Hikarujen
When I bought this book, I didnt realize that Shannon Mayer was going to rip my heart out, and stomp on it. Did everyone know it was the last book to Lark's story??
OK, lets back up for a moment. I will take that back, we got a conclusion to the story, and I must have to say, I loved every moment. Lark was so amazing, she somehow kept her shit together, Raven was even impressive. We learn why Talan is such a big D, and why he is such a big D. Hah, because hes a child who didnt get his was, seems like.
Even Rylee and Pamela make a short appearance in this book, and it was, tear worthy. I want to say about halfway through, everything started making me tear up. Ash, Shazer, Peta, even a moment with Cassava, and she was not on the best of terms with Lark the last time we left them, or most of this series.
Thank you Shannon, for this series, and conclusion that wasnt drawn out, and a story that has pulled emotionally for months. I was irritated that you had taken a break from this series to write the Venom Trilogy, but I take it back! I cant wait to re-read these books.
Ohhhhhhh my gaawwwdddddd. I love Ash. I freaking love him. I love Larkspur. It is utter agony waiting for these books. Shannon Mayer did has done an amazing job, and I love that her books arent necessarily written to be long. They are concise, hit you where things feel good, or bad, and then I'm left wanting the next book like... now. ugh. ugh!
This was more fun than I was expecting. It was also suuuuper cheesy. I get why people were throwing around a Buffy feel with it, but since I was never a huge Buffy fan, I am happy to say that I only got a slight Buffy feel, and I to me that is a good thing. Probably because it had college and vampire killing in common, and a vampire boyfriend, but thats where the similarities in book 1 stop. I am pretty sure.
Anywho! This book begins with Cat, being an amateur vampire hunter, and she meets Bones trying to kill him. However, since he is more skilled, and a lot older than most of the vamps she has been killing, she fails. They strike up a bargain to work together to take down vamps, Cat gets some much needed training, and an apparent much needed makeover. This is where the cheese factor comes in, Cat and Bones fall in love. Yay! Bones is just a cheesy dude.
Then things go to hell, and well, Cat has to choose between being with her Mom, or Bones, and she chooses to “save” everyone. Personally I think it was just an easy way out, because she is punishing herself for something that is not her fault. Her Mom is doing the same thing. Annoying.
I LOVED this. I ate this shit up. What is life now that I have to wait until NEXT YEAR for book 2. At least it didn't end on some huge cliffhanger. I loved Callie's blood and roses and dead man's ink series. And I'm very excited for the rest of this series. Was it perfect? No. But it was sooo fun, and it was pretty spicy if you are into that. Oh, and I listened to the audiobook, the voice actors were phenomenal. I have a preorder in for the book so I can read it too.
That was something else. So to start off, I accidentally grabbed the 3rd book in the series, but actually im kind of glad I did. I dont think i would have continued the series if I started with Ryat.
probably spoilers in my jumble of words here.The Sacrifice follows Tyson and Laikyn. Laikyn is set to marry another LORD(Secret society members that start off at Barrington University), Luke, when Tyson derails that wedding and he ends up marrying her. He turns their “marraige” into pure sex, with these odd occasional niceities, sort of. Example, she steals one of his credit cards as she has no money of her own or card, and sneaks out to buy a 300k car. OK. Sure. Throughout the book, Laik is constantly humiliated, and degraded. As a dark romance, some of these things I can get past, and I enjoyed some of the book. In particular, I didnt like the collar. Tyson has Laikyn wear a shock collar. What? OK. What kept me going was there is this b side mystery happening. Laikyns sister was murdered 3 years ago, supposedly by Tyson, so why did he choose to marry her? And why is her family so mad about it? Then eventually her sister is revealed to be alive and married to Luke! What? How! And why does her sister hate her to the point of being complicit in Laikyn nearly being sex trafficked or her grape. Why do her brother and father hate her? I dont get it! Why was Luke set up to marry her when he was already married. Theres a lot of unanswered questions for me.Theres a lot of conflicting personality traits here too. Tyson is supposed to be a LORD of this secret society, where they use and abuse their women. They literally give no fcks about anything. But Tyson wants to save Laikyn, he apparently HAS gone against the LORDS orders, but he has managed to keep his status. Then there is Laikyn, she has been groomed to be a LORD's Lady, so shes supposed to want to please other people. I thought her character was just kind of weak. She a “virgin”(And I fricken HATE the bloody virgin trope. HATE IT. Its a made up thing! Stop using it please) but she constantly also wants sex? I mean, really, who thinks about sex THIS much.
I removed a star for EXCESSIVE sex, like it was really too much. And then the other because of the grape. Again, I know this is a dark romance and thats usually something in them, but I feel like using grape a conflict point in the plot wasnt really necessary. Well I never think its necessary.
DNF @ 65% – Slight spoilers ahead.
