Tag: Fated Mates

Grace Goodwin-Beast Charming

We’re back to the Interstellar Brides world. This book is about one of the Atlan warlords who live on the Colony. Some of them have been roped into a reality show of sorts to help the Atlans find their mates. Yeah, they all have kind of a fairy tale theme to it. I bet you can’t guess which one Beast Charming is. That’s right it’s Pinocchio! No, seriously, it’s Cinderella inspired.

We start with Tane, an Atlan whose beast is close to a Mating Fever and being lost forever. It’s his turn to find a Bride, and he’s doing it on Chet Bosworth’s reality show. For his turn, they are having a huge Bride Ball. It currently boasts 300 eligible and beautiful young women hoping that they are his mate. Side note, there are a buttload of other Atlans and Prillions standing guard at the ball, hoping that they meet their mates. Meanwhile, he’s stuck in a ridiculous outfit, looking just like Prince Charming, if Prince Charming was a huge alien who had a beast inside of him. Tane is standing at the end of the stairs, meeting each and every young woman who is walking down the stairs, trying to be his bride. Too bad he already knows she isn’t.

Then we have Elena. She is standing outside the ball in a gorgeous dress that doesn’t quite fit her. She hasn’t been invited, but she has to get in anyway. That’s because she’s responsible for Abby, an 18 year old social influencer whose billionaire father hates aliens. Abby, while being a lovely person, just wants to get her father’s attention, and ending up on TV at the Bride Ball will certainly do it.

All is going well and Elena and her partner in crime have managed to get into the ball. Elena has ended up in the receiving line in front of Tane, and Tane recognizes her as his mate. He takes her out for a dance, then he takes her into a side room, and well, takes her.

Sadly, Tane doesn’t know Elena’s real name because she came in on a stolen invite. So, when Abby gets found and our three lovely ladies have to run away, Tane doesn’t know where to find her. His only clue is a locket that a paparazzo stole off Elena’s wrist when she hit him.

I liked Elena. She is very protective over anyone she considers hers. She will go to war, almost quite literally. She will definitely do things that she wouldn’t have thought that she would. You see that by her going to rescue Abby. You also see it in what she does about Tane later in the book. Even better, she does it without warning Tane.

I love Atlans. I think they are my favorite of Grace’s guys. That pretty much automatically means that I like Tane. I think that he’s a good guy, and it’s obvious how loyal he is and how loving he is.

OK, that’s all for today. Go check this one out, as well as all of the other IBP books. Happy reading!

Grace Goodwin-Claimed by the Cyborgs

Back to Grace and her Interstellar Brides. As you can tell by the title Claimed by the Cyborgs, we’re back on the Colony. And this one made me very sad sometimes. All three of the main characters, because we’re dealing with Prillons, are very broken, and I just couldn’t help pulling for them from the very beginning and wanting for their relationship to succeed. I had a real visceral need for them to get their HEA.

Like usual, we start at bride testing, with Danika getting tested. She’s a volunteer from jail. She’s only 23, but she’s spent 7 years in jail for committing a murder, and now she’s looking for something she hasn’t had, pretty much ever. She wants love, stability, safety, and a home. She doesn’t trust the program or the wardens when they say that is exactly what she is going to have, but she’ll try to hope. Danika ends up with a 99% match to a Prillon warrior, and the warden explains that means that she’s going to have 2 mates, the primary that she’s matched to, and a second that he chooses. Danika, all hopped up from her testing, thinks that’s just about alright with her. She really liked her testing.

As a side note, we didn’t have Warden Egara doing most of the testing. She’s training someone new, but we did at least get to see everyone’s favorite warden. I really want her to have a happy ending with a new warrior or warriors. I think maybe being matched to Prillons again might not be the best for her. Maybe an Atlan?

Anyway, on the Colony, we have Thomar and Varin. Thomar is Danika’s match, but he is refusing to take a bride, and it’s not because he’s a jerk or anything. He and Varin have only been at the Colony for a couple of days, and only because Dr. Sunnar is there, and he has been very successful in removing Hive implants. You see, Thomar and Varin were held by the Hive for over 2 years, and were tortured and experimented on. Among other things, the Hive implanted Thomar’s mating collars in the guys, and caused them to create a mind link. Thomar is in constant pain, and is pretty much always triggered. Varin can just barely managed to keep Thomar as stable as possible, and he helps bear Thomar’s pain, which is intense. To top it all off, Thomar really just wants to die. So the guys agree that they will refuse their bride.

