Anubis by Adrienne Wilder (Wolves Incarnate II)

Title: ⟫ Anubis (Wolves Incarnate II)
Author: ⟫ Adrienne Wilder
Blurb: ⟫ It was supposed to be over: The Utah Facility discovered, New World Genetics dismantled, and the people hunting Luca, dead.

Then strangers who call themselves Varu, come to Luca for help.

They claim he’s a Cana and tell him he’s the only one who can bring back their wolves.

NoX doesn’t want to trust them, then he learns how people called Mah are responsible for the atrocities committed in the Utah Facility. And that the Anubis residing inside NoX will consume him and destroy Luca.

But they promise they can protect Luca if NoX will let them cure him of the ichor.

Luca knows the perception of the Varu is contaminated by the tragedy that decimated their people and separated them from their wolves.

He also knows the Anubis isn’t the mindless entity they believe it to be, a danger to him, or the world.

In fact, the Anubis might be the only thing strong enough to unite a warring people and protect humanity against the real enemy who wants to enslave it.

If NoX won’t listen to reason, Luca will use the Anubis to save them both.

After all, Luca is NoX's Alpha.

And the Anubis is really Luca’s wolf to call.

Review: ⟫ I must admit, I thought that there would be less physics in this book, which was most definitely not the case. And the cast of characters got a LOT bigger, which was occasionally confusing.

The Varu sucked – there’s no other way to describe them. I particularly hated Isaiah as he came across as bigoted, close-minded and manipulative. I was more than a little unhappy with NoX allowing someone like that to get into his head. That being said, the thought of living thousands of years with an integral part of yourself missing would no doubt warp the best of people.

The relationship between Luca, NoX and the Anubis continued to grow and deepen, and I liked the fact that Luca had a relationship with the Anubis that was separate to NoX – his understanding of the creature, of what it wanted/needed, was fascinating to read.

Johnathan and Reese Dante are an interesting duo. I was repelled by Craige (which I imagine was the point) and the introduction of this new couple was intriguing and is hopefully explore further in future novels.

The machinations in the background were interesting and intriguing, although sometimes more than a little confusing. In fact, I think that is my main feeling about this book – there were so many confusing factions that it was becoming muddled in my head. I can’t imagine how Adrienne Wilder manages to keep it all clear in their head and my hat goes off to them.

This was another very long book which, again, I felt would benefit from a ruthless editor to get rid of the spelling mistakes, name and grammar errors – again, sometime things like that pulled me out of the plot. I absolutely adore Phillips and think she is incredibly kick-ass and someone I would most definitely want on my side.

Expanding on the world-building of the first story, and adding more lore as well as future plans make this an intriguing and engrossing addition to the Wolves Incarnate verse and I do look forward to reading the next instalment although I don’t know how long it’s going to be before this is published.

This was another HFN for me, with the addition of more couples and characters to care for. I would recommend reading it but be prepared to keep your brain engaged because you’ll need it! 

Christmas Cookies by April Kelley (Wingspan #4.5)

Title: ⟫ Christmas Cookies (Wingspan #4.5)

Author: ⟫ April Kelley

Blurb: ⟫ Morgan never thought being a vampire was a bad thing until he finds out the dragon shifters, who are the most prejudiced, are his fated mate’s family.

Morgan’s life changed the day he was kidnapped and held captive. Even weeks after the rescue, he’s still mentally processing all that has happened. Wingspan might seem like a safe place, but he’s nursed a few of the local bigots, so he knows looks can be deceiving. And then he meets his Fated mate. Seamus seems too good to be true. A sexy, protective dragon shifter who can bake and smiles all the time. What’s not to love. Despite the chemistry between them, Morgan finds it difficult to let others in, even his mate. Can he let Seamus be his safe haven?

Review: ⟫ To be fair to this novella, it started at a disadvantage as I haven’t read any of the previous stories. I was hoping that that wouldn’t be an issue, but it quickly became clear that not knowing a lot of the backstory meant that I felt like I dropped into the middle of a story – or perhaps a short tangent.

None of the characters felt particularly fleshed out. I found it difficult to connect with any of them, especially as a lot of names seemed to be thrown out that I didn’t recognise and didn’t realise the importance of.

Morgan himself was hard to get a grasp on. He had obviously been through a traumatic event, but there were no real details given so it was just – words. There was no real impact to them. And the fact that he was a vampire seemed incidental – we didn’t see him feeding (apart from on his mate), there seemed to be no perks to it, and I just felt very distant from the whole thing.

Even meeting Sean didn’t change things. The insta-attraction/love was just that – instant, with no background, no building up to, nothing. He literally walked into the place, smelled Sean and that was it. The battle with Sean’s family was a complete non-event – I expected there to be some kind of confrontation but it just fizzled out, with no contact with the prejudiced members of the dragon family apart from an initial meeting. And the title and allusion to Christmas cookies was such a minor detail that I wish they hadn’t used it as the title – it made little to no sense to me.

The background characters were obviously meant to be a call-back to previous books, which I imagine would be nice for people who have read the previous books. I also think it was meant to titillate interest in their stories so that perhaps you would dive into the rest of the series. Unfortunately, they didn’t grab me enough to make me do that.

The writing was solid but I didn’t feel engaged and after reading, I didn’t get any sense of satisfaction from the ending, their HEA or anything like that. I think that perhaps a lot of this is my fault for not reading the previous books and that maybe my experience would have been better for it.

3/5 from me – if you’ve read the previous books, you might find the book more engaging.

I received an ARC from GRR.