I did NOT know when i put this on hold in at my library that it was a Why Choose (Reverse Harem), and when i started the audio book and heard that I though, why not. Lets give it a chance! And let me tell you, as much as I like spice between my characters, I dont mind an occasional 3rd person in them, but I much prefer heavy plot in my books. I like angst and heavy emotions. I felt NO connection to any of these characters, I didnt finish the book and I couldnt even be bothered to look up how it ends.
Some issues I have -
1. ALL the NO CONDOMS. I'm sorry, in this day and age it just seems unrealistic. Like, people, protect yourselves. I know its just a book, but EVERY sexual encounter this woman had was unprotected. Personally, thats just a pass for me especially when its a modern setting.
2. Rachel basically outed Caleb and Jake to Mars(Ilmari Kinnunen). It wasnt discussed in the book if she had their permission but again, personally, not your business to tell.
I will say, the smut was VERY well written, I was just overloaded with it. I would have liked more story, and a smidge less sex all the time with multiple people.
OK So.... this was an easy easy listen. As in, not a lot going on. Overall, I enjoyed the story, and the spice was really quite top notch. This is a dark romance, so remember that. There are some dark elements, and dark romance isnt for everyone. Things considered red flags in real life i do enjoy in my books. Hah! Anyways, I didnt feel particularly one way or another about these characters, which is why its only a 3 star. I wasnt convinced of the romance. Lust? Sure. But anyways, there are more to the series, I originally thought this was a standalone but Im very curious to see what happens to Damon specifically, as he was the biggest jerk and has fled a the end of this book.
Wow. Rebecca, hope you dont mind me using your first name, but respectfully. Fuck you. Wow that book hurt me. How much heartache do you need to put your characters through? I LOVED the story up until the last i dunno, 30 pages ish?
Spoilers ahead, and I mean it.
The story is about Ella (single mom of twins aged 5 ish), and Beckett(aka Chaos). Beckett and Ella's brother were in the military together, when her brother(Ryan) suggests that Emma start writing letters to Chaos because he might be lonely. The letters between Ella and Beckett are really cute, and sprinkled through the book, and our of order. I really enjoyed that. So Ryan dies, and all the men in the unit have a “last letter” they have given to their commanding officer to hold onto in case they you know, die. Ryan's later letter was to Beckett, and he asked Beckett to go to Telluride, CO and watch after his sister. Cute right. So Beckett shows up, and doesnt tell Ella that hes Chaos. It evolves to this big elaborate thing that she does find out about eventually, and shes not happy. All the while shes dealing with one of her twins having cancer, a neuro blastoma. I thought this was gonna be what got me, but its NOT. As a mom of a currently 4 and 6 year old, the death of one of he children really just blew me straight into a sobbing mess. This death added NOTHING to the story, to the love story, and im so fucking pissed off about it. So 2 stars because up until that point it would have been a 5 star book. Because theres no HEA when one of your children dies.
So, the first 4 books I listened to, for the sake of ease. And I wasn't loving it. I wanted to know what happens, so I trudged on. But I literally HATED all the characters. I hate Orion and Darcy. I hated Darius. I like Tory, for some reason.
Well this book I decided to read as it's a weekend and I have the time. Well. I am not right right now. I cried in the first 45 minutes of reading this book. I was SUCKED in this whole book. There were times I was mad at the twins. Times when I was heartbroken. How much pain are these writers going to put Tory and Darius through?!?!?
I have so many questions. Diego? Why is Lionel so much stronger than everyone? Why doesn't the guardian bond need the permission of both people? Seems like an oversight. Why does there have to be so much girl on girl hate? Mildred, Marguerite, Kylie? I am not a fan of other woman troping, but also I am not a fan of making fun of people who are different than the typical beauty standard. (Mildred) It kind of annoyed me. But at least her personality was also terrible so I disliked her for that.
Also, it seemed like the heirs were pushing around the twins significantly less. Like almost out of character. But I prefer it to the wolf piss in book 2 sooooo I'm not complaining.
Did I immediately buy the rest of the series on kindle? Yes.
PS. I LOVE Geraldine, I love the bond between Darius and Orion, I love Seth and Caleb.
I don't know. Spoilers ahead. . .
I am intrigued by the overall plot. But the meanness and trivial nature of the mmc's is really turning me off. One of the twins gets :pissed: on for crying out loud. Literally so many plot holes too. Seth says he initiated Darcy in his pack so he tries to sleep with her and says he feels the need to protect her, yet he's constantly hurting her. Especially at the end, he traps her and Tory in a pit and then leaves them when the nymphs show up. What?
I literally despise all the mmc's, and I'm wondering why the twins are so stupid. I don't know, I see a lot of positive reviews so maybe I'll give it one more book but if there's another peeing scene on someone I will be putting it down.