When Danika hears that, she first is frustrated and kind of accepting, because she knew that this would happen. But when she learns more about Thomar and Varin, she decides fuck that, and that she’s going to fight for them. Thomar and she matched 99%, which means that they are perfect for each other, and she’s not willing to let that go. She decides that she’s going to get real up close and personal with the guys, because she is going to claim them, whether they like it or not.

Thomar and Varian are stubborn af, but they really don’t have a patch on Danika. I honestly don’t think that they could possibly out stubborn her, no matter how hard they try. Even combined, she manages to get her way. She doesn’t push, she doesn’t cry, she doesn’t manipulate, she just says that this is the way that it’s going to be, and it is. She also does everything she can to protect her guys. And that includes facing down Helion, the head of IC, who I really, really, really hate.

Danika is a survivor and a protector. I mean, don’t get me wrong, T & V are too, but Danika has always been that, and for the majority of her very short life, she’s had to be that, and there has been no one to back her up, so when she sees Varin and Thomar, and how much they really need someone who will protect them and stand up for them, they trigger her instincts, so, she does what she needs to. I think that she may be one of my favorite Brides.

In fact, I think that this trio may be one of my favorite pairings. I mean, I love pretty much every pairing, and we all know how I feel about Atlans, but there is something about the way that these 3 very damaged and broken beings come together and make one unit that is really special, and something that I don’t think we’ve seen as much in the IBP world until now. Yeah, there’s been broken characters, but the damage in this one is so profound.

I can’t wait to see what Grace has planned for the IBP world. We learned some interesting stuff in this one, so I’m really excited.

Nia Farrell & Claire Marta-Blue

Nia and Claire have just released the newest Guarded Hearts book, Blue. This is the second book in the Hell’s Fury MC books. These guys are still gargoyles, but they mate singly, instead of in pairs like the original guys. And being an MC, they are a lot freer than the original guys. So, let’s talk about Maverick and Blue. If you haven’t read these books, you will be lost when you read this, because a lot of stuff is referenced and you won’t be sure what is going on.

So, Maverick saw Blue, a wolf shifter, fighting in an underground match a few months ago, and there has just been something about her that he has been drawn to since. He can’t get her out of his mind. When his brothers have to go on a rescue mission to save the mother of another brother’s mate, Maverick goes along. He’s there to help rescue Maria, the mother, but he is also going to rescue Blue, although no one knows that except him. He’s set up a cell in the basement, next to the one that Lilith has been staying in. Maverick has done what he can to make it all nice and homey, but still, it’s a cell in the basement. He finds Blue, sedates her, and brings her to his clubhouse. Which of course, pisses off his Prez, which ends up with him getting punished by having to be a bouncer at their bar.

Meanwhile, Blue wakes up in a cell, in a strange place, with a strange man looking at her. He tells her she’s safe, but the jackals who owned her before have spent too many years mistreating her for her to trust anyone. The only good thing is that Maria, who has kind of acted like a mother to her is right there with her. There are a whole lot of bad things, primarily the fact that her twin brother, who the jackals also run as an underground fighter and pimp out as necessary, isn’t there. He wasn’t at the clubhouse when Blue and Maria were rescued, he was out on a fight. All she can think about is the physical pain she’s in and the fact that her twin isn’t there, and she needs to get him. Maverick keeps telling her that he will save her brother for her, but she doesn’t trust him. He’s another biker, after all, and bikers lie.

I think that Maverick was a little Pollyanna Sunshine about what was going to happen. I think that he was also a little naive about some things. He really did everything with a good heart and with good motives, but I don’t think that he necessarily thought about everything that was going to happen. I just don’t think that he was prepared to handle Blue’s feelings, and how everything that has happened to her in the past has formed who she is right now. I think that he kind of pushed her too much at times. Like I said, I think that he did it with all the best intentions, but you can still fuck up and cause damage with all the best intentions.

