Chaos Moondrawn

This is a duology, so the rating is for them both because you need to read them both for a completely story timeline and arc. I think this this gets low rating for people who like linear or formulaic plots and don't like to see their pain and grief on page. Most romance novels have the girlfriend killed first, off page, and we never get to see the grief up close and personal. These books go to dark places, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read it. We get to see Will spiral down in grief/guilt and drag his police partner Tyler, who is in love with him, down with him. We see the Tyler's guilt for his part in what happens and his feelings for Will. Then, we get to see the anger, betrayal, denial and self loathing as Will falls (or realizes he is) in love with his partner--and boy does he NOT want to be. I wouldn't call it suspense in the classic sense--we know who is responsible for her death and why so the suspense comes from will this have a happy ending or not?! 

This is a duology, so the rating is for them both because you need to read them both for a completely story timeline and arc. I think this this gets low rating for people who like linear or formulaic plots and don't like to see their pain and grief on page. Most romance novels have the girlfriend killed first, off page, and we never get to see the grief up close and personal. These books go to dark places, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read it. We get to see Will spiral down in grief/guilt and drag his police partner Tyler, who is in love with him, down with him. We see the Tyler's guilt for his part in what happens and his feelings for Will. Then, we get to see the anger, betrayal, denial and self loathing as Will falls (or realizes he is) in love with his partner--and boy does he NOT want to be. I wouldn't call it suspense in the classic sense--we know who is responsible for her death and why so the suspense comes from will this have a happy ending or not?! 

Richard is the only omega playing in the NHL. For some reason, his heat starts a week early while he is on the road playing. He thinks it makes others question his ability to do his job so he hides it. It's a shame we're not shown Richard as the talented, skilled, team leader we are told he is before he is begging and pleading his best friend James for sex.

We get very mixed signals here. One the one hand, we get "I'm not less than because I leak a few times a year." On the other hand, we get "it wasn't as if Richard was worth caring about." Richard doesn't seem to know very much about his own sexuality, which makes this process all the more difficult for him to deal with. He seems to have suppressed his sexuality in order to be successful and to be taken seriously, even to the detriment of his health.

Dmitry, James' friend from another hockey team is there when Richard starts another round of heat. Of course, he has to stay and help. This seems to just set up the story of how the three of them ended up together with a reason to have lots of sex. There is not a lot of plot here, but I could see an ongoing story with the three of them in the future. If that happens, I hope there is a lot more detail about hockey and some actual dating/getting to know each other. If so, this might have worked better as a prequel. We know they're friends (Dmitry and James and James and Richard), we know they play hockey, and we know they are sexually compatible (very compatible), but that is it.

This is a fun erotic romance with a new take on the gay for pay, gay for you, and first time tropes. Mark grew up in a poor, single parent home in Alabama. When he meets Eric at a summer orientation for college, it turns out to be an in into a frat house, which will allow Mark to have a place to stay so he can afford to go to school. Little does he know, its a gay frat and some of the hazing is going to take a straight (or maybe not so straight) boy down a strange path. With the situational dubious consent, it could have gone to a way darker storyline than it does. Mark is complicit in, agrees to, and enjoys everything done to him in one way or another. The sex scenes are erotic and its actually a strangely sweet story about friendship, friends with benefits, and learning who you are and what you like.

This is book four in a series. While you might be able to read it alone or out of order, missing the Pack politics and backstory would leave you a little adrift and certainly not as invested in the characters so I wouldn't recommend it. This story is for Gareth and Cam, the Beta and Alpha of the pack. Cam's wife/mate died in the Pack Wars and he has hardened his heart to feeling that type of love again. We got hints in previous books about Gareth's feelings for Cam, but all the danger, uncertainity with the packs merging, and a new visitor named Rachel to the pack brings all of Gareth's feelings to the surface so he can no longer hide his love for Cam.

The author is good at making us feel the heartbreak and longing Gareth and Rachel feel in their respective situations. Cam struggles with guilt for feeling something for someone else other than his late wife--add to that all of the pressures of governing a large group of people and businesses while still dealing with old enemies and Cam's stress level is pretty high. Much of the book deals with the characters trying to act against their own instincts and happiness because of their obligations to others, which makes for tense and frustrated reading. Some bad decision making and judgement is shown in several situations that, while understandable due to the circumstances in some ways, still seems like just a way to have conflict in the books at the expense of the maturity and experience of the characters. When Cam and Gareth finally get together (not really a spoiler since this is a romance, duh), I couldn't help feeling that Gareth was always going to come in second to everyone else in the pack and that there was always going to be a unfavorable power dynamic in play.

Even with all the intrigue in book three, there were a lot of sex scenes--almost too many although they were hot, hot, hot. On the one hand it was nice to dial it down a notch in this fourth book; on the other hand this books suffers by comparison in some ways.

Little things annoy me like we're told over and over in the series that only the bedrooms and bathrooms are soundproof in side the buildings although the whole buildings are soundproof from the outside...yet, especially by book three and four they keep having private conversations where other shifters can hear about "pack business." There are some plot points that could go somewhere, logically, but just don't.

