Wolf in King's Clothing

This one was hard for me. My first ARC. I actually asked for this half by accident. I usually don't read gay romances. I have nothing against gay people, but somehow I just don't read about them. Although I a huge fan of Harry/Draco fanfic. Don't ask.

York, England, 1912

Kent was a pack outcast. His shifter instincts cruelly muted, he was collared and kept as a stray. Until he was offered his freedom—for something in return. He must rescue Hadrian, an alpha held hostage in the wolf highlands. It's a pleasure for Kent to follow the captive's scent, one so wild and virile it gives him a rush. Though he despises being treated like a mutt called to heel, he'll gladly fall to his knees for an alpha like Hadrian. 

Hadrian has never met anyone like this damaged wolf warrior. His savior who licks the blood from his wounds and who arouses in him feelings he doesn't understand or want to control. But Hadrian suspects that more than desire binds them. It's betrayal. Pawns in an elaborate and feral deceit, they're now caught in the deepening maze of a vengeful shifter world, where navigating the mysteries of the heart could prove just as unpredictable and dangerous as the enemies they face. 

The setup in Victorian era England and the worldbuilding had many original points and thus I liked this book better than I thought. Kent was not your usual shifter and I liked that. Neither was Hardian your usual alpha.

The relationship that evolved between these two men was realistic and relatable. Writing was clumsy at times, especially when reading Kent's POW. I think author meant to separate the POW's by using very simple writing when writing Ken't part, but result was a bit disorganized. POW changed without warning so it was hard to follow at times. It was not too long though.

As this book represents a small scene (gay paranormal romance) it is a solid book but as and paranormal romance, I know lots of better books.

Burn for me and White Hot by Ilona Andrews.

I'm going to review these to books in one post, since I feel like ranting them and I cannot coherently separate my rantings from the books to two different posts.

I first found Ilona Andrews work over a year ago. I was living in this little northern town for a month, because my work, and I didn't know anyone from there. So I spent my days in my little studio apartment with my dog, depressing the hell out of my mind. I tried to find books similar to Fever series and in one Goodreads post, someone recommended Kate Daniels. I loved it. I read all the books. Then I started to look other books written by the duo. And I found Burn for me.

As first-in-the-series go, Burn for me is hands down one of the best books. It is even better than Magic Bites. The characters are relatable, banter is awesome, Mad Rogan is just... just... wow. Nevada is badass but still human enough, she's not too powerful and good at everything, and thus she is very human and likable. Action scenes are fast paced and very good. And the glimpses we see from Connor... I was screaming when I found out I have to wait for May 2017 to get more!

What I really love about Ilona Andrews work is that it is in perfect balance of action and romance.

Yesterday, when I got my preordered audiobook of White Hot, I started listening, What. A. Ride. Banter, awesome. Action, gripping, Smut, oh my god. Tactile. One word, TACTILE. Two hands. Abs. Whole nine yards. Toe-curling, panties-ruining good smut. Steamy. So steamy. My sauna has nothing on it. Gimme my own Mad Rogan. This series really ruins my life, how can I settle for a normal man when I keep reading about Connor Rogan?

I finished the book in one listening, getting my finisher badge. Audiobooks are flexible like that, you can walk your dog, drive your car, shop all the while listening to the best book ever.

Nevada's and Connors relationship is sometimes very frustrating since Nevada does not trust Rogan at all but they don't drag the hate-inducing misunderstanding too far, which is good. Rogan is as overbearing as ever, and I just love him.

I have read Burn for me like 4-5 times and White hot probably gets the same treatment. Luckily I don't have to wait for a year for Wildfire, only two months.

If you haven't read this series, READ THEM NOW, your life will not be the same.

Barrien Between (Collector 2) by Stacey Marie Brown

Zoey’s life has taken a dramatic turn. Only a few months ago she was a Collector working for the a secret part of the government called the Department of Molecular Genetics (DMG), tracking and collecting fae. Her life had been changing and improving with a partner she loved and a sister she adored.