I don’t blame Blue for not trusting anyone except Maria. I wouldn’t either. She’s basically been through hell, and now she’s been “rescued”, but she’s still in a cell. I mean, she doesn’t stay there all the time, but it’s long enough. Then there’s what her wolf does and how Maverick reacts to it. I was kinda mad at her wolf part because of that, because it’s not OK. And I thought that Maverick should’ve acted differently about it.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Alison Aimes-Savage Prince

Alison has brought us an outer space alien omegaverse story with Savage Prince. This isn’t Alison’s first time here, but I think that the other book I have from her wasn’t omegaverse. This one isn’t the first book in the series, but the first one came out when I was taking a break, so I missed it. I need to go dig it up, because I want to get more of this world. I will say that I didn’t get totally lost by not reading the first book, but there are things that I had to work out as I went along, so I would definitely recommend reading them in order.

So, we start with Maxheim. He’s an Alpha Lord, the second in command in his family, and a member of the outlaw group, the Brotherhood. He and his 2 younger brothers are searching through an omega auction because they are looking for the man who stole their twin brother and sister when they were babies. Maxheim and his family thought that the twins were dead, but recently found out that they were stolen and still alive. So, off the boys go to find the asshole who stole them. As a bonus, they are also looking for the person who is responsible for killing many of the men of the various families of the Brotherhood. All of a sudden, there is a room that attracts Maxheim for some reason. He looks in the room and sees that it is covered in blood and bits of dead people. But there’s also an odd scent that calls to him.

Then we have Tess. She’s an omega and a slave. She has spent many years doing what her owner Aldar has told her to do. She does it because he has 4 young omega girls that he uses to leverage her obedience as long as her long time friend Rav. Tess has a power. She causes men to rage and kill. They touch her once, and then after that she lets loose her gift and causes all the alphas to rage, lust, and kill. They hurt themselves, they hurt others, and they don’t stop. Her owner uses her as bait. He gets members of the Brotherhood to come to bid on fucking her, lets them think that they have won a chance, and then the guards leave the room. After that happens, Tess lets loose with her power, and runs and hides in her cage while the alphas go crazy. This time, the second time she’s doing this tonight, something goes wrong, and things happen early. A massive riot starts in, and then a huge alpha comes in and rescues her. And Maxheim meets the woman who was seen in a vision about him.

I like how omegaverse books all play by the same basic rules, but how each of the authors who write them give their stories their own spin. In this world, Alison’s fated mates have bands that appear on their wrists and neck after their mating has been fulfilled.

I really like Tess. I feel really sorry for her too. She has been handed a really shitty hand. I mean, she has spent the last many years of her life a slave, and her life wasn’t all that great before tht either. She’s been abused, tortured, used, and had her mind fucked over for years. She doesn’t think that she deserves anything, and she’s pretty sure that all the nice things that Maxheim wants to do for her are just lies to trick her. And I’m not surprised about that because no one has ever tried to give it to her straight. It’s always been a trick or a lie.

Maxheim took a minute for me to warm up to. He’s very controlled at the beginning. it’s like he’s in a block of ice, and I think that he likes it that way. That control and that numbness lets him stay focused on his family and finding his twin siblings. I think that all the control and discipline that he has is not a bad thing. I mean, no one wants an out of control alpha flying around, but that control also causes problems. He likes to micromanage, and that causes problems.

I loved this book, and I’m looking forward to seeing what haoppens next, because I think it’s going to be quite interesting.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out. Happy reading!

Grace Goodwin-Starfighter Command

So, it’s been awhile since we had Grace around here, which makes me really happy to bring Starfighter Command here today. Now, this isn’t one of her IBP books. It’s the second one in a new series, Starfighter Training Academy.