I got sucked into this series more than I expected to and would recommend you read them all in order to experience the same thing. This book hints at a future possiblity, but I think this book was a natural conclusion to the series.

Hunter, a trust fund baby, has a crush on his friend and fellow frat brother Valentine. Allusions are made that Valentine is likely Latino (it's never outright stated) and not as well off as Hunter, who pays to fly him down to the Keys with his cat, Grandpa for Spring Break. There are all kinds of plot holes here. Hunter's Dad knows he is gay and on the boat with one other person, but he's afraid if he gets caught on the boat with a man his Dad will disinherit him? He had a driver take them to the marina and he removed money from his trust fund to pay for it all but his Dad wouldn't know (and he already has access to his trust fund)?
This is the first time he's been alone captaining the boat and he hasn't been out on a boat at all in two years but his Dad lets him take it out? We are told "he was barely confident enough in his steering ability when he was stone cold sober" and yet no one sees disaster written all over this? If Hunter graduated two years ago, he is likely 20 and not even old enough to drink in the first place yet this is what he does when he is trying to fly under the radar. Ok. He is 20 and we all did stupid things when we were 20. Right? And that's the problem: I am not the target audience for this book at all because it's chapter three right now and I so don't care. Now we're given the impression from Valentine that Hunter's Dad pays for school and Hunter is afraid of him. Hunter himself has already said he is very controlling. None of this really makes sense; it's just a way to get us to the emergency moment as an excuse for conflict. When they need help Hunter is afraid to call the Coast Guard, since his Dad worked for them before he retired and he would find out. He's going to find out anyway since he legally owns the boat! Speaking of which, you don't get that kind of money retiring from the Coast Guard. There is just not enough mature, fleshed out, believable detail for the reader to connect with the characters and care what happens to them. If in the first chapter his Dad knew he was on board with one other person, why in chapter five does his Dad think it's a frat party on board?! There is a huge info dump on Hunter's family, which includes his coming out to his Dad. The thing is, Hunter is out with his frat brothers, who all seem to come from wealthy families, some of whom must know his Dad so I'm still not sure why this is all a big deal. Now Valentine and Hunter are talking, as an actual idea being muted, about pushing what was the "biggest boat in the marina" off a sandbar from behind, whilst swimming. This is just not ready for publication, in my opinion. I think I am going to have to DNF.

This is a trope I like and there are many parts of this that are good. Sadly, the writing is a bit uneven and inconsistant in style and quality. A good editor could help with that. There is a lot of telling instead of showing while switching back and forth between characters in first person POV. We are in their heads a lot with minimal dialog and mininal descriptions of the scenes and surroundings--enough for us to get that we are in a crowd, or the forest, but not enough to picture it in our minds because of the actual words on the page. It's more noticable because the sex scenes are graphic and detailed. If you go into this thinking of it as Jace getting to live out his fantasies (landing his Dad's boyfriend, everyone seeing how awesome he is, him becoming famous, his villian getting justice, having the most romantic proposal of all time, etc.) and dismiss the blurb, then you will likely enjoy it more. This whole story takes place within two weeks with an epilogue eight months later.

Gerard seems to be in awe of Jace and treats him with more respect than anyone else does. I'm not sure why we're supposed to be so awed except we are told he is a music progeny. Most of the book consists of trying to tell us how amazing he is, flaws and all. Every other character seems to be a surrogate mother or father figure--even his best friend (Fairy Godmother) Adam, who is his age. Everyone is very up in his business and they feel like they deserve to know about his life and feelings. It's very invasive and, frankly, if he can't set better boundaries I'm not convinced he is mature enough to be someone's partner. He is also all over the map emotionally throughout this story in a very unattractive way that we are supposed to accept because of his grief. Meanwhile, Gerard doesn't come off as much better with a lot of his dialog consisting of words like "wow." He also has not set boundaries with his parents, but he's 20 years older so that's just sad.
In fact, Adam is also given hero status. I'm not sure if the bias is for recording artists or just the younger characters. Everyone in this story acts immaturely regardless of age and secondary characters are not fleshed out.