Dark Cravings by Joel Abernathy (Hunters of the Church Book #1)

Title: ⟫ Dark Cravings (Hunters of the Church Book One) 

Author: ⟫ Joel Abernathy 

Rating: ⟫ 4.5/5 

Blurb: ⟫ The hunter will become the hunted… 

I’m a monster. I’ve done things that can’t be undone. Things that can never be forgiven. 

When I saw him, I thought he was an avenging angel who had come to punish my sins. Instead, he captured me and brought me into his world of saints and hunters. Righteous predators who prey on monsters like me, using the power of the cursed blood that runs through our veins. 

I’ll do whatever it takes to become one of them. 

I'll give him my blood, my body, and my soul. 

Whatever it takes to prove to Castor that I can be more than the bloodthirsty beasts he hunts, and stand at his side as his partner. Even if I want to be so much more than that. 

When my sire comes to collect what's his, everything I thought I knew about my monstrous nature is called into question. But it might just explain the dark cravings Castor's touch awakens within me. 

Author's Note: Dark Cravings is the first book in Hunters of the Church, a Dark MM Paranormal Romance series. Each book follows a different couple, but the series should be read in order. Please see the author's website for content notes. 

Review: ⟫ I knew next to nothing about this book when I received the ARC but it grabbed me from the very beginning. 

We meet Eddie, who has effectively been stranded in his werewolf form since he was bitten when he was camping with his family in the woods. He knows pretty much nothing about this new side to himself and has absolutely no control. 

Which is the predicament he finds himself in when he is stuck between two sets of hunters. Being captured in what is known as neutral territory and thrown into a cell, Eddie has zero idea as to how the rest of his life is going to pan out. Much of the story revolves around Eddie learning about his new nature and how to (potentially) control it, all whilst trying to handle his inexplicable attraction to his captor: the beautiful Castor. 

 Castor is determined to see Eddie as a monster/the enemy due to trauma in his past, but yet he finds himself falling under Eddie’s innocent spell, until Castor is helping Eddie through his first rut and things take a sharp turn. 

Eddie loves everything about Castor – to the extent that he will accept pain and humiliation from him because some attention is better than none. Castor is more complicated, and perhaps harder to like because of that. 

The sex between Castor and Eddie is hot, slightly kinky and extremely satisfying to read, and leads very nicely into plot points that pull the story along. 

The other main characters we get are Father Marius and Arrow. Not gonna lie, I am completely and utterly fascinated by Arrow, even whilst thinking he acted like a bit of a dick more than once! 

Book two involves him and I am psyched for it! 

This whole new world of vampires, hunters and werewolves (sorry, shifters) was fascinating and well-written, with new elements that intrigued me and a background that made it all the more interesting. As this is book one, I know it means we have more to look forward to which I am very much pleased about. 

Happily rounding up from a 4.5 to a 5, Joel Abernathy has started a fascinating new series! 

I received an ARC from GRR.

The Alpha Dragon's Instant Family by Sean Michael

Title: ⟫ The Alpha Dragon’s Instant Family 

Author: ⟫ Sean Michael 

Blurb: ⟫ Alpha dragon shifter Warrington Vol has the perfect life. Everyone has a little dragon in them, but he’s the full dragon king of his high-rise castle, along with his best friends Seamus and Harrison. He might had left his overbearing, aristocratic family behind, but now he has the Skye Dun clan and their successful empire. Too bad his well-ordered life gets a jolt when he meets the man he thinks is his mate at a club, then has to leave him without even getting his name due to an attack on his high rise that leaves Harrison gravely injured.

Sebastian Addams is doing the best that he can. He’s just a guy with wings and a single scale on his cheek, as well as his two younger siblings to care for, so he’s pretty low in dragon society. Needing to provide for his family, he looks to a personal assistant job to a business tycoon, but when he walks into the interview, he discovers the man who loved and left him the previous night without even a real introduction. Sebastian wants to slink away, but he needs this job. Badly.

Warrington, though, is overjoyed that Sebastian has walked into his office – now he doesn’t have to go searching for his mate with nothing to go on. The trick will be convincing Sebastian that they’re fated to be together, which gets more complicated when Sebastian winds up pregnant. But Warrington thinks his instant family is amazing and sets about making Sebastian see it too. Now if they can just stay safe from the bomber who seems determined to put an end to Skye Dun clan, they just might get their happy ending. 

Review ⟫ Sean Michael’s Hammer Boys series were some of the first BDSM books I read years ago, so when I saw this ARC being offered it was an easy choice to go for it.

If you’ve read any Sean Michael, then you’ll be familiar with the style: possessive, loving, lots of ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ and a kinda insta-love. This just happens to be that but with dragon shifters. I was hoping for things to be more dragon-related, and for there to be more about them as shifters but it was all a bit surface. It seemed to be more of a reason for mpreg than anything, and a different kind of alpha shifter than a werewolf for example. I think this was a missed opportunity and the main thing that I felt was missing. 

The basic story is fine, and it’s obvious that is planned to be at least three stories as the MC Warrington has two extremely close friends. I actually didn’t like Sebastian, and I can’t even say why. He just seemed like such a non-character to me, despite the fact that he had quite the interesting progression throughout the story with the fact that he had taken on his siblings after the death of his parents and his dragon attributes. There are intimations that there is more to Sebastian’s backstory that will probably/hopefully be explored more fully in the following books. 

This was a nice, sweet and easy read, and very similar to the Hammer Boys but without the BDSM aspect, and I’m not saying that in a bad way. I probably will read the following stories when they are released now that I know what to expect. 

3.5/5 for me.

I received an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews in exchange for an honest review. <hr>