OK, the way that this series works is that there is a planet called Velerion. They are under attack by an evil queen and the Dark Fleet. Prior to book 1, a traitor told the queen where the Starfighter base is, and she attacked it, and the majority of the Starfighter pair bonds were destroyed. So, the PTBs on Velerion came up with an idea. They sent out a “game” called Starfighter Training Academy out to many planets, including Earth. The goal is for people to finish the game, and then the Velerions will come get them and tell the winners it’s real, and then take them back to Velerion to become one of the Starfighters. There are 3 classes of Starfighters, pilots, command specialists, and heavies. Today, we’re looking at one of the command specialists.

Mina was playing with her friends Jamie, who has gone missing, and Lily. Jamie played the pilot, and when Mina and Lily helped her win, they saw her Velerion partner ask her to be his bond and she accepted right before her screen went blank, and that was the last they heard from her. Now, it’s Mina’s turn. She’s just about to beat the final mission, and she’s really excited. Her only worry is that she’s going to lose Kassius, the game avatar that she created and who has been her partner this whole time. She has a huge crush on him, and he’s just a collection of pixels. So, Mina wins and accepts her bond with Kass, and then her screen goes blank.

Mina makes it to work the next day, she’s a secret agent/LEO kind of person. She’s good at hacking and she has connections all over the place. She’s been trying to track down Jaime with all her expertise, and nothing is working. All of a sudden, she gets a call that Kassius is at the front desk wanting to see her. She has him escorted to a conference room, where she finds out that everything is real, and she can go to Velerion to make a real difference.

Kassius knows that he would be great in the Starighter program, but his commanding officer hates him and refuses to promote him. Of course, that guy is a huge fucking douche, but whatever. That’s OK, Kass has plans. He’s going to go and hack his way into the system and add himself into the program. He hacks in with his boss’ creditionals, and does everything he can to get himself into the system, and he knows that he’s been sucessful when he gets matched with Mina. And he spends the next several months training with Mina and hiding it from his boss. Then there’s the day that he gets the call that Mina has wone the game, and he needs to go get her.

As a person born in the 70s, my first thought when I read the blurb from these books was the movie, The Last Starfighter, because it seems really similar. There are some differences, and there are some similiarities. I don’t think that this series is a ripoff of the movie, and I do think that the book works well.

I like Mina. I think that she is very clever and frighteningly compentent. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and she does it very well. I wouldn’t want to mess with her at all. I thnk that she makes logical jumps that work really well. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to try and cross this woman.

Kassius is a lot of fun. He’s irreverent, rebellious, and strong. He’s also incredibly protective. I think that he is the perfect match for Mina.

OK, that’s all there is for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Lee Savino & Renee Rose-Alpha’s Vow

So, we’re back in Lee and Renee’s world of hot wolves and the women who love them. Alpha’s Vow is the second book in the Shifter’s Op series, which takes place in Taos. These books are about a pack of shifters who were in Special Forces, but who have now all left the service and have a security company. It’s a small pack and they are all very tight.

Lance is one of the wolves in the pack. He’s pretty mellow and just kind of goes along with whatever the alpha tells him to do. In fact, the Alpha is his older brother and he raised Lance after their parents died. He still is protective of Lance, and he, and all their pack, kind of see Lance as not as responsible and they don’t always seem to expect him to do the right thing. He’s also a bit of a lady’s man, a hit ’em and quit ’em kinda dude. He doesn’t have any huge lifeplan.

Then, we have Charlie. She is part of a group of 4 friends, one of whom recently got together with a security ops type. She has a lifeplan, a very strict lifeplan. Charlie wants to have a nice, stable life, with a nice, stable husband, and 2.5 nice, stable children. She’s not going to let anything mess that up for her. She knows exactly what she wants.

On her birthday, Charlie decides that she’s going to go to her favorite hot spring and just have a wonderful early morning soak for the first day of her newest year. She’s quite happy, right up until a naked man jumps in the spring. Whoops. She wasn’t expecting him, and he certainly wasn’t expecting her. He immediately starts flirting and the tension gets really high. Charlie isn’t all that interested because he doesn’t fit her plan. She gets out and leaves him behind her, she thinks.

She goes out with her friends for her birthday, and her friends talk her into having one wild and crazy night. It wasn’t originally her plan, but Charlie and Lance get together, and she tells him it’s only ever going to be one night.