The trope, characters, and setting could have all made a good story with a little more work prior to publication.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend giving it a try. There is a prequel, which introduces a few of the characters in this book, but this can be read as a standalone since the author does give you the backstory. You may like reading the prequel as you may be more emotionally engaged with the supporting characters, but is not necessary. In fact, they are different in tone and I preferred this book because it is a little more gritty and honest. You care about Ronan and Tennyson because they care about people and the case they are working on--that is what the author does well. You want Ronan and Tennyson to solve the case and you root for them. There are a few things that I feel would kick it up a notch from being a good book to being great. For one thing, there is no mystery here since we know who the bad guy is from the beginning so the opportunity is lost for a who done it, however points to the author for not just throwing in some random bad guy at the end that we never met, which I would hate. This is not instalove; they do get to know each other and grow closer (probably faster than normal due to the emotional circumstances), but they seem to be in a relationship very fast after one kiss without even discussing it. Ronan is also still emotionally recovering from a divorce with someone he was supposedly in love with and blindsided by and a newly recovering alcoholic, who really should not be getting into a relationship while so new to recovery as per standard addiction recovery rules. Relying on famous people's names to fix the characters in our minds is a little bit of a cheat and I feel the author could work on describing her characters as well as work on creating real heat in the love scenes and real tension in the scenes of peril. I'm not trying to be nitpicky because I actually liked this book, its characters, and the storyline. I am just a little disappointed because I feel it could have been really great with a little more time, care, and depth. I would say this is a HFN because I have a feeling Ronan and Tennyson are going to need some therapy. I am emotionally invested enough that I will want to see what happens in the next book.

This is a sweet friends to lovers story. Although heavy topics like death, family secrets, and AIDS are added to the plot, there is very little angst. What angst is there seems added just for a little conflict. You would expect some adjustment for a couple who go from best friends for twenty years to lovers but we are given a little speed bumb in one evening that is quickly resolved after some sleep. Not much happens and the sex scenes were just ok. I felt neither heat nor actual attachment to the characters and what happens to them. This had all the elements that just didn't come together for me.

This is a good, solid, sweet, well-written story. What elevates it above average is the beautiful writing style. The author paints pictures in your head. The characters are all likeable and you root for them. At its heart, this is a basic, sweet love story. Serious topics are touched on to add depth (PTSD, murder, tragedy, pain, obsession, fear, loyalty, assault, guilt), but the author doesn't drop us down a well to wallow in the angst. This is ultimately about people who triumph over the odds and are lucky enough to meet the people meant for them. I expect a follow-up story about Gibson's brother Ellis, who deserves his own story. I also expect to see Pat again. There is not a cliff hanger, but this feels like unfinished business. However, this story for Gibson and Zach is enjoyable.

Tender With A Twist is the second book in the Rainbow Cove series by Annabeth Albert. Although a few characters are introduced in the first book, Trust With A Chaser, this could be read as a standalone. Logan is the chef at the local restaurant and experiencing his first sense of freedom away from his family and the expectations he grew up with. Curtis is older and set in his ways mourning the death of his partner. It is the exploration of the D/s experience Logan has always wanted, and Curtis desperately needs, that is the heart of this book. The BDSM is mild and there are sweet moments so don't let that deter you if are not sure about that element--this can ease you into the idea. For those wanting the action to match that tag of pain slut, you might be disappointed. For those of you into this kink, the words sweet baby top should tell you what you need to know. This book is really about the connection between these two as it builds and letting go of the life that other people expect you to live. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I did feel like the ending dragged a bit, like there were two ending chapters. I'm not sure that was necessary. In fact one should have just been labeled an Epilogue showing the two fitting into each others life over time. That is a minor quibble about what was an enjoyable romance. The last issue I had was that Curtis starts out a curmudgeon and ends up being a little too sweet; I would have liked to see him keep some of the edge, even softened, as it was such a part of his personality.

I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is not the easiest read--I'm not going to lie. What makes this book interesting is the insights it provides into the lives of people during this time period, not just Martha's personal life at home, but her work outside the home helping the community with their medical issues from birth to death. One can glean much from her brief diary entries: the food eaten, herbs used, clothing worn, transportation difficulties, her place in the economy, the rise of the male entry into her field, etc. If you have the patience and genuine interest, this is worthwhile.

If you can't read the primary sources for yourself and need an English translation, this book is essential. Almost every academic paper that has been written pertaining to the time period covered uses this as it's source, if the author is using an English translation rather than translating for him or herself. Are these the best translations available? I have no idea. This is considered the authoritative work and changed the playing field from reliance on archaeology to the written words collected here. If you are seriously interested in Anglo-Saxon history and are ready to delve into it at a higher level than a generic secondary source can provide, you should enjoy these readings. I count myself very lucky to have a used copy.

There are several reason to like this short story. The imagery is striking: you can picture everything perfectly in your head. This story reminds you that Doms are not perfect or psychic, but fallible human beings. It also reminds you that communication runs both ways in any relationship and is an integral part of whether they work or fail. It's important to remember why you have entered into a relationship (of any kind) with someone else. There are needs to be met on both sides and you should care about that. This is the story of two pivotal events in a man's life that we, the audience, are voyeurs into.

Having already read these, I was annoyed when the vampire book club I joined was in the middle of the series. I dutifully started to reread this, and remembered why I kept it instead of trading it in at the used bookstore. There is plenty of vampire themed paranormal romance out there and if that's what you like, this series deserves a place on your bookcase.

I understand why this was an award winning book. I love this whole series, although some books are better than others. There is complete world building here (language, culture, religion, fashion, economics, political and social structures, history and psychology) which continues and becomes more layered within the series. The reason this book sticks with you is that it is unique; I still have not read anything else like it. So, if you like futuristic HEA romance...