Now all that is gone—Daniel murdered by a fae, and Lexi killed when the Seattle area is devastated by a powerful, magical electrical storm. Zoey herself is altered by her association with the Wanderer, Ryker, in life-changing way.

Zoey discovered she was an experiment from the very company she worked for. She could die at any moment of a threatening defect—taking Ryker’s magic with her.

In a race against time, Ryker and Zoey set out to find a way to transfer his powers back before it’s too late. Their journey takes them to the rainforests of South America, dealing with those who are after something Ryker possesses and who will stop at nothing to obtain it for themselves.

What Zoey and Ryker discover can destroy them or tear them a part for good.

Okay, this was one of the hottest books I've read in a long, long time. I was all hot and bothered. I had to binge read this in a day.  I want my own 6 foot 2 inches tall blond long-haired muscular Viking-like Ryder with a seal clubber. Really. Gimme.

Plot-wise, not much happens in this book but the barrier between gets demolished. The barrier between Zoey and Ryker.

The tension builds up slowly and steamy scenes are well written. Action in this books is also well written. Zoey almost fell into the denial after sex road but thank gods she soon realised the error of her ways and  told Ryker how she really feels and no awkward dragged misunderstanding-plotline happened. She is one hell of a crazed animal sometimes when she gets to the "fighting mode" I loved how Ryker had to lift her off  her enemies whom she was pummelling to bloody pulp.

Zoey does seem to me inclined to do some stupid shit at times but I've stuck with more stupid MC:s so she didn't annoy me to much.

What did annoy me was The Bitch a.k.a Amara. I wanted Zoey to pummel her to a bloody pulp. I don't know why Ryker ever trusted her even a little bit. Self-serving double-faced snake-headed Medusa.

Sprigg was awesome. He made me laugh all the time. His honey-addiction is adoring and his commenting about Zoey and Ryker's attractions are hilarious.

I switched between listening and reading. Narrator was decent enough, although she has the same problem most female narrators do; male voices sound stupid. Oh well.

The ending though. I had to get my hand on the next one immediately. Luckily this series is out and no waiting for years to the next installment.

City in Embers (Collector 1) by Stacey Marie Brown

Zoey Daniels has been tossed from foster home to foster home, where she grows up fast and tough. When she is placed in her “last-chance” home, she finds a reason to stay and turn her life around: her foster sister, Lexie, who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Zoey will do anything to keep her safe. After high school, Zoey is hired by a special government agency, the Department of Molecular Genetics (DMG), where she meets the other reason to remain: Daniel, her co-worker. The man she loves.

But there is something unique about Zoey. She can see fae. Because of this, the DMG hires her to work as a Collector: catching, researching, testing, and using the fae to save human lives. The work never registers on her sympathy radar. She was raised to think of fae as beasts that feed on humans and want to destroy them.

When devastation hits Seattle, Zoey's whole world is turned upside down. The electric storm connects her to a ruthless fae, a Wanderer named Ryker, whose dealings expose them to even more trouble and danger. They embark on a journey, running and hiding from both the government and fae, both of which threaten their lives and those they love.

I was looking something new to read while waiting (still waiting..) for White Hot by Ilona Andrews and ACOWAR by SJM (a review of that can be read here)

This was nominated for Book of the Month in MacHalo group in Goodreads, and since I don't do SF, I decided to skip the winner and try this instead. Some other members joined me.

Book's beginning was a bit dull. Zoey wasn't very interesting. But when the shit hit the fan and Ryker came to the picture, EVERYTHING changed. What stared quite dull plot morphed into something really exciting and the plot had me then. Dull stupid characters were killed off and Zoey's promising career as and agent left in cinders. The special snowflake-angle was indeed special but not in the "incredible powers hidden within" way, more in ""born as an labrat and die horrificaly at any moment" way. I listened part of this as an audiobook and read part in traditional way, and narrator was good enough, although she made Ryker sound weird at times.Some plot flaws, but not very big ones.There were some delicious toe-curling moments between Zoey and Ryker but no actual smut, which was all good, left me hungry for the next instalment.  Which I'm tackling next week, most definitely.

Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas

SJM is probably one of my favourite authors. Usually I'm a fan of UF, but her high fantasy has a twist that I like. And loads of epicness. LOADS. Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass is one badass bitch and I truly love ToG series. But to that another time. Now I'll review The Court of Thorns and Roses-series, particularly the last instalment.


The first book in this series was good. Nothing epic, just good and nice fantasy. Some things were confusing and I was afraid there will be love-triangle in the nest instalment. But there was not!  And all the confusing parts were explained in the second part, they were little hints to how things truly are and they were not what they seemed to be! I LOVED Rhysand and Feyre together.

Now, the last instalment. I pre-ordered it, and the wait, oh the wait was long. When the day finally came, luckily I had a day off the next day so I could read it until I simply couldn't stay awake anymore. That's how much I luuurve the book. Too bad the narrators doing the audio version suck big time, so I read this traditional style.

Last book was left in a bit of a cliffhanger, when Feyre went undercover to Spring Court.Was was brewing, and Hybern is as devious as ever. Feyre's sister's were whisked away into Night Court and to safety. Book starts a month after the last book left us.

Luckily. SJM does not drag off the reunion of the Court of Dreams. Tamlin was really pissy and I hated him. Luckily he came to his senses. Rhysand was self-sacrificing as ever, but no sad ending though! I think Rhysand is maybe my favorite book boyfriend. He's not as dominant as I usually like them, but he is caring, selfless and truly a badass. USually thoise don't mix but in Rhysand's case, they do. first half of the book was not as magnificent and I was a bit afraid, but the last half/last third of the book was AMAZING. Like like epicness. And epicness there was. SJM promises more of Feyre's world in 2018, maybe with another MC? Dunno, we'll see.

White Hot Hot Hot

Just finished re-re-re-listening Burn For Me today and I just can't wait for White Hot. Just. Can't. Gimme. Please.

Last Breath; Templar book 2 by Debra Dunbar

I jumped to this book right after Dead Rising, I'm almost a nonstop- reader/listener, I always have some book that I'm reading. So, after Dead Rising, I spent my last credit to buy this on Audible.

This started right after where Dead Rising left. But now, Aria has a whole new enemy to track and bring to justice. Someone or something is killing local mages, who have been naughty doing morally and legally unacceptable magics to ward of some unknown evil.

Aria pairs up with an open-minded detective Trelawney, she starts to track down the killers, and the mages to bring them to justice.  She reconciles with her ex-bff Raven from Haul Du, and tries to move on from her forbidden feeling to Dario and start dating again.

But nothing goes as planned. Aria has to face some heartbreaking losses, to hard decisions and think what justice truly is and is it OK to deliver the said justice herself.

I found interesting in this book the demon summoning and the angel lore. Aria's accidental high was relatively funny, but nor hilarious. Plot was easy to follow and narrator sill did an excellent job. Cover was beautiful.

Aria still was whiny and hypocritical. I find "deep and thoughtful" inner monologue extremely boring and this book had it's own share of it. This time I didn't feel her attraction towards Dario and it felt forced. Plot was predictable and the villain was obvious. And why the hell she always has to be sleep deprived? I don't get it.

This series truly isn't as brilliant as The Imp from the same author. I might pick up the next installment if I don't have anything else to read.

Dead Rising; Templar book One by Debra Dunbar.

As a fan of the Imp series by Debra Dunbar, I was intrigued to hop on to this series as well. I've been listening the Imp series book-per-day pace on a row, so I'm on a serious series-burnout with Samantha Martin and Gregory, and I needed some change. More thoughts about The Imp coming soon.

