human side as much as the wolf side, understanding that both sides are equally important. They have built a functioning society with a common house for meals and cabins for family sleeping, along with a structured hierarchy of rule. Wolfhaven focuses mostly on life in Wolfhaven, but not just general life it focuses on the Grandmother, who is the leader of the pack, and the two grandson's, the oldest that is expected to take over Trey, and the younger Connell. This is more than a simple romance, this is a love story against all odds, this is a family saga, this is life and death, this is democracy vs dictatorship. Author Jay Shaw has created a deep and multilayered story of relationships, give and take, ruling with heart and compassion and family life.
Wolfhaven is written in such a way that you feel that it is covering generations, when in reality it only covers maybe a year in reality, but so many things occur. Author Jay Shaw has created so many complex layers and stories within stories going on, that when you sit back and think about the scenarios he put forth, mates across pack boundaries, you can see society and marriages across racial and ethnical divides. Although this is listed as a paranormal romance, it is a family sage and a novel that if you take the time to read and think about what you have read, you can draw parallels and your own conclusions to society today. There is some violence, a dual for a mate, then an ambush along with some very sexist language from some parties, and consensual and nonconsensual sexual encounters, so I definitely recommend it for a more mature audience.
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Woven (The Mystic Valley Series, Volume 1)
by L.C. Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
As of last week, for all she knew, Dylan was your typical teenager with loving, normal parents about to finish her senior year of high school. This week, she is now all alone in the world, her parents killed in a tragic car accident. She is floundering, not sure how she is going to get through this but she has her best friend Carly and her mom's best friend Tessa to lean on. When she goes back to school she finds that the lady that has taken over at the school to replace her dad is actually nice and seems concerned about her, maybe she will be able to handle this, expect that her son Jensen seems to be taking an interest in her, which is strange because guys are never interested in Dylan. That is not the only change that is about to rock Dylan's world on the eve of her eighteenth birthday. Woven (The Mystic Valley Series) (Volume 1) is a young adult fiction paranormal story of shape shifters and coming of age, making choices, romance and life and family. Author LC Taylor has developed a well rounded story that focuses on the teens in this book, but has the options to focus on the adults more in other volumes.
Woven (The Mystic Valley Series) (Volume 1) is a series about an area of the country that is home to a group, or pack, actually two packs of wolf shape shifters, these shifters don't experience their first shift until they turn eighteen, a slightly different concept than most shifter novels. This first volume I would label young adult as it is focused on the teens, Dylan and Jensen, Kai and Carly and as they are all just eighteen this could also kinda fall into that coming of age category. It has aspects of family and friends, building a life from a group of people that mean something to you, blood or not. Taking care of your own. It is a really good book, but there is some consensual sexual relations between mated pairs in the book, so I would advise adult or older teen readers.
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Kassandra's Wolf (Dragon Ruby Series, book 3)
by Leilani Love
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
Welcome to a world of humans, wolf shifters, dragon shifters, vampires and witches. Author Leilani Love creates a world that appeals to every paranormal fantasy that a reader might have and draws you into the world she has created, making you want to belong and find out so much more. Kassandra's Wolf is the story of Kassandra or Kat as her friends call her, and her mission to find out more at the connection between rogue dragon Dimitri and wolf-shifter Damien. Of course to accomplish her mission, Kat feels it best to hide her own dragon shifter nature from Damien, who takes her for a human, and is worried about telling her of his own wolf nature.
Kassandra's Wolf is a well written story of fated mates, finding each other in the most of unlikely places, and then dealing with family histories and betrayals that leave both parties scared of the idea of mates. Friends and close family play major roles in the story as well, making them prominent secondary characters that has the reader wanting to know even more about them. Author Leilani Love has done a fabulous job at creating a family structure and bond of friendship that feels real and genuine, one that the reader can easily identify with and relate too. As a reader I found this novel an enjoyment and the promise of a follow up novel appealing. Although there are some mature scenes between the main characters, it is within the confines of a mated pair, I would still advise it for adult reading only.
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The Mane Event (The Pride, #1)
by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Mane Event is the first full book in The Pride series, but it is actually two smaller stories in one book. The two stories set the background for The Pride series and really begin everything.
Howl For It is labeled as book 0.5 and it is a fill in book that goes back later and adds some details to the family and parents, but you don't really need to have read it before you read this book, because in reality the characters in it are not mentioned in this book yet.