Lance has taken to doing long run and long swims in his wolven form. One morning, after a swim in a cold river, he flings himself into a hot spring, while he was still in his wolf form. Luckily, he saw the lovely woman in the water before she saw him and he could change. There’s just something about her that he likes. So he flirts with her hard. What he doesn’t realize right then, and not before Charlie left, was that she is his true mate. He discovers it at an interesting time, and kinda blows any chance of a good relationship straight out of the water.

I like how strong Charlie is. She’s been through a lot, and she doesn’t want to have to deal with it again. Frankly, I don ‘t blame her for a lot of her choices. I also understand why she is so focused on her plan. It totally makes sense. But, she’s also kinda rigid sometimes and doesn’t adapt as well as she might otherwise do. I really like how she interacts with her friends and does what she can to help them out. She also makes Lance see himself differently.

I think that Lance was happy to let himself go as the playboy who is a little irresponsible. I think that it was easier for his brother if he just went along, did what he was told, and fucked anything that moved. But, that’s really not all there is to him. I think everyone does him a disservice by treating the way that they do.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Nia Farrell & Claire Marta-Rory

So, hey! I’m back! I had a nice break, watched a lot of TV, read a lot of books, played some games, and got high. Living in the land of legal weed and medical weed delivery is nice. I feel more like myself, and I have more energy than I’ve had in a couple of months. My husband has gotten both his shots, my son and I have both gotten our first shots. I’ve sprinkled wildflower seeds over part of my backyard, outside my kitchen, so I can stare at them while I’m working. And I can order Vanilla Coke from the grocery store again. Now that all that’s been said, let’s talk about today’s book, shall we?

Rory is the first book, sort of, in the 2nd season of Guarded Hearts. We first meet them in the Twisted Steel MC anthology. I haven’t read that story yet, but I just bought it, so I’ll be reading their story sometime today. I think that I was fine without having the backstory, but I think that it will just make things better to have read that.

So, Quake is a member of the Hell’s Fury MC. They are The Order of the Dragon, another cadre of gargoyles. Instead of being artisans and cloistered the way that the last set of gargoyles are, these guys are a motorcycle club. That comes along with a lot of drinking and fucking. The boys visit a strip club/brothel that is full of shifters, so they have a group of women who they aren’t keeping in the dark. One of those women is called Magenta, because of her hair color. She and Quake really hit it off well, and eventually they have some kind of relationship. But, some evil jackal shifters kidnap her and do terrible things. After that, she runs away, while Quake is away. She spent some time in rehab because she couldn’t control her shifting, and she met Sydney there. Sydney became her best friend and together they started a lingerie and sex toy business called Lady Chatterly’s Lover.

It’s now been a year. Rory, AKA Magenta, is living her best life, mostly. She is living with Syd, and her baby Quinn. She still has flashbacks to things that happened, and she still does have security on call, headed up by Guy. She is planning on living for Quinn, and to hell with everything and everyone else. Then Quake shows up. And all of a sudden, her best life ain’t all that great any more. She immediately tells him to leave her alone and calls her security so that she can be protected.

Quake is in New York with some of his brother, visiting the Order of the Phoenix when all hell breaks loose. In the wake of that, he discovers where Rory is working and goes to see her. He’s shocked to find out that she wants to have nothing to do with him. He follows her to her house and finds out that there is a man and another woman there, along with a baby. He figures that the kid is the child of the woman holding him, which would be Sydney, and that the man is the baby daddy, that would be Guy. With that “evidence” in front of his face, he decides that Rory is in some kind of triad with those two.

They manage to stay apart for a while, right up until Quinn gets kidnapped by the trusted nanny. Quake steps in with his brothers to help find Quinn.

I like Quake, but sometimes I want to just knock his head into a wall because he’s being a stupid asshole. I know that he’s trying to do his best, and he’s trying to be a good man, which he is, I think, but he just lets his assumptions get the better of him. Because he lets that happen, he sometimes makes some really huge mistakes, which is when I want to just smack him and tell him to stop, look, and use his brain. He really is a good guy. He has such a good heart, and we get to see it over and over in this. He is really loyal to his friends and his family. He’s also really strong and is willing to stand up for a lot of people.