I listened this book as an audiobook. Narrator Elizabeth Phillips was really good. She didn't make male voices annoying or awkward, which many female narrators actually do. She was articulate and easy to follow, her pace was good, not too fast or too slow, and her voice is pleasant to listen. She fit well to role of Aria and I liked her overall performance.

To the story itself. Aria was bit whiny at times, religious stuff annoyed me a bit but it was part of being a Templar, so it was natural. Dario and his seductive vampire routine (which I'm so over, btw, too much vampire-obsession in my past. One word for you, Spike!) was surprisingly believable and I felt Aria's attraction, it wasn't forced. I actually ship them.

What annoyed me the most was that Aria was naive girl at times and her saviour-of-the-world complex was frustrating. "Hey, here is a bunch of blood-sucking murderers! Oh they really try not to kill their blood-slaves, they even last for two months! I feel so sorry for them, I must save them from this guy who's family those bloodsuckers murdered and who is seeking for revenge! I must save this guy too, he's just a pilgrim strayed from his right path!" Ugh.

What I liked this book was the worldbuilding. Not too much detailed or too exaggerated,  it was subtle and easy to follow. The whole templar-angle was interesting.

The book lacked the banter and humour of the Imp series, but I don't think that's  a bad thing.

I will be reading (or listening) the next installment. I actually bought it right after I finished this one.

Penryn and the End of Days

Ever since I read Margit Sandemo's Legend of the Ice People, I've been a sucker for fallen angels. Over the years I've reads some crappy books, some decent books and few good books about fallen angles and nasty angles. And then I read Penryn and the End of days.

The first book Angelfall really, REALLY knocked my socks off. It was really good. Dystopian, non-stereotypical urban-fantasy world with a kick-ass underdog heroine, who has no mysterious magical powers, just her wits and determination, with some martial-art skills she has trained several years. She has no saviour-of-the-world-syndrome, she just wants to save her loved ones. And then she wants to get revenge.

Penryn is a 17-year old girl in a world after angel invasion. For unknown reason, angels decided to invade our world and caused a series of natural catastrophes by doing so. Humans were enraged and responded with gun blazing, and managed to kill the head-honco, archangel Michael, which in turn made angles really angry and they started to oppress humankind. Penryn's mother has serious case of schizophrenia, and her little sister is crippled and bound to a wheelchair. When she's trying to move them to a safer place from a gang-controlled neighbourhood, she runs to a group of angles trying to kill another angel after they cut his wings off. Against her better judgement, she helps the injured wingless angel and the attackers in respond kidnap her sister and, in the mayhem, her mother vanishes.

Raffe is an archangel who has roamed the earth for thousands of years, trying to find and kill every nephilim that the fallen Grigori made when they fell. He has not been a part of the angel society and has no part in the invasion. When he's attacked by few of his fallen comrades, he loses his wings and is saved by a human girl. He needs her help to get to the angel headquarters, and agrees to accompany her there, because she needs to get there to save her sister.

Pairing up with the injured, sulky angel whom she saved, Penryn starts a journey towards the angel headquarters. They don't trust each other one bit, but they need each other to get to their destination. When they get there, they discover that the angels on top have serious conspiracy going on and Penryn has to discover their plans with Raffr to save her sister... and the humankind.

Series ranting: Mercy Thompson

Since I've read all the books in Mercy Thompson series, I decided to rant about the series instead of separate books.

I'm really ass-kicker heroine (heh) junkie. I love strong female leads. Sorry, I just do. I hate whining damsels in distress. And I also hate instalove, Mary Sue's, perfect characters, teen-anst, lack of action, too much erotica. But, I love an ass-kicker. Mercy Thompson is one. I have to admit, the first book (Moon Called) was a bit dull. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Somehow the references to religion bothered me to no end. What a good Christian Mercy was.. Blah, dull. But I picked up the next two books too, until I lost interest.