The first half of the book is called Christmas Pride and is Dez and Mace's story. They will form the foundation, along with Mace's friend Smitty of everything to come in the series. At the outset Mace and Smitty have been retired from the Navy SEAL's and are going to start their own company offering security and information services for high end clients like themselves. Mace is a lion shifter and Smitty a wolf shifter.
Dez is the only woman that Mace has ever loved, and she is human and has no idea that the shifter world exists and she is a cop. Now Mace has to let her know about the shifter world, and win her over to his side all in a short amount of time. All while someone is out to get Dez.
The second half of the book is Shaw's Tail, and this is Brendan Shaw's story. We meet Brendan in the first story as he is a lion shifter, and at the end of the story, he is rescued along with Dez. Of course his rescue puts him in the hands of a wolf shifter named Ronnie Lee, and Brendan falls head over tail for her, but she is not buying it.
Author Shelly Laurenston is able to bring this shifter world alive and into focus so that as a read you feel a part of it, you feel like they are your neighbors and friends and you want to read it and you want to root for the good guys, yell at the bad guys and sometimes slap someone upside the head.
This is an amazing series and I am so excited and looking forward to reading more of it.
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Howl For It (Pride, #0.5)
by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Walking through the library Tuesday, killing time before picking the kids up from school, I found this book and Wolf With Benefits. Not knowing anything about the author of the books, I picked them up and took them home, reading them both and enjoying them!!
Howl For It is the start of the whole Pride series, which I didn't know until now, but it still was written so well that I was able to read it and not be lost. Which is wonderful because I really hate reading books out of order!!
Eggie Ray is something of a strange man, or wolf. He isn't talkative like his brothers and he is a special marine, very good at killing. Of course that means that most of the pack is scared of him and wants nothing to do with him.
Darla Mae is one of the Lewis sisters, in fact her older sisters are all involved with Eggie Ray's brothers, but of course everyone has told her to stay away from Eggie. But trouble seems to be after Darla Mae and Eggie is determined to protect her.
This is the story of the beginnings of the Pride, Eggie and Darla - their romance and life, what happens to bring them together and then there is their pride and joy, introduced at the end of the book, Dee-Ann, their daughter. It's an amazing story to the rightness of two people being together, two people that complete each other and understand each other without the need for a lot of words or fancy things.
This may be a shorter story, just filling in the background on Dee-Ann, but it is still and amazing book and I am so glad I read it, even without knowing it was the beginning. I read book EIGHT first, and now I am ready to dig into books one thru seven!!
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Wolf with Benefits (Pride, #8)
by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
So I was walking through the library yesterday, trying to kill a little time before I picked the kids up from school and wandering the shelves is how I find some of the best books, and the title and cover of this one peaked my interest.
Toni is the "normal" sister in a family of prodigies, and she has made it her mission to control and keep them all on a schedule and out of trouble. The thing is Toni is just as talented as her siblings, but in a completely different way - she can manage ten prodigies and keep them all under control and the fighting to a minimum! No one person can do that, in fact it takes a team of people to try to do her job at home when she actually takes a "real job".
Ricky Lee is in security, and he just happens to run into Toni, and finds her fascinating and he is willing to do whatever it takes to spend some time with her. Of course he is only thinking about fun in the beginning, but before he realizes what has happened he has found himself not wanting to be without her, ever.
I laughed out loud throughout this book at some of the one-liners and jokes, insults and general conversations between the characters! The book begins with Toni waiting with the kids to get an autograph of a hockey player, as Ricky Lee starts to take interest in her, one of the smallest siblings looks at him and says "Are you my Daddy?" Of course Ricky Lee is taken aback, but come to find out this is Toni's trick at keeping men away from her, she has taught all the kids to ask that of any man who approaches her. It is so funny! There are so many other great lines and comebacks that you'll be laughing and falling in love with the characters the whole way.
When I picked up this book, I had no idea it was the EIGHTH book in a series. Oops! Now anyone who has read my reviews knows that I absolutely hate, despise with a pain reading books out of order. The thing is that I never knew I read this book out of order until I went to write my review and found the look list! Opps!
This book was so well written that it doesn't depend on you having read all the books in order. You can easily read this book and understand the story just fine. Of course you do start wondering about other characters in the book, and I was hoping when I got on Goodreads to write the review I would find more books about the other characters, so I was excited when I found out that there are seven books in front of this to read! Yeah!! Back to the library I go to find them all!!!
This book is definitely a fun read, and I am excited to read more in this series.
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