Rory is remarkable. She has overcome a whole lot and has managed to put herself back together and build herself up. She is really strong, she’s a loving mother, and she’s a good friend. I really like her. I really admire her and think that she deserves all the good things.

I am seriously mad at Sydney and Guy. They can just fix themselves.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out!

Lee Savino & Lili Zander-Draekon Guardian

Oh, I’m so sad. This is the last of the Drakeon books. Well, the authors have promised us an extended epilogue kind of thing sometime this year, but still, no more books with the smexy dragons, and I love the smexy dragons. So, let’s talk about Draekon Guardian, shall we?

Yafet was known as Sixth, back when he was one of the original Draekon. Now, along with most of his brothers, he’s helping the rebellion and trying to fight their other brother, First, who is more than a little bat shit crazy. Yafet was sent after a couple of humans to rescue them. He brought them both back, but one of them, Liz, was his mate. He’s been trying to put off mating her and staying away from her. It worked really well for a while because he was busy trying to cure a plague. But now, it’s getting harder and harder. He knows that he shouldn’t do anything with her, and the thought that First might get his hands on her is just scary AF. He’s still working with all the medical researchers trying to cure the plague that First has created, because they know that he is going to deploy it again at some point.

Liz knows that she’s attracted to Yafet, but he never comes around her. She just stays in her room, never leaves, and is just terribly depressed, which really, I don’t blame her for. Her roommate manages to pull her out of it and takes her to a market. As a chef and cookbook writer, taking her to a huge market where she can find all kinds of food is the perfect thing for Liz. But, they run into problems at the market, and all her food gets left in a locker. Until it turns out that the food turns up in her apartment along with a new cooking unit.

Liz is dealing with some depression, and frankly, I don’t blame her one little bit. I would definitely be dealing with some serious mental health issues at that point too. Her whole world has changed and trying to deal with everything was just a lot. I think that she is really smart and creative though, and once she finds something to latch on to, then she’s better. And that’s something that she actually did on her own, mostly. I thought that was great for her and her own mental health, and her self-esteem. I think that she is also really fierce and she’s not going to let anyone mess with her, if she can avoid it, at least.

Yafet is definitely a good man. Dragon. Whatever. He has a huge streak of responsibility in him, and he can’t really cut himself any slack. He works really hard so that he can find the cure for this plague and he kind of blames himself. Which, it’s understandable why he does blame himself, even though neither he or any of his brothers have anything to blame themselves for. They were put into a fucking horrible situation by their creator, and the rebels didn’t make a lot of it easier when they first came out of stasis, but the rebels did at least straighten up. I think that he’s really smart and caring. I think that he’s also a little bit stupid. At least when it comes to relationships he is. But, don’t worry, Liz has some lessons for him.

OK, that’s all for this one. I’m going to miss these guys, so I’m looking forward to the epilogue bit. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Claire Marta & Nia Farrell-Ash

Today we have the last book in the first season of the Guarded Hearts books. And let me tell you, I think that Ash is the perfect book to wrap up the season. I think that the main thrust of the story for the last 7 books was wrapped up well enough and the hooks were laid well enough that moving on to season 2 is going to be easy and we aren’t going to want to know what happened with what thing.

We start with Ash. She’s 18 and has been staying at a safe house owned by her step-cousin, who should be the Don of his family, but since he was too young when his father died, his uncle, Ash’s step-father and all around scumbag douchecanoe, took over, and he hasn’t stepped down yet. Ash had to get away from him for a lot of reasons, one of which is the fact that he was going to trade her to a vampire. Only now, Ash has overheard one of her cousin’s guards talking to her step-father and she has to leave. So, she sneaks out and runs. For a few days she manages to hide, but then she ends up at the Citadel, where she is able to find somewhere safe to hide. While she’s there, she sees a man working at a forge. He’s her god of the forge.

Tobias is the only one of his cadre to not have a partner or a mate. He leads the cadre, protects everyone to the best of his abilities, and does everything he can to fight the battles they are in with Etienne and his ilk. He also crafts things, usually in his forge, but not always. He’s not looking for a mate. He doesn’t think that he deserves one. He had bad things happen in his past, and he’s pretty sure that it means he’ll never have a mate. Until the day that he looks up from his forge and sees a face that he’ll never forget. And he discovers that Ash is hiding on their property. He takes her up to his apartment, and has to figure out who she is, what to do with her, and what her being there means.

