average rating
Alpha Challenge by Liz Kay
4.5 Hearts
I’m not a huge enemies-to-lovers-trope fan, but this one I could totally get with. Probably because only one of the MC’s saw an enemy, while the other was just plain fascinated. It made for a fun dynamic between Juri and Phoenix. Plus, bears. Juri believes he’s destined to take over the clan his father has been alpha of for years and I had to respect his belief because he wasn’t just some overbearing alpha dickhead, it was obvious he loved his clan and his family so he wanted to honor them by leading. Buuuut, he didn’t expect Phoenix to come along and challenge him. The author did a great job of making two alphas work especially given the outcome of the challenge. I’ll be down for reading more of this author’s shifter stories after meeting Yuri and Phoenix.
Challenge the Sun by Deja Black
3.5 Hearts
Dimitri and Eric are an interesting couple. Dimitri is a goblin and a bit of a prick. Eric is ex-military who’s moving on with his life after recovering from an injury received while serving. Dimitri has some misconceptions about what strength and courage are and we’re given enough backstory about him to understand his thinking organically. So, while he’s incredibly frustrating, he has an undeniable appeal. Eric is frankly too good for Dimitri for much of the story, but he’s seriously attracted to the dumbass so figures a one time thing will be fine and then he can move on. Thing is, neither of them can move on and it takes some external action for the two of them to come together again and for Dimitri to finally get some awareness. It’s too bad he had to figure it out by seeing Eric be a badass rather than just getting to know him and recognizing his strength, but I’m guessing that’s not a goblin thing. The sparks between these two were awesome and when two kinks align you know you’re going to get a good story.
Liam by Suede Delray
3.5 Hearts
While I loved the unique premise of Liam, I did kind of feel like I missed a good chunk of story. I wasn’t lost in what was happening at all, but it did read like I was dropped in well after the story started. I inferred a lot of things, but it wasn’t too tough to figure out, but I would have liked a more well rounded beginning. All that being said, the meat of the story was great and I would love to read this as a novella at least. We scratched the surface of some great characters and I would love to just get a whole lot more of everything.
Melting His Fiery Heart by Charlie Richards
3 Hearts
I haven’t read any of the Wolves of Stone Ridge stories and so I went into Melting His Fiery Heart blind. It’s a fated mate stories that hits all the nails that make those stories fly. Instant attraction, instant boners, instant boning; it’s all there. I liked that I got a little bit of Riley’s personality before he met Dagskon because after that it was all mating all the time. They did have some activities with the rest of Dagskon’s family and their friends and an obligatory villian to keep things moving, but I could have done without the action and would have preferred to spend time getting to know Riley and Dagskon separately and together. I think I would have really liked both of them and they would have been fun to watch as they got to know one another.
Red Run Rescue by Lynn Michaels
3 Hearts
Again, I loved the setup of this one, but felt like I was missing out on a chunk of the story. Rory and Donner have two new fawns and it’s apparent they are a relatively new couple, so there should be a lot for me to learn as not too far into the story Donner is leaving to rescue another deer shifter (and it’s obviously a trap set by wolves) and Rory stays behind to watch their two little ones and prepare for the Yule celebration. I was told enough about the council and wolves in passing, so I get that the former is clueless and the latter is evil, but that’s pretty much it. Which was fine for a short story, but I would have liked more dynamics between Rory and Donner when they were not in stress mode. I liked them both very much and it was obvious they loved each other deerly (See what I did there? That started out as a typo). Anywho, I loved the little snippets of the Yule tradition and how loving Rory and Donner were towards one another, a full story of that would be lovely.
The Vacation From Hell by Catherine Lievens
2.5 Hearts
Much like Melting His Fiery Heart, The Vacation From Hell is part of a much larger universe so I didn’t have a lot to go on when I started. There are six MCs and frankly, that’s a lot to wrap my brain around for a short story. I stopped trying to keep it all together and just let the banter and action flow. One half of each mated pair has some sort of paranormal ability and works for some sort of assassin agency or something or other. My apologies for butchering the setup and dynamics, but honestly, going in blind, this is all I had to work with. Basically the three couples decide to take a much needed vacation to a luxury cabin that turns out to be anything but and they get an unwelcome visitor who causes shenanigans and gives the assassin dudes a chance to do covert things. I may not have known what was really going on most of the time, but I do know the story had a happy ending, so, yay happy ending!
**a copy of this anthology was provided for an honest review**
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