But then I had nothing interesting to read, so I  started again, this time as audiobook. Lorelei King was familiar to me, because of Charley Davidson (She really is an excellent narrator) And wow, did I had a whole new interest in these books. Mercy has huge character development without becoming omnipotent goddess. She always stays as an underdog. The best book in my opinions was River Marked, but that was before I read (listened) Silence Fallen, which really is the best so far.

Mercy is tough without being overkill, she's a bit underdog, sneaky, strong but not invincible. Really big part of her strength lies in her loved ones and in her connections, as she mentions in Silence Fallen.

Adam is perfectly likeable, although not amazing, male lead.

Worldbuilding is deep and elaborate, but not too much so it's easy to keep up.

And Patricia loses the Christianity-crap in these books, yay!

I have to admit, this is the only series so far that I could read (listen) in a row without getting tired. Okay, Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews was an another one, but still. Charley Davidson is still waiting for me to finish it.

Books in this series
1. Moon Called
2. Blood Bound
3. Iron Kissed
4. Bone Crossed
5. Silver Borne
6. River Marked
7. Frost Burned
8. Night Broken
9. Fire Touched
10 Silence Fallen

Patricia Briggs has also written the Alpha and Omega series, which takes place in the same world as Mercy Thompson, but different protagonists. It is a really good series too, check it out!

First rant: Written in red

I seriously love books. No scratch that, I seriously love good books. I like decent books. And I hate bad books with a fiery passion of thousand suns.

I prefer urban fantasy nowadays. There's nothing like a good fantasy book that takes you away from this pesky, boring world. My urban fantasy fandom started when I first read the Fever series my Karen Marie Moning. The first five books? Best thing ever. (The next four, not so much.) Or maybe the best thing after Kate Daniels (Seriously, I want to be Kate Daniels when I grow up. No, I am not grown up. Yes, I've graduated and work as an M.D but I'm still not grown up. Period.)

I used to read Kay Scarpetta novels and other mysteries with badass coroners as a lead, but now I can't stomach it. (Yes, dead people make me edgy). So fantasy it is.

While waiting for the newest Mercy Thompson(Hauptman) and the newest Hidden Legacy novel to come out (As audiobooks, preferably), and I had extra Audible credit to spend,  I picked up something new to me: Written in red by Anne Bishop, first in the Others series. It sounded decent.

First problem was that the narrator is... annoying. Yes, not everyone can be as good as Renee Raudman (I liked her more as Nevada Baylor than as Kate Daniels; Kate sounds more sardonic in my head when I read the books than what Renee makes her; still, very good narrator) or Lorelei King (Awesome!) but this Alexandra Harris sounds whiny and can't voice men at all. Well, she's not as annoying as some other narrators I've come across with, so I continued listening (I didn't have anything better to listen).

Okay, next will come some serious spoilers.

The Others just give this gal, who they know literally nothing about, and who knows literally uselles random shit, a job? Even though she has no skills to that job? Even though she can't even operate a coffeemaker?

Aaand, they all magically just like her, when they dislike, hate and just plain want to EAT other humans who they come across with? "Hey Meg, I just ate some yummy crunchy human ribs and a juicy liver from this random guy who trespassed, now let me have conficted and territorial feelings about you and practically want to hump you, even though you are human like my recent meal." Yeah right.

What? This Meg gets her visions by self-harm? Okay, I can live with that. Wait. She gets off on it? Craves for the razor, fights every day not to cut, but when she does, she sees visions that save a life of a young orphaned wolf-puppy/shapechanger?

Are you kidding me? Not glorifying self-harm at all?

While, as a term, Mary Sue is not very familiar to me, I think this Meg is a fine example of one.

I haven't finished the book yet and I'm not sure I can. I think I'll listen some Harry Potter now (Stephen Fry makes excellent job on it) and try to finish this later. Or maybe I return it and use the credit on One Fell Sweep (which I planned to buy anyway).