I really like Ash. I think that she is this real mix of worldly and naive. She’s strong and yet she’s really fragile. She is really cynical about some things, but in a lot of other things, it’s like she’s seeing everything for the first time. It’s really interesting to read, and it makes her a really good character. I think that she’s also really protective, and she will do a fuckload of shit to make sure that she can protect the people that she loves. Frankly, I think that she and Tobias are a perfect match, really.

Tobias has been a bit of a mystery during this whole series. We’ve only really seen him as this stern and paternal leader. He makes the rules, he makes sure that everyone follows the rules, he makes the hard decisions, and he does what he can to make sure that they are going to win their battle against the dark. We don’t see much in his head during the other books, so we don’t really get to know him until this one. In fact, a few times in the older books, I actually kinda didn’t like him at all. He made decisions that I didn’t like. Oh, I understood why he made some of the decisions that he did, but they didn’t make me like him. And after reading this book and getting to know more of his past, I can understand his decisions even more. I think he has spent many years being lonely and locking himself away, convincing himself that he doesn’t need a mate, so when Ash shows up, it shocks the hell out of him, and well it should. I think that he needed her, in more ways than one.

I really do think that this wrapped up this cadre’s season really well. And it did it without sacrificing Ash and Tobias’s story, which would’ve upset me. They truly deserved to have their own story.

Nothing under the pic today. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Susi Hawke-The Devoted Alpha

We very recently had a Susan Hawke book on the blog, and today we’re back to Susi, her mpreg MM omegaverse name. The Devoted Alpha is the 3rd book in Susi’s West Coast Wolves series. These are best read in order, because they really do build on each other, so you’ll miss stuff if you don’t read them all. But that’s OK, they are good books, and they are all in KU, so you can read them that way.

As a quick brief on this world, it’s a shifter omegaverse with mpreg. Wolf packs are divided into alphas, who lead, and then betas, deltas, gammas, etc. And omegas, of course. When a ruling alpha has more than one alpha child, they have all the heir they need, so they kick all the following alpha children out at 18. The theory is that it’s impossible for more than 2 alphas to get along. But Nick and his friends proved that wrong. The 4 of them, all alphas, got together in a motorcycle club and all was good. Then Matty got called back to his birth pack, and became the alpha of the pack, and they found out that there were omegas that had been stolen from families. So, that’s the basic plot of the first two books. So, let’s talk about Nick and Tom.

Tom was stolen as a baby and his family were told he was stillborn. He was raised with his “brothers”, all omegas in the same state. When he was rescused, he stayed with the pack that saved him, since his brother mated the alpha. On an incredibly dramatic day, Tom helps out at the tasting room of the winery the pack owns, when he meets Nick.

Nick was given a pack when his friend Matty had one pack too many. He’s been trying to help out his pack, but there are all kinds of things going on that he has to maneuver around. Luckily, the territorial alpha has been helping out, and approves of Nick’s plans. So, after he manages to make things happen, he meets with the territorial dude in order to make sure everything is ready to go, but then they find out that the need to go to the winery where one of Nick’s brother alphas has become alpha. When he gets there, he senses Tom and fireworks.

I really like Tom. I like how he doesn’t have problems saying what he thinks about certain things. He doesn’t want to be that omega that anyone one walks over, he’s had too many years of everyone telling him what to do, thing, be, and he’s not going to do that anymore. I think that he’s really strong. He has such a sweet and loving heart too.

Nick. Nick is twisty af. He thinks about 13 steps ahead of everyone else. He thinks about everything that someone else could do and he makes a plan to counter that and to make the other person do what he wants. He knows all the laws and rules and regulations, even the really obscure ones, and he has no problem using them to get what he wants. I wouldn’t want to cross him. I love how patient he is with Tom and how he has no problem letting Tom take the lead.

These two are going to be a massive power couple. I can’t wait to see where the world is